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F11 reasoning: Ascension and session

Reasoning steps: Ascension and session

Verdicts: F11 · Ascension and session. Method: conventions, scoring and proximity eras. Scripture is the primary measure; fathers are weighed by era (Era I to c. 150 = 1.0, II = 0.8, III = 0.6, IV = 0.4).

F11.1: Ascension and session

Step F11.1.1: Scripture

Acts 1:9–11 (taken up; ‘will come in the same way’); Acts 2:33–36; Eph 1:20–22 (seated at the right hand, far above all rule); Heb 1:3; Ps 110:1.

Step F11.1.2: Patristic evidence

Polycarp (Era I): God gave Christ ‘glory, and a throne at His right hand’. Irenaeus’s rule of faith: ’the ascension into heaven in the flesh’. Justin: he ‘ascended into heaven’. Sources: polycarp-f11-s1 · irenaeus-f11-s1 · justin-martyr-f11-s1.

Step F11.1.3: Weighing decision

Unanimous from Era I. Verdict: consensus. The Lutheran–Reformed dispute over the ubiquity of Christ’s humanity is later and does not deny the ascension.

  • Confidence: High.

Step F11.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Acts 1 and Eph 1 describe a bodily ascension and present reign. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Assessment: Scripture and Era I agree; all nine confess it.

Post-750 development by tradition

Catholic

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Creeds.

Orthodox

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Creeds.

Oriental Orthodox

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Armenian creed: ‘ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father’ (verified).

Lutheran

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): AC III: ‘ascended into heaven that He might sit on the right hand of the Father’; FC VIII adds the ubiquity of Christ’s humanity.

Anglican

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. IV: ‘ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth’.

Presbyterian

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF VIII.4.

Reformed Baptist

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 8.4.

General Baptist

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Apostles’ Creed received (Orthodox Creed 38).

Anabaptist

Confesses the ascension and session.

  • F11.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Dordrecht IV (to verify wording).