According to John’s Gospel, on the evening of his crucifixion Jesus clearly
articulated the single-most important quality by which his followers would be
recognized: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love
(agape) one another” (John 13:35). Or again: “But I tell you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in
heaven” (Matt 5:44). As the apostle Paul reminds us, even the best deeds and
most impressive religious phenomenon and achievements are simply worthless
religious noise (“clanging cymbals”) unless they are motivated by and express
Jesus-looking love (1 Cor 13).
In this light, what are we to think of Christians when, in “the name of
Christ” and for “the glory of God,” they engage in any type of violence? In days
past, the Church that tortured and murdered its enemies was certainly “orthodox”
in its core beliefs. It believed in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the atonement,
the need for grace, the inspiration of the Bible and many other true things.
Yet—call me crazy if you will—it seems to me that the barbaric activity that
the Church endorsed and practiced “in the name of Jesus” wasn’t expressing
Christ-like agape love. And since the NT teaches that anything that doesn’t
express Christ-like love is devoid of Kingdom value, however true and impressive
it might otherwise be, we can only conclude that the Church that engaged in this
anti-Christ activity was not the Kingdom. Without love, believing all the true
beliefs in the world is worthless. James makes this very point by reminding us:
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and
shudder” (Jas 2:19).
The Kingdom always reflects the character of the one who incarnated it and
first established it. Jesus never tortured or murdered his enemies. He gave his
life for them. So any religion that advocates torturing or killing enemies
rather than sacrificing your life for them is not the Kingdom, regardless of how
many true beliefs it contains. When it comes to the centrality of agape-love it
really is just that simple—as the NT consistently teaches us.
I know that in arguing this way I’m coming up against a long and cherished
tradition that has identified the Kingdom of God with doctrinal orthodoxy. So
let me come at this from another angle.
It seems we should regard the command to love as the ultimate test of
orthodoxy. “Orthoprayxy” (correct practice/lifestyle) is the necessary condition
for an “orthodoxy” (correct belief) that is glorifying God. In this light, I
don’t see how we can avoid concluding that those who burned heretics alive for
the glory of God were far worse heretics than those they set on fire.
For example, in the 16th century John Calvin had the heretic
Michael Servetus burned at the stake for denying that Jesus was the eternal Son
of God and for rejecting infant baptism. Servetus’ denial of Jesus’ deity was
unorthodox, for sure. But in the light of the all-or-nothing emphasis of the NT
on manifesting Christ-like love, how can we avoid concluding that Calvin was a
far worse heretic for having him burned alive? He certainly was not
self-sacrificially loving, doing good to, and blessing his enemy as Jesus
commanded.
In fact, while Church history is full of people being tortured or put to
death for heresies such as not acknowledging the authority of the Church,
baptizing wrongly, and denying the Trinity, how is it that there’s no record of
anyone so much as having their hand slapped for not loving enough (let alone for
torturing and killing people)? And how is it that neither God’s love nor the
command to live in love is so much as mentioned in any of the major ecumenical
creeds of the Church?
Now, I’m not suggesting that we are in a position to pass individual judgment
on Calvin or anyone else. Each of us must consider ourselves the worst of
sinners. Each of us has a log in our own eye, as Jesus said. Were we in Calvin’s
shoes, we might very well have done the exact same thing. As mere humans who
know very little, and as sinners who have planks sticking out of our eyes, we
must leave all judgment up to the One who alone knows the innermost hearts of
people.
But this doesn’t mean we can’t discern what is and is not of the Kingdom. We
can’t ever separate ourselves form others and place ourselves above others. But
we can and must separate things. And so we must clearly and emphatically
separate torturing and killing people in Jesus name (or for any other reason)
from the beautiful, Jesus-looking Kingdom.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
God Doesn't Zap Away Our Sin
God promises grace to battle sin and to overcome sin. We believe that God
gives that kind of grace to his people. This is not something we deserve; it is
not something he owes us, but he gives it anyway. It is undeserved, the overflow
of his love for us.
And we long for that grace—the grace to put sin to death, the grace to bring righteousness to life, the grace to be who and what God calls us to be.
God gives that grace, but for some reason—his good reasons—it rarely comes in the form we would prefer. God gives it not in the form we want but in the form we need. We want God to zap away our sin, to instantly and permanently remove it. Those desires, those addictions, those idolatries—we want them to be lifted and to be gone that very moment.
God could do this. He has the strength and the power. And occasionally he does do this, he removes the sin and the temptation to sin in an instant, and it never comes back with the same strength and the same force.
