58
THE HISTORICAL EMERGENCE OF THE CHURCH
The previous two chapters
have shown the heavenly and earthly origins of the Church. The two events of
the session of the Lord Jesus at the Father’s right hand and the descent of the
Holy Spirit upon His fellow Jews who believed upon Him established the Church
in history. Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah appeared to relegate this
messianic movement to the ash heap of discredited religious cults, it actually
opened the door of divine blessing to the world outside Israel. A new era of
grace began that pushed forward in time the great prophesied day of judgment.
Men and women from all tribes on earth were given the greatest opportunity to
believe since their ancestors left Noah’s Ark. Believers from each tribe on
earth would be united into one new Body, never before seen.
Realization of what had
actually happened at Pentecost, however, took decades to comprehend. At first,
events looked like the series of stupendous and unexpected
miracles—resurrection, ascension, and the Pentecostal phenomena--had occurred
for Israel’s benefit alone. Believers stayed close by the apostles in Jerusalem
and continued to worship in the Third Temple. Nevertheless, it eventually
became clear that God’s working with believers after Pentecost differed
significantly from the way He had worked in the OT. Especially after Diaspora
Jews and Gentiles joined the movement, the new entity called the Church began
to challenge some of the most cherished customs of Judaism such as
circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and the second-class status of Gentiles. In
spite of tremendous opposition by Jewish leadership the young messianic
movement grew not only in Israel but in Diaspora synagogues throughout the
Mediterranean area until it spilled over into major Gentile Greek and Roman
cultural centers. Since Christ had engendered such resistance in Israel that He
was crucified, it only followed that the expansion of Christianity was
accompanied by must strife and disorder within Jewish circles. (In the next
chapter we’ll look at its collision with Gentile culture.)
This chapter describes the
historical emergence of the Church from Israel as a distinct entity following a
distinct set of divine commands. Associated with this emergence, the chapter
also describes the work of the Son and the Father in creating the Church, work
of the Triune God prior to and forming the basis of the work of the Holy Spirit
that we studied in the previous chapter.
SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH
FROM ISRAEL
The NT book of Acts is the
central historical witness to the progressive separation of the Church from
Israel. Ladd summarizes Acts well: “Acts outlines the steps by which the church
gradually broke with the synagogue and became an independent movement. In fact,
one of the central motifs in Acts is the explanation of how a small fellowship
of Jews in Jerusalem, to all intents and purposes hardly distinguishable from
their Jewish milieu, became a Gentile fellowship in the capital city of the
empire, completely freed from all Jewish practises.[1]
For purposes of this
discussion we will isolate five steps from the text of Acts.
STEP ONE: SPIRITUAL
SEPARATION (Acts 2).
In the previous chapter it
was argued that the Church originated on earth at Pentecost as recorded in Acts
2. Although the Church’s origin was not immediately recognized, its existence
surely began on that day. The Church was shaped by the Baptism of the Spirit
which was essentially a separation of identity. Only that faithful
remnant of Jews who had
received Christ were Spirit baptized. Moreover, they publicly lowered
themselves to the level of a Gentile convert and were water
baptized.
STEP TWO: RECOGNITION OF
GOD’S WORLDWIDE PLAN (Acts 6-7).
The second step in the
Church’s gradual separation from Israel occurred when Hellenistic Jews from
outside of Palestine were incorporated into the Christian movement as recorded
in Acts 6-7. To appreciate this second step, on must become familiar with the
background of the Hellenic Jews of the Diaspora as well as their contribution
to a revived appreciation of the worldwide role of Israel.
Diaspora Christian Jews. Diaspora Jews were a
continuing community of Hebrew people that had remained outside the Land of
Israel since the Exile. During OT times both the northern kind of the Israel
and the southern kingdom of Judah had fallen (721 BC and 586 BC, respectively).
Many Jews were forcibly relocated outside Israel during the Exile (see Section
IV, chapter 4). Although some of these returned to Israel during the fifth
century restoration, most remain scattered throughout the Gentile nations (see
Section IV, Chapter 5).
In God’s overall program these scattered Jews performed a vital role in preparing for the evangelization of the world. They formed a vital cultural “beachhead” among the nations which Christians were later to use. As members of both the Israelite culture and the culture of their host nation, these Jews were bilingual ambassadors of biblical truth amid the sea of paganism. They carried the basic biblical framework into nation after nation with the completed OT canon. Concepts vital to understanding the gospel of Christ such as creation, the fall, and prophecy were widely disseminated. Moreover, the Diaspora influence was not only directed toward Gentile paganism; it was also directed toward Israelite provincialism. Native Palestinian Jews had little vision of the world beyond their immediate borders. The Diaspora Jews, in contrast, had a bigger view of mankind and spiritual needs. When, therefore, Diaspora Jews joined the messianic movement, they provided the first real missionary vision to Christianity.
Acts shows the missionary
effect of Diaspora Christian Jews in its overall outline. It is a
well-recognized fact that Acts 1:8 gives an outline of the book: evangelization
of Jerusalem occurs in chapters 1-7; evangelization of Judea and Samaria occurs
in chapters 8-9; and evangelization of the uttermost parts of the world begins in
chapters 10-28. It is noteworthy that the first section of Acts ends in
chapters 6-7 with the introduction of Diaspora influence. From chapter 8 onward
the Church becomes more and more clearly separated from Israel by its
evangelistic orientation toward the nations.
Introduction of the
Greek-speaking Jews with a Diaspora background into the Church gave rise in
Acts 6:1 to an early change in Church organization with the origin of deacons.
All seven deacons listed in 6:5 have Greek names and served the Hellenist
Jewish Christian community. The synagogue where Stephen disputed was Hellenist
(6:9). Judging from Stephen’s subsequent speech (see discussion below), he was
one of the first Christians to grasp the universal nature of the plan of God.
Significantly, as Stephen was martyred, Saul was listening to his address
(7:58)—the man who later would become Paul and the leading spokesman for the
Church age.
The New Message of Stephen. Deacon Stephen seemed to
grasp what believers in Acts 1-5 either could not or would not. Whereas the
native Palestinian Christian Jews had remained in Jerusalem in spite of the
Great Commission, Stephen correctly perceived that OT Judaism in Israel was
only a means to a greater end; it was not an end in itself. To observe Stephen’s
breakthrough in understanding, his famous address in Acts 7 can be divided into
three parts as follows:
I. Origin of Israel (7:2-16)
A. God began revelation to
the first Jew on Gentile soil (7:2-8)
B. The early Jews opposed
God’s work, but the rejected man of God (Joseph) became the savior of the
nation (7:9-16).
II. Origin of Torah (7:17-43)
A. God revealed His
faithfulness on Egyptian and Sinai soil (7:17-23, 30-34, 36).61
B. The Jews opposed God’s
work, but the rejected man of
God (Moses) became savior of
the nation (7:24-29, 35, 37-43).
III. Origin of Temple (7:44-50)
A. God met Israel in a
mobile tent (tabernacle) in the wilderness and refused to accept the fixed
Temple in Jerusalem as sufficient (7:44-50)
B. Implication: The Jews who
mistakenly clung to the Temple in Jesus’ day opposed God’s work in the real
Temple (Christ and His Body), but the rejected man of God (Jesus) has become
the savior of the nation.
