Grace Of Christ Research Articles

Junia, Missionary Partnership, and Honor: The Discourse Function of Romans 16:7

Abstract Scholarly interest in Paul’s reference to Junia in Rom 16:7 has tended to focus on Junia’s gender, status as “apostle,” authority, and role. This article explores a question that has received less attention but has the potential to shed further light: the discourse function of the reference. The article first explores relevant discourse elements of Rom 16, then examines how these elements are prepared for in Rom 1–15, before returning to focus on the details of Rom 16:7. It finds that the reference to Andronicus and Junia as “notable among the apostles” helps Paul to further establish and strengthen missionary partnership between himself and the believers in Rome. It is also a concrete application of eschatological categories of honor, informed by the gospel of God’s grace in Christ. As a Jewish woman who suffers alongside Paul for the gospel mission, Junia is especially honored by Paul’s descriptions.

Jézus törvényértelmezésének hermeneutikai kulcsai a Máté 5 néhány tételében

Jesus did not come to dissolve or abolish (καταλυσαι) the Law but to complete (πληρωσαι) it. This fulfilling process is illustrated by six examples. However, while fulfilling the Law, Jesus did not lower the norm level; instead, he raised it to a much higher level. The analyzed sentences of Jesus set unrealizable expectations. He does not at all provide a more effective method of keeping the Torah but paralyzes the person in order to realize the futility of his efforts and that the only way to God is through the grace of Christ. Through the last three cases, the method of non-violent resistance is introduced. Hostile reactions lead to an escalation of violence, whereas evil can be stopped by wisely applied non-violent opposition. Interpreting the text with appropriate hermeneutic keys, the words of Jesus analyzed here no longer seem very radical, and the feasibility of following him is also much more realistic.

St. Thomas and Mary’s Participation in the Grace of Christ

St. Thomas and Mary’s Participation in the Grace of Christ

De eeuwigheidsdimensie van het heil. Een verkenning vanuit de praktijk van missionaire pioniers

To what extent is the traditional doctrine of salvation applicable and relevant to missionary communication in a secularized, Western context? This article explores experiences and insights from three missionary pioneers in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands,with a particular eye on the ‘eternity dimension’ of salvation. While people feel uneasy with a classical understanding of predestination, atonement, and regeneration, new aspects of transcendence or eternity can be discovered in missionary situations. Both a secular audience and missionary workers need an awareness of God’s eternal choice and his faithfulness as the foundation for our response to the Gospel. The interaction between systematic-theological reflection and practical experience leads to mutualenrichment, and deepens our understanding of God’s unconditional love and grace in Christ

The Use of Heuristic Reasoning in Christian Education

The grace of Christ needs to be on the agenda of preaching Christian Education in the current after-pandemic atmosphere. Students need clarity about themselves and why they must entrust their lives to the Lord Jesus. The contribution of Christian educators is to strive for them to grow in faith and become mature disciples of Christ later. The process of becoming a disciple of Christ, of course, is by paying attention to the cognitive workings of each student. And it becomes an essential part of Christian pedagogy so that teaching quality hits and succeeds. Heuristic reasoning is one of the proposed models because Christ himself used this reasoning with many people, including His disciples. This study aims to describe the definition and benefits of applying heuristic reasoning as a teaching method in Christian Education (hereafter, Pendidikan Agama Kristen/ PAK). This interview-based study utilized the perceptions of 20 PAK teachers in Indonesia discussing the benefits of heuristic reasoning at different levels of education and its implication in teaching Christian education. The findings revealed heuristics help teachers make quick decisions without being bogged down by irrelevant information. Thus, educators can leverage heuristics to encourage critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills among their students.

