Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

224 / CORNERSTONE CURRICULUM STUDENT WORKBOOK

• The culmination of this lowliness and humility is revealed in the passion and death of Jesus Christ. • The death of Jesus may be understood through various dimensions which enable us to understand the blessings his suffering provided to the world. • These include the concept of Jesus’ death as a ransom for us, as a propitiation for our sins, as a substitutionary sacrifice in our place, as a victory over the devil and death itself, and as a reconciliation between God and humankind. • The Nicene Creed unequivocally confesses that our Lord Jesus Christ died and was buried for our sins. This was the culmination of our Lord’s humiliation upon earth in his descent from his heavenly, preexistent glory. I. The Humiliation of Jesus Christ Phil. 2.6-8 – . . . who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,[a] being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Gal. 4.4-5 – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Video Outline

By means of a tree, we were made debtors to God. Likewise, by means of a tree [the cross], we can obtain the remission of our debt. ~ Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.545. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. p. 184.

3

T heology and E th i c s

A. Humiliation in the Incarnation: the self-emptying of Jesus Christ

1. He gave up his equality with God.

a. Giving up the presence of the Father and the Spirit

b. Form of spirit and infinite glory