DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS

By the grace of God given me, I laid a foundation

as an expert builder and someone else is building
on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
For no one can lay a foundation other than the one
which is already laid, which is Christ Jesus.

Dr. Hilario B. Bilen

Professor
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Course : Bachelor of Arts in Theology (B.Th.)
Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies (BABS)
Subject : Doctrinal Foundation
Code :
Units : 3
Schedule : Friday 3-5 PM
School Year : 1st Semester 2016-2017
Professor : Dr. Hilario B. Bilen
E-mail : hbbilen@yahoo.com
Phone : 0922-411-5391

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION

1. Provide a foundational understanding of Christian belief and create an awareness of God

for people who are new to the Christian Faith.

2. Provide a refreshing overview for people who have been Christians for some time but who
have never really studied what they believe.

3. Provide a foundation from which to undertake further theological and ministry training

II. COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. To lay the Theological foundation, Biblical Framework and Guiding

Principles in the ministry.
2. To introduce the students to the basic foundational doctrines.
3. To increase awareness of the basic doctrines of the scriptures.

III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS :

1. Submission of CD PowerPoint Presentation about Basic Doctrines

2. Reporting

IV. COURSE GRADING SYSTEM

Attendance and Participation - 20 %

Mid-Term Exam - 20 %
Quizzes - 10 %
Final Exam - 20 %
Report - 30 %
TOTAL - 100 %

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V. POLICY ON ATTENDANCE :

1. All Students must attend all the scheduled classes

2. No make-up classes/special quiz/exam shall be given to absentee students
3. Three absences = failed grade
4. 3 X 15 minutes late = 1 absent

Notes: There is no credit for attendance. Students pay for the privilege to attend college
and, therefore, are not rewarded just for showing up. The professor will call the
roll before class starts. Coming to class 10 minutes after the roll call is considered
late. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to obtain class notes from a
classmate. Understand that a missed class activity and interaction cannot be
replicated.

VI. STUDENTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Come to class on time

2. Attend all classes and participate in the class discussions
3. Listen attentively to the class lectures and always take notes
4. Observe courtesy and respect to the views and opinions of the professor and
classmates
5. Meet seat works and assignment deadlines
6. Cell phones must be in silent mode during class sessions

VII. TEXT BOOKS / REFERENCES :

B. B. Warfield, op. cit. (much of the relevant material is also in his Biblical Foundations,
1958.
A. Kuyper, Encyclopaedia of Sacred Theology, E.T. 1899.
J. Orr, Revelation and Inspiration, 1910.
C. F. H. Henry (ed.), Revelation and the Bible, 1958.
K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, I, I, 2 (The Doctrine of the Word of God), E.T. 1936, 1956.
W. Sanday, Inspiration, 1893; R. Abba, The Nature and Authority of the Bible, 1958.
J. W. Wenham, Christ and the Bible, 1972.
G. C. Berkouwer, Holy Scripture, 1975.
J. R. lllingworth, The Doctrine of the Trinity, 1909.
C. W. Lowry, The Trinity and Christian Devotion, 1946.
A. E. Garvie, Tire Christian Doctrine of the Godhead,1925.
H. Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, 1951.
B.B. Warfield in ISBE (s.v. 'Trinity'); R. S. Franks, The Doctrine of the Trinity, 1953:
K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, E.T. 1936.
D.Lamont, Christ and the World of Thought,1934.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section 1 - Using this course 5

Welcome 5
Requirements 5
Assessment 5
Reading and Reflection 6
Language 6
Section 2 - Laying a Foundation 7
Lesson 1 Revelation 9
Lesson 2 The Bible 14
Section 3 - The Nature and Character of God 16
Lesson 3 Selected Self Revelations of God 17
Lesson 4 God and Trinity 20
Lesson 5 Attributes of God Part 1 24
Lesson 6 Attributes of God Part 2 27
Lesson 7 Worship and Idolatry 31
Section 4 - Man, Created in the Image of God 34
Lesson 8 Man the Created Being 35
Lesson 9 The Purpose of Man 37
Lesson 10 The Fall 41
Lesson 11 Consequences of the Fall 44
Lesson 12 Jesus the New Man 46
Section 5 - The Redemption Plan 49
Lesson 13 Covenants, the History of Redemption 50
Lesson 14 Jesus our Present Redemption 54
Lesson 15 Redemption and the Future 58
Section 6 – Christianity 61
Lesson 16 The Gospel 62
Lesson 17 The Holy Spirit 68
Lesson 18 The Church 75
Lesson 19 The Kingdom of God 81
Appendices
1 Assessment Details 85
2 Sample Assessment 86
3 Sample Forms for Assessments 88
4 Selected Readings 91

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 SECTION 1

WELCOME TO THIS COURSE

This course guides you through the amazing truths about God that lay the foundation for
Christian belief. It requires participation so that the learning does not become purely academic
but draws you into relationship and worship with God. The course does not deal with all the
practices of Christian life. This is done in the sister course Living in the Kingdom. In this
foundations course we want you to have time to be awed by God and allow the wonder to
settle into your spirit.

Requirements

This manual can be used by itself but it has regular references to the text: Know the Truth by
Bruce Milne. Reading from this text will be necessary to pass the assessments and gain credit.
Additional readings are included with the manual.

Students will also need to purchase a journal, preferably A4, large enough to allow at least 2
pages for each of the 20 lessons. It can be a simple exercise book but a spiral bound version
would be better

Loose A4 paper will be required for assessments. If they are being handwritten then lined
paper should be used.

Pens and pencils will be required and the use of coloured highlighters is recommended to
mark the manual. Note that there is plenty of free space in the manual to allow personal notes
to be written alongside.

Assessment

This course is assessed. The assessment has two purposes. First it is to help you in the learning
process. Secondly it establishes when you have achieved the intended outcomes of the course.
If you are not used to doing assessments or if your history of study is flunkey, don't get
phased. These are not intended to be hard, tricky or require any superior intellect. All that is
required is an attitude of wanting to learn about God.

Assessments

There are two assessment tasks; the first one has eight charts to be completed. These charts are
all similar in format and requirements but distinct in content. Each one will require you to look
at an important idea or belief. Examine some Scriptures related to it. Read some additional
material and then write briefly how that belief affects you personally and in the church. There
is more detailed instruction on how to do the assessments in Appendix 1 and in Appendix 2

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there is a sample chart, which shows how the charts should be completed. The subject of each
chart will be given to you during the appropriate lesson.

The second assessment task requires you to write a brief essay answering one of five questions
using the content of three beliefs that you have studied in this manual.

Reading and Reflection

Within the lessons you are required to read Scriptures and sections of books. These are
compulsory course requirements. There are also sections of the course where you will be
asked to think about, or reflect on ideas. While this cannot be enforced, please recognise the
importance of doing so and be just as diligent about these exercises as your assessments.

Language

Selection of words can be difficult when talking about God. For example we believe that God
is above gender. Both male and female characteristics are found in the revelation of God but
the English language lacks a genderless personal pronoun. We have the choice of using the
impersonal "it", a gendered pronoun "he" or "she" or in the objective form "Godself". We
have chosen to use masculine pronouns because of consistency with the translation
conventions used in most Bibles. This is done for convenience and is in no way intended to
reinforce a masculine dominated view of God. In a similar way the generic use of man or
mankind has been continued.

Text Reading
Throughout the manual icons like the little book above will be used to alert you to things that
you need to do. In this case it means to read from the set text which is Milne: Know the
Truth. For this introduction session you are to read the following:

Milne 15 - 19

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 SECTION 2

INTRODUCTION - LAYING FOUNDATIONS

Section Overview

Becoming a Christian starts you on a process that will continue for the rest of your life (and
after!). It is a process of restoration and creation that shapes our character and skills until we
begin to look and act like Jesus did. It is an amazing privilege and process because the Creator
of the whole universe and life is personally involved in it even though he works through
people, situations and events.

Often our Christian growth is likened to a building. Every building requires a

secure foundation, laid in proportion to the size of the building to be erected. Do
you remember the leaning tower of Pisa? Although it is a great tourist attraction
it serves as a good reminder of how important it is to start with good
foundations.

Reflect and Pray

Pause for a few moments and imagine that you are pondering over the blueprints for the plan
of your life. What are your hopes and aspirations? Do you dare to believe that God wants to
create something significant in your life? How important is the foundation that will support the
rest of your life.

