Why Theology Matters: Christology and our Vision for the World

by Marilynn Chadwick

The doctrine of Christology is connected to how we pray, live, and serve. Prayer is a major means of nourishing and strengthening our relationship with God. We pray like Jesus prayed. A strong Christology also invites us to share Jesus’s vision for the world. We see a lost and broken humanity as Jesus sees it. The focus of our prayers then becomes restoring people to the image of God. This means we pray through the eyes of love.

Jesus’s vision of love becomes our vision—for all Creation. Empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are prompted to pray for people as Jesus prayed for them. Following the example of Jesus, we fix our gaze on what is hidden deep within each person. As Christ’s body, we’re to speak prophetically, restore, redeem, and bring justice.

When we pray, we consider others in the light of eternity. For this, we need supernatural wisdom, power, and love. Like John Wesley and others, we see salvation as “the restoration of the defaced image of God.” The imago dei, or image of God, is present in men and women, Jew and Greek, black and white, saint and sinner. This image is “a gift,” says Augustine; something we receive from Christ.

Every human being from conception to death is created in the image of God, even when marred by sin. As we devote ourselves to a proper Christology, we will look at humanity as Jesus sees it. Might we also challenge our own assumptions about who can be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

With Jesus’s vision, we pray with expectancy, certain that “God the Holy Spirit” is working to bring comfort, hope, healing, and deliverance, even in seemingly impossible situations. Our practice of Christology challenges us to trust in God’s enormous power, always on the lookout for opportunities to celebrate his manifestations.

We also begin to see ourselves as Jesus sees us—as dearly loved children of God. Julia of Norwich, an influential theologian and mystic from the 14th century, is said to have challenged others to imagine the enormous love of God. Norwich grasped a vision of our redemption through “the mercy and grace of our sweet, kind, and ever-loving...Jesus, feeding us not with milk but with himself, opening his side to us and claiming all our love” (Revelations of Divine Love).

Julia’s portrayal of Jesus was both kind and fierce—much like a “mama-bear” caring for her cubs. Just as the mother of Moses saw that he was a “beautiful child,” risking her life to save her baby by defying the king’s edict (Hebrews 11:23 ESV), Jesus “sees our beauty” even before we can see it for ourselves. He gave his own life that we may live. Such a tender image should encourage us to pray with even greater faith.

Why Theology Matters: Christology and our Prayer Life

by Marilynn Chadwick

A solid Christology is fundamental to our relationship with the triune God. A healthy Christology influences our prayer life in several ways. First, we pray as Jesus prayed, opening the door to an intimate friendship with our heavenly father. “Jesus as God” is affirmed by his unique relationship with the Father.

Next, we pray to our Father. Only through Jesus can we call God “Father” (Matthew 6:9). When Jesus referred to God as “Father,” he was speaking as “God the Son.” Using an even more startling term, Jesus calls God “Abba,” an Aramaic expression akin to “Daddy” (Mark 14:36). Because of Jesus, we are dearly loved children and may pray to God as our Father. “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12 NRSV).

As we grow in our understanding of the work of Christ on the Cross, our prayers will grow in power. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 NIV). Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness—the only solid ground for confidence in prayer. As we walk in a close and intimate friendship with Jesus, he challenges us to broaden the scope and specificity of our prayers. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

When Jesus prayed, things happened. Blind eyes were opened, the dead were raised, sinners were given new life. The disciples must have seen the connection because they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus taught them to pray this way, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:10). Solid Christology should give birth to world-changing prayers.

Praying like Jesus means we will pray with others. Jesus encouraged communal prayer. He taught and modeled prayer as part of the worshiping community. With a robust Christology, we’ll certainly pray to God in private. But we’re also compelled to pray with others in God’s family—to our Father (Mat 6:7). Jesus reminds us “where two or three are gathered,” he is with us (Matthew 18:19). The gathering of believers saw the power of Pentecost break through while they prayed in the Upper Room together in one accord (Acts 1:8,14).

John and Charles Wesley explored the spiritual connection between God's people on earth and those in heaven, the “surrounding cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1. They imagined our communal prayer might extend to heavenly realms in prayers of agreement with the Church triumphant. Thus, Charles Wesley penned these words to “Come Let Us Join our Friends Above” (1759):

Come let us join our friends above

That have obtained the prize,

And on the eagle-wings of love

To joy celestial rise;

Let all the saints terrestrial sing

With those to glory gone,

For all the servants of our King

In earth and heaven are one.

Why Theology Matters: Christology and our Walk with Christ

by Marilynn Chadwick

Christology is one of three studies of the persons of the Trinity, the other two being Paterology, the study of God the Father, and Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles Creed, with its affirmation of both the doctrine of the Trinity and strong Christology, was written in the second century to combat the rise of false teaching in the early church.

The Doctrine of Christology can be defined as the study of the person, nature, and work of Jesus Christ. This week, we’ll explore how our Christology, what we believe about Jesus, influences how we live out our Christian faith.

But first, what is “proper” Christology? Creators of creeds and heretics alike have debated Christology for centuries. Sound Christology must be anchored in Scripture. Biblical Christology is consistent with the creeds of the church. Christology also informs our view of the Trinity and, more specifically, how we experience the person and character of Jesus. We look at the person and work of Jesus Christ from his pre-Incarnation existence to his Second Coming.

When it comes to Christology, prayer is referred to by some as “primary theology.” What we believe about Jesus Christ informs prayer, and prayer, in turn, influences how we walk in the world. Prayer is not simply a practice born out of a saving relationship with Jesus, but rather a means of getting to know him. Some theologians believe our current age’s fuzzy image of Jesus is due to a lack of strong Christology. This, in turn, impedes our developing an intimate friendship with Jesus and weakens our witness.

That’s why it’s important to have proper Christology which grounds us solidly in the identity of Christ. This gives us more reason to study God’s Word and abide in Christ daily. A healthy Christology builds balanced, mature, and fruitful believers.

The Incarnation, God in human flesh in Jesus Christ, is the centerpiece of our Christology and the defining event of Christian theology. Yet, the skepticism of modern historical biblical criticism has subjected the Incarnation to denial or even disbelief. The Apostle John recognized healthy Christology as the means of discerning false teachers in the first century:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already” (1 John 4:1-3 ESV). 

Theologians in the early centuries of the church labored to formulate sound doctrinal statements on the person of Jesus Christ. This resulted in the creeds which affirmed Jesus as “fully God and fully man”. We have these theologians and early church fathers to thank. Their work gave us the high Christology which became the foundation for orthodox theology through the centuries.