Tag: Bible

The Meaning of Holiness, Part 3B:  Sinners in the Hands of a Forgiving God

We have come to the end of our brief investigation into the Biblical definition of holiness.  We discovered that it is, first of all, a theological term describing God’s nature (here).  Then it becomes a redemptive term describing the results of God’s saving grace (here and here).  Finally, it is a sanctifying term characterizing the ethical goal of a life in relationship with God (here).

But here is where a problem arises.

Any reflective, self-aware believer will quickly recognize that the Lord’s command “to be holy as I am holy” sets an impossible standard, even for the most scrupulously attentive disciple. The distance separating vision from reality could not possibly be greater.  Who in their right mind would ever claim that they are living such a morally pure existence that they are as qualitatively distinct from the world around them as the eternal, Creator God is distinct from his temporal Creation?

The Old Testament addressed this issue straight on.  It was the rationale behind God’s instructions for animal sacrifice.  Leviticus 17:11 says,

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

A sacrifice of atonement covered or expunged the guilt created by one’s failure perfectly to obey.

God’s people were expected sincerely to do their best in obeying the law of the covenant.  But knowing full well that no one could keep the law perfectly, God provided a variety of sacrifices (not only animal but vegetable sacrifices such as first-fruit offerings) in order “to cover over” – to make atonement – for the people’s failings.

Offering these proscribed sacrifices, as they were instructed, was also a part of what it meant for Israel to be a holy people.  So, every Israelite was to take God’s word seriously.  Obey the law as fully as possible. Not taking it lightly.  Which included making regular sacrifice as a confession of one’s failings, recognizing the need for God’s forgiveness.

This is the Old Testament prescription for “being holy as Yahweh is holy.”

When we get to the New Testament, both the law and the sacrifices of the Sinai covenant have been fulfilled, completed, realized and thus brought to their conclusion in Jesus of Nazareth. (Obviously, there is a lot to be discussed here, but that is for another post or two or three).

Jesus’ life fulfilled the Old Testament law of the covenant (Matthew 5:17-20, compare 24:35), while his death became the ultimate, atoning sacrifice (Matthew 26:27-28, compare Exodus 24:8; Mark 10:45).  This is both the consistent teaching of the New Testament and the historic theology of orthodox Christianity. Thus, by fulfilling the old covenant Jesus inaugurated the new covenant.

Jesus Teaching a Crowd by Rembrandt

Nevertheless, there is a curious stream of continuity flowing from the old into the new:  namely, the seeming impossibility of fully obeying Jesus’ requirements for his disciples.

Here is only a brief sampling:

If you even speak badly of someone, you are guilty of murder.

If you lust after another person, you are guilty of adultery.

If someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit the other one too. Never seek revenge or go to court.

Love your enemies and pray that your heavenly Father will bless them.

Give to anyone who asks and be so generous that you can’t keep track of where your giving goes (Matthew 5:21 – 6:4).

If you do not hate your immediate family and even your own life (in comparison to your devotion to me), you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26-27).

If you do not give up everything you have, you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33).

The apparent impossibility of living out Jesus’ instructions is the reason several Christian traditions have devised different ways of avoiding the literal intent of Jesus’ words.

Some suggest that Jesus intended there to be two different types of disciples.  One, like priests and nuns, who will obey his teaching literally.  And another, sometimes called laypeople, who are free to adhere to a lesser standard.

Others find creative ways to reinterpret Jesus’ words so that they don’t actually intend what they appear to say.  I criticize this way of dealing with Jesus’ hard sayings in my book, I Pledge Allegiance (pages 38-39).  I believe that we must take Jesus at his word.

It’s true that Jesus’ teaching is rigorous. It’s also true that no one, not even monks and nuns who take vows of poverty, can follow Jesus’ teachings perfectly.  We can see this in the gospels themselves as the devoted disciples who live with him every day are periodically rebuked and corrected for their failures and misunderstandings.

If you want to read a fine discussion of this dynamic, I recommend taking a look at Richard Burridge’s book, Imitating Jesus: An Inclusive Approach to New Testament Ethics (Eerdmans, 2007).  Burridge provides a thorough look at the many ways in which the theme “impossible expectations – failing disciples” plays out in the gospel storyline. The apparent tension is harmonized by taking Jesus’ words and his actions together.

Jesus’ words are hard, but his behavior is merciful.  He asks for the impossible and then extends compassion with forgiveness.  Burridge notes:

“His [Jesus’] demanding ethical teaching was delivered in the context of keeping company with outsiders and sinners, those who had ethical difficulties, yet he seems to have accepted them, ate and lived with them – which leaves us with the challenge of how imitating him requires New Testament ethics to be done within an inclusive community.” (page 179 and throughout)

Jesus Eating with Sinners by Caravaggio

Jesus’ resurrected life is the gift that keeps on giving.