Jesus himself used the foundation illustration:

• Read Matt 7:24 – 27

• Also read 1Cor 3:10 – 15 and Heb 6:1 – 3

Spend a few minutes in prayer to ask God to continue his work in your life. Ask him for the
grace to give him freedom to work within you. Ask him to lay a strong foundation.

This course is designed to assist and guide you in the process of laying a foundation for your
Christian life. We want it to be good and strong. There will be many challenges along the way.
God works in ways that are quite different from what is normally expected in life. You are not
required to just learn about God, you will need to trust him even if you don’t always
understand what is happening. But learn to think about it this way. The most fundamental
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thing we can assume about God is that he is great and he is good. If this is true then he is far
greater than our mistakes, our weaknesses and our doubts. He always intends the best for us.
If we trust him, we cannot go wrong. Remember the time when as a little child you held a
parents hand. That made you feel safe. It is even more so with God.

Laying a foundation in your life is a co-operative effort. Without God you can’t do anything.
You may gain knowledge, but it will not change you within. Only God has the power to work
within you to bring about change at the very deepest level of your thoughts and values. But
God will not do anything without your participation. There is no magic wand that suddenly
transforms you into a different person. Instead God will lead you into situations where you can
choose to call on his help or to not go any further. In that sense he is dependent on you. But
Christian life is not just God and you. Right at the heart of God’s nature is the desire to have
many, many people living in unity with him and each other. In terms of our Christian growth
God uses other people to influence us, teach us, correct us and encourage us. Fundamental to
this foundation laying then, is the need to interact with other Christians. Learn to talk about
God with them. Ask questions and pray together.

It will be helpful to remember this little diagram:

God

Other people You

Reading

Read through the following Scriptures and reflect on them. Write some personal thoughts
in your journal.
• Psalms 24 and 25
• Proverbs 1 – 3

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 HOW DO WE KNOW GOD
LESSON1

1READ A N D S T U D Y T H I S

We have already started to talk freely about God as if we know who he is but we have to ask
the question, who is he really and how do we know him?

All people in the world have some concept of a God or gods or reject the idea of God to
become atheists. The concepts vary immensely and consequently there are many religions in
this world. Sometimes it is necessary to understand them and this done under the study of
World Religions. Every religious group, including Christians, believes that their set of beliefs
gives the best understanding of God. How can we know who is right? As Christians we
defend our beliefs from the challenges of different religions or atheism through Apologetics.
Apologetics is a field of study and ministry that is very effective in explaining the
reasonableness of Christian belief.

In this course, however, we will simply present the truths that have been learned over many
hundreds of years without trying to defend them. These truths are known to change people’s
lives and help develop a sense of purpose and destiny. We have the confidence that God
himself will help us understand and believe the truth that he has revealed.

Starting Assumption

God is good and great! We can argue against this assumption as many people do today but the
result is that life becomes meaningless. Deep inside we have this conviction that there is
meaning in our existence and it can be shown that if we develop this to a logical conclusion
then our stated assumption must be true.

Now if God is great and good then he would certainly want to make himself known to us. The
age-old question is how does God make himself known if we can’t see him, hear him or
touch him by our normal senses. It is possible to live without even considering whether there
is a God or not. If God is so willing to make himself known why are there so many people,
particularly in Western society, who feel they have never had any event in their life that would
give them evidence of a good God?

We believe God does make himself known because of the evidence of many people have been
willing to consider the possibility of God and found that he confirms their openness by
showing himself in ways they hadn’t considered. Lives change as a result. We call this
revelation. God reveals himself. But how? Through two ways that we call General and
Special Revelation.

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General Revelation

What we mean by general revelation is that God is revealing himself to all people all of the
time. He does this in the following ways:

Nature

If we look at the earth, the sky, and the processes of nature with an open mind we will
recognise that they are so wonderful and amazing that we will conclude that a marvellous
being has made them.

Order

If we see the order within physics, biology and other sciences we recognise that this could
only have been established by a person far greater than us.

Conscience

Every person has a conscience that dictates to him or her certain moral boundaries.
Although moral boundaries are often shaped by culture we still acknowledge that there
are also universal norms. Exploring the nature of our own conscience leads us to
acknowledge a superior being and creator. This is not always acknowledged today but
that is mainly because the human conscience can become distorted.

Summary

General revelation means that everything around us points to the existence of God and helps
us to understand a little bit about him. What we can learn from this about God is:

1. Powerful
2. Intelligent
3. Creative
4. Moral

Illustration
There is a helpful story made up by someone to illustrate how these
observations lead us to God:
Imagine a person walking along the road, who sees a watch lying on the
ground. He picks it up and examines it outside and inside and discovers
what it does and how it works. He finishes his observations and concludes
that this was a wonderful accident in time and space that brought this watch into
existence.

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We would all protest and say that the watch could never be the product of chance. It is
too intricate. It required a very skilled craftsman to construct it. Now consider the human
body. It is infinitely more intricate than a watch. In fact the human is clever enough to
make a watch. If the watch required a maker then in observing humans we must conclude
that an even greater being made us. There is no way that we could be the result of an
accident.

Bible Reading

The Bible gives us some guidelines about general revelation. Please read the following
passages:

• Psalm 8:3
• Romans 1:19 – 20
• Hebrews 11:3
• Acts 17:27
• Psalm 144

Read and Study This

Special Revelation

God has not limited us to general revelation. Although it is truly amazing what we can
see of God in creation with that alone we would be like men groping in the dark. In fact
the real value of general revelation is to create a desire to know more. Because God is
good he has given much more knowledge of himself. This he does through Special
revelation.
The Bible itself is a special revelation of God because it records the ways in which God
specially revealed himself to people through history. Here are some examples of how
God did this.

Adam and Eve

At the very beginning of human life God took a form that allowed him to walk, meet and
talk with people. He communicated directly with them so that they could hear and
understand every word that he spoke. This revelation of God, which boggles our mind,
was cut short because people refused to accept what God was saying. We will have much
more to say about this later but at the moment we must realise that God from that time
had to choose a different way of communicating with us.

Read Genesis 1 – 3
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Moses

Moses was a very humble man and God chose to reveal himself in a way that was very
similar to the way in the Garden of Eden. He spoke words directly to Moses and allowed
Moses to speak to him. Because Moses was alive in a time when people had learned to
write he recorded many of the words and experiences with God. In fact this record is a
large portion of the Bible and still gives us specific understanding about God.

Read Exodus 33:7 – 1

Samuel

Samuel was a young boy when he had the experience of God speaking audibly with him.
He couldn’t see any form but he could hear God’s words.

Read 1Samuel 3

Prophets

There were many people in the Bible who were directed by God to speak messages that
he would tell them. Sometimes they received these as audible commands but frequently
they were impressions or strong feelings about what God had to say. These messages
would be spoken and often recorded in writing.

Jesus Christ

About 2000 years ago God made a supreme effort to show himself to people. He himself
took the bodily form of a human being with all its weakness and limitations. But he
behaved and spoke in a way that was totally consistent with his own character. By doing
this he was able to demonstrate to us what he is like. Jesus is the most special revelation
of God and there is so much to say about him. Let us here realise that while many people
may have concepts about God, Christians have a description given by people who
walked, lived and talked with him. Some people think that it demeans our concept of God
to believe in a God who came in human form. Surely God is too great for that. But let us
see that this simply makes God all the greater that he can come to our level without
loosing any of his divinity. It highlights his goodness and kindness. It reveals his love and
holiness.

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The Holy Spirit

We cannot meet Jesus as a historical figure as people did 2000 years ago. However because he
was resurrected he can still show himself just as powerfully to us today. We need to look at
this in a future lesson we need to understand that the Holy Spirit lives in us and he can work in
our lives to reveal Christ and also to change us from within so that we become like God

There are many other times and ways God revealed himself to people. As you continue to read
through the bible take note of how God reveals himself and what he shows people.

Reflect and Pray

To Remember

1. That God wants to reveal himself to us.

2. That God does reveal himself to us in many different ways
3. That the best understanding of God is to look at Jesus
4. That the Holy Spirit living in us can show us what Christ is like continually

Recall

Can you recall any of the following ways in which God revealed himself to you?

