Preface
The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.
Acts 1: The post-resurrection ascension of Jesus Christ
The New King James Version (NKJV) which this Orthodox Study Bible uses as a biblical source:
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Within the Orthodox Study Bible, notes, the text explains that Peter and the disciples were witnesses to the ascension of Jesus Christ. (272). 'Christ's Ascension is His enthronement in the fullness of divine authority and glory.' (272). Importantly, the text explains that believers are not to stand idly by, gazing up into heaven (v.11). (272). There should be an expectation of the eventual return of Jesus Christ. (272). The text states (paraphrased) that believers should prepare selves as sober servants, filled with the Holy Spirit, living in Christ's righteousness, expecting the Second Advent. (272).
In the Glossary by Reverend John W. Morris, PhD it states
'Ascension: The ascent of Christ to Heaven following His Resurrection as Son of God in the flesh (Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1: 9-11). Christ's Ascension completes the union of God and humanity, for a Man who is God now reigns in Heaven.' (794).' Citation ended.
Son of God
Notice it is the Son of God in the flesh. God the Son is eternal God, pre-incarnate. The Son of God is of the same essence, substance and nature of the Father states Michael Marlowe.
https://www.bible-researcher.com/only-begotten.html
The term ‘Son of God’ is a title Christ accepted for himself which meant that he had a very specific unique personhood and relationship with God the Father. He was not like any other human being. Erickson (687-688). In Christian theology, the Son of God has the concept of the pre-existent divine being entering human life in the person of Jesus Christ. Browning (349).
In the New Testament interactions between the Father and Son appear to be very real conversations and not based in modes. A reasonable point could be made that yes the human Jesus Christ was interacting with the divine Father in sinless perfection, but this was being done largely because in eternity, God the Son/Word had been interacting with God the Father in a similar way (John 1), prior to taking on a finite human body. The triune God, interacting in a timeless eternal state, a relationship of infinite knowledge and understanding. Hebrews 1 demonstrates the God the Son, in the flesh is of the same nature and essence of God the Father and God. Taking a finite human nature in the incarnation, but still remaining infinite God.
ὑποστάσεως (nature)
Referenced
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Hebrews 1: 3 3 [a]And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature...
Marshall page 641.
radiance apaugasma
representation carakthr
reality upostasewV
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Reality = Nature
Concerning Hebrews 1, for example, it is demonstrated in the New Testament that the Father and Son are of the same substance and nature.
The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993), In the Glossary, mentions Hypostasis:
'A technical theological term for "person" or something which has an individual existence. The word is used to describe the three Persons of the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.' (800). Hypostasis is also used to describe the one Person of Christ, who is both truly divine and truly human. (800).
The Orthodox Study Bible at the notes from Hebrews 1: 2-3:
ὑποστάσεως
'The express image of His person.' (513). This is in regard to God the Son's Person as being distinct from God the Father. (513).
Cited
'Hebrews 1:3 N-GFS GRK: χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ φέρων NAS: and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds KJV: of his person, and INT: [the] exact expression of the substance of him upholding'
End citation
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From Bauer... ὑπόστασις 'substantial nature, essence, actual being, reality'. (847). In the context of Hebrews 1: 3 (ὑποστάσεως my add), the Son of God is the exact representation of God's real being. (847). In other words, God the Son, even as in a finite human body, incarnated, still represents the nature of the infinite God in bodily form. This done without changing God's infinite nature, whatsoever.
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Colossians 2:9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.
Θεότητος = deity in Colossians 2:9
plhrwma thV qeothtoV
fullness of deity/Godhead
First three examples are from the Majority text, the next two are from Minority texts:
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The incarnation added finite human nature to God the Son (two natures, two minds, one person), but it in no way cancels out, changes or mixes with God the Son's infinite, eternal nature. The Holy Spirit is not the focus of this short article. But in Acts 5, and in Matthew 28: 19, the Holy Spirit can be demonstrated as divine and I would therefore deduce is of the same divine substance and nature as God the Father and God the Son. It should be noted that triune persons are not three separate natures/Gods. The persons of the trinity could also be called distinctions, but they do personally interact according to the New Testament.
John Calvin on the Ascension
John Calvin from his Acts commentary writes that 'The ascension is one of the chief tenets of our faith...' (18). Now importantly: 'If he had vanished secretly, the disciples might have been in doubt to what happened. (18). Calvin explains that with the ascension there was no doubt that Jesus Christ had gone. (18). God-incarnate, the God-man as resurrected, disappeared into the heavenly realm and the men in white verified this in verse 11. Calvin reasons that God wanted to remove all doubts, through the ascension that the resurrected Jesus Christ had departed. (18). Reasonably, Calvin comments that if Jesus had simply disappeared secretly the disciples might have had doubts in regards to what actually happened. (18). God the Son, Jesus Christ did not need to go to heaven as if some type of time and space traveler. He went to the spiritual dimension of heaven to the spiritual presence of God, at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 1: 3 as one example:
When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...(NASB)
This physical, visual way presented in Acts 1 was for the benefit of his followers and the New Testament witness. Calvin writes that the ascension means that Christ is now 'beyond this world'. (19).
Practical theology & philosophy
Over the years, I have heard/read the concept that the resurrected Jesus Christ was departing by the clouds and this might mean that based on the New Testament rendering, and modern scientific understanding; Jesus Christ had to travel into the atmosphere, through space and then perhaps to the ends of the universe to reach heaven. I think Calvin's explanation means Jesus Christ could have simply disappeared into the spiritual dimension, but chose to ascend for the sake of his disciples and the New Testament witness.
But in verse 11, the two men, that are reasonably perhaps, angelic beings in human form, appeared at the time of the ascension. To me this implies, theologically and philosophically that the men in white did not make a long trek in the physical universe to suddenly appear. In the same way, Jesus Christ did not make a long trek in the physical universe to get back to heaven. Heaven is the spiritual dimension, in the presence of the triune God.
Pastor Courson writes that some have suggested that the two men in white were Moses and Elijah which would correspond to their appearance at the transfiguration. (611). (Mathew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9, my add). Rather in the case of the ascension, the resurrected Jesus Christ went from the physical universe to the non-physical heavenly realm, while the men in white, appeared from the non-physical heavenly realm to the physical realm of the biblical world. In agreement with John Calvin, the viewed ascension served as evidence that Jesus Christ had returned to heaven in a far more obvious way to the disciples than by simply disappearing.
ASHBY, E G. (1986) 'Colossians' in The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
BAUER, WALTER. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
BROWNING, W.R.F. (1997) Dictionary of the Bible, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
CALVIN, JOHN (1552)(1995) Acts, Translated by Watermark, Nottingham, Crossway Books.
COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
MARLOWE, MICHAEL (2006) The Only Begotten Son, New Philadelphia, Ohio, Bible Researcher Website.
https://www.bible-researcher.com/only-begotten.html
MARSHALL, ALFRED (1975)(1996) The Interlinear KJV-NIV, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.
THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT (1993) Stuttgart, United Bible Societies.
The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.
WRIGHT, N.T., Colossians and Philemon, (1986)(1989), IVP, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids.