Stephen saw a general
principle operating in God’s plan which was not confined to Israel. God’s plan
began prior to Israel, and the two most celebrated Jewish institutions—Torah
and Temple—not only originated outside the land but were actively opposed or
misunderstood by major segments of the Jewish population. God’s plan, in other
words, was not based in Israel but in God Himself Who ruled all men, “the God
of glory” (Acts 7:2).
By recalling this universal
principle with Israel’s origin in Abraham, Stephen had opened up for Christians
the central role of the Abrahamic covenant with its statement that Israel had a
worldwide role to bless all nations (Gen. 12:1-3 and Part III, Chapters 1-2 of
this series). The viewpoint of the early church by the end of the Jerusalem
phase ending in Acts 7 was beginning to orient to the larger, extra-Israel
facets of God’s worldwide plan of redemption. In challenging the conventional
view of the twin pillars of Judaism, Torah and Temple, Stephen risked a sharp
counter-reaction. Not only did he challenge the popular view, he did so as an office-holder
in the messianic
movement of Jesus Christ.
His listeners could not avoid sensing the immense authority of Jesus behind
Stephen’s Torah and Temple commentary. Their reaction was quick and violent
(Acts 7:54-60). A sharp schism now existed between the followers of Jesus on
one hand, and both Diaspora and Palestinian Jews on the other. The separation
of the Church from the nation Israel would come about, not from sociological
and political causes, but from a deep theological difference concerning the
role of God in human history.[2]
STEP THREE: INCLUSION OF GENTILES IN THE CHURCH (Acts 8-11)
Following the outline of Acts given in 1:8, one notes that the second stage, evangelization of Judea and Samaria, begins with Acts 8:1. As noted in the previous chapter, the Church did not consciously volunteer to carry out its missionary outreach. Rather, it was forced to spread outward from Jerusalem by persecution from the Jewish establishment in that city. Behind this persecution, however, was the sovereign Lord carrying out His decreed will for His Body. Two of the three “mini-Pentecosts” studied earlier confirmed the Lord’s intent to include non-Jews in the Church.
Penetration of Samaria. According to Acts 8:5-25,
Philip, a fellow deacon with Stephen (Acts 6:5) who was forced out of the city
of Jerusalem by the persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom, went northward
into Samaria. Samaria was inhabited by descendents of peoples brought into the
land after the fall of the northern kingdom in 721 BC (II Kings 17:24-41). As
they interbred with the remaining Jews, there developed a peculiar Samaritan
culture and mixed race. This Samaritan culture developed its own theology and
rewrote the OT to justify their inclusion in the blessing of Abraham. Thus
Jesus had to deal with their aberrant faith in John 4:5-42. When Philip
evangelizes Samaria, therefore, we observe a major penetration outside the
orthodox circles of Palestinian Judaism.[3]
After believing the good news preached by Philip, the half-Jewish, half-Gentile Samaritans were water baptized (Acts 8:12). They were not Spirit-baptized, however, until the apostolic delegation (Peter and John) arrived from Jerusalem (8:14-17). When the apostles formally identified with the Samaritan believers, the Holy Spirit caused one of the three “mini-Pentecosts” in the book of Acts. The Pentecostal coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 had earlier signified that all the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom of God had become available to Israel if the nation would accept the Messiah.
Now this “Samaritan
Pentecost” signified that the Kingdom blessings were available to part-Gentile
Samaritan believers alongside fully Jewish believers. Fortunately, the
conceptual framework for correctly interpreting this surprising work of the
Spirit had been already laid by Stephen. The long-promised world-wide blessing
of the ancient Abrahamic Covenant was now coming to pass. Jewish existence was
a means to a greater goal: salvation for people from every nation on earth.
Penetration of Gentile
Coastal areas.
In first century Palestine the coastal areas were inhabited largely by Gentile
populations. Acts 9-11 describes the westward movement of the Apostle Peter
from Jerusalem to this coastal area and his evangelization of the first pure
Gentile.[4]
Note that in Acts 9 Peter has no idea what awaits him on the coast, a story
that doesn’t begin until the next chapter. Clearly we are observing the Holy
Spirit as the “on-scene commander” of the Church taking the initiative in her
growth independently of how well Christian leadership understand the situation.[5]
Acts 9:32 reports that Peter came to visit believers at Lydda (site of the modern David Ben Gurion airport outside of Tel Aviv). At this point he is very close to the sea coast city of Joppa (now a suburb of Tel Aviv). Eventually, through being called to heal a Christian woman in Joppa, Peter arrived at the coast (9:38-39). While at Joppa, Peter lodged with a tanner (9:43), an important step forward toward the encounter with Gentiles. A tanner worked with carcasses, and carcasses were unclean to Jews according to Leviticus 11:39-40. Someone was preparing Peter for walking among unclean Gentiles.
The stage was now set for
one of the most dramatic encounters in Acts. Peter has been lead to the right place
and put in the right circumstances. The Holy Spirit using angels and visions
draws Peter to the Roman Gentile Cornelius (Acts 10:1-22). A vision prepares
Peter by showing that he must east ritually unclean food (10:9-16). By the
dietary portions of the Mosaic Covenant the visionary animals Peter saw were
prohibited to all Jews (Lev. 11; Deut. 14:3-20). Nevertheless, the Holy
Spirit’s vision-voice sets aside these dietary prohibitions. He does so
apparently to smooth the coming contact with unsaved Gentiles since social
contact inevitably involves eating together (note 11:3).
The Holy Spirit chose
Cornelius as the first officially recognized Gentile believer with very
specific credentials that would reveal the larger intents of God’s plan for the
Church age. He was a Roman, emphasizing his position in Daniel’s fourth kingdom
(see discussion in Part IV of this series, Chapter 4). He was an
officer-soldier, emphasizing the most physically visible manifestation of
Gentile power. He was a member of the Italian Cohort, emphasizing his native
background as being close to the city of Rome. As soon as Cornelius responded
to Peter’s gospel presentation, this Gentile of the Gentiles was immediately
Spirit baptized in the second “min-Pentecost”
of Acts. God hereby clearly revealed that the gospel
would really go into all the world, especially right to the heart of Gentile
power, Rome itself! In fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 22:1-10 the
Kingdom of God was coming to non-Jews as the Jews increasingly rejected the
Messiah (see discussion in Chapter 1 above).
STEP FOUR: OFFICIAL
RECOGNITION OF GENTILES IN THE CHURCH (Acts 15)
Whereas the Holy Spirit took
the lead in bringing Gentiles into the Church, the Church’s human leadership had
to come to a conscious, official recognition of that fact. A major part of that
recognition came about in the great Jerusalem council meeting in Acts 15:1-29.
This council had to deal forthrightly declaring the spiritual status of the
increasing numbers of Gentile converts. A debate of major theological
importance ensued. In one sense it was a continuation of the old debate that
Jesus had engendered before his death.
Jesus had insisted that
salvation was by grace through Him rather than by works through obedience to
the Mosaic Law. Jesus maintained observance of
the Law for His disciples, but they were not to place their hope for
salvation in their successful obedience. As the Church expanded throughout the
Diaspora Jewish community, it raised this issue again and again. Was salvation
by trust in Christ’s work or by successful obedience of the Mosaic Law?
Now, however, the debate had
taken a new turn. With the influx of Gentile converts the further issue was
raised whether these converts were to express their faith by maintaining
obedience to the Mosaic Law as their Jewish fellow-believers were doing. Were
these Gentile converts to follow the traditional pathway of Gentile converts
prior to Pentecost, i.e., that of coming to God indirectly through Judaism? The
OT left the impression that Gentile culture was unclean and that only Mosaic
Judaism enjoyed God’s sanction. If God’s Kingdom was now about to come, did it
not seem reasonable that Gentiles could enter only by first coming to Judaism?
