Do any church writers compare or contrast Jesus and the burning bush?
score:2
Following the example of St. Justin Martyr (c.100 – 165 AD) who identified the Angel of the Lord with the Logos, theophanies in the Old Testament are said to have been the preincarnate appearances of Christ.
Please see:
- Chapter 56. God who appeared to Moses is distinguished from God the Father - Dialogue with Trypho | St. Justin Martyr.
- Chapter 13.— The Appearance in the Bush. - On the Trinity (Book II) | Augustine of Hippo, Saint and Doctor of the Church.
- The Blessed Trinity | New Advent
Later controversy
(2) Justin (Dialogue with Trypho 60) Irenaeus (Against Heresies IV.20.7-11), Tertullian ("C. Marc.", II, 27; Against Praxeas 15-16), Novatian (On the Trinity 18.25), Theophilus (To Autolycus II.22), are accused of teaching that the theophanies were incompatible with the essential nature of the Father, yet not incompatible with that of the Son. In this case also the difficulty is largely removed if it be remembered that these writers regarded all the Divine operations as proceeding from the Three Persons as such, and not from the Godhead viewed as one. Now Revelation teaches us that in the work of the creation and redemption of the world the Father effects His purpose through the Son. Through Him He made the world; through Him He redeemed it; through Him He will judge it. Hence it was believed by these writers that, having regard to the present disposition of Providence, the theophanies could only have been the work of the Son. Moreover, in Colossians 1:15, the Son is expressly termed "the image of the invisible God" (eikon tou Theou rou aoratou). This expression they seem to have taken with strict literalness. The function of an eikon is to manifest what is itself hidden (cf. St. John Damascene, "De imagin.", III, n. 17). Hence they held that the work of revealing the Father belongs by nature to the Second Person of the Trinity, and concluded that the theophanies were His work.
Upvote:1
I'm not aware of any early Christians who wrote of Jesus manifesting himself in theophanies. The pre-mortal existence of Christ is a far more involved and complex issue, especially when theologians reconcile this with the doctrine of Trinity. As noted in a response above, Justin Martyr seemed to think Christ alone manifested himself in the OT. Martyr writes:
Like a king would send his son, he also being a king, thus did God sent Him. He sent him as God. He sent him as to men. (Epistle to Diognetus, VII)
I'm having trouble finding a good English translation, but here is the Greek text: http://www.ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/diognetus.htm. I'd highly recommend reading the whole chapter to get context.
Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, seems to think that this manifestation is much likelier coming from the Holy Spirit, especially when in light of Summa Theologica 31:3 in combination with 'Ipse Actus Essendi subsistens'
Yet [God, the Trinity] does not mean the relations themselves of the Persons, but rather the number of persons related to each other; and hence it is that the word in itself does not express regard to another. (Summa Theologica 31:3:Reply to Objection 3)
-
Translated as 'act of being,' the expression actus essendi refers to a fundamental metaphysical principle discovered by Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in his Christianizing of Aristotle.
Aquinas saw that in any subsisting extramental thing one finds a couplet of metaphysical principles: one is the ‘essence’ which makes the thing to be what it is, the other is the actus essendi which gives to the thing and to its ‘essence’ actual existence. (Wikipedia Entry, Actus Essendi)
In other words, Aquinas didn't buy into the fact that God was ethereal and shapeless, but a being of physical and metaphysical construct.
Anyway, to directly answer your question, there isn't any evidence we have to suggest that God or Jesus expressed themselves in theophanies, at least according to early Christian writers.
Upvote:2
I found this interesting quote from Justin martyr here, in referring to Watchtower statements (no offense intended to anyone):
Justin says that the person who appeared in the burning bush to Moses, to the prophets and patriarchs, and who is called “God” is the Son. Therefore, it is striking to note that the very passage that the Watchtower (c)ites in order to support their claim that “Justin said that Jesus was inferior to God” comes immediately after Justin says that Jesus is God and is within his 21 chapters where he sets out to prove that Jesus is God!(13: It is also interesting to note that in the final of those 21 chapters (ch. 75), Justin says that the name of God is “Jesus.”) Notice what else Justin says concerning Jesus:
For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God.(14: Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 126.
More post
- 📝 Why did God allowed Herod to slay so many newborns?
- 📝 Indwelled by the Holy Spirit — VS — not indwelled by the Holy Spirit according to the Calvinist?
- 📝 Question on John 4:13-14 - How do we drink of the water from Jesus?
- 📝 Is baptizing someone without consent valid? (Roman Catholic view)
- 📝 Why does Intelligent Design reject evolution, even intelligently designed and executed evolution?
