Nielsen’s Nook

In this final part of our consideration of catholicity presented by the fourth century bishop Cyril of Jerusalem, we turn from considering geographic ubiquity, theological worldview and discipline to the conception of the church as a universal hospital for sinners. Again, for convenience, I have included the quote from Cyril that we’re considering:

The Church is called ‘catholic’ or ‘universal’ because it has spread throughout the entire world, from one end of the earth to the other. Again, it is called catholic because it teaches fully and unfailingly all the doctrines which ought to be brought to men’s knowledge, whether concerned with visible or invisible things, with the realities of heaven or the things of earth. Another reason for the name ‘catholic’ is that the Church brings under religious obedience all classes of men, rulers and subjects, learned and unlettered. Finally, it deserves the title ‘catholic’ because it heals and cures without restriction every type of sin that can be committed in soul or in body, and because it possesses within itself every kind of virtue that can be named, whether exercised in actions or in words or in some kind of spiritual charism [(i.e., spiritual gift)].^[1]

Hospital for Sinners

When the catholic church is on its mark in any given locale, it serves as a hospital for sinners. It is a place where we may come and expect to be changed with a view towards loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. This requires positive shaping (theological worldview) and negative formation (discipline without distinction). These two elements serve as the Doctor’s instruments that convert and heal.

Conclusion

These aspects of the church expressed locally are all done in concert with the rest of the church catholic. If they are done without this jugular connection, the visible lessening of the reality of the gospel occurs, for Christ did not come only to renew those in your church or mine, but to bring cosmic restoration, catholic renewal of all that is. The local and the catholic are as rain drops in a rainstorm. If one takes the former out of the context of the later it ceases to be rain and is reduced to mere moisture.

 

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^[1] The Catechetical Instructions of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, d. 386, Catechesis 18, 23-5: Patrologia Graeca  33, 1043-50. Tr. The Office of Readings according to the Roman Rite (Slough, 1983), p. 926. As cited in G. R. Evans and J. Robert Wright, The Anglican Tradition : A Handbook of Sources (London: SPCK, 1991), 27.

In this second part of a three part post, we continue reflecting on a fourth century A.D. quote from Cyril of Jerusalem regarding catholicity (included again for your reference) that laid out four aspects of catholicity. The first we considered was that of geographic ubiquity. Here we’ll consider the aspects of theological world view and discipline as something that circumscribe catholic church life.

The Church is called ‘catholic’ or ‘universal’ because it has spread throughout the entire world, from one end of the earth to the other. Again, it is called catholic because it teaches fully and unfailingly all the doctrines which ought to be brought to men’s knowledge, whether concerned with visible or invisible things, with the realities of heaven or the things of earth. Another reason for the name ‘catholic’ is that the Church brings under religious obedience all classes of men, rulers and subjects, learned and unlettered. Finally, it deserves the title ‘catholic’ because it heals and cures without restriction every type of sin that can be committed in soul or in body, and because it possesses within itself every kind of virtue that can be named, whether exercised in actions or in words or in some kind of spiritual charism [(i.e., spiritual gift)].^[1]

Theological Worldview

Historically the church has sought to form the minds of God’s people to the mind of Christ. There are certainly times when that was obviously generally not the case, while there are glorious moments when we see a more pervasive Christian worldview at the fore. How we think about this world, its resources, heaven, hell, judgment, death, money and time for example matter and are integrally related to discipleship or “religious obedience.”

Discipleship of All Kinds and Classes of People

Religious obedience has always been a mark of the catholic church. This has never been more evident than today by remotion. Many of the visible churches in the United States have failed to discipline (lat. disciplinare, to teach) their members and especially their leaders. Consequently, those churches slide off into a slough of despond and self-absorption; this results in anti-catholic events such as schism. Joyful religious obedience is then something of the atmosphere of catholic church life. Remove or pollute it and suffocation, retardation, and destruction result to all members without distinction.

Look for part 3, the final part, tomorrow…

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^[1] The Catechetical Instructions of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, d. 386, Catechesis 18, 23-5: Patrologia Graeca  33, 1043-50. Tr. The Office of Readings according to the Roman Rite (Slough, 1983), p. 926. As cited in G. R. Evans and J. Robert Wright, The Anglican Tradition : A Handbook of Sources (London: SPCK, 1991), 27.

In about 347 A.D. Cyril of Jerusalem laid out a succinct list of four connotations that were circumscribed by the notion of catholicity:

The Church is called ‘catholic’ or ‘universal’ because it has spread throughout the entire world, from one end of the earth to the other. Again, it is called catholic because it teaches fully and unfailingly all the doctrines which ought to be brought to men’s knowledge, whether concerned with visible or invisible things, with the realities of heaven or the things of earth. Another reason for the name ‘catholic’ is that the Church brings under religious obedience all classes of men, rulers and subjects, learned and unlettered. Finally, it deserves the title ‘catholic’ because it heals and cures without restriction every type of sin that can be committed in soul or in body, and because it possesses within itself every kind of virtue that can be named, whether exercised in actions or in words or in some kind of spiritual charism [(i.e., spiritual gift)].^[1]

Geographic Ubiquity

While the invisible church is no doubt spread across the face of this earth in places like Egypt and Iraq, Nigeria and Uganda, India and Uzbekistan, China and Laos, Brazil and Mexico, and Britain and the United States, Cyril’s ecclesiology does not so readily allow for the abstraction of the visible from the invisible. It is certainly the invisible church that is Christ’s instrument to create in us a theological world-view, to disciple us and to heal us from our many sins. However, it is that in the context of the visible church.