The Pedagogical and Religious Dimensions of the Rites of the Sacrament of Children’s Baptism

The topic of the article “The Pedagogical and Religious Dimensions of the Rites of the Sacrament of Baptism for Children” deals with the sacraments in the Catholic Church, particularly baptism as the first of the seven sacraments. As signs, sacraments are also meant to instruct, and indeed they do, for the meaning and grace of baptism are made clear in the rites of its celebration Union with Christ leads to confession of faith in the One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The profession of faith, closely related to baptism, is eminently Trinitarian. The Church baptises: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28,19), the Triune God to whom the Christian entrusts his life.The basis for analyzing the rites of baptism will be the Order of Baptism for Children during mass, which contains very important instructions that can be grouped into three points: (1) instructions about God the Father, (2) instructions about the essence of baptism and its importance for the parish and the baptized, (3) instructions about the duties of the baptized and their parents and godparents. In the sacraments God occupies the central place, and the sacrament of baptism, by instructing about God the Father, the first issue, brings closer three fundamental truths about God: (a) God’s initiative in the salvation for man, (b) God’s omnipotence (universal, loving and mysterious), and (c) God’s goodness. The second issue deals with: (a) the essence of baptism based on the terms given in the Rite of Receiving the Children (baptism, faith, the grace of Christ, admission to the Church, and eternal life); (b) the meaning of infant baptism for the parish community; and (c) the meaning of baptism for the child. Likewise, the third issue is also divided into two parts, with an instruction (a) on the duties of the baptized and (b) the duties of baptized children, parents and godparents.

Heuristic Reasoning and Conversational Cases in the Gospel of John

The grace of Christ needs to be on the agenda of preaching in the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of John. In the current pandemic atmosphere, heuristic reasoning can be grounded from the Gospel of John. The counselee needs clarity about himself and why he must entrust his life to the Lord Jesus. And the contribution of Christianity is to strive for them to grow in faith and become mature disciples of Christ in the future. The process of becoming a disciple of Christ of course by paying attention to the cognitive workings of the individual concerned. And it becomes an important part of Christian ministry so that the quality of the faith that is reached is visible and useful in his life. Heuristic reasoning can be one of the proposed models because Christ himself used this reasoning with many people, including His disciples.

Reordering Thomistic Josephology: Sanctifying Grace in Christ, Saint Joseph, and Us

Reordering Thomistic Josephology: Sanctifying Grace in Christ, Saint Joseph, and Us

Ambrose, Augustine, and the Pursuit of Greatness by J. Warren Smith

Reviewed by: Ambrose, Augustine, and the Pursuit of Greatness by J. Warren Smith Thomas Clemmons J. Warren Smith Ambrose, Augustine, and the Pursuit of Greatness Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020 Pp. vii + 292. $99.99. We might think of magnanimity as an aristocratic quality or even a political virtue, signifying an air of detachment, nobleness, and the rejection of petty meanness. Smith lands on "generosity" or "mercy" as "primary modern synonyms" for magnanimity (2). For Smith, that our modern synonyms for magnanimity diverge so greatly from the terms surrounding "greatness" in antiquity indicates a "real cultural shift." However, Smith's concern is not a genealogy from antiquity to the present, but rather, it seems, the longstanding commonplace (à la Edward Gibbon) of the classical great-souled man in contrast to the small-souled Christian saint. The first section of the book treats magnanimity from Homer to Plutarch. In Homer, greatness is bound with the pursuit of honor (τιμή) as Achilles's response to the slight from Agamemnon shows. Aristotle qualifies Homer to bind greatness with virtue, which, Smith maintains, is internalized in an ethic of self-sufficiency. In contrast to Aristotle, Plato's "myth of Er" reveals a rejection of Homeric honor, which re-narrates magnanimity from, in Smith's words, the great to the good. Three "Roman" philosophers, Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch, present iterations of the reception of Homer's honor-centered greatness and the responses of Aristotle and Plato. Cicero preserves gloria and exalts philosophical indifference, Seneca conceives of greatness as bound with self-restraint and even clementia, and Plutarch combines moderation and the common good. [End Page 646] Ambrose is the focus of the second section of the book, which in this reviewer's judgment is the most comprehensive, impressive, and compelling in Smith's fine study. Smith expands the common observation of Ambrose's attempt to replace classical exempla with Christian ones. Ambrose's Commentary on Luke depicts the patriarchs as images of the self-restraint taught by the Law and the fulfillment given by the grace of Christ. As images of Christ, Smith avers that the patriarchs are "not only examples of what the Christian should do, but also of what the Christian can do. Their lives provide the hope of virtue" (130). Thus, the perfection of Christian love offers an alternative ideal of greatness. Smith turns to De officiis to examine Ambrose's identification of the Christian virtue of compassion or misericordia with officia perfecta, which are "the eternal good in the present" for the benefit of all (138). Seneca made the distinction between clementia, an emotionless act of moderation, and misericordia, an emotion of pity. The former reinforces society, shows greatness, and confirms justice, while the latter risks unraveling societas and dissolving justice. In contrast, for Ambrose, misericordia is a magnanimous disposition "informed by the reason implicit in the economy of salvation" (144). Ambrose, thus, wholly re-conceptualizes the meaning of Ciceronian justice and societas. As De Ioseph suggests, societas is not derived from the order of nature, but rather is founded on the compassion of Christ; hence, the common good always includes one's neighbors and their needs. The shift from greatness bound with honor to a magnanimity exemplified in misericordia might promote "humiliation" and resentment (Nietzsche's critique of Christianity). Smith responds with Ambrose's comments on the biblical king David's transcendence of resentment through his trust in God's "gracious judgment" (185). Unlike Plutarch, Ambrose perceives greatness as great-souled humility, "a Christ-like disregard for one's own honor and conversely a high concern for one's social inferiors, conferring on them a dignity greater than one's own" (187). Therefore, Ambrose reorganizes greatness in society around compassion or misericordia, while not abandoning iustitia and without engendering a culture of resentment. Unlike the impressively thorough and often original treatment of Ambrose, Smith confines himself to the first book of both Confessiones and De ciuitate Dei. Smith mentions (and this viewer looked forward to reading) Augustine's understanding of misericordia in earlier works (there are references to an earlier chapter, which this reviewer was not able to find [226]). Instead, Smith homes in on two common and prominent criticisms of magnanimity...