Contrary evidence, however,
appeared with God’s acts recorded in Acts 8-14. Had not the Samaritans and
Cornelius’ household enjoyed the very same Pentecostal experience as the
original Jewish disciples of Acts 2? Had not Peter been instructed to ignore
the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law? God’s Kingdom blessings seemed to be
available to Jew and non-Jew alike (11:34-35). It seemed from these data that
the Gentiles could enter directly into God’s Kingdom without first becoming
Jewish proselytes:
)
-----------------à KINGDOM OF GOD
JEW )
The original debate over
grace and works, therefore, became enlarged to one over the whole purpose of
the Mosaic Law in the plan of God. Did the Mosaic Law apply at all to Gentile
converts? If it did not, what was God’s law for Gentile converts in the Church?
We’ll now consider these three questions in light of the Jerusalem council of
Acts 15:1-29..65
The Purpose of the Mosaic
Law.[6]
The Mosaic Law instituted obligations upon Israel to be a “kingdom of priests
and an holy nation” (Exod. 19:6). Because the Mosaic stipulations exceeded the
capacity of sinful human nature, they intentionally forced Israel away from
trying to live a holy life in the energy of the flesh and toward a
moment-by-moment trust in God’s gracious enabling. From the very beginning of
the Mosaic Covenant, God expressed doubt that the nation would really trust Him
to enable it to obey Him (Deut. 5:29). Jesus later confirmed that the Law
struck to the very depths of the human heart in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt.
5-7). The Mosaic Law, then, while “holy, just, and good” in itself (Rom 7:12),
was incomplete without any enabling power (Rom. 8:3). As revelation of God’s
will for Israel, it could only expose Israel’s sin along with the sin of any
Gentile onlookers (Rom. 3:19-20) and only point ahead to a still future work of
God (Gal. 3:19-25; Heb. 6:6-10:18).
If the Mosaic Law was not to
save, then what was it for? It was to drive Israel to anticipate gracious
salvation from God, salvation which had now become available in Christ (Gal.
3:19-25. It was a foretaste of life in God’s presence to show Jews their need
for preparation before the Kingdom of God became permanently established among
men. We should not, therefore, downplay the Law’s physical, political,
economic, and social details. Human life includes all of these details so that
God’s righteous behavioral standards necessarily apply throughout the entire
social fabric of civilization. When God gave the Law code through Moses, He
claimed that it expressed standards superior to those of every other nation on
earth (Deut. 4:6-8). The Mosaic Law expressed righteousness and justice more
clearly than Egyptian precepts, the Code of Hammurabi, and other ancient legal
systems. It’s purpose was to reveal in unavoidable detail God’s righteous
will for human life—all of it. Through its witness all nations everywhere
were to sense their sin (Rom. 3:19-20; I Tim. 1:9-10).
The Mosaic Law and the
Gentiles.
The influx of Gentile converts forced the Church’s leadership to decide whether
the Mosaic Law applied to these converts. Granted that the Law did not save
anyone, was it in force in any sense over the Gentile converts? Clearly, the
Jerusalem council answered no (15:19-21; cf. 21:25). It was not necessary
to circumcise and to command them to keep the Law of Moses (cf. 15:5). We must
also observe the reason why the council did tell Gentile converts to observe
some of the Law’s rituals. Gentiles should do it not because the Law expressed
God’s will for them but because Diaspora Jews throughout the Gentile cities
would be offended (15:21; cf. 21:21-26). If social offense was the reason
behind the council’s ruling, then the council must have not seen the Law as
applying at all to
Gentiles.
A puzzle immediately
results. If the purpose of the Law was to reveal God’s will for human life
individually and socially, how could it not apply to Gentiles outside of
Israel? Some non-dispensational, covenant theologians try to protect the
integrity of the Law by denying that the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 abrogated
the Law for Gentiles. Greg Bahnsen, for example, objects: “It would be a great
misunderstanding of the Jerusalem Council’s decision to see it as abrogating
the Mosaic law except in a few select points; the council only depreciated the
law as a way of justification for the Gentiles (as also the Jews).[7]
Such covenantal scholars
believe that the Mosaic Law can be divided into various parts and parts such as
the “ceremonial” laws were done away with Christ’s work, the other parts
remaining in force. (See Appendix A for further discussion on the difference
between covenant and dispensational theology.) The problem with this attempted
solution to the puzzle is that it violates the unitary nature of a covenant.
Everyone agrees that the Law had a moral core (the Ten Commandments), judicial
code, and ceremonial directives. Ironically, it is the covenant theological who
gloss over the fact that all of these parts together form one covenant that
addressed ancient Israel. Rejection of any part of it would repudiate the whole
as James notes (Jas 2:10). Even covenant theologians have to admit that part of
the Law’s moral core, the Ten Commandments, has been changed (the Sabbath day).
The early Church in Acts gradually recognizes that something fundamental about
the Law has changed.
We find the solution to the
puzzle in the dispensational changeover from the age of Israel to the
inter-advent Church age. The OT Mosaic Law with all its parts constituted a
treaty structure that defined God’s relationship with the His elect nation
Israel in a particular place over a specific historical interval. The tribal
Aaronic priesthood administered that Law. Jesus came from another tribe, Judah,
and could not belong to the Aaronic priesthood. Jesus began His own priesthood fashioned
upon the pre-Israelite priesthood of Melchizedek (see discussion in Chapter 1).
This change in priesthood necessitated a change in law as Hebrews states (Heb.
7:11-18). The same immutable God gave both the OT Mosaic Law and the revelation
of the NT so there is rational and ethical unity behind this changeover.
However, what He wants of the nation Israel and of the inter-advent Church
differs in details. The Jerusalem council of Acts 15 in recognizing Gentiles as
full members of the Church also exposes the change in the role of the Mosaic
Law.
God’s Law for Gentiles. If the Mosaic Law was not
binding upon Gentile believers, what were their obligations to God? Were they,
in this dispensational interpretation of Acts 15, left in antinomianism? Not at
all. Christ had already established the New Covenant (Matt. 26:26-28) in line
with the promise of Jeremiah 31:31-34. This New Covenant was to replace the
Mosaic Law in its entirety, including social law as well as individual law. The
difference from the Mosaic Law would not be in its scope but in its root. This
New Covenant depended upon regenerated human nature. Thus the abrogation of the
Mosaic Law did not signal a lawless antinomianism. The Messiah’s rejection by
Israel, as we have seen in these two chapters, complicated the manner of
revealing the New Covenant. Like Spirit Baptism, certain promised things could
not come to pass due to the Messiah’s rejection. Other hitherto unrevealed
things came to pass instead. From His throne at the Father’s right hand, Christ
could not reveal all the New Covenant law details for society or the world at
large. While the NT has many detailed commands for the individual, for
marriage, for family, and relationship to rulers, it has very few commands that
apply to the social and political realm. The lack of judicial, political, and
social welfare commandments to replace the Mosaic Law, therefore, comes not
from an antinomianism on God’s side but from antinomianism on unbelieving
humanity’s side.
Gentiles who believe are given
enough NT commands to honor the moral foundation of Israel’s Mosaic Law while
living in an utterly distinct historical situation. As Gentiles descendants of
Noah they know the moral demands of God (Rom. 1:32) and as instructed
Christians they know the specific commands of the Lord Jesus for His Church.
