The Cruciform shape of Christian Grammar

At the root of the Christian confession is the political claim that “Jesus is Lord.” The claim that “Jesus is Lord” has a very particular cruciform grammar in Christian usage. We must always remember that it is “Jesus” that modifies the meaning of the word “Lord.” Indeed, the so-called "constantinian settlement" is perhaps best understood as shift from a type of Christian grammar wherein “Jesus” modified our conceptions of lordship to a grammar in which a triumphalist conception of lordship begins to modify the meaning of “Jesus." To claim that "Jesus is Lord" is to commit to the learning of such fine grammatical distinctions. It is a claim that can become the first line of a theology of glory or of the cross. The difference between this a theology of glory or this theology of the cross rests on the understanding of which noun modifies the other.

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