[two]
From all eternity, the Son does nothing more than (and nothing less than) what the Father envisions for Him (see D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, ch. 2). What does the Father envision for the Son? A filial existence. A Father-centred form of life. The Father gives the Son life in Himself (Jn 5:26) by showing himself as Father to the Son. And the Father shows himself as the one whom the Son is to imitate. “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (Jn 5:19 NIV).
Comments
In the following reflections I sketch a preliminary defence of the Catholic understanding of justification as inner transformation (we are made objectively pleasing to the Father). This contrasts with the Protestant view of justification by external imputation (the Father treats us “as if” we were righteous). The particulars of that disagreement will follow later. For now, let me simply introduce four propositions which I intend to explore and defend in the next few posts. My hope is that these propositions will form the basis of a Catholic theology of justification.
Welcome to my theology blog, and to my very first post! I'm glad to have you here, wherever you are coming from: geographically, theologically, and existentially. Lately I've been thinking about the Protestant (especially the Calvinist) tendency to be so negative and pessimistic about human nature. That got me onto Reformed theology, and Michael Horton in particular. It's been quite an adventure.
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