According to the Unification theology Jesus comes as True Parent. This term does not derive from any philosophical or religious world-view, it is absolutely new one. Understanding of its meaning comes from understanding of God’s purpose of creation. Unificationists believe that Adam and Eve should have become True Parents, the one through whom God’s Kingdom should be realized. “If there had been no fall, God would have become vertical love, and Adam and Eve would have become the full incarnation of God. This would be as if the were flesh of God; God as the bones, and Adam and Eve as the flesh.[1]”. “We need True Parents for God to come down and settle on the earth”[2]
Jesus came as the Messiah, as second Adam, to complete salvation of humanity and to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, first on the earth. This mission is very unique as there are only one True Parents (‘true olive tree’ as Jesus said) through whom God’s love, life and lineage are transmitted to all humankind. “The perfection of Adam and Eve turns outward only when connected to the love of God. Without the connection, it is no good. The point where God’s vertical love and horizontal physical would be connected was to be the very root of the lineage of our ancestors… All humanity would arise from here[3]”. If theologians of the first centuries could have realized this mission of Jesus Christ, probably, there would not have been so many theological disputes about the unique or exclusive nature of Jesus Christ and divisions among Christians groups.
Let’s look more closely at some more applications of viewing Jesus as True Parent.
(1) Resolving “human and deity” dilemma.
Jesus was human but still he has a divine nature. “Jesus is a Son of God because he was perfectly united with God in will and in heart”[4]. So it is through being one in will and in love with God a person inherits God’s divine nature. “For man to realize his true nature, he must have a relationship with God, the origin of everything.”[5]
Unificationism follows the Christian tradition in the implicit affirmation that of the various religious figures in the past Jesus was the only genuine incarnation, in its looser meaning, of God. But that incarnation is not unrepeatable. It argues, that God’s original ideal for all human being, without exceptions, is to become incarnations of the divine nature. “God has educated people through religions so that He could create the garden of true olive trees. On the foundation created by religions and centering on His love, God sent the Messiah, the true olive tree, to have us engrafted with him[6]”. “Jesus wanted the disciple, not as follower, but to be as Jesus himself. Jesus wanted another Jesus”[7]
(2) Restoring family values and elevation of women’s value.
The idea of True Parents includes the figure of True Mother, a true woman who has embodied the divine (feminine) nature of God. “The True Mother, as a Christic figure, will embody the feminine nature of God on earth, as a woman, and define for the fist time in history, what it means, internally (mentally, spiritually), to be a woman, in contrast to be a man… The true vitality of the feminist movement, and that of women in every culture and religion, can find fruition through embodying the quality of love manifested in the True Mother as Christ”[8].
The idea of True Parents inevitably endows family values with great importance. “The final destination of God’s will is the family. Without the family, God has nowhere to settle. Since all families prosper when they have True Parents as their center, without families nothing can be achieved.”
(3) Promoting interreligious dialog and the creation of God’s Kingdom.
The movement from the Christology based on substance (homoousia) to the Christology of agency based on unity of activity God and Jesus (homopraxis) was a positive trend in the latest history. “I understand Jesus to have been destined by God to establish the community of selfless love in the world,” says prominent British Biblical scholar Michael Goulder[9]. This kind of Christological perspective opens the way to be more receptive towards truth and be more open towards internal values of other religions. Nevertheless, I believe, that Christology based on True Parents will further bring essential and practical solutions.
“By focusing on Christ-as-True Parent rather than on the figure of Jesus”, says Prof. Carlson, “the familial model focuses on that which will be brought about by or trough the True Parent: a transformation of culture, and of human character. The activities of Christ-as-True Parent will initiate or inspire the transformation of culture which will be focused on the true love… The True Parents embody true love, and it is this quality of love (and only this quality of love) which can serve as a standard of unconditionally loving and serving people of other traditions as siblings in the global family”.
(4) Demythologizing “absolute salvation” and “Second Coming of Christ”.
Jesus came as the perfect person who could completely unite with God’s love. And it is true love that allowed Jesus to inherit everything from God and call himself the Son of God, “I am in my Father”. When we reject the exclusivist point of view and see to the incarnation in a broader sense, God’s revelation is not limited by Jesus alone and it appears to be logically correct to suppose that Second Coming of Christ would be represented by a human similar to Jesus. “The Messiah has to inherit all the authority by gaining victory on the true love”[10]. By becoming one with God based on true love, the Lord of Second Advent can inherit Jesus’ foundation to fulfill the mission to create the God’s Kingdom both on Heaven and on Earth.
(5) Lifting the value of person’s responsibility.
“The entire purpose of Jesus’ coming can be summarized in one sentence: Jesus came to bring resurrection needed to perfect man’s love to the point where men can come into the direct dominion of God’s love”[11]
Humanizing Jesus elevates the importance of human responsibility in order to become incarnation of God’s Word. It also stimulates people to discover His nature they are to resemble. “By fulfilling their given portion of responsibility, with which even God does not interfere, human beings are meant to inherit the creative nature of God and participate in God’s great work of creation”[12]
[1] Moon, Sun Myung, True Parents. Volume 10.[ FFWPU, 1998], p. 15
[2] Ibid, p. 54
[3] Ibid, p. 15
[4] Moon, Sun Myung. The life and mission of Jesus Christ. [HAS-UWC, 2001], p. 59
[5] Moon, Sun Myung, True Parents. Volume 10.[ FFWPU, 1998], p. 7
[6] David A. Carlson, Sunrise on Christology: Empowering Religions to achieve World Peace. 2005, p.185
[7] Moon, Sun Myung, The life and mission of Jesus Christ. [HAS-UWC, 2001], p. 60
[8] David A. Carlson, Sunrise on Christology: Empowering Religions to achieve World Peace, 2005, pp.221-222
[9] Gouldler, Michael, “Jesus, The Man of Universal Destiny” in The Myth of God Incarnate”, ed. John Hick. [Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1977], p.60
[10] Moon, Sun Myung, True Parents. Volume 10. [Family federation for world peace and unification international, 1998], p.44
[11] Moon, Sun Myung, The life and mission of Jesus Christ, [HSA-UWC, 2001], p. 59
[12] Exposition of the Divin Principle, [HSA-UWC, 2002], p.43
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