1. A strong impression about something in your thoughts

2. A passage from the bible that seemed to stand out as if it was specially written for you
3. Someone said something that seemed as if it was a direct message from God
4. You dreamed something that gave you direction

Write about one of these occasions in your journal. Ask yourself whether you were obedient to
what God revealed

Prayer

Spend some time praying by yourself and then with another person. Ask God to reveal himself
further. Renew your intention to be obedient to him

Text Reading

1. Read Milne 19 - 26

2. Look at the sample assessment in appendix two, which is on the same topic as this lesson.
Observe how it was done and the level of detail so that you can do start a similar
assessment for the next lesson

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 The Bible
LESSON 2

Read and Study This

We have already seen that the Bible is one of the most important ways that we come to know
about God. We need to have a look at this amazing book to discover how reliable it is and how
we can use it.

The bible is really a collection of writings rather than a single book. It has poetry, letters, legal
documents as well as other forms of writing. Many different authors wrote it over more than
1500 years. Yet in spite of this it has a coherency and consistency that makes it obvious that
there is a single author behind it all. This is what we believe:

Although human authors wrote the words of the Bible, God inspired them. Sometimes he gave
people the exact words to say other times they put their revelation of God in their own words.

God’s inspiration is not limited to the words that were spoken and written down. The portions
of writings had to be passed around and survive many wars, political upheavals etc over a
period of 1500 years before they could all be gathered together in the form of the Bible, as we
know it today. There were no printing presses or photocopiers around in those days. The fact
that they have survived as such a complete record is testimony of God’s care in revealing
himself through the written words.

Here is some factual information about the bible:

• The Bible has two main divisions: Old Testament and New Testament. The Old
Testament is an account of God’s relationship with people at the beginning of human life
and then with the nation of Israel. The New Testament is a record of Jesus earthly ministry
and then the early church.

• It has 66 component books. These are not strictly speaking books as many of them are
poems, collections of poems, letters etc. However we often call them books for
convenience. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New.

• There are about 40 authors. This is approximate because we do not know the authorship of
some books.

• The Old Testament was originally written mainly in Hebrew. Just before Christ was born
it was translated into Greek (called the Septuagint).

• The New Testament was written in Greek.

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• About 300 AD the whole Bible was translated into Latin (called the Vulgate) and used
mainly by clergy. From the time just before the Reformation, various people began to
translate it into the languages of the people. One of the most important translations into
English was commissioned by King James, from which it gets its title. Today many
people are fortunate to have modern translations in their own languages. There are also
still many languages that do not have a translation and this is a major challenge to
missionaries today.

Text Reading

Read Milne 27 - 39. Make sure you read all the Scripture references.

Written Assessment

Write an assessment on the concept of inspiration as applied to the Bible. Use the format
given in the sample assessment in Appendix 1. Use one of the blank tables supplied with the
assessment instructions for unit no. 9974. The readings from the text will be helpful and you
should also look at the additional readings in the Appendix

Going on From Here

We have only tried to establish that the Bible is a trustworthy, authoritative and
comprehensive book for us to use in laying a Christian Foundation. The skills required to
use it accurately and effectively are developed in other subjects. These subjects are
usually developed under the following headings:

Old and New Testament Surveys:

These subjects overview the main events and people in the Bible. They show that there
are important themes that connect the books together to form a cohesive picture of God
working in history.

Bible Interpretation

This subject develops the skills required to research the historical and grammatical
context of passages. The technical term for interpretation is hermeneutics.

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 SECTION 3

THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF GOD

Section Overview

We have established so far that God wants to make himself known and that he does so
through creation but more specifically through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. He has also
provided us with a written record - the Bible - of the many ways in which he has revealed
himself throughout history. We regard the Bible as absolutely true and accurate if it is
interpreted properly. With this understanding we want to look into the Bible to get an
understanding of who God is and what he is like.

Before we start that we must set some important boundaries:

1. God is infinite and we are finite. That means we will never understand God fully. He is
too great to be defined in our human understanding. Therefore there will always be a
mystery about God.

2. To understand anything we must use language and illustrations that we are familiar with.
We have to do this when trying to know God too, but we must always be ready to
recognise the limitations of our descriptions and change them when they become too
limiting.

3. We must recognise that we change as we grow in Christian understanding and relationship

with God. That means that concepts that were adequate when we started need to grow and
develop with us. For example a child knows how an adult drives a car, but that knowledge
changes and deepens when they have to drive it themselves. It requires a humble attitude
of always being a learner.

4. The goal of Christian teaching is not knowledge it is change. We should never seek to
gain knowledge without asking how can I apply this in my life or how can this help
someone else.

As you work through this section allow yourself plenty of time to be awed about God. Don’t
be afraid to question things and acknowledge you don’t understand. That doesn’t disappoint
God, rather it gives him the opportunity to help you. By the end of this section it is hoped that
you are so convinced about the goodness and trustworthiness of God that while everything
and everyone may fail you, you can completely trust him.

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 Selected Revelations of God

LESSON 3

Read and Study This

It is hard to know where to begin talking about God, but we will start by looking at a selection
of events in which God especially choose to reveal himself visually or through a message.

1. Exodus 33

Moses was called by God to lead the Israelites from Egypt where they were slaves to a place
he had promised to them. The people had started the journey seeing God perform many
miracles. Human nature soon took over however and the people did the usual thing like
complaining about food, criticising Moses leadership etc. God called Moses up a mountain to
talk to him and give him instructions for the people. During that time Moses expressed some
of the difficulties of leading the people and said to God that he needed more of God’s presence
and power to lead effectively. He was even bold enough to ask God if he could see him
properly. God’s reply was no, nobody can do that, but he would pass by, as Moses hid in the
rocks. As God did so, he would proclaim his name.

In ancient times a person’s name revealed a lot about the person, so God was saying, “I will let
you see and know as much as any human being can.” So God did and he made this
proclamation:

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in
love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness. Yet he does
not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the
fathers to the third and fourth generation.

Of all the things that God could say about himself he chose these words. We see that God’s
self-revelation is a balance between his loving gracious nature and his holiness and justice. If
he didn’t have the latter he would be like a Santa Claus god, who is always lovely and always
gives what we want. If we only had the latter he would be a harsh God who lived by principles
and not feelings. Both these extremes have frequently been used to characterise God and both
are wrong. Summarising the true characteristics of God revealed in this passage we can say
that he is:

• Compassionate
• Loving
• Gracious
• Faithful
• Just

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2. Genesis 17:1 - 27

This is quite a long passage and extremely interesting. It opens with the statement that God
appeared to Abraham. We don’t know how, but it was so real that Abraham and God had a
two-way conversation. In fact in verse 15 and 16 God says something to Abraham that makes
him fall down with laughter. In the course of the whole account we learn among other things
the following about God:

He likes to make covenants with people.

That is he is willing to associate himself with people so that they can agree to certain things
and work together. God is certainly and absolutely the senior he is gracious enough to allow us
to work co-operatively with him.

He likes to bless the people with whom he is in covenant

In this passage and in others dealing with Abraham, God expresses his desire to bless people.
It flows from his nature that he wants do good materially and spiritually for people. We should
note that in his generosity to us God expects us to act the same way to others and to a large
extent the measure of his blessing is dependent on our willingness to bless others.

He likes expansion or multiplication

Several times in this passage God encourages Abraham with the command and blessing to
multiply. It is within his nature apparently to increase.

He likes to communicate

Even though we have a picture of God coming down to communicate with man there is no
sense of condescension or unwillingness. In fact if we look at all God’s encounters with
Abraham it becomes clear that he desires to communicate.

3. Isaiah 6

Isaiah was a prophet who would have had a very high standard of moral behaviour and an
extensive knowledge of God. In this account he was in the temple, probably worshipping and
praying when he saw a vision of God. God was revealed with angels under a tremendous
sense of majesty and awe. The angels continually proclaimed the holiness and glory of God.

Glory and Holiness

We will deal with these two words in more detail later but for the moment look at the effect
that it had Isaiah. Even a man as righteous as he was awe-struck and incredibly aware of his
and humanities sinfulness. God’s purity makes our righteousness look horrible, our white

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would be black in comparison to God’s. For all the freedom we have to relate to God we must
always be mindful of the difference between him and us.

