INTRODUCTION
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free." (Jn 8:36)
PARAKLETOS.dk is a philosophical exegesis of the biblical holy spirit within the structure of the Kantian theology.
Within the structure of the Kantian theology, the biblical holy spirit is the constituent power given by Jesus Christ.
The constituent power given by Jesus Christ is the spirit of truth (Jn 14:17) (Jn 15:26) (Jn 16:13) in an ethical community (Tekst)/(AA VI:98).
Reason
Every human being has free will!
Every human being lives in both nature and freedom.
- In nature, the first cause (prima causa) is the law of nature (lex naturae).
- In freedom, the first cause (prima causa) is the law (lex).
No human being can change the law of nature, but every human being can change the law.
If a human being is denied the ability to change the law, that human being can choose to fight and possibly die for freedom.
Because every human being can change the law, the human race (Homo sapiens) lives in a constant state of war.
Kant writes:
"Just as the juridical state of nature is a state of war of every human being against every other, so too is the ethical state of nature one in which the good principle, which resides in each human being, is incessantly attacked by the evil". (Text)/(AA VI:96)
The question is:
How can the human race forsake the evil and live in peace?
Nature and freedom alone cannot bring peace. That is why Kant writes:
"I therefore had to annul knowledge in order to make room for faith." (Text)/(AA BXXX)
The answer to the question is not either reason or faith. By making room for faith, Kant does not deny that all human beings live in both nature and freedom. Kant simply denies that reason without faith can bring peace, just as he denies that faith without reason can bring peace. The answer to the question is both reason and faith.
Faith
A person can be both the character human being and the character citizen.
- The character human being is the product of a conception.
- The character citizen is the product of a rebirth.
Kant writes:
"[A human being can become a morally good human being only] through a kind of rebirth". (Text)/(AA VI:47)
- The character human being has an inclination to sin (concupiscentia) and can choose either a legal behaviour or an illegal behaviour.
- The character citizen has no inclination to sin and cannot choose an illegal behaviour.
The formation of the character citizen is a process from rebirth to constituent power.
Rebirth
No one becomes a citizen at the conception. Everyone becomes a citizen at the rebirth after the birth.
- The birth is documented by the midwife where the birth takes place.
- The rebirth is registered by the civil registration authority where the newborn's natural guardian lives.
Kant writes:
"[The rebirth] has something holy for its end (the formation of a human being as a citizen in a divine state)". (Text)/(AA VI:199)
Formation
The formation of a human being as a citizen in a divine state is a process in three phases:
- The first phase [minimum] lasts from rebirth to school readiness.
- The second phase [medium] lasts from school readiness to age of majority.
- The third phase [maximum] lasts from age of majority to constituent power.
Within the first phase [minimum] the citizen has not developed school readiness. Within the second phase [medium] the citizen has developed school readiness. Within the third phase [maximum] the citizen is a possessor of the constituent power.
Everyone begins the process of formation within the first phase [minimum].
Not everyone passes from the first phase [minimum] to the second phase [medium]. A very small percentage of a population do not develop school readiness and therefore remain within the first phase [minimum].
Only children with documented severe or profound mental retardation do not develop school readiness.
Documented severe or profound mental retardation is registered with the civil registration authority.
Documentation and registration of severe or profound mental retardation is a matter of national sovereignty.
Age of majority
For all those citizens who pass from the first phase [minimum] to the second phase [medium], the process of formation is completed automatically when the citizen reaches the age of majority and because of the age automatically passes from the second phase [medium] to the third phase [maximum].
The age of the citizen is reckoned from the date of birth, which is registered by the midwife, where the birth takes place.
Within the first phase [minimum] and the second phase [medium], every citizen is under parental authority. Within the third phase [maximum], no citizen is under parental authority.
The age of majority is cessation of parental authority, but the age of majority is more than just cessation of parental authority.
Within the structure of Kant's philosophy, the age of majority is also an authorization, where the citizen becomes a possessor of the constituent power.
The age of majority is a matter of national sovereignty.
Constituent power
The constituent power is the sovereign power. The Nation possesses the sovereign power.
No one can become a possessor of the constituent power without both a date of birth and a nationality.
- It is because of the date of birth that a citizen passes to the third phase [maximum] at the age of majority.
- It is because of the nationality that a citizen passes to the constituent power at the third phase [maximum].
The constituent power is not immediately given.
Kant writes:
"One can conceive of external lawgiving that would contain only positive laws; but then a natural law would still have to precede it, which would establish the authority of the lawgiver (i.e., his authorization to bind others by his mere choice)." (Text)/(AA VI:224)
- Within the structure of Kant's philosophy, Jn 20:23 establishes the authority of the lawgiver.
- Within the structure of Kant's philosophy, the constituent power is given by Jesus Christ in the evening on the same day he rose from the dead.
Jn 20:19-23
"Now when it was evening on that day—the first day of the week—and the doors had been shut where the disciples were because of fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ... “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”" (Jn 20:19-23)
Exegesis
During the Reformation, conflict arose between Martin Luther and the Pope in Rome about the sense of Jn 20:19-23.
Luther writes:
"Here [Jn 20:23] you can see that his object is to deliver the people from sin, or to permit them to remain in sin, and show that they are condemned. Certainly, we cannot say that he has thereby founded a worldly kingdom, as the pope boasts of his power of the keys, that he has the power to loosen and to bind even that which is not sin, yea, even that which Christ neither binds nor loosens, thereby making of it a worldly power. But Christ shows clearly enough here what his keys are, namely, they are not to make laws and abolish them again, as the pope is doing, but to remit or retain sin." (Text)/(WA 49:144)
- According to Luther, the biblical holy spirit is not a worldly power.
- According to Luther, the biblical holy spirit is a power to remit/retain sin.
Papal power is based on a so-called apostolic succession.
Liber pontificalis says:
"He [St Peter] consecrated St Clement as bishop and entrusted the cathedra and the whole management of the church to him, saying: »As the power of government [gubernandi], that of binding and loosing [ligandi solvendique], was handed to me by my Lord Jesus Christ, so I entrust it to you.«" (Text)/(Latin)
- According to Liber pontificalis, the Pope in Rome is the successor of St Peter and thus the supreme possessor of the power ligandi solvendique.
- According to Liber pontificalis, the power ligandi solvendique is the same power as the power gubernandi.
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The biblical holy spirit is the sovereign power over sin!
The power to remit/retain sin (Jn 20:23) is the same power as the power of the keys (Mt 16:19) and that power is the sovereign power we call the constituent power.
The Gospel of John says:
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ." (Jn 1:17)
- Jesus Christ gave the constituent power once and for all in the evening on the same day he rose from the dead. (Jn 20:19-22)
- The constituent power is the sovereign power over sin. (Jn 20:23)
Sin is doing something that is not allowed.
- If the law allows something, then it is allowed.
- If the law forbids something, then it is not allowed.
The Pope in Rome is not the supreme possessor of the constituent power.
- The constituent power cannot be given from person to person.
- The constituent power resides in the Nation.
This exegesis is in agreement with the following principle by Kant:
"When conflict arises about the sense of a scriptural text, philosophy - that is, the lower faculty, which has truth as its end - claims the prerogative of deciding its meaning." (Text)/(AA VII:38)