Lamb of God
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Christian doctrine holds that divine Jesus chose to suffer crucifixion at Calvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his divine Father, as an “agent and servant of God” as well as to pick up and carry away the sin of the world.[2][3] In Christian theology the Lamb of God is viewed as foundational and integral to the message of Christianity.[4][5]

Zurbarán Agnus Dei, Prado Museum, c. 1635–1640
A lion-like lamb that rises to deliver victory after being slain appears several times in the Book of Revelation.[6] It is also referred to in Pauline writings: 1 Corinthians 5:7 suggests that Saint Paul intends to refer to the death of Jesus, who is the Paschal Lamb, using the theme found in Johannine writings.[7] The lamb metaphor is also in line with Psalm 23, which depicts God as a shepherd leading his flock (mankind).

Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, with gushing blood, detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, Jan van Eyck, c. 1432
The Lamb of God title is widely used in Christian prayers, and the Agnus Dei is used as a standard part of the Catholic Mass, as well as the classical Western Liturgies of the Anglican and Lutheran Churches. It also is used in liturgy and as a form of contemplative prayer.[8][9] The Agnus Dei also forms a part of the musical setting for the Mass.
As a visual motif the lamb has been most often represented since the Middle Ages as a standing haloed lamb with a foreleg cocked “holding” a pennant with a red cross on a white ground, though many other ways of representing it have been used.
Gospel of John

Agnus Dei with the vexillum
These two proclamations of Jesus as the Lamb of God closely bracket the Baptist’s other proclamation in John 1:34: “I have borne witness that this is the Son of God”. From a Christological perspective, these proclamations and the descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove in John 1:32 reinforce each other to establish the divine element of the Person of Christ.[1] In Johannine Christology the proclamation “who takes away the sin of the world” begins the unfolding of the salvific theme of the redemptive and sacrificial death of Jesus followed by his resurrection which is built upon in other proclamations such as “this is indeed the Saviour of the world” uttered by the Samaritans in John 4:42.[11][12]
Book of Revelation

Lamb bleeding into the Holy Chalice, carrying the vexillum
In Revelation 21:14 the lamb is said to have twelve apostles.[6] The handing of the scroll (i.e. the book containing the names of those who will be saved) to the risen lamb signifies the change in the role of the lamb. In Calvary, the lamb submitted to the will of the Father to be slain, but now is trusted with the judgment of mankind.[14]
From the outset, the book of Revelation is presented as a “revelation of Jesus Christ” and hence the focus on the lamb as both redeemer and judge presents the dual role of Jesus: he redeems man through self-sacrifice, yet calls man to account on the day of judgment.[15]
Christology
The concept of the Lamb of God fits well within John’s “agent Christology”, in which sacrifice is made as an agent of God or servant of God for the sake of eventual victory.[3][16]
The theme of a sacrificial lamb which rises in victory as the Resurrected Christ was employed in early Christology. For example in 375 Saint Augustine wrote: “Why a lamb in his passion? Because he underwent death without being guilty of any iniquity. Why a lion in his passion? Because in being slain, he slew death. Why a lamb in his resurrection? Because his innocence is everlasting. Why a lion in his resurrection? Because everlasting also is his might.”[17]

Medieval Agnus Dei with haloand cross; Euphrasian Basilica, Poreč, Croatia
John Calvin presented the same Christological view, of “The Lamb as the agent of God”, by arguing that in his trial before Pilate and while at Herod’s Court Jesus could have argued for his innocence, but instead remained mostly quiet and submitted to crucifixion in obedience to the Father, for he knew his role as the Lamb of God.[18][19]
In modern Eastern Orthodox Christology, Sergei Bulgakov argued that the role of Jesus as the Lamb of God was “pre-eternally” determined by the Father, before the creation of the world, by considering the scenario that it would be necessary to send The Son as an agent to redeem humanity disgraced by the fall of Adam, and that this is a sign of His love.[20]