Cleansing Power

When Isaiah acknowledges his sinfulness we find God is very ready to impart from his own
holiness a cleansing action that would enable him to respond to God’s mission. This is an
incredibly important aspect of God’s nature to see. He could easily annihilate us from
existence because of uncleanness, but instead he chooses to be gracious and purify us.

Awesome Power

When God appears everything shakes. We are impressed God is restraining his power in this
situation. Truly he is the creator of the whole universe and is all powerful. We are not dealing
with a petty deity. Our God is powerful.

There are many other accounts in the bible which reveal God but the few we have looked at
here are sufficient to see that the nature and character cannot be defined by a few listed
attributes. He is too great for that although in a couple of lessons we will try to summarise the
most important ones for us.

Another thing that we see is that whatever description we use for a particular aspect of God
there is a balancing characteristic we need to be aware of. For example while God is loving he
is also just. Where he is kind he also disciplines and punishes. It helps us to remain sound in
our thinking and living if we stay balanced between the extremes of understanding.

Bible Reading

Read the following passages that reflect on basic nature of God

Psalm 86
Psalm 103
Ephesians 2:4 – 5
1John 3:1 – 3

Reflect and Pray

Discuss what the love of God means to you with at least one other person.

Record some notes in your journal about God’s character.

Text Reading

Read Milne 52 - 58

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 Trinity
LESSON 4

Read and Study This

God is revealed in the Bible as:

• Father

• Son – Jesus Christ

• Holy Spirit

Scripture Reading

1. Ephesians 3

2. Hebrews 1

3. Acts 2

This has led to much discussion about what God is really like because on the one hand we
have an absolute belief that there is one God and yet he seems to have three distinct
personalities. No one has been able to perfectly explain this in human terms because God is
not human. Even though there will be ongoing mystery about this it is important for us to have
a brief look at the trinity for the following reasons:

1. To establish the distinctiveness of Christian belief from any other religion

2. To establish boundaries for sound doctrine

3. To open our understanding to some wonderful truths about God which help us relate to
him

Before looking at these in more detail we need to remember that the truth we are discovering
is by way of revelation. We do not start with a doctrine of Trinity and set to out prove it from
Scripture. Rather, God has revealed himself, historically, sovereignly in such a way that
Trinitarian belief is inevitable. In terms of our study this means that we look at Scriptures in
the bible and let them reveal meaning to us rather than starting with the doctrine and then
proving it.

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The Trinity

The Trinitarian understanding of God is different from other religions. Hinduism has many
gods, Islam has one God, but Christianity has one God in three persons.

Read: Deut 6:4 and Matt 28:19

In fact the bible doesn’t directly explain the trinity but there are many passages that mention
the oneness of God, the distinctiveness of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the three in
oneness of God.

Some people have tried to explain this by saying that God can show himself in three different
ways depending on how he wants to reveal himself. This is called modalism. But it is not as
simple as that because God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit all at the same time. For example
Jesus, who is God, cried out to the Father. So Trinity is not like water that at times can be ice
or steam.

Some have said that the Trinity is a progressive revelation of God. God in his fullness is Spirit
but to know what God as Spirit is like he reveals himself as a Father and as a Son, aspects of
person-hood that we are familiar with. Again the problem is to answer how can God be
simultaneously Father and Son if these are alternative revelations of Spirit.

While we must reject these ideas as not being completely adequate we should feel free to think
about them for they are ways of allowing our finite minds to contemplate on the Infinite
productively

Read Genesis 1: 26

This passage shows that before man was created God was able to confer with himself and
work co-operatively. We must assume from the language used here that Father, Son and Holy
Spirit were united, one and yet sufficiently distinct to be a community of creative being. God
has the incomprehensible ability to be one and community at the same time.

Setting some boundaries

We need to reject some things that are absolutely not true

1. There is no hierarchy in God whereby the Father is above the Son who is above the Spirit.
There is total equality and harmony in the Trinity.

2. God did not join with a woman to produce an offspring called the Son. This would be as
abhorrent to us as it is to Moslems who sometimes think we believe it.

3. The Trinity is exactly that and it does not lead to an interpretation that God is part of the
universe or creation is his body or that we as humans are becoming one with God in
nature.

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In church history leaders and theologians have been careful to set boundaries on
understanding the trinity so that the church would not go into heresy. For example at Nicea in
325 a large group of Bishops wrote a creed to establish that:

We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, the maker of all things seen and unseen.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God: begotten from the Father: Only begotten – that
is, from the substance of the Father, God from God; light from light; true God from true God;
begotten not made; of one substance with the Father; through whom all things in heaven and
on earth came into being; who on account of us human beings and our salvation came down
and took flesh, becoming a human being; he suffered and rose again on the third day,
ascended into the heavens; and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

And in the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean for us?

There are so many implications of all this that you can spend the rest of your life exploring
them. Some important considerations are discussed here. Remember that in doing this we are
using human language and ideas to express a God far outside those limitations. Also realise
that in the Trinitarian way God reveals himself, he is not just representing himself in that way
so that we can understand him, he is revealing himself as he is. If we can identify with his
nature and character it is because we are made in his image.

1. God is not some individualistic deity who from a distance relates to his creation. Because
he is a Trinity, we know that God is intimate, communicative and enjoys fellowship as an
integral part of his nature. Realising this about God removes the perception that God is
like a hermit, far of, who has lost the ability to relate at a meaningful level.

2. God as a father inspires us with confidence about his ability to work things out, help us in
need, and defend us in trouble. Fathers, even in the fallen state of man, are looked up to by
children as the ones who can make everything right because they are strong and
protective. Fathers also provide discipline when we are going astray and our concept of
God needs this to be revealed. Boundaries set by Father God ensure that we grow up,
mature and take responsibility.

3. The fact that the Son is Trinity reveals that although God is equal there is also mutual
respect, submission and obedience within his own being For us seeing God as Son also
reveals that God is a friend. (John 15) We can talk things over with him. He is not always
out to correct us or even help us, at times he is just willing to listen, because he is like a
brother.

4. God as Spirit shows that he is able to be everywhere involved within his creation.
Particularly he is able to enter our lives and work from within us to motivate and change
us so that we are not forced to live by a set of rules but by the very presence of God
himself, pouring out his love, and restoring us to be like him
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A Final Thought

This quote is taken from your textbook - Milne, 63

To reflect upon God in his three-in-oneness, Father, Son, and Spirit, in their
distinguishable persons and functions yet perfect harmony in mutual everlasting love,
is to catch a vision of something so unspeakably glorious, even beautiful and
attractive, that it has ever and again down the centuries moved men and women to the
heights of adoring worship, love and praise.

And the Hymn writer declared:

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Reflect and Pray

Set four days during the next week to think about God as Trinity. For three days think about
God as Father, then Son and then Holy Spirit. In your journal record what this does to the way
you relate to God. Note if there are any times when you find it hard because you equate the
God with a bad relationship you had with people eg. father or brother. On the fourth day
reflect on God being one. Allow some time to appreciate his love for you and worship him
with words or song. You may be able to write a poem or prayer.

Text Reading

Read Milne 59 - 64

Written Assessment

You should now do some further research yourself on the Trinity and write it up in the format
explained at the beginning of the course. In the Appendix you will find some additional
readings that will be sufficient for the assessment.

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 THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD 1
LESSON 5

Read and Study This

What we have tried to show in the last two lessons is that God is so diverse that he cannot be
characterised by catalogued attributes and that he is in some ways still so mysterious that we
cannot fully understand him. Our descriptions are somewhat like the
analysis of an elephant by several blind men. The one touching the trunk
said it was like a snake, the one at its leg said it was like a tree etc. However
if all the blind men were able to say where their part was in relation to the
others they could probably piece together a working description of an
elephant. We will try to describe the nature and character of God by doing this. We will look
at a range of attributes of God by grouping them into like categories. We will look at what are
considered to be the main attributes of God

1. Essential

Here we want to say that God is:

1. Alive
2. Personal
3. Spiritual
4. Active
Each of these descriptions may seem self-evident to you, you may have never thought of God
in any other way. There are major challenges to each of these concepts however. Handling
them briefly:

God is very much alive. Philosophers of the last couple of centuries have wanted to say the
opposite because they believe that God is a human construction to help grapple with things
that can't be rationally explained. The bible gives evidence to the contrary. God can speak,
listen, appear, think, feel etc. These characteristics only belong to one who lives. Neither can it
be said that God was alive and has died. The bible declares that he is the same yesterday today
and forever and daily Christian worldwide experience this truth.