- 📝 Why Jeremiah 10:5 was changed from palm trees to scarecrows
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for venial and mortal sins?
- 📝 How much did the Cross of Jesus weigh?
- 📝 According to Catholicism did Pope Linus know that he was the Pope and Head of the Church?
- 📝 St. Albans Psalter - history of manuscripts used to translate the Psalms
- 📝 What is the Catholic definition of meat for Lenten Fridays?
- 📝 Is the Pope the Antichrist or the spirit of the Antichrist?
- 📝 Where and/or when did the tradition that Methuselah died seven days before the Flood (for a period of mourning) originate?
- 📝 Who wrote the Book of Revelation?
- 📝 What is a "St. James" liturgy mass as opposed to a "St. John Chrysostom" liturgy mass?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for all people meeting God when they die?
- 📝 Where does the word 'Eloheim' originate from?
- 📝 Why do Christians seek to convert everyone?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis against Melchizedek being the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 How is the command to "Take it to the Church" interpreted in light of Protestant Ecclesiology?
- 📝 Does the Church believe that an economic system with shared property is better than one based on private property?
- 📝 How does LDS interpret Colossians 1:16?
- 📝 Why is the funeral/burial several days after death?
- 📝 How to learn to chant the Liturgy of the Hours?
- 📝 Can the entirety of Jesus's teachings be summed up in a few words? A phrase or sentence?
- 📝 Who is the Spirit hearing from in John 16:13?
- 📝 Who are the many nations that Abraham was called by God, 'the father' of?
- 📝 When scripture quotes a non-biblical source, without any opposition of the source, does it imply any endors*m*nt?
- 📝 How to identify the categories of a church?
- 📝 God and Satan in the book of Job: how did they know about this conversation?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do any church writers compare or contrast Jesus and the burning bush?
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence of Early Church Christians denying the divinity of Jesus during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD?
- 📝 Did any Jews have the same canon as Jesus during the time of Christ and did the early church ever quote from it?
- 📝 Is there any biblical support for the Church to allow governments to close churches and prevent public worship?
- 📝 Do any of the Church Fathers draw a connection between Eve and the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 What does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teach about who Jesus is and where He came from?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church teach about Jesus being married, having children, and His position on polygamy?
- 📝 Did any other philosophical systems have as much influence on the early Church as Platonism and Stoicism?
- 📝 Did Jesus tell us that we should give a tenth to The Church and then give of the excess to the poor?
- 📝 Is there any holy language for Christians according to words of Jesus Christ and the apostles?
- 📝 Are there any major Protestant denominations that meet every day and are together all the time like the early church was?
- 📝 How does the trial of Jesus compare to the judicial standards of the epoch and of the modern times?
- 📝 Is Pope Francis holding and professing different views (even personally) from any of the traditional Catholic Church doctrine?
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence that the early church believed in the doctrine of intercession of saints during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD?
- 📝 Do any Early Church Fathers ever argue that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9) is the Law or Torah?
- 📝 How do the church fathers reconcile the accounts of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew to be apostles?
- 📝 How can apologists argue that if Jesus did not rise again then Christianity and the Church would not have lasted, when other religions have?
- 📝 Is there any biblical basis for the Church to depict Jesus as a European or some other ethnic race?
- 📝 Do any Protestant groups teach that Paul founded the Church and not Peter?
- 📝 How does Catholic Church differentiate between the presence of Jesus and that of the Holy Spirit on the earth?
- 📝 The Mormon Church teaches that Jesus Christ created under the direction of Heavenly Father and He did not create the world "out of nothing."
- 📝 Do Latter-day Saints consider Jehovah's Witnesses, Biblical Unitarians and any other groups that deny the divinity of Jesus to be 'true Christians'?
- 📝 What are the differences between Apostles, Prophets, Peter and Jesus Christ in being the "foundation" whereon the church is built?
- 📝 Was there any case of a h*m*sexual priest in the early Church and how did the Church handle that?
- 📝 Has the Catholic Church drawn a parallel between the sleep of Jonah on board the ship and that of Jesus in the boat?
- 📝 Is Jesus seen as both the Passover Lamb and Goat(s) of the Atonement in any Protestant Theology?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church quote any saying of Jesus to which His question in John 14:2 can be attributed?
- 📝 Why Jesus died on the cross and not by any other mean?
- 📝 Does the Church acknowledge any revealed book given to Jesus by God?
- 📝 Has any prominent theologian ever explained why Jesus let a thief be in charge of the money?
