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Kanuckistani
Guest
How is Jesus at the right hand of the Father? I thought Jesus was God?
Sorry if that’s a stupid question, I have a very bad understanding of the Trinity, I think.
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Sorry if that’s a stupid question, I have a very bad understanding of the Trinity, I think.
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ltwin
Guest
The Trinity is 3 in 1. Each member of the Trinity is a distinct person but all are of one substance and essence.How is Jesus at the right hand of the Father? I thought Jesus was God?
Sorry if that’s a stupid question, I have a very bad understanding of the Trinity, I think.
The Father is God.
The Son (Jesus) is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit.
The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son.
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SteveVH
Guest
One thing that you have to do in order to begin to fathom the Trinity is to make sure that you have not first made God in your image. By that I mean that we many times tend to anthropomorphize God, in which we clothe him with human limitations. Because it is physically impossible for a human being to be three persons in one being we are tempted to believe that this is also not possible for God. But God is not like us. He is eternally above us in every way and is not subject to the limitations of mortal existence.How is Jesus at the right hand of the Father? I thought Jesus was God?
Sorry if that’s a stupid question, I have a very bad understanding of the Trinity, I think.
Consider also that we have nothing in creation to which we can compare. People attempt an analogy by using the three leaf clover or water (liquid, solid, and gas but all the same substance) but all fall short and do not begin to scratch the surface of this greatest of mysteries.
God, in his essence, in his very name, is a family; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are distinct Persons yet one in their divine being. We know this because it was revealed to us by Jesus. This is certainly no man-made theory. Who would come up with such a thing? So we don’t have to understand it in order to believe it, as it is beyond our comprehension. We believe it because of the One who told us.
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MartinJordan
Guest
I think this will go very nicely, to the question of “What is Jesus Doing?”:
Keep in mind St. Stephen said Jesus was** standing** at the right hand of God.
So there is a very deep (no pun intended
) meaning and we can refer to St. Augustine:
He ascended into heaven: believe. He sits at the right hand of the Father: believe. By sitting, understand** dwelling**: as [in Latin] we say of any person, In that country he dwelt (sedit) three years.
The Scripture also has that expression, that such an one dwelt (sedisse) in a city for such a time. Not meaning that he sat and never rose up?
On this account the dwellings of men are called seats (sedes). Where people are seated (in this sense), are they always sitting? Is there no rising, no walking, no lying down? And yet they are called seats (sedes).
In this way, then, believe an inhabiting of Christ on the right hand of God the Father: He is there. And let not your heart say to you, What is He doing?
Do not want to seek what is not permitted to find: He is there; it suffices you. He is blessed, and** from blessedness which is called the right hand of the Father, of very blessedness the name is**, right hand of the Father.
For if we shall take it carnally, then because He sits on the right hand of the Father, the Father will be on His left hand. Is it consistent with piety so to put Them together, the Son on the right, the Father on the left? There it is all right-hand, because no misery is there.
Source: A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed - newadvent.org/fathers/1307.htm
Thus this is an anthropomorphic metaphor. With deeper theological implications.
MJ
Bolded mine.
Keep in mind St. Stephen said Jesus was** standing** at the right hand of God.
So there is a very deep (no pun intended
) meaning and we can refer to St. Augustine:He ascended into heaven: believe. He sits at the right hand of the Father: believe. By sitting, understand** dwelling**: as [in Latin] we say of any person, In that country he dwelt (sedit) three years.
The Scripture also has that expression, that such an one dwelt (sedisse) in a city for such a time. Not meaning that he sat and never rose up?
On this account the dwellings of men are called seats (sedes). Where people are seated (in this sense), are they always sitting? Is there no rising, no walking, no lying down? And yet they are called seats (sedes).
In this way, then, believe an inhabiting of Christ on the right hand of God the Father: He is there. And let not your heart say to you, What is He doing?
Do not want to seek what is not permitted to find: He is there; it suffices you. He is blessed, and** from blessedness which is called the right hand of the Father, of very blessedness the name is**, right hand of the Father.
For if we shall take it carnally, then because He sits on the right hand of the Father, the Father will be on His left hand. Is it consistent with piety so to put Them together, the Son on the right, the Father on the left? There it is all right-hand, because no misery is there.