So catholicity is very important because the visible is connected to the invisible ostensibly. Our presence as a church in the area in which we live does say something about the invisible church (may we not misrepresent it!). The connectedness of all who are part of the invisible church via Jesus is to be demonstrated in the relation of the organization and attitude of the visible church. In other words, while the visible church is bound together and throttled forward by polity and committees, these are but instrumental vehicles that correspond to the invisible catholic work of the Spirit. Nevertheless, independent churches would be inconsistent with what Cyril seem to articulate here because they do not visibly demonstrate the invisible connection to the church worldwide.

Look for part 2 tomorrow…

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^[1] The Catechetical Instructions of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, d. 386, Catechesis 18, 23-5: Patrologia Graeca  33, 1043-50. Tr. The Office of Readings according to the Roman Rite (Slough, 1983), p. 926. As cited in G. R. Evans and J. Robert Wright, The Anglican Tradition : A Handbook of Sources (London: SPCK, 1991), 27.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Received Greek Text	The Received Latin Text
Καὶ (εἰς) ἸΗΣΟΥΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΝ, υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν, τὸν συλληφθέντα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου, παθόντα ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, σταυρωθέντα, θανόντα, καὶ ταφέντα, κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα,…	Et in Jesum Christum, Filium ejus unicum, Dominum nostrum; qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria virgine; passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus; descendit ad inferna;…

Translation

And in Jesus Christ, his son, the only begotten one, [1] our Lord, who was conceived [2] of the Holy Spirit, born [3] of the Virgin Mary, suffered [4] under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, was put to death, [5] and was buried, [6] after he descended into the lower regions of the earth… [7]

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[1] ὸν μονογενῆ comes as the second in a double apposition, which in rendering our translation in this more wooden fashion we attempt to show. The word has to do with the singularly unique place that Jesus occupies as the God-Man.

[2] συλληφθέντα a mysterious word. None of the literature I have access to discusses this.

[3] γεννηθέντα a word rendered born and speaking of Jesus’ incarnate existence into time and space and purposefully different than μονογενῆ which is used to speak of the Son’s eternal relationship to the Father. γεννηθέντα is used in the LXX and NT to speak of biological birth: Job 14:1; Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28. 1 Clement 30:5 employing an adjectival form of the word reads εὐλογημένος γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ὀλιγόβιος, blessed is woman’s short-lived offspring.

[4] παθόντα (πάσχω) baldly refers to ones experience or treatment; however, even in classical literature it is not often used to refer to positive experiences. The LXX always uses the word to refer to the enduring of suffering and/or death. (BAGD, πάσχω)

[5] θανόντα (θανατόω) especially the death sentence and its execution. There is also a figurative dimension which entails spiritual or eternal death (BAGD).

[6] ταφέντα (ταφή) 1 Clement 16:10 καὶ δώσω τοὐς πονηροὐς ἀντἱ τῆς ταφῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ἀντὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ· And I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death.

[7] Compare the Latin descendit ad inferna with κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα. The Greek seems to be a clear reference to Ephesians 4:9-10. In both the Ephesians passage and the Greek of the Creed, the lower regions (τὰ κατώτατα) is a realm that is not given the identification of Hell as Christians would think of it today or perhaps thought of it by the time the Latin text was received, rendering τὰ κατώτατα as inferna. The underworld in Greek thought was not necessarily the place of eternal punishment after death but simply the place the dead went indiscriminately. Philip Schaff comments, “This clause was unknown in the older creeds, though believed in the Church, and was transferred into the Roman symbol after the fifth century, probably from that of Aquilcia, A.D. 390, where it first appears among Latin creeds…” (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, p 45, fn 43). I commend the entire note to your reading.

A dear brother, who was a Teaching Elder in the North Texas Presbytery and served as the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) director at Texas Christian University before taking a position as RUF minister at Furman in South Carolina, has had a most difficult and, for me at least, an incomprehensible providence. Dustin was riding his bicycle on November 8 with his two sons and fell off injuring his head. He has been in a coma for sometime. The prognosis is not good presently.

Dustin’s family needs our prayers as should we pray for him. May the Lord heal him, facilitate a full recovery and restore him to the faithful and joyous service to his church and family now in South Carolina.

You can find updates on Dustin at the website of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in South Carolina.

On Jan 17th I take my oral exams for the North Texas Presbytery, which is the regional court of the Presbyterian Church in America that examines, licenses and ordains men to ministry in the denomination. One thing in which I know I need to become more proficient is the art of speaking in concise and clear ways - not only for the exam, but it seems to be a paramount skill for a pastor generally.

On this account, this blog will be devoted to developing this art of communicating clearly and concisely on some of the subject matter that will be covered in the upcoming Oral Exam. In this way I hope the subsequent Q & A sessions here will prove perhaps helpful for readers and passers by who might benefit or enjoy reflecting on what I hope will be terse reflection on these topics of interest.