The Purpose of Spiritual Formation

The purpose of spiritual formation is to make us like God.

To know what God is like we must read the Gospels for in them we find Jesus, who is the Son of God, who said that to see him is to see the Father, and who did what he saw the Father doing and said what he heard the Father saying.  Knowing this, Paul wrote that Jesus was the image of the invisible God.  So, the purpose of spiritual formation is to become conformed to the image of Christ, becoming Christ-ian, because Christ is like God and is God.

What did Jesus do?

One of the things Jesus did was to perform extraordinary miracles.

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Luke 7:18-23 ESV)

Notice that Jesus did not answer the question of his identity directly.  Following the Socratic Method he pointed to evidence that could be used by John in Aristotelian fashion to draw his own scientific conclusion, allowing John to make his faith stronger by using his own mind to figure it out rather than being told in a dogmatic fashion.

The evidence provided were the various miracles that Jesus facilitated.  Jesus acknowledged that it was God at work in and through him to do those wonderful, amazing, loving things for people.  Ultimately those miracles were used as signs by the disciples to confirm that Jesus was the Christ.  They were God’s imprimatur upon his being, authenticating his authority.

The supernatural nature of Jesus was from beginning to end a display of consistency, from his virgin birth to his being raised from the dead, and in the means being consistent with the end: a supernatural being that visited us did supernatural things among us.  As we become supernatural beings in spiritual formation then there should be a testimony to that reality in the miraculous things that go on around us.

How does that happen?  What mechanisms of the universe did Jesus use to bring that about and can we honestly say that we are like him and thus spiritual if we cannot ourselves do similar things?  Jesus himself said that if we believed in him we would do the works he did and even greater ones.  How?  The cause/effect relationship between Jesus and his miraculous power resides in the kind of person he was, a few elements of which we might consider.  The answer to how it happened is this: God blessed him with miracles because God was pleased in him because of what he did toward God.

First, Jesus was a righteous man.  He had no sin and was confident in being free of sin.  He challenged his detractors, for instance, to show where he had any sin.  He spoke against sin and wanted people to live righteously before God.

One might panic at this point and say, “Yikes!  I have a thousand sins!  How can I ever qualify for miracles with all these sins attaching to me?”

The answer is simple: forgiveness.

John wrote, I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Therefore, let us confess our sins, allowing the Spirit to reveal them to us, until we feel clean and confident of being righteousness.  IN that same letter John also wrote (3:21-22), “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”

Likewise, spiritual formation understands the doctrine of holiness, which says that we can be free of sin by obedience to God’s commands.  Romans, chapter 6 explains that our baptism symbolizes death to sin and arising to the righteous life that God intends for us.  It signifies a radical break with the past.  These are key passages from that pivotal chapter:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. [13] Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness … Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? [17] But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, [18] and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness … now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (Romans 6:12-13, 16-18, and 22 ESV)

The linear pattern is clear: conversion -> obedience -> sanctification -> eternal life …

And being qualified for God’s blessing in a supernatural existence like that enjoyed by Jesus, who loved to help people in miraculous healing and deliverance.

Second, Jesus was a man of prayer.  Scripture tells us that he often went by himself to desolate places, away from the crowds and his own disciples, to be alone with God in pray.

What did he say?  How did he pray?

We have glimpses of that from the Garden of Gethsemane, where someone overheard what he was saying in his last private moments on earth.  It must have been Mark because his dad and the others were a ways off and/or asleep!  Whoever it was saw a man in anguish of soul.  Jesus was called the Son of David.  We know of his physical descent in the royal lineage.  But what if it also means the spiritual heritage that we find in the Psalms, where David is likely to say anything to God in open, honest, earnest prayer?

Third, Jesus sought to please God and not man.  We see this in how controversial he was.  He openly criticized the religious hierarchy and authorities, for instance, confronting them in a number of ways, sometimes nose to nose in what seem like shouting matches (see John 8:12 and following).  He interfered with them making money, at one point physically attacking their storefront operations.  “You cannot serve God and Mammon,” he said.  So, he was free of the constraints and limits often placed upon people because of denominational affiliation or institutional loyalty.

Did Jesus love his religious heritage and fellow Jews?  Of course, he loved them like his mother.  We often speak of Jesus as the embodiment of the Suffering Servant, meaning Israel.  But is it not Mary, the obedient Jewish girl, who better represents the people that bring him forth into the world?  “Salvation is from the Jews,” he told the Woman at the Well.

Likewise, Jesus did not derive his support from the religious establishment but several women followed him and contributed to his needs out of their own resources (Luke 8:2-3) – because they believed in him –  because he helped them in miraculous ways, like Mary Magdalene, out of whom he cast seven demons.

So again, we see how things come full circle by way of explanation, the material support comes because of the spiritual power and not the other way around.  Our religious institutions are often designed to provide the finances for ministry when the model of Christ is that the supernatural existence draws to it the things needful for the body.