Things can be alive but not personal eg. plants or even forces. But God is personal. He
communicates with us in such a manner that to say he is not personal would be to deny we are.
We also say God is personal because he experiences feeling and emotions. And above all
when God desired most of all to reveal himself he came as Jesus Christ, a person who may
related to.

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To say that God is Spiritual is really to say that he is different than we are in our physical
nature. Although we realise that our soul transcends the physical realm we cannot imagine any
life that is not physical. Because of common entertainment the spiritual realm has been
distorted. It is usually portrayed as being less real or having less substance than the physical
realm. After all you can just push your hand through a ghost. This is not true. As scientists
have discovered the physical realm is actually very empty. The amount of solid matter in an
atom is very minute. So when we see Jesus walking through walls it is not his body that
lacked substance it is the wall's lack of substance that allowed his spiritual body to pass
straight through it. We simply want to conclude this argument by saying that the Spirit realm
is more real than ours is and beings in that realm can appear physically. We also suspect that
in the spiritual realm the space time properties we are confined to, change. So spirit beings can
appear in various locations at will without having to travel. That God is Spirit means that for
us in the physical realm he is invisible and different.

God is active simply denies some theorists who acknowledge that God created the universe,
but think he left it to follow the laws of physics without his further intervention. We believe
that God is active at all times in human history. The Bible is an account that shows his interest
and how he is involved with people and all of creation. In the same way we believe that he is
actively involved in the world today, in society, church and our individual lives.

2. Metaphysical

In this category of attributes we want to say that God is

Self-existent
Eternal
Unchanging

God's self-existence means that although every thing in the universe, alive or not was created,
nothing created God. He simply was and he simply is. The important implication of this is that
nothing is greater than God is and that all other things are less than God is because he made
them. This helps us keep a right perspective on our own smallness and fragility which in turn
helps us to be awestruck that this great uncreated, creator wants to have personal intimate
relationship with his created beings.

We say God is eternal because as well as being uncreated, he always has been. He had no
beginning. There never was a time when God was not and there will never be a time when he
ceases to be. Again this helps us to appreciate the greatness of God and it also leads to the next
consideration that God is unchanging. Does this mean God can't change his mind, some
Scriptures indicate that he does? No, the point is that his character never changes, he doesn't
have mood changes or bouts of depression, he doesn't feel bad today. This is so important to
us in an age of relativity. No one has absolutes any longer, you can't depend on any truth
because truth is all relative, which means that really nothing is true (including this
statement!!).

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We need to know that God is unchanging, that he has absolutes, that he is dependable and that
his word stands. No wonder the psalm writer said "My God - the rock".

3. Intellectual

God's intellectual attributes are:

1. Omniscient
2. Faithful
3. Wise

That God is Omniscient means that he knows all things, there are no unknown truths for God.
While there is a tendency for people to feel distanced from God because of this we should
actually be comforted that there is One greater than us. A child has much respect for his
earthly parents because they know so much. We can be pleasantly awed by God.

That God is intellectually faithful simply means that he always knows what is true, he never
believes what is false. God is not going to learn something in the future that will change what
he believes now. God is not going to believe anything false about you. What he knows about
you is absolutely true. Because of this we can trust God and have full confidence in him

God is also wise. This means that God will always act in such a way that produces the best
outcome and he will always do it at the right time. We need to remind ourselves of this as we
sometimes feel like God should do something. God sees the bigger picture and knows what is
wise.

Text Reading

Read Milne 64 – 72

26
 The Attributes of God 2
LESSON 6

Read and Study This

We are continuing a description of the amazing attributes of God. Remember that we are
doing this so that when we think about God we are guided by what people have carefully
studied in the past and found to be true. It would take us more than a lifetime to discover
these things for ourselves and we would undoubtedly get things wrong along the way.
But these truths must only be a foundation, not a final understanding. We are all called to
think about God and inquire both through study and our personal relationship with him.

4. Ethical

We say of God’s ethical nature that he is Holy, Righteous and Loving.

We have already said that God is different from us in a number of ways. God’s Holiness
is the statement that morally he distinct from creation. He is pure in all thought and
behaviour, perfectly motivated, upright and untainted. There is nothing at all evil or
mediocre about him. There are many places in the bible where God himself and the
prophets declare his Holiness. While at times it can be frightening to think of his holiness
we also recognise that he would not be a God worthy of worship if he weren’t. This
aspect of God allows us to look upward from the chaos created by sin and say there is
One who stands above it all. Furthermore he calls us into holiness as well. How this can
be achieved in us can only be seen when we look at the redemptive work of Christ. But
we should be filled with anticipation that we can be elevated above the contamination of
this world.
God’s righteousness is really a judicial statement. His judgements in this world and in the
future will always be right because he is righteous.

As with other attributes of God, to say that he is loving seems such an understatement or
inadequate way of revealing what he is like. He demonstrates his love through being
merciful toward our sinful behaviour. He displays it by wanting to be close to us even
when we reject him. He proves it by making the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the
cross. There can be no doubt that God is loving and this facet of his nature overrides all
others in terms of his relationship with people. The very act of creation proves that we
should rightly know God as a God of love.

5. Emotional

In the past there have been many portrayals of God as a stoic being devoid of emotion.
One wonders why as the bible reveals many emotional facets of God’s character. The
prominent features are:

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• Hating evil
• Patient
• Compassionate

God’s hate for sin in not just an abstract requirement for God to be righteous. When God
views sin the bible shows that it causes a passionate reaction that can be described as
intense hatred. It is always justified and fair but it is emotionally powerful. We can learn
from this that hate is an acceptable emotion provided that is directed at the right object
and held within appropriate behaviour.

God's ability to hate is balanced by his patience and compassion. Without these two
attributes we would have a severe God and unfortunately he has often been portrayed like
this historically. But Scripture clearly reveals that God has the deepest feelings of
compassion that we can compare with the love of a mother for her children. As we saw in
the last category of attributes God's love is amazingly demonstrated but here we need to
see that deep passionate emotions accompany this. This allows God to be infinitely
patient or longsuffering. He has amazing plans and aspirations for us and all creation but
these are so often frustrated by our waywardness. God's patience prevents sheer
exasperation taking over.

While we must avoid attributing emotionalism to God we must recognise that his nature
includes emotions which are balanced and yet deeply passionate. For many people this
can liberate them from the suppression of their own emotions caused by disapproval of
others.

6. Existential

Existential is an important word that brings the concerns of truth and reality back to the
subjective existence of a person as opposed to objective propositions that are independent
of a living existence. When we apply it to God we are identifying that in his existence he
is Free, Authentic and Omnipotent.

God is free because nothing can control him, nothing can force him to do other than what
he wills. In particular God is not coerced by evil or any other thing outside of himself.
Remember that this is not just something we conjure up, it is rather the way in which God
has revealed himself and we know to be true. It is important that we explore the
significance of this aspect of God because the bible shows a consistent plan whereby God
is bringing us into freedom also. This is almost inconceivable in the world we live in
because we are bound by so many constraints. For example what is freedom, the right of
one to smoke or the right the other to breathe fresh air? This is unresolvable in human
terms and the root of the conflict can be traced to sin. God remains outside of this
dilemma and offers us a future with the same freedom.

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We should note that some would say God is not completely free because, for example, he
cannot lie. But really no such argument is valid because God would never will to lie and
so he is absolutely free to be and act as he wills.

God is authentic because whatever we learn about him through his self-revelation is what
he is. He has no masks or disguises that are created by fear, insecurity or hypocrisy. What
a relief in a world where these things prevent us from knowing the real person in almost
everyone we meet.

God's omnipotence is often defined as his all-powerfulness. This is true but power is not
power in the same sense as we use the word today. It really means that whatever God
wills to do he can do. He is not limited by time, resources, strength, and authority,
intellect or any other want. He has it all and is therefore able to act in full accord with his
own will.