The new revelation is even called the “law” of Christ (Gal. 6:2) and the “law”
of the Spirit (Rom. 8:2). What Gentile believers can do as responsible citizens
for their society outside of the Church is discussed in Appendix B.
STEP FIVE: THE CHURCH CENTERED AMID THE GENTILE NATIONS (Acts 16, 21, 28)
Once the Gentiles had a recognized position within the Church and the Jews increasingly opposed the gospel, it was only a matter of time before the Church was located primarily within the Gentile nations. The story of that transition from Jewish to Gentile soil is given in the last half of the book of Acts. In Acts 16 Europe receives the gospel. In Acts 21 Israel openly rejects Paul and the Christian gospel. And in Acts 28 Paul arrives in the capitol city of Rome.
Europe Receives the Gospel (Acts 16). The famous
Macedonian vision of Paul that directed the Church expansion into Europe.
Although European Diaspora Jews along with their Gentile proselytes participated
in Pentecost (Acts 2:10), Church leaders made no attempt to evangelize European
communities. Nevertheless, the sovereign purpose of Acts 1:8 would prevail. The
Church had to become God’s witness “to the uttermost part of the world.” While
working in Asia Minor, Paul was clearly directed to penetrate European
territory with the gospel (Acts 16:9-10).
To discover the profound
implications of European evangelism, we must recall three major truths studied
in Parts 2, 3 and 4 of this series as well as in Chapter 1 of this part. First,
this present civilization follows the structure of Noah’s family. All mankind
have descended from Noah’s three sons—Ham, Shem, and Japheth. According to
prophecy, Shem was to be the spiritual channel of blessing to the world.
Japheth was to be the expansive conqueror but in so doing he had to “dwell in
the tents of Shem.” He would have to rely in some way upon Shem’s blessing
(Gen. 9:25-27). Since the Japhetic nations constitute Indo-European culture
(cf. Gen. 10:2-5), it follows that as Europe receives the gospel it will rise
to worldwide influence as never before. Coincidently, the two main languages of
the Bible, Hebrew and Greek, come from Shem and Japheth, respectively.
The second major truth
taught previously that reveals the significance of Acts 16 is the prophecy of
the “times of the Gentiles” given in Daniel 2,7 (cf. Luke 21:24). According to
this prophecy the Gentiles culminating in the European Romans will dominate the
international scene after the fall and exile of Israel. God transferred
potential political supremacy from Israel to the Gentiles (note the domain in
Dan. 2:38). Each of the four Gentile kingdoms which will control the land of
Israel and Jerusalem will have had exposure to the Word of God from believing
citizens dwelling in them (cf. Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Acts). The
gospel entrance into Europe and advance into Rome belongs to this design. It
indicates that spread of the gospel will not require Israelite dominance of
Jerusalem and the Temple area.
The third truth vital to
appreciation of Acts 16 is the nature of the Great Commission given in Matthew
28:19-20. When Christ ascended and received all power and authority from the
Father, he became de jure King over all nations. Chapter One pointed out,
however, that he did not become de facto King because of several factors: He
needs a people identified with Him; Israel needs to repent and invite Him back;
and an angelic conflict must be won. The Great Commission instructs Church
leadership to disciple “the nations”, leaving open the issue of how much
influence they will have within the various people groups. Europe thus figures
prominently in history as the recipient of the Great Commission and as a place
where culture will be most influenced by the Word of God.
Acts 16, therefore, narrates
an event of tremendous importance for subsequent European history. The gospel
will forever leave its mark on Japheth’s heritage of Western civilization.
Significantly, the major missionary outreach of the Church in history has come
from Japhetic believers.
Israel Rejects Paul and
Christianity
(Acts 21). After Paul entered Europe the transition from Jewish to Gentile soil
continued. In Acts 21:27-30 Paul is nearly killed by a Jewish mob in the Temple
precincts. This strong rejection of Paul and the gospel by Jews in their
capitol city and Temple signaled the complete national rejection of Christ by
Israel. This event fulfills the parable of Jesus in Matthew 22. In Matthew
22:4-6 the king sends a second set of servants to tell the people of his
kingdom that the marriage feast is imminent—it is about to happen. The people,
however, resort to violence against this second set of servants. The king’s
response is to destroy their city. Luke reports how Jewish mob violence against
the gospel increases throughout the chapters of Acts until this climax in Acts
21. He carefully narrates the details of how it happened. The Jerusalem church
at first rejoiced in the news of Paul’s successful evangelization of Gentiles
(21:19-20a). However, they had a problem. “Many thousands” of Jewish believers
existed in Jerusalem (some have suggested that by this point nearly 30% of
Jerusalem believed in Jesus as Messiah). “All” of these thousands were “zealous
of the law”, and they thought Paul had been teaching Diaspora Jews to leave the
Law (21:20b-21).
They were so emotional about
Jewish tradition that they misunderstood Paul’s real teaching. What he had
taught was that the Law did not save and could not sanctify (see Galatians for
a correct version of his teaching). The Law, in Paul’s teaching, was not a
universal absolute. It did not apply all to Gentiles--a point the Jerusalem
Church earlier recognized in Acts 15 and which they here reaffirmed in 21:25.
Because it could not provide salvation or sanctification, it also was also no
longer mandatory for Jews in Christ (Gal. 5:6). Christian Jews could continue
observing the Law if they wished but not as something that controlled their
status with God. The Jewish believers of Jerusalem, however, insisted that the
Law was still mandatory. Such thinking betrays a profound ignorance of the
gospel that infected the Jerusalem church all the way up to the highest levels
of leadership in James the Lord’s half-brother. Fearing a mob confrontation of
Jerusalem Jews (many of whom were
genuine but immature
believers), James and the other leaders hatched a plan they hoped would appease
the local Jewry. They urged Paul to put on a public
demonstration to show that
he adhered to the Law. He was to aid four Jewish men who had taken a vow
according to Numbers 6 (21:23-26). To complete these vows Paul apparently was
to accompany them inside the Temple precincts and help them pay for the various
offerings. Instead of clarifying Paul’s teaching, the plan tried to deny it
(note “that all many know that those things, whereof they were informed
concerning thee, are nothing” in 21:24). The church leadership feared to stand
up for the Word of God under mob pressure.
The plan backfired. Jews from Asia Minor who
had opposed Paul directly in those cities knew very well what Paul had taught.
They didn’t fall for the cover-up. They incited the very mob violence that the
Jerusalem church leadership had tried to prevent (21:27-30). Luke here presents
divine irony. In Jerusalem Gentiles could not enter the physical Temple, yet
elsewhere in the world they daily entered the spiritual Temple of the Body of
the Messiah! Moreover, Luke reports that Gentile Roman military power saved
Paul (21:31-40). Even after Paul tried to clarify to the mob the true gospel
message and was nearly assaulted again, the Roman military protected him a
second time (22:24-30). From this point onward Luke recounts Paul’s gradual
exclusion from Jerusalem and Israel for a trip to Rome itself. Between chapters
21 and 28, Luke reports that Paul repeatedly, publicly, and officially defended
his gospel ministry. Never again does the narrative trace any work of God
through the Jerusalem church!
The Gospel Reaches Rome
(Acts 28).