Exploring Ruist Influences of Moral Self-Cultivation on the Mandarin Union Version of the Chinese Bible (CUV)

AbstractThe influences of Chinese traditional culture, especially the traditional Three Teachings and folk religion, on the Mandarin Union Version of the Chinese Bible (first edition, 1919) and the resulting complications are explicit in some contexts but implicit and subtle in other contexts. Some influences are helpful for Chinese people's proper understanding of biblical truth and theology in a Chinese context, but other influences can be misleading. In this paper, I will examine three translated Chinese phrases in the Mandarin Union Version that show evidence of Ruist influences: (1) “xūxīn de rén” “虛心的人”, in Matthew 5:3, (2) “tiānguó shì nǔlì jìnrù de﹐nǔlì de rén jiù dézháole” “天國是努力進入的﹐努力的人就得著了”, Matthew 11:12, and (3) “lǎoliàn” “老練”in Romans 5:4. Ruist influences is explicit in the first two cases but implicit in the third case, I will first analyze the verses and argue that they reflect the dominant Ruist ideology of moral self-cultivation instead of the biblical vision of transformation by “gracious moral cultivation”. Then I will demonstrate how Chinese readers might respond based on the context of each verse: Some Chinese readers might detect the inconsistenices between the Ruist emphasis on moral self-cultivation and a more general biblical theology, especially in an intertextual context of other Bible passages that explicitly teach the total depravity of human beings (e.g. Romans), as well as reconciliation and redemption by the free gift of Christ's grace for salvation and sanctification (e.g. Ephesians). Other Chinese readers might be misled by Ruist suggestions that they pursue sanctification and transformation only by means of moral self-cultivation that relies solely on their willpower. I will conclude by arguing how mistranslating and misinterpreting these verses can cause possible complications, especially negatively masking behaviour, in the personal and interpersonal spiritual transformation and ecclesiological development among Chinese Christians.