But more commonly God’s grace is not manifested in the instant obliteration of a sin. Instead, his grace is manifested in a newfound desire to destroy that sin. God does not zap away our sin, but gives us a new hatred for it and a new desire to do the hard work of battling it. He does not sovereignly remove it in a moment, but extends grace so we can battle it for a lifetime. He extends grace so we can see continuous, incremental success, knowing our weakness and crying out for his strength. He gives what we need, even if it isn’t quite what we want.
And this, too, is grace. This, too, is undeserved favour from a loving God. This, somehow, must be far better for us than the alternative. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
And we long for that grace—the grace to put sin to death, the grace to bring righteousness to life, the grace to be who and what God calls us to be.
God gives that grace, but for some reason—his good reasons—it rarely comes in the form we would prefer. God gives it not in the form we want but in the form we need. We want God to zap away our sin, to instantly and permanently remove it. Those desires, those addictions, those idolatries—we want them to be lifted and to be gone that very moment.
God could do this. He has the strength and the power. And occasionally he does do this, he removes the sin and the temptation to sin in an instant, and it never comes back with the same strength and the same force.
But more commonly God’s grace is not manifested in the instant obliteration of a sin. Instead, his grace is manifested in a newfound desire to destroy that sin. God does not zap away our sin, but gives us a new hatred for it and a new desire to do the hard work of battling it. He does not sovereignly remove it in a moment, but extends grace so we can battle it for a lifetime. He extends grace so we can see continuous, incremental success, knowing our weakness and crying out for his strength. He gives what we need, even if it isn’t quite what we want.
And this, too, is grace. This, too, is undeserved favour from a loving God. This, somehow, must be far better for us than the alternative. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Why are We So Mired in Violence
In his marvelous little book entitled The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis envisioned hell as a
realm in which people are forever moving farther away from one another. Hell is
the ultimate, cosmic, suburban sprawl! It seems to me that Western civilization
is diving headlong into Lewis’ hell, and we’re being pulled there by the powers
of darkness.
When you combine our relationship-eroding consumerism with our stress on individual freedoms and rights, you can understand why most Westerners have many acquaintances but few (if any) deeply committed relationships that echo the love of the triune God, which I highlighted in the previous two posts here and here.
So why doesn’t the human community mirror the love of the triune God? Why are we so prone to violence, judgment, and division? It’s really not that complicated. It’s because we have individually and as a race severed our life-giving relationship with our Creator. It’s impossible for us to be rightly-related to one another on a consistent basis if we’re wrongly-related to our Creator (1 John 4:20).
This is evident in the biblical account of how the rebellion against God began. The moment Adam and Eve rebelled, they concealed themselves from each other and hid from God (Gen 3:7-10). When confronted by God about his sin, Adam first accused Eve and then God for giving Eve to him (Gen 3:12). God then woefully proclaimed that because of their rebellion, the beautiful “one flesh” relationship he wanted couples to enjoy would be reduced to a manipulative power struggle. The wife would seek to manipulate and dominate her husband, and the man would end up lording over the woman, presumably because he tends to be physically stronger (vs. 16).
The story goes downhill from there. Adam and Eve’s first child, Cain, murdered their second child, Abel, out of jealousy (4:8). As violence always does, this set in motion other violent impulses, to the point that God had to threaten vengeance upon anyone who killed Cain just to keep others from murdering him (vs. 14-15). Fast forward eight verses and you find Lamech, a descendent of Cain, boasting that his thirst for vengeance is ten times greater than Cain’s.
Within a few millennia (so far as we can guess) the world became so “full of violence” the Lord had to destroy humankind and start over with Noah’s family (Gen. 6:11). Yet, this drastic step fell short of putting an end to violence. Indeed, the rest of the biblical narrative and the whole of human history is a prolonged testimony to how our broken relationship with God invariably results in broken, violent-tending relationships with others.
All of this testifies to the truth that we can’t relate to each other the way God intends unless we’re in relationship with God himself the way he intends. We can only replicate the love of the Trinity in our relationships with one another when we are participating in the love of the Trinity. It also testifies to the truth that since the rebellion, we have been living under the relationships-fracturing tyranny of the powers of darkness, who first seduced us to join in their rebellion.
When you combine our relationship-eroding consumerism with our stress on individual freedoms and rights, you can understand why most Westerners have many acquaintances but few (if any) deeply committed relationships that echo the love of the triune God, which I highlighted in the previous two posts here and here.