The book of Acts ends with the arrival of Paul in Rome with the gospel
completing the full journey from Jerusalem in Acts 1:8. Jesus’ prophecy has
been fulfilled. The Church has been established as a functioning entity on
Gentile soil. The closing notices in Acts 28, therefore, set the tone of the
new church age that has clearly begun.
After arriving in Rome, Paul
met with Jewish leaders there to again present the gospel (28:17-24). A special
meeting was called with Jewish leaders so that Paul could expound from Moses
and the prophets why Jesus was the Messiah and why they must believe on Him. In
spite of the extensive day long discussion the Jewish leaders did not en-mass
accept Paul’s reasoning. Paul then announced that the gospel would thenceforth
go to the Gentiles and that the Gentiles would favor it far more than the Jews
(28:25-31). Paul is last seen preaching the gospel in the capitol city of
Gentile power unhindered and free from the mob violence he faced in Israel.
Again following the parable
of Jesus in Matthew 22, note that there was to be a third invitation after the
destruction of the city of “those bidden to the wedding”. Now the invitation
was to go “into the highways”, to a different group of people (22:8-10). The
pattern of Jesus’ parable foretold the period from the Gospels through the end
of Acts to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and beyond. Figure Four
summarizes the separation of the Church from Israel through the five steps we
have now completed.
STEP FIVE
Church Centred
Amid Gentiles
STEP FOUR
Gentiles’ Official
Recognition
STEP THREE
Gentiles’ Inclusion
STEP TWO
Global
Plan
Recognized
STEP ONE
Spiritual separation
At Pentecost
Figure 4. – Step-by-step separation of the Church from
Israel as the New Elect Instrument of God.
DOCTRINAL CONSEQUENCES OF
THE CHURCH’S EMERGENCE
We have looked so far at the doctrinal clusters we can link to the ascension and session of Christ and to Pentecost. In this chapter we examine the doctrines associated with the Church’s position in Christ. These doctrines like those of the previous chapter reveal the work of the Triune God of the Bible. The previous chapter presented the Person of the Holy Spirit and His work in establishing the Church on earth. We studied six of His works: regeneration (image of creation), indwelling (image of a temple), baptism (image of the separation of judgment/salvation), sealing (image of a security seal), as well as His intercession for us to our Head and His distribution of spiritual gifts to position each of us in the Body.
Reversing the usual order,
we move from the Third Person back to the Second Person and then back to the
First Person to complete a survey of God’s total work in creating the Church.
Six works each of the Son and the Father will be listed. These twelve works
added to the previous six of the Holy Spirit reveal much of the Church’s
position in the eternal plan of God. They depend in no way upon our daily ups
and downs—they’re always there for us to trust and be motivated by.
It is well to remember an
aspect of the Trinity to help put these eighteen blessings into a coherent whole.
The words that the Triune God chose to use in Scripture direct us to think of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in terms of a speaker, his message, and the
effects of the message upon the listeners. The work of the Spirit which we
studied in the previous chapter centers upon the historical effect of
establishing the Church on earth among men. Believers in this life have a
recreated human spirit, a residency of the Holy Spirit inside them, a spiritual
identification as belonging to the saved, a secure protection from all assaults
from evil, a communications link directly to the Head of the Church, and a
position of ministry in the Body. We turn now to the works of the Son and then
to those of the Father.
Following out the biblical
guidance we’ve been given, we can think of the work of the Son as centering upon
content and meaning of the Church in God’s eternal plan. Each of the
following six works, therefore, shows the supra-historical character of the
Church as a redeemed creation.
Imputed Righteousness. Back in Part III of this
Series in connection with the call of Abraham, we learned about the doctrine of
justification. There we noted that originally God required perfect obedience of
Adam and Eve. They, as the first humans, were to produce tangible and
intangible goods and services which could be “priced” or evaluated. They were
to be finite replicas of God Who created the heavens and the earth and whose
works glorified Him. The works of man were to be what God wanted: blessed, productive
fruit. Such production would be evaluated in a way similar to how we today
economically credit or impute value. Although mankind lacks the
knowledge and the inclination to impute correct value, God does not. And the
ultimate value of a life can be determined by God.
After the fall, however, a
serious problem arose. Rather than produce good fruit, fallen man in a cursed
physical environment could only produce thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18-19;
Prov. 24:30-33; Heb. 6:7-8). Now the “pricing” problem is compounded. First,
sin brings forth evil which is a negative value. Second, forgiveness alone can
only eradicate the negative value, bringing it back to zero. But a valueless
state this side of Eden cannot exist. That probationary period in the Garden is
over. We have to somehow get where Adam should have been with positive
obedience. Our price tag must go from zero to a positive number due to actual
historic obedience.
When we studied
justification in connection with the call of Abraham, we discovered the meaning
of justification from passages like Deuteronomy 25:1. The judge was to declare
the accused one either guilty of breaking the law or justified by obeying the
law. When God justified Old Testament saints such as Abraham, there must have
been a historic obedience in order to be able to justify them. Not only did
there have to be historic obedience, but that obedience had to be perfect.
Where did such perfect, actual obedience come from? Certainly not from OT
saints (note Paul’s remark in Romans 3:20 which is taken from Psa. 143:2)!
The missing righteousness
appears in the life of Christ recorded in the Gospels. Christ solved the
mystery. Justification of sinful human beings could occur if somehow Christ’s
righteousness could be credited or imputed to their account. In fact that is
exactly what happened (Rom. 3:18-19; II Cor. 5:21). Justification can occur on
the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed. Imputed righteousness, therefore,
is a major work of Christ that stands at the very center of God’s redemptive
program. The Church, unlike believers in previous dispensations, knows the
historic basis of its justification in clear fashion. It has less excuse to
drift into various legalisms that seek to exalt human works. Imputed
righteousness is the historic content behind justification.
Death and Resurrection. Paul takes great pains in
his epistle to the Romans to lay out in detail the doctrine of our
co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with Christ. Most of us find it hard to
understand and even harder
to trust in the midst of everyday circumstances. Yet it constitutes a vital
part of our position in Christ and radiates God’s amazing provision for our
lives. Before he expounds this blessing, Paul first lays the groundwork by
going back to Adam. Adam’s sin is the only ethical reason for everyone dying
(Rom. 5:12-14). The guilt of Adam’s sin in some way comes upon every man,
woman, and child. All mankind is “in Adam” (5:15a, 16a, 17a, 18a, 19a).
However, bad as this news
appears, Paul says that Adam is analogous to Jesus Christ in this matter of
federal headship (5:14b). Jesus Christ is a “second” or “last” Adam (cf. I Cor.
15:45-49). Those “in Christ” share the credit for His historic obedience, His
righteousness, just as those “in Adam” share the credit for Adam’s historic
disobedience or unrighteousness. The respective obedience and disobedience are
not theological abstractions or Platonic Ideals; they are actual historic
roles. But they are historic only to Adam and Jesus, not to all others who
share them. To the others who share the obedience and disobedience, they are,
again not abstractions or Ideals, but imputed qualities. As imputed qualities,
they form the basis for divine evaluation or “pricing” of lives. Thus Paul
starts his discussion of co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with imputed sin
and imputed righteousness.
As unbelievers, and
therefore legally represented by Adam our father, we exist in a state of doomed
mortality. We all must die. No scientific breakthrough will ever thwart this
divinely-imposed sentence. There is no magic “death gene” or other biochemical
component that can be overcome. The only apparent part of humanity that doesn’t
participate in this death state is the ovum.[8]
Judgment in the form of
physical death must come upon us in our Adamic existence just as the flood had
to come upon the antediluvian world in Noah’s day and upon Egypt in Moses’ day.
