"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar" (Heb 11:13)
What a great image (... and not just the still from Lawrence of Arabia)!
I think that helps with progressive revelation. They didn't trust the shadows, but the person of Christ who was to come. Nevertheless, he hadn't arrived and they couldn't see him as clearly as we can. Also, on an emotional level, "greeting from afar" implies they were full of joy to see Jesus on the horizon and welcomed him.
"The Christian faith is not true because it works; it works because it is true. It is not true because we experience it; we experience it - deeply and gloriously - because it is true. It is not simply "true for us"; it is true for any who seek in order to find"
(p.79, Os Guiness, Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype, and Spin [Thanks to Ed Shaw])
We don't know how bad we are until we try to be good.
(p.31, Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life)
Paul Miller talks about this in relation to prayer. Mark Galli talks about it in his excellent article "Giving Up Self-Discipline for Lent". Its one of the uses of 'the law' at the end of the day, in whatever form 'the law' comes to us.
People try to persuade us that the objections against Christianity spring from doubt. The objections against Christianity spring from insubordination, the dislike of obedience, rebellion against all authority. As a result people have hitherto been beating the air in their struggle against objections, because they have fought intellectually with doubt instead of fighting morally with rebellion.
In one of my all time favourite talks, Tim Saleska tells the story of his room-mate at college. His room-mate was engaged, but his fiancée broke up from him leaving him totally devastated.
The room-mate tried everything he could to win the girl he loved back. He probably gave her space, bombarded her with love letters, sent gifts, drove across the country to tell her all he felt for her, guilt-tripped her, even threatened. Nothing worked.
As Tim Saleska said, you cannot do anything to make someone love. It's something beyond the control of Aladdin's Genie and it's certainly beyond me. I cannot even make myself love something. There's a reason its called "falling in love" and why we talk about being "captivated"... its something beyond our control.
So, we cannot persuade our friends, family, colleagues and strangers to love Christ. We cannot threaten them enough with the consequences of not loving him, or present him as so attractive that he is irresistible. Their hearts are not won to Christ. The Father sets his love upon them and through the Word and by his Spirit gives them a heart transplant - killing the old heart and giving them a new one that beats for him.
I have heard it said that there are three main branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics (logic could be fourth, and no doubt others could be added). The Gospel is the news of our salvation in all three branches:
We are saved from the destruction of our being and reality which is death and hell to become like God.
We are saved from and ignorance of God to knowing him.
We are saved from our sins to righteousness.
I wonder if Western Christianity (particularly post-Augustine) should be characterised as mainly dealing with salvation in the realm of ethics, much modern Christianity (in response to atheism and agnosticism) in the realm of epistemology, and Eastern Christianity being the only one that is that concerned with being in its doctrine of deification.
I can several of many Bible passages which deal with salvation in the three different ways and often they are closely linked. But, is there one branch which has priority as the one which leads to either curse or blessing in the others?
I used to think that it was best not to ask individuals or society to obey a 'Christian ethic' until they became Christians. This was borne out of a concern that we give the impression that you are Christian by living an ethical life.
But, I now think the problem was the idea of a 'Christian ethic' at all. Isn't it really a 'Creation ethic' written into our very beings as people made in the image of God? In which case, you're not giving anyone the impression that they are Christian by being ethical. They're just being human.
Listening to: St Matthew Passion: JS Bach (Leonhardt)
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Gen 6:5)
The LORD said "I have seen that you [Noah] are righteous before me", so the LORD saved him, his household and all those animals he takes with him (Gen 7:1)
"the waters prevailed...but God remembered Noah...and God made a wind [or 'Spirit'] blow" (Gen 7:24f)
"The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma" of Noah's sacrifice and made a covenant never to curse the ground again and to bless Noah and his sons (Gen 8:20ff).
God gave the sign of the rainbow so that when Noah was no longer around he would "see it and remember the everlasting covenant"
Fulfilled in the righteous man who drowned in God's wrath, was remembered by the Father, was saved by the Spirit, made an pleasing sacrifice to the Father who then gave us the sign of baptism which he sees and remembers the covenant he made with his Son.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets." (Matthew 23:29-31)
The Pharisees witness against themselves by not admitting they were sons of Ahab and would have sought to murder Elijah just as much as he did. They are lying to themselves and acting out a part to everyone else (the root meaning of hypocrites). Their way out of woe and into blessing is through reality - not fantasy stories. And its the same for us. We can be honest and confess that we find Jeremiah and Ezekiel very weird and scary. We can confess that we would have dismissed Jonah as a religious nutcase.
We only condemn ourselves by our own words and we should do just that. We cannot justify ourselves (that is declare ourselves just), because it is "God who justifies". And praise God that in Jesus he does just that!
The words of Jesus on the cross - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" - belong to those who crucified Christ, and those like us who would have done the same.
