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Hope Fetches Holiness

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Election, Exodus, Hope, Isaiah, Mortification, Obedience, Praise, Sanctification, Union With Christ

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1 Peter 2:9, adoption, Election, Exodus 19:5-6, Holiness, Hope, incarnation, Isaiah 43:18-21, John Calvin, Lewis Smedes, new age, New Covenant, New Creation, Old Covenant, Romans 8, Romans 8:18-25, Union with Christ

(Some rough notes on 1 Peter 2:9)

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The first and last clauses in 1 Peter 2:9 come from Isaiah 43:21:

Isaiah 43:18–21 (ESV)

            18         “Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

            19         Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

                        I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

            20         The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

                        for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

                        to give drink to my chosen people,

            21         the people whom I formed for myself

                        that they might declare my praise.

 

In referencing Isaiah 43, Peter brings the salvation of the Christians into an eschatological focus. Young states that the “new thing” brought about God “is the wondrous redemption that was wrought for His people when the promised Messiah died upon the Cross of Golgotha” (156). That is true – but it is not the end of what God is doing.

Delitzsch writes:

He [Isaiah] knows that when the suffering of the people of God shall be brought ot an end, the sufferings of creation will terminate; for humanity is the heart of the universe, and the people of God (understanding by this the people of God according to the Spirit) are the heart of humanity (197).

This is the point of Paul in Romans 8 speaking of the adoption of the sons of God:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:18–25 (ESV)

The redemption wrought by Christ is the beginning of the transformation of the entire physical creation. Christ has not merely wrought salvation as an escape from the world – rather, Christ’s work has utterly transformed the entire nature of everything.

Smedes comments (Union With Christ):

God wanted a new creation with people in it who were His people, and this was His election. He elected a kingdom with a King, a body with a Head, a people with  a leader, a universe with a Lord, and sinners with a Savior. He elected in the comprehensive Christ, the Christ who was – in faith – first defined as “Lord of All.” (90).

The purpose of this work – this choosing and creating – is worship:

Israel is to recount, not its own merit, but God’s praises. It is His grace and love they are to declare, not their own works and achievement. Herein is stated the purpose of Israel’s election; they are to be a people that will praise their God (Young, Isaiah, vol. 3, 158)[1].

Indeed, as Calvin notes, salvation is given to glorify God:

This people have I created for myself. The Prophet means that the Lord will necessarily do what he formerly said, because it concerns his glory to preserve the people whom he has chosen for himself; and therefore these words are intended for the consolation of the people. “Do you think that I will suffer my glory to fall to the ground? It is connected with your salvation, and therefore your salvation shall be the object of my care. In a word, know that you shall be saved, because you cannot perish, unless my glory likewise perish. Ye shall therefore survive, because I wish that you may continually proclaim my glory.”

John Calvin and William Pringle, vol. 3, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 344. Our salvation is thus anchored in God’s desire for his glory. And it is for his glory that we will persevere – and for his glory that we will exist. Thus, our salvation glorifies God – and our praises which naturally flow from the recognition of our salvation glorify God.

The middle section of 1 Peter 2:9 derives from Exodus 19 and the making of the covenant with Israel at Sinai:

Exodus 19:5–6 (ESV)

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

It is of interest that Peter quotes a conditional promise, “If you will indeed obey my voice ….”  One great purpose of the OT is prove that Israel did not keep the command of God. Indeed, the promise of Isaiah hinges upon Israel being driven from the land due to their disobedience. How then can this promise be granted if the condition has failed?

Peter’s entire framework assumes the New Covenant. Yes, the Old Covenant failed, but God has raised Jesus from dead and granted us hope. He has redeemed us from the curse. We have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ – which recalls the sprinkling of Moses to institute Old Covenant (Exodus 24:8).

