As ruler of everything, God has a plan of salvation. This idea of a plan of salvation is especially developed by Ignatius. In his letter to the Ephesians, he speaks of the “economy towards the new man.” This is a. wonderful summary of the Christian message: economy towards the new man. Economy means “building a house.” But this word is used in our culture for what we call economic production. It is used in the Greek period for the structure of God and world, in their relationships. There is an economy of the Trinitarian thinking: Father, Son, and Spirit. They only together are God. There is an economy of salvation, the building of the different periods which finally led to the new man. This idea of the new man, or new creature, or new being, as the aim of the history of salvation, is an important contribution of these theologians.
This economy, this periodic preparation, is already present in the Old Testament. So Ignatius says: “Judaism has believed towards Christianity.” Here again we have the relationship towards fulfillment. The Christ, the new man, has appeared. He is perfect. The disruptedness of the old man is overcome and death is dissolved. This leads to Christology.
Now you will find that here already, some of the defects arise which will become overwhelming when we come to the Trinitarian and Christological discussions. So I ask you to follow very carefully each mentioning of the Christological problem in the earlier periods, otherwise it is impossible to understand anything of the dogma of the early Church, which has two parts: Christ in heaven (the Trinitarian dogma) and Christ on earth (the Christological dogma).
Generally speaking, one can say that Jesus as the Christ was considered to be a Spiritual being who is pre-existent, and who had transformed the historical Jesus into a tool for His saving activity. The Spirit is an hypostasis in God, an independent power – which of course is completely united with God – but it has the character of a certain independence or hypostasis. The Son came into the realm of f lesh; He accepted f lesh, which had developed independently; the f lesh cooperated with the Spirit in Him; the Holy Spirit dwelled in the f lesh which He chose; He became the Son of God by His service. (” Flesh” here always means historical reality), But there is another idea – and now things become serious. One could say that the first Spirit, the proton pneuma, became f lesh. For instance Ignatius says: “Christ is God and perfect man at the same time. He comes from the Spirit, and the seed of David.” This means that He is not only some Spiritual power which has accepted f lesh, but He, as the Spiritual power, has become f lesh. One also uses other words.
One says: “There is one physician.” Salvation is still understood as meaning healing.
This hiatros , this physician, heals f leshly and spiritually; He has genesis and has not genesis; He has come into f lesh, He has come into death, and has eternal life in death; and He is God who came into f lesh. He is from Mary and from God; able to suffer and then not able to suffer, because of His elevation to God.
Now these are still very mixed ideas, They all want to emphasize that here something paradoxical has happened. that a Divine Spiritual power has appeared under the conditions of humanity and existence.
From the point of view of God, Ignatius says: “For there is one God who made himself manifest through Jesus Christ, His Son, who is His logos, proceeding from His silence . II Clement: “Being the first Spirit, the head of the angels, He became f lesh. Being He who appears in human form, Christ is the Word proceeding out of the silence.” (aposiges ) . The Christ breaks the eternal silence of the Divine ground.