'"Fear" in the Bible means to be overwhelmed' (p.68, Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage)
Why have I not heard that before?!
I've struggled to work out what fear of the Lord looks like. The Bible makes clear that it is not simply being scared which is too negative, but neither is it simply reverence which is too safe. Overwhelmed/overcome seems to capture it well.
When Jesus Christ went to the cross, he was simply acting in character. As C. S. Lewis, wrote, when Jesus sacrificed himself for us, he did "in the wild weather of his outlying provinces" that which from all eternity "he had done at home in glory and gladness."
(p. 59, Tim Keller quoting CS Lewis who was quoting George MacDonald, The Meaning of Marriage)
The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us.
John Piper reminded me powerfully of the stress the NT puts on self-control.
[Self-control] is so essential in Christian living that Paul made it part of his one-time sermon to Felix (“he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment,” Acts 24:25); he made it part of the fruit of the Spirit (“faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” Galatians 5:23); he made it part of the qualifications for overseers (“self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined,” Titus 1:8).
...It’s the sort of thing that athletes do. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Paul had very little trust in the desires his body threw at him daily: “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). That’s an innocuous translation. Literally: “I give my body a black eye (hupopiazō) and make it a slave (doulagōgō).”
...Is this Christian Hedonism? Yes. Why does Paul live like a self-disciplined athlete? Simple: Greater joy. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25).
I've been thinking about self-control a lot recently because I feel I have very little. It's all over the Bible and nowhere in our culture. But, how do we hold self-control together with grace?
I have quite a few thoughts, but find Martin Luther helpful (as so often). He was quite strong on the importance of fasting and self-discipline (at least in the early days - his later girth suggests things changed). But, he placed it firmly within the doctrine of two kinds of righteousness. Disciplines such as fasting that build self-control have no effect on our righteousness coram deo because only God's creative Word can change our hearts. However, they have benefit for our neighbour (coram mundo) if they train us in righteous acts of giving, patience, etc.
My lack of self-control is a destructive force in my life and in other people. I want to control my selfish desires, and fasting in lent maybe a way to do that. But God already sees me as his Son who was so in control of his selfish desires that he refused the devil's invitation to bread in the desert and died on a tree because he was a Christian Hedonist who found his joy set before him in the redemption of a people and the pleasure of his Father.
When our prayers are ascend to the Father through the intercession of the Son, the intercession of the Son represents nothing but the Father’s greatest desires in the first place, so guarantees the beautiful success of the Son’s prayers.
Pensive, doubting, fearful heart,
Hear what CHRIST the Saviour says;
Every word should joy impart,
Change thy mourning into praise:
Yes, he speaks, and speaks to thee,
May he help thee to believe!
Then thou presently wilt see,
Thou hast little cause to grieve.
“Fear thou not, nor be ashamed,
All thy sorrows soon shall end
I who heav’n and earth have framed,
Am thy husband and thy friend
I the High and Holy One,
Israel’s GOD by all adored;
As thy Savior will be known,
Thy Redeemer and thy Lord.
For a moment I withdrew,
And thy heart was filled with pain;
But my mercies I’ll renew,
Thou shalt soon rejoice again:
Though I scorn to hide my face,
Very soon my wrath shall cease;
‘Tis but for a moment’s space,
Ending in eternal peace.
When my peaceful bow appears
Painted on the wat’ry cloud;
‘Tis to dissipate thy fears,
Lest the earth should be o’erflowed:
‘Tis an emblem too of grace,
Of my cov’nant love a sign;
Though the mountains leave their place,
Thou shalt be for ever mine.
Though afflicted, tempest-tossed,
Comfortless awhile thou art,
Do not think thou canst be lost,
Thou art graven on my heart
All thy walls I will repair,
Thou shalt be rebuilt anew;
And in thee it shall appear,
What a God of love can do.
Dostoevsky peoples his novels with “characters that speak in their own voices, not merely as mouthpieces for their author.” Zosima speaks his own point of view, which may be right or wrong; Ivan Karamazov argues the devil’s point of view so forcefully that the author seems helpless to silence him. If Dostoevsky were a director of a war movie, one gets the sense he would equip the actors with live ammunition. “What Dostoevsky projects into the world of his works is not a finished plot but unfinished voice ideas.” (p. 330) [incidentally, in my more heretical moments I have pondered whether God writes like Kierkegaard... ask me about it sometime]
logizomai [imputation], is logos - in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And it's the verb form of logos. And it's not merely that by his action Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to have mercy, but that it's because of what the Logos did - it was the verb, the action of the Logos. I am imputed as righteous even though I am not righteous, and by that wording of me as righteous, I begin to become that kind of righteousness that we see in the second person of the Trinity.
the Archbishop’s theological reflections sound quasi-masochistic. For example, he returns again and again in his work to the idea that the ‘inner readiness to come to judgment’ (OCT, p. 32) is the mark of the true disciple... I would argue, however, that it belongs to a complex of other readinesses that together constitute the form of faithfulness. In other words, openness to judgment is genuinely Christian only insofar as it is wedded to the humble audacity—to take up the S. Bulgakov’s idiom—also to receive blessings and to offer judgments in Christ’s name.