He still requires that we follow him; that we obey his impossible words, conform to his perfect life, and imitate The One beyond imitation.

And when we fail, which will happen frequently, our perfectly holy Lord Jesus will be there every time to pick us up, to forgive us, brush us off and provide the encouragement we need to give it another try.

That’s what it means for a true disciple to be holy as the one and only Son of God is holy.

The Meaning of Holiness, Part 3 #religion #theology

In part 1 of this series covering the Biblical concept of holiness, I (hopefully) explained how understanding holiness begins by understanding the unique nature and character of God.  Holiness is fundamentally a theological category.  God is essentially holy as the One who is Wholly Other, incomparable, the one and only God.

Part 2 then explained the resulting relational dimension of holiness. People and places may become holy when God comes into contact with them. Ancient Israel is called a holy nation because God enters into a covenant relationship with them and only them.

Now, in part 3, the stage is set for understanding the ethical dimension of holiness.  Behavioral holiness, being set apart, being different, is the most common, popular definition of holiness.  And behavior is certainly an important component of holiness, but notice how much Biblical groundwork has been required for us to construct the necessary framework for understanding this ethical dimension properly.

We are finally in a position to grasp the apparent strangeness of a text like Leviticus 20:7:

“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Yahweh your God.  Keep my decrees and follow them. I am Yahweh, who makes you holy.”

What’s the deal?  If the Israelites became holy when God brought them into the covenant (i.e. I am Yahweh who makes you holy), then why do they need a warning about making themselves holy (i.e. consecrate yourselves and be holy)?  Are they already holy or not?

How can these two seemingly contradictory statements stand side-by-side in the same sentence?

“You are holy, so you must become holy.”  “Make yourselves holy because you are holy.”

It sounds contradictory…UNLESS you understand the multiple levels of meaning connoted by this word – holy/holiness.

Because our holy God is distinctive and unique (part 1), when he brings others into relationship with himself (part 2), he requires that they, too, become distinctive and unique like him (part 3).  So, Yahweh commands the Israelites:

 “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am Yahweh your God.  Keep my decrees and follow them.”

This is a repeated refrain throughout the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus, sometimes called the book of holiness.  Here is a short list of further examples:

“I am Yahweh your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44)

“I am Yahweh who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45)

“Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)

God emphatically presents himself as the model of holiness.  For the Old Testament, the process of making oneself holy, of consecrating oneself, entailed obedience to the Torah, that is, the code of behavior given to Moses for members of the Sinai Covenant.

The Torah included a wide variety of elements that we would see as both cultic/ritual (e.g. what kinds of clothes to wear) and ethical (e.g. do not steal), although no self-respecting Israelite would have considered making a division between ritual and ethics.  As far as Moses, Aaron and every other Israelite were concerned, it was all ethics.

God’s people were expected to live unique, distinctive lives because their God was/is a unique, distinctive Person.  They were to be set apart just as the eternal Creator is set apart from his temporal creation.  And a central component of God’s holiness is his unique, divine character distinguished by personality traits like justice, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, patience and love, etc.

Yes, God emphatically presents himself as the model of holiness, but God’s people cannot make themselves Wholly Other. (Please, don’t try.  It gets really creepy.)  But we can obey God’s call to emulate his character, to live among others in the same way that he chooses to live with us.

Thus, for God’s people to display his character, to make ourselves holy as God is holy, means that we too must live lives of justice, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, patience and love – “being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

So, holiness does eventually become a matter of ethics.

In a world characterized by injustice, unrighteousness, faithlessness, lack of mercy, absence of compassion, impatience and hatred, reflecting the holiness of God’s character will set God’s people apart as a unique community; a stark contrast to the status quo around us.  At least, that is the goal.

I believe that understanding this 3-step unfolding of holiness is crucial to a proper, Biblical Christian ethics.  By rooting our view of holiness positively in God and who God is, we are better able to cultivate a positive, rather than a negative, approach to godly behavior.

Typically, when conversations about holiness begin (rather than conclude, as I do here) with ethics we end up thinking negatively.  Becoming holy is a matter of what we don’t do.  “I don’t drink, and I don’t chew, and I don’t go with girls who do!” as the old saying goes.  Being different from the world around us becomes a primarily negative concern focused on prohibitions; a matter of not associating, not doing, not participating, not sharing in the concerns or behaviors of those around us.