Paul’s language in Galatians 4 draws out the significance of Peter’s argument:

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4–7 (ESV)

The law brought its curse – but Christ came redeemed those born under the curse of the law. And not only did he redeem those so cursed, but he even extended adoption.  In Romans 8, Paul writes that the full extent of the adoption will be the restoration of the physical order. Peter quotes Isaiah 43 which shows that the culmination of the return from exile will be the transformation of the physical order (deserts, beasts, water). And while certainly such images help us picture the spiritual restoration of redemption – there is no reason to think that spiritual restoration will not entail physical transformation of the very  stuff of creation (especially when it is explicitly so promised).

The comprehensive work of God – physical and spiritual – extends from the incarnation of Christ (note Peter’s very physical and transcendent Christ: was “made manifest”, he bled, he died, he was physically resurrected – and “he was foreknown before the foundation of the world”).  Since the transformation is not merely “spiritual” it rightly claims our entire life.

Thus the “rules” of this new life (set forth by Peter) rightly extend to our entire life. Moreover, the difficulty of the rules does not lie in the things required – but rather requiring them in a world cursed by sin.  The difficulty with the law lies (in part/in whole?)in its conflict with the present age. Certainly living as one who belongs to the age to come will create conflict with the present age (and those who are not part of the new creation).

Accordingly since the structure of life must be aligned to the dawning age, our strength to obey must be fetched from the age to come.  There can be no holiness in this age without hope of the age to come. Holiness is an eschatological orientation. Hope fetches holiness

 


[1]

This brings us back to the main proposition of the chapter, namely, that Jehovah had not only made them what they were, but had made them for the purpose of promoting His own glory, so that any claim of merit on their part, and any apprehension of entire destruction, must be equally unfounded.

 

John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, Carl Wilhelm Eduard Nägelsbach et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Isaiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 470.

Smedes on Union With Christ.2

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Corinthians, Pneumatology

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2 Corinthians 3:17, Holy Spirit, Lewis Smedes, The Spirit is Lord, Union with Christ

Smedes develops a “Situationist” Christology as he works through the doctrine of the Holy Spirit with respect to Christ. The key text for Smedes is 2 Corinthians 3:17, “The Lord is the Spirit”. His understanding works through the fact of the New Covenant, the new situation created by Christ. He even goes so far as to write, “The new covenant is Jesus Christ” (Smedes, 37).

He explains,

It seems to me that this examination of the context of Paul’s statement has established the following propositions:

(1) Paul’s line of thought is historical: the present era is superior to the old.

(2) Jesus Christ is the head of the new ear; the new age was created by His death and resurrection and is the age of His lordship.

(3) The Spirit is the prevailing and character-giving power of the new ear; it is the Spirit who writes the law on men’s hearts and brings dead men to life.

(4) These objective facts about the new covenant form the basis for the superiority of Paul’s apostolate: he is a minister of the new covenant.

(39). Thus, he explains the phrase “The Lord is the Spirit” by looking to the Holy Spirit’s work in this age, “It is still His work. But the Spirit does it. The Spirit is the Lord at work. The Spirit is Christ imminent” (40). Thus, “to live in the Spirit and to live in Christ are one and the same” (43).

The work of Christ has thus brought the future age into the present space. The Spirit is the pledge and the beginning of that new creation 46).  The life embodied in Christ, the life of the new covenant is communicated to us by the Spirit (47). 

Now it becomes curious. Smedes begins to speak of this new age as a historical, spatial, political (if you will), “Jesus is the head of the new epoch”.  However his relationship is more profound than that, “He is also the life of the new epoch” (49). The new epoch is more than just the present with Jesus as King. Jesus as King transforms the entire nature of the new epoch.

Smedes writes, “History moves on, with Christ in control” (49). That is certainly true, but we must note that history itself is not wholly continuous with the present age. “The whole life, from its fundamental being to its discrete actions is surrounded by Christ. The pilgrim journey is not a burdensome trudge up a lonely road; it is a way that cuts through Jesus Christ himself. Life begins, proceeds and ends in Christ.

Smedes then works through the question of what being in Christ means. He first reviews understandings of the topic. Smedes own position of “Situation” takes an interest cue from Barth’s understanding of “in Christ” as being where Christ is acting. Although he stringently denies an ontological identification, Barth does not make an active identification, “Chirst is spatially present where the Christian is, and the Christ is spatially present where Christ is, “not merely alongside but in exactly the same spot” (64).