Both [Penal Substitution and Christus Victor] actually include dimensions of personal guilt and victimhood, but as I listen to the discussion today, it seems that Christus Victor highlights our state as victims. Substitutionary atonement focuses on our guilt. In Christus Victor, we are liberated from hostile powers out there. In substitution, we are forgiven, and liberation is from ourselves and our addiction to our sin. Naturally, both models speak to truths of the human condition! And both have nuances worth exploring. But I'm concerned at the rising popularity of Christus Victor when it comes at the expense of substitution.
I've also been think a lot about Luke 7:47:
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
If I want to love God more the answer is not to dwell on his essence, but on his action. I say that not because his essence is not essentially important (intentional pun ;-)), but because the way to his essence is his action.
"to know Christ means to know his benefits, and not as they teach to reflect upon his natures" (p. 21f, Philip Melanchthon, Loci Communes 1521 in Melanchthon and Bucer)
Interesting to see what Rowan Williams has been reading:
The American Presbyterian writer Timothy Keller has recently published a book on Mark’s gospel, entitled King’s Cross. It is a vividly written and often very moving presentation of the great themes of the gospel (and incidentally offers a forceful defence of substitutionary language for the atonement that might give second thoughts to some who find this difficult); but perhaps its simplest and most dominant insight is that Christianity is not advice but news. The world has changed; humanity is not what it was. We are still working out, often in floundering and stumbling ways, what this means, but the one thing to beware of is reducing the news to exhortation, sound moral or even spiritual teaching, alone. We must always be beginning again with the news that God has shown himself to be a God who does not abandon – even when all the evidence has pointed to his absence, he recovers himself and us in the great act of vindication, homecoming and transfiguration that is the resurrection; a moment so alarmingly beyond all expectation that Mark can only present it with the silence, the fear and trembling, of his famous ending at 16.8. And I suppose that what I am pleading for in our discussion today is a revitalised sense of the news we have, the event we celebrate as having changed everything.
Hitler invaded and occupied France and exploited it and its people. But most collaborated with their new master and many welcomed him. The French were both victims and perpetrators of sin.
The Devil invaded God's creation and exploited it its people. Everyone collaborated with their new masters and welcomed him. We are both victims and perpetrators of sin.
Firstfruits
The Allies landed at Normandy and at great cost liberated its people. Victory and freedom the rest of France was certain once that bridgehead was established.
Christ landed in a manger in Bethlehem and at the ultimate cost saw the first fruits of New Creation when his Father raised him from the dead by his Spirit. Victory and freedom for the rest of creation was certain once that bridgehead was established. But even as he was dying to establish that bridgehead he pronounced forgiveness to all collaborators with the Devil.
Full harvest
The collaborators with Nazis were full of fear. The French resistance grew in strength and those who had collaborated were persecuted by those now full of hope for freedom.
Christ's proclamation of forgiveness for those who collaborated with the Devil in crucifying him means that there is no fear from the completion of his victory. Past guilt is no reason to fear only love for the present order. Living out of the promise of the Resurrection we take up arms and join the resistance.
[with thanks to Oscar Cullmann and Steven Paulson]
I've just discovered this guy's youtube channel. He has been merrily uploading all my favourite Christian worship music: Gettys, Townend, Sojourn Music, Sovereign Grace, High Street Hymns, Red Mountain and others. I'm never quite sure about the morality of that, but here are a few samples of great stuff that I've (re)discovered through him (and Gill ;-)):
First something Christmassy, then a bit of Good Friday.
Approach my soul, the mercy seat
Where Holy One and helpless meet
There fall before my Judgesʼ feet
Thy promise is my only plea, O God
Send wings to lift the clutch of sin
You who dwell between the cherubim
From war without and fear within
Relieve the grief from the shoulders of crumbling men
O God –
Pour out your mercy to me
My God,
Oh what striking love to bleed.
Fashion my heart in your alchemy
With the brass to front the devilʼs purgery
And surefire grace my Jesus speaks
I must. I will. I do believe. Oh Lord.
Jamie Barnes/John NewtonTo See the King of Heaven Fall (Gethsemane)To see the King of heaven fall In anguish to His knees,
The Light and Hope of all the world
Now overwhelmed with grief.
What nameless horrors must He see,
To cry out in the garden:
“Oh, take this cup away from me –
Yet not my will but Yours,
Yet not my will but Yours.”
To know each friend will fall away,
And heaven’s voice be still,
For hell to have its vengeful day
Upon Golgotha’s hill.
No words describe the Savior’s plight -
To be by God forsaken
Till wrath and love are satisfied
And every sin is paid
And every sin is paid
