‘Pauline Christology’ in Colossians 1:15-20 and its implication on Africanness of Cherubim and Seraphim Church’s Angelology

Abstract

In proclaiming Christ’s Gospel, African Indigenous Churches needs to contextualize the gospel for it to be meaningful to the Africans. This must be done without changing the content of the Gospel. In their attempt to contextualize the gospel, some African Indigenous Churches fail to remove the African elements that are contrary to the gospel of Christ and the living tradition of the Church. This consequently makes it difficult for these churches to penetrate the depth of the Christian message. Instead of Cherubim and Seraphim church’s contextualization of angelology to lead Africans to better perception of the person of Christ and his sole mediatory role between God and man, it only drifts them further. Africanness of the church’s angelology seems to affirm the need for intermediaries apart from Christ. Here the didactic claim of Christ as the sole mediator between God and man, His supremacy over the angels Paul advocates for in his epistle to the Colossians, and the obligation of preaching Christ effectively in Africa, a continent that believes in existence of divinities as the intermediaries between God and man are threatened. Since the allegiance of any church to the confession of the Lordship of Christ and His sole mediatory role is the parameter to measure their faithfulness to Christ, then doing otherwise is like driving a nail into the Church’s coffin. This situation has made it imperative to examine the Africanness of the church’s angelology and its effect on the African perception of Christ.

Keywords

• cherubim and seraphim(c&s)
• angelology
• africanness
• syncretism
• contextualization