Contemporaneity: The Mystery of Liturgical Time

Contemporaneity:The Mystery of Liturgical Time Roch Kereszty O.Cist. In the period after the Second Vatican Council, the balance between relevance and tradition, adaptation and conservation, inner and active participation, and dynamic and literal translation all occupied a central place in liturgical discussions, and led at times to passionate confrontations. Essential indeed were these issues in promoting an authentic liturgical renewal but, as almost always happens in history, they eclipsed, to the point of near total oblivion, a fundamental issue that, when ignored, distorts the proper understanding of liturgical participation. Faithful Catholics in the pew know that Christ becomes present on the altar, that they receive him in holy communion, and that they remember his death and resurrection in the Mass. They also know that in the other sacraments they receive Christ's grace adapted to the purpose of the respective sacrament. But they are largely unaware that in the liturgical action they enter liturgical time, the intersection of our time with eternity. If the sacrifice of Christ in the Mass remains for them a mere object of their own "liturgical imagination," and heaven is the mere object of future hope, they remain locked up within the narrow walls of their secular life. Yet, when we enter a Romanesque or Gothic cathedral or the modern chapel of Le Corbusier, we cannot help feeling that we entered another world whose dimensions enlarge and elevate our mind and heart. Is this merely an illusion imagined by the visitor, or could this world perhaps be more real than what one leaves outside? In other words, if there is liturgical space, should there not be also liturgical time? In the present article, I intend to take up a subject which had been a hotly debated topic in the first half of the twentieth century. I do not intend to provide an overview of the various theological positions in that near past, but rather to articulate and develop what seem to me their positive results. [End Page 505] Twentieth Century Reflections on Liturgical Time While in the late Middle Ages and in the post-Tridentine period the focus of theological inquiry centered on the substantial presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine, in the first half of the twentieth century a number of dogmatic theologians and liturgists began to explore the presence of the "work of our redemption" in the liturgical actions of the Church. They referred to Christ's redemptive work by the traditional term "the mysteries of Christ" or the "saving history of Christ," which includes his conception, birth, earthly life, suffering, resurrection, and ascension. Odo Casel, a Benedictine of the Belgian Abbey of Maria-Lach, was the first to study the biblical and patristic evidence for what he called the Mysteriengegenwart, the presence of the redemptive mysteries in the liturgical actions of the Church.1 The subsequent lively theological discussion centered on the apparent contradiction: Casel and followers claimed that Christ's historical acts have an abiding presence in the liturgy, but others objected that a historical act necessarily becomes past or else it is not historical. Besides Casel, the most important theologians who tried to provide an intelligible explanation of the traditional data are Gottlieb Söhngen, Johannes Betz, Brian McNamara, and Edward J. Kilmartin.2 As metaphysical studies became unpopular by the last decades of the twentieth century, the issue of the Mysteriengegenwart also disappeared from among the relevant themes of theological inquiry. I first intend to survey the data of the Tradition on the presence of the redemptive work of Christ in the liturgy, and then offer an explanation of what constitutes "liturgical time." [End Page 506] Scripture In the first half of the twentieth century, form-critical studies by K. L. Schmidt, Martin Dibelius, and Rudolph Bultmann asserted that many of the pre-Gospel pericopes that later became the building blocks of the Gospels originated in a Eucharistic setting. Recently, Denis Farkasfalvy reformulated their theory and successfully argued for the Eucharistic provenance of most Gospel pericopes. The "words and deeds of Jesus" were remembered, told, retold and shaped in the Eucharistic gatherings not as mere subjective memories of what he did and said...

An Outward and Visible Sign of an Inward and Spiritual Grace

Abstract Drawing on Headlam’s sermons, pamphlets, and letters, this article explores his theology of the ballet, a theology made possible by his conception of sacrament and sacramental bodies. Headlam’s incarnational sacramentalism not only enabled a support of the stage as divinely created and a sacrosanct space, but created an approach to dancers, particularly women, that was distinct in its treatment of all bodies as the same in potentiality before God. His sacramentalism defied the standard conflation of dance with female transgression and male danger. Accordingly, Headlam’s vision of the earthly kingdom of God was one in which there was truly neither male nor female, and in which the stage and its ballerinas could act as models of the grace of Christ rather than as reflections of fallen humanity.

“Wie einen feinen jungen Baum …”: nature, the fallen man, and social order in Martin Luther’s works on education (1524–1530)

ABSTRACTMartin Luther’s reflections on education and schooling are summarised in two short texts (Wittenberg, 1524 and 1530) addressed respectively to the municipal authorities and to parents. Nevertheless, the subject of education permeates his whole work, emerging in several other treatises and commentaries. His passionate eloquence refers often to nature as a repertoire of metaphors and a conceptual tool. In this paper, we will attempt a close reading of some key passages, focusing on the two thematic axes of “human nature” and “natural and social order”. According to Luther, “human nature” is the fallen nature of the sinful man, but also a nature full of potentialities unchained by the grace of Christ. Its development through education aims primarily at setting the man in his “natural order”, i.e., the “social order”. From that moment on, Bildung has the special duty to discover and make possible one’s own Beruf, which makes the man able to accomplish his function in society and adhere to God’s design. Education, therefore, is both the caring action that develops the sprout in a “beautiful tree” and a necessary act of violence, replicating the complexity and ambiguity of the laws of nature.

