Epistle for Lent: A theological Reflection

 

            Paul will consider the human condition, based upon his perspective on the Old Testament texts.

            In Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (Year A, Second Sunday in Lent), Paul will consider the faith to which God now calls Christians as something like the faith of Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. He wants to reflect upon the possibility that the example of Abraham anticipates his message of justification with God by faith. Abraham becomes an example of what he said in 3:21-31. The universal thrust of his message rests upon his insight that faith rather than the covenantal law of Israel justified Abraham before God. In that sense, the Gentile mission of Paul has its root in the calling of Abraham. In the passage we again see that father Abraham giving up his son is a reminder that in the cross the Father acted to reconcile the world. The Father was at work in this event to divinely direct the course of human history. Faith makes us righteous before God only because it appropriates the saving work of God in Christ, and especially the forgiveness of sins based on his atoning death, just as once Abraham accepted in faith the promise that God had given him.^[1] Thus, righteousness by faith is not alien to the Jewish tradition.

            In Romans 4:1-5, Paul makes the point that God justified Abraham by his faith. Through his faith, he becomes the patriarch of us all. Paul imagines a Jewish interlocutor referring to Abraham as the biological ancestor of the Jewish people and implies his high veneration among his fellow Jews. Yet, not even he received the gift of a right relationship with God by what he did. Had he done so, he would have had something about which to boast. As suggested in the calling of Abraham, he had done nothing to earn a summons from God. If Abraham has no right to boast in what he has done to enjoy a right relation to God, than no human being can boast for that reason. Paul offers a Midrash on Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (δικαιοσύνην).” Abraham experienced rightness with God through faith, and not through either Law or circumcision. Granted, his interpretation of Abraham sees more than the text says since he is now looking at Abraham through the lens of the significance of the new event, that of Jesus Christ. However, his emphasis on humble trust as a theme in the story of Abraham is in line with the best elements of Jewish interpretation of Abraham as well. The faith of Abraham, rather than circumcision or his anticipatory fulfillment of the Law, was the basis of his rightness before God. The reconciling and redeeming work of God through Christ and in the power of the Spirit begin in our lives as we embrace the truth by faith, live our lives out of love for God and others, and live with the hope that God will redeem creation. Thus, Paul points out that God grants this righteousness through faith, not self-righteousness that one might earn through works. This is to say that God’s gracious initiative is at the center. Authentic human righteousness can only come from God, who alone is completely righteous. Abraham, in receiving justification before he became a Jew, verifies the point Paul is making. [2] He will make the point that describing the relation between God and human beings by means of calculating payment is inappropriate because the initiative is with God. By working, one receives the wages one is due. Rightness with God is a gift to those of us who are ungodly but who also have faith (πίστις). He is repeating the argument made in 3:25-26, that God passes over our sinfulness to deem us to be in right relation to God. We humbly receive this gift by faith, as did Abraham, who had rightness with God before circumcision and before the giving of the Mosaic Law. For Paul, the true children of Abraham are those who live by faith.[3] The broken character of the relationship between God and humanity is not one that humanity can heal. The human tendency is toward the hypocrisy of treating our flaws leniently. We have a better image of who we are than reality would suggest. 

            The type of faith of which Paul writes is not like that of which James writes. James uses Genesis 15:6 to make the opposite point that Paul does. For James, faith is assent to the belief in God, and so he wants to prove that intellectual assent is not enough.  James’ use is more strictly about life.  The point is that intellectual assent must bear itself out in one’s life. As I have suggested, faith in Paul is casting oneself upon the grace of God, orienting one’s life toward what God has done in Christ, and allowing the Spirit to empower us to lead lives worthy of being children of God.

            Given his faith, Abraham is the Patriarch of both Jew and Gentile. 

Romans 4:13-25 (through verse 17, Year A, Second Sunday in Lent and Year B, Second Sunday in Lent) Paul begins a discussion of promise (ἐπαγγελία), faith, and hope. Paul is continuing his argument concerning the centrality of faith by pointing to the example of Abraham. He is showing that his teaching is a fulfillment of the Old Testament at its basic level, going behind the Torah from Moses to Abraham. Paul is implicitly assailing the Jewish view that all blessings came to Abraham because of his merit in keeping the Law, which he was supposed to have known in advance. The promise comes only to the people of faith. He now shifts to the part in Genesis 15 where it refers to the belief in God. The emphasis of Paul on humble trust is in line with the best elements of Judaism. The point of the passage before us is that Abraham was right with God because of his faith, not the Law or circumcision. Most of his Jewish contemporaries would prefer to say, “The law brings about righteousness,” Paul has argued resolutely that righteousness comes about through faith. The role of the Law shifts to the production of wrath. Thus, it is faith that justifies, and therefore, when God promises that he will be a father in Genesis 17:5, it means his descendants are through faith not circumcision or Law.  This promise could reach fulfillment only if God gives like to the dead, since Sarah has been childless and is too old for childbearing, and this God calls into existence the things that do not exist, connecting creation with the birth of this child. In the second of the Eighteen Benedictions, Paul would have prayed something like “Remember us unto life, O king, who delights in life. Who resembles You, O King, who orders death and restores life, and causes salvation (Yeshua) to spring forth? You are faithful to revive the dead. Blessed art thou, O L-rd, who revives the dead.” Contrary to human expectation, he had hope when it was not rational to do so, believing in the promise of God to him. He became a model for human believing. He believed in something impossible. Hope always leaves room for the gracious activity of God in our lives, families, communities, and nations. Paul is encouraging us to have the hope that Abraham had. An important reminder here is that the divine promise to Abraham for progeny was in line with his desire. The desire of his heart was to bear a child through his beloved Sarah. Human desire and divine promise coincide. An appeal to the promises of God would deprive them of any meaning if they did not respond to our deepest wants and needs. Finally, he shows that Christ is the revelation of this plan, or shall we say the clear setting forth of the plan, and it is through him that we are justified. Such considerations might lead us toward a practical application. Whenever people suppose themselves conscious of the emotion of nearness to God, whenever they speak and write of divine things, whenever sermon making and temple-building are thought of as an ultimate human occupation, whenever people are aware of divine appointment and of being entrusted with a divine mission, sin abounds. Being an heir of the promise, then, must depend on faith, so that the promise rests on grace (χάριν) toward those who share the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all, even as the promise finds its fulfillment.^[4] The essence of God is not available to us apart from this revelation, that God raised Jesus from the dead. We again see the significance of the moment or event in Christian teaching. Here is an area in which neither individuals nor communities can co-operate. Giving life to the dead is an act of God alone.^[5] Paul puts the resurrection of the dead alongside creation out of nothing. Paul is suggesting that the Easter event and the resurrection on which sets Christian hope is limitless as creation. Only the Creator can awaken the dead, and resurrection from the dead shows what it means to be Creator. The act of creation finds consummation in the resurrection. Resurrection is the supreme enactment of the will of the Creator that wills the existence of creatures. Indeed, by using this imagery, Paul makes a connection between God overcoming the childlessness of Abraham and Sarah (“gives life to the dead”) with creation (“calls into existence the things that do not exist”).[6] As stated in Genesis 15:6, God considered the faith of Abraham to be righteousness (δικαιοσύνην), a righteousness has before the Law and before circumcision. Paul unites himself and his readers to Abraham by applying it to the new situation. God will also consider our faith today in God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead as righteousness. This Jesus was handed over to death for our trespasses, which suggests expiation, releasing us from the damaging consequences of our actions. In the death of Jesus, the Father has acted to reconcile the world. Confession of Jesus as Lord gives hope of deliverance in connection with belief in the apostolic proclamation that God has raised him from the dead, and by this faith, we are righteous before God. This implies on a personal relation of individuals to Jesus Christ, as well as membership in the church founded by the apostolic missionary proclamation and adherence to its common confession of the apostolic faith.[7] The Father was at work in this event according to divine providential directing of the course of history. The sending of the Son by the Father aims at the vicarious expiatory death on the cross.^[8] The love and grace of God show themselves in the event of the righteous and faithful course of the life of Jesus, but especially in his death and resurrection. The Father raised him from the dead for our justification (δικαίωσιν), bringing us into right relation to God. Humanity is broken. We live out the course of life journey by mending the brokenness. Grace is the glue to that holds it together.[9] Humanity needs healing. Paul shows that the resurrection reminds him of our forgiveness. The Greek Fathers understood the resurrection of Christ as the cause of justification.  Many Latin Fathers attempted to integrate the two ideas, death and resurrection, but this attempt unfortunately minimized the causality of the resurrection, for they actually started looking upon the resurrection only as an appendage or even as an exemplary confirmation of the death of Jesus, which they considered to be the real cause of the forgiveness of sins and justification. For Paul, the resurrection is confirmation of the identity of Jesus as the Son and therefore our Lord (Romans 1:4, I Corinthians 15:14-15), it is the basis for the atoning value of his death (I Corinthians 15:17), expresses the acceptance by the Father of the faithfulness of Jesus that led him to the cross and affirms the efficacy of his death (Romans 3:25-26, 6:7-10), it results in the promise and hope of the Christian for life with God (I Corinthians 15:20-23, II Corinthians 4:14, Romans 8:11, Colossians 1:18), and thus calls believers to a moral and spiritual awakening (Romans 6:1-11). Faith involves accepting as applied to oneself the promise of God. The promise addresses us and reaches us. Such faith gives rise to hope, showing that hope rests upon faith. While the promise connects positively with human desire, we cannot accomplish on our own and by our own action our salvation, the wholeness and fulfillment of our existence, its identity with its destiny to be truly itself. No more can we rationally expect the changes and chances of life to do this for us. The hope of fulfillment, of salvation, transcends all that is possible by what we do or in the ordinary course of things. To that extent, we have here a hope against all hope that normal who gives to life to the dead and being to what is not. Paul found this promise expressed in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, for the significance of this event puts the situation the situation of all of us in a new light.^[10] Living with faith and hope recognizes that we live in a world with plenty of darkness to go around, but they also recognize that we live with the responsibility to bring light.

Romans 5:1-11 (Year A, Third Sunday in Lent), Paul draws out the consequences of this new perspective of faith he has described in Chapter 4 for the individual believer in the present and the future. As he often does in his writings, Paul lifts before his readers the qualities of faith, hope, and love as unique gifts. Verses 1-5 offer a summary of the character and qualities of the new life in Christ. Paul shifts to legal terminology. “Justified” (Δικαιωθέντες) in Roman law refers to a judge who knows the accused person is guilty but pronounces the defendant free anyway. We might think of it as a pardon. Human beings receive this pardon through the event or act of faith (πίστεως). Chapter 4 has explained that Abraham received his pardon by his faith and obviously apart from the law of Moses. This event or act of faith that opens the door to our pardon and gives us peace (εἰρήνην), reconciliation, creative harmony, inner security, and serenity with God. The first effect of such pardon is peace, in contrast to the wrath or judgment of God of which human sin is a reasonable consequence. The human acts of rebellion Paul describes in 1:18ff, the fact that Jew and Gentile alike are under the power of sin, have a consequence in judgment. This divine judgment shows itself in allowing human beings to reap the consequences of their actions. Humanity reaps what it sows. Yet, the human situation is not hopeless. The death of Christ has the expiatory effect of removing the reasonable consequences of human sin in eschatological judgment from God. Human beings can experience the effects of the event of expiation through the response of faith that brings the person into a new covenant. The death of Christ breaks the vicious circle of act-consequence that would have meant the destruction of humanity. To clarify, we are the ones who need this peace and reconciliation with God, which has occurred in Jesus Christ. God is already well-disposed toward humanity, as the Father unites with the Son in the cross. Such peace with God gives us access in the sense of a social introduction to the God who give us grace. Since God gives us this grace, it represents the divine self-giving. We can stand or abide in this grace (χάριν). Christ brings us close God, so close that we share in the hope (ἐλπίδι) of the glory (δόξης) of God. The glory of God is human destiny, created as we are in the divine likeness. This destiny is part of the restoration that will come in the new age to come. Such hope has the orientation toward the eschatological gifts of resurrection and life. Obviously, this destiny is not our present. Such is the nature of hope. Our present includes suffering, even as the Lord Jesus suffered. Our hope helps us to rejoice in suffering for Christ. Our hope helps us to allow suffering to produce the virtue of endurance, perseverance, or courage. It suggests living faithfully even as one suffers for Christ. Such courage in the face of suffering will produce one who can withstand the tests of a Christian life, which is character (δοκιμήν). Living faithfully through the tests of life is a matter of our integrity. Yet, such endurance and withstanding of tests derives from the hope we have for our destiny. We are standing or abiding in this grace, which invites us to live faithfully and persevere among the tests of life. Thus, the virtues of which Paul writes do not derive from our efforts, but from the turn away from ourselves and toward the hope and grace with experience through Christ. Withstanding such tests, coming full circle, produces hope. Yet, this hope is not just dreaming or a nice idea. It has its basis the love (ἀγάπη) or grace of God seen in Jesus Christ and poured like life-giving water into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is the personal divine presence that the pardoned believer enjoys. We have here the assurance of fellowship with God in the link between love and Spirit. Christian love is participation in the love God has for the world. [11] The love of neighbor participates in the love God has for the world. The love of God is the destiny of humanity, but the present gift of the Holy Spirit is an anticipation of that destiny. Pardon, then, is one element that opens us to deeper dimensions of our relationship with God. The human situation is one that participates in rebellion from God. In Christ, we receive pardon for that rebellion. However, God did not stop at pardoning us for our rebellion. We have a filial relationship to the Father. Being in this relation is the true content of the new relation to God due to our regeneration through the gift of the Spirit. This new relation is primarily a fellowship with Christ on his destined way to crucifixion and resurrection. The new relation is participation in the filial relation of Jesus to the Father and therefore in the intra-Trinitarian life of God. Yes, this passage is an important source for the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. Would it be possible for the great, true, real God to look like Jesus?  That is what the church has always claimed: Not simply that Jesus was God, but that God was Jesus.  From the beginning, this is what all the fuss was about.  The doctrine of the Trinity, the belief that God has met us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was not an invention of the early church to make Jesus God but was an attempt on the part of the early church, using the language and philosophy at hand, to try to describe the God whom they met in Jesus.  It is our claim that when we look at Jesus, we see as much of God as we ever hope to see. The new relation rests upon the hope of the inheritance of eternal life by the resurrection from the dead.

In Romans 5:6-8, through justification and reconciliation, we also possess the Holy Spirit, whom the grace of God gives to us. While we were rebelling against God, God was still reaching out to us in a demonstration of divine love (ἀγάπην). God pours out the Holy Spirit upon the very people who were under the judgment of the wrath of God, thereby embracing godless people. While only the eschatological future of God will consummate this revelation of divine love, the gift of the Holy Spirit makes believers already certain of it. Those justified before God live now in a state of peace with God. God has poured out the love of God into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit refers to the grace in which we have achieved a firm standing. Paul intricately connects the love and grace of God so closely that they are the same thing. Paul causes us to consider the death of a man so long ago can still be significant to us today. Moments are significant in nature, as natural events can have significant and long-term effects, mass extinctions and planetary collisions that bring the conditions for the creation of life among the most obvious. Events are significant in the development of human thought, the emergence of philosophy in Greece, the Bhagavat Gita and Buddha in Indian, Confucius in China, fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of the Reformation and the Enlightenment were noteworthy events that marked either advances or declines in human progress toward freedom. While the notion of the scandal of particularity related to Jesus has been noted for a long time, the scandal is not so much particularity, which have their parallels in nature and philosophy, but the scandal of revelation. What Paul points us toward is an event that is not natural, and it does not emerge out of human experience. Rather, this event is a divine disclosure that reveals the true and the good. This event calls us to turn toward it and orient our lives around it. This event becomes an encounter with the truth rather than a calm discovery of it. The encounter with this event involves the significance of an event of long ago, but is reality involves the subjective encounter with the Holy Spirit. We reveal our weakness and ungodliness in that we needed this revelation to have this encounter. Our personal response orients us to the divine event of the death of Christ. Human beings are weak in that they could not accomplish for themselves what God has done in Christ. Their weakness is a sign of their ungodliness in their turn from relying upon the creator to relying upon self. However, “at the right time,” in a moment, in an event within human history, Christ died for these persons too weak to save themselves. The event is a purposeful act of God. The event has a vicarious character. The death of Christ and his obedience through suffering is how the love and grace of God shows itself to the world. We may have here a form of martyr theology, suggesting that Christ is the willing self-sacrifice of one on behalf of many, further defined as those who are ungodly and who do not deserve such an act on the part of God. He is our example and shows us the way. Christ is for us, independently of our response. God shows divine love and demonstrates divine grace in the event of the death of Christ. This death has a vicarious character in that it benefits others. In that sense, all weak humanity was present in this event.

Romans 5:9-11 connect justification (δικαιωθέντες), salvation (σωθησόμεθα), and reconciliation (κατηλλάγημεν). Whereas humanity left to itself without the gospel came only under the wrath of God, through the gospel and through the grace of God that it proclaims humanity now finds justification, redemption, expiation, and pardon of its sins.  Paul identifies how Christ's death affects this love from God. The sacrifice of Christ's blood justifies sinners to God. This justification for Paul provides the way that Christians receive the gift of salvation from the wrath or anger of God. This is a clear statement of Paul's understanding of the atoning work of Christ's death as a sacrifice for sin. Importantly, however, this is not the end of the equation for Paul. Paul makes a distinction between justification and salvation, in that in the former there is reconciliation now, while he writes of the latter as occurring in the future. The goodness, grace, and favor of God are at work in the history of the Son, and especially in his death for us whereby we have reconciliation with the Father. The declaring righteous of those who linked to Jesus Christ by baptism and faith has only a partial function in descriptions of the event, or its result, that Paul elsewhere called regeneration. The sacrifice of Christ's blood justifies sinners to God. He is distinguishing justification, where God makes us right with God, through the death of Christ, from the form of sacrifice in the Temple in which his Judaism taught him to receive justification and peace with God. He distinguishes this justification with God through the death of Christ from the salvation that occurs through his resurrected life. God fought us as enemies of God with love of the enemy.[12] The death of Jesus means that others no longer must see themselves as excluded from fellowship with God and therefore as enemies of God. He opens up access for them so that in accepting their own finitude like him, and in fellowship with him, they come to share in life from God and can already live this earthly life assured of the eternal fellowship with God that overcomes the limitation of death.[13] Such a powerful re-orienting of his perspective opened the love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God to all persons, to which one can only respond with faith. Once justified, God reconciles the person of faith to God, a notion that departs from the sacrificial sphere and enters the sphere of relationships. Such persons experience a peace that distressing troubles cannot upset, a hope that knows no disappointment, and a confidence of the assurance of a future salvation.

Paul will consider the role of our first parents in that they reveal who we are as human beings. Romans 5:12-19 (Year A, First Sunday of Lent) offers a new perspective on the righteous purpose of God for humanity. Paul wants to discuss by analogy the work of Adam and the work of Christ. Paul is less concerned with fixing blame on Adam than he is with setting the scene for humanity's universal need for Christ's redemptive act. By holding up Adam with one hand and Christ with the other, Paul can demonstrate God's universal grace as a cure for sin's universal dominion over the world and the weakness of the universal experience of law to bring healing.  Humanity as understood in Adam is in trouble with God and with each other. God has provided a new pattern for humanity in Christ. To understand this passage properly, we need to look upon Adam and Christ as the “secret” of humanity, the truth of which God has revealed in Christ. Thus, the Old Testament story of Adam reveals how today humanity is in so much trouble with God and each other. Each of us keep making the same boring and unimportant decision to depart from what we know to be true and good. Caught in this endless cycle repeated in the life of every human being, humanity is in a prison. Yet, in his life of obedience that led to the cross and in his resurrection from the dead, Christ reveals a truth concerning humanity that only his future beauty (glory) of his coming will fully reveal. Christ liberates us from the prison and opens us to the beauty of a future life in the Spirit, which will be the theme of the next chapters. This beautiful truth about humanity is present now for those with faith but awaits in hope its future declaration in the coming of Christ in glory. Adam is the first sinner. All of us sin because we think we can attain a full and true life thereby. In this sense, the story of Adam is the story of humanity. Every individual repeats it.^[14] The sequel to the influence of Adam on humanity is the ratification of his sin in the sins of all individuals.^[15] Paul makes the important connection of the universality of sin with the universality of law. Paul has indicted humanity who has sinned like Adam since 1:18. Adam is the pattern of humanity as dominated by guilt, bondage, and death. The failure of Adam is the way Paul chose to characterize the human condition. The act of obedience by the Son did what Adam ought to have done but failed to do. Christ by his obedience is the pattern of the new humanity, in which are justification, redemption from sin, and victory over death. Sin defines humanity, for we know nothing of sinless humanity.^[16] Sin has its effects, but humanity is unaware of the connection without the law. People are not aware of sin as sin, even though they suffer its consequences. Sin still has terrible consequences, but people are not aware of the connection until the law arrives. Sin emerges from its anonymous existence with the law. Death dominates because of the continued participation of humanity in sin. Adam began the common sinning of humanity. Adam by his transgression (παραβάσεως) determined the character of the present age, so Christ has determined the character of the age to come. Since the modest statement of Paul is that sin entered the world through Adam, we can see that sin is not part of the created order. It is present as an alien power, Adam leading the way as humanity becomes a servant of sin. [17] Behind this exposition of sin and law is the experience of Israel in its covenant relationship with the Lord, as it experienced the command of the Lord in the giving of the law and as Israel consistently rebelled against that command. Since depends upon the presence of the command. What Paul demonstrates, however, is that the rebellion that the story of Israel of the people of the covenant is also the story of humanity. One can also reverse the point and say that Israel is no different than the nations. Sin is the universal condition of humanity. Paul will then affirm that Christ has brought a balance to the cosmic scale of justice in that the trespass (παράπτωμα) or sin (ἁμαρτήσαντος) of Adam brought the condemnation (κατάκριμα) of death to all but the gift of the grace of God through Christ has brought justification (δικαίωμα). Paul writes in archetypical language of the eschatological destiny of humanity as if already fulfilled in Jesus Christ.^[18] The grace of God and the gift have come to humanity in superabundance. The secret revealed in the dialectical relation of Adam and Christ is that people have fallen from God and yet find themselves bound to God. Both figures stand close upon the barrier between sin and righteousness, death and life. The one looks backward, but the other forward. From Adam to Christ, this is the road of God to humanity and among humanity.^[19] The power of sin came into the world first with Adam, but the choices of each generation carry sin forward.^[20] Thus, Jesus was obedient to his mission in a way that leads to justification (δικαίωσιν) and life. Paul contrasts the disobedience (παρακοῆς) of Adam with that can now describe humanity as sinners (ἁμαρτωλοὶ) so the obedience of Jesus makes humanity righteous (δίκαιοι).His argument moves logically toward the destiny of human redemption of humanity and therefore all creation. Since the disobedience of Adam leads Paul to reflect upon the universality of sin, the obedience of Christ to his Father leads him to consider universal redemption of humanity as well. The general idea is that just as Adam, the head and symbol of humanity, by his disobedience involved all people in guilt, bondage, and death, so Christ by his obedience qualifies as the head of a new humanity - a new creation - in which are justification, redemption from the power of sin, and victory over death.  Paul has in mind the plan of God for history in this contrast of the first and second Adam.^[21] Paul raises his sight from believers as a group to embrace humanity. Adam sums up the history of humanity. Adam sums up the meaning or meaninglessness of this history. Human history is Adamic history. It begins in and with his history and its judgment is that it continuously corresponds to this history. With innumerable variations, it repeats the history of Adam. It re-enacts the scene in the garden. A golden age never existed, because the first human being is a sinner. Who is Adam? He simply did in the insignificant form of the beginner that which all people have done after him. He was in a trivial form what we all are, people of sin. No one must be Adam. We are so freely and on our own responsibility. God knows us in Adam. Adam is the truth concerning us as God knows it and tells us. Yet,^[22] Paul shows that God has broken this Adamic history and given humanity another possibility simply by exposing humanity to the truth of itself.^[23]

Romans 8:6-11 (Year A, Fifth Sunday in Lent) focuses upon the Spirit of life. In verses 1-27, Paul is dealing with the theme of the eschatological tension and fulfillment of the purpose of God through the Spirit. Beginning in verse 4, Paul has been contrasting those who walk according to the flesh (σαρκὸς) with those who walk according to the Spirit (πνεύματος), the latter fulfilling the just requirements of the Law. The mode of contrast Paul makes now concerns the result of aspirations or mind (φρόνημα).  All the strivings and orientation of the flesh focus on death.  Paul brings the relation between sin and death closer than ever before. Not only does death follow sin, but also to live in the weakness of the flesh is a form of death already. To live after the flesh is to contain the seeds of death.   Paul refers to the general thought and motive.  Flesh is that side of human nature is morally weak, the physical organism leading people to sin.  The death is present and future. The strivings and orientation of the Spirit is life and peace, which is life and friendship with God.  If the Spirit dominates the strivings, orientation, and life of a person, one has more than a hope of life and peace.  The person experiences life and peace in the present. In that sense, the leading of the Spirit is not a blind force of nature, but rather, is of a personal sort. The Spirit is a personal reality by not extinguishing the personal character of human action through the activity of the Spirit, but by letting personal life come to consummation through willing dedication. It is to possess those qualities now, although partially.^[24] The life of which Paul writes is at the same time present and future.  Thus, peace is not simply forensic here, but applies to the whole person. Peace is reconciliation with God and a feeling of harmony and tranquility over the whole person.  Those who receive baptism, live “in Christ Jesus” (v. 1) and are therefore open to the promptings of the Spirit, receive life and peace now.  Their aspirations receive their inspiration and take the side of the Spirit.  The direction of the interests of the spiritual person are toward the Spirit. This includes the affections and will as well as reason.  Because Christ lives in Christians, the things of the flesh no longer dominate them, even if they must daily decide to allow the Spirit to control their aspirations and orientation.  The tension between death and life is a war carried out in the believer between living a life oriented to the self and living a life oriented by the Spirit. To live by the self (the flesh), to live out of our weakness, is death. While one can “crucify” this type of life with Christ, crucifixion of it lasts a lifetime. At times, it will be painful. The center of your life is outside you and therefore in relation with others and with God. Such a life is “in the Spirit.” Such a transformation is life and friendship with God. Such a realization and transformation is not an easy process. Such leading by the Spirit has a personal character by bringing our personal lives to their fulfillment. Living by the Spirit is to possess such qualities in a partial way today.^[25] Thus, the Spirit makes this moment full of possibility. True, the past moment of our justification in the cross through faith and the future moment of our redemption that we hold in hope contain their fullness. Yet, the present is not empty. Rather, the present is full because of the eschatological gift of the Spirit, who provisionally imparts life and peace now. The past act and the hoped-for future have a middle term in the advance installment of the Spirit. A thoroughgoing change has taken place in the Christian’s whole existence because of faith and baptism.  Sin may still try to dominate the flesh, but it does not dominate the self, thanks to the indwelling Spirit.  God’s Spirit now personally directs such a person toward individual fulfillment. The Spirit is the pleasure that God has in people and goodwill people have toward God.  The Spirit is existential meaning and sense.  Spirit admits no other possibility.  However, flesh is also a decision in time by God against people and by people against God.  We cannot decide between the two.  Nor are these two classes of people, those in the Spirit and those in the flesh.  We are in death and in life, rejection and election, condemnation and justification.  Christ in us helps us apprehend our existential freedom.^[26] Those living "according to the flesh" are incapable of seeing beyond the limitations and inabilities of the flesh. Those whose motivation in life is a self-centered interest; their aspirations are all self-oriented. The person directs emotions, will, and mind on the flesh. Such a one cares not for God or for others but is self-centered. The possibility of living in a way that is hostile to God is always present.[27] The law is the concrete expression of the will of God, so the one living according to the flesh cannot submit to it. Paul implies that the tendency of weakened humanity is toward enmity with God. We learn why a life dominated by the orientation of weak flesh is death. Flesh, weak as it is, is hostile to God, and thus a turn away from the source of life. Paul is turning toward another mode of contrast, one that concerns one’s attitude about God.  Flesh-oriented humanity, weak as it is, finds itself in the condition of hostility, enmity, and estrangement in God’s sight, hence opposed to the life that has its source in God. The root of the problem is that weak flesh is not open to the promptings of the Spirit.  Paul chooses a neutral way of expressing the goal of human life: to please God.  It is a goal aspired to by both Jews and Christians, yet one whose life receives its direction and orientation by weak flesh cannot attain it. In verses 9-11, Paul personalizes the way the Spirit and the Christian relate to each other. Early Christianity quickly came to relate baptism to the eschatological gift of the Spirit. The status of the justified Christian is the indicative of Christian existence and the new being in Christ. It also has its eschatological presupposition in the future that God has promised. Thus, become who you are and become what you shall be. [28] The status of the Christian is as one oriented to affinity with God. Paul passes easily from the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the human spirit that leads to the higher Christian life. The Spirit of God continually resides within the believer so that the influence of the Spirit can mature and be productive in the life of the Christian. The one “in Christ” also abides, resides, and dwells in the Spirit. The Spirit grants the immediacy of relationship to the Son and the Father, granting the believer freedom of the children of God. Such living by faith brings one into fellowship with Christ and therefore lifts one beyond the self. The Spirit also relates the one “in Christ” to their personal and common future of salvation. The ecstatic movement of the divine life is a matter of the indwelling Spirit lifting the individual beyond their particularity, integrating their individuality into the unity of the rule of God. The imparting of the Spirit as gift characterizes the distinctiveness of the soteriological phase of the work of the Spirit in the event of reconciliation. This residing of the Spirit in us makes possible the uniqueness of who we are to find entry into the action of God in reconciling the world and enables our participation in the movement of the reconciling love of God toward the world. ^[29] The Spirit of Christ, showing the fluidity of the terms for Paul, also referring to the Spirit and to the Spirit of God, depending upon context. Christ gives his name to the new order in which the Christian lives. To have the Spirit is to belong to this new order and to allow God to bring one into the living fellowship of the church, of knowing, that is, the love of God. Belonging to Christ includes being empowered through the vitalizing influence of the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ residing within us means Christ is in us, becoming the source of the new experience, empowering us in a new way and with a new reality, clearly referring to a subjective status inaugurated and anticipating future fulfillment. [30] While Paul can say that Christ dwells in us, this can happen only because of the ecstatic structure of faith. By faith, believers live “outside” themselves, and therefore, one can say that Christ dwells in the believer.^[31] Thus, our bodies (σῶμα) are on their way to death because of sin, the Spirit is gift that brings eternal life into our future. Thus, to clarify who the Spirit is, the Spirit is the life-giving Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. This life-giving Spirit resides within us and will give life to our dying bodies. This indwelling Spirit is thus the driving force and the source of new vitality for Christian life.  The life-giving Spirit has an OT background.  Believers receive the eschatological earnest of the Spirit who has Christ from the dead and will quicken our mortal bodies, for the word that leads the believer into the truth is promise of eternal life, but not yet that life itself.^[32]

First, such a life “in the Spirit” seems an invisible, altered state of existence entered by the Christian believer that places the believer beyond the reach of earthy sin, death and suffering. Such a notion is far from what Paul intends. Our weakness is that we turn away from the source of our life. In other words, our temptation every moment is to do what Adam did. One who keeps living this way is not pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit is the medium of the immediacy of the individual Christian to God as the Spirit lifts them up to participation in being children of God even as Jesus is the Son and grants them the Christian freedom that enables them to call confidently on God as their Father. Paul personalizes the relation for those “in Christ” by saying that Spirit of God/Christ dwells within them. This reminds us that for Paul, the context determined how he referred to the Spirit. Such persons are no longer living in accord with the self, but outside themselves in the Spirit. Persons “in the Spirit” belong to Christ and therefore to the new order. Those “in Christ” are not just committed to the cause, as if to an external religious, political, or economic ideology. They have an internal relation to Christ and to the Spirit. Through the Spirit of Christ/God, Christ is in them, as well as them being “in Christ.” We see here his way of discussing the union between Christ and the follower. Contrary to Barth, Paul is not just referring to an objective status, but to a subjective and transforming possibility for the Christian.^[33]

Second, Paul will show that the fellowship of believers in the church is a fellowship that by the Spirit they have beyond themselves in Christ, just as faith lifts each of them to fellowship with Christ and therefore is beyond the self in Christ. Conversely, by the Spirit the future of Jesus Christ is already present to believers as their personal and common future of salvation. Thus, the fellowship of the church can be a sign that prefigures the eschatological fellowship of a humanity that is renewed in the kingdom of God. 

Third, I hope that as we read this passage, we sense the tension Paul sees in Christian life. The reason for the tension in Christian life between flesh and Spirit is the introduction of our future redemption into our lives through the Spirit. The pardon we have received in the cross, the righteousness that God showed in that moment, means life in the Spirit will triumph over the death of the body. Paul emphasizes the eschatological dimension of the Spirit in saying that the Spirit “will” give life to our bodies. Thus, Paul makes it clear that the union of the believer with Christ is a promise of eternal life that includes the body. Paul does not envision a non-bodily life in eternity. The resurrection of Jesus is a promise to us, who must pass through judgment and in the body. The Spirit who dwells within the believer and in whom the believer walks is the driving force and the source of new vitality for the follower of Jesus. The hope for such redemption and eternal life has its basis in fellowship with Christ. The hope for eternal life is a consequence of fellowship with Christ.^[34] Yet, we know God through Jesus Christ, who is the ground of all reality about whom humanity inquires in both open and concealed ways. Thus, Paul is also not afraid to trace the life given to the Christian to the resurrection of Christ. The Spirit who gave life to the Son also gives life to the Christian.^[35] The life that those “in Christ” receive now is an anticipation of the life they shall receive in eternity. The Spirit who dwells within them lifts them above their particularity and toward unity with the rule of God. The Spirit makes possible our participation in the reconciling love of God toward the world.^[36]

Fourth, at one level, Paul is indicating to us that we do not have access to the essence of God without Jesus Christ. We do not first know who God is and then something about Jesus, but only in connection with Jesus do we know the ground of all reality about whom humanity inquires in an open or concealed way, consciously or unconsciously. The event of Christ in the past, especially his death and resurrection, have supreme importance in opening the pathway for humanity to see the reality of its condition. However, as important as that event is, at another level, Paul makes a direct link between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the Christian.  Paul traces the power vivifying the Christian to its ultimate source, for the Spirit is the manifestation of the Father’s presence and life-giving power in the world since the resurrection of Christ and through it.^[37] Hearing the message of Jesus places one in the sphere of the working of the Spirit, who may open the heart and life of the hearer to embrace its life-giving message. This event in the believer in his or her historical moment connects with the historical moment of the death and resurrection of Jesus through the presence of the Spirit.

Fifth, the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from death already dwells in Christians. The significance of this is that in early Christianity the Spirit had eschatological significance. The word designated nothing else than the presence of the resurrection life in the Christians. Note that Lord and Spirit belong together. Wherever there is a reference in any way to the reality of the resurrected Lord, as established through hearing the message of the resurrection of Jesus, there one is already in the sphere of the activity of the Spirit. Whoever believes the message of the resurrection of Jesus has thereby already received the Spirit who guarantees to the believer the future resurrection from death because he has already raised Jesus. The Spirit guarantees the participation of the believers in the living Jesus Christ. The close connection that existed for Paul between the Spirit and the reality of the resurrection that appeared in Jesus and is hoped for by Christians is demonstrated by the Old Testament understanding of the Spirit as the power of life.^[38] The “in Christ” listeners can infer that this resurrection life begins now within their lives, in an anticipatory manner. There is a settled influence of God's Spirit on the human spirit.  The influence from the Spirit of God is inseparable from the higher Christian life. Just as a person may take their life orientation from the flesh, they may also take it from the spirit, which has an affinity to God.

The tension introduced by the Spirit in the life of the believer is a tension that arises because the Infinite embraces the finite, that transcendence embraces our immanent experience of the world. If we close ourselves off from transcendence, if we do not feel its pull, then we will not have the type of tension of which Paul writes. Some people can rest with an objective description of the world. They are content with that. Yet, human language itself pushes us beyond such mere description, seeking to express thoughts and feelings that are beyond words. Life is more than what a collection of atoms and cells. For Paul, Christ is the answer to that which we find so difficult to name and for which we have difficulty to hope for humanity and for our world. The Infinitude and transcendence that embraces us is the presence of the Spirit, who will dwell within us and walk with us if by faith open our lives to this power. Paul could write this way because he was one of whom God blessed with a powerful experience of the grace of forgiveness and the vision of the peace and reconciliation God intends in Christ. Most believers may have a far more ordinary account of the indwelling and guiding work of the Spirit in their lives that will suit the uniqueness of their lives.

Romans 10:8b-13 (Year C, First Sunday in Lent) is a discussion of the righteousness from the Law and the righteousness from faith. The point Paul will make is that the new way of rightness with God is not through Law. Rather, the path is open to all, easy and near at hand, as Scripture shows.  Thus, in its Old Testament context, Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Israel cannot complain that it did not have access to Torah. Yet, Paul applies the passage to the word of faith, which truly is as close as the heart and mouth. His claim is that Gentiles have access to rightly relating to God through faith rather than a law no one can obey fully. Paul is trying to move the people of God from the burden of a religious life based upon Law to the joy of the life of offering personal assent to what God has done in Christ. Paul identifies this statement with the word (ῥῆμά) of faith. This word is that which can be immediately recalled and carried out. The word of faith is not the goal of some impossible far-off quest, but as close as our hearts and mouths, through which we remember and make known the righteousness that comes from faith. He then identifies the word of faith with the word that we proclaim. The gospel which “we proclaim” now makes clear that the “word” said to be so near to everyone in Deuteronomy, was always, in Paul’s view, “the word of faith” and not some law demanding perfect obedience. The Lord God of Moses is the same God who is the Father of Jesus Christ and the one Christians call upon as “Abba, Father.” Paul applies the passage to the word of faith, which truly is as close as the heart and mouth. Paul discusses the meaning of faith, as he explains this new mode of acquiring peace with God.  Paul contrasts the ease of this mode with the arduous task of observing the deeds of the law. Thus, we could approach this passage with the theme of salvation by faith. The passage contains the well-known “Romans Road” plan for witnessing. While that is an important part of the message, it will miss the important part this passage plays in the way Paul is laying out the plan of God for incorporating the Gentiles into the people of God. An event has occurred that has ended the salvific importance of the Torah. Of course, Christ is the content of that event. Paul wishes to emphasize to the Romans that the "word" of the law in Deuteronomy is, in fact, the word "of faith" that Paul and his disciples proclaim to them, that is, the gospel of justification by faith rather than works. Paul might find some sympathy with the view of Thomas Aquinas that three things are necessary for the salvation of human beings: to know what they ought to believe, to know what they ought to desire, and to know what they ought to do. The righteousness of faith is an alternative to the legal righteousness of the people. Here is the starting point of the entire criticism of the Law by Paul. In what way has Christ become the end of the Law?^[39] The people of God can no longer look upon this Torah as the expression of the eternal will and purpose of God. The way of Torah must give way to faith in the new saving event of God in Jesus Christ. This act of God opens the door for good news to the world.^[40] At this point in the argument, Paul is pondering how the Jewish people have rejected the way of faith. We find that even though the Torah had its time in the plan of God, the way of faith makes the Lord God of Moses available to all. While law and faith represent differing events in the history of salvation, the character of God has remained the same.^[41]

The reason for this is ⁹ that if you confess  (ὁμολογήσῃς, to commit an act of honest-to-God speech, publicly coming clean about what the truth is) with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe (πιστεύσῃς) in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (σωθήσῃ). The fundamental divine act, in Paul's theology, was God's elevation of Jesus to divine sovereignty and God's raising Jesus from the dead. Despite the vast attempts to demythologize the New Testament, including Paul, there is little evidence to support the notion that Paul believed in anything other than a historical, physical, somatic resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, a belief which Paul himself acknowledged as "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23). The prima facie absurdity of the claim is testimony to its truth content, and it is this truth that Paul is not ashamed to proclaim (Romans 1:16). ¹⁰ For one believes with the heart and so is justified (δικαιοσύνην). Paul's doctrine of justification through faith, of which Luther and the Reformed tradition have made much, is expounded most fully in Romans. The word for "justified" occurs nearly a dozen times, far more than in any other book in the New Testament (see, for example, 2:13; 3:4, 20, 24, 28; 4:2; 5:1, 9; 8:30; 10:10; and two-thirds of the occurrences of "justification" also appear in Romans). Although the term has a complex theological history, the basic meaning in the Pauline writings is "to be made righteous," as the recipient of God's transforming grace.

And one confesses with the mouth and so is saved (σωτηρίαν). The first basic confession or profession of faith in the early church was simple: Jesus is Lord. It was an affirmation developed before Paul began his public ministry. The confession of Jesus as Lord was a fundamental article of belief in the early church.^[42]The Holy Spirit causes people to say that Jesus is Lord (I Corinthians 12:3). Paul and his team proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord (II Corinthians 4:5). A day is coming when every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:11). Since they have received Christ Jesus the Lord, they are to continue to live their lives in Christ (Colossians 2:6). It was one of the earliest and most widespread Christian confessions of faith in most Greek-speaking areas of Christianity.^[43] The confession of Jesus as Lord was required, perhaps in creedal formulation, for admission to baptism, membership in the church and access to the Eucharist. Today, Christology must provide the basis for this confession.^[44] The cause of this public profession is the prior internal event of believing that God raised Jesus from the dead. Such conviction resides authentically in the heart and issues faithfully from the mouth. Inner faith forthrightly receives voice. We see this pattern in Romans 1:1, 3-4 as well, which affirms the resurrection of Jesus from the dead first, and then affirms that Jesus is Lord. Philippians 2 stresses that Jesus humbled himself to the point of death before God exalted him. Hebrews 2:9 has a similar emphasis. I Corinthians 15 reveals the basis of the gospel he preached in Corinth, including the death and resurrection of Jesus that he finds especially affirmed in the appearances to the disciples and to a larger group soon after the death of Jesus. He admits that the event of faith is empty if God did not raise Jesus from the dead. Yet, this internal belief was more than intellectual assent. It was the sign of sharing in the life of the new community of the people of God.  The logic of this pattern of spiritual awakening is that one first believes in the heart, thereby receiving a right relationship with God through the pardon we have received in the event of the death of Jesus for our failure to live in a way that honors God. One can understand the joy many have found in recognizing that their standing with God did not rest upon their ability to do everything some perceived law might require.^[45] The mouth affirms what the heart confirms. The result is that God saves a person who believes in the heart and publicly testifies to the truth discerned in the heart. Such salvation primarily refers to the eschatological fulfillment of the plan of God for the redemption of humanity. We can see this emphasis in Romans 5:9-10, where salvation involves freedom from receiving the anger and judgment of God upon sin. In I Thessalonians 2:16, those who resist bringing this saving message to Gentiles will be at the receiving end of the anger of God. In I Thessalonians 5:8-9, to receive salvation is to avoid the anger of God. In I Corinthians 3:15, everyone will be at the receiving end of the fire of judgment, but the fire is a cleansing fire. What remains will receive the benefit of the saving action of God. In I Corinthians 5:5, he even hopes that as a matter of church discipline handing someone over to Satan now will lead to his or her salvation on the Day of the Lord. 

This notion of salvation shows the theological indebtedness of early Christian teaching to Israel and to Jewish apocalyptic writings. ¹¹ The scripture in Isaiah 28:16 says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” He has already used this passage in 9:33. The one who believes in the heart and confesses with the lips will have nothing about which to worry in the final judgment. Such a person will receive honor rather than shame. Romans 1:16 stresses says that Paul has no shame now, in this life, in preaching the gospel, because he has seen the effect of the saving message of the gospel spreading among the Gentile world. ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. In Romans 3:26-29, there is neither Jew nor Greek, a point he makes in I Corinthians 12:12-13 and Colossians 3:11 as well, and if they belong to Christ, they are the offspring of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. there are not two ways of salvation, one for the Jew and one for the Gentile. Paul introduces the second characteristic of obtaining righteousness by faith, that it is universal. Paul’s concern here the inclusion of Jews within the new covenant that God establishes with all humanity in Christ. God is now relating to “Jews” and all others in the light of what has been done in Christ. ¹³ For, as it also says in Joel 2:32, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” He has stressed that the same Lord of Moses, the prophets, and Jesus is Lord of all and is generous to all who call upon the Lord. The Lord is so generous that the Lord will save such persons. Paul stresses that this path of rightly relating to God through faith fulfills the universalist thrust of the message of the Israelite prophets. The purpose of God through the covenant with Israel finds its fulfillment in the divine saving purpose revealed in the event of Christ. What Paul has done is explain how Israel is accountable for its rejection of the word of faith. It already had the word of faith contained in the Law! It already had the universalizing thrust of the prophets! He uses the words of Joel and Isaiah to say that Israel has heard the call of God and failed to respond with faith. Paul seems to argue that the election of Israel by God finds its confirmation in the election of the church. The reason for this is that the mission of Israel finds its fulfillment in the church. The honor of God dwells among the people of God. The community serves the divine promise that awaits a humanity that will hear and respond with faith. The community lives as a witness to the saving action of God in Christ. It hears the call of God and serves that call. A church that would cut itself off from this connection to Israel will lose its mission. Israel will always have a special place of service within the people of God and the church must do all it can to make sure nothing interrupts that service. Israel reminds us all that God chooses to make humanity hear the word, follow the leadership God provides, subject itself to God, and listen to God. This will always be the privilege of humanity. As we find revealed in the Jewish Messiah, the people of God are servants above all. Israel reaches its goal in its church form! All of this would be clearer if Israel had received the word of faith. It fails to hear properly its destiny in Jesus Christ. It jeopardizes its existence by rejecting the one community in the world that cannot do without this relation to Israel and Judaism. Its rigid rejection does not remove it from the people of God. It continues to serve its purpose within the people of God.^[46]

The confidence of Paul rests in the purpose of God to show mercy through election and rejection and to extend the call of God to Gentiles, both of which the Old Testament has prophesied. He has explained it as a failure to understand the Law as the word of faith pointing to the eschatological significance of Christ and has refused to excuse Israel on grounds that they had never heard the word of faith or had insufficiently clear indication of how God would achieve the divine purpose in the final days. In these verses, Paul deals directly with the failure of Israel to believe the gospel, a theme that has been in the background. The interlocking of these two elements in his thought, the way his understanding of the Law in terms of faith meshed into these prophecies of Jewish unbelief and Gentile belief, provided Paul the Jew with one of the central supports for his faith in the Christ. He could use Isaiah 52:7, 53:1, 65:1-2 as support.

I Corinthians 1:18-25 (Year B, Third Sunday in Lent) Paul will contrast the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of the world (I Corinthians 1:18-2:16), beginning with looking back to the cross (I Corinthians 1:18-25). 

In I Corinthians 1:18, Paul states strongly that message [λόγος] about the cross, which is the gospel,^[47] the story of the self-sacrifice of a man whom the church believes is the Son of God, the supreme event that is a divine intrusion and disruption, is foolishness [μωρία] to those who are perishing, but to us who God is saving, it has set in motion the power of God. The bridge between the event of Jesus as the Christ in its time and our appropriation of that event in our time is the message and proclamation of the gospel. Time does not trap Christ in the past, for the word or message of the cross is the vehicle through which Christ becomes present in our time. Here is an amazing claim for the power of language. The saving power of God comes in something as vulnerable and foolish preaching. If preaching has this power, it has the power to break the grip of sin and bring us to God.

There was no worse way to die. Romans flogged victims just short of death, then nailed their hands and feet to the wood. Crucifixion proved to be particularly effective in subduing restless colonies, thus the Romans used it widely in Judea. Though widely used, classical Roman literature downplays its role, stressing that government authorities used only on barbarians and then, only in the most rebellious of them.  In crucifixion, it was not only the physical pain, but also government authorities hanging up a body naked for all to see and mock. No wonder that crucifixion was especially popular torture for robbers, rebels, and other disturbers of the peace. Yet, God has showed up in this world in the strangest way possible – the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross discloses the folly of the wisdom and strength of this world. One of the paradoxical statements of Paul is that the folly of the cross is wisdom.  God has abandoned the wisdom of this world.  At the heart of the Christian gospel is the word of the cross. As in other places (such as the wonderful hymn of Philippians 2:5-11), Paul delights in the paradox of the cross and how its offense and weakness reveal the power of God, thus exposing the foolishness of this age.

He refers to Isaiah 29:14 (LXX) to defend the foolishness of preaching with the reminder that the Lord will destroy what humanity considers wise and discerning. He reminds his readers of the sharp distinction between the wisdom contained in the plan of God and the wisdom of human beings. Human beings did not know God through their philosophical or religious search, so God decided through the foolishness of apostolic proclamation to save those who respond to that preaching with faith or trust in its validity and truth. The danger of all preaching and apologetics is to falsify the gospel by presenting in an acceptable and tolerable form for the current age. The Moment of revelation places Jew and Gentile on the same footing. Both conflict with revelation! To their credit, both Jew and Gentile want to know God. Their inability to know God by their chosen means to do so is part of the divine plan. We will need to trust something beyond our ability to control or toward which we could reason. We will have to direct our attention decidedly toward that which is not of our making to learn who God is. If revelation conformed to our expectations, we would hardly have needed revelation. The experiences of the early Israelites in the wanderings in the wilderness consisted of demanding signs that the Lord would deliver them. Some Jews expected signs from Jesus (Matthew 12:38). They wanted tangible demonstrations of power. Such a sign would be dramatic intervention in the sky and the earth. The Jews demand a victorious Messiah. The contrasting desire of the Greek for wisdom is a demand for an approach to the ineffable that is intellectually cogent and philosophically sound. They want any talk of God to have intellectual respectability. The Greeks wanted to weigh the pros and cons of a new system. Paul is combating an inflated view of wisdom and knowledge. Human knowledge creates the obstacle here. If one measures revelation by the standards of human reason, revelation will come up short. To put it another way, we do not need revelation to teach us what we can learn through experience and reasoning. If revelation occurs in the cross, then it moves against human presumption. The cross moves against our natural tendencies. It refuses to conform to our standards of experience or reasoning. Revelation in the cross stresses what God has done there rather than that which we can know through the exercise of our reason. They want divine truths in the same way they get scientific truths. They want to observe and come to their conclusions. The demand for logic and reasons can blind one from seeing the moment of revelation. The apostolic proclamation is an offense to the Torah, and foolishness to those who think nothing significant can happen through something so vulnerable and prone to misunderstanding as preaching. 

The Moment of revelation goes against the expectations of Jew and Gentile. Revelation in the cross is not glory as the Jew would understand it, nor wisdom as the Gentile would understand it. Both Jews and Greeks, as Molly Marshall-Green puts it, are looking for God in all the wrong places. They shall have neither signs nor wisdom. Paul is stressing that the difficulty in discovering the presence of God is the preconceived expectations of who God is and how God ought to behave.  Sign-seeking Jews and wisdom-desiring Gentiles denounce the gospel because it does not meet their norms of godliness. The prophetic work of Jesus Christ has the form of passion. Yes, he is Jesus Christ the Victor, but through Gethsemane and Golgotha. In this form of suffering, as the Rejected, Judged, Despised, Bound, Impotent, Slain, and Crucified, we see the Victor who marches with us and to us through the times, alive in the promise of the Spirit. In this form, he is at the core of the kerygmatic theology of Paul and the kerygmatic accounts of the Gospels. In this form, as an obstacle to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, he has addressed his own, his community, and through this the world, from the time of his resurrection onwards. He encounters humanity in this form, or not at all.^[48]

Paul condemns arrogant human wisdom. He does not condemn genuine knowledge. He suggests the deepest human need is to know God, but the quest for knowledge could not fill the void.  However, that inability was part of the plan of God. Nevertheless, one does not find here a biblical warrant for abandoning the study of wisdom and enshrining ignorance on the altar of spirituality. Are we to disregard the idea of philosophy as the handmaid of theology? Does Athens have nothing to do with Jerusalem? Early theologians (Clement of Alexandria, for one) were quick to rehabilitate Paul on this point, arguing that Paul, influenced by the Greek philosophical setting, is not railing against philosophy, but against bad philosophy, particularly philosophy of the Epicurean and Stoic variety. He himself quoted the philosophers to make his own theological point, although without much success (Acts 17). A preacher wrote John Wesley: Dear Mr. Wesley, the Lord has directed me to write you to say that he don’t need your larnin’ to spread his word.” Wesley wrote: “Dear Sir, I received your letter in which you observed that the Lord directed you to inform me that he does not need my learning in order to spread his word. I reply, not by the Lord’s direction, but on my own to inform you that while the Lord does not require my learning, neither does he require your ignorance.”

Here lies the heart of the distinction that Martin Luther drew and famously expounded in the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 between theologia crucis and theologia gloriae. Martin Luther considered a theology of the cross to be a new principle of theological epistemology. He links those who embrace the wisdom of the world to a theology of glory, an ontological enterprise in which one presumes to be able to discover the transcendent, majestic reality of God through natural signs and wonders and intellectual pursuits. A theology of the cross, on the other hand, seeks not the glory of sophistry but the humiliation of the cross, to recognize God where God has hidden himself, hidden under the cloak of incarnational darkness and the scandal of the cross. The cross of the outcast and forsaken Christ is the visible revelation of the being of God for humanity in the reality of a human world. He understands the cross in an unmystical way as the protest of God against the misuse of the divine name for the purpose of a religious consummation of human wisdom, works, and the imperialism of ecclesiastical society. It is a protest for the freedom of faith. The theology of the cross begins the Reformation struggle over the true or false church and over the human liberation of enslaved humanity under work and achievement. He criticizes natural theology as found the Sentences of Peter Lombard. This method begins from the works of God and draws conclusions from the effects to the cosmos, based upon Romans 1:19-20. Lombard expressed this natural knowledge of God as humanity perceiving the Creator in what is created by virtue of the excellence of God. The cosmos is permeated by the divine Logos and the seed of wisdom is innate in all people. Since like is known only by like, he thought of the analogy of being bridging the gap between creation and the Creator. The excellence of humanity is of greater importance than the commonality of humanity with the rest of creation. Aquinas would add the notion of a community of being that allows logical inference from what one experiences in the world to the divine. At this point, Luther shifts attention to I Corinthians to contrast such natural knowledge of God from the knowledge of God gained through the cross. The natural knowledge of God is potentially open to humanity, but humanity misuses it in the interest of their self-exaltation and their self-divinization. Humanity misuses the knowledge of God to serve human pride. Knowledge of God gained in this way is useless. The knowledge of God gained in the suffering and death of Christ takes the perverse human situation seriously. Such knowledge is descending and convincing knowledge. Therefore, God wants something on earth. Such knowledge shatters pride and kills gods made by humans. The theology of the cross has God revealing who God is in the contradiction and the protest of the passion of Christ to be against all that is exalted, beautiful, and good. This knowledge is achieved through contradiction, sorrow, and suffering. The theology of the cross begins with that part of the being of God that is visible and directed toward the world. This visible being of God is the passion and cross of Christ. One can know the being of God only in the cross of Christ, knowledge of God being therefore real and saving. The theology of the cross recognizes that one knows God in despised humanity and calls human things by their real names.^[49]

Like all symbols, the cross evokes more than one can explain. It condenses death and life into one symbol. It enfolds some of the deepest fears of humanity - vulnerability, betrayal, pain, forsakenness - and transfigures them into expressions of hope. When Christians proclaim the power of the cross, they are voicing their confidence that death is not the end, that God has broken the grip, and that God will banish the powers and principalities who control this world. When Christians proclaim the power and wisdom of the cross, they declare with trembling voice that at times one must simply endure suffering, that one must bear certain things in life. Moreover, they are declaring that in the passion of Jesus we find a model for our fidelity.^[50]

George Bernard (1873-1958) wrote a hymn that expresses something of the Christian devotional approach to the cross. He refers to the cross as the emblem of suffering and shame. Yet, we love that old cross, where the dearest and best received the punishment of death for a world of lost sinners. The world despises the old, rugged cross. Yet, it has a wondrous attraction for us. The dear Lamb of God left the glory of life with the Father, bringing that glory to dark Calvary. Yes, the old, rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, has become beautiful in our eyes. Jesus suffered and died on that old cross for you and for me. Thus, we will be true to the cross and gladly bear its shame and reproach. In addition, Keith and Christin Getty have written a popular praise song, In Christ Alone. It contains the notion that Jesus received scorn from those he came to save to the point where he died on the cross. Yet, since the Father laid the sins of humanity on the Son, the wrath of the Father against sin received satisfaction. Here, in the death of Christ, we live.  

I Corinthians 10:1-13 (Year C, Third Sunday in Lent) draws lessons from baptism and the Lord’s Supper drawn from the exodus experience of Israel. In doing so, he suggests that sin is unoriginal as it uses the tests of life to draw the people of God into disobedient behavior. It warns against spiritual complacency in the church that may result from an unhealthy view of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The congregation has had a problem with presuming its superiority, so his emphasis here connects them to the Israelites in the wilderness. He refers to the wilderness generation of Israel as “our ancestors,” connecting his generation of Christians with the ancient people of God. He presumes their knowledge of the story of Israel in the wilderness. They become the spiritual descendants of those punished in the wilderness for their lack of faith. They have no right to exclude themselves from that heritage. His concern about some members participating in banquets in which the meat had been dedicated to a pagan god, a practice he considers idolatrous (8:1-13), has a close connection to his concern here, returning to the topic of idolatry and offerings to idols. He turns to an established scriptural example to demonstrate the serious ramifications that this situation may have on the life of faith. They become an extended lesson in the many ways the people of Israel proved unfaithful to the God who called both them and the church in Corinth from their previous lives. In verses 1-4, he connects the experience of Israel in the wilderness as like that of the Corinthians, including their possession of sacraments. He connects this Gentile congregation with the Jewish story. A valid inference is that the church adopts the history of Israel as part of its history as the people of God. In connecting them with yesterday, he is showing how yesterday affects them today and how their decisions will affect tomorrow. They need to look beyond immediate gratification. He refers to these ancestors as under the cloud and passing through the sea, the pre-eminent signs and wonders of the saving acts of God on behalf of liberated Israel. He is re-telling the story of liberation and wilderness with a Christological twist. He locates Christ in the Exodus event. He uses the experience of Moses leading through the Red Sea as an initiation rite into a fellowship of believers that is analogous to the act of baptism, both referring to liberation, one from slavery in Egypt and the other from sin. Such a statement as baptism into Moses is typology for Christ. Baptism becomes the first step of human obedience.^[51] They traveled under the cloud, a sign of God guiding them. The wilderness generation also ate of the same spiritual food, manna and quail (Exodus 16:4, 35). They drank from the same spiritual rock (Exodus 17:5-6), which he says was Christ. Thus, these signs in the wilderness anticipate the spiritual nourishment Eucharist of Christian worship. It suggests that Christ has a spiritual presence in bread and wine, and that Christ lets himself be taken in that form.^[52] Thus, Israelite experiences prefigure the sacramental experience of the church. It suggests that the pre-existence of Christ, which is clear in Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:2, and throughout the Gospel of John, has a broader application and a deeper influence than we might think. [53] Paul would have known of the rabbinic teaching that postulated only one rock responsible for the several gifts of water (at Kadesh, Numbers 20:2-13; at Horeb, Exodus 17:1-7; and at Beer, Numbers 21:16-20). The point is that both the wilderness generation of Israelites and the present generation of Christians at Corinth have received the blessing of the presence of God in sacramental acts. This fact ought to warn the Corinthians, for Israel experienced judgment, which he explores in verses 5-10. That generation has become an example (τύποι). Though they have experienced baptism and share in the Eucharist, they still are open to the temptation of sin and therefore to the consequence of judgment from God. Despite the special provisions of God for the Israelites, they displeased God and God responded with judgment. This congregation needs to exercise care in pleasing God. He urges them not to become idolaters, as some of those in wilderness did (Exodus 32:6), while Moses receiving the commandments, they are constructing a golden calf. This is a strong indication of the view Paul had of some in Corinth who were abusing their freedom by eating meat associated with idols. He then refers to sexual immorality as practiced by some of the wilderness generation with Moabite women (Numbers 25:1-9), where 24,000 died, but Paul says 23,000 died in a single day, while the original account in Exodus 32:28 indicates 3,000. He also refers to the complaining theme in the wilderness, such as Numbers 21:4-9, 16:4ff. He says they were destroyed by the Destroyer (Exodus 12:23, II Samuel 24:15-17). Paul applies the situation of the Israelites in the wilderness to the Corinthian congregation in verses 11-13. They are in danger, but they can learn from their ancestors, who have provided an example (τυπικῶς). These examples provide them with empirical material to avoid similar pitfalls, and that the imminence of Christ's second coming will end the period of the Corinthians' temptation before many have succumbed. They are not superior to those in the wilderness, so if they think they stand, they need to exercise care that they do not fall. Here are three ideas that have provided comfort for believers in every age. First, he reminds them testing is common to everyone. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. Second, God is faithful, and, third he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. Part of God's faithfulness is not to allow us to encounter circumstances that we cannot withstand.  Yet, the overall point is that God can still overthrow them. God had chosen Israel. God chooses the church. Yet, God can still act in judgment against a rebellious people. They can remember that their new identity in Christ links them to a heritage in which God acts in deliverance, or they can betray the God who delivered them, as some of the Israelites did in the wilderness. They must learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and trust that God can guide them away from the temptations that could destroy God’s people.

At a theological level, Paul is hinting at the notion of a secret history of salvation that God reveals in Jesus Christ in is life, death, and resurrection, not disclosing fully until his coming in the beauty (glory) of the age to come. Paul sees Christ as a gracious and sacramental presence in the wilderness wandering of the Israelites. Simply reading the Old Testament text as we have it now, we would not guess this. Moses and the people of his time would not have named it this way. If what Paul says here has any validity, we must say that God hid in the presence of Christ in elements of the wilderness story to which Paul refers. Paul offers his interpretation considering the resurrection and in the hope of its confirmation in the future disclosure of the beauty (glory) of God. I would suggest that as we read Paul, especially when he refers to the Old Testament, that we keep this notion in mind. Without it, some of his interpretations can seem far afield. However, if we keep in mind the confidence Paul had in the disclosure of the truth of God in Jesus Christ, many of his interpretations make sense. The disclosure of truth in Christ means that the truth was present all along in the history of Israel, and by extension in the history of all cultures. The church has the responsibility of witnessing to this truth and even naming it, given its hidden quality. The church humbly recognizes, of course, that it does not come to this discovery due to it being better than anyone else is. Rather, it acknowledges that the same Spirit at work in Christ is at work in us, bringing us by faith to open our eyes and ears.

I Corinthians 11:23-26, (Maundy Thursday, along with Mark 14:22-26, Matthew 26:26-30, Luke 22:14-23) shows the received tradition of the institution of the Supper of the Lord. Paul received (παρέλαβον) this tradition from the Lord, and therefore not from his Jewish tradition or another apostle, thereby heightening the importance of what he is about to say, what he handed on (παρέδωκα) to them. Therefore, the believers in Corinth ought to listen attentively and reflect carefully on the implications of Paul’s remarks. This tradition, stemming from the evening before the death of Jesus, forms the basis of the Christian celebration of the Lord’s Supper and therefore of Christian worship in general. In this sense, “institution” by Jesus himself is basic to the celebration. It ought to be practiced in a way that reminds us of the communal and inclusive nature of the church. The received tradition says that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, same word for “delivered.” By Thursday night, the Passover meal, Jesus knew his time on earth was at a close.  He shared a final meal with his disciples.  The purpose of the story is to relate what Jesus said and did in the interests of faith and worship in these last hours.^[54] Thus, the observation that the account does not mention bitter herbs and other important elements of the Passover meal suggests that the tradition quickly transposed the last supper of Jesus with his disciples into a meal for use in worship by Christian practice and theological interpretation. Historically, they celebrate a Passover meal. However, Jesus re-interprets its symbolism with the words of institution. Jesus anticipated sharing a meal with his friends in the heavenly kingdom, giving a unique interpretation of a portion of the Passover meal. The story lets the example of Jesus speak for itself.^[55] Remarkably, the Lord, who experienced betrayal this night, provided for others when he gave his disciples bread and cup, in the context of a prayer of thanksgiving. This meal was for others. In fact, as symbols of the self-giving of Jesus in this moment, food and drink are particularly appropriate. Food and drink do not exist for themselves but for other living creatures. They surrender their own existence to enter the lives of others. Food and drink offer themselves so that others may live.^[56] A Christian theology of prayer stresses thanksgiving because of the recollection that Jesus blessed or gave thanks over the bread and the cup.^[57] In referring to the (in Paul the loaf of) bread as his body, the bread is no longer simply what it was before. ^[58] Yet debatable: to symbolize, represent, is like, conveys, means the same as, is the same as, is identical with, and so on. Paul will stress that like the bread he broke on that night, his body is “for you,” meaning “for” the recipients and present to them,^[59] emphasizing the sacrifice of the life of Jesus was for others. Paul and Luke will emphasize that Jesus gave a command for the continuation of this act in remembrance of Jesus. In emphasizing the wine as his blood of the covenant, Paul and Luke emphasizing “new,” he says that his disciples are not establishing a new people of God, ^[60] separating them from the rest of the Jewish people by their confession of Jesus.^[61] Matthew will add this this pouring out of his life is for the forgiveness of sin. If the body and blood for us refer to the life of Jesus offered in his death, the decisive event in the Supper is not this recollection, but present participation in the fruit of this sacrifice. The offering of my body and blood has for you the effect that as you eat this bread, I give my life to you as yours, and that as you drink of this cup you may live with joy and now with sorrow, as innocent and not condemned. As I have given my life for you, it belongs to you. You may live and not die. You may rejoice and not mourn.^[62] Paul adds that as often as they drink in this way, indicating this act has already become a regular part of their communal life, they are to do so in remembrance of Jesus. “Remembrance,” by which Paul connects with both bread and cup, links the Supper with the atoning death of Christ, not simply as recollection with the remote past, but a presentation and re-presentation of the paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus and therefore the self-representing of Jesus Christ by the Spirit.^[63] Jesus gives symbolical expression to the forgiveness of sins that he links to the acceptance of his message as granted by it, since the table fellowship that Jesus practiced removes everything that separates from God. As the disciples partake of the bread, they participate in the death of Jesus, and as they partake of the cup as the climax of the meal the focus shifts to the redemptive sacrifice and anticipates the return of the Son of Man. Each occasion of the Supper of the Lord is the Messianic banquet of the revealed reign of God, the fullest form of the fellowship of Christians with the Lord now revealed to them, and an anticipation of final revelation of the inaugurated in the resurrection.^[64] When we look at the meals of Jesus in the gospels, when we particularly note the miraculous feeding in Mark 8:1-10=Matthew 15:32-39, and note his reference in parables to the banquet, we can see the importance of the eschatological fellowship of the reign of God. As Paul puts it, as often as we eat this bread and drink from the cup, we proclaim, reminding us that the supper was always part of Christian proclamation, [65]  the death of the Lord until he comes, that is, until all eyes see what believers already experience here and now with this eating and drinking.^[66] We have in these meals the central symbolical action of Jesus in which he focuses and depicts the message of the nearness of the reign of God and its salvation. The primary issue in table fellowship as a depiction of the salvation of the rule of God is fellowship with God and the mutual fellowship of all who share in the meal.^[67]Here is the beginning of the reflection on the death of Jesus within the framework of the Near East sacrificial system that plays a basic role in the interpretation of the death of Jesus. The sacrifice of Jesus begins this night.  He offered himself to his followers and to the world as the savior.  That death opened a relationship with God that has spread throughout every generation and every culture.  Our sins do not have to separate us forever from God.  In fact, we know that God is not gleefully rejecting us because of our sins.  This sacrifice gives us the most vital information we need concerning God.  Yet, we become accustomed to it, that we assume the truth of it.  God wants us to have a friendship with God. Jesus is going to his death as pioneer who opens the way of life for all. 

The Eucharist is the very heart of Christian worship because it is so rich and far-reaching in its significance. It evades thought and emotion. It relies on simple contact, humble and childlike receptiveness, and sense-quenching soul. It mixes the extremes of mystery and homeliness. It takes our common earthly experience of suffering, love abandonment, death, and makes them inexpressibly holy and fruitful. It takes the food of our natural life and transforms that into a channel of Divine Life.^[68]

II Corinthians 5:16-6:10 (Ash Wednesday and Year C, Fourth Sunday in Lent) is part of an extensive defense of the apostolic ministry of Paul, explaining his ministry of reconciliation. The cross means that we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view. Christians need to look upon the world differently because of the cross. The cross brings a new perspective on the world. The present is different from the past because of the cross. What Paul says here is true of all four gospels as well, in that they know Jesus only in reference to his office as the Christ.^[69] The process of arriving at the gospels as we now have them was that of reflecting on the living presence of Christ in the community and in the world. Therefore, the point is not simply to preserve the past. In that sense, the rules and interests of the historian do not matter.^[70] Paul is saying that according to the flesh here means he knew Jesus as the founder of a sect that despised all that was holy and was guilty of serious apostasy from God. To know Christ in this way is not to know Christ at all.^[71] Paul may contrast his present knowledge of Christ as Lord with his pre-conversion experience of Jesus as an enemy, which was knowing him from a human point of view. He may also suggest that those who did know Jesus personally cannot claim foremost importance. His point would be that his rejection of Jesus and the earliest Christian community was looking at both from a human point of view. Following Rudolf Bultmann, we can interpret this sentence as a condition contrary-to-fact. Bultmann understands this verse thus: Even if we had known Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know him in this way. The verse would then function as the extreme case in Paul’s mini-argument.^[72] Only in the transition through the death of his individual existence as man is Jesus the Son. His human individuality has the definitiveness, not as its particularity endures, but only as he offers it up for the sake of God and in the service of the coming of the reign of God. For that reason, Paul could write here that he no longer knew or judged any one according to the flesh, that is, in accord to what they are in themselves. By accepting the death of his existence, Jesus made room for that of others. Others in their individual particularity can share in the filial relation to God and the inheritance of the reign of God only through the death of Jesus and through acceptance of their own death for the sake of God and the reign of God.^[73] 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, (suggesting intimacy between believers and Christ) there is a new creation. This surely means that one is “already” a new creation.^[74] As they no longer look at Christ from the standpoint of fleshly human existence, they must not look at themselves or each other from simply a fleshly and human point of view. Therefore, everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  Converts would have found life in Christ to be a constant source of daily blessings, as the body of believers provided help and support to the community. The old things no longer attract them, and new things have taken place through Christ. Being a new creation finds fulfillment in vocation, in the investment of the believer in the new clothing or armor of God. Such a person is at peace with God and neighbor and a new view of self.^[75]

II Corinthians 5: 18-19 discuss the reconciliation that has brought forth the new creation. In fact, in verses 18-20, note the repetition of “reconciliation.” Writers and speakers will use this technique to provide emphasis on the importance of the word. In this case, any thinking about this passage must stay close to how it affects our understanding of reconciliation. Paul is singing a song of reconciliation. Simple words, repeated frequently. At the very heart of the Christian faith is reconciliation -- the reconciliation of people to God and people one to another. Paul drives this home through simplicity and repetition. Paul drew upon the notion of reconciliation from the political sphere. It refers to dispute resolution. One could speak of diplomatic reconciliation of warring nations or the reconciliation of an estranged husband and wife.  ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled (καταλλάξαντος) at a specific moment in the past us to himself through Christ. The cross is that action of God in Christ. This reconciliation reveals the infinite love of God. Paul understands that humans are the offenders who broke the commandments of God, so any reconciling initiative should come from humanity, the offending party. Surprisingly, God has reached out and restored the relationship between the human and the divine, restoring the relationship so God's new creation could fully realize itself. Paul's explanation clarifies God's intention to achieve a reconciliation that spans the entire world. God reconciles all humanity and forgives the sins of everyone. All people need do is accept it. Therefore, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation (καταλλαγῆς). In view of what Christ has done for sinners, the charge from God to those in Christ is to preach and teach about this universal reconciliation. ¹⁹ That is, (in a passage that some scholars think of as a pre-Pauline saying. Paul offers a definition of the ministry of reconciliation) in Christ God was reconciling (καταλλάσσων) in an ongoing process the world to himself. The Protestant theology of the Enlightenment stressed that God did not need reconciliation with the world, but rather, the world needed reconciliation with God. The merit of such a theology was that it reinstated the Pauline orientation of reconciliation statements to the world, to us who need reconciliation. The reconciliation of the world by Christ is the outworking of the love of God in the face of the opposition of humans who are hostile to God, a love of God that we see operative through Jesus Christ.^[76] God effected reconciliation by not counting (λογιζόμενος) their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message (λόγον) or account of reconciliation (καταλλαγῆς)to us. In this time, people used the word “reconciliation” frequently in Greek to signify a change in relationship between individuals or groups of people, often a change that involved a financial transaction. Paul is playing on this ordinary understanding, as he elsewhere describes how the faithful were “bought” with a “price” by the death of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). Paul moves on to explain the monumental implications of the Christian experience. The need for reconciliation within the community and the need for reconciliation between Paul and his companions on the one hand with the congregation on the other, lead him to emphasize this aspect of his ministry. The primary actor is God, but Paul emphasizes the role the servants of Christ play in this reconciliation. God needs witnesses to what God has done. The passage stresses that reconciliation has already occurred. Thus, messengers such as Paul and his associates do not bring about such reconciliation. God has reached out and restored the relationship between human and divine. God reconciles humanity and forgives the sins of everyone. All people need to do accept it. The Christian charge from God is to preach and teach this universal reconciliation. The reconciliation of the world has taken place in the death of Christ, even though the Spirit completes it in believers. The missionary message of the apostles unfolds and brings home to all people significance of this reconciliation. The proclamation is itself part of the making of reconciliation. Thus, only in the form of anticipation can we speak of reconciliation as completed. I grant that such a view is against Barth, who is not quite as aware of the movement from anticipation to actualization.^[77]

Paul and his team offer their appeal on behalf of Christ to his readers to reconcile with God. God has initiated the appeal through Christ and human beings need to respond by accepting the offer. For our sake, God had Christ bear the burden of sin, the background of this statement being Isaiah 53:10, where the will of the Lord was to crush the Servant, making his life an offering for sin, even though he did not know sin (Hebrews 4:14, 5:7-9, I Peter 1:19, 3:18), the background for such a statement is Isaiah 53:9, where the suffering Servant has done no violence and has spoken with no deceit. Christ acts as judge in our place by accepting responsibility for what we do in this place. It ceases to be our sin.[78] The participation in the obedient suffering and death of Christ in 5:17 is the means whereby believers have reconciliation to God through Christ in verse 18. This train of thought helps us to understand the concluding statement that God made Christ to be sin for us in verse 21. Paul integrates the thought into that of the inclusive significance and effect of the death of Jesus Christ.[79] Such a statement makes little sense apart from a reference to the situation of the condemnation and execution of Jesus, in which political authorities made Jesus the sinner and he came under the curse of the law. For God, by means of the human judges, not only made Jesus to be sin but also had him bear in our place, and not merely in that of his Jewish judges or the Jewish people, the penalty that is the proper penalty of sin. The reason for this is that the proper penalty of sin follows from its inner nature, death as the consequence of separation from God.[80] In this situation of condemnation and execution, Jesus, whom through the resurrection God showed to be innocent, bore death as the consequence of our sin, thereby effecting representation in the concrete form of a change of place between the innocent and the guilty. The innocent suffered the penalty of death, which, as the harmful result of sin, is the fate of those in whose place Christ died. The vicarious penal suffering that is vicarious suffering of the wrath of God at sin rests on the fellowship that the Son accepted with all of us as sinners and with our fate as such. This link is the basis on which the death of Jesus can count as expiation for us. Without this vicarious penal suffering, the expiatory function of the death of Jesus is unintelligible, unless we try to understand his death as an equivalent offered to God along the lines of the satisfaction theory of Anselm, which has no basis in the biblical data.[81]God has gone to great lengths to reconcile humanity with God. Clearly, an exchange has taken place. God made Christ sin in exchange for God making humanity righteous. To paraphrase, God put the sinless Christ in the place of sinners, so that Christ had to bear the judgment of sin instead of them, expressing the theological thought of representation.[82] He suffered for all and triumphed for all.[83] Perhaps Theodoret of Cyrus, a fifth-century bishop, best captured the spirit of this paradox when he wrote, “Christ was called what we are in order to call us to be what he is.” Thus, in Christ, we become the righteousness of God. Paul emphasizes that the atonement is the work of God. God takes the human situation of rebellion and missing the mark into the life of the Triune God. Only in this way can humanity become the righteousness of God as God makes humanity a covenant partner with God. The covenant righteousness of God is at issue. Here, Paul finds in those who are reconciled to God through the death of Christ a proof of the righteousness of God. The issue is no longer merely the relation of God to Israel, or the divine covenant righteousness to the chosen people. Paul extends to the Gentiles the thought of the covenant righteousness that the saving action of God demonstrates. Involved in divine righteousness is the relation of God to the whole creation. The vocabulary of covenant righteousness in Paul moves forward materially along the lines of the approach of Jesus in terms of the goodness of God as Creator that in the coming of the reign of God shows itself to be a pardoning turn toward humanity.[84] God removes human weakness and godlessness as an obstacle. The human situation before God has changed.[85]

The cross represents a dramatic turn in the relationship of God with the world. The new perspective the cross gives us is that God has taken sin seriously – and has borne responsibility for that sin in the cross. As destructive as sin is, God has accepted the punishment for sin in the cross. We do not have to wonder about whether God is so angry at humanity that the anger would lead God to destroy it.  Rather, God loves the world enough to receive the punishment for our sinfulness and to open the way of salvation for us. In terms of our lives, the cross means that we do not have to bear the burden of the past. Rather, we become open to the new possibilities for the future. Becoming a new person, becoming part of a new creation, is what living one’s life in Christ means. Thus, although God has already acted to reconcile humanity with God and with each other, God has given the church the responsibility of telling others what God has done. Another way to view this is that we re-orient our lives away from an anxious focus upon ourselves and toward reconciling life with God and with others. We live in a world torn apart by behavior destructive of self and others. The church itself participates in that division of the world. We need to re-focus our energy upon the reconciling work of God. God has already brought about that reconciliation in Christ. We now have a decision to make. Will we become part of the reconciling work of God in the world? 

Paul also hints at a sad reality. As much as Christians can joyfully point back to the reconciliation accomplished in the cross, reconciliation remains a promise and hope that will need to find its fulfillment in the future. Reconciliation is the eschatological goal of the work of God. Our present as part of our temporal experience will not be one of reconciliation and peace. Only sporadically are we at peace with and reconciled with ourselves, let alone with family, friends, communities, and nations. The church needs to sing its song of reconciliation because division is hurting individuals, church, nation, and world.         

The apostles serve God by extending the appeal God is making in Christ for reconciliation. In urging his readers not to have accepted in vain his message, he is suggesting that they are in danger of turning their backs on Paul and his message. So, he urges, referring to Isaiah 49:8-9, this is acceptable time and the day of salvation. In this moment, hear the summons or call to which your experience of life is directing you. Such a life is for those who refuse to allow their true passion to shy away from the fear of losing the approval of others or the risk of failing. In fact, as part of the authenticity of the appeal Paul and his team are making, he points to the difficulties they have confronted. He describes his team as servants of God and lists the suffering that has come upon them. They have experienced the general suffering involved in afflictions, hardships, and calamities. They have endured suffering at the hands of people in beatings, imprisonments, and riots. They have also endured self-imposed suffering involved in self-discipline like labors, sleepless nights, and hunger. They commend themselves through their character, which shows itself in virtues like purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, and truthful speech. They commend themselves through the power of God exhibited in them. Such difficulties do not have the power to destroy his life. Paul is encouraging endurance. He may bend, but such experiences have not broken or his team.

Philippians 2:5-11 (Palm/Passion Sunday, Service of the Word) has Paul setting before his readers the example of Christ Jesus for the church in Philippi as to how they ought to treat each other. In inviting them to consider a life worthy of the gospel (1:27), Paul is going to suggest that regardless of any human examples one may find, what Christ did is for Christians is the supreme example of how we are to treat each other. What Paul will say here is of great interest in Christian reflection upon Christology. Yet, we need to remember that the purpose of this section is to support his previous exhortation to the community. Considering what Christ Jesus has done, Paul says, they as readers are to act out their partnership in relation to each other. He knows their relation to Christ will be the strongest appeal he can make when he offers his exhortation to proper Christian behavior and discipleship. Paul writes this letter from prison, using himself as an example of patient dependence upon God. He now shows that Christ subjected himself to the limits of a human life to become Savior. Christ becomes an example of how Christians are to submit to each other. Christ willingly submits to the will of God.

In the process of providing the supreme example of humility, however, Paul will write some of the most important statements regarding who Christ is. The hymn becomes a common confession of the faith of those gathered for worship. It shows that early in the life of the church was a felt need to express through a fixed text that which unites them before God.^[86] The image of Christ portrayed in the hymn of verses 6-11 is one of willing submission to the will of God. This text offers what may very well be one of the oldest Christological reflections in the entire New Testament. If this is indeed the case, the theology behind this hymn represents not only Paul’s own thoughts, but also the Christological convictions of the first generation of believers. The hymn is the basis for the theological tradition making a distinction between two phases of the history of Jesus in terms of a state of humiliation and a state of exaltation, based on the preexistence of Christ.^[87] Paul either appeals to an early hymn from Antioch, of which we have examples in Colossians 1:15-20, II Timothy 2:11-13, and Ephesians 5:14, or he constructs his own hymn along the lines of the exalted prose of I Corinthians 13.^[88]  Christian teaching regarding Jesus, Christology, often thinks of two phases of the history of Jesus, referring to the exaltation and glorification of life with the Father, and the humility of his life with humanity. Paul will use a word that has become important to Christian teaching. In Greek, the word is “kenosis.” It will carry a double meaning that is difficult to communicate with any one word in English.

As Paul begins, he urges his readers to allow humility and obedience to shape their lives. He wants them to keep maturing in the faith by setting before them the example of Jesus. He is appealing to what they already know about themselves in Christ. He is urging them to put aside all competition and internal strife. Paul appeals to Christ as the pattern for the behavior of the community. If they listen to Paul, they will have a common, shared approach to each other. Christ will be the heart of that commonality. The basis for his encouragement is their relationship as believers to Christ rather than Torah.^[89] Therefore, those who differ can still have unity of spirit that makes them want to put others in the group first and look beyond their personal interests.

Paul describes the first part of the life of Christ, the path of his humiliation. The nature of that humiliation provides a place of debate. The incarnating mission of Christ becomes a pattern for the incarnating mission of local congregations. Paul helps the Philippians remember that Jesus Christ began his life in a unique way. He was in the form (μορφῇ) of God, which, although its background is humanity created in the image and likeness of God, here it refers to the equality of the Son in relation to the Father. The temptation may have been present in the Son to be independent of the Father, but as Adam, created in the image and likeness of God, chose that course, the Son did not. Adam chose independence from God in hope of being like God, having the right to judge matters of right and wrong. By contrast, the Son relinquished divinity for the sake of humanity. The Son refused special privileges, but rather, seized an opportunity for special and sacrificial service. Human destiny is fellowship with God, but taking this destiny into our own hands means with withdraw from that destiny. Our destiny becomes a temptation for us. When we grasp at our destiny as if it were our prey, which we can do through both religious cultivation of our life with the divine or by emancipation from all religious ties, we will miss our destiny. We can achieve our destiny only through acknowledging our distinction from God, accepting our finitude, and accepting ourselves as creatures of God.^[90] The Son resisted the temptation to remain within the divine fellowship he already had with Father and Spirit. Rather than remain in that fellowship, the Son emptied (ἐκένωσεν) himself.

Paul stresses that the Son stripped himself of his divine privileges and status and took on the responsibilities, limitations, and status of a human being, indeed of a servant among human beings, the lowest of the low. ^[91] In other words, we should read this passage in a social way, considering the given social order in Philippi. Just as Paul is not asking the Philippians to give up their Roman citizenship and the identity which comes with that to truly be a citizen of the heavenly commonwealth, so he is not suggesting that the Son gave up his heavenly identity to be a human being. What he gave up was his privileges and status to self-sacrificially serve others and even die for them. The Philippians are also to take on the mindset of Christ and so not view their social status and privileges as they have in the past, which should lead to different and more self-sacrificial behavior. Rather than remain in the fellowship with the Father and the Spirit, the Son emptied (ἐκένωσεν) using a term that has received attention in the attempt to clarify what is took place in this transaction. Further, he took the form (μορφὴν) of a slave, was born in human likeness (ὁμοιώματι), and was found in human form (σχήματι) or appearance. The transaction undoubtedly means he emptied himself throughout the course of his life in service to others, Paul thus underlining the exhortation to not look to one’s own interests but to the interests of others (v. 4). A dramatic picture of this is the foot-washing episode in John 13:5-17 (Origen, Cyprian). The historical path of the life of Jesus was that of self-emptying. He showed the love of God for humanity by becoming one with humanity. Paul places in explicit contrast the form of God and the form of a servant. He places in stark contrast the form and equality with God to the form of a slave and the likeness of humanity. Thus, he is also referring to the transaction of self-emptying as the path of the pre-existent Son entering earthly existence, showing how the fully divine Son became the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Such a kenotic Christology communicates the self-emptying that the Son voluntarily offered on the cross. It begins with the Son, in living and eternal relationship with the Father and Spirit, who set aside his divinity to become human. Kenosis at this level reveals the distinction of the Son from the Father and subordination of the Son to the Father. The divine Son completely identifies with sinful humanity. Equality with God was the not his goal, so he took on a form not originally his own and adopted that form to the extreme as the Son identified with humanity. This act of divine self-emptying was the path for the divine to enter the world of humanity without becoming unlike the divine. In fact, to say it philosophically, the self-emptying of the Son becomes the path for the self-actualizing of the deity of the Trinitarian God in relation to the world and comes into being through this self-actualizing.^[92] In such self-offering and self-humiliation, the Son remains divine, showing that God does not become a stranger to God by this process of self-emptying in Jesus of Nazareth. To say it personally and devotionally, the Trinitarian God shows humanity what God is like by showing up in the one who lived his life as a servant, Jesus of Nazareth. The Son sets aside the equality of divine life with Father and Spirit, but through his obedience during his earthly life remains the Son. The fullness and completeness of his obedience reveals Jesus as the pre-existent Son. Yet, we also see the course of the earthly life of the Son as one of self-emptying as he lives in obedience to God. The human life of Jesus contrasts with Adam, who disobeyed God and hid from God. He forfeited his fellowship with God, while Jesus during his life remained in fellowship with the Father and the Spirit. Adam wanted to be like God by turning from God and choosing a path for himself. Jesus emptied himself in his obedience and thus remained in the likeness of God as the Son. The course of the life of Jesus is one of self-emptying and humbling that led to the cross. Thus, the hymn embraces both the path of the pre-existent Son and the path of the earthly life of Jesus. The result is that such self-emptying, such kenosis, is a genuine expression of divinity. If you want to see what God is like, look here, at the kenotic life of the Son. Kenosis becomes the free expression of the will to love. It reveals the core of divine reality, that God is love. The form of a servant concealed divine glory. Kenosis fulfills Isaiah 52-53 as the servant willingly undergoes suffering and humiliation for the sake of others. The divine essence offers itself freely for the reconciliation and redemption of the world. His death “for us” is in solidarity with the Father and in solidarity with humanity. We can see divine majesty in the cross. Jesus was Lord most meaningfully in the depth of his life as a servant of the Lord and in serving others. Thus, self-emptying here is not a decision to stop being divine, but a decision to show what it really meant to be divine. Rather than exploiting or taking advantage of his divinity, the Son became human in and as Jesus of Nazareth, regarded his equality with God as committing him to the course he took: of becoming human, of becoming Israel’s anointed representative, of dying under the weight of the world’s evil. This is what it meant to be equal with God. As you look at the incarnate son of God dying on the cross the most powerful thought you should think is: this is the true meaning of who God is. He is the God of self-giving love.[93] The allusion to Isaiah 53:12 seems clear, where the suffering servant pours out his life to the point of death. Yet, he also humbled himself by setting aside his divine equality to adopt the human form of existence. Such self-emptying becomes an expression of divinity. His equality with the Father was not the only possibility for the Son. In actualizing this other possibility, the Son shows the true essence of divinity. Such self-emptying is the free expression of the will to love. It shows that God is love. The Son accepted a form in which the world would not recognize, and in which concealed divine glory. The suffering servant of Isaiah 52-3 undergoes suffering and humiliation for the sake of others. Yet, he also charted the course for the new human being in humbling (ἐταπείνωσεν) himself and becoming obedient (ὑπήκοος) to the point of death. As the Son lived in obedience to the Father, he set himself apart from humanity and in the process showed what human beings can become. He states in poetic form here what he argued in Romans 512ff, that the course of the life of Jesus of Nazareth was one of obedience, which set him in sharp contrast with Adam. His obedience as a human being reverses the effect of the disobedience of Adam. The humble and obedient Son sheds light upon the original situation of Adam and therefore our human nature and our destiny in relation to God.

Paul adds to the hymn a typical theme of his that the obedience of the Son extended to death on a cross. He did not just die a normal death. He died one of the most terrible deaths imaginable — death on a cross. The course of the pre-existent Son and the course of Jesus of Nazareth unite in the self-humbling involved in the cross.^[94] A careful reading of the hymn makes it clear that Christ emptied self, served, and died — without promise of reward. The extraordinary fact of Christ’s act was that at the cross the future was closed. The door was locked; his obedient service came at the bitter end.^[95] The grave of Christ was a cave, not a tunnel. Christ acted in our behalf without view of gain. That is precisely what God has exalted and vindicated: self-denying service for others to the point of death with no claim of return, no eye upon a reward.^[96] Paul sees in the cross an action of God in Christ.^[97] The life of Christ, in the special sense that his death was “for us,” is a journey to this death. Yes, he lived in solidarity with others. More importantly, he lived in solidarity with God.^[98] We see divine majesty in the cross. Jesus was never greater as Lord than in this depth of servanthood that led to the cross.^[99] Paul has offered to his readers an astoundingly humble and obedient act of Incarnation and crucifixion as supreme examples of the kind of behavior he is advocating.^[100]

The Christological tradition closely followed this hymn. It understood the Incarnation of the Son as his course toward the humiliation on the cross. The Incarnation of the Logos is completed on the cross. Jesus is born to face his passion. He has fulfilled his mission once his Father abandoned him on the cross. One cannot speak of a theology of the Incarnation without it leading to a theology of the cross. God became the kind of human being we do not want to be as the outcast, accursed, and crucified. Yes, behold this man. It becomes a confession of faith that recognizes the humanity of God in the dehumanized Jesus on the cross. Behold, here is your God, hanging upon the cross. The Incarnation is the humiliation of God, where God is fully at one within God and fully at one with the dehumanized other. This death corresponds to the divine nature in contradiction of the abandonment that occurred on the cross. Yes, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, but this means that God is like this, the one who is with the dehumanized other. God is glorious in this self-surrender. God is powerful in this form of helplessness. God is fully God in this dehumanized form of humanity. Everything Christianity has to say about God is found in this, the Christ event. The Christ event is an event in God as well. God has acted and has gone on to suffer. In this event, God is love with all the being of God. The being of the divine encompasses the human being. The event of the cross in the being of God is both trinitarian and personal. Christian theology begins with the person of Christ and understands the relationship of the death of the Son to the Father and the Spirit. The entire doctrine of the kenosis, the self-emptying of God, attempted to understand the divine being in process. The divine being enters into the suffering of the Son and in so doing is and remains completely divine. As such, theology must be able to question the traditional theory of the immutability of God and the impassibility of the divine nature. The cross forces us to reflect upon death occurring in God.^[101]

Paul then describes the path of the exaltation of the Son in his resurrection and ascension. Christian communal life is one that anticipates the future, eschatological exaltation of Jesus Christ with all human beings and of all creation. By implication, then, we need to ask ourselves if we are properly exalting Christ today in anticipation of this promised future. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” His exaltation confirms that he lived in obedience to the mission God gave him. It confirms that he was the obedient Son of the Father.[102] This ancient hymn views the resurrection and ascension as a single event of exaltation.[103] Only his resurrection from the dead gave the Crucified the dignity of Lord.[104] The result of this exaltation is that all creation will properly honor the one crucified and thereby shamed. He fulfills the meaning of name, Yahweh saves. The risen Lord has the authority to rule. The risen Lord is now preparing the way for that rule.[105] Confessing Jesus Christ as Lord honors the glory of the Father and enhances the confession of the one God. [106] Thus, as the hymn (1870) put it:

 

At the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess Him King of glory now;
’Tis the Father’s pleasure we should call Him Lord,
Who from the beginning was the mighty Word.

 

As another hymn (1916) phrased it:

 

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

 

A praise song poetically recounts the course of the ancient hymn.

Lord, I lift Your name on high 
Lord, I love to sing Your praises 
I'm so glad You're in my life 
I'm so glad You came to save us 

You came from heaven to earth 
To show the way 
From the earth to the cross 
My debt to pay 
From the cross to the grave 
From the grave to the sky 
Lord, I lift Your name on high

 

The Son emptied himself (kenosis) of divinity to become one of us, to show us the path of obedience to God, while yet remaining divine. The implication is that as Adam experienced temptation and disobeyed, the temptation of the Son was to remain within the divine fellowship he already had with Father and Spirit. Yet, out of love for humanity, he became one with us. He willingly endured the shame of the cross to remain obedient to God. He was in solidarity with the Father, even as he gave his life in solidarity with us. This example of Jesus leads to our reflection upon discipleship, for we need to willingly put aside our rights and serve each other. This path of discipleship does not seek honor the way human beings do. Rather, one receives honor as a gift from God through the promise of eternal life with God. 

The point Paul is making is not just a statement about who God is. Rather, his point is that if God is like that, then you are to be of the same mind and attitude in your life. If the Son had this kind of kenotic love, then we are to be of the same mind and have the same love, namely, a kenotic mind and love. That is the discipleship challenge Paul offers us. What might such a life look like? It will invite us to look at life differently. 

To receive blessing, be a blessing to others.

To receive love, give love.

To receive honor, first be humble.

To live truly, die to yourself.

To gain the unseen, let go of the seen.

To receive, first give.

To save your life, lose it.

To lead, be a servant.

To be first, be last.

 

Grasping at things and people is a natural human trait. We think we gain some significance to our lives if we can bring certain things and relationships in our sphere of influence. This is true. We express our worth and dignity by engaging the world around us. It becomes sinful when we grasp and cling to things and relationships in a way that asserts our superiority over others. One of the difficult life lessons we need to learn is that our worth and dignity does not have to be at the expense of others. 

One way of imagining maturity in life is to think of approaching life with an open hand toward others. Grasping and clinging represent a basic anxiety and lack of trust. We cannot genuinely care for others while at the same time grasping and clinging to the things that we think give our lives meaning and significance. Yet, one day, we will leave the things at which we grasp as we enter eternity. Humility and generosity represent an honest appraisal of this human life. When we approach life with an open hand, we willingly empty ourselves of personal claims and become open to others. When we reject grasping at life, we free ourselves to accompany others in their journey through life, rejoicing with them, suffering with them, and bearing their burdens. Grasping at life can be a lonely way of life. Emptying ourselves of such claims, we approach life with greater humility and love. I have a suspicion that Jesus himself emptied himself of his unique position with God, willingly bearing the burdens and sins of others, even to the point of a cross. God honors this life of emptiness, humility, and love. 

I offer a prayer.

Today, in a world in which it seems as if violence is so close to overwhelming us, we are grateful that Jesus Christ was victorious through love, and not through violence. He soothes our deepest terror and points the way to the peace for which we long. Help us learn the meaning and power of glory through Christ. Even though one with the Father in eternity, he took the form of a servant, sharing human life and struggles. Just as Jesus experienced deepest distress in this last week of his life, we know that we have no exemption from the stresses and trials of a human life. Yet, we have the delight of your presence, as any darkness we may experience will yield to the light. Hold tenderly in your arms all who are weary, embattled, and shattered, until, strength, spent, they become empty, open vessels of your Spirit. Then, they can experience the light of your resurrection.

A RECOLLECTION OF JESUS

Let us remember Jesus:

Who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor and dwelt among us.

Who was content to be subject to his parents, the child of a poor man's home.

Who lived for nearly thirty years the common life, earning his living with his own hands and declining no humble tasks .

Whom the common people heard gladly, for he understood their ways. Let us remember Jesus

Who was mighty in deed, healing the sick and the disordered, using for others the powers he would not invoke for himself .

Who refused to force men's allegiance.

Who was Master and Lord to his disciples, yet was among them ag their companion and as one who served.

Whose meat was to do the will of the Father who gent him. Let us remember Jesus:

Who loved people yet retired from them to pray, rose a great while before day, watched through a night, stayed in the wilderness, went up into a mountain, sought a garden.

Who, when he would help a tempted disciple, prayed for him.

Who prayed for the forgiveness of those who rejected him, and for the perfecting of those who received him.

Who observed good customs, but defied conventions which did not serve the purposes of God.

Who hated sin because he knew the cost of pride and selfishness, of cruelty, and Impurity, to man, and still more to his Father in heaven.

Let us remember Jesus

Who believed in people to the last and never despaired of them.

Who through all disappointment never lost heart.

Who disregarded his own comfort and inconvenience, and thought first of others' needs, and, though he suffered long, was always kind. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, and when he suffered, threatened not.

Who humbled himself and carried obedience to the point of death, even death on the cross, wherefore God has highly exalted him. 

May this mind be in us which was in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Philippians 3:4b-14 (Year C, Fifth Sunday in Lent) consist of warnings against errors, but in the process learn some personal spiritual biography that illustrates why his opponents are going down the wrong path. His life is testimony to the conclusion he has drawn that Torah is not the path to right standing with God. We can infer that his opponents thought that at least some of the Jewish Law remained authority for Christians. Paul will offer the course of his life as a testimony of the falsity of that claim.

The passage raises an important question for us as readers. Is there anything we have had to switch off to see the prize set before us in Christ? In fact, do we desire Christ so much that we are willing to reorder our lives around him? In what ways do we view suffering in this life as participation in the suffering of Christ? How would doing so change our view of suffering? The passage raises the question of the vision we have for our lives. It raises the question of the passion that guides our lives.

In his case, his religious life gave him much about which to boast. He had been an observant and obedient Jew. Some signs of this were the privileges of birth. He arranges in ascending order four clauses that describe the privileges inherited by the apostle apart from his own act or will. First was his circumcision on the 8^th day, second was being part of the people of Israel, third was being part of the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of the first king of Israel, Saul, and from whom he received his name, and fourth, he knew the language and customs of the Jewish people. These advantages of birth provide the foundation, while he chose another dimension of his religious life in being part of the most observant sect of his time, the Pharisee. He interpreted Torah strictly and organized his life around it. Further, when a dangerous teaching arose that said to Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah, he zealously protected his Pharisee sect and, in the process, protected the special place given to Torah. The fact that he persecuted the church caused Paul pain. He admits that he was unfit for God to call him to be an apostle, as in fact the least of the apostles, due to his persecution of the church of God (Romans 15:9). He admits that he violently persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. In that context, he also testifies that he was zealous for the traditions of his ancestors (Galatians 1:13-14). Further, I Timothy 1:13 also describe him as a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, and a man of violence. He led a life of scrupulous observance of Torah.

The religious man, the man devoted to Torah, was also a violent man. The transformation that occurs in him makes him an apostle of reconciliation and peace. At a specific moment, his conversion, he set aside that which gave him so much pride as if it were economic loss because of Christ. He regards his Jewish heritage and anything else in which he might consider an advantage as loss. As he writes this, he is in prison, having lost his liberty for Christ. Things once considered valuable are nothing to him, as he rebalances the accounting book of his life. What has become of value is knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. His perception of what made anything a gain or loss has changed. Thus, for the sake of comparison, he considers anything that one might think of an advantage as rubbish to gain Christ, the most precious thing of all. 

Paul will move from the testimony of the transformation of his life to the kerygma, the basic themes of his preaching. Paul will mention his favorite theological topics. He elaborated on this in II Corinthians 2-7. He is now a part of Christ, contrasting that righteousness he has through faith in Christ (πίστεως Χριστοῦ) from that which comes from the law. Such faith or trust that opens one to the presence of the grace of God is the only type of righteousness that matters to Paul. In this simple phrase, he summarizes the argument in Galatians and Romans. By becoming “in Christ,” the believer shares in the righteousness of Christ. Such a statement contains the basis for the doctrine of justification, of which faith is the means of justification rather than its source. This notion of an exchange of places between the innocent Jesus, executed as a sinner, means the manifestation of the righteousness of God in those whom Christ represents before God. Yet, such an exchange of places occurs only as sinners for whom Jesus died let their lives link to the death of Jesus.^[107]As he continues with summarizing his kerygma, he uses the language of commitment. He wants to know in a personal way Christ and the power of his resurrection, for it will transform his life and give his life power. He considers it a gain in his life that he can share (κοινωνίαν) in the suffering of Christ, becoming like or conformed to him (συμμορφιζόμενος) in his death. His life is conforming or forming to that of Christ through the suffering he presently experiences. His apostolic ministry involved much suffering. He applies the cross of suffering that led to the cross of Jesus to his experience of suffering as an apostle. His theology of the cross entails discipleship as fellowship with Christ in his suffering. Paul expounds upon the theme of baptism as union with Christ in his suffering, death, and resurrection in Romans 6:3ff. In that sense, faith and baptism belong together.^[108] To engage in a discipleship process of becoming like the Son is to participate in the sufferings of Christ. Such a statement is not just a reference to persecution, although for Paul it did mean that and for many Christians in the world it still does mean that. The experience of faithful discipleship in a secular culture will have its own form of persecution, even if it is as simple as the easy dismissal of Christ, whom the follower of today considers every bit as precious as did Paul. However, Paul seems to speak broadly of the struggle against sin, Gethsemane, and Calvary. It expresses the faith/union relation between Christ and believer. The fellowship of the suffering of Christ implies a communal event. The suffering occurs together for the sake of and the name of Christ. The suffering of believers participates in the suffering of Christ. Christ is present with us in our suffering. His expectation and hope is in the direction of resurrection. The context suggests that Schleiermacher was right to say that the Christian hope of life beyond death has its basis here on the fellowship of believers with Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus means participation already in the salvation of eternal life.^[109] Paul not only understands the ends of Christian faith to be superior to all else (sharing in the power of the Resurrection) but that the means of Christ's life also offer a superior model to those who proclaim their faith.

Moving from a summary of his kerygma, he returns to the effect upon his life. He will shift the imagery from commerce to athletic competition. Such language reminds us as readers that the Christian life is goal oriented and future directed, as we will find in an athletic contest or in a successful competitor. Another variation of this theme is in I Corinthians 9:24-25. The present struggle in training and discipline prepares one for the contest. His has, obviously, not yet attained the goal of resurrection, but he presses on to make it his own, for Christ has made Paul part of the risen Christ. He forgets what is behind and repeatedly strains forward to what lies ahead, he continually and in a determined fashion presses toward the goal for the prize, which is Christ. Just as the winner of a contest stands on a pedestal to receive the crown or prize, so will those who are in faith relationship and union with Christ receive the prize of eternal life. Suffering is finite and temporal. No contest is infinite in duration; nor is a human life. The Christian situation is a provisional one.

Philippians 3:17-4:1 (Year C, Second Sunday in Lent) Paul continues with sharing his warnings against errors. Paul invited his readers to join with others in imitating him (I Corinthians 4:16; 11:1, 2; II Thessalonians 3:7-9). We learn by watching, evaluating, and observing others. What starts with parents and siblings expands to include expanding social networks. Whom we choose to learn from is an expression of who we are and hope to be. Our uniqueness and individuality have their place as well, but none of us are innovators. That is especially true in Christian confession and in Christian life. Becoming innovative here is more likely to lead to excess and misdirection. We also need to be aware that others are learning from us, so we need to reflect upon what it is that people learn through their interaction with us. In our language today, we have mentors, and we mentor. 

With profound sadness, Paul is aware that many are enemies of the cross of Christ. Paul is confident of their eschatological moment will come, and it will mean their judgment. They engage in libertinism. That in which they take glory is their shame, with minds set on earthly things. The tone is not so much hostile as regretful. These who were apostles are now apostate, those who were friends are now enemies. God has chosen to enter our world of suffering, bear our sin, experience our punishment for our sin, and promise eventual victory over sin and death in the resurrection. This means God has not chosen to wipe away this world, which includes the tears of our suffering. God has chosen to embrace our world suffering, inviting humanity to participate in divine life. If we do so, we can be part of a movement that involves our participation in the provisional representation of the new humanity in Christ. Instead of already wiping away every tear, God has chosen to embrace the tears our suffering cause. God has taken the risk to become part of our lives.  We do not need to keep the cross at a distance. In fact, we need to cherish the cross. 

A church can be too much in tune with what a secular culture says is humanizing and allow such political ideologies and cultural values to determine its mission. A church can also be so focused upon individual transformation that it ignores its role as part of a culture. A church that remains focused upon the cross will live with the determination to confess Christ in all things. It will be visible in the world as people who are faithful to their promises, love their enemies, tell the truth, honor the poor, suffer for righteousness, and thereby testify to the amazing community-creating power of God. While not withdrawing from the world, it will not be surprised if its witness evokes hostility from the world. Its most credible form of witness is the creation of a living, breathing, visible community of faith. The cross remains in every epoch and in every culture stands as a reminder of what happens when one is faithful to Christ. 

Therefore, the cross leads the church to recognize that its citizenship is in heaven, from which we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Spinoza put it, we learn to view lilve under the aspect of eternity. Such an eschatological fellowship of Christians can take fully adequate shape in no this-worldly political order.[110] The returning Christ will deliver believers from the wrath to come.[111] Throughout the Scriptures, God dwells with people in a garden, a tabernacle, and a temple. God dwells with us in person in Christ who is “Emmanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The last scene in Revelation is of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, bringing heaven and earth together once and for all (Revelation 21:1-4). That is when the promise we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer becomes a reality. Our home is where God is, and God chooses to come and make a home with us forever. Our true citizenship is in God’s coming rule, and our mission is to extend the life of that rule on earth until the King arrives to take over. The resurrection of Jesus is the prototype of what God will do for us. God will give us new bodies not subject to death and decay but bodies that conform to the glory of the body of the resurrected Christ. Paul is referring to his notion of the transformation of the old “I” into the new.^[112] The returning Christ conforms our bodies to the body of his glory, which is the central content of the saving event of Christ coming again.^[113] Paul stresses that the saving work of Christ is transforming. They stand, therefore, in relation to the world as indeed the Roman colony of Philippi stood in relation to Rome: an outpost in the empire, but with full rights of citizenship, an important privilege for inhabitants of the far-flung Roman imperium. Philippi is not Rome, and the world is not home. The Christian, therefore, stands in what Barth calls an antithesis, "in the Now that is not yet the 'One day,' in the 'Here' that is not yet the 'Beyond.' It is from this "beyond" or heaven that the Savior is expected to come as ruler of a cosmic hegemony, who will "transform the body of our humiliation," thus preparing us for a life in the heavenly realm of which we are already citizens. God will do so by the power that enables God to make all things subject to the divine will and purpose. The event of reconciliation has the goal of overcoming the breach that sin brought into our fellowship with God and at our own perfecting. This eschatological future has dawned already in Jesus Christ, even if under the concealment of the cross. Yet, it is present as our transforming into the image of Christ, the new human.^[114] As the battle goes on in the present, we live with the hope and confidence that it will conclude by the power of God at the return of Christ.^[115] We participate in the glory of God through Christ.^[116] Christianity is an embodied faith, not merely a spiritual one. It is not about heavenly bliss but about the renewal of all creation, and if that is the case, it means that our whole orientation is different. We do not treat the earth as a throwaway, temporary reality, but as God’s temple and the place where God chooses to dwell. We do not treat our bodies as temporary shelters for the Spirit, but as the grounded reality of our creation in the image of God. We do not treat death as a kind of escape from the physical realm, but we look for the resurrection of the body and the renewal of our whole selves.

The text concludes with Paul indicating his deep affection for them as they have become something like a victory wreath placed on the head of the winner of an athletic competition, but he urges them to stand firm in the way of the Lord.

Ephesians 2:1-10 (Year B, Fourth Sunday in Lent) is one long sentence in Greek, never quite finishing expressing the thought of salvation through Christ as a gift. Verses 1-3 explain that from which God saves the readers. The Gentiles to whom Paul is writing spent their lives walking away from God, muddled down in human sin, but they were unaware of their condition. Paul paints a grim “before” picture of their lives in say that they had fallen, stepped away, or made a false step (παραπτώμασιν) and missed the mark or target morally and spiritually (ἁμαρτίαις). The deadness of this life is one from which we are never completely free, for believers need to acknowledge their solidarity with the rest of humanity regarding the pull of this deadness. We are never free of the misery that besets humanity. The past is never completely past.[117] Our natural inclination is to follow the standards of the culture in which one lives. Given the realities of disease and natural disaster, and the vastness of a universe in which there is so little life, one can understand the growth of myths regarding an animosity toward humanity that permeates the universe. Life is a fragile presence in the universe, wherever it might exist, and much of universe seems hostile to its emergence. In the mythic world, this hostility was personified in the ruler of the power of the air, the space between earth and moon/sun, but invading the earth as well, living within and among people. The force is self-destructive of humanity and of our individual lives. The grim picture is that other forces held them within their power. Our natural inclination is to follow such forces. The New Testament witness suggests the world has come under the tyranny of an ungodly force, the prince of this world. Natural forces and their operation cause them to become ungodly and demonic forces only when they close themselves against the future of God, the rule of divine possibilities, and thus become closed systems.^[118] Paul admits that Jew and Gentile follow the passions (ἐπιθυμίαις) of our flesh (σαρκὸς), following the desires of flesh and senses. He is alluding to everything that permits sin to enter human life and gives it a chance to grow. While that entry point may be various sexual sins, it could also be pride, envy, or anger. Jew and Gentile deserve condemnation from God as humanity has the same heritage and are united in wrestling with the self-destructive forces of the passions of the flesh. 

A word of caution is in order. The No we offer to the Yes God offers us in Jesus Christ is not a complete response. We have a falling out with ourselves as we respond to the Yes of God. As Paul will soon emphasize, we rise with Christ in his resurrection.^[119] Thus, in verses 4-7 we find a hymn of praise for salvation through resurrection with Christ. It has a lyrical quality. It points to the task of the church in relation to the world in its preparation for good works. It announces the divine initiative to remedy the human situation. Since he has described the situation as a form of deadness morally and spiritually, he will emphasize the aliveness of humanity in Christ. The transition to the hymn is a strong affirmation the condition of humanity is not the end of the human story. God will hinder the inevitable slide of humanity toward death because God is rich mercy and has a deep and profound love (ἀγάπην) for humanity. God has taken us out of the deadness of our trespasses and made us alive together with Christ. This happened because God acted to by grace (χάριτί) to accomplish salvation (σεσῳσμένοι) for humanity. God has imparted this salvation to believers already through the gospel. Linguistically, we see a shift to the present in the idea of participation in eschatological salvation, though still with a reference to future consummation. This shift makes good sense theologically, since it is closer than Pauline usage to the standpoint of the message of Jesus, which announced that the saving eschatological future of the rule of God is present already.^[120] Thus, God has raised us up (συνήγειρεν) with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Through baptism, the believer experiences death and resurrection with Christ and translation to heaven with Christ. ⁷ So that in the ages (αἰῶσιν) to come Godmight show the immeasurable riches of divine grace (χάριτος) in kindness (χρηστότητι, goodness, gentleness, moral excellence, a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22) toward us in Christ Jesus. Paul asserts that just as Jesus passed from death to life, so do Christians. God accomplishes the resurrection of believers through the resurrection of Jesus. The point is not that Christians go somewhere but that they become something that they were not before. [121]

Ephesians 2:8-9 are an interruption of the hymn, carrying on a polemic against those who would boast of themselves as their works.  They turn the spotlight on the self-awareness and activity of those whom God saves. The phrasing is very Pauline. People hear it as a brief statement of Pauline theology in the New Testament.  The passage takes aim at what for the author is at the heart of the Gospel - the complex paradox with which people of faith continue to struggle. Yet, the amazing announcement is that the love and mercy of God constantly appears beyond the wrath. ⁸ For by grace (χάριτί) God has saved (σεσῳσμένοι, see verse 5, a perfect tense that emphasizes salvation as already accomplished) you through faith (πίστεως). Therefore, salvation is not something one earns, regardless of how meritorious the effort.  The famous remark of the Reformation, Sola gratia, sole fide, condenses and catechizes this proclamation. Well before the Reformation, however, Augustine taught that faith itself is a gift of God. Grace is not something God gives; grace is who God is. An unexplainable goodness is at work in the universe.^[122] Such an affirmation is faith because it remains contrary to much of our experience of the harshness of life. The confession of our faith has a deep connection to acknowledging our need for grace. Our failures, missteps, and words said in our worst moments bind us. They form the bars in our spiritual prison cells. And we must take the keys out whenever we can and free each other by reminding each other of the forgiveness God has already offered. We need liberation from the sin, shame, and despair that weights us down. We need liberation from our pride, anger, resentment, and guilt from not living up to even our own desires for ourselves, let alone from what God may desire.^[123] In addition, this is not your own doing; it is the gift (δῶρον) of God. Such salvation is not a state in which the believer shall enter in the future. Yet, the focus of this passage will slip into the future as well. Salvation is complete, but the actual moment is a yet future event for the age to come. The holy vehicle that will lift the church to this glorified state and elevated place is grace.  The future "triumph" of believers is entirely the result of a freely offered gift, a gift that to us is that of "immeasurable riches." To clarify, such grace is ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Paul does not allow Christians to boast. The bragger is the one who revolts against God.  The one who brags in God accepts one's own weakness and gives glory to God. Boasting would suggest, of course, that we have faith in our own ability to render some sort of aid in this divine mission of deliverance.  If one can "boast," then the boaster reveals a trust in self rather than God.

In Ephesians 2:10, Paul ends the hymn begun in verses 7-8 with a reminder that when believers engage in the doing of good works, they are walking toward God. ¹⁰ For we are what God has made us, and thus the artifact or of work of divine art, created in Christ Jesus, stressing that the capacity for good works emerges from what God has remade us to be in Christ, for good works. Paul is suggesting that human beings walking by grace through faith are a work of art. People travel to gaze in wonder at the height of mountains, at the beauty of the ocean and the sunrise or sunset, and the motion of the stars. Yet, we pass by ourselves without pausing in wonder.^[124] Paul is emphasizing that we in our individuality are part of a much larger whole. Life is not about us. We are a moment of eternity, a part in a larger picture, and a player in vast drama. Our lives are about allowing this larger picture to form through us and allowing eternity to shine through us. Viewing our lives this way allows us to see our connection with everything else. Even the challenges of life, many of which derive from situations we have created, are operative parts of that larger picture or drama. When we discover this truth, we are thankful to be a part, since we do not figure it all out or straighten it all out, or even think that we can do our part perfectly. A weight lifts off our back when we realize that all we can do is participate in this larger life of God, so our lives are not a matter of our achievement or performance.^[125]

Ephesians 5:8-14 (Year A, Fourth Sunday in Lent) presents the contrasting choices of darkness and light. Paul is in the ethical section of his letter, providing an extended exhortation that employs the rhetorical motive of the old versus the new ways of life (4:17-5:20). Human choices are not morally neutral since our choices reflect darkness or light. Darkness creates people who live in it; light creates people who live in it. Our actions reflect our identity. Such a sharp contrast can re-focus attention upon the essentials. The dualism between light and darkness illustrates his concern for the “that was then, this is now” character of the new life of the believer. In verses 8b-9 he says that light creates a people who behave as creatures of light and witness to it. As adopted (1:5) and beloved (5:1) children of God, continuing the familial imagery, they are to live as children of the light, and thus in accord with their new status. The metaphor of the fruit of the light suggests the importance of time and maturity in producing what good (ἀγαθωσύνῃ) and right (δικαιοσύνῃ) and true (ἀληθείᾳ). The “trinity” of the philosophical themes of the time was that of the good, true, and beautiful, and Paul is consistent with that thinking here. Such fruit reveals one’s essential being and is typical of the realized eschatology of the letter. The new being reflects itself in the new conduct of the saints. Live in light. Do the right, good, and true thing. In verses 10-12, life in the light conforms to the will of the Lord, rejecting works of darkness. Thus, they are to find out, examine, test, or discern (δοκιμάζοντες) what is pleasing to the Lord, which will be consistent with the previously mentioned goodness, righteousness, and truth. Such discernment is a practical skill we need to learn to be a disciple of Jesus. To use an analogy with music, the point of discernment is not to know the notes on the page, but to play the music with interpretation, passion, intensity, and beauty. The point is to play the song so that it becomes a part of you. If you do what is pleasing to the Lord, the point is not just abstract knowledge of biblical texts. The point is that the reality of what God wants us to do becomes part of who we are. We learn to do what is pleasing to the Lord by doing what is pleasing to the Lord. Children of light practice what is pleasing to the Lord in such a way that it becomes a part of them.^[126]Discernment is not simply a matter of compiling a list of do this and do not do that. However, darkness exhibits itself in unfruitfulness. In 2:1-3, such works include following the course of the world, the passions of the flesh, and the desires of body and mind. In 4:17-22, 25, 5:5, such works include sensuality, impurity, deceitful desires, falsehood, anger, thievery, corrupting talk, bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, malice, sexual immorality, coveting, filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking, and idolatry. Such a life is fruitless or barren. By refusing to participate in darkness, they expose darkness for what it is. Such exposure involves confronting sinners with their sin, thereby convicting them and convincing them of goodness, righteousness, and truth. It implies bold confrontation and active opposition. Thus, if one does not reprove the neighbor one will incur guilt upon oneself (Leviticus 19:17 LXX).  One should not quickly condemn neighbors for what one has heard about them, but rather, engage in conversation so that if true, they will not repeat (Sirach 19:13-17).  Prophecy in the church has the potential of reproving and calling into account outsiders, disclosing the secrets of their hearts in a way that leads them to worship God (I Corinthians 14:24-25). It ought to arouse shame to even speak about such things. The point of such exposure is to restore relationships. Such exposure is a matter of truthfulness and authenticity of life. Speaking the truth in love allows the light to shine. Verses 13-14a show the revelatory power of light is transforming. Paul refers to Isaiah 60:1-2, urging sleepers to awaken, inspiring pietism and the evangelical to place emphasis upon awakening. Such awakening occurs considering the resurrection and actualizes the divine calling or vocation of humanity. [127] Such awakening can be like rising from the dead, possible because of the proleptic act of God in Christ. God has already raised them together with Christ, and thus, Paul calls upon them to respond to this act of God on their behalf. Thus, the resurrection and glorification of Christ leads to new life for the readers in which Christ shines on them. As Christ shines on them, they become light and gain the strength and discernment to live as children of light. The source of the light in which believers live is Christ. Christ shines on them, enabling them to be light and to walk as children of light. The light stands in opposition to the darkness. Behind the somber tone hides a community or communities of Christians who have forgotten their standing as believers.

            Peter will also give his reflection on the remedy for the human situation found in Christ.

I Peter 3:18-22 (Year B, First Sunday in Lent) offers theological support for the exhortation in verses 13-16, that they should follow the example of Christ, for Christ suffered at a unique moment in history, but in way that had universal impact because he suffered for the sins of us all. Those who persecute his readers today may become believers tomorrow. Just as Paul stated, "while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), Peter reminds his hearers that while they are to be righteous, they are not to forget that the unrighteous are also those for whom Christ died. This passage suggests that the nature and efficacy of the suffering and death of Jesus are central issues. The righteous one suffered for the deeds of the unrighteous to bring each of us personally to God. The text is simple: Roman and Jewish leaders put him to death in the flesh, but God made him alive in the spirit. In the suffering his readers are enduring now, they become an example and witness to their world, as did Jesus. If the believer is going to suffer like Jesus, then Peter wants them to know that they, too, will share the resurrection spirit with Jesus; in short, there is a reward for the present situation.  Death is not a barrier God cannot get past. If death were the last word, then death and not God would be the Supreme Being. However, Peter knows that is not the case because God raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, Paul affirms, "For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living" (Romans 14:9). Peter asserts the supremacy of God over death itself. 

Peter offers another way Christ is an example to his readers. It is an unusual one. Christ preached to evil spirits. That is a model for Christians, who need to speak boldly before rulers who may be planning persecution. Along with I Peter 4:6, this brief passage becomes the basis for the statement in the Apostles' Creed that Christ "descended into hell." Reflecting upon what he just said about death in the flesh and life in the spirit for Jesus, Peter then affirms that in the form of “spirit” he proclaimed his message to the spirits in prison, to the worst of sinners. He alludes to the descent of Christ to Hades between his death and resurrection. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says the Son of Man is in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. God frees Jesus from the pangs of Hades, for it was impossible for the power of Hades to hold him (Acts 2:24). God did not abandon Jesus to Hades, where his body did not experience corruption, as one might normally expect (Acts 2:31).  Paul refers to going down to the depths and bringing Christ back from the dead (Romans 10:7).  Christ had gone down to the deepest levels of the earth (Ephesians 4:9).  "Holy ones" came out of their graves, rose from the dead, and appeared to several people (Matthew 27:52-53). The interpretation favored by Calvin, that Jesus died the hellish death of the truly wicked, can be helpful to us when we go through hellish experiences where we feel utterly alone. We can take comfort in knowing that we can go nowhere Christ has not already been. He is present for us even in the darkest places, and though we may feel all on our own, we are not ever godforsaken when we trust him. It suggests that the worst that can befall human beings is within the redeeming embrace of the cross. The reference to spirits in prison could refer to the chained demons mentioned in I Enoch, over whom Christ has authority. Peter raises the difficult matter concerning those who had died before Christ. He seems to reflect an earlier strand of tradition grounded in the imagery of the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones coming to life (Ezekiel 37:12-13). Peter goes on to identify those in prison as those indifferent to spiritual matters who died in the flood. The legends surrounding the corruption of humanity prior to Noah were an important part of Jewish thinking. It is enough to note that by the first century after Christ, this legend had gone through considerable elaboration. Peter is making a statement for the graciousness of God who, through Christ, saves not only the righteous members of Noah's family, but saves even the unrighteous. Peter is stressing that the gospel itself is not limited to the time of Jesus and forward, but also is efficacious retroactively. We need to remember that the faithful dead of the Old Testament find inclusion in the people of God as understood in the New Testament. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab and other persons of faith and even that "All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them" (Hebrews 11:13). These spirits in prison lived during the building of the ark, referring to the church that anticipates the coming disaster, saving a few through the water of baptism. As God saved Noah through water, God saves Christians through the waters of baptism. The flood signified death of the old world and beginning of the new, so baptism is death of the old person and birth of the new.

St. Gregory Nyssa also wrote an Easter homily called “‘The three-day period of the Resurrection of Christ.” In it, he said Christ purposely concealed his real identity from the devil when he died. So, Satan, thinking Jesus was just another dead human being, swallowed the bait and took Jesus into hell. Too late, Gregory said, Satan realized his mistake. By then, he had admitted the light of Christ into the dark, infernal abode. That meant that Satan had destroyed his own kingdom. The power of God prevailed, even in hell, and God had the last laugh.[128]

Let us step back and look at this. This passage has the very unusual statement that has been the basis of much debate over the years. Peter states in 3:18-19, and again in 4:6, that after his death, but before his ascension, Christ also preached to those who were dead! Peter is here tracing back the resurrection to life to the Spirit. This means that after his own death, Christ made efforts to save sinners from the past, specifically those who did not heed the warning of Noah.^[129] We can see a universal perspective in the notion of the descent of Christ into Hades, in that while specifically to those who died at the time of the flood and now in the realm of death, Peter is already using the notion as an expression of the universal significance of the death of Christ for salvation. In the patristic era, this idea expanded to the notion that he preached to all the righteous of preceding ages and even to all who died before the coming of Christ. It found entrance into the consciousness of the church as a guarantee of the reconciling power of the death of Christ. This image of sinful spirits in prison, and the connection to the era of the flood, also occurs in I Enoch 6-11, but in this case, the sinners are the fallen angels mentioned just prior to the flood story. Enoch goes to them to announce their condemnation by God and the judgment of their imprisonment. In I Peter, however, Jesus goes to those imprisoned to give them the good news of salvation!^[130] The example of the suffering of Christ should make them willing to endure great suffering, to bring others to God.   All of this becomes a way for Peter to show that Jesus is the paradigm for the proper way to suffer, for his suffering brought salvation to all, righteous and unrighteous alike. The holy conduct of the community in the face of persecution is to serve as an example to the nations that would inspire conversions to the true faith.

To call that line in the creed about the descent of Christ into hell puzzling is no exaggeration. Theologians and biblical scholars do not agree as to what it means, and most laypeople have no idea how it fits with the work of Christ. It may simply mean that Christ truly died, going to the realm of the dead.

Some interpreters saw something else in the phrase, however. John Calvin claimed that since Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world, his death was not just any death, but the kind reserved for the truly wicked. Thus, his death was as hellish as death can get, and that is why, so this line of thinking goes, he utters from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). 

Still others have interpreted the phrase to mean the first action of Christ in his victory over death. That is, Jesus, in spirit, went to hell, broke down the gates, and gathered all the faithful persons who had lived before he came, and thus had not heard the gospel, and transported them to eternity. 

There are some variations on those interpretations, too, but I Peter does suggest some directions in its two statements. The first reference, from chapter 3, speaks of Christ's descending to the place of the dead not to rescue the righteous but to preach the gospel to those who were so evil that they perished in the great flood of Noah's day. The second, from chapter 4, speaks of the proclamation of the gospel to the dead whom God has already judged. As Princeton Professor of Homiletics James F. Kay puts it, the descent of Christ is "the place in the Creed where the dead and the damned encounter their Savior and Lord."

The Council of Trent offers its interpretation as well, emphasizing that the descent into Hell took nothing from the dignity of Christ. He went among the dead as a free and victorious being to subdue demons. He liberated the holy and just through his descent into the realm of the dead.

Peter continues by stressing that baptism is prefigured in or an antitype to the flood. The ark prefigures the church and the saving waters of baptism. As the flood meant the death of the old and the beginning of the new, so does baptism in the life of the believer. Baptism involves the acquisition of new virtues, that will lead to a good conscience, that internal moral compass all persons have, which will lead us to lives that properly witness to what God has done in Christ.

Many early Christian writers expand on the parallel between the saving waters of baptism and the waters of the great flood through which Noah sailed, and in so doing, saved humanity. Ephrem Syrus (Nativity Hymn 1:56-58): Yea the ark of living creatures looked in a type for our Lord; for He should build the Holy Church, wherein souls find a refuge… You have reconciled the wolves and the lambs within the fold; O Babe, that art older than Noah and younger than Noah, that reconciled all within the ark amid the billows!

Cyprian (Epistle 75.2) could argue that the church is one and that only they who are in the church can receive baptism. He refers to I Peter to say that the ark of Noah prefigures the one church. One who is not in the Ark of Noah could not be saved from the flood, so also one who is not in the church can receive quickening or awakening symbolized by baptism. He uses this argument to deny that the baptism officiated at by a heretic from the church is a genuine baptism and that anyone so baptized who need to receive genuine baptism within the church, since the heretic placed himself outside the church. He clarifies (Epistle 69.2) that that the heretic is not part of the church, so the baptism offered by a heretic is not efficacious. He refers to one of the questions put to those who are to receive baptism as to whether they believe in eternal life and remission of sins through the holy church. He stresses that remission of sins is granted only within the church. In a similar fashion, the heretical priest has no altar and no church, and thus no genuine celebration of the Eucharist since the heretic is an adversary of Christ. The heretical priest cannot give in baptism or the Lord’s Supper what he has not received since he has placed himself outside the church. One who has received baptism outside the church, but then desires to unite with the church, must put aside the heresy, including the validity of that baptism, and receive baptism within the church.

Tertullian (On Baptism, 8), refers to the flood as the baptism of the world that purged the old iniquity, after which the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove became a herald of the relief of the world from judgment and opens the way for redemption and peace. In like manner, our bodies emerge from the baptismal font making our sins flee, and the dove of the Holy Spirit descends upon us to bring the peace of God as we are in the ark, which is the church. Baptism brings the peace of God to the baptized. The Ark is the church, which saves those in it from judgment. 

This typology remained popular into the reformation era, where it reached its highest expression in the "Flood Prayer" of Martin Luther. God condemned the unbelieving world to judgment through the flood, but mercifully preserved Noah and his family. God also preserved a people through the Red Sea, and sanctified water in the baptism of the Son in the waters of Jordan. Water becomes a lavish washing away of sin. The prayer is that the one baptized would have true faith through the Holy Spirit. He prays for the drowning of inherited sin in the baptized through the flood of baptism. He also prays for the safety and security of the baptized as they take their place in the holy Ark of the church, separating themselves from the multitude of believers. 

The hope I Peter offers is the reassurance that believers are more than able to withstand persecution through the power of Christ. The passage returns to the unambiguous claim that reflects the earliest traditions. Baptism saves through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who now sits in victory at the right hand of the Father, with angels (in this context, a reference to their potential disobedience), authorities, and powers subject to him. This passage highlights the essentials of the story of salvation: Christ suffered and died, Christ rose again bringing the disobedient spirits along with him, Christ sits at the right hand of God. Yet, for Peter this creedal formulation is more than mere theological reflection - it has very practical and pastoral significance. The truth of the Gospel grounds the timid in their faith, reminds the unsure of the efficacy of baptism, and chides those who might be taken in by heresy to stand firm even in the face of suffering. The image is that of a heavenly court.  Satan has the role of accuser in the heavenly court.  Jesus has the role of advocate.  There is to be no fear in heathen surroundings. He assures the listeners that all the inhabitants of heaven and earth are now under Christ's control. Even those unrighteous who persecute the community are eligible to receive the grace of Christ. Even the dead are not isolated from him, nor cut off from the message of salvation that he has to offer. There is great reassurance here, but there is also a challenge. The Christian community is to withstand persecution with patience and without fear. They know that Christ has sealed their fates. Peter does not endorse hatred of the persecutors, but rather, he refers to the sufferers' example of steadfastness as inspiration to even their tormentors to own the God and Savior who make such endurance possible. In this way, even the poison of persecution can heal.

Hebrews 5:5-10 (Year B, Fifth Sunday in Lent) says that God appointed Jesus and Jesus perfected that appointment through obedience. The work and calling of the high priest provide a background against which the author develops the notion of the high priesthood of Christ. These verses form an introduction to 5:1-10:39, introducing Jesus as high priest. The author intends to first show that although Jesus is not of Levitical descent, he was indeed a high priest, one like ourselves, who bears out infirmities, weaknesses, and petitions before God. In verses 5-6, the author uses the model of the Hasmonaean period (140 BC) to unite the office of king and priest. Thus, while Christ did not glorify himself as a high priest, God appointed by declaring, in the words of Psalm 2:7, that he was the Son and has begotten him today. Luke will use it to refer to the baptism of Jesus, while this author uses it to refer to the installation of Jesus as high priest. In Hebrews 1:5, the citation illustrates that Jesus is higher than the angels are, for God never called an angel, Son. The same God, who designated Jesus as Son, has now also appointed him as high priest. He then refers to Psalm 110:4 that you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. We as readers overhear the pronouncement by God to the Christ of his eternal priesthood. He was a king-priest who was not of Levitical descent and whose office as priest does not end. Christ as the Son is the qualification of him as priest for us all. In his earthly life, Jesus, as the poet of Psalm 116:1-8 said, but as is also true of his Gethsemane prayer, offered prayers, supplications, with loud voice and tears to God, who could save him from death, and who heard him because of us reverent submission to the will of God. His prayer in Gethsemane was for submission to the will of the Father. Jesus throws himself on the ground and prays that his Father, if possible, will let the cup pass from him. Yet, he submits to whatever the Father wants (Matthew 26:39). He submits to drinking the cup so that he will do the will of the Father (Matthew 26:42). This language illustrates the humanity of Jesus in that he was and can sympathize and intercede for those suffering. The author said earlier that we have a high priest who is touched by the feelings of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).  While the author does not explicitly tell us what Jesus requested in his prayers and supplications, the language suggests the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and his cries for deliverance from death. He experienced distress and agitation and admits his grief. He prays for the passing of this hour, as he faces death. Yet, he also wants the will of the Father. The hour has come for his betrayal to death (Mark 14:32-43). In a passage of questionable authenticity, but part of the tradition, an angel came to Jesus and gave him strength. His prayer had profound anguish, so much so that he sweat looked like great drops of blood fall to the ground (Luke 22:40, 43-44). He felt deeply his troubled soul. Yet should he ask the Father to save him from this hour? No, for this hour of his death is the reason the Father sent him (John 12:27). Yet, the one who could save him from death instead delivered him out of death by resurrection. It was not the purpose of God to save Jesus from dying.^[131] Thus, God heard the prayer of Jesus in that God delivered him from death through resurrection (5:7).

In Hebrews 5: 8-9, we find a second confessional statement associating Jesus with the suffering servant of II Isaiah.  Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered. The point of the learning by Jesus is the affirmation of the sinless quality of the life of Jesus. Jesus lived with the fallen condition of humanity. He lived and bore it as the Son. Yes, he wrestled with the fallen condition of his humanity, learning and struggling, yet, as the Son, God had to win in his life choices. In that sense, Jesus struggled as we all do to do the will of God. The Son is one with us all in that struggled. Yet, he made his life choices perfectly.^[132] Christ maintained his perfection in freedom in a way that was not by any means self-evident. In his acts, he was without sin. He was perfectly obedient.^[133] One practices authentic obedience in particular situations. Jesus demonstrated obedience as life placed him situations in which doing the will of God and obedience confronted challenges from the people and institutions around him. Jesus was never disobedient to the will of God. He had unfailing constancy in obedience to the will of God. Yet, Jesus encountered new situations that challenged his faithfulness to God.^[134] Here the author holds Jesus up as a model for his audience and helps them see their own plight differently. He reached a new level in the experience of obedience, fulfilling the plan of God through his death. Thus, Paul could say that the Son humbled himself, becoming obedient to the people of death upon a cross (Philippians 2:8). In John, Jesus sanctifies himself so that God may sanctify his followers in truth (John 17:19).  Life in this world tests the followers of Jesus, in a way that God will bring them to glory as well (2:10), and just as God brought Jesus out of suffering to glory, God will likewise bring them out of suffering to glory, too. The challenges of his life made him perfect, complete, reaching his goal as high priest. Perfection for Christ means that he has "successfully completed the human experience" and God exalted him to glory.^[135]

This passage has become important in dealing with the difficult modern task of the development of Christology in the New Testament. Jesus accepted the consequences of obedience to the mission God gave him. Only in his completed life is he the Son, for his suffering perfect him as the Son. He learned obedience in the school of suffering, which should remind us of the Gethsemane prayer.  One must not limit the notion of incarnation to his birth. If other things did not happen, such as his baptism, his proclamation of the rule of God, the path of suffering, and his resurrection, he would not be the Son. The statement gives expression to the tension between learning obedience in time to be the eternal Son. The status of sonship and obedience to the Father go together. Obedient subordination to the Father characterizes Jesus as the Son. Further, obedience by Jesus finds expression in the ministry of Jesus to others by bringing to them the salvation of the reign of God, as well as his self-offering of Jesus as a sacrifice to the Father.^[136]  The suffering of Jesus is not a destiny that causes the one afflicted by it to grow and mature. When the Son suffers, God has willed it, because it seemed right to God. These few words embrace the whole path of the Son. They state that Jesus honors God as his Father, entrusts himself to God, confident that God will give him the office and dignity that God wills. The point of “learned” here is that he learned from Scripture. The saying is a witness to the obedience that marked the Son. Yet, the notion of the development of Jesus is out of the question, whether moral growth or a developing maturity in Jesus for the fulfillment of his task. Such conclusions are the error of idealism. It points to the paradox that the Son is the one who suffers. Suffering, not learning, brings the Son to the goal appointed for him by God. The Word of God causes Jesus to accept suffering.^[137]

Christ became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. These verses are like a confession of faith. The emphasis is on the humanity of Christ. A priest must be human since he represents human beings. He must share their sufferings since he must feel compassion for them. Jesus suffered in this way all through his life on earth, and especially in his agony and death. Just as Christ learned through obedience, obedience becomes a central element for those who follow him. The writer's words in describing Christ in 5:5-10 may suggest a contrast between Christ and Adam, whose disobedience ushered in death and not life, destruction and not salvation.^[138]

The author now makes an editorial comment: ¹⁰ God has designated him as a high priest according to the order (κατὰ τὴν τάξιν) of Melchizedek.  We get a greater understanding of the role Melchizedek plays in the theology of Hebrews, which assists in our understanding of Melchizedek in chapter 5. He compares the eternality of Christ's priesthood to that of Melchizedek who is "without father, without mother, without genealogy, neither having beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3). It is important to remember that this statement is about Melchizedek's priesthood, not his actual person and that the author of Hebrews is engaging in an interpretation of Genesis 14, not the historical person Melchizedek.^[139] The Genesis text is silent about Melchizedek's parentage, priestly origins, birth and death. The absence of information about Melchizedek in these matters permit the author of Hebrews to engage in a Jewish exegetical technique called non in thora non in mundo (literally, "If it is not in the law, it does not exist.") which means if the text is silent about something, then it could be considered nonexistent. Thus, the silence presents an opportunity for the author to interpret Christ's priesthood as one that is “after the order” of Melchizedek -- Jesus is a priest who has no "priestly lineage, no point at which he takes over from another priest or surrenders his office to someone who will succeed him.^[140] More importantly, a priest after the order of Melchizedek does not die since Genesis does not narrate the death of Melchizedek. Thus, the narrative of Melchizedek provides an interpretive frame for Christ. Christ, like Melchizedek, has no Levitical lineage. Christ is eternal and, therefore, so is his priestly service, forever interceding for believers (7:24). According to the author, God uses Scripture to foreshadow Christ.^[141]

Of all the Christological roles in the New Testament, none should be more immediately relevant to the human situation than high priest should.  Since we do not bump into high priests every day, a sermon on the high priestly Christology of Hebrews may require a certain teaching dimension to get listeners aboard, but the force and clarity of the image are powerful.  A priest is one who handles the holy mysteries of God for the rest of us, one who prays, who leads us in worship.  Priests are mediators between humanity and God.  Rather than lord over the lowly laity, in the manner of some priests, Jesus the great high priest suffered.  He learned his priestly duties through obedient suffering.  When Jesus speaks in our behalf to God, Jesus personally knows that of which he speaks.  He is the one who was priest, not through his grasping for priestly glory, but in what he endured on behalf of those whom he came to save.

Hebrews 10:16-25 (Good Friday) begins by referring to the new and inward covenant the Lord promised through Jeremiah 31:33-34. He stresses that the words are the testimony of the Holy Spirit, so that we understand the words to come are not to be heard in a casual or dismissive way. What follows confirms the author’s previous point and furnishes a divine seal of approval for Jesus’ priesthood. With the coming of Christ and by his sacrifice, the era of the new covenant has begun. He uses the LXX of the text, where the Lord promises a covenant in which the Lord will place the law in their hearts and minds. To show that sanctification was always the will of God, the author chooses a promise to the alter the human heart. This covenant was written on stone and stored in the Ark but inscribed in the mind and deposited in the heart. Further, the Lord will not remember their sins. He argues that because of the alteration of the heart, we have no need of repeated offering for sin. God changes human hearts, certainly, and in that change, God not only forgives sin, but forgets as well. This covenant is a full and final forgiveness and the entire pardon of sins. It destroys every barrier for us and enables us to realize full communion with God. There is no need for further offerings of sacrifice; our sin has been unconditionally canceled. 

The doctrine expressed in the opening verses find ethical application in verses 19-25. It is an exhortation to faithfulness. The Greek of these verses is a compactly constructed sentence. He initially rehearses several themes previously discussed or alluded to in the letter, builds on the service of Jesus as “a great high priest,” and finally attempts to encourage his readers to persevere. Verses 19-21 form the premise of the exhortation, summarizing what the author has established.  He addresses his readers as friends, the first time since Chapter 3 that he does so. We have the confidence he mentioned in 9:24-26 and 10:10-12, boldness coming from their special status. Paul encourages believers to boast in their hope of sharing in the glory of God (Romans 5:2). God chose us to be holy and blameless before God in love (Ephesians 1:4). We have access to the Father through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). We have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in Christ (Ephesians 3:12). We are holy, blameless, and irreproachable before God through the death of Christ (Colossians 1:22). With this confidence in the grace of God, we can enter the sanctuary. Jesus dedicated and opened the heavenly sanctuary for our use. In contrast to any humanly constructed tabernacle, the sanctuary that Jesus entered and thus the one that believers can approach with boldness is the heavenly one, for which see 8:1-5a; 9:1, 11-12, 24). We can have this confidence because of the blood of Jesus, entering the heavenly sanctuary by the new and living way (John 14:6 refers to Jesus as the way, truth, and life). He opened the way through the curtain, reminding us of the torn curtain of the temple (Mark 15:38), doing this through his flesh in a way that affirms that we have a priest over the house of God. The blood of Jesus purifies us to stand in the presence of God. His flesh provides access to the presence of God. Jesus is both the sacrifice and the high priest. No longer do we need a priestly intermediary to represent us before God because Christ is our high priest. Since God has established the new inclusive covenant through Jesus with Jew and Gentile, and since God has forgiven sin once and for all, then human beings have no reason to continue to offer a sin-offering sacrifice. He is both victim and priest. He is both offering and officiant. No longer must we continually appease God with animal sacrifices. Christ has completed that task for us, and just as the blood of sin offerings sprinkled on the altar of sacrifice served to purify the sanctuary after each occasion of sin (Leviticus 4:7, 17-18), Christ’s blood has been “sprinkled” on us — adding a peculiarly sacrificial form of purification to that already effected for us by the waters of baptism. The believer no longer must worry about his or her relationship with the Almighty, because in heart and mind God has made them righteous. Hence, liturgical precision no longer shapes the spiritual energy of a believer. Rather, what shapes the believer is living in community and service. Moreover, no longer is the sanctuary a specific place of mystery, open only for the properly initiated that alone could go through the curtain into the inner sanctum. Now, every believer in whatever location enters God's presence because of Jesus' own blood sacrifice. Jesus' flesh becomes the curtain that is now eternally drawn. It is a matter of the heart, not of the hearth. The believer's proximity to God is actual, real, and efficacious, unlike the old way that was, to the author of Hebrews, a mere shadow of reality. 

Given these realities, the author therefore extends three exhortations. Since all this is true, the author will now weave into his exhortation the well-known Pauline triad of faith, hope, and love. 

First, we can approach God with genuine thinking and feeling. We can approach in full assurance of faith, sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, referring to the innate understanding of what is moral and to the simple fact of being a sentient being, which only brings self-condemnation. Such an ethical exhortation is consistent with the prophet Ezekiel, who promises that the Lord will sprinkle clean water upon the people, cleansing them from uncleanness and idols. The Lord will give them a new spirit, removing the heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25-26). The blood of Christ erases evil from the consciousness of the believer, thus leaving them with a conscience freed from evil. Such cleansing will wash our bodies with pure water. The symbol has its basis in the Old Testament. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet before entering the tent of meeting, or they will die (Exodus 30:19-21). Moses washes Aaron and his sons (Leviticus 8:6). The Lord will sprinkle clean water upon them, cleansing them from uncleanness and idols (Ezekiel 36:25). The author is consistent with Paul, who urges us to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of body and spirit (II Corinthians 7:1). He is also consistent with Peter, who viewed baptism as an appeal to God for a good conscience (I Peter 3:21). In short, we have properly prepared mind and body, heart and flesh to enter the heavenly sanctuary, since God is transforming the profane into the holy. Baptism is a washing away of sin. The author is more demanding than Psalm 24.  Not only must those who enter the sanctuary have clean hands, but they must also have clean hearts. The author has a propensity to show that each Christian rite has superseded a previous Jewish rite. Therefore, behind the comment of the author may be the well-known Jewish ritual bath of cleansing in the mikveh (bath). To restore ritual cleanliness, a Jew would bathe. The bath was a repeated event. For the author of Hebrews, the cleansing for the Christian is eternal and complete. 

Second, in the context of the letter, their enthusiasm for the gospel and the faith is waning, so he encourages them to hold fast to the confession of their hope, without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Since Jesus is a faithful and merciful high priest, they can hold fast. God made both made and fulfilled divine promises to Jesus: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you” [1:5; 5:5] and “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” [1:13; 5:6]). Therefore, God is also faithful to us (10:23; cf. 2:17-18; 4:14-15).

Third, they can focus their attention on how to provoke each other to love and virtuous deeds, doing so by showing up in their communal gatherings, thereby rejecting the path of forsaking or abandoning the community. If the community cares for each other, they will have less time to become discouraged. Even though Paul and his team experience persecution, God has not forsaken them (II Corinthians 4:9). Demas has deserted Paul (II Timothy 4:10). Everyone deserted Paul at his first defense (II Timothy 4:16). Thus, the author admits that such abandoning of the community is the habit of some. Whether this came about from political danger, social liability, or overconfidence in one's own sense of superiority is not part of this discussion. However, the author points the community towards the future and talks about the newness of life and the need to encourage one another in the faith. Some who had lost hope neglected congregational meetings. The author reminds the readers that he expects them to lead a full life of doing virtuous deeds, such as a life experiencing the love and fellowship of their community. It is not too far-fetched to consider that the provocation to honorable deeds implies that what was being provoked in the community was just the opposite. They are to encourage each other. Whatever the actual situation in the churches that first received and read this epistle, what is unquestionably at stake is the crucial importance of Jesus Christ and his priestly function of bridging the gap, sealing the covenant, and fulfilling the final sacrifice. Since God invites the believer into the proximity of divine glory, the author encourages the believer to express this new relationship not in division, but with loving and peaceful fellowship. He echoes many other passages in the New Testament by cinching his argument that the Day is approaching. Paul shared this concern when he encourages his readers that God will strengthen them to the end, so that they may be blameless on the day of the Lord (I Corinthians 1:8).

The author shows how the death of Jesus replaced the sacrificial system of Ancient Israel, and in fact, surpassed it, because unlike animal sacrifice, which did not serve to nullify sin, Jesus’ death does. In fact, the dominant theme in Hebrews is that through Jesus Christ, who has become the perfect high priest, the believer now has complete access to God, knowing how to worship God fully and authentically. The Jewish system of sacrifice and worship is now, according to the author, obsolete. Christ has superseded the worship patterns of the Levitical priests. God, the Almighty, is still transcendent and in many ways remote - but Jesus Christ has bridged the gap between Creator and creature.

            

 

---

[1] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 72; Systematic Theology, Volume III, 225.

[2] Barth, Church Dogmatics, II.2 [34.2], 215-16.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 63.

[4] Barth, Romans, 136.

[5] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 130.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume I, 417.

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume III, 232.

[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume II, 418, 438.

[9] Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.  --Eugene O'Neill, The Great God Brown.

[10] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 173-74, 176-77.

[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume III, 183-187, 193-94.

[12] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.1 [59.2], 244; IV.2 [66.4], 580.

[13] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume II, 434.

[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume II, 263.

[15] An interpretation that Joseph Fitzmyer in his commentary on Romans prefers.

[16] Barth, Romans, 168.

[17] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.1 [58.4], 139-40.                       

[18] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 197.

[19] Barth, Romans, 176.

[20] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume III, 197.

[21] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 196, 380.

[22] Barth, Church Dogmatics, I.2 [15.2], 157. 

[23] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.1 [60.3], 507-8, 512-13.

[24] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 176-77.

[25] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 176-77.

[26] Karl Barth, Romans.

[27] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [69.3], 210.

[28] Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 162.

[29] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.

[30] Karl Barth, Romans, 285, is not willing to read with clear eyes what Paul is saying here.

[31] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 200.

[32] Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 162.

[33] Barth, Romans, 285.

[34] Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith, 158.3. For Schleiermacher, the specific Christian hope of a future life with God had its basis in fellowship with Christ, which undoubtedly fixes attention on the right basis. We see here that for Paul, the hope of eternal life is a consequence of fellowship with Jesus Christ in general, but especially with his death, as in baptism.

[35] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 130, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 266.

[36] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.

[37] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 130, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 266.

[38] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 67, 171-72.

[39] Pannenberg Systematic Theology, Volume III, 64.

[40] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 58-96. 

[41] (Stanley K. Stowers, A Rereading of Romans [Yale University Press, 1994], 310).

[42] I Corinthians 12:3

no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

II Corinthians 4:5

For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.

Philippians 2:11

every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 2:6

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him …

[43] see Wayne A. Meeks, ed., The Writings of St. Paul [New York: Norton, 1972], 85 n. 7.

[44] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 29; Systematic Theology, Volume III, 111-12, 232.

[45] Martin Luther, quoted in Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983), 49-50.

[46] Barth, Church Dogmatics 34.3.

[47] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 455.

[48] Barth Church Dogmatics IV.3 [70.1] 390-1.

[49] Invalid source specified. 207-14.

[50] -Mary C. Boys, "The cross: Should a symbol betrayed be reclaimed?" Cross Currents, Spring 1994.

[51] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.4, p. 90.

[52] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 322.

[53] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume II, 369-70.

[54] Bultmann believes it is a cult legend formed in Hellenistic circles.  Taylor believes the vocabulary, style, and ideas are Jewish.  It is Palestinian in origin. For the Jesus Seminar, Christian elements overlay the story.

[55] The problem, comparing I Corinthians 11:23-25 with Mark 14:22-24 and Matthew 26:26-28, is divergence in crucial details. The wording is different. One cannot even be certain it was a Passover meal.

[56] Mark Searle Liturgy Made Simple (Collegeville, Minn.; The Liturgical Press, 1981). 

[57] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 208.

[58] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 295.

[59] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 418.

[60] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 433.

[61] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 465

[62] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [45.1] 214.

[63] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 306.

[64] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [47.1] 502.

[65] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 332.

[66] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [45.1] 214.

[67] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 283-6.

[68] Evelyn Underhill.

[69] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [56.1] 57.

[70] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [59.3] 320.

[71] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [69.3] 200.

[72] (Rudolf Bultmann, The Second Letter to the Corinthians [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985], 155-56)

[73] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 433-4.

[74] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [59.3] 321.

[75] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.3] 530, 661.

[76] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 407.

[77] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 412-3, 454-5.

[78] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [59.2] 236.

[79] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 420.

[80] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 425-6.

[81] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 427.

[82] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 420.

[83] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 427.

[84] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume I, 434-5.

[85] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [57.3] 73-78.

[86] - Oscar Cullman, The Earliest Christian Confessions, ET 1949

[87] Panennberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 308.

[88] (See Gordon D. Fee, "Philippians 2:5-11, Hymn or Exalted Pauline Prose?" Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 [1992], 29-46.)

[89] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 68-9.

[90] Pannenberg, Systematic Theoogy Volume 2, 230.

[91] Ben Witherington III, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Eerdmans, 2011), 143-144.

[92] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 421.

[93] N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (SPCK, 2004), 102–103.

[94] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 375-7.

[95] (Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Philippians, pp. 59–60).

[96] —Fred B. Craddock, Philippians (John Knox Press, 1985), 42.

[97] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 439.

[98] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 424.

[99] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [31.2] 516-8, II.1 [30.2], 397, IV.1 [59.1] 180, IV.2 [64.2] 150-1.

[100] According to Gordon D. Fee, "Philippians 2:5-11, Hymn or Exalted Pauline Prose?" Bulletin for Biblical Research (1992),

[101] (Moltmann 1973, 1974) 200-207. 

[102] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 452.

[103] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 354.

[104] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 283..

[105] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 312.

[106] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 266.

[107] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 428.

[108] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 232, 257.

[109] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 534, 568.

[110] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 480.

[111] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 613.

[112] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 224.

[113] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 626.

[114] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 369.

[115] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 605.

[116] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 625.

[117] Barth, CD, IV.2, 65.3, 496.

[118] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 108.

[119] Barth, CD, IV.2, 66.4, 576.

[120] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 402.

[121] Markus Barth.

[122] Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass, 2012), xix-xx.

[123] —Nadia Bolz-Weber, “Confession and Cancelation: a sermon on Forgiveness,” August 23, 2020.

[124] Augustine, Confessions, Book X.

[125] Inspired by Richard Rohr, “Your Life Is Not About You,” Center for Action and Contemplation, April 1, 2020.

[126] —Inspired by the reflections of Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III. “The new walk (3): Children of light.” July 9, 2006, fpcjackson.org. Retrieved September 21, 2007.

[127] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.2] 511-2.

[128] —Patricia Kasten, “Rejoice and laugh a little on Easter,” The Compass, March 28, 2018. thecompassnews.org. Retrieved August 29, 2019.

[129] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 6.

[130] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 616.

[131] (New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1979], 1514).

[132] Barth, Church Dogmatics, I.2 [15.2], 158. 

[133] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.1, 59.2, 260.

[134] (Craig Koester, "Hebrews," Anchor Bible, v. 36 [New York: Doubleday, 2001], 299).

[135] (Kenneth Schenck, Understanding the Book of Hebrews: The Story Behind the Sermon, [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 69).

[136] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 2, 316, 375, 384, 439, Volume 3, 318)

[137] Rengstorf, TDNT, Volume 4, 410-412.

[138] (New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce, [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1979], 1514).

[139] (Kenneth Schenck, Understanding the Book of Hebrews: The Story Behind the Sermon, [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 77).

[140] "(Kenneth Schenck, Understanding the Book of Hebrews: The Story Behind the Sermon [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 78).

[141] (Kenneth Schenck, Understanding the Book of Hebrews: The Story Behind the Sermon [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 78).