Unlike those judgments, however, our physical death occurs individually as our
lives are terminated in a multitude of different ways.
Now Jesus Christ did not die
as we die (see Part V of this Series). He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin.
Yet He did die, and He did translate from mortal to immortal, resurrected
existence. Jesus Christ completed his individual portion of mortal history in
such a fashion that He qualified for immediate resurrection to eternal life. He
created a “pathway” from mortality to immortality (note Paul’s discussion in I
Cor. 15:50-58). When we are joined to Him through the Baptism of the Spirit, we
share that historic translation from this life to the next in a certain way
(Rom. 5:3-5). Obviously, our bodies don’t translate to resurrection bodies
(although the terminal generation of the Church will experience just that!).
They are the “stuff” of Adam that continues under his sentence. However, the
Baptism of the Spirit, by aligning us with the other Adam, “partitions” us as
regenerated beings. He distinguishes what is damned—our physical bodies—and
what will eventually go into the immortality of the resurrection unto life.
Paul identifies this “partitioning” as something emanating from Christ’s
pathway out of this world, i.e., His crucifixion and resurrection (Rom.
6:6-14).[9]
Unlike saints of previous
dispensations, Church-age believers live with the consciousness of a
historically-completed deliverance. OT saints viewed the resurrection as
something far in the future at the end of history. They had no historical
record of a resurrection and knew little about it. Church-age believers, on the
other hand, not only know the resurrection by its historic occurrence in Jesus
but they also are universally able to experience the conflict between flesh and
spirit caused by their union with the resurrected Jesus. Co-crucifixion and
co-resurrection give the basis and meaning to Spirit Baptism.
Eternal Life. We touched upon eternal
life briefly when we discussed the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in the
previous chapter. There we noted that Christ as God-man lived a perfect life
under the conditions of kenosis and impeccability. As perfect humanity Jesus
Christ had to rely totally upon the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower Him
against every category of temptation. He was “able not to sin.” As the Second
Person of the Godhead Jesus Christ could not sin. He was “not able to sin.”
Thus he perfectly succeeded in living amidst the fallen world brought about by
Adam’s fall and successfully met the worst that Satan could throw at a member
of the human race.
Of all the NT writers, the Apostle
John was the most insightful in teaching us about eternal life. He records
Jesus’ words about eternal life likening it to bread (John 6:51). He recalls
Jesus’ pronouncement that this eternal life is what eventually will emerge into
truly “abundant life” (10:10). Eternal life, says John, appears analogous to
the unending stream of water flowing out from God’s very throne that
characterized Eden and will also characterize the New Universe (cf. 4:14; Gen.
2:10; Rev. 22:1).
Although the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner and thus imparts eternal life, that life is the life of the Second Person of the Trinity, not that of the Third Person. The situation is analogous to the conception and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The Third Person worked out the historic reality of the incarnation, but the incarnation itself was of the Second Person. The incarnation, the God-Man, was the “message”; the virgin birth was the initial historic “effect.” So, too, eternal life is the “message”; regeneration (and subsequent spiritual growth) is the “effect”.
No OT saint could envision
eternal life because no one had yet seen a perfect life suitable for sinless
existence forever with God. Eternal life was part of the glorious future at the
end of history but not something meaningful in the present. NT saints of the
Church age, however, have heard the biographical history of Jesus as they have
heard everything else in their memories. The actual first-time appearance of
eternal life has now occurred. NT saints, unlike OT saints, know Jesus Christ
as the historically-manifested, living, Word of God (John 17:3). To be in union
with Jesus means to share that Perfect Life just as being in union with Adam
meant sharing his fallen life.
Priestly Intercession. A fourth work or function of
the Second Person concerns the role of a priest. A priest mediates between God
and man by representing man before the very Presence of God.[10]
We learn much in the OT Mosaic Law about the true priestly role. Under the Law
of Israel a priest had to be appointed by God in order to gain access to His
Presence. No one “ran for office” of a priest. Only God-ordained men could come
near to His Holy Place. A priest’s central role was to offer sacrifices on
behalf of men to God. Such sacrifices could be bloody and non-bloody, depending
upon the reason for them under the stipulations of the Law. Besides offering
sacrifices, a priest made intercession in prayer for men before God. As the
cleansed representative of the nation Israel, a priest literally spoke to the Presence
of God in the Holy Place.
The Lord Jesus Christ
fulfills a priestly office and role more encompassing than that of the OT
Aaronic Priesthood of Israel. He certainly fulfills the functions listed above
which characterized the Aaronic Priesthood, but He fulfilled a priesthood of
larger scope: the priesthood of Melchizedek. This pre-Israelite priesthood
existed after the flood in Noah’s day and functioned during the re-population
and colonization of the planet. Melchizedek combined within himself two roles:
that of a priest and that of a king. Both roles occurred prior to God’s
rejection of this civilization’s spiritual life when a priest and a king could
minister universally. As we studied in Chapter One, the Melchizedekian
priesthood was a foretaste of the future Messianic priesthood centering on
Jerusalem but global in extent (Ps. 110). Jesus represents all races and people
groups before God. Eventually, He will also exercise the kingship that goes
along with the priesthood. In the present inter-advent period, however, He
appears only to exercise the priesthood. The priesthood is the means through
which He conducts the angelic conflict which we studied in Chapter One.
As priest Jesus presents a sacrifice for those whom He represents. Unlike all other priests, though, Jesus is both the One Who offers sacrifice and is the Sacrifice Himself! Roman Catholics and Protestants sharply differ on the nature of this sacrifice. Romanism insists that Christ offers a perpetual sacrifice in heaven before the Father which is represented on earth by the mass. Protestants insist that the sacrifice was completed on the Cross (cf. past tenses in Heb. 1:3; 7:27; 10:14). OT priests repeatedly offered sacrifices because they were enacting a ritual ordained by God to teach men how they are saved. The ritual itself did not save and so had to be repeated over and over.
Unlike the ritual, Jesus’
atonement on the cross was the real thing that happened in a moment of history
and was finished. Jesus does not “re-offer” Himself eternally before the
Father. What He does do, is present the results of his once-for-all sacrifice
throughout the age of grace until history ends. As we studied in Part Five of
this series, Christ’s atonement is the basis for all grace whatsoever that the
Father extends to fallen mankind. During the age of grace the Father postpones
judgment and does so on the basis of Christ’s atonement. As priest, therefore,
Jesus Christ represents all mankind covered from final judgment until the end.
He also represents the saved remnant of mankind covered from final judgment
forever.
This discussion of Jesus
priesthood and its sacrificial offering provides the basis for appreciating his
priestly intercession (cf. Rom 8:34; Heb. 7:25). As our representative before
God, our Advocate (I John 2:1-2), Jesus Christ prays for our protection and
spiritual growth amidst Satanic accusations against us. Note Satan’s role as
the “prosecutor” in Job 1, Zechariah 3:1-5; and Luke 22:31-32. Every believer
needs a “defense attorney” in the court of heaven who can offer an unanswerable
defense of our righteous standing before God. Here again, as we noted in
Chapter One, the angelic conflict forms the backdrop on what happens in the
Church age. Christ won a place for humanity before God by his perfect life in a
contest with Satan. As heavenly priest, Christ now testifies to Satan’s loss of
claim against men who have trusted in Christ’s finished work for their eternal
salvation. His priestly intercession continually covers believers’ sins and lack
of obedience on the basis of His once-for-all substitutionary sacrifice and
imputed righteousness.
