I wonder... #21

I wonder...
What does it mean that we are a family in Christ? More specifically, what does it mean that believers are "brothers" and "sisters"--being children of God? And what implications does this familial status in Christ have on cross-gender relationships? Further questions that then ought to be asked are: how much of our conception of being a "family in Christ" is influenced/defined by our relationships with our blood-siblings? And how much is our relationship with our blood-siblings influenced/defined by our culture's conception of family? What was the relational dynamic intended by the authors of Scripture when they describe believes as brothers and sisters?

The way I understand familial relations in Christ is shaped largely by my relationship with my younger sister, Nicole. She is my best friend. I am very open with her. We have conversations about Christianity, Philosophy, Art, etc. all the time. She critiques me, encourages me, challenges me, and I value our familial intimacy, striving on together to be like Jesus.

I admit that when Scripture says we are brothers and sisters in Christ, it probably does not have in mind the sort of familial intimacy that I have with my sister (how intimate were siblings in those times?...I cannot pretend to know). My view is perhaps the result of my own relational needs, desires, and expectations (being more introverted, contemplative, etc.). But I wonder if my view could be explained as a proper extension of the Biblical command to be brothers and sisters to one another.

I have been criticized, and confess rightly at times, that my "approach to cross-gender relationships (with such intimacy between men and women who are not blood-related) can severely hurt a woman." By getting to know a sister in Christ on terms that are "deep" without any intention to date her, I am said to be "leading her on" and not "guarding her emotional vulnerability." My conduct has been equated to women who (not being "sensitive" to their brothers in Christ) wear scant clothing.

However true this critique has been in the past, I think something is lost when we do not cultivate healthy, intimate, familial (i.e. non-romantic!) relationships between men and women in Christ. To be honest, it seems to me that "dating," "marriage," "Eros," etc., should not be our first thoughts or motives when talking with a Christian of the opposite gender, neither should believers simply engage on "surface" levels that never address the basis of their unity (i.e. Christ), which is the most intimate topic for any Christian.

What I think is lost by having such a polarized view of cross-gender relationships is a broader view of humanity and virtue. My views on love, gentleness, purity, meekness, etc. have been shaped by the women I have known. Also, many of my Christian sisters have served as sources of exhortation and encouragement in my life. Yet this only happened because I was engaged with them on terms that were not superficial, disengaged, but according to our identity in Christ.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with my approach (an approach I have actually been stopping for the past year-and-a-half), I think we can agree that whatever our relationships with Christians of the opposite gender are supposed to look like in Christ, they ought to be different from how we engage with the non-Christian of the opposite gender.

So my question is this: how do you view your brothers and sisters in Christ? Does your view go beyond how you look at your general acquaintances or friends who are not Christians? What is the difference? And does your view meet the biblical call to familial relations in Christ?

"All that is unsolved in your heart"--Rilke

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the question themselves...Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

I am not sure that I agree with the quote in its entirety, but I do think that it has truth to it (i.e. we must learn to be healthy inquirers and remember that we are not inquiring for inquiry's sake--rather we are inquiring so as to live joyfully and consistently with the truth. The point is to live humbly under the Lord, and part of a humble life is to realize that we are all learners before the infinite wisdom of God. We will never know all that there is to know and it would actually hurt us if we knew something before we were ready to live it out in humility before God. So here is the exhortation: do not be greedy for answers; live in paradoxes, questions, and tensions; live humbly, fearfully before the Lord your God as a student; and live out what you learn from both questions and answers.)

Back...

...from camping.

*walking on Lake Sabrina*

Trinity: Short Exegetical Paper

Assignment: Read Galatians 3:26-4:7; What what do you learn about the Trinity from this passage? Write a brief exegetical paper (no more than 500 words) on what you see.

Galatians 3:26-4:7

God has saved mankind, and while answering the question “how” in his letter to the Galatians, Paul naturally moves to the question of “who” is involved in saving humanity. In Galatia, the gospel of faith in Christ (through whom comes the blessing of God promised to Abraham; by His bearing the curse of the law and making us sons of God by imparting the Spirit) is compromised. In 3:26-4:7 the underlying question asked is how the covenant promises of Yahweh made to Abraham will be fulfilled. The competing options are: through adherence to the law, or through faith in Jesus Christ. The way Paul answers this is through the theme of sonship, which is the central idea of the passage in question.