"In ancient times, God spoke in different ways to our ancestors and through the prophets": Existential and Ontological Possible Parallels between Yoruba Traditional Religion and the Christ Event

According to Paul, grace is a giftto all through the vicarious suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 5:15–16), grace that was extended to all even when humanity was dead in sin. This provides a framework for a theological reexamination of black Africa's religious traditions. Borrowing from traditional Yoruba religious cosmology, it is argued that pre-missionary religious practices are preparatio evangelium, sacred spaces mediating grace and the birthing of communitarian virtues. With parallels from within this tradition, examined with the Christ event, it is argued further that Christian missionary efforts often demonized traditional religions due to ignorance. The colonial assumption that cultural and religious rituals of Africa are "pagan and uncivilized" animism will be debunked. Parallels can be drawn between the story of Jesus and the religious narratives within and beyond Yoruba traditional cosmogony. This essay concludes that traditional religions of ethnic peoples were already sacred spaces mediating Christ's grace before the advent of the slave raiders, colonialists, or white missionaries. It challenges Euro-American perception and understanding of the religious traditions of Africa as sacred places of Christ's grace, thereby creating grounds for an ecumenical handshake between Christianity and various African traditional religious belief systems.

Ein alter Interpunktionsvorschlag zu 1Thess 1,1 neu beleuchtet: ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη

Abstract: The prepositional phrase ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ in 1Thess 1,1 is usually interpreted as part of the address and therefore as a specification of the assembly addressed. In this essay a reading favoured by Ambrosiaster in the 4th and Johann Benjamin Koppe in the 19th century will be reconsidered: ἐν θεῷ κτλ. can be regarded as part of the greeting and understood instrumentally: by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace and peace be with you. Thus the salutatio of 1Thess can be considered as Paul’s first attempt to express that in his prescripts God and Jesus Christ are the real source of χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη.

Læringsarenaer som kan fostre misjonalt lederskap

Learning arenas which may foster missional leadership: Reflections on The Cape Town Commitment’s evangelical and missiological contribution to leadership development This article explores evangelical perspectives on how to foster missional leadership on key learning arenas. The Lausanne Movement is widely regarded as representative for evangelical perspectives, and its roadmap The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) is therefore selected as the material. In line with CTC, missional leaders are viewed as a broad category which includes church and mission leaders, Gospel-inspired social action leaders, and Christian thought-leaders in the public arena. The background is today’s pluralistic and secular context, with ‘the civil public square’ as a desirable common vision. Key evangelical convictions in CTC, shaping the fostering of missional leaders, include the foundational grace of Christ, a classical evangelical theology, a holistic missional approach, and a ‘whole person’ leadership development. The church, theological education, and the academy at large are selected as significant learning arenas in CTC. The church arena, claims CTC, should be shaped by biblical teaching, equipping for apologetics, and a holistic view of calling. As a learning arena, per CTC, theological education needs to have a focus on the missional intention, the missional tasks, and the missional equipping, all of which presuppose the centrality of the Bible. Therefore, every theological education should undertake a «missional revision». In terms of the arena of the academy at large, CTC emphasizes its formative role, stresses the need both for Christian institutions and Christians in the ‘secular academy’, encouraging faith and learning as well as public apologetics. All this leads to final missiological reflections, where it is argued that fostering missional leaders on these arenas (a) is enhanced by an emphasis on «bearing witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas», (b) presupposes an understanding of cognitive dissonance as a key challenge in the contemporary secular context, and (c) should include a comprehensive apologetic strategy for all three arenas.