No OT saint could enjoy such
promised advocacy as something that was historically grounded upon a finished
work. They gained their sense of security from trusting that somehow, someday
the Lord would fulfill the promise He had made long ago to Eve (Gen. 3:15).
From a human viewpoint on earth, the object of their trust was in a sense
“contingent” upon the future Messiah victoriously completing His mission. NT
saints have the additional revelation of the work of Christ on the Cross to
look back upon as a completed act.
Heavenly Direction. As Head of the Church
Christ directs its history and disciplines its members (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23).
The book of Acts testifies to His leadership from heaven through the Holy
Spirit acting for Him on earth. By itself the Church did not pursue its mission
of being a witness to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was through the ebb
and flow of spiritual conflict (angelic conflict again as Satan tried to
persecute the Church) that He guided the Church faithfully toward its assigned
mission. It was also through this same ebb and flow that He takes “prisoners of
war” and turns them into gifted men to be added to His Body (Eph. 4:7-13).
The book of Revelation
reports that the Lord Jesus inspects local churches in various geographical
regions (Rev. 2-3). He critiques their spiritual state, administers discipline,
and provides logistical grace. He shakes up the historical Church whenever it
drifts doctrinally and disobeys the NT teachings. The relationship between
Christ’s heavenly direction and priestly intercession on one hand and the Holy
Spirit’s intercession on the other appears in diagrammatic form in Figure Five.
The Church on earth exists in a hostile environment under the god of this world
who hates believers as much as he hated Christ (John 15:18-27; Eph. 2:1-3).
Since living members of the Church require sanctification, Christ consistently
outmaneuvers Satan’s attacks so that instead of destroying the Church, they
actually further its growth and the sanctification of its members (see next
Chapter). The Holy Spirit intercedes from earth to the Son in heaven as Head of
the Body (Rom. 8:26-27). The Son in turn maintains the righteous cover for the
Church before the accusations of Satan in heaven as discussed above. We will
shortly see that the Father is the Final Cause of the Church’s existence,
growth, and destiny. Thus the Trinity controls, administers, and is intimately
involved in every believer’s life so as to complete the Body for which Christ
as the Head awaits (cf. Fig. 1).
Church
in Heaven
GOD THE SON
Satan
(priestly
intercession) (accuser
of brethren)
(Head of Church)
-- - - - - - - -
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
/ |
Church on Earth
--------------------------------------------------------à GOD THE
HOLY SPIRIT Satan & his
angels
(on-scene
intercession) (historical
attacks)
Figure 5. Relationship of the Church to the Trinity
and to the world-system Judge of the Church.
That God the Father has
given all judgment into the hand of His Son constitutes one of the great facts
of history that sets Christianity apart from every other religion (Matt.
25:31-32; John 5:27-29;.78 Revelation).
Other semi-biblical religions such as post-biblical Judaism and Islam maintain
a final divine judgment at the end of history. However, Christianity adds that
the judgment to come will be through the God-Man. Students of the law will
immediately recognize that such an arrangement mirrors our system of trial or
judgment by peers.
To be judged by peers means
that those who evaluate the validity of the accusation and the defense are
themselves people who have experienced the same situations as the accused. They
understand the principle of mitigating circumstances. They empathize with the
nature and strength of temptation. By placing the Second Person in charge of
all judgment—judgment of believer as well as judgment of unbeliever—God the
Father ordains a peer-type judgment. Jesus Christ as God-Man, as the One Who
lived impeccably under the kenotic state of having to depend upon the Holy
Spirit to withstand everything that Satan threw at Him, has the historical
experience to evaluate every man, woman, and child.
Unbelievers can offer no
valid defense for their unbelief such as the alleged lack of clarity of God’s
revelation to finite man. Jesus was a man and knows better (cf. Rom. 1:20).
Believers can offer no valid defense of living out of fellowship such as the
alleged lack of strength against temptations of the world, flesh, and devil.
Jesus lived in the same environment and relied upon the Holy Spirit’s enabling
power in the same fashion as every believer. He will purge our phony good works
from our record, leaving only the residue of those works done in the power of
the Holy Spirit (II Cor. 5:10-11).
In addition to judging
individual believers in the Church, the Seated Lord Jesus judges the Church
corporately. John pictures the Lord as present amidst the historical church in
its various geographical locations in Revelation 1-3. John reveals that the
Lord issues “inspection reports” as it were, complete with commendations and
condemnations.
Such judgment by a human of
members of the human race was utterly unknown in OT times. It is a new thing
with the dispensation of the Church because the Messiah succeeded in His
mission and has been installed as the Son of Man (see Chapter 1). Together with
the other five works of the Son, the judging constitutes a six-fold revelation
of the role of Christ and His Church in the Father’s eternal plan. Whereas the
six-fold work of the Holy Spirit which we studied in the previous chapter
implemented that plan, the work of the Son stands behind the Spirit’s work and
is the reason for it.
Thinking again in terms of
the speaker, the message, and the effects of the message, we come to the work
of God the Father. God the Father is the Personal Cause of all things. In
contrast to
paganism
which attributes ultimate cause to both impersonal Fate and Chance, the Bible
insists upon the ultimate cause as the one personal will of the Creator. As we learned in the call
of Abraham event of Part III of this series, pagan unbelief inevitably
conceives of a combination of impersonal nature forces and a restless, warring
“committee” of gods and goddesses. No single god or goddess has the ultimate
say in what happens. In the Continuity of Being the
gods and goddesses
themselves are trapped inside the vast impersonal cosmos. Over against this
world view biblical faith rests for its ultimate cause in the infinite-personal
Creator over all (Rom. 11:36). We now examine briefly six works, or we might
say, decisions of the Father. Five of the six works appear together in Romans 8:29-30.
He Foreknows. In eternity past God
“knew” each NT saint in Christ. This action expresses a divine choice about
creation and history. Autonomous man hates to hear that God is the final cause of
all things. Yet it follows immediately from the doctrine of creation.
Ultimately, what happens in history—whether the fall of Satan, the fall of
Adam, the rejection of Jesus Christ by Israel, or the final judgment—is a
result of God’s choice to make history the way it is playing out. Remembering
our discussion in Part III, the (Q)uality of God’s sovereignty has analogies
and disanalogies with the (q)uality of human choice. In reasoning about things
like foreknowledge, election, predestination, etc., we must derive our logic
itself from what God has revealed about the reasoning process. As Poythress has
shown in much detail, the very laws of logic must be understood biblically as
deriving from the Trinitarian revelation of God.[11]
In that light, we can think
of Jesus Christ during His incarnate ministry on earth. As true humanity, He
possessed choice which was revealed in the doctrine of kenosis. He was “able
not to sin.” He chose to give up the voluntary use of His divine attributes and
instead submit to the Father’s will when to use them and when not to. By
implication and by
additional NT revelation, He chose to rely upon the Holy Spirit in the same
fashion as we are to.
Nevertheless, as
undiminished deity He could not sin as elucidated in the doctrine of
impeccability. He was “not able to sin.” Thus the Trinitarian revelation of God
demonstrates that the (Q)uality of divine sovereignty and the (q)uality of
human responsibility co-existed in the Person of the God-Man. It follows then
that the meanings of the term “sovereignty” and the term “human choice” are not
logically contradictory in the sense of the logic God used to create human
history. Since God’s logic is the model of human logic, it follows that those
who claim the two qualities cannot coexist must be using faulty logic.