Another way that Jesus sought to please God and qualify himself to receive miracles was rejecting man-made teaching and tradition in exchange for what Scripture actually says.  Consider this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees, noting toward the end, again, the place of money:

                The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

                “‘This people honors me with their lips,

                                but their heart is far from me;

                in vain do they worship me,

                                teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

                You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

                And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:5-13 ESV)

In conclusion, Peter and John had achieved a level of spiritual formation to make their existence among the people miraculous.  They did what Jesus did, and became like Jesus as true servants and ministers in Jerusalem.  They went to the temple one day and encountered a man that was lame, begging for money.  Peter answered him, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”  He went walking and leaping and praising God.

The Essence of Spirituality

The essence of spirituality is to be like God.

Jesus said that God is spirit and, speaking of the resurrection, Paul wrote that Jesus became a life-giving spirit.  Similarly, Paul wrote that we no longer know Christ according to the flesh, acknowledging that he did come in the flesh but is no longer experienced that way.  Combating the Gnostic heresy John wrote that Jesus came in the flesh, though John is dualistic, the one who recorded the Lord’s words about God being spirit and we must be born again in the Spirit.

Many years ago a church official accused me of being an idolater for worshiping Jesus as God, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit in Trinitarian faith.  Fearing the same sin of idolatry Wolfhart Pannenberg, in JESUS, GOD AND MAN, stated that nowhere in Scripture is the Holy Spirit portrayed as a physical being.  Of course, Luke and others wrote that the Spirit came in the form of a dove.

But it is not idolatry to worship one that was briefly a man and then became a spiritual body that defies the laws of physics, though he still interacts with them via miracles.  It is not idolatry to worship the Spirit with the Father and Son, if the Spirit only briefly appeared for our sakes to anoint Jesus for ministry.

My point is that flesh, physicality, this material world is transitory.  Its form is passing away and our bodies will soon enough lie moldering in the grave.  Being God, it was not natural for Jesus to come in the form of sinful flesh.  We see in the Gospels his irritation with it and his desire to return to the Father.  He wanted the disciples to be glad that he was going home.  He promised that we would join him if we endured to the end.  If we are faithful he will raise us up to receive our spiritual bodies, too!

Hallelujah!

Since the carnal existence that we now share is transitory we must see this life as preparation for the next, becoming as much like God as possible now, at least to begin the process.

We are already spiritual beings, made in the image and likeness of God.  But because of sin that image is marred and we can hardly see our true selves.  But we begin to see, become enlightened, when we begin to discount the flesh and value the spiritual aspect of our nature.

I recently counseled a 50+ year-old man that has struggled with alcohol since he was 14.  Now the ravages of time, compounded by pollutions both of mind and body, has left him deeply depressed, suicidal, and asking questions that needed to be answered long ago.

He asked me why he has suffered so much.  I told him it was to demonstrate body/soul dualism and how the soul is more important than the body.  He was taken aback.  He had never heard that before, though he has been to church and AA meetings too many to count.

See, the body can become wracked with pain.  It can drive a man crazy with pain.  There is pain of heart and mind, as well, because of its association with the body.  But spirit is not touched by pain because it is not physical and has no need.

The way, then, to become more like God, more spiritual, is to have less need.  God needs nothing.  If one can contemplate that and relate to it as a beginning point of prayerful meditation then one can begin to develop a spiritual perspective.  Then the strength, peace, love, and joy of our freedom in Christ begins take root and will, in time, to bloom and grow, almost effortlessly, as the green grass springs forth and the flowers of the field open to the heavenly light.

Paul and James Reconciled

The biggest problem with the Church in America today is antinomianism, believing that works are not required for salvation.  Antinomianism takes both liberal and evangelical forms born of misunderstanding.

Confusion results from the apparent conflict between Paul and James in the New Testament:

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (Romans 4:2 ESV)

VS.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.(James 2:24 ESV)

What is the explanation for these seemingly variant words?  How might these statements be reconciled?

The answer is quite simple.  The men are employing two different frames of reference.  Paul is thinking polemically, arguing against the circumcision party and Judaizing teachers that harassed him and his new converts among the Gentiles.  He uses Abraham as the exemplar for a class of people, the new Gentile Christians for whom he is the apostle and chief spokesman, justifying their access to covenant grace in terms of the big picture of God’s unfolding purpose in salvation history:

[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, (Romans 4:11 ESV)

Note the plural “to them” in Romans 4:11 just above.  Paul’s statements about justification by faith and not by works have a narrow and specific meaning within Paul’s polemical argument: Christianity, which includes believing Gentiles, supersedes Judaism as the new way of righteousness from God.

James uses the singular “a man” because he speaks to personal salvation.  James uses Abraham as the model and example of an individual whose saving faith must be completed by works.  His conclusion is clear: no works means a faith that cannot save.  The works required are found in the New Testament.  To believe in Jesus means to adopt his religion and obey his commands.  Therefore, one must be careful to do everything the New Testament says in order to be saved, all else being equal.