Source: A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed - newadvent.org/fathers/1307.htm
Thus this is an anthropomorphic metaphor. With deeper theological implications.
MJ
Bolded mine.
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Gary_Sheldrake
Guest
Sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought. Thanks.
By the way, what is ECC? Sorry for my unfamiliarity with some of the abbreviations and acronyms used on the forum. I haven’t logged in much until lately.
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Sam_777
Guest
I think JESUS is teaching and chatting with the souls already in Paradise, in addition to taking care of those still on this earth.
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BeProfOSX
Guest
Scripturally, we can say that Christ is doing two things:
1 - He is mediating as our Great High Priest.
2 - He is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.
What is the difference between mediating and interceding?
Well… Mediating has to do with Christ’s role as Priest. A Priest, any Priest, represents God to the people by preaching and teaching God’s word and by administering the sacraments or ordinances which act either as channels for His grace or as visible witnesses to that grace (depending on your view of the sacraments.) A Priest also represents the people to God by bringing and presenting their sacrifices and offerings. Consider the Old Testament Priesthood and you get the idea.
Interceding, as we are using the term here, has to do with “pleading our case” so to speak before God. The Greek word usually translated as “intercede” is a little hard to grasp but the basic gist of it is “to bring forth an argument on another’s behalf.” The Vulgate is especially helpful as the Latin term used most often used to translate the Greek means, literally, “to interject or to forcibly interrupt.” The idea is that God’s wrath burns against our sinfulness, each of us individually, and that God’s justice continually cries out for vengeance against that sinfulness; but, Christ and the Holy Spirit also continually interject themselves into that situation to “sit between” us and that wrath (which is what “intercede” literally means.)
One of the advantages that those of you who are Catholic or Orthodox have is that you already have, built into your liturgy and theology, ready made examples of both this kind of mediation and this kind of intercession. The Priest mediates. The Saints intercede. If you want to understand what Christ as our Great High Priest and Intercessor is doing for us right now in heaven, all you have to do is think of all the things that your Priest is doing and of all the things the Saints are doing. Christ is doing all of those things as well and He never stops doing those things on behalf of you and me and all Christians, individually and, I believe, by name.
What is Christ doing in Heaven? To put it simply: He is praying for us, He is pleading our case before God, and He is presenting His shed blood on the Cross as the price already paid for our sin.
1 - He is mediating as our Great High Priest.
2 - He is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.
What is the difference between mediating and interceding?
Well… Mediating has to do with Christ’s role as Priest. A Priest, any Priest, represents God to the people by preaching and teaching God’s word and by administering the sacraments or ordinances which act either as channels for His grace or as visible witnesses to that grace (depending on your view of the sacraments.) A Priest also represents the people to God by bringing and presenting their sacrifices and offerings. Consider the Old Testament Priesthood and you get the idea.
Interceding, as we are using the term here, has to do with “pleading our case” so to speak before God. The Greek word usually translated as “intercede” is a little hard to grasp but the basic gist of it is “to bring forth an argument on another’s behalf.” The Vulgate is especially helpful as the Latin term used most often used to translate the Greek means, literally, “to interject or to forcibly interrupt.” The idea is that God’s wrath burns against our sinfulness, each of us individually, and that God’s justice continually cries out for vengeance against that sinfulness; but, Christ and the Holy Spirit also continually interject themselves into that situation to “sit between” us and that wrath (which is what “intercede” literally means.)
One of the advantages that those of you who are Catholic or Orthodox have is that you already have, built into your liturgy and theology, ready made examples of both this kind of mediation and this kind of intercession. The Priest mediates. The Saints intercede. If you want to understand what Christ as our Great High Priest and Intercessor is doing for us right now in heaven, all you have to do is think of all the things that your Priest is doing and of all the things the Saints are doing. Christ is doing all of those things as well and He never stops doing those things on behalf of you and me and all Christians, individually and, I believe, by name.
What is Christ doing in Heaven? To put it simply: He is praying for us, He is pleading our case before God, and He is presenting His shed blood on the Cross as the price already paid for our sin.
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Sam_777
Guest
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kimg901
Guest
What is He doing? Is He not there when you feel sad? Is He not there at Mass? Jesus is everywhere all the time. For He is God and God created us and all that is good. So what is He doing?
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Phyllo
Guest
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