Lamb of God II ...

Tuesday, Feb 26, 2019. We are in the middle of a discussion about the phrase “lamb of God”, about the question why forgiveness is necessary. Indeed, we talk about two main points here, one is forgiveness, the other is justification.

Forgiveness and justification are both linked to both behaviour and the state of the human life. We should talk about this: where does the concept come from? Is it valid for our human life? Is it intrinsically there, linked to life itself? Or is it brought to life by some external entity? What is its role to ethics and morale?

Forgiveness …

Before we go further into the discussion, let us recall the text we look at currently:

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him [John the Baptist], and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son9 of God.” (from John 1)

First, forgiveness is a personal concept. It is linked to myself, to my life, my feelings, my experiences, my relationship to other people or to God. If someone acts, this will have an impact on my life. He or she can hurt me by words. I can be hurt physically. I can be hurt by many things. Also, my expectations can be

Justification …

(Roland Potthast) ... further texts