The Situation of Union With Christ

29 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Ascension, Christology, Incarnation, Union With Christ

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ascension, christology, Gerritt Scott Dawson, incarnation, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation, John Calvin, Lewis Smedes, Union with Christ

Lewis Smedes in Union With Christ orients the doctrine of union in the “situation” of the Christian between the resurrection and the Second Coming. But before he explores the union, he begins by noting types of doctrines of union.

First, he references the “communion with God” model.  This model denies any real union with Jesus. The man Jesus is dead and gone. While there may be communion with God (or with “Christ”), Jesus, himself cannot be an object of union.

Dawson in Jesus Ascended considers the problem which the non-union “communion” model places to the fore: How can a man, Jesus of Nazareth, be the subject of any real relationship, seeing he is physically located somewhere (“heaven”) distant from us?

Still, because a body occupies space, the spatial distinction is not merely a metaphor but a reality. There is a place where the human Jesus is. There isa  heaven in which spiritual bodies occupy space, a created realm in which creatures are, to the limits of their capacity, in the presence of God (49).

Dawson responds by noting that the trouble of union with a distant Jesus lies in our concept of space. While there is a physical location of Jesus, we must limit our conception of space to a receptacle which holds the body of Jesus.

Relying upon Calvin and Thomas Torrance, Dawson discusses the matter of “relational” space:

Rather, in a relational sense, God in Christ crosses the divide to enter our existence, our way of being. Then, through this union, Jesus returns, still bearing his humanity, to the place the place of relation described as the Father’s right hand, the ‘place’ or honor, glory, power and dominion. Thus, heaven as a relational place is where God has ‘room’ for his divine life and activity in ever-deepening communion with humanity. (49)

The non-union response would be that this distant Jesus cannot be accessed from the place of our life. However, as Calvin notes, the Holy Spirit can communicate the blessings of Jesus to us.

We see how, in order to unite Christ with the Church, he does not bring his body out of heaven. … Here it is clear that the essence of the flesh is distinguished from the virtue of the Spirit, which conjoins us with Christ, when, in respect of space, we are at a great distance from him….  He sends his grace to us from heaven by means of the Spirit. (4.17.28).

John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, vol. 3, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 424-25.

Now, of those who do admit to a union, Smedes defines three types: First, a sacramental union. Such a union depends upon an exalting humanity:

Sacramental Christology stands and falls with the historical Jesus. But it does not find its center in the meaning of the historical events of Jesus’ life; it finds the center in the elevation of humanity to a new level. There is indeed a new creation, a new being that is Christ. But the primary note in the new creation is its being, not its action. Humanity is deified; that is the core of the good news. (9).

He next defines a “transaction Christology”:

[Jesus] became a man to obey, to die, to sacrifice, to atone. The heart of Christology lies in what Jesus did personally to transact with God for our atonement (10).

Now, as  Calvin notes, Jesus does us no good as long as he remains outside of us:

As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and is of no value to us. [Calvin’s Institute, 2.17.3, quoted in Smedes, 11).

Third, Smedes brings forward the category of Situation Christology. Situation Christology does not deny the position of transaction, but rather “stress[es] that Christ radically changed the historical situation in which men live” (15).

The work of Christ took place within history – but also without and transcending history: “The decisive event was able to alter the human situation fundamentally because it too place behind the scenes of the human situation” (18).

Yet, it is just this change in situation which leads to the present quandary:

In view of the spiritual revolution in the world situation that took place at the resurrection and in vie of the fact that the ultimate triumph is still waited for, what is the meaning of the present time? Is there a Christological interpretation of the present existence of Christian people. (22)

Smedes notes that some of tried to solve this problem by arguing that Christ merely changed the “spiritual” situation, a “spiritual” experience –but one that has no real effect no or ever upon history. Smedes rejects that position and contends,

The present reality is the reality of union with Christ. And union with Christ is the experience of people who are introduced to the new age, with Christ as Lord (25).

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