So why doesn’t the human community mirror the love of the triune God? Why are we so prone to violence, judgment, and division? It’s really not that complicated. It’s because we have individually and as a race severed our life-giving relationship with our Creator. It’s impossible for us to be rightly-related to one another on a consistent basis if we’re wrongly-related to our Creator (1 John 4:20).
This is evident in the biblical account of how the rebellion against God began. The moment Adam and Eve rebelled, they concealed themselves from each other and hid from God (Gen 3:7-10). When confronted by God about his sin, Adam first accused Eve and then God for giving Eve to him (Gen 3:12). God then woefully proclaimed that because of their rebellion, the beautiful “one flesh” relationship he wanted couples to enjoy would be reduced to a manipulative power struggle. The wife would seek to manipulate and dominate her husband, and the man would end up lording over the woman, presumably because he tends to be physically stronger (vs. 16).
The story goes downhill from there. Adam and Eve’s first child, Cain, murdered their second child, Abel, out of jealousy (4:8). As violence always does, this set in motion other violent impulses, to the point that God had to threaten vengeance upon anyone who killed Cain just to keep others from murdering him (vs. 14-15). Fast forward eight verses and you find Lamech, a descendent of Cain, boasting that his thirst for vengeance is ten times greater than Cain’s.
Within a few millennia (so far as we can guess) the world became so “full of violence” the Lord had to destroy humankind and start over with Noah’s family (Gen. 6:11). Yet, this drastic step fell short of putting an end to violence. Indeed, the rest of the biblical narrative and the whole of human history is a prolonged testimony to how our broken relationship with God invariably results in broken, violent-tending relationships with others.
All of this testifies to the truth that we can’t relate to each other the way God intends unless we’re in relationship with God himself the way he intends. We can only replicate the love of the Trinity in our relationships with one another when we are participating in the love of the Trinity. It also testifies to the truth that since the rebellion, we have been living under the relationships-fracturing tyranny of the powers of darkness, who first seduced us to join in their rebellion.
What You Should Know About Sin
One of the most astounding things about the Gospel is it’s power to
transform. Salvation isn’t about saying a prayer to get your sins
forgiven so you can get into Heaven. The Gospel packs incredible
transformational power.
Most of the Body of Christ isn’t even aware of this, but they’re waking up to it.
Here’s why the Gospel is unlike any religion.
The Gospel leaves a person without any consciousness of sin. Which means zero shame, guilt or condemnation. Zero! (Hebrew 10:2,4). And it means you aren’t always thinking about sin (biting your lip and trying hard not to sin.)
Guilt says: “I’m not forgiven”
Condemnation says, “my life is worthy of judgement”
Shame says, “it’s still who I am”
Having
no consciousness of sin is so powerful that the enemy has been twisting
and manipulating this truth in order to hide it, for a very long time.
A
born again Believer with no consciousness of sin means they aren’t
caught in a cycle of sin, repent, repeat. They are truly free!
Wait! But don’t we all sin? Don’t we all come short of the glory of God?
See? That’s what I mean. We have been conditioned to always think about sin. Not about righteousness. Why?
Because
thinking about sin keeps us in a condemned state thinking “I am a
sinner saved by grace.” What’s wrong with this? Scripture says you’re no
longer a sinner. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor
5:21). You’re no longer a sinner because your nature has changed. A
sinner sins. That’s what they do. It’s in their nature. But a righteous
man no longer thinks of sin. He is a slave to it no longer. It no longer
can master him. He is a slave to righteousness. His old nature has been
crucified with Christ and he is dead to sin. This means it’s impossible to have a ‘dual nature’ like much of the Church believes. (Romans 6:11) (Romans 6:6)
But doesn’t even the righteous man sin?
There we go again. Thinking about sin.
The
scripture says IF we sin we have an advocate, Jesus the Righteous. If…
not WHEN. That’s where we get tripped up. (1 John 2:1)
Focus
today on Hebrews. Read the entire book. Watch the way it’s worded.
Watch how it talks about how the blood of bulls and goats can’t cleanse a
person’s conscience of sin. And how every year the priest has to go in
and offer a blood sacrifice because of it. If the blood of bulls and
goats could’ve cleansed the conscience of sin then there would be no
need to offer it year after year. But Jesus did it. Once. For all. And
He sat down, because IT IS FINISHED.
Now,
THAT’S the Gospel (good news). If what you’re hearing isn’t good news
then it isn’t the Gospel. (like a doctrine that says you’re always
trapped in sin because you have a sin nature).
Fear not: For behold, I bring to you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (Luke 2 :10)
The Gospel is good news that brings great joy!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Participating in the Divne Nature (Love)
When God created the world, it obviously wasn’t to finally have someone to
love, for God already had this, within himself. Rather God created the world to
express the love he is and invite others in on this love.