Naming and nurturing reality from a heart renewed by grace

This contribution investigates the unbearable tension between the homiletical act of naming reality (with the promise of exposing, challenging and/or triggering creative forces in it) on the one hand, and neglecting this same reality on the other hand, thereby causing it to return to an ignored, unchallenged and degenerated state. The author focuses on tension fields that are generated when preachers embark on the activity of naming realities in their proximate contexts and how they position, withdraw or distance themselves in a certain way when problematic elements (for instance the glaring and seemingly unbridgeable inequality in the situation of Dalits) are opened up by the act of naming. By means of a theological reflection on the renewal of the heart by God’s act of grace in Christ, the author attempts to identify key markers for a homiletic theory that will be able to link the act of naming reality with the act of nurturing (rather than neglecting) this named reality.

Significado de la beatificación de los mártires del siglo XX en España en el Año de la Fe

Beatyfikacja męczenników hiszpańskich, która miała miejsce 13 października 2013 roku, w Roku Wiary, była wydarzeniem obejmującym największą dotychczas liczbę męczenników wyniesionych jednorazowo do chwały ołtarzy. Bez trudu można dostrzec jej związek ze świadectwem męczenników trzeciego wieku. Wszyscy oni oddali życie ze względu na Chrystusa. Przebaczyli swoim mordercom. Ich chwała jest głoszeniem pojednania i lekcją dla wszystkich chrześcijan. Odwaga męczenników nie była ich zasługą, ale łaską daną im przez Chrystusa. Ich męczeństwo ujawnia ich zjednoczenie z Chrystusem, Bogiem Ojcem i Duchem Świętym i niesie budujące orędzie dla współczesnych chrześcijan.

O PECADO ORIGINAL: RAÍZES HISTÓRICO-TEOLÓGICAS DE UMA CONTROVÉRSIA

Estuda-se neste pequeno artigo o confronto entre duas linhas de pensamento acerca do pecado de Adão e da Graça de Cristo, a saber: a heresia pelagiana e a resposta de Santo Agostinho a essa heresia. Num primeiro momento, vemos um pouco da doutrina pelagiana sobre o pecado original e sobre a graça e num segundo momento, trabalha-se a resposta agostiniana e, de forma sintética, podemos ver as origens de um dogma que fará com que Agostinho fique conhecido como o “inventor do pecado original”. Encontramos nesse estudo tanto o modo de entender do pelagianismo, quanto o desenvolvimento da questão no pensamento de Agostinho até chegar à necessidade da graça de Cristo para a restauração da natureza e da liberdade corrompidas pelo pecado de Adão.

‘Dignified’: An Exegetical Soteriology of Divine Honour

AbstractSocial scientists in disparate fields are now employing the construct of honour to ameliorate various social problems, such as immorality, failed states, international discord, poverty and mental illness. Moreover, historians of global religion cite Christianity's shift towards cultures shaped by the values of honour and shame. Despite this growing prominence of honour in social theories and the emergence of Christianity in honour–shame cultures, the notion of honour remains absent from theological discourse. In light of these global realities, we explore how God's active transformation of humanity from shame to honour can interpret both salvation-history and Christian theology. To this end I first explore the nature of humanity's problem of shame before God, using anthropological and biblical insights. Throughout the Old Testament, God's covenant initiatives with Abram, Moses and David, along with the common socio-literary pattern of God exalting a servant from unjust shame, reveals the dignified status God intends for humanity. God's programme to restore people from shame to honour climaxes in Jesus, who embodies honour in the incarnation, mediates dignity to the marginalised by healings and public fellowship, elaborates God's new code of honour which reinterprets social stigmas, and procures an exalted status for all peoples by atoning for shame and resurrecting to exaltation. Romans and 1 Peter are interpreted in their socio-historic contexts as apostolic instruments which expound the social implications of God's honour code. To unify the fractured Romans for the upcoming Spanish mission, Paul confronts social imperialism by replacing false honour claims with God's status now available by faith through grace in Christ. Meanwhile, 1 Peter assures maligned Christians of their exalted status and outlines honourable social relations. Then, in closing, we examine a soteriology of honour diachronically and systematically. In particular, how: biblical metaphors symbolise believers’ status transposition, group incorporation is key to New Testament soteriology, Eastern Orthodoxy's doctrine oftheosisarticulates the infusion of divine status, and other theological categories could be interpreted through honour-shame social values. These reflections towards an exegetical soteriology of divine honour are offered as an initial theological platform for addressing social issues where honour values prevail.