 

Greek Philosophical Suppositions of the New Testament (Rough Draft)

In fulfillment of prophecy (Daniel 8:21, 10:20, 11:2, Zechariah 9:13, and I Maccabees 1:1-7) and for hundreds of years before Christ the Jewish people were Hellenized, that is, profoundly influenced by the Greek language and culture. Hellenization was resisted by some but Jesus likely spoke Greek, quoted the Greek Old Testament, known as the Septuagint (LXX), and the New Testament was written in Greek.  In John’s Gospel it says several times that Jesus escaped threats to his life because it was not time for him to die.  But when Greeks wanted to see him he exclaimed, “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” and spoke of his death as the planting of a seed that would produce much fruit (John 12:24).

The ancient Greeks are known for Philosophy, that is, the love of wisdom.  Philosophy arose about 500 years before Christ; it criticized the polytheistic and mystery religions of the ancient world, putting forth belief in one virtuous God, and the laws that proceeded from his rational mind (Romans 1:20).  When Alexander the Great encountered the Jews in 332 BC he discovered that he and the High Priest in Jerusalem had had dreams about each other (Josephus, ANTIQUITIES, xi. 8, §§ 4-6), so Alexander worshiped the God of the Jews and offered sacrifice in the temple.  He allowed the Jews to live in peace, following their own laws.  Many Jews then began to study Philosophy and saw that it was compatible with Judaism.  When Jesus and Paul were boys, for instance, Hillel ran two rabbinical schools in Jerusalem, with about 500 students each, one devoted to traditional Jewish interpretation of the Law, the other devoted to a philosophical exposition of the same .  From a reading both of Philosophy and the New Testament it is obvious that Jesus and the apostles adopted and adapted Greek rational categories and moral theory, making Christianity a philosophical religion, able to transmit the truth of God to a world-wide audience, again in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy (Daniel 7:13-14, and Revelation 5:9 and 7:9).  This was in accordance with God’s plan for the fullness of time (Acts 17:30, Galatians 4:4, Ephesians 1:10, and 2:11-12).

The advantage of a philosophical religion is that it transcends the parochial boundaries of Judaism with its cultic practices confined to the temple in Jerusalem and reliance on ethnic descent.  Jesus spoke, for instance, of God being able to raise up children of Abraham from rocks on the ground (Matthew 3:9) and of his body as the Temple (John 2:19-22).  Jesus is for Christians both High Priest and Sacrifice (Hebrews 6:20 and 10:1-22), following a philosophical method of conserving moral substance in various forms.  Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God/heaven rather than the kingdom of David/Israel (Acts 2:22-32 and Galatians 6:16).  Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people), warned us not to heed “Jewish myths and the commandments of men that reject the truth” (Titus 1:14).  He said the Law was abolished (Ephesians 2:15).  Hebrews says the Law is obsolete (8:13) and set aside because it is weak and ineffectual (7:18).  This represents the ascendancy of Philosophy within Christianity, and Christianity superseding Judaism as the only true religion.

However, we must deal honestly with an objection found in Colossians 2:8, a warning against “philosophy and empty deceit.”  That verse has three qualifying clauses, “according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ” (cf. Galatians 4:8-9).  I assert that there is a philosophy that is “according to Christ,” and thus, holy tradition and used by the Holy Spirit.  We see it in the words of Jesus and the apostles.  What Paul specifically criticized was bad philosophy, the “debaters of this age” (I Corinthians 1:20), like Carneades, a Skeptic, who famously argued both sides of an issue on consecutive days in Rome.  In the New Testament the sophist and debater are excoriated along with the scribe and Pharisee, because by the time of Christ both Judaism and Philosophy had fallen into error and disrepair.  Our goal is to put forth Christian philosophy that is legitimately seen in the New Testament, sanctified by Jesus, who revived and perfected knowledge and vital piety in his day.

Greek philosophers believed in cosmological/philosophical dualism and its moral counterpart, the natural law: one ought to reject evil, seek and do the good (see Romans 12:9b); these form the suppositional basis of Christian theological orthodoxy.  In the chart below are described the classical categories of good and evil used in the New Testament.  For example, Paul spoke of carnal and spiritual being at war with each other (Galatians 5:17).  Likewise, the mature Christian is ready for spiritual meat because he has trained his faculties to distinguish between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).  Good and evil are the stems from which all other concepts sprout.

So I present the chart below.  Each good above the line, which we should seek, has a corresponding opposite in what is evil below, that which we should avoid.  These concepts are easy to understand, if we will, because Western society is built upon them.  But remember, the supposition is not the conclusion.  God was incarnate in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from the curse of our below the line existence, raising us up in him.  Christianity, therefore, represents a modified or mitigated dualism because it foresees an ultimate triumph of good over evil (I Corinthians 15), which begins now (II Corinthians 5:19, Colossians 1:20, and Hebrews 6:1-6) and will be concluded at some point in the future (Matthew 24:14).

