Verses used by the Arians – Go to my brothers and tell them

General topic

The talk addresses the meaning of the Lord’s phrase “Go to my brothers and tell them that I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” and explains the distinction between Christ’s divinity and his human nature in this statement.

Main theological and linguistic points

• It shows that the phrase “my brothers” and “I ascend” indicate the bodily and human side of Christ, because divinity is not subject to ascending or descending or to plurality in brotherhood.

• It details the meaning of saying “my Father and your Father”: he is “my Father” in the ontological and theological sense in himself, and “your Father” in the sense of adoption, love, and faith that make believers children by grace.

• It clarifies the meaning of “my God and your God” regarding the incarnate Word: he is God in respect to the human nature he assumed, not as God in the theological sense who has no god.

• It cites the Psalms and the Epistles (Psalm 22, Hebrews, Matthew 28) to prove Christ’s sharing with people in flesh and blood, and that his expressions refer to his human representative aspect.

The mystery of the Firstborn (“first of all creation”)

• It explains the phrase “firstborn of all creation” as not meaning Christ is a created being, but that he is the firstborn regarding his resurrection and the new birth: he represents the new creation born of water and Spirit, and the first in resurrection and in spiritual birth.

• He links resurrection and baptism: baptism is a kind of participatory resurrection, and Christ is the first in this new reality.

Spiritual and educational application

• He affirms that Christ came as mediator to restore to people God as Father and God as their God in his image: he took the form of a servant and became a man to present to humanity a new nature in Christ.

• He urges listeners to understand texts according to the union of God with human nature: the distinction between what is said of the divinity and what is said of the human nature must preserve the correct understanding of the mysteries and salvation.