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Saturday, June 23, 2007

Vox Evangelica Volume 9 (1975) now on-line

The following articles are now available in PDF:

H. Dermot Mcdonald, "Development and Christology," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 5-27.

I found the section particularly helpful (from pages 5-6):

One reason for the hesitancy over the introduction of the term homoousion at Nicaea was the objection that it is not found in the New Testament. And the Arians made capital out of the fact that the Creed used extra-biblical concepts. Athanasius writes to a friend who was troubled by their reiterated question, ‘Why do the Fathers of Nicaea use terms not in Scripture, “Of the Essence”, and, “One in essence”?’ He replied that the Arians do indeed employ the designations ‘Son’ and ‘Logos’ which are certainly biblical; but they do not mean by them what the faith and doctrine of the church understands. So, contends Athanasius, the mere use of scriptural phrases is no guarantee of truth and no safeguard against error. To be precise as to the meaning of a biblical statement, it is often necessary to go outside the Bible itself. This was the more necessary, Athanasius argues, in the context of the discussions at Nicaea, since every scriptural phrase suggested was emptied of its true meaning by the Arian exegetes. When, for example, it was declared that the Son ‘always’ was Son, and ‘from’ God, they were ‘caught whispering to each other and winking with the eyes’.[1] They sought to explain away the real import of the declaration by quoting the usage of the words in other passages; for example, 2 Cor. 4:11―‘For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’s sake’; while they contended that to say that the Son is, ‘from the Father’, is to say no more than that He is among the ‘all things which are from God’ (2 Cor. 5:18 cf. l Cor. 8:6). Such ‘artful expressions and plausible sophisms’, as Athanasius considered them to be, cannot be met by pitching quotation against quotation.
[1] Athan., de Decretis, 20.

Norman Anderson, "Ethics: Relative, Situational or Absolute," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 28-36.

A.N.S. Lane, "Scripture, Tradition and Church: An Historical Survey," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 37-55.

M.M.B. Turner, "The Significance of Spirit Endowment for Paul," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 56-70.

James Atkinson, "Justification by Faith," Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 70-79.

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