7. Relational

How is God related to creation and in particular mankind? We have much to discover
about this through the course but it is important to establish some foundational statements
here. Firstly, God is transcendent. This means that he is absolutely distinct from all of
creation. It is a way of summarising previous attributes of uniqueness such as holiness. It
means that if we describe God in any human language we must acknowledge that the
words are at best symbols or metaphors because God's transcendence is such that he is
other than all those things with which we describe him. He is uncreated so he stands
above all creation. Removing transcendence leads to pantheism, a heresy in which
everything is part of God and God is in everything. Before we start to feel that God is
becoming remote, remember that many of the previous attributes show that although
transcendent, God chooses to be close. And the attribute of transcendence is balanced by
his immanence.

Immanence simply means close or indwelling. God is immanent universally in that he is

present with his creation; he sustains it and provides for it. You cannot find any part of
the universe where God is not. God provides rain for the crops and helps establish human
authorities for governance. We find that his immanence is more specific when we when
we talk about redemption. He is always everywhere, but only those who have repented
and entered the kingdom of God are aware of how close his presence is. God chooses to
be with the humble and often he will make his immanence manifest or tangible for us.

This brings us to the end of a rather long list of attributes. Don't expect your
understanding or memory to be complete but meditate on the diversity of God and marvel
at how this diversity is in unity. As you progress in your Christian life you will encounter
many different expressions of worship and understanding of God. Many of these are valid
but make a point of quickly going through the attributes we have given here. Does the
Christian expression violate any of the attributes? It shouldn't. Is the expression

29
unbalanced with a strong emphasis on some facets and a neglect of others? Some
adjustment may be needed.

Reflect and Pray

Consider your own understanding of God in the light of his attributes. Are you or were
you unbalanced in any way? Are there any attributes that you need to learn more about?

Make some notes about this in your journal

Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to reveal more of himself to you. In fact what you
are really asking is for God's help to see better.

Talk to your mentor or a mature Christian and explain one of the attributes of God that is
special to you at this time. Ask them to make sure that you have a correct understanding.

Text Reading

Read Milne 72 - 81

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 WORSHIP AND IDOLATRY
LESSON 7

Read and Study This

Worship

There is a very important conclusion to what we have said so far about God. If we believe
all this is true then the appropriate reaction for us is a combination of:

• Amazement
• Thankfulness
• Awe
• Willingness to draw close
• Willingness to serve and obey
• Willingness to let go of other things in favour of living for God
• Desire to know more

To do all of these things is called worship and true worship requires all of these things.
Worship is a modern derivation from an older word "Worthship" ie. to acknowledge that
God is worthy of all the things listed above.

Worship is often limited today to mean a church service or a part of a service where we
sing praise songs or in some traditions the singing of slow praise songs. Although
worship involves all of this it is much deeper than this and involves our whole lives. It
encompasses the following thoughts:

1. The acknowledgment that God is great and infinite and we are created and finite.
2. That drive or faculty placed by God in every person, intended by God to be directed
back to himself
3. The primary purpose of mankind and the area of our greatest fulfilment. "What is
chief aim of man? - To glorify God and enjoy him." (The shorter Westminster
Catechism)
4. Primarily an attitude of heart, mind and spirit - not an outward form. Consistently
through the bible, the people of God were reminded that no matter how elaborate,
beautiful, reverent, sacrificial, traditional or historic the ceremony, what mattered
above all was the heart attitude.

Paul in Romans 12 gives one of the most profound exhortations to worship.

The first principle of God's will for us is that we come out from everything else unto him
- seeking him, ministering to him, praising him and thanking him. This is the foundation
for everything else. In direct proportion to the depth of our commitment to this, he will
meet with us, bless us, restore us and set us free.
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Presenting your bodies unto the Lord is your reasonable service and spiritual worship. It
involves the whole personality, the entire physical, mental and spiritual being. For it to be
genuine (worthy) it is demanding and costly. If worship cost nothing, it is worth nothing.
What keeps us back from that total involvement? Paul says it is "our attitudes which are
so conformed, shaped and compressed by this world." The world's attitude is to label this
wholehearted involvement with God as "fanatic" or "obsessional" or "extreme".

Biblical acts of worship include bodily activity such as clapping, shouting, dancing;
ecstatic or spontaneous response to God as may be appropriate. By the same token, there
should also be space for quietness and reflection.

The presentation of our alms (offerings) is an aspect of worship.

Particularly in the Hebraic - Judaic tradition the study of the Word or teaching of God
was a lifetime activity and the highest form of worship. By studying God's Word our
minds are being transformed, as we understand more and more of the nature of God.

Public acts of worship are never a substitute for private devotions. Ideally we should be
maintaining an attitude of worship throughout the day.

Idolatry

Everything that we have said about worship is to be directed toward God who alone is the
worthy One. When we direct or even share our worship to another or others we commit
idolatry. False objects of worship can be any of:

• Other Gods
• Other people
• Material items or money
• Creation
• Self
• Prestige
• Power

All the things listed can have a proper amount of respect but they should not be
worshiped or deprive God of the worship due to him. Worship channels our affections
and large amounts of energy and when it is not directed to God it in effect places that
thing higher than God.

Idolatry also has the idea of worshipping a false representation of God. In the Old
Testament we see references to people creating wooden idols to bow to and worship. This
is idolatry because that image in no way represents God and so it becomes an insult to
him. Jesus said that "God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit

32
and truth." In effect this means that we must strive to know what God is like recognising
that he is different from the world or us, so that we can worship the true God, not some
distorted image. We must realise that all of us have a limited understanding of God and
not fear that we are in idolatry. A right heart attitude and diligence to seek truth overrides
our limitations here.

Because of the way man is constituted he will worship something. It is important

therefore, for every person to examine their lives to evaluate what is the major focus or
drive. All affections greater than God must be immediately replaced with a true worship
of God himself.

Reflect and Pray

In your journal list any areas of your life that may compete with God for your priorities.
Be really honest. Pray for God's forgiveness and strength to change those things.

Write a copy on a piece of paper. Either burn the paper or screw it up and throw it away.
Realise this is symbolic of your commitment to change. It will not magically make those
things disappear but it will help you to deal with them

If there are any idols or competing affections in your life you find particularly difficult to
deal with, talk to your mentor and ask for prayer and assistance

In your journal write an original expression of gratitude to God. You may find it easy to
do so in poetry but this isn't necessary. If you are able you could put the words to a song.

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 SECTION 4
MAN - CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

We have gained brief glimpses into the nature and character of God. We move onto the nature
of man. What are we, what are we here for and what is going to become of us?

The most important truth is that mankind is created in the image of God. We were made to be
like him! Secondly we know that while we were created like him, something happened early
in our history to destroy the beauty and perfection in which we were created. This loss was
caused by rebellion and disobedience which we generally call sin. Christian have always
wondered and debated how much effect sin has had on our ongoing ability to reflect the
likeness of God. Some people say we are so marred by sin that nothing is left of God and we
need to be totally recreated. Others see us as damaged needing restoration, but still carrying
remnants of God-likeness about us. Our position will be more the latter, although we will in
no way diminish the seriousness of sin or its effects.

Because we have lost so much in this sin-state we are also left wondering what we were like in
the first place. Not only was it a long time ago but our very contamination by sin means that
we distort everything that is true. However we do not rely the original likeness any longer
because we have Jesus who was given in human form to be an exact unmarred image of God.
So we do not look back to creation for our restoration but to Jesus.

This section on mankind will therefore deal with three main studies:

1. Created in His image - Man in original creation

2. The image smashed - Sin

3. Jesus the perfect image - Restoration

Read:

Genesis 1 - 3
Hebrews 1

34
 CREATED IN HIS IMAGE - MAN IN ORIGINAL CREATION
LESSON 8

Read and Study This

In Genesis we get an account of mankind's creation in two stages. The first is embedded in
Chapter one and shows us how mankind fits in with the overall order of creation. There is a
noticeable pattern in God's progressive creation that is connected by a series of "And God
said" statements. When we read verse 26, however, we see the pattern change to "Then God
said". There is clear evidence that the creation of man and women is the pinnacle of God's
creative activity. Immediately after creating mankind it is like God has finished, he has
achieved his goal and he institutes a rest day.

What we read that in verse 27 is astounding:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female
he created them.