In the text Paul attributes the orchestration of salvation to “God,” sending both His Son and the Spirit of His Son according to His will (4:4-6). The name “God” is likely referring to the Father; however there is an ambiguous reference at the end of 4:7. Paul states that in being a son of God, the believer is “an heir through God” (4:7). This final reference to God seems to potentially refer to Christ (since we are children through faith in Him), but it is perhaps more plausible to read it in terms of unity of action in God.

The Son is said to make believers sons according to the Father’s will. He is incarnate, cursed, and resurrected to achieve this end of imparting the reality of His sonship to them. One of the chief observations that can be made concerning the Son is His preexisting “Sonship.” The Father did not send someone who became His Son but someone who was His Son (4:4). So, by referring to Him as the Father’s “own Son” Paul ascribes eternal generation (4:4). With the advent of faith and being “baptized into Christ,” which is how believers “put on Christ,” the blessing promised to Abraham is being fulfilled and distributed to all peoples as they are made into “sons of God” and therefore “heirs according to the promise” (3:25-27, 29).

Finally, in fulfilling sonship in man, Paul explains that the Spirit is imparted to those who are “sons” that they may cry out to God as “Father” (4:6). This is the voice of sonship, without which believers would be mute before God. Paul describes the Spirit as “the Spirit of His [God’s] Son,” which is vital in understanding the role of the Spirit in this salvific process. The Spirit is the one who testifies to sonship and enables men to speak as sons.

In Galatians 3:26-4:7, there is coherence between Yahweh fulfilling His covenantal promises to Abraham and the Father, Son, and Spirit fulfilling the promise by making men children of Abraham through faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. Sonship is the central theme of the passage: being the offspring of Abraham, belonging to Christ, having the Spirit, and thereby receiving the blessing of the covenant established with Abraham. Here one may observe the unique activity of the Father, Son, and Spirit in salvation history, but also the unity of this diversity into one act of salvation. Men are made heirs through God, having been made Sons, and yet the Father, Son, and Spirit are all instrumental, diverse, and united in making men sons. In the preceding comments, the divinity of the Son and Spirit along with the Father is presupposed. However, it can also be supported by Paul’s use of narrative identity, indicating that the Father, Son, and Spirit save believers, while only God saves believers.

Gone...

...to Bishop.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=37.23798199321937&lon=-118.59363555908203&site=vef&smap=1&marine=0&unit=0&lg=en

Low of 9F...With windchill -9F...winds hitting 25-30ish mph.

I wonder how this trip will go...

ἠγέρθη! ὰμήν ἠγέρθη!

"Τί ζητεῖτε τον ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν; οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἀλλὰ ἠγέρθη." Luke 24:5b-6a

A curse...

Tonight, while reading John 18-19, I realized that Christ (in His crucifixion) was denied every request of the psalmist. One request that particularly stuck out to me was David's repeated plea that his enemies would not be allowed to boast over him...By tying Christ's Passion to the Psalmist's despair, Christ's humanity and suffering are more potently expressed.

To hear and experience David's fearful and desperate cry to be saved from the schemes of his enemies, that the Lord would rise up and defend His people for His name's sake, that the LORD would not let his soul be counted among those who went down to Sheol, that he would not be cut off from the land of the living, that he would dwell in the presence of the LORD forevermore, and to hear God's responding promises to bless and to be his sure salvation, faithful and loving, his unassailable Fortress and solid Rock... and then to hear "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"...I cannot imagine the hell He experienced on our behalf.

It is one thing to curse God and then to be cursed by Him, and another thing to be faithful to God only to be cursed by Him. Imagine all those points in your life when you cried out to God in desperation...then imagine that the heavens are silent, hope is shut-up in darkness, and you are alone...

The Son of God willingly denied himself every blessing that His people had asked of Him in the OT, and every promise that He had made to them. Every blessing of the covenant was kept from the perfectly obedient, covenant-keeping Son of Man while He was on the cross--while He was a curse.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" Galatians 3:13

This is a gracious thing in the sight of God...

"For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." 1Peter 2:20-25

"An unbroken line of contiunity"--B.S. Childs

“James assumes an unbroken line of continuity between Israel and the obedient Christian life. His division does not fall between Judaism and Christianity but rather between true and false religion. True faith is demonstrated by obedience to the one will of God, by a faith commensurate with Father Abraham, by following faithfully the law of liberty, and waiting patiently for the coming reign of God in righteousness.”