This purpose is most beautifully expressed in Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Jesus prays to his Father that all of his disciples would “be one … just as you are in me and I am in you” (vs 21). Jesus wants his followers to live in some sense inside one another—just as he and the Father live inside each other.
He then says that he’s given his disciples the same “glory” the Father gave him. He did this “so that they may be one as we are one” (vs 22). What God is aiming at, clearly, is a community of people who reflect and participate in his “glory,” which is nothing other than the radiance of his own perfect, eternal, loving, communal, oneness.
As if this wasn’t beautiful enough, Jesus continues by saying that just as the Father is in him, so he prays he’ll be in his disciples “so that they may be brought to complete unity.” This is how “the world” is to become convinced that Jesus was sent by the Father (vs. 21-23). Then Jesus ends his magnificent prayer by proclaiming that he will continue to make the Father’s name (or character) known “in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (vs 26).
Stop and read that last sentence again.
The very same love the Father has for the Son—a love, Jesus says, that goes back before creation (vs 24)—is to dwell in Jesus’ disciples, for Jesus himself dwells in his disciples! This blows me away! God’s love for us isn’t a secondary, derivative, watered down kind of love. It’s the very same eternal love the Father has for the Son. It’s the very same love that God’s eternally is.
What I wrote in the post yesterday about God now applies to us. God’s love for us isn’t merely a verb God does: It’s the noun he is. When God loves us, he’s simply being himself toward us. With God there’s no distinction between the love he gives and the love he is.
If we catch even the slightest glimmer of this magnificent truth, we can’t help but be overwhelmed by its beauty.
So, humans were created out of God’s perfect love—in his “image” and “likeness”—for the purpose of participating in and expressing God’s perfect love (Gen 1:26-27). We were created to dance with and in the triune God. We were created for a relationship with God and each other that is nothing less than a participation in, and reflection of, the triune relationship that God eternally is. This is how we “participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
This purpose is most beautifully expressed in Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Jesus prays to his Father that all of his disciples would “be one … just as you are in me and I am in you” (vs 21). Jesus wants his followers to live in some sense inside one another—just as he and the Father live inside each other.
He then says that he’s given his disciples the same “glory” the Father gave him. He did this “so that they may be one as we are one” (vs 22). What God is aiming at, clearly, is a community of people who reflect and participate in his “glory,” which is nothing other than the radiance of his own perfect, eternal, loving, communal, oneness.
As if this wasn’t beautiful enough, Jesus continues by saying that just as the Father is in him, so he prays he’ll be in his disciples “so that they may be brought to complete unity.” This is how “the world” is to become convinced that Jesus was sent by the Father (vs. 21-23). Then Jesus ends his magnificent prayer by proclaiming that he will continue to make the Father’s name (or character) known “in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (vs 26).
Stop and read that last sentence again.
The very same love the Father has for the Son—a love, Jesus says, that goes back before creation (vs 24)—is to dwell in Jesus’ disciples, for Jesus himself dwells in his disciples! This blows me away! God’s love for us isn’t a secondary, derivative, watered down kind of love. It’s the very same eternal love the Father has for the Son. It’s the very same love that God’s eternally is.
What I wrote in the post yesterday about God now applies to us. God’s love for us isn’t merely a verb God does: It’s the noun he is. When God loves us, he’s simply being himself toward us. With God there’s no distinction between the love he gives and the love he is.
If we catch even the slightest glimmer of this magnificent truth, we can’t help but be overwhelmed by its beauty.
So, humans were created out of God’s perfect love—in his “image” and “likeness”—for the purpose of participating in and expressing God’s perfect love (Gen 1:26-27). We were created to dance with and in the triune God. We were created for a relationship with God and each other that is nothing less than a participation in, and reflection of, the triune relationship that God eternally is. This is how we “participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
Thursday, December 4, 2014
When God is Revealed
Whether we’re talking about our relationship with God or with other people,
the quality of our relationships can never go beyond the level of trust the
relating parties have in each other’s character. We cannot be rightly related to
God, therefore, except insofar as we embrace a trustworthy picture of him. To
the extent that our mental picture of God is untrustworthy, we will not rely on
him as our sole source of life. This is why the first thing that Satan went
after was Eve’s conception of God. The story reflects the truth that the root of
our alienation from God and our bondage to fallen powers is our own
untrustworthy and unloving mental pictures of him.