After looking at the nature and character of God with all his majesty, splendour, greatness,
holiness etc we must be amazed that God would call our fore-parents made in his image. It
does however give rise to some questions also:

1. When we looked at the nature of God we noted attributes such as eternal, all-powerful,
everywhere-present etc. Mankind did not take on all those attributes so how do we
distinguish between attributes that we do share with God and attributes we don't.

2. In verse 27 it speaks about him - man and them - male and female. Is God male or female
or both or neither.

3. In verses 28 and 29 they are commissioned to:

Be fruitful and increase

Fill the earth and subdue it

Subdue the living creatures

What meaning do these commands have for us today? Some of the answers will become
apparent when we look at the second account of man's creation in chapter 2. (Note that the
chapter division is not appropriate and would have been better placed between verses 3
and 4 of chapter 2.)

35
In relation to man's creation we note the following:

1. Creation from dust and breath

Man was created first from the dust of the earth. A picture is painted of God working as a
potter, moulding and shaping clay until it fits his desired purpose. While this is most likely
metaphorical, the point is that man was created with a natural dimension. We are related to the
rest of creation rather than above it. It also limits us from being or calling ourselves totally
God. We are created beings.

The second part of our creation is that God breathed his life into us. God is Spirit and his
breath was an impartation of spirit life into us. This is what enables us to know God and to
take on some of his attributes. We are created spirit beings.

Because we are created man does not have God's transcendent attributes, omnipresence,
omnipotence etc. Because we were created spirit beings we can take on God's moral attributes,
love, holiness etc. So being made in God's image means we are like God (in moral attributes)
but we are also part of creation.

2. Male and Female

In verses 18 - 24 there is a description of woman's creation. Again most scholars see this as
being a picture or parable rather than actual but the truths to come from the passage are very
real. Note the following points:

There is an intended intimacy, harmony and relationship between man and woman. Even
outside of marriage man and women must recognise they were made from the same substance
and for the purpose of companionship, joint-purpose and common reflection of the nature of
God. There is no sense of competition or hierarchy intended because this is inconsistent with
God's character.

If male and female were created in God's image then God has within his nature the attributes
that we normally associate with man and woman. While the Scripture mostly refers to God
with a masculine pronoun or description, God has feminine characteristics.

Text Reading

Read Milne 90 - 102

36
 THE PURPOSE OF MAN
LESSON 9

Read and Study This

Having looked at how man was created it is fair to ask the question: why did God do it?
In a world that has so much suffering some people would even accuse God of being
unfair in allowing so many people to be born into miserable situations and a rather bleak
eternal outlook. And that leads to a further concern about how God can allow evil to exist
if he created everything. These are important questions and we will address them as we
go on. In the meantime let us consider the goodness of God shown in his creation.

Why did God Create Man?

From God's point of view his nature is such that he cannot do anything but create and
give life so that there is a multiplication of who and what he is. Remember that although
God is the word we use for his nature, God is by revelation Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
Trinity. The three persons are so inter-related that the Son cannot be Son without the
Father and likewise for the Holy Spirit. They are in complete unity and harmony. But the
unity of God is also open. That is, the three are not a “holy huddle”; rather they open
themselves to relationship with what they have created. The best word we can use to
describe the relationships within God is love - love that is so full of joy and freedom that
it makes relationship the most important concept of being or existing. But again this love
is open to “others”. It extends outward in such a way as to draw people into the same
depth of relationship as exists within the Trinity.

So God is bound to create in his own image and to give what he has created meaning and
purpose. In doing so it is evident that God gave us life and this is a freedom more
precious than anything else. We can take this line of thought further and develop five
statements of purpose for mankind. These are supported in Genesis and throughout the
bible.

1. To have relationship with God

2. To have relationship with other people
3. To have relationship with the rest of creation
4. To grow from what God made us into what we can become
5. To procreate and participate with God in the extension of creation

We will look at these in more detail:

Relationship with God

Communication

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Beings in relationship must be able to communicate and so communication with God is
fundamental to the development of our relationship. There is no “right” way to
communicate with God as people from different backgrounds find diverse ways of
hearing from and speaking to God. Generally we call our communication with God
prayer but unfortunately this often creates the impression that it is event oriented (eg.
quiet time) rather than continuous and one way rather than listening and speaking. We
must realise that just as creation was God's initiative, so is communication. He is willing
and we don't need to coerce him or expect that he is too busy. Our failure to communicate
will usually be the result of not listening and not knowing how to hear.

Fellowship/Communion

Fellowship or communion arises out of a sense of intimacy in relationship where the

participants communicate out of mutual willingness rather than need or duty. An uplifting
takes place as we fellowship with God and as Wesley said "our hearts are strangely
warmed". When we have fellowship with God we are really participating in what is
already happening within the Godhead between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately in our production oriented society the pure meaningfulness of fellowship
has lost value because it doesn't result in material production. In spiritual terms however
this is one of the deepest purposes of life

Worship

Whenever we do something that we know is pleasing to God, whether we feel like doing
it or not, we are worshipping God. Worship is in essence willing obedience to God.
Sometimes worship involves praise ranging from declaration spontaneous thanksgiving,
but it is not limited to praise. In worship we are acknowledging that God is greater than
us, that we are dependent on him and we are full of gratitude to him.

Reflect

Refer back to the lesson on worship (lesson 7) and reflect on the meaning of worship now
that you have more understanding of our being created in God’s image.

Relationship with fellow people

What has been said about relationship with God applies to our relationship with others
except for worship. While we may praise people we do not worship them because they
are not greater. We are all equal before God and so we may respect and honour people
but never elevate them above others

Relationship growing into fellowship is vital to our image of God bearing. Individually
we cannot reflect unity, harmony and love, the essential attributes of the Godhead. We
need to be in community. The interdependence that community requires is also vital to

38
reflect God in our midst and maintain a correct attitude of humility and recognition of our
createdness.

Relationship with the rest of creation

The first creation narrative commissions us to rule over creation. We need to

interpret what this means as our normal use of language disguises the true purpose of
God's command. Firstly we must realise that true rulership belongs to God, our
commission is a delegated responsibility. Secondly God's rulership of the universe is
through care, nurture, guarding and provision. It is for the benefit of the creation.
Likewise our delegated rulership requires us to care for creation and provide benefit not
personal gain. Because of the conflicts caused by sin this may mean exercising authority.
For example in the plant kingdom we will need to destroy weeds to nurture plants. We
may need to control dominant species that threaten others. However this does not give
mankind license to plunder and destroy the environment.
At this point we may raise a question about the importance of care for creation
and the environment. Surely the end of this age there will be a destruction of all existing
creation and replacement with a new and perfect version?
The answer to this is found within the same as the reason that we don't shoot
everyone who becomes a Christian. The growth of the individual and participation in
community and creation is as important to the eternal plan of God as their salvation from
sin. Learning to create harmony within the chaos of a sinful world is the preparation for
eternal life.
Although there will be a great change at the end of the age there will also be
continuity between the future age and the present. We might even be able to say that all
things brought under God's redemptive plan now will provide the starting point for
eternal life.

To grow from what God made us into what we can become

Luke records that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favour with men and God. It is
God's purpose for us to do the same. We are to develop and mature in every area of our
lives just as we do physically as a child. That growth is physical, intellectual, social and
spiritual.
We should also note that mankind should develop in knowledge and understanding which
includes scientific progress, awareness of the universe and the plant and animal
kingdoms. Our original commission was to manage the creation and to recover this we
must increase our understanding of it.

A Short Exercise

For each of the sections above, find a few Scriptures that support that teaching.

39
Text Reading

Read Milne 91 - 102

Written Assessment

Use the following statement of belief to complete an Assessment in the format given in
Appendix 1.
We believe that:

“Mankind (both male and female) was created in the image of

God for intimate relationship and participation in God’s creative
nature”

40
 THE FALL
LESSON 10

How tragic! After God created mankind as the pinnacle of His creation Adam and Eve
chose to disobey God. The first generation of human beings chose a source of wisdom
other than that which came from the loving Creator God. What a glorious creation God
had made! What a privileged position He had bestowed upon mankind in that creation!
What a marvellous relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed with their Creator! Why on earth
would they want anything else? It seems beyond comprehension! Surely this is the
tragedy of sin. It defies logic. Why would someone choose the lesser when the higher is
so much greater?