Certainly, abstaining from evil is important if holiness is to mean anything.  But making these sorts of prohibitions the entry point into holiness is wrong Biblically and theologically.  It, therefore, leads to any number of wrong-headed, practical mistakes.  (Perhaps, most significantly, it has a horrible tendency to blind God’s people to the continued reality of God’s Image in every human being, no matter their misbehavior.  But this is an important issue for another day.)

For our purposes in this post, I will only mention one practical mistake:  a prohibitive view of holiness invariably teaches us to view life principally in terms of what we don’t do, who we aren’t.  That is, we are not like them.

That is grossly backwards and upside-down.  Holiness is intended positively to express who we are.  We are God’s people!  And so, we are like our God in the sorts of things we do, in how we love others, show mercy, remain faithful, always being compassionate and patient.

Thus, holy behavior is rooted in our identity as sinners saved by God’s grace.  Only in a derivative sense is holiness concerned with not being like others.  Holiness is first and foremost concerned with being like Jesus, our Lord and Savior in the flesh.

Naturally, anyone who truly wants to live like Jesus will find any number of abhorrent thoughts, feelings and actions to avoid, but that is only the shadow-side of holy living.  The substance of a holy life is not determined by the shadows but by the beautiful light of God’s own presence and by heeding the Spirit’s call to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2; see 3:1).

With our lives fixed on following Jesus, we avoid the shadows without even trying because we will be too busy living out the grace, mercy, righteousness, faithfulness, love and compassion of our crucified Lord.

See the difference?

OK, there has to be a 5th installment.  Next time: The Meaning of Holiness, Part 3B, “Sinners in the Hands of a Forgiving God”

The Meaning of Holiness, Part 2B

OK, so, I lied. I originally said that this would be a 3-part series on the biblical concept of holiness. But, as happens with much of my writing, it has grown into at least a 4-part, maybe even a 5-part, series.  This is the 3rd installment.

In part 1 I explained how a proper understanding of holiness is rooted in God’s nature, God’s being.  Our Creator is the one and only God, an incomparable God who is utterly unique in every way.

Part 2 then looked at the extension of God’s holiness to others through personal contact and continuing relationship.  Persons, places and things may become holy when God makes contact, particularly by establishing a personal relationship with select individuals, like Abraham and Moses, or with groups of people, such as Israel.

In part 2 we also discovered how God’s extension of holiness is a one-way-street.  Holiness “travels” in one direction only, from God to others.  Furthermore, that holiness is maintained by following God’s directions.  Violating the Holy One’s instructions can lead to immediate punishment and destruction.

However, my description raises a number of questions.  Such as:

What about God’s numerous personal encounters with folks like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the book of Genesis?  Abraham enjoyed several intimate encounters with Yahweh (Genesis 12:1-7; 13:14-17; 15:1-20;  17:1-8; 22;1-18), yet he was never warned, as Moses was, about the dangers of “standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).  The patriarchs were never ordered to “step back” or be killed, as were the people of Israel standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  Why?  What changed between Genesis and Exodus?

Similar questions are especially pressing for Christians when reading the New Testament gospel stories about the life of Jesus.

Historic, orthodox Christian theology has always insisted – because it is the consistent message of the New Testament – that the human being named Jesus of Nazareth was both fully human and fully divine.  That belief is at the heart of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation – the eternal God becoming an historic, individual human being named Jesus.

How does divine holiness fit into all this?  For instance:

How can an intrinsically holy God take on inherently unholy humanity such that the two (divinity and humanity) coexist for a lifetime as the single individual, Jesus of Nazareth?

Various theologians have offered a variety of thoughts on that question, but I must pass over them here. I will only note that my friend, Sǿren Kierkegaard, referred to this incarnational mystery as the primary stumbling-block, THE principal “offense” requiring the famous “leap of faith,” confronting anyone who wants to follow Jesus.  (You might want to read more about the offensiveness of Christian faith and the need for a leap of faith in my book Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture).

Furthermore, if (a) Jesus is God and (b) God is holy and (c) those approaching the Holy One must do so very carefully, in exactly the way prescribed by God if they hope to survive, then (d) how could Jesus be as open, accepting and approachable as he is in the gospel accounts?

What happened to the necessary limits, the barriers, the warnings and prohibitions – and most of all, the dire Old Testament consequences! – that always circumscribe the Holy One?

How can this particular “holy one of God” (Mark 1:24) remain so flagrantly cavalier about mixing and mingling with society’s outcasts, who remain outcasts precisely because they do not obey God’s instructions?

How can he crash through every social barrier while freely touching and being touched by despised untouchables?