San Damiano Cross depicts the sacrificial Christ as Agnus Dei
In modern Roman Catholic Christology, Karl Rahner has continued to elaborate on the analogy that the blood of the Lamb of God, and the water flowing from the side of Christ on Calvary, had a cleansing nature, similar to baptismal water. In this analogy, the blood of the Lamb washed away the sins of humanity in a new baptism, redeeming it from the fall of Adam.[23]
References
- The Lamb of God by Sergei Bulgakov 2008 ISBN0-8028-2779-9 page 263
- The Christology of Anselm of Canterbury by Dániel Deme 2004 ISBN0-7546-3779-4 pages 199–200
- The Christology of the New Testament by Oscar Cullmann 1959 ISBN0-664-24351-7 page 79
- Karl Gerlach (1998). The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History. Peeters Publishers. p. 21.
Long before this controversy, Ex 12 as a story of origins and its ritual expression had been firmly fixed in the Christian imagination. Though before the final decades of the second century only accessible as an exegetical tradition, already in the Pauline letters the Exodus saga is deeply involved with the celebration of bath and meal. Even here, this relationship does not suddenly appear, but represents developments in ritual narrative that must have begun at the very inception of the Christian message. Jesus of Nazareth was crucifed during Pesach-Mazzot, an event that a new covenant people of Jews and Gentiles both saw as definitive and defining. Ex 12 is thus one of the few reliable guides for tracing the synergism among ritual, text, and kerygma before the Council of Nicaea.
- Matthias Reinhard Hoffmann (2005). The Destroyer and the Lamb: The Relationship Between Angelomorphic and Lamb Christology in the Book of Revelation. Mohr Siebeck. p. 117. ISBN3-16-148778-8.
1.2.2. Christ as the Passover Lamb from Exodus A number of features throughout Revelation seem to correspond to Exodus 12: The connection of Lamb and Passover, a salvific effect of the Lamb’s blood and the punishment of God’s (and His people’s) opponents from Exodus 12 may possibly be reflected within the settings of the Apocalypse. The concept of Christ as a Passover lamb is generally not unknown in NT or early Christian literature, as can for instance be seen in 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19 or Justin Martyr’s writing (Dial. 111:3). In the Gospel of John, especially, this connection between Christ and Passover is made very explicit.
- Reclaiming the book of Revelation: by Wilfried E. Glabach 2007 ISBN1-4331-0054-1 pages
- “CHURCH FATHERS: Homily 15 on First Corinthians (Chrysostom)”. www.newadvent.org.
- Holy Conversation: Spirituality for Worship by Jonathan Linman 2010 ISBN0-8006-2130-1 page 148
- Prayer Book Parallels: The Public Services of the Church by Paul Victor Marshall 1990 ISBN0-89869-181-8 page 369
- The Life and Ministry of Jesus by Douglas Redford 2007 ISBN0-7847-1900-4 pages 100–101
- Johannine Christology and the Early Church by T. E. Pollard 2005 ISBN0-521-01868-4 page 21
- Studies in Early Christology by Martin Hengel 2004 ISBN0-567-04280-4 page 371
- New Testament Theology by Thomas R. Schreiner 2008 Baker Academic ISBN0-8010-2680-6 page 502
- Studies in Revelation by M. R. De Haan, Martin Ralph DeHaan 1998 ISBN0-8254-2485-2 page 103
- Revelation by Ben Witherington ISBN978-0-521-00068-0page 27
- The Johannine exegesis of God by Daniel Rathnakara Sadananda 2005 ISBN3-11-018248-3 page 281
- Revelation by William C. Weinrich 2005 ISBN0-8308-1497-3page 73
- The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures by Hughes Oliphant Old 2002 ISBN0-8028-4775-7 page 125
- Calvin’s Christology by Stephen Edmondson 2004 ISBN0-521-54154-9 page 91
- The Lamb of God by Sergei Bulgakov 2008 ISBN0-8028-2779-9 page 129
- Symbols of Jesus: A Christology of Symbolic Engagementby Robert C. Neville (Feb 4, 2002) Cambridge Univ Pres ISBN0521003539 page 13
- The Lion and the Lamb by Andreas J. Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum and Charles L Quarles (Jul 15, 2012) ISBN1433677083page 114
- Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi by Karl Rahner 2004 ISBN0-86012-006-6 page 74
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