Access to God?

[tomch]

My wife (Baptist) has a question - and I thought I’d throw it out to y’all to see if you have any better answers than I do…

We were discussing the ripping of the temple veil, and she asked if Catholics believe that we have any “different” access to God in the New Covenant than they did in the Old Covenant. Did Christ dying on the cross allow us to come into God’s presence in a different way?

My answer: Well, we have the Eucharist! God (in Christ) is actually here with us in the Real Presence! We also have the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit. (The O.T. presence of the Holy Spirit seems temporal in nature.)

It’s not that the O.T. believers were ostracized from God. Look at the Psalms - it’s obvious that David and God were close.

Anyway… I’m not all that happy with my answer. It feels like it’s missing something.

Thanks for your help!

 

[cecilia97]

Sounds great to me!

I’d also add that Christ taught us to call God “Abba” (not just Father but more like Daddy). That shows a very intimate and trusting relationship, instead of servitude and the “fear” relationship of Exodus, Deutoronomy, etc. (We are still servants and need a fear of God, but now we know we’re also beloved children)

edited to add: I just re-read your answer and noticed you had the Son and the Spirit…maybe the Father was the missing part?

 

[Jim_Baur]

I think your answer is great.

In addition: From Adam to John the Baptist, humans could only be friends with God.

Since Christ’s Victory, we are now Children Of God. He is now our Father, and we are His adopted children. However, we can partake in His nature. This adoption is much greater than human adoption. We partake in His nature.

Futhermore, we have new hearts. God pours His love into our new hearts.

We are saved by God’s love being poured into our new hearts.

God’s love uses many other gifts to save us, but the first one is His love poured into our new hearts.

We are saved by His love and many other gifts from God.

Jim Baur, C. O. G.