Poythress notes that old Greek pagan ideas still control many peoples’ use of
logic. He traces the problem back to Aristotle’s brilliant articulation of
univocal, abstract categories that apply to both God and man, i.e., the pagan
ground idea of Continuity of Being. On this Aristotelian view of logic
“causation” and “choice” must be the same for God and man. The Creator-creature
distinction is ignored at the start. Users’ of Aristotelian logic, therefore,
see a “contradiction” in the biblical revelation of divine sovereignty and
human choice. The trouble lies with the pagan notions they have imported into
the discussion, not with the biblical Trinitarian revelation.
To return to the matter of
the Father’s foreknowing those in Christ, we interpret revelation in Romans
8:29 and I Peter 1:2 as referring to the Father’s sovereign design of the plan
of salvation in eternity past. Sometimes the term foreknowledge is mistakenly
interpreted to mean that God knew before hand who would believe and who would
not believe. Then, based upon those foreseen choices of man, God elected those
who would believe. However, this idea runs into trouble with passages like
Matthew 11:20-24 where the circumstances that give rise to faith fall under
God’s sovereignty. God, not man, is the final cause. Another clear example is
the unconditional election of Abraham and his seed. According to the Abrahamic
Covenant there will be a continuous line of believers in history from Abraham
to the Messiah. Nothing can stop this sovereign covenant. Its outworking solely
rests upon God’s sovereign design of history. There will certainly be those who
believe. No man or group of men can refuse or will refuse in such a way to
block its fulfillment.
Two further examples of the final
sovereignty of God in human choices are the two Gentile rulers, Pharaoh and the
Persian king Cyrus. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart yet Pharaoh himself chose to
reject the Word of God through Moses (Exodus 7-14; Rom. 9:17). With Cyrus God
worked in the opposite manner. He circumstantially blessed Cyrus that he would
come to know God (Isa. 45:1-4). In the cases of Matthew 11:20-24, the Abrahamic
Covenant, Pharaoh, and Cyrus it was God’s sovereign control that in the final
analysis that moved them one way or another.
Foreknowledge means more
than omniscience. It means specifically-focused attention to a personal
relationship. Every believer in Christ in this dispensation has been
specifically at the center of God’s attention for all eternity! If this truth
were occupying Christian minds, we wouldn’t see the problem of bad “self
esteem” so prevalent in the Church! It is the basis of every promise of the
Word of God to the believer. In Romans 8, verse 28 stands upon the ground of
verse 29. These promises are not mere “offers”; they are guarantees. The
Father’s foreknowledge of each of us establishes the reason for the work of
Christ that we studied above. It is the reason why the Holy Spirit came to
earth to implement the many applications of the work of the Son on our behalf.
He Predestinates. This second work of the
Father follows foreknowledge. Like foreknowledge it reveals the
specifically-directed Personal Cause behind the plan of creation and
redemption. Whereas the emphasis
in foreknowledge points to the Father’s eternity-past view of His personal
relationship with us, predestination focuses upon the Father’s design of the
“context” of that personal relationship. Ephesians speaks of being predestined
to an adoption and inheritance in Christ (Eph. 1:5,11-12).
Our destiny is inseparable
from the Son. None of the revelation about foreknowing, predestinating, or
electing ever occurs as something distinct from the Second Person. He is the
Word spoken by the Father. The Father’s works, therefore, set up the Son’s
work. Figure Six attempts to show something of the relationship between the
works of the Father and the Son and between the Son and the Spirit.
Predestination would have been fruitless apart from the incarnation and
successful life of Jesus Christ which qualified Him for His eternal reign over
the Kingdom of God.
He Calls. The third work mentioned
in Romans 8:29 is the Father’s calling. Theologians sometimes refer to God’s
“efficacious call” intending to distinguish this particular call of God from
His other calls. This call functions like Jesus’ call to Lazarus in the grave
(John 11:43). Paul likely had in mind God’s call that brought him to salvation
on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:4-5; 22:6-10; 26:13-18). God’s call stands behind
the power of the revelation of the Son, the gospel ministry of the Church, and
the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. These works by the other Persons of the
Trinity give meaning to the Father’s call and make it effective in history.
He Justifies. This fourth work of the
Father we have studied several times previously (Part III under the call of
Abraham, and above under the Son’s work of Imputed Righteousness). Whereas
imputed righteousness reveals the legal basis in Christ’s victorious life on
earth, justification focuses upon the Father’s goal which is to apply that
righteousness to the account of the believer. Christ’s righteous life is the
means for carrying out the Father’s plan. But the cause behind having Christ
live a perfect life is the decree of the Father to make righteous, sinful men.
He glorifies. The fifth work of the
Father centers upon creating the resurrected, completely-saved state of the
believer in eternity future. Here we review our study in Part V of this series
regarding the doctrinal result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Resurrection takes the human body from mortal history and puts it into immortal
history where it is everlastingly immutable. Immortal history features mankind
at last in the state God decreed as its ultimate destiny.
The Father’s work of
glorifying us includes the acquisition of Christ’s eternal life in the human
spirit (regeneration), sanctified fruit of godly choices in this life (verified by the
judgment by the Son), and the eventual resurrection body. This work causes all
those results to take place in our life!
He chastens. The last work of the
Father to be studied here involves His disciplining nurture of every believer
(Heb. 12:5-6). The author of Hebrews references Proverbs 3:11-12 that shows the
role of God as the Father who disciplines His children. As wisdom literature
Proverbs expounds God’s disciplinary activity throughout every area of life
from physiological to the economic.
As Figure Six shows, the
Father’s disciplinary work causes things like the Son’s managerial severity of
His Body. Note how the language of Revelation 3:19 parallels that of Hebrews
12:5-6. This disciplinary work of the Father undoubtedly leads the Holy Spirit
to make intercession for it as part of His ministry in our lives. By including
this work of the Father in our purview of our position in Christ, we prevent a
subtle fatalism from infecting our soul by over-emphasis of foreknowledge and
predestination. Those works of the Father cannot be separated from His
righteousness and justice that demands a certain ethical content in eternal
life. Those works, therefore, imply that the Father will take various means to
guarantee that His final goal for us is reached.
An illustration might help.
When a young man enters military training, especially in basic combat skills,
he faces both “predestination” and “chastening.” The military training system
can’t afford to allow needless casualties on the battlefield. Drill sergeants
set forth the desired end goal: an adequately-trained soldier. That is the
“predestination” of an entering trainee. The drill sergeant yells at his
charges, “at the end of this training, you all will be in shape!” Yet to
ensure that such “predestination” is accomplished, the drill sergeant
throughout the course administers strict and intense discipline. The
“chastening” is implied in the “predestination.”
GOD THE FATHER:
foreknowledge
predestination calling justification glorification
GOD THE SON:
righteousness
death/res eternal life intercession direction judgment
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT:
regeneration
indwelling baptism sealing intercession sp.gift.
Figure 6. The integrated work of the Trinity on behalf of the Church
SUMMARY
The historical emergence of
the Church from Israel revealed the dawn of a new dispensation in the
outworking of God’s plan. The Church would become the King’s royal family and
would constitute the historical defeat of Satan as it is assembled one person
at a time out of his kingdom of darkness.