How does he eat and drink with sinners, using the very same bowls, plates and cups as they?

How did he tolerate the wicked, unholy abuses of human depravity that were heaped upon him at the cross?

MOST OF ALL, how can any of these (apparently unacceptable) encounters – at least, from an Old Testament perspective – occur without every one of these abhorrent, disobedient sinners (and this is what we all are!) being fried by lightning into charcoaled, crispy critters like the flippant sons of Aaron in Leviticus 10:1-3?

I believe that the only answer can be God’s grace.

It was only by God’s grace that Abraham became the friend of God.  After all, it was Yahweh who came to Abraham and initiated their kick-off to salvation-history (Genesis 12:1-7).  It certainly wasn’t Abraham’s idea.  Until that conversation, he was still bowing down to the gods of Ur!

God is not an automaton.  He does not execute His programming.

God is a divine person with a divine will, and scripture teaches us that God wills to be loving, gracious and merciful. So, even Moses required protection from the revelation of Yahweh’s glory, but both the revelation and the protections making it a survivable experience were acts of divine grace (Exodus 33:18-34:7).

I think that we must assume that the same gracious decision-making explains the preexistent Son’s life on earth.  As the gospel of John says,

“The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)

The gospel writer provides a New Testament commentary on Moses’ experience described in Exodus 33-34.  The second Person of the Triune God traversed time and space, so that Jesus’ entire life could become both the ultimate revelation of God’s glory AND the final protection for sinners seeking God’s face.

To revisit my parable from part 1 – Mr. Ball entered into Flatland and became Mr. Circle so that Madame Triangle, Mr. Line and Miss Square might all be elevated into the 3rd dimension with Him.

Praise is Not the Same as Applause

I admit that I can be a bit quirky.  I am a news junky. I don’t eat bananas. And my wife teases me for nibbling chocolate chip cookies around the edges so as to maximize the number of chips left in the center.

Regular readers will find a lot of my personal quirks popping up in this blog.  So, if you think that my postings become an unusual stew of oddly mixed ingredients, well, you have been warned.

Some of my quirks are religious, and I want to talk about one of them today.  I happen to believe that when Christian people use Biblical vocabulary they ought to do their best to (1) understand the original Biblical sense of a word and (2) try to use that word accordingly, in ways that cohere with its Biblical meaning(s).

So, here is my pet-peeve for today: Praising God, whether in church or elsewhere, has nothing to do with raising your hands or giving God “applause,” as often happens in churches today.  If you attend a church

where the worship leader [another seriously misunderstood term, but that is for another day] concludes a song by shouting, “Give the Lord some more praise!”, and everyone understands that as code for another round of applause, then your song-leader doesn’t understand the Biblical meaning of praise.

The Old Testament book of Psalms defines praise as a public declaration of either (a) the greatness of God’s character and/or (b) the greatness of His actions/behavior. If a reader understands how to interpret the Hebrew poetic device called parallelism, even a casual reading of the Psalms will make this clear.

Here are two examples from Psalm 9:

Verse 1, I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; 

                                   I will tell of all your wonders.

Verse 11, Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;

                                  Proclaim among the nations what he has done.

The psalmist first tells the people to praise the Lord (first line), and he then defines what he means by that (second line). The Lord is praised whenever his people, individually or collectively, “tell of all his wonders and proclaim among the nations what he has done.”

Consequently, praising God can be risky business.

It is not just a matter of being careful that we don’t hit the person standing next to us in the head as we wave our hands.  Actually, praise has little if anything to do with lifting up our hands and everything to do with lifting up our voice in public.

Praising Jesus Christ requires stepping outside of your comfort zone and running the risk of being thought a fool for sharing your beliefs and experiences with someone else about how Jesus Christ has worked to save you, heal you, guide you, answer your prayers, worked miracles, and directed you into the service of others – especially when those others are people with whom you would not naturally associate.

Yes, we praise God the Creator when we openly marvel at the fantabulousness of creation, as we stare at a

 

sunset or hike in the Rocky Mountains.  But we also praise God the Redeemer when we explain the good news of Jesus Christ with someone who has yet to experience that salvation for themselves.  We praise God when explaining to a friend how the Lord Jesus has taken care of us in troubled times.

You can do this while sitting on your hands or stuffing them into your pockets, if you like.  Or, go ahead, lift them up and wave them about if that feels better to you.  But don’t forget that this is all window-dressing and ephemera when compared to the God-stories and exclamations that we share with others.

So, go out and praise the Lord Jesus today.  Tell someone new about all of his wonders and proclaim among the nations what he has done.