Read and Study This

The Origin of Sin

Genesis 3 describes the events by which Adam and Eve brought sin to mankind. The
actual context of the event is somewhat puzzling and raises as many questions as it
answers. For this reason many people have tried to rationalise the account and explain it
in terms of symbolism and metaphor. We cannot deal with that here but we must
establish the main points of the story so that we never loose the important message that is
given in this chapter.

Created with Free will

This is fundamental to the nature of our creation. God was so desirous to create in his
own image to enable him to have true fellowship that he gave man free will. Free will
allows us to choose between two alternatives, to say yes or no to others and to accept or
reject. We are so familiar with this aspect of our nature that we forget what a vital part of
our life free will is. Free will brings with it, however, obligation and responsibility. We
are created, not gods and as such we most fit in with the conditions established for us by
the one who created us.

Moral boundaries

It is very clear from the Genesis account that God had established some rules. It is not
ours to question why he did so but we get some understanding when we recall the nature
and character of God. God has moral attributes such as goodness, kindness, holiness etc.
While we have not considered it before these moral attributes also have opposites, the
very things that God is not! Part of the purpose behind God's restrictions was to stop us
from learning about the opposites, the anti-God knowledge, or evil. The choice to eat
from the forbidden tree gave access not only to a knowledge of evil but to participation in

41
it. When Adam and Eve exercised their God-give free will to make choices against the
boundaries set, their very nature was changed.

Obedience to the creator

Today, in a world so contaminated by sin, obedience is a word that we dislike. Free will
makes us think that we can do anything we like but that is not true. As we said above free
will brings with it obligations and responsibilities. The first of these responsibilities is
obedience to God. Adam and Eve had no idea what would happen to them when they ate
the fruit. They didn't need to; they first of all had to be obedient. Obedience is an
acknowledgment that the one who creates is greater than the created, a self-evident truth.
Obedience is a small price to pay for the glorious privilege of being created with a free
will, but it is a very hard lesson to learn. The opposite of obedience is rebellion, which is
at the very heart of everything we call sin. The essence of the sinful nature of mankind
says,” I can do it!" The word SIN is so appropriate in the English language because the
"I" is in the centre of it. Human pride says "I can do it without God or anyone else for
that matter."

Evil outside of God and man

This raises one of the most difficult problems of understanding that doesn't seem to be
fully answered by the Bible. The serpent tempted Eve (Read, Genesis 3; 1 - 6) by
questioning the authority of God in the matter of eating of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Some people think that the serpent is a symbol, after all
snakes can't talk today. The point remains that there was evil in the garden. It was evil
because it was opposed to God and it tempted man to disobey God. We find out later in
the bible that the evil being is Satan, a created being probably a former angel who thinks
himself equal with God. While a lot of this is mysterious there is a lot of great importance
we can deduce:

Satan is a rebellious creature and serves as a poignant reminder to us of what we could

become if we don't allow God to help us out of our rebellion.

God did not create Satan as an evil being, that would be outside of God's own moral
ability. Therefore, being created with a free will enables a created being to take on
attributes that are outside of and opposite to God's own nature.

Satan did not make us evil. He helped Adam and Eve to make the choice, but ultimately
it was just that - their choice. Therefore we can never blame our rebellion or sin on Satan;
we must take full responsibility for it ourselves. There is, however, an ongoing presence
of evil in the world outside of mankind, it has an effect on us and we need to be very
aware of it.

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Text Reading

Read Milne pages 102 - 104

Think About This

The Spread of Sin

We have seen from the Genesis account and our discussion above that sin entered the world
through the rebellion of Adam and Eve. In some of the comments made above we have
identified that sin with all of mankind including you and me. Do we have to do that? Wasn't it
Adam and Eve who sinned? Isn't it possible that if I was given the chance of being perfectly
created that I would not sin? Why do I have to take the rap for what someone else did
thousands of years ago?

Read Romans 1 - 2

You will note that Paul answers the questions raised above quite emphatically. We are all
sinners.

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 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL
LESSON 11

In the previous lesson we saw that sin originated through disobedience to God and spread to
all of mankind. We also indicated that sin infected and affected the very nature of man so that
in essence he was changed. This had disastrous consequences, which continue to affect us
today. In this lesson we will look at the spread and consequence of sin.

Reading

Read Genesis 2:15 - 17

Read Genesis 3:6 - 24

Think About This

We cannot fully comprehend the effect of sin because we have never lived without its
effect. In fact many people are so comfortable with living in this sinful world that they
never seem to desire anything better. As we study the bible and fellowship with God,
however, we realise that the effect of sin is awful. We will try to describe this here and in
doing so create a hope for the time when we will be free of the terrible consequences of
sin.

Death

This is the first consequence of sin expounded by God before it actually happened. We
are all aware of physical death. Every single human being faces it and for most people it
is the thing that we most try to avoid. It is fearful because no one knows what will happen
after. Atheists are sure that there is nothing and yet they like everyone else struggle to put
the event of as long as possible. It is unpleasant because those left behind when a person
dies sense the loss of relationship as the impenetrable barrier comes up between them.
Life is such a precious gift from God that we hold onto it for all we are worth even for
Christians although we know that ultimately Jesus reversed the effect of death.

There is more to the death prescribed by God in Genesis than physical death at the end of
our lives. Everything we can glean from Genesis indicates that man was a much more
magnificent creature than he is today. He used to live much longer. He had a spiritual
dimension that was much stronger and "in tune" with God. Evolution postulates that man
is becoming more sophisticated, the Bible evidences that we a mere shadow of what we
used to be. All this is the death consequence of sin.

Broken relationship

This is obviously very significant in terms of the relationship with God. Man was to have
intimate relationship, fellowship or communion. This was lost not in the sense that God
thought man had been bad so he no longer wanted to speak to him but because the
44
holiness of God cannot associate intimately with rebelliousness. God's very nature meant
that he could no longer converse with or appear freely to people.
Besides breaching the relationship between God and man the relationship between man
and women lost its unity, harmony and genuineness. Instead of mutual respect and
nurture the man "… will rule over you (the woman)." This has resulted in a male
dominance over women that in no way reflects the relationship they were intended to
have. The effect down to our own generation is that must married couples experience
infidelity by one or more partners and most marriages end in divorce.

The relationship between people became characterised by the opposite of God's intention.
Trust turned to mistrust, love turned to envy and hate. Within one generation a man
murdered his brother. Some chapters later a man called Lamech killed a man for
annoying him. Generations later nations war against others.

The care for animals that mankind was commissioned with, degenerated into domination,
fear, slaughter and survival of the strongest. We have managed to purge some species to
extinction.

The relationship with the earth that once produced food in abundance has become a fight
against weeds and weather.

Broken relationship is one of the most devastating effects of sin. It affects every area of
life and its destructive effect is progressive.

Punishment

We are very aware through childhood in relation to our parents and through adulthood in
relation to the law of the land that doing wrong deserves and gets punishment. We don't
like it when we are on the receiving end but when we become responsible we see the
need for it. Unfortunately our concept of punishment often confuses two objectives. One
objective is vengeful; you hurt me so I'll hurt you. This typically happens when a child
causes frustration and the parent lashes out through anger. The second objective is to
bring correction. If the punishment is unpleasant then the person may not repeat the
behaviour that brought it about.

With the second objective in mind God punished mankind. He removed his protection
and provision and banished them from the Garden of Eden.

Written Assessment

Adam and Eve, our ancestors, disobeyed God, which caused sin to enter that nature of
humanity. Do an Assessment in the usual format on the Christian understanding of sin

45
 THE NEW MAN
LESSON 12

In this section so far we have developed the following understanding. Man was created in the
image of God and given some responsibility for creation. Through disobedience man lost the
original relationship and sin entered the world. This brought the disastrous consequences that
that the world lives under today.

Read and Study This

The effect of sin is progressive and it continues to destroy our view of reality by
deceiving us into accepting ourselves as we are. Under the influence of sin how can we
ever know what we were intended to be like and recover that image? How can the image
bearer that is cracked and broken ever know how to fix himself? The answer is he can't.
There is no hope of recovery from within man himself. What hope is there then? Our
hope lies in the most amazing event of all history. Here is one way of looking at it.

God sent another "man" in his own image. An image that was not broken or tainted. A
man as pure and perfect as Adam before he sinned, in fact this new man is sometimes
called the new Adam