Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31192/np.15.3.1
The Christological Emphases in the Discourse on God´s Mercy in Reflections of Selected Church Fathers
Andrea Filić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1609-3972
Abstract
The initial question of this article, inspired by Walter Kasper´s statements, is: If mercy, by definition, necessarily includes suffering, can one even talk about it (as Kasper claims) as God´s fundamental characteristic and a determinant of God´s essence, given our belief that God cannot suffer? This issue is approached in the article in Christological fashion on the basis of reflections of selected Church Fathers in whose works God´s mercy is discussed in the context of specifically Christological reflections. The first chapter provides a short overview of God´s merciful activity in the whole history of salvation and it is pointed out that the grandest and most splendid act of God´s mercy – the incarnation, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ – is closely linked to it. The second chapter demonstrates that for Fathers the word mercy, used in the context of explaining motives and reasons for the incarnation, suffering, and death of the Son of God, was a terminus technicus. The point of using this terminus technicus was to preserve the tension between the truth about the eternal Logos, who cannot suffer, and the fact that this same Logos became, at the end of time, a human being and endured suffering and death on the cross. The third chapter addresses the patristic texts in which the mercy of incarnation, suffering, and death of the Son of God is presented as the most splendid act of God and the grandest manifestation of his mercy. This understanding also rejects any doubt that the Son who suffered might be subordinated to the Father. In the last, fourth chapter entitled "Mercy and Hypostatic Union", the attention is drawn to those places in patristic writings where mercy is being mentioned within the context of Christological reflections. These reflections follow closely the Chalcedonian dogmatic definitions on one and the same Jesus Christ, the Son of God who has two natures conjoined in one person or hypostasis in which both natures preserve their characteristics. The conclusion points out that the initial question can be answered both positively and negatively. If the person of the Son of God is viewed in his inner Trinitarian reality, then one cannot state that mercy is the fundamental characteristic of his being, because this would imply that the Divine nature can suffer. If, on the other hand, he is viewed within the context of the history of salvation, whose pinnacle has been reached through him becoming a human being and his suffering, and if one would add to this the theological claim that the hypostatic union implies the possibility (and necessity) of ascribing characteristics of human nature to the eternal person of the Father´s Word, then the answer has to be positive. At the end, the descriptions of Jesus Christ as "mercy in the person" or "personalised mercy" are suggested as the most appropriate for the mystery of mercy revealed in the event of Jesus Christ.
Keywords
mercy; Church Fathers; Christology; soteriology
Hrčak ID:
189506
URI
Publication date:
21.11.2017.
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