The Christs of God
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Paul's experience on the Road to Damascus led him to the realization that God was present in everyone. He made this point when he wrote. "All who are led by Spirit of God are the children of God, whereby we cry 'Abbah, Father'. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ :14 (Romans 8:14-17)." . . Paul then abstracted the Book of Deuteronomy (30:15) as the source of his understanding the presence of God in everybody, writing, "Say not in your heart, 'Who shall ascend to heaven to bring Christ down? Or who shall go down into the deep to bring Christ up again from dead. The word is nigh unto you, even in your mouth and in your heart (Romans 10:6-10). Paul's comment about bringing Christ up from the dead echoed the continuing comment of Deuteronomy (30:19), " I (God) have set before you both life and death, therfore choose life, for I am your life. " St, John made a similar observation in the opening verses of his Gospel about being born again, writing, "as many as received him (Christ, the word of God ) He gave power to become the offspirng of God, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of man, but of God, And the word was made flesh and dwelt in us, and we beheld his glory as only begotten of God, full of grace and truth (John 1:1:12-14)."
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About the Book
In the Old Testament, an anointed one would be a king or a member of the temple hierarchy, such as a priest or a Levite. In the New Testament, Paul introduced an entirely different understanding of Christ. A Christ of God was anyone anointed with the life of God as His offspring, whether or not that the person was aware of being a child of God. The word “Christian” applied only to those who chose to be born again by being raised from the dead. Thus, we must let go of the life we have been living in order to take on the life of God. We are then a Christ of God, just as Jesus was a Christ of God. In a detailed study of this concept, the Reverend Canon George Cummings contextualizes his lifelong reading and study of the Scriptures, following the thread of the message of the Gospel from its origin in the Old Testament to its triumphant re-emergence and re-signification in the writings the New Testament. Drawing upon his years of reflection and use of Greek text, Cummings posits a conception of the presence of God as Christ in us, so that we might live the life of God as it is revealed in the person of Jesus, the Messenger of the New Covenant.
About the Author
George Cummings is a canon of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. A former navy pilot and flight instructor, he graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He is father to four children, grandfather to twelve children, and great-grandfather to six.