Accommodation (religion)
Encyclopedia
Accommodation is the theological principle that God, while being in his nature unknowable and unreachable, has nevertheless communicated with mankind in a way in which humans can understand and respond.
The concept of accommodation is relevant to the relationship between Holy Scripture and natural science: the concept is that Scripture has accommodated, or made allowance for, the original audience's language, general level of understanding, etc.
The 16th century Christian Reformist John Calvin
is a key developer of the accommodation concept, in response to that century's discoveries in natural science, foremost Copernicus'
theory of heliocentrism
that conflicted with medieval theological traditions of reading the Bible "through geocentric spectacles".
The concept of accommodation is thus an alternative method of Bible interpretation to the tradition of Biblical literalism
, which, together with an insistence on traditional Bible interpretation, formed the basis for the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of Galileo Galilei
in the early 17th century.
Accommodation is not an innovation itself of the Reformation Period, but "has a long tradition of use within Judaism and subsequently within Christian theology, and can easily be shown to have been influential within the patristic period."
It appears almost contradictory that the Christian God, as revealed in the Bible, is often described in terms of his supreme transcendence and the inability of limited, finite man to comprehend and know the God who is unlimited and infinite - the contradiction being that even this knowledge can be known by mankind and recorded in scripture.
Although this may appear on the surface to be an illogicality, the status of the Christian God's unknowability is only true insofar as God acts not to reveal himself. In this line of thinking, no human being can ever hope to even understand or know God via their own powers of discernment. The principle of Accommodation is that God has chosen to reveal aspects of himself to mankind in a way in which mankind is able to understand.
This principle helps to underline other parts of Christian theology, especially the role of God in supervising the writing of the Bible. While the Bible itself claims that humans are limited and sinful and can make mistakes, God has nevertheless supervised the writing of the Bible to ensure that no mistakes were made. This belief was generally held throughout the historical Christian church, and is still held by Evangelical
and Fundamentalist
Christians today.
It is obvious that even the means by which God uses are imperfect and limited: Ezekiel 1:28 finds the author struggling to put down in words what he was experiencing as he stood in the presence of God; 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 mentions that what we see now - what God has chosen to reveal to us - is "but a poor reflection". The fact that God has chosen to use the limited in order to reveal the unlimited may seem hard to understand, but is easy to accept once the notion of an infinite, all-powerful God is presupposed.
Linked to this idea is the added complication of human languages. Church tradition (including more recent statements of faith like the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
and the Cambridge Declaration) holds to the belief that only the original Hebrew Old Testament text and the original Greek New Testament text can be clearly identified as God's word. Therefore, any human translation of the original language will automatically not be considered God's inspired word - which naturally includes the 5th century Latin Vulgate, as well as today's more contemporary translations.
Yet accommodation allows for the belief that despite this natural linguistic barrier, God still has the power to use such translations in order to reveal his nature to people. This means, of course, that Christians don't have to learn Ancient Hebrew and Greek in order to hear what God has to say.
This all may seem to be a contradiction:
Yet it could also be argued that, given that this is correct, we as human beings, by our very nature, are incapable of understanding why it is true.
Traditional Christianity, as expressed in the historic creeds, proclaims the Trinity
as being part of the Orthodox (i.e. correct) Christian faith. The divinity of Christ, who is believed to be fully man and yet fully God, shows how the Godhead has accommodated itself to human minds and experience. Many Christians, especially those from a Reformed background, see in the person and work of Christ not only the supreme form of Accommodation, but the centre and reason for it as well.
By becoming human, Jesus Christ accommodates himself to the human condition. Through his life, his teaching and ministry, Christ can be considered as literally God speaking and communicating sufficiently to mankind - not via the abilities and strength of human beings, but via the ability and strength of God. In this sense, man is fully passive and God is fully active - it is not man who "discovers" Christ, but Christ who reveals himself to man.
While many modern-day Christians debate over the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection, Orthodox Christianity proclaims that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, as an atoning sin-substitute, and that his resurrection from the dead brings new life to all who have faith in him. This message, popularly known as The Gospel in evangelical
churches, is also considered as a form of Accommodation when it is proclaimed publicly.
is as a "counsellor" for the Christian person. Biblically, the Spirit lives and works inside each Christian, as well as works inside those who are in the process of coming to faith.
By dwelling and working within the life of the individual, the Trinitarian God is again accommodating himself so that mankind may experience and know him.