References are from the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

+24 God (the ONE, Creator (Father and first cause)):  Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Malachi 2:10 & 15, I Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6, and I Timothy 2:5

+23 Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Risen Lord:  Matthew 28:6/Mark 16:6 and Acts 1:9, Philippians 2:7-11, Ephesians 1:20, and Hebrews 9:15 & 12:24,

+22 Perfection, TELEOS, (end, finished, intended goal):  Matthew 5:48, I Corinthians 13:10, Colossians 3:14, Hebrews 2:10 & 10:1, I John 2:5 & 4:17-18

+21 Existence, Being, or Consciousness; I AM (Supreme Being):  Exodus 3:13-14 and John 8:58; Colossians 1:16 & Revelation 4:11

+20 Life, Eternal Life:  Luke 6:9, John 1:4, 3:16, 5:21 & 24, 6:1-71, 10:10, Acts 3:15, Romans 2:6-7, II Timothy 1:10, Jude 1:21, I John 3:14, and Rev. 2:7

+19 Truth:  Luke 1:1-4, John 1:14 & 17, 4:23-24, 8:32, 14:6, 16:13, 18:37-38, Romans 1:18 & 25, 2:8, II Cor. 4:2, Ephesians 4:15, 21 & 25, and I Tim. 3:15

+18 Freedom:  John 8:32 & 36, Acts 13:39, Romans 6:7, 18, 20, 22-23, 8:2 & 21, II Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, 4:26 & 31, 5:1 & 13, I Peter 2:16

+17 Angelic, Angels, the Heavenly Host:  Matthew 1:20, 4:11, 13:39, Luke 1:26 ff., John 1:51, Acts 6:15, Hebrews 1:4-13, Jude 1:9, and Revelation 8:2

+16 Reason (32x in the New Testament):  Matthew 25:2, Colossians 2:18 and James 3:17 (Romans 12:1 KJV, logikos, “reasonable service,” & I Peter 2:2)

+15 Light, Enlightened (with Knowledge), Renewal of Mind:  Matthew 4:16, 10:27, John 8:12, Romans 12:1-3, 13:12, II Cor. 6:14,

Ephesians 4:18, 5:8-9, 13-14, I Thess 5:5, I Timothy 6:16, Hebrews 6:4, James 1:17, I John 1:5-7, 2:8-10, Revelation 21:23-24 and 22:5

+14 Law:  Matthew 5:17-18, 23:23, Romans 2:12-15, 3:31, 7:12, 14 & 16, 8:2-4, 7, 13:8 & 10, I Corinthians 9:20-21, Galatians 5:14, 18 & 23, and 6:2

+13 Faith:  II Corinthians 4:17-18, 5:7 and Hebrews 11

+12 Inner Man:  Luke 17:20-21 KJV, Romans 2:29 and 14:17, II Corinthians 4:16, and Ephesians 3:16

+11 LOGOS, “Word” of God (Divine Order/Purpose/Harmony in the Universe):  John 1:1 & 14, I Jn 1:1, and Rev 19:13; Lk 19:42, Jn 16:33 & Heb 12:11

+10 Permanent:  Matthew 19:16 & 29, 26:41, John 4:14 & 12:25, II Corinthians 3:11, 4:17-18, & 5:1, Galatians 6:8, Hebrews 6:17-18, 7:24, and I John 5:20

+9 Spirit/Soul, Spiritual:  (spirit 408x in NT, Holy Spirit 91x) Luke 1:35/Matthew 1:18, Matt. 10: 20 & 28, Mark 1:8/John 1:33, John 3:6, 4:24, 6:63, (8:15), 19:30, Rom 2:29, 8:3-13, 14: 17, I Cor 5:3-5, 15:44-46, II Cor 11:4, Gal 4:3 & 9, 5:13-6:8, Eph 3:16, 6:12, Phil 3:3, Col 2:11, and James 2:26

+8 Eternal forms of the good (Platonic):  John 6:27, (John 7:24), PHIL 2:6, Hebrews 10:1

+7 Energy (in the Greek energeia (8x in Paul) and dunamis (power, 119x in NT)):  Colossians 1:29 and Hebrews 1:3

+6 The Ideal:  (Matthew 19:10, and John 11:50 & 18:14), Revelation 21:22-23

+5 Abstract, Noumenal, Right:  John 2:21 (“justification by the Faith” is an abstraction for polemical purposes in Paul)

+4 Universal:  Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 24:14, Acts 2:5-11, 11:1 & 18, Romans 3:29, and Revelation 5:9 &7:9

+3 Real, Substance (Plato’s Image, Paul’s IKON):  Romans 2:28-29, I Corinthians 8:4, Colossians 2:17, and Hebrews 8:5 & 10:1

