God’s self-communication in history

Fr. Charles Ndhlovu, PhD, studied and graduated with a Doctorate in Social Communication specializing in Communication Theology at the Pontifical University of Salesianum in Rome – Italy. Some of his publications can be found on his website: charlesndhlovu.wordpress.com; Youtube (Fr. Charles Ndhlovu – Mkhalirachiuta). In this paper, he has argued that God’s self-communication has taken place not only in biblical history but also in the history of the human person.

It is clear that over the years it has been difficult to unify into one single and clear direction the interpretations of transcendental experiences in different histories and religions. This is the case because different religions may differently interpret the religious and transcendental events that have taken place in history.

However, of special note is the fact that these histories have a direction – they have a movement – they point to some definite point – they move towards a particular centre and Christians and theologians generally identify these histories as moving towards Jesus Christ as the Absolute self-communication of God. This basically means that the different histories and the different events that preceded Jesus, eventually lead to the revelation and coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the definitive and absolute self-revelation and self-communication of God in Jesus Christ.

God’s communication in history finds fulfilment in Jesus Christ. That is why, we can say that the Old Testament history is a preparation of the coming of Jesus. For example, the wonderful and appreciable work of Moses and the prophetic tradition in general is a big preparation of the fulfilment of God’s self-communication in Jesus.

The Old Testament history and communication prepared the ground for God’s final communication in Jesus. If we understand Jesus Christ in this way, then we will be able to comprehend that he is the basis and foundation of biblical history and biblical communication. This communication is dialogic in the sense that God, dialogues with the human person so that he or she can be saved. God in Jesus has brought to fulfilment this objective. That is why biblical and secular history are both a communication of God’s love for the human person fulfilled in the person of Jesus – for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son so that all who believe in him may be saved.

The history of revelation has taken place in all the peoples because it is history of the guilt, of the fall, and rejection of God and this has happened among all peoples. People of all ages, people of all nations and people of all places have all come to fall, to rise up, have accepted God but have at times also rejected God. The cycle of falling and rising up, going up and down in the spiritual life, accepting and denying God – are all universal manifestations that have taken place in biblical history but also in secular history.

That is why the dichotomy between secular and biblical history is at times rejected because basically God has revealed himself not only in biblical history but also in secular history. There are people that were clearly called from a pagan background and straightaway brought into Christian history. This shows that God does not only work in Christian history but also intervenes in secular history.

It is in this context and case that we can say that the Old Testament is a preparation of the Christ event. The Old Testament is the immediate and proximate prehistory of Jesus. It is in the Old Testament that God started giving his communication to the human person and this communication reached its peak and height in Jesus Christ – the fullness of God’s communication to the human being.

It is in this context that we can say that the history of salvation and the history of revelation have been a progressive history in which each generation has somehow participated. Both histories, namely the history of salvation and the history of revelation have progressively led us to the God-man event.

Jesus is the absolute self-communication of God. In Jesus, God communicates himself to the human person. In Jesus the history of revelation and the history of salvation reach their climax. In addition, in the God-man, human beings reach their final goal – that is, being given the offer of salvation.

It is in this context that we can say that the history of salvation takes place within the history of the human person. That is why, it is unthinkable to develop a theology that is divorced from not only the transcendental but also the anthropological. That is why some theologians talk about theological anthropology or existential theology. The idea is that the history of the human person is the context in which God has revealed himself – the historical is not divorced from the theological – they are both contexts in which God has revealed himself – in both the history of the human person and in the history of salvation.

Incarnation is the locus and event in which God has become human. In Jesus, the self­communication of God to the human person has reached an irreversible and irrevocable point in history. It is through the acceptance of death on the cross, that Jesus has fully accepted God’s self-communication.

We can therefore say that Jesus is the fullness of God’s self-communication to the person. He is the fullness of man’s acceptance of God’s self-communication. It is through Jesus that God has fully revealed himself and has fully revealed his plans for the human person. It is also through Jesus Christ that God’s communication to the human person has been fully accepted through Jesus’ death on the cross. All this has taken place in history – in salvation history, in the history of revelation but also in the history of the human person.