Kenosis
Kenosis ( κένωσις, Greek: "empty Will ", " alienation " ) is the noun to the used by Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians verb ἐκένωσεν ( ekenosen ), "he emptied himself " ( Phil 2, 7). Testified about Jesus Christ, the term waiving divine attributes at the Incarnation. In addition, he can call the " becoming empty " of the individual believer to receive the divine grace.
Origin
Paul quotes in Philippians 2:5-11 LUT may be a him already present hymn ( here after the Luther translation last hand of 1545 and revised in 1964):
Discussion in Protestantism
The question of how the relationship of the divine and human nature is to think of Jesus to each other has been discussed especially in the Protestant theology of the 16th and then the 19th century and answered differently.
- Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) took the view that Jesus did in the Incarnation completely renounced his divine attributes.
- Johannes Brenz (1499-1570) according to which he possessed her, but made no use of it.
In the 19th century, a school of Kenotikern formed:
- Gottfried Thomasius (1802-1875) distinguished the " world -related " traits of God, namely omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, " immanent " of the character traits of power, truth, holiness, love; latter have also Jesus can not sell.
- Wolfgang Friedrich Gess (or Gess ) ( 1819-1891 ) represented moreover, that Jesus also these intrinsic properties not possessed, not even the consciousness had to be always God. " One must ask at Gess, whether by a presence of God in the man Jesus is anything at all. " ( P. Althaus )
Catholic criticism
From the Catholic Church, the Protestant doctrine of " Kenotiker " was convicted. Pius XII. explained in the encyclical sempiternus Rex Christ, 1951: