In talking with many Christians today, I’m becoming increasingly alarmed at how a critical understanding seems to be lacking in the life of these Christians: Christ as an all sufficient saviour.
It seems to many that we have a Jesus who can save our souls but not our minds. He can enable us to be “spiritual” without enabling us to overcome physical affliction in this life. Is that all it means to be Christian? If it does then we’re no better off than anyone else, and for us Jesus is not an all-sufficient saviour!
What does it really mean to “believe in Jesus” and to call Him “Lord and Saviour?”
James Boice has an interesting discussion in the second volume of his commentary on the Gospel of John [The Gospel of John, Volume 2, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1999]. In it he discusses the issue in terms of the “bread of life” passage of Christ in John 6:48-59. The main thrust of his two chapters is that of “eating.” In a nutshell the point Boice makes is that believing in Christ is the same as “eating” Him; it means to feed upon Him. But this in turn is a mysterious concept. How is one to “feed upon Christ”?
Well, one way, according to Boice is through bible study. Through bible study we come into intimate contact with Christ, thus rendering Him available to be fed upon. But our feeding is only in proportion to our hunger. No hunger, no feeding. We must recognize our need for Him as well as the truth that we receive through our study of Him in the Bible: that He is not only sufficient for us but that He only is capable of taking away our hunger. But this involves appropriation. If we have a sumptuous meal set before us and do not partake personally, that is, do not appropriate for ourselves the food that alone takes away all hunger, then we shall never be full; we shall continue to experience lack.
Part of the dilemma is that we have compartmentalized both the person and the work of Christ. We no longer see Him as the second person of the Godhead. We see Him and His work as essentially limited in scope. Yes, we think He saves our souls, but not our bodies. Yes He is our lord, but is not thought of as sufficient to actually be our LORD. We fail for instance to believe that a bodily resurrection is what He promises for all those who believe and (except in some quasi-Gnostic sort of way) which He will deliver! God saves entirely and completely. He leaves nothing behind or unsaved. He is God and God saves completely, wholly and perfectly. Nothing is left to be done. Our problem is that we do not take Christ at His word! We do not really believe Him at all! No wonder the church today is ineffective, weak and worldly!
God saves all of us, completely. He leaves nothing undone, nothing will be left behind. Regardless of what confronts us here and now, we have One who will wipe away every tear! Every means every. It doesn’t mean some. It doesn’t mean most. It doesn’t mean nine out of ten! Every single tear you have ever wept or ever will weep will be redeemed by Christ; perhaps not today, perhaps not even tomorrow. But someday. And why? Because in a sense it is already accomplished, though it may seem like not yet.
We can not be Christians and believe in Christ and…something else. It is not Christ and but Christ only: “Solus Christos.”
We cannot believe in Christ and…our cats and dogs.
We cannot believe in Christ and…our mothers and fathers.
We cannot believe in Christ and…our sons and daughters.
We cannot believe in Christ and…our bodies and health.
We cannot believe in Christ and…our psyche and our whatever.
We cannot even believe in Christ and…the law.
Such thinking and weak belief betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of our Faith and our knowledge of Christ. If we put dependence for fulfilment and happiness on anything (as the keeping of the Law, for instance) or anyone other than Christ we are not really Christian at all. And even this self-focussed attitude—my happiness, my life, my contentment, even my obedience—is really missing the entire point. It’s not about YOU or what Christ has done, can do or will do for you; it’s about what you have done, can do and will do for Him, to live a life worthy of the sacrifice of the cross. But this we must do in and through Him alone. He has fulfilled all the requirements including giving us the ability and the desire to love Him and to live in and for Him. So we must feed upon Him and Him alone. He is the bread of life, which if we eat, we will never be hungry for anything else.
Getting back to Boice, he summarizes his thoughts by reminding his readers that feeding on Christ, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, refers to what Christ has been speaking of all along in this important passage from John. He has said that people must “believe” in Him (John 6:29, 35, 47); must “come” to Him (v. 35); must “look” at Him (v. 40); must “listen” and “learn” from Him (v. 45). This is what constitutes our “eating and drinking” of Christ’s body and blood. Let me quote Boice to summarize this point:
“Have you committed yourself to Jesus Christ so that He has become as real to you as that [eating and drinking]? Is he [in His fullness] as real to you spiritually as something you can taste or handle? Is he as much a part of you as that which you eat? Do you think me blasphemous when I say that he must be as real and as useful to you as a hamburger and French fries. I say this because, although he is obviously far more real and useful than these, the unfortunate thing is that for many people he is much less.”
These are for many Christians strongly convicting words, or should be. They point out the inadequacies of our professions of faith and point directly at the real paucity of belief in the lives of so many Christians. It is because we do not eat and drink Christ, that we do not grow in sanctification.
It is Christ, all of Christ and nothing but Christ or else it is nothing at all.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Thursday 28 February 2008
An All-Sufficient Saviour?
Thursday 21 February 2008
A Couple of Random Seed Thoughts/Peregrinations
The Death of John the Baptist.
I’ve been going over in my mind the relationship that exists between the OT and the NT. It is something to which I return every so often because it is not perfectly clear to me even though I consider myself a believer in a single covenant of redemption. The (thorny) issue of the Christian and the Sabbath is one aspect of the relationship that leaves many uneasy. (For instance, I’ve come to the—tentative—conclusion that there is no Christian "Sabbath" and that the Lord’s Day should not be celebrated in the manner it was in the OT, as this is a form of legalism and a harking back to the old covenant. Further to that is the fear that I am rejecting the special, holy, commemorative, celebratory nature of the Lord’s Day; that somehow I am rejecting the commandment of such a day as well as the graceful blessing that this day brings when we celebrate it to God’s glory in a spirit of thankful remembrance and loving obedience to the person and work of Christ on our behalf. But this is simply not the case. What is in view here, is a "legalistic" or even "Pharisaical" observance instead of a joyful celebration.) But the relationship between the various classically defined elements of the whole Law: civil, ceremonial and moral is still an issue among Christians.
As I ponder these and other issues, I seem to be flirting with a position of “Christian Libertarianism” if not downright “New Covenantalism.” And central to this must surely be the confusion of John the Baptist over Christ’s identity and purpose while John was in prison. I believe John’s confusion was a portent of the ultimate fulfillment (though he did not comprehend it as such from his prison cell) and passing away of the old administration of God’s covenant with His people. According to Scripture, John was the last of the OT prophets (i.e. Mal 3:1). His death at the hands of Herod cannot be understood as an accident or a coincidence but must be understood as an integral part of God’s overall plan of redemption, in which Christ was and is the cornerstone. When John said to his disciples “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30) he was not merely proclaiming his humble devotion to Christ in a lucid moment. He was in fact uttering a prophetic statement; even his last. If that is the case, his statement is also the last statement from the OT to the people of God. John’s statement is in fact the testimony of the OT about itself: that the new covenant spoken of by earlier prophets (most notably by Jeremiah and Ezekiel) was now being fulfilled and that the old was passing away because it had been completely fulfilled through Christ. I think this is amazing! As the last OT prophet, John the Baptist is saying in effect that the old dispensation is no longer needed and he says this as its last and official representative (besides Christ).
Being Still or Being About God’s Business
Another question that pops up from time to time is the issue of waiting for things to happen and being actively involved in their unfolding. I’m a doer by nature. I have trouble sitting back and waiting for things to happen. But, being the good Calvinist that I am, I also believe that God works sovereignly and providentially in bringing about His good and perfect will. Yet I know from Scripture that He does this through secondary causes as well as directly through supernatural means.
The question that confronts me often is, “Am I trusting in God to bring this (whatever it might be) about in His own good way and in His own good time, or am I relying on my own knowledge, skills and abilities to force the desired results?” “Am I defining the problem and providing the solution?”
One aspect of this is prayer of course. I believe that prayer is necessary and desirable. But I do not believe that prayer, by itself, is the automatic solution to every problem. It must be an important component, but I don’t believe that it must be the exclusive component. We have been given God’s revelation in the Bible. We are told how we are to please God and given many examples to follow. We actually rarely need God’s supernatural intervention in revealing to us how He expects us to act in the world.
Do I just sit and pray about something and do nothing else but wait for God’s answer? Or do I become actively engaged in the situation or circumstances? I have always believed that to act is better than to refrain from acting. Perhaps the issue is governed more by personality than by theology. However, I have a strong sense that Scripture tells me to get off my duff and get doing.
On the one hand, we have the passage in John that tells us that the work of God is to believe in the one He has sent. This could mean that we don’t need to do anything else but believe. Christ has said as much over and again, in John 6:29 for instance. Then again we have passages such as James 2:20 that seem to be telling us that some degree of action is required.
Really, there is probably no definitive answer to be arrived at other than to accept a certain dynamic tension between the two positions. While we must believe in Christ (who He said He was and what He came to accomplish, and this by faith) we must also work to bring about the Kingdom (Matt. 25:14-46). It is a constant struggle that we must always be aware of. It seems to me the only way to know for certain is by constant reference to Scripture, prayer, and plain common sense. Indeed, perhaps the answer lies in such verses as Eph 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (emphasis added).”
Any helpful thoughts?
I’ve been going over in my mind the relationship that exists between the OT and the NT. It is something to which I return every so often because it is not perfectly clear to me even though I consider myself a believer in a single covenant of redemption. The (thorny) issue of the Christian and the Sabbath is one aspect of the relationship that leaves many uneasy. (For instance, I’ve come to the—tentative—conclusion that there is no Christian "Sabbath" and that the Lord’s Day should not be celebrated in the manner it was in the OT, as this is a form of legalism and a harking back to the old covenant. Further to that is the fear that I am rejecting the special, holy, commemorative, celebratory nature of the Lord’s Day; that somehow I am rejecting the commandment of such a day as well as the graceful blessing that this day brings when we celebrate it to God’s glory in a spirit of thankful remembrance and loving obedience to the person and work of Christ on our behalf. But this is simply not the case. What is in view here, is a "legalistic" or even "Pharisaical" observance instead of a joyful celebration.) But the relationship between the various classically defined elements of the whole Law: civil, ceremonial and moral is still an issue among Christians.
As I ponder these and other issues, I seem to be flirting with a position of “Christian Libertarianism” if not downright “New Covenantalism.” And central to this must surely be the confusion of John the Baptist over Christ’s identity and purpose while John was in prison. I believe John’s confusion was a portent of the ultimate fulfillment (though he did not comprehend it as such from his prison cell) and passing away of the old administration of God’s covenant with His people. According to Scripture, John was the last of the OT prophets (i.e. Mal 3:1). His death at the hands of Herod cannot be understood as an accident or a coincidence but must be understood as an integral part of God’s overall plan of redemption, in which Christ was and is the cornerstone. When John said to his disciples “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30) he was not merely proclaiming his humble devotion to Christ in a lucid moment. He was in fact uttering a prophetic statement; even his last. If that is the case, his statement is also the last statement from the OT to the people of God. John’s statement is in fact the testimony of the OT about itself: that the new covenant spoken of by earlier prophets (most notably by Jeremiah and Ezekiel) was now being fulfilled and that the old was passing away because it had been completely fulfilled through Christ. I think this is amazing! As the last OT prophet, John the Baptist is saying in effect that the old dispensation is no longer needed and he says this as its last and official representative (besides Christ).
Being Still or Being About God’s Business
Another question that pops up from time to time is the issue of waiting for things to happen and being actively involved in their unfolding. I’m a doer by nature. I have trouble sitting back and waiting for things to happen. But, being the good Calvinist that I am, I also believe that God works sovereignly and providentially in bringing about His good and perfect will. Yet I know from Scripture that He does this through secondary causes as well as directly through supernatural means.
The question that confronts me often is, “Am I trusting in God to bring this (whatever it might be) about in His own good way and in His own good time, or am I relying on my own knowledge, skills and abilities to force the desired results?” “Am I defining the problem and providing the solution?”
One aspect of this is prayer of course. I believe that prayer is necessary and desirable. But I do not believe that prayer, by itself, is the automatic solution to every problem. It must be an important component, but I don’t believe that it must be the exclusive component. We have been given God’s revelation in the Bible. We are told how we are to please God and given many examples to follow. We actually rarely need God’s supernatural intervention in revealing to us how He expects us to act in the world.
Do I just sit and pray about something and do nothing else but wait for God’s answer? Or do I become actively engaged in the situation or circumstances? I have always believed that to act is better than to refrain from acting. Perhaps the issue is governed more by personality than by theology. However, I have a strong sense that Scripture tells me to get off my duff and get doing.
On the one hand, we have the passage in John that tells us that the work of God is to believe in the one He has sent. This could mean that we don’t need to do anything else but believe. Christ has said as much over and again, in John 6:29 for instance. Then again we have passages such as James 2:20 that seem to be telling us that some degree of action is required.
Really, there is probably no definitive answer to be arrived at other than to accept a certain dynamic tension between the two positions. While we must believe in Christ (who He said He was and what He came to accomplish, and this by faith) we must also work to bring about the Kingdom (Matt. 25:14-46). It is a constant struggle that we must always be aware of. It seems to me the only way to know for certain is by constant reference to Scripture, prayer, and plain common sense. Indeed, perhaps the answer lies in such verses as Eph 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (emphasis added).”
Any helpful thoughts?
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