When an individual comes to understand the message of the Gospel and the knowledge of God, it comes only because God is choosing to make that knowledge known. But since mankind is both limited in understanding and blinded by sin, it is God himself who actively makes the knowledge known to them. This knowledge is imparted directly through the work of the Holy Spirit.
and The Lord's Supper. Both are considered symbols of the Christian Gospel, but have a special significance in that they were symbolic representations instituted by Jesus.
In the sacraments, therefore, God is somehow able to accommodate himself and his gospel in the sacramental actions to sinful and limited human beings. Somehow through the corporate imbibing of the wine and the bread, God is able to commune with his people in a special and unique way - not in terms of transubstantiation
, but within the participants of the whole ceremony.
Gospel preaching, therefore, is one of the most important facets of the principle of accommodation, for in it humankind can experience God's redemptive power through the work of the Spirit. Through this monergistic activity, God is able to effectively cause people to come to faith. See also: Calvinism
It is in the preaching of the Gospel that the hearers can experience God as Trinity:
Thus preaching the Gospel is of prime concern to evangelical Christians, for it is "The power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). It explains also why many evangelical Christians view the Bible so highly - for to remove Sola Scriptura
is to essentially remove everything we can know about God. It explains why the New Testament was written, and why churches need people to teach and build up the body of Christ. It also explains why evangelism and missionary activity was and is necessary - both by the Apostles and by the church today.
The concept of accommodation is relevant to the relationship between Holy Scripture and natural science: the concept is that Scripture has accommodated, or made allowance for, the original audience's language, general level of understanding, etc.
The 16th century Christian Reformist John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
is a key developer of the accommodation concept, in response to that century's discoveries in natural science, foremost Copernicus'
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
theory of heliocentrism
Heliocentrism
Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a stationary Sun at the center of the universe. The word comes from the Greek . Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center...
that conflicted with medieval theological traditions of reading the Bible "through geocentric spectacles".
The concept of accommodation is thus an alternative method of Bible interpretation to the tradition of Biblical literalism
Biblical literalism
Biblical literalism is the interpretation or translation of the explicit and primary sense of words in the Bible. A literal Biblical interpretation is associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical hermeneutical approach to Scripture, and is used almost exclusively by conservative Christians...
, which, together with an insistence on traditional Bible interpretation, formed the basis for the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
in the early 17th century.
Accommodation is not an innovation itself of the Reformation Period, but "has a long tradition of use within Judaism and subsequently within Christian theology, and can easily be shown to have been influential within the patristic period."
It appears almost contradictory that the Christian God, as revealed in the Bible, is often described in terms of his supreme transcendence and the inability of limited, finite man to comprehend and know the God who is unlimited and infinite - the contradiction being that even this knowledge can be known by mankind and recorded in scripture.
Although this may appear on the surface to be an illogicality, the status of the Christian God's unknowability is only true insofar as God acts not to reveal himself. In this line of thinking, no human being can ever hope to even understand or know God via their own powers of discernment. The principle of Accommodation is that God has chosen to reveal aspects of himself to mankind in a way in which mankind is able to understand.
This principle helps to underline other parts of Christian theology, especially the role of God in supervising the writing of the Bible. While the Bible itself claims that humans are limited and sinful and can make mistakes, God has nevertheless supervised the writing of the Bible to ensure that no mistakes were made. This belief was generally held throughout the historical Christian church, and is still held by Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
and Fundamentalist
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
Christians today.
In the Bible and in human language
Throughout the history of the Christian church, it has been generally held that the Bible - both the Old Testament and the New Testament - were divinely inspired. The principle of Accommodation allows for both the ability of the Bible to communicate objective spiritual truths about the nature of God, as well as the ability of the human authors to act as God's means by which this is to be communicated to mankind. While it is true that the authors themselves were limited and prone to mistakes, Accommodation allows for the perfect and truthful God to work in and through his human agents in order to reveal information about himself that is sufficient and complete.It is obvious that even the means by which God uses are imperfect and limited: Ezekiel 1:28 finds the author struggling to put down in words what he was experiencing as he stood in the presence of God; 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 mentions that what we see now - what God has chosen to reveal to us - is "but a poor reflection". The fact that God has chosen to use the limited in order to reveal the unlimited may seem hard to understand, but is easy to accept once the notion of an infinite, all-powerful God is presupposed.
