The Cross in Salvation

The Cross in Salvation

Introduction

Dr. Robert Goetz, being a renowned theologist and chairman of ethics at Elmhurst College, presented many differing views of his understanding of the divine plan, and in this paper, I will be analyzing certain aspects of his article that appeared in Christian Century in 1990. Although Mark's Gospel indicates that before crossing over, Jesus cried to the heavens, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", this is examined in depth along with other parts of the scripture by Goetz who initiates a debate over whether or not this cry to God is faith being tested and broken over the anguish that Jesus faced while tied to the cross.

Discussion

With the above words, the debate implies that Jesus may not have meant them, since one is prone to cry out when in pain and since Jesus was an ordinary man, nothing else can be expected. In Goetz's article, there are comments made that refer to God's participation in this plan of Jesus on the cross, and it deals in depth with the question of whether divinity had a larger part to play in the statement uttered above by Jesus, but it may be said that the understanding that Goetz has of the divine plan is split between faith and humanity and the divine plan. He implies through his understanding that the debates who are convinced that Jesus did not imply loss of faith at the cross are not clearly understanding the point since Jesus seems merely to be quoting the first thing out of Scripture that he could think of. The meaning behind the words can even be seen as pious. The uttered words are, quite understandably, taken out of context by unsuspecting analysts but there is a deeper meaning to them that must be examined fully. In his article, Goetz tends to focus on the profundity of the words that Jesus Christ spoke out loud on the cross, and his understanding of the divine plan through these readings is succinct.

According to the article, humanity in Jesus is what really matters where the story of the cross is concerned. There is no mistake that Scripture retells the story of Jesus as he became man. Thus, according to a biblical point of view, his humanity is what has led him to the cross in the first place. "The word became flesh" (John 1:14), "He partook of the same (flesh and blood) (Heb 2:14). Several other instances define this undertaking in the doctrine, and scripture goes on to relate the humanity of Christ to be that of human beings in general. Of course, there have always been denials about Christ's humanity even in the first half of the first century. There are even warnings in Scripture against those that speak out about human nature in Jesus Christ. ""And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of

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