Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Sendung (missio) - Analogie zu Sendung im menschlichen Sinn (7 Punkte); Sendung - Mitarbeit des Menschen; Grund der Inkarnation

Kurzinhalt: QUESTION 29 - What is the formality of divine mission? ... Now, the following elements fairly well sum up what is found in a human mission: (1) the movement from one place to another so that either (2) some particular operation or (3) ...

Textausschnitt: QUESTION 29 - What is the formality of divine mission?1

483a Since we cannot conceive the formality of a divine mission except by analogy to a human mission, we must begin from the latter in order that by way of affirmation, negation, and eminence we may to some extent be able to arrive at conceiving a divine mission. (Fs)

483b Now, the following elements fairly well sum up what is found in a human mission: (1) the movement from one place to another so that either (2) some particular operation or (3) some new series of operations may be accomplished there, whether (4) solely by the person sent or (5) by the persons to whom he or she is sent, (6) to be carried out according to the mind or command of the sender (7) revealed and entrusted to or imposed upon the person sent. (Fs) (notabene)
We must now determine which of these seven elements apply to a divine mission, taking them one at a time. (Fs)

483c First, then, movement from one place to another has to do more with the limitations of the human body than with the essence of mission. Hence, even in the case of a human mission this2 local movement may be absent. If, for example, the Papal Nuncio is sent to the Italian government, there is a true and real mission without any change of locale. Therefore, since the divine persons are not only incorporeal but also omnipresent, movement from one place to another contributes little or nothing to our understanding of a divine mission. For although it is quite devotional and most useful for us to imagine the Son or the Holy Spirit coming down from the heights of heaven, our present quest is for an understanding, not an image, of a divine mission.3 (Fs) (notabene)

485a Second, both the mission of the Son and the mission of the Spirit regard not some particular operation but a whole new series of operations. For the Son has been sent to gather up4 and reconcile5 all things, that God may be all in all.6 And the Holy Spirit is sent, not for this or that particular operation, but to preside over the whole of Christian living in every one of the just. (Fs)

485b Third, the Son and the Holy Spirit are related to their respective operations in different ways. Since the Son has assumed unto himself a human nature, he is able through this assumed nature to perform works that are proper to himself. Therefore, since the Son has been sent as mediator, redeemer, reconciler, head of the church, king, and judge, incarnation evidently belongs to the mission of the Son, since all these functions are envisaged as requiring works that are proper to the Son. On the other hand, since the Holy Spirit has no nature other than the divine, he does no works that the Father and the Son do not likewise do, and from this we conclude that the Holy Spirit is not sent in such a way as to do anything by himself alone, without the other divine persons. (Fs)

485c Fourth, since the end of a mission involves cooperation on the part of others, a mission is carried out not so much that works be done as that new personal relations be initiated and strengthened. The end of the divine missions is not attained without the cooperation of human beings: 'He who created you without you will not justify you without you.'7 Hence, in order to understand a divine mission, one must consider not only the works proper to the person sent but also the personal relations that that person initiates or strengthens in order that the end of the mission may be attained through the cooperation of others. (Fs)

487a There pertains to the mission of the Son, therefore, that friendship which he commends: 'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.'1
Similarly, there pertain to the mission of the Holy Spirit those intimate relations whereby we are not our own: 'Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you ... and that you are not your own?'2 'And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.'3

487b Fifth, all anthropomorphism must be excluded from a divine mission, and therefore in God both the mind of the sender and the revelation of that mind are nothing other than what we said concerning the constitution of a divine mission. (Fs)

487c Sixth, since the divine missions are ordered to each other, there is a single, total end to both missions. For the Son is sent 'while we were enemies,'4 to initiate through his work as mediator and redeemer and reconciler new interpersonal relations between God the Father and all human persons. And the Holy Spirit will be sent as 'the pledge of our inheritance,'5 when God has 'saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.'6

487d Seventh, since there is one overall end to both missions, and since this end is not attained without the cooperation of human persons, the different terms of the missions can be distinguished on the basis of the different stages whereby the end of the missions is brought about. (Fs) (notabene)

487e Therefore, the mission of the Son begins with the incarnation, not because the Son is sent in order to assume a human nature,7 but because through the incarnation the Son is constituted as the mediator sent to us. The mission of the Son was carried on throughout his mortal life, during which time the Son of Man entered into personal relationships with the children of men. A principal objective of his mission was accomplished when in dying on the cross he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.8 The mission of the Son is continued through the apostles and their successors: 'as the Father has sent me, so I send you';9 'whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me';10 'whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me';11 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'12 (Fs) (notabene)

489a Yet another principal objective of the mission of the Son is accomplished whenever one who is unjust is justified and a just person is further justified; for 'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.'13 The ultimate end of this mission, however, is attained in the beatific vision of the citizens of heaven, 'when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father.'14

489b Just as the Son has been sent to all people, since he died for all, so is the Holy Spirit sent to each of the just. 'And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, "Abba, Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.'15 'Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.'16 '... God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.'17 '... those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.'18 'If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.'19 For the Spirit, since he is the pledge of our inheritance, is given with an ordination to eternal life, so that the mission of the Spirit tends to the same ultimate end as the mission of the Son. (Fs)

491a This being so, there is not one formality of divine mission. For although each mission is the sending of a divine person, the mission of the Son is from the Father while the mission of the Spirit is from the Father and the Son. Also, although each mission has the same ultimate end, which is the heavenly city for the glory of the Father, the first mission is that of the Son for the reconciliation of all human persons to God the Father, and the consequent mission of the Spirit is to each one of the just, who have been reconciled. Besides, although the two missions are for the sake of initiating and strengthening new personal relationships between God and human beings, the Son, having assumed another nature beside the divine, not only enters into new personal relationships but also through the nature he assumed, and then through those whom he has sent, performs works that are proper to himself; but the Holy Spirit, not having another nature besides the divine, does not do anything proper to himself, but provides the foundation for cooperation in that it is through the Spirit's self-donation that the new personal relationships are strengthened. Finally, since the divine persons are sent to accomplish such a great task throughout the world by themselves or through others, the [external] term of the missions is assigned not in a brief statement, but rather by distinguishing the successive stages of this, the greatest of all works. (Fs) (notabene)