PneumaPsucheSoma
TOL Subscriber
Let's.
And my intention is to severely limit any other cross-talk with others. The time limitations of a 1-on-1 make this thread the most feasible solution.
One of my priorities is clearly determining and representing both cataphatic (what something is) and apophatic (what something is not) statements.
Yes, and we'll need to clearly define transcendent/transcendence, along with hypostasis and ousia (and physis and prosopon, etc.).
Yes. The foundation is also understanding the definition of Rhema and it's interrelation with Logos, and the definition for Logos.
I'd also specify God's Logos and Pneuma to be intrinsically and ontologically divine (again acknowledging the need to define terms such as ontology).
Yes, the foundational premise partially being that God, in His inherently immutable and transcendent UNcreated Self-existence, cannot be measured or otherwise quantified.
Yes, though it will all require cohesive lexical and exegetical narrative.
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And I'll follow up with the below general affirmation outline that will demonstrate that I clearly eschew any form of Sabellianism/Semi-Sabellianism, Arianism/Semi-Arianism, or Socinianism/Unitarianism/Ebionism/Adoptionism; or any formulaic that includes a created angelic being as the Son (SDA, JW) or any form of Tritheism (LDS, etc,). Nor I'm an Emanationist, Docetist, or Gnostic of any "flavor".
I affirm:
There is One Deity.
The Father is Deity.
The Holy Spirit is Deity.
The Word (Son) is Deity.
These are One Deity.
The Father is Eternally Pre-Existent.
The Holy Spirit is Eternally Pre-Existent.
The Word is Eternally Pre-Existent.
The Father is Uncreated and Unbegotten.
The Holy Sprit is Uncreated and Unbegotten.
The Son is Uncreated and the Only Begotten.
The Father is not the Holy Spirit nor the Son (Word).
The Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son (Word).
The Son (Word) is not the Fahter nor the Holy Spirit.
The Son proceeded forth and came from the Father, Sent by the Father.
The Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father, Sent by the Father and the Son.
(The Holy Spirit proceedeth NOT from both the Father and the Son [Filioque], though Sent by Both.)
Jesus is the Son of God and is Fully and Authentically Divine, Begotten of the Father by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the son of man and is fully and authentically human with a rational soul, born of the virgin by the Holy Spirit.
The Virgin Birth of Jesus was a Supernatural Procreative Act of God, NOT a Creative Act.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all distinct, uncreated, eternal, non-modal, non-sequential, concurrent, con-essential, con-substantial, inherently ontological Deity.
The Father is not the Son is not the Father (are not the Holy Spirit).
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I predominantly affirm Cappadocian resolution of the regional definitions and usages for the major terms, but ultimately I disagree with the final application and quantity of "hypostasis/es".
I also affirm Chalcedonian Dyophysitic Christology of the Hypostatic Union, though allowing for some inclusion of Cyrillian Miaphysitism. I DISaffirm Nestorian, Eutychian, and Apollinarian variants of Christology and any hint of pure Monophysitism. Theanthropos is the singular qualitatively-processed divine hypostasis, having taken on (and underlying) a human physis to accompany the inherent divine physis for God's singular ousia.
Contrary to Western innovation, the ousia does not "have" the hypostasis/es. The hypostasis is the underlying foundational reality for the ousia. And the prosopon "has" the hypostasis, being the outward observable appearance with both intangible and tangible reality. There is no ousia distinct from the hypostasis/es as a "second/fourth aspect". The only "being" of the ousia is that of the hypostasis/es as its foundation for existence.
The Logos and Pneuma are qualitative ontological distinctions, economically and externally processed out from (exerchomai and ekporeuomai, respectively) God's singular hypostasis at creation, and are not quantitatively distinct as individuated hypostases.
This contrasts to the Orthodox formulaic that Father (eternally unbegotten), Son (eternally begotten) and Holy Spirit (eternally proceeding) are both qualitatively and quantitatively distinct as multiple hypostases (underlying the ousia) according to internal procession/s.
And my further premise is that there is clear distinction between eternal (aidios: without beginning or end), everlasting (aionios: having a beginning, but without end), and temporality (chronos and chairos: chronological time and seasons relative to the cosmos, having both a beginning and an end). Orthodoxy has virtually universally and interchangeably combined the former two (aidios and aionios).
Other contrasted pairings of terms that will need definition will include essence/energies, ontology/economy, phenomenological/noumenological, and others.
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That may be a bit of a big initial chunk, but we can distill it down in various manners. My intention is to both preempt and prompt questions in addition to those you already have.
My primary and preferred lexical source is Spiros Zodhiates, the late preeminent native first-language Greek scholar; but no single lexical source could suffice, for obvious reasons.
And... Off we go. I pray immeasurable blessings on your heart and life as iron mutually sharpens iron. And I do so with great heaviness, not having known of your home hardships until your last rep to me.
Feel free to set the pace and tone; and to ask whatever you will for clarity to begin and beyond.
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