+2 Things Above, From Above, Of Heaven:  (Heaven 231x in NT), Matt. 4:17 & 5:34, John 3:12, 31, 6:32, 8:23, I Cor. 15:47-49, Galatians 4:26,

Eph. 1:10, 4:6 & 9-10, Col. 1:20, 3:1-2, and Heb. 7:26, 9:23-24, and James 1:17, 3:15 & 17,

+1 Good:  Matthew 3:10, 7:11-19, 12:35, 19:16-17, John 5:29, 10:11, Romans 2:6-11, 7:19, 12:9 & 21, 15:14, II Cor. 5:10, Hebrews 5:14, and III Jn. 1:11

-1 Evil:  Matthew 7:11-19, 12:35, John 5:29, (10:11), Romans 2:6-11, 7:19, 12:9 & 21, II Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 5:14, and III Jn. 1:11

-2 Things Below, Of Earth, Worldly:  Matt. 18:7, John 3:12, 31, 8:23, 18:36, I Cor. 1:26, 7:33, 15:47, II Cor. 1:12 & 17, 4:4, 5:1, 10:2-4, Eph. 1:10, 4:9-10, Phil. 3:19, Col. 1:20, 3:5, Titus 2:12, Heb. 9:1, James 3:15 & 4:4, II Peter 1:4, I John 2:15-17, and Jude 1:19

-3 Shadow:  Matthew 4:16/Luke 1:79, Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 8:5, 10:1, and James 1:17
-4 Particular:  I Timothy 1:4, and Titus 1:14
-5 Concrete, Phenomenal, Appearances:  John 2:21
-6 What’s Expedient:  Matthew 19:10, and John 11:50 & 18:14; Revelation 21:22-23
-7 Matter, the Elements/Elemental, Earthen Vessel:  II Corinthians 4:7, Galatians 4:3 & 9, Colossians 2:8 & 20, and II Peter 3:10 & 12
-8 Apparent forms (Aristotelian, formal cause), signs (77x in NT), appearances:  Matt 23:27-32, Mark 16:12, Luke 3:22, John 5:37, 6:26-27, 7:24, I Cor 7:31, Phil. 2:7-8, II Timothy 3:5, and (Hebrews 10:1), also Romans 8:28, 12:2, Galatians 4:19, and I Peter 1:14; Luke 1:4, Jude 1:5
-9 Body, Flesh, Carnal:  Matthew 10:28, 16:17, 26:41, Luke 12:4, John 3:6, 6:63, 8:15, Romans 6:6, 7:24 & 8:13, 7:5,14, 18, 25, 8:3-13, I Corinthians 5:3 & 9:27, 3:1-3, 5:5, 15:50 II Cor. 5:6 & 8, Galatians 5:18-6:8, Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 2:5, II Peter 1:13-14, and James 3:15
-10 Temporal, Passing Away:  Matthew 24:35/Mark 13:31, I Corinthians 7:31, II Corinthians 3:11, 4:17-18, 5:17, I John 2:8 & 17, and Revelation 21:1 & 4
-11 Chaos, Confusion, War:  I Corinthians 14:33; Romans 7:23, James 4:1-2, and I Peter 2:11
-12 Outward Situations and Circumstance:  II Corinthians 4:16 and Hebrews 11

-13 Sight:  Luke 17:20-21 KJV, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold,

the kingdom of God is within you,” and II Corinthians 4:17-18 and 5:7

-14 Sin:  (“Sin is lawlessness.” (I John 3:4)), Acts 2:23, II Thessalonians 2:3, 7-9, II Peter 2:8 and 3:17
-15 Darkness (Ignorance):  Matthew 4:16, 10:27, Luke 6:23, John 1:5, 3:19, 8:12 & 12:46, Acts 26:18, Rom 13:12, II Cor. 6:14, Eph 4:18, and I John 1:5-7
-16 Passions (Desire, Emotion):  Romans 2:2, Colossians 2:18, Ephesians 4:17-24, Titus 3:3, James 4:1-3, I Peter 1:13-16, 2:11, 4:1-5, and II Peter 3:1-8
-17 Demonic, Hellish:  (Devil 35x and Demons 48x in NT) Matthew 13:39 & 23:15, I Timothy 4:1, James 3:15, and Revelation 16:14
-18 Slavery, Bondage, Oppression:  John 8:34-35, Romans 6:17, 8:15, I Corinthians 7:21-23, Galatians 2:4, 4:3, 26 & 31, 5:1, Titus 3:3, and II Peter 2:19
-19 Lies, Illusion and Delusion, False Witness:  Matthew 7:15, 26:59-60, John 8:44, Romans 1:25, II Corinthians 4:2, II Thess. 2:11, and Ephesians 4:25
-20 Death:  Matthew 4:16, John 5:24 & (8:51), Romans 6:10, 13, & 23, I Corinthians 15:21, 26, 54-56, II Cor. 3:7, II Timothy 1:10, and Revelation 21:4 & 8
-21 Nothingness, Utter Destruction:  I Corinthians 1:28, 13:2-3, Galatians 6:3, Hebrews 11:3, II Peter 2: 17, Jude v. 13, and Revelation 9:11
-22 The Imperfect, which passes away, childish, partial, and immature:  I Corinthians 13:8-11
-23 Satan, the Anti-Christ:  Mark 1:13, Luke 10:18 & 22:3, Acts 26:18, II Thessalonians 2:9, and Revelation 12:9
-24 Ultimate evil exists in multiplicities:  Mark 5:9&15 and Luke 8:30; (many) Matt 3:7, 6:7, 7:13 & 22, 24:11, Mk 15:3, Lk 10:41, I Jn 2:18, 4:1 and II Jn 1:7