Linked to this idea is the added complication of human languages. Church tradition (including more recent statements of faith like the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was formulated in October 1978 by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, held in Chicago. The statement was designed to defend the position of Biblical inerrancy against a perceived...
and the Cambridge Declaration) holds to the belief that only the original Hebrew Old Testament text and the original Greek New Testament text can be clearly identified as God's word. Therefore, any human translation of the original language will automatically not be considered God's inspired word - which naturally includes the 5th century Latin Vulgate, as well as today's more contemporary translations.
Yet accommodation allows for the belief that despite this natural linguistic barrier, God still has the power to use such translations in order to reveal his nature to people. This means, of course, that Christians don't have to learn Ancient Hebrew and Greek in order to hear what God has to say.
This all may seem to be a contradiction:
- Only the Greek New Testament and Hebrew Old Testament can be considered the word of God.
- God will use translations of the original languages to present the truth of himself to human beings.
Yet it could also be argued that, given that this is correct, we as human beings, by our very nature, are incapable of understanding why it is true.
Illumination
Traditional Christian theology asserts that it is the work of the Holy Spirit within the individual that God the Father is able to communicate to them via the words of the Bible.In the Person and work of Jesus Christ
The belief that God has been able to sufficiently communicate to mankind, despite the failings and limitations of the latter, is given its supreme form in the person and work of Jesus Christ.Traditional Christianity, as expressed in the historic creeds, proclaims the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
as being part of the Orthodox (i.e. correct) Christian faith. The divinity of Christ, who is believed to be fully man and yet fully God, shows how the Godhead has accommodated itself to human minds and experience. Many Christians, especially those from a Reformed background, see in the person and work of Christ not only the supreme form of Accommodation, but the centre and reason for it as well.
By becoming human, Jesus Christ accommodates himself to the human condition. Through his life, his teaching and ministry, Christ can be considered as literally God speaking and communicating sufficiently to mankind - not via the abilities and strength of human beings, but via the ability and strength of God. In this sense, man is fully passive and God is fully active - it is not man who "discovers" Christ, but Christ who reveals himself to man.
While many modern-day Christians debate over the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection, Orthodox Christianity proclaims that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, as an atoning sin-substitute, and that his resurrection from the dead brings new life to all who have faith in him. This message, popularly known as The Gospel in evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
churches, is also considered as a form of Accommodation when it is proclaimed publicly.
In the Person and work of the Holy Spirit
The work of the Holy SpiritHoly Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
is as a "counsellor" for the Christian person. Biblically, the Spirit lives and works inside each Christian, as well as works inside those who are in the process of coming to faith.
By dwelling and working within the life of the individual, the Trinitarian God is again accommodating himself so that mankind may experience and know him.
When an individual comes to understand the message of the Gospel and the knowledge of God, it comes only because God is choosing to make that knowledge known. But since mankind is both limited in understanding and blinded by sin, it is God himself who actively makes the knowledge known to them. This knowledge is imparted directly through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Protestantism
In Protestant churches, only two sacraments are recognised: BaptismBaptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
and The Lord's Supper. Both are considered symbols of the Christian Gospel, but have a special significance in that they were symbolic representations instituted by Jesus.
In the sacraments, therefore, God is somehow able to accommodate himself and his gospel in the sacramental actions to sinful and limited human beings. Somehow through the corporate imbibing of the wine and the bread, God is able to commune with his people in a special and unique way - not in terms of transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
, but within the participants of the whole ceremony.
In the preaching of the Gospel
Through the communication of God's Word (logos and rhema) comes the message of the Gospel (euangelion). As an individual listens to Word and Gospel, God as Holy Spirit (pneuma) moves and works in people's hearts and minds. It is through the regenerative work of the Spirit that the listener is able to then respond to this message in repentance and faith. Such a concept is sometimes called monergism.Gospel preaching, therefore, is one of the most important facets of the principle of accommodation, for in it humankind can experience God's redemptive power through the work of the Spirit. Through this monergistic activity, God is able to effectively cause people to come to faith. See also: Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
It is in the preaching of the Gospel that the hearers can experience God as Trinity:
- The message, or word, is given to us by the Father.
- The message is about what the Son, Jesus, came to do.
- The message is only able to be received through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Thus preaching the Gospel is of prime concern to evangelical Christians, for it is "The power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). It explains also why many evangelical Christians view the Bible so highly - for to remove Sola Scriptura
Sola scriptura
Sola scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Consequently, sola scriptura demands that only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid...
is to essentially remove everything we can know about God. It explains why the New Testament was written, and why churches need people to teach and build up the body of Christ. It also explains why evangelism and missionary activity was and is necessary - both by the Apostles and by the church today.