This is as true today as it was in the garden. Paul tells us that the gospel continues to be “veiled … to those who are perishing” because the “god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And notice, the seeing Paul is talking about is a seeing in our mind (2 Cor. 3:14-15). Nor can those who are yet under Satan’s blinding oppression receive the “light” that God wants to “shine in [their] hearts to give [them] the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:3-4, 6).
Only when the Spirit lifts the veil from our minds and hearts can we form and embrace a truly accurate picture of God. Only when the Spirit frees us from the blinding oppression of the “god of this age” can our hearts and minds see the glorious beauty of the God revealed in Christ. And only as we “with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory” can we be “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:17-18).
What this shows is that the revelation of God in Jesus, most clearly reflected on the cross, is the foundation of the new covenant because it is God’s definitive refutation of all false images of him. Jesus described himself as “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). The Greek word for “truth” (aletheia) has the connotation of something “uncovered” or “not concealed.” While we’ve been, to one degree or another, blinded by our sin and the “god of this age” from seeing the true, glorious character of God, he is finally fully unveiled in Christ.
This is why Jesus is also the “way” to the Father as well as the “life” of the Father. We can only experience the life that God wants for us when we know and trust his true character as it’s unveiled in Christ.
And we are making the same point from the opposite direction when we point out that, when Jesus fully unveiled the true character of the one true God on the cross, he “disarmed the powers and the authorities,” vanquished Satan and his minions (Col 2:14-15), and thereby set free all who would accept this truth. On the cross, the light expelled the darkness, the truth vanquished all deception, and the beauty of the true image of God destroyed the ugliness of all false images. And so now, for all who will yield to the Spirit, as the veil over our minds is removed, we can see “God’s glory displayed in the face of Jesus” (2 Cor 4:6) and be set free to enter into the loving, trusting, and transforming relationship God has always wanted to have with his people
- Greg Boyd
This is as true today as it was in the garden. Paul tells us that the gospel continues to be “veiled … to those who are perishing” because the “god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And notice, the seeing Paul is talking about is a seeing in our mind (2 Cor. 3:14-15). Nor can those who are yet under Satan’s blinding oppression receive the “light” that God wants to “shine in [their] hearts to give [them] the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:3-4, 6).
Only when the Spirit lifts the veil from our minds and hearts can we form and embrace a truly accurate picture of God. Only when the Spirit frees us from the blinding oppression of the “god of this age” can our hearts and minds see the glorious beauty of the God revealed in Christ. And only as we “with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory” can we be “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:17-18).
What this shows is that the revelation of God in Jesus, most clearly reflected on the cross, is the foundation of the new covenant because it is God’s definitive refutation of all false images of him. Jesus described himself as “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). The Greek word for “truth” (aletheia) has the connotation of something “uncovered” or “not concealed.” While we’ve been, to one degree or another, blinded by our sin and the “god of this age” from seeing the true, glorious character of God, he is finally fully unveiled in Christ.
This is why Jesus is also the “way” to the Father as well as the “life” of the Father. We can only experience the life that God wants for us when we know and trust his true character as it’s unveiled in Christ.
And we are making the same point from the opposite direction when we point out that, when Jesus fully unveiled the true character of the one true God on the cross, he “disarmed the powers and the authorities,” vanquished Satan and his minions (Col 2:14-15), and thereby set free all who would accept this truth. On the cross, the light expelled the darkness, the truth vanquished all deception, and the beauty of the true image of God destroyed the ugliness of all false images. And so now, for all who will yield to the Spirit, as the veil over our minds is removed, we can see “God’s glory displayed in the face of Jesus” (2 Cor 4:6) and be set free to enter into the loving, trusting, and transforming relationship God has always wanted to have with his people
- Greg Boyd
Monday, December 1, 2014
Scottish Theologian Hugh Binning (1627-1653) writes
He writes of the Triune reality, and God as love and Savior in this way:
. . . our salvation is not the business of Christ alone but the whole Godhead is interested in it deeply, so deeply, that you cannot say, who loves it most, or likes it most. The Father is the very fountain of it, his love is the spring of all — “God so loved the world that he hath sent his Son”. Christ hath not purchased that eternal love to us, but it is rather the gift of eternal love . . . Whoever thou be that wouldst flee to God for mercy, do it in confidence. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are ready to welcome thee, all of one mind to shut out none, to cast out none. But to speak properly, it is but one love, one will, one council, and purpose in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, for these Three are One, and not only agree in One, they are One, and what one loves and purposes, all love and purpose. [Hugh Binning cited by Thomas F. Torrance, Scottish Theology, 79.]
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