The Faith vs. Works Principle in Paul

There is no doubt that Paul uses a principio argument with regard to faith vs. works as the means to achieve salvation:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

                 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

                                and whose sins are covered;

                 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1-8 ESV)

In order to understand this passage we must assume like Paul a broad perspective and narrow scope.

First, it’s broad perspective can be explained in terms of salvation history, that is, the movement of God away from Judaism, a parochial and traditional religion, to Gentile Christianity with it universal appeal.  Those that resisted change have been called the circumcision party or Judaizing teachers.  They were also called dogs!  But in his polemical argument against the Jews, Paul focused on receiving circumcision as the symbol of converting to Judaism.  Therefore, in the immediate context of his principio argument above we find the following verses:

 

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.  He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.  (Romans 4:9-12 ESV) 

This passage also determines, second, the narrow scope of his principio argument, which is the question of whether the new Gentile believers should follow the law.  In other words, should they become Jews?  Paul’s answer is simple.  Abraham was not circumcised when he was chosen.  He received circumcision, the work at issue, only after he believed and was reckoned as righteous.  In this way Abraham became an example, as Paul said, the father of all that experience God as he did: sequentially to trust and obey.

Now, in order rightly to apply this “no works” principio argument in preaching and teaching we must exercise intellectual discipline.  It is a logical fallacy to apply a polemical argument about salvation history to the personal discipleship of an individual Christian.  Paul used the example of Abraham to make an argument that justifies admission of believing Gentiles as a class in the unfolding historical plan of God.  But it would be wrong to take that argument and apply it in reverse order to individual people.  Paul said, for instance, stepping back from his argument with the Judaizers: 

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.  (Galatians 5:6 ESV) 

So, Paul envisions on the personal level a faith that works.  Likewise, he is not against the moral law but sees it as essential to salvation for the individual: 

He will render to *each one* according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life … For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the *doers of the law who will be justified* … For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the *righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled* in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (Romans 2:6-7, 13, and 8:3-4 ESV, emphasis mine) 

One might be tempted to say, in light of the immediately argument above, that pneumatology replaces legalism or works righteousness in Christianity.  But “legalism” often gets a bad rap!   “Works righteousness” is a canard used by anti-Catholics that do not understand the broad perspective and narrow scope of the no works principle in Paul.  In truth there is nothing in the New Testament to say that an individual Christian ought not to work, pursue righteousness, or obey God’s holy word.  In fact, obedience is required and conditions met in order to receive the Spirit: 

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:37-38 ESV) 

And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”  (Acts 5:32 ESV) 

The "no works" principle then applies only to arguing for the independence of Gentile Christianity in the broad perspective, admitting that Gentiles had not been in covenant previously and could not point to any works of the law that qualifies us.  Gentile Christians are justified by the Faith “apart from” works of the law (Judaism) as a mere function of historic reality.  God forgives us Gentiles for past sins (Romans 3:25) and invites us to enter covenant relationship through the blood of Jesus.

More on NT Wright

Thoughts in Response to NT Wright's

4QMMT and Paul: Justification, ‘Works,’ and Eschatology

http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_4QMMT_Paul.pdf

 

Wright is, as are most of us evangelical-types, entirely too bound to the Calvinist-Reformed doctrine of SOLA FIDE.  It clouds nearly everything that we do, say, think, or feel.  We exhibit all the qualities of being brainwashed by nearly 500 years of anti-Catholic rhetoric and propaganda.  It blinds us to a true grammatical-historical assessment of the New Testament record.  To counter that pervasive bias I want to make several observations, couched in terms of what Wright has written about 4QMMT.

First, in 14 sources of Pauline thought (13 undisputed letters and Acts) there are only 4 that deal briefly with justification by faith … and those have fallen victim to poor translation, bad exegesis, and over-use.

Second, Paul never wrote, to our knowledge, the words “faith alone.”  They cannot be found in the Pauline letters that we have.  The one place they occur in Scripture says, “A man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”  Would the Holy Spirit inspire diametrically opposed views?

Third, his “deep Jewishness,” as Wright spoke of it, would have never allowed Paul to preach an anti-nomian message.

