Showing posts with label triplex munus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triplex munus. Show all posts
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Friday, October 03, 2008
Martyrdom, discipleship and the triplex munus
I wrote something a while back on this here.
As Christ's body, the church continues or extends his work - so the prophetic/priestly/kingly classification is still useful. Though, it must be said, they need careful exposition in terms of mission.
As Christ's body, the church continues or extends his work - so the prophetic/priestly/kingly classification is still useful. Though, it must be said, they need careful exposition in terms of mission.
Bavinck on the munus triplex
Some stirring Dutch stuff:
"…Christ, both as the Son and as the image of God, for himself and also as our mediator and saviour, had to bear all three offices. He had to be a prophet to know and to disclose the truth of God; a priest, to devote himself to God and, in our place, to offer himself up to God; a king, to govern and protect us according to God’s will. To teach, to reconcile, and to lead; to instruct, to acquire and to apply salvation; wisdom, righteousness, and redemption; truth, love, and power – all three are essential to the completeness of our salvation. In Christ’s God-to-humanity relation, he is a prophet; in his humanity-to-God relation he is a priest; in his headship over all humanity he is a king. Rationalism acknowledges only his prophetic office; mysticism only his priestly office; millennialism only his royal office. But Scripture, consistently and simultaneously attributing all three offices to him, describes him as our chief prophet, our only [high] priest, and our eternal king. Though a king, he rules not by the sword but by his Word and spirit. He is a prophet, but his word is power and really happens. He is a priest but lives by dying, conquers by suffering, and is all-powerful by his love. He is always all these things in conjunction, never the one without the other: mighty in speech and action as a king and full of grace and truth in his royal rule."
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The Triplex Munus - Christ's Threefold Office
John Calvin in the Institutes II.xv.1:
Therefore, in order that faith may find a firm basis for salvation in Christ, and thus rest in him, this principle must be laid down: the office enjoined upon Christ by the Father consists of three parts. For he was given to be prophet, king and priest.
This is the famous triplex munus, the 'threefold office' of Christ, which has been used by Reformed theologians ever since as a way of describing and classifying Christ's work. Like Calvin's three uses of the law, it has the status of a powerful description of the way scripture hangs together, though it does not arise from an explicitly scriptural use. And that is what makes it a useful piece of theological thinking, so long as its provisionality is recognised. As is quite common, Calvin himself was not the orginator of the triplex munus - but he is its most prominent exponent.
Richardson & Bowden comment:
This (ie, triplex munus) has the advantage of bringing together three important strands of the biblical tradition. It does, however, tend to break up the unity of soteriology, choosing three categories at the expense of others (e.g. shepherd, saviour and servant), and scarcely takes adequate account of the extent to which the OT categories are transformed through Christ – their fulfilment is also in an important respect their abolition.
– A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. Alan Richardson, John Bowden
Abolition? Hmm...
Therefore, in order that faith may find a firm basis for salvation in Christ, and thus rest in him, this principle must be laid down: the office enjoined upon Christ by the Father consists of three parts. For he was given to be prophet, king and priest.
This is the famous triplex munus, the 'threefold office' of Christ, which has been used by Reformed theologians ever since as a way of describing and classifying Christ's work. Like Calvin's three uses of the law, it has the status of a powerful description of the way scripture hangs together, though it does not arise from an explicitly scriptural use. And that is what makes it a useful piece of theological thinking, so long as its provisionality is recognised. As is quite common, Calvin himself was not the orginator of the triplex munus - but he is its most prominent exponent.
Richardson & Bowden comment:
This (ie, triplex munus) has the advantage of bringing together three important strands of the biblical tradition. It does, however, tend to break up the unity of soteriology, choosing three categories at the expense of others (e.g. shepherd, saviour and servant), and scarcely takes adequate account of the extent to which the OT categories are transformed through Christ – their fulfilment is also in an important respect their abolition.
– A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. Alan Richardson, John Bowden
Abolition? Hmm...
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