Fourth, I mostly agree with Wright’s excellent analysis that the Qumran document provides the Jewish covenantal/eschatological sectarian framework for understanding “justification by faith” in Paul.   But I do not agree that it substitutes belief for an appropriate halakhah.  I contend that the “justification by faith” formula of “reckoned as righteous” was early thinking in a pre-70 historical context and eventually disappeared when Judaism lost credibility due to events.  The absence of “justification by faith” in so many of his letters reflects a diminishing threat post-70.  “Faith reckoned,” does not represent systematic and mature thought but a reaction to Judaizing teachers accompanied by calling them dogs and wishing they would cut off the whole of their genitalia!  His loftiest and most affectionate thought is contained in letters from Rome after the Jewish threat was resolved by Titus in fulfillment of prophecy, to which I Thessalonians 2:16 alludes, for instance, which is probably of a later date than popularly assumed.  But while Pharisaic and sectarian forms of Judaism remained viable a Q4MMT-type argument of “reckoned righteousness” within a Jewish context would have had great polemical power for Paul.  His Jewish opponents would have known exactly what he meant.  But previously I said that I “mostly” agree with this analysis.  There is no doubt that Paul’s use of Abraham believing the word of God and thereby being deemed as “righteous” has historical parallel to his own experience of many Gentile converts entering covenant relationship in their initial response to the Gospel.  He was a missionary on the front lines of new spiritual territory.

Fifth and finally, how might belief in the Resurrection provide reckoned righteousness when there is no mention of it in Paul’s most extensive discussion in I Corinthians 15?  Wright observes no textual link with the moral code (despite Romans 8:4).  It would seem that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.  But what might resolve the issue?  Two thoughts:

1.       Paul’s insistence on his own apostolic authority does the opposite of what Wright claims.  He rules in several cases of church discipline, instructs successors and emissaries, and writes many ethical passages asserting the rule of a distinctly Christian halakhah in the world.  In that way he is remarkable for the lack of any significant departure from Jewish moralism given his necessarily independent nature, philosophical leanings, and suffering at the hands of the Jews.  In Paul’s personal knowledge of the apostolic tradition (spending two weeks with Peter, attending the Jerusalem Council, and no doubt knowing what Luke had researched) he was thoroughly informed of the Christian moral code handed down by Jesus himself.  He may well have seen the gospels of Matthew, which contains the Sermon on the Mount.  He likewise followed the hermeneutical method of Hellenistic rabbis, Jesus, and the apostles: converting Jewish legal and cultic tradition into universal categories provided by Greek cosmic, moral, and philosophical dualism, especially in references to carnal vs. spiritual living, which is much more prominent in his work than justification by belief.  In Galatians, for instance, the so-called Magna Charta of Christian Liberty, he syncretizes the flesh vs. Spirit principle with arête behavioral lists made famous in Greek moral philosophy.  Walking uprightly in the Spirit (holiness theology) forms the new “righteousness from God,” or the uniquely Christian halakhah that justifies Gentiles to whom he is sent as the chief apostle, identifying them as part of the new man that God has created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them.

2.       The so-called “doctrinal chapters” of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, in which Paul presents  justification by the Faith for Gentile converts, are followed by a corollary, introduced by therefore.  The implication of moral code, exhortation to good works, discipline, warning, encouragement, and behavioral expectation follows the story as night follows day.

In the end I agree with Wright that trusting Jesus points to the covenant community preparing for the end of the world.  Faith is indeed evidence of grace justifying the believing Gentiles as citizens of heaven.  But I do not agree that faith alone is its mark.  An expanded definition of what it means to believe would rightly include characteristic works of the Christian.  This view makes better use of the Q4MMT document than Wright employed.

Thoughts on Salvation by Faith by John Wesley

(PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1779.)

1. IT is now upwards of forty years since my brother and I were convinced of that important truth, which is the foundation of all real religion, that “by grace we are saved through faith.” And as soon as we believed, we spoke; when we saw it ourselves, we immediately began declaring it to others. And, indeed, we could hardly speak of anything else, either in public or private. It shone upon our minds with so strong a light, that it was our constant theme. It was our daily subject, both in verse and prose; and we vehemently defended it against all mankind.

2. But in doing this we met with abundance of difficulty; we were assaulted and abused on every side. We were everywhere represented as mad dogs, and treated accordingly. We were stoned in the streets, and several times narrowly escaped with our lives. In sermons, newspapers, and pamphlets of all kinds, we were painted as unheard-of monsters. But this moved us not; we went on, by the help of God, testifying salvation by faith both to small and great, and not counting our lives dear unto ourselves, so we might finish our course with joy.

3. While we were thus employed, another storm arose from a quarter whence we least expected it. Some of our familiar friends declared open war against us for preaching salvation by works! This we could not in anywise understand; we wondered what they meant. We utterly disavowed the charge; we denied it in the strongest terms. We declared, over and over, both in public and private, “We believe, and constantly preach, salvation by faith. Salvation by works is a doctrine we abhor; we neither preach nor believe it.” But it did not avail: Say what we would, the same charge was still repeated; and that not only when we were at a convenient distance, but even before our face.

4. At first we were inclined to think, that many who affirmed this, did not believe themselves; that it was merely a copy of their countenance, spoken ad movendam invidiam. And could we have been fully persuaded of this, the difficulty would have been solved. But we did not dare to give way to the thought: Whatever they might think or say of us, we could not but think they were upright men, and spoke according to their real sentiments. The wonder therefore remained, how they could impute to us a doctrine which our soul abhorred, and which we were continually opposing, and confuting with all our might.

5. I was in this perplexity when a thought shot across my mind, which solved the matter at once: “This is the key. Those that hold, ‘Everyone is absolutely predestinated either to salvation or damnation,’ see no medium between salvation by works and salvation by absolute decrees.” It follows, that whosoever denies salvation by absolute decrees, in so doing (according to their apprehension) asserts salvation by works.

6. And herein I verily believe they are right. As averse as I once was to the thought, upon further consideration, I allow there is, there can be, no medium. Either salvation is by absolute decree, or it is (in a scriptural sense) by works. Yea, this I will proclaim on the housetop, - there is no medium between these. You must either assert unconditional decrees, or (in a sound sense) salvation by works.

7. This deserves a fuller examination: Let us consider it more attentively. If the salvation of every man that ever was, is, or shall be, finally saved, depends wholly and solely upon an absolute, irresistible, unchangeable decree of God, without any regard either to faith or works foreseen, then it is not, in any sense, by works. But neither is it by faith: For unconditional decree excludes faith as well as works; since, if it is either by faith or works foreseen, it is not by unconditional decree. Therefore, salvation by absolute decree excludes both one and the other; and, consequently, upon this supposition, salvation is neither by faith nor by works.

8. If, on the other hand, we deny all absolute decrees, and admit only the conditional one, (the same which our blessed Lord hath revealed,) “He that believeth shall be saved;” we must, according to their apprehension, assert salvation by works. We must do this, (in a sound sense of the expression,) if we believe the Bible. For seeing no faith avails, but that “which worketh by love,” which produces both inward and outward good works, to affirm, No man is finally saved without this, is, in effect, to affirm, No man is finally saved without works. It is plain, then, if we affirm, No man is saved by an absolute, unconditional decree, but; only by a conditional one; we must expect, all who hold unconditional decrees will say, we teach salvation by works.

9. Let none, therefore, who hold universal redemption be surprised at being charged with this. Let us deny it no more; let us frankly and fairly meet those who advance it upon their own ground. If they charge you with holding salvation by works, answer plainly, “In your sense, I do; for I deny that our final salvation depends upon any absolute, unconditional decree. If, therefore, there be no medium, I do hold salvation by works. But observe: In allowing this, I allow no more than that I am no Calvinist. So that, by my making you this concession, you gain - just nothing.”

10. I am therefore still consistent with myself, as well as consistent with the Bible. I still hold, (as I have done above these forty years,) that “by grace we are saved through faith;” yet so as not to contradict that other expression of the same Apostle, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Meantime, those who maintain absolute predestination, who hold decrees that have no condition at all, cannot be consistent with themselves, unless they deny salvation by faith, as well as salvation by works. For, if only “he that believeth shall be saved,” then is faith a condition of salvation; and God hath decreed, from all eternity, that it should be such. But if the decree admit of any condition, it is not an unconditional decree. Either, therefore, you must renounce your unconditional decrees, or deny that faith is the condition of salvation; or (which is just the same thing) affirm, that a man may be saved without either faith or works.

11. And I am consistent with myself; as well as with the Bible, when I affirm, that none shall be finally saved by any “faith” but that “which worketh by love,” both inward and outward holiness. I fear, many of them that hold unconditional decrees are not sensible of this. For they seriously believe themselves to be in the high road to salvation, though they are far from inward (if not outward) holiness. They have not “put on humbleness of mind, bowels of mercy, brotherly-kindness.” They have no gentleness, no meekness, no long-suffering; so far are they from the “love that endureth all things.” They are under the power of sin; of evil-surmising; of anger; yea, of outward sin. For they scruple not to say to their brother, “Thou fool!” They not only, on a slight provocation, make no scruple of rendering evil for evil, of returning railing for railing; but they bring railing accusations unprovoked; they pour out floods of the lowest, basest invectives. And yet they are within the decree! I instance in the two late publications of Mr. Rowland Hill. “O,” says Mr. Hill, “but Mr. Wesley is a wicked man.” What then? Is he more wicked than him that disputed with Michael about the body of Moses? How, then, durst he bring a railing accusation against a man, when an archangel durst not bring one against the devil? O fight, fight for an unconditional decree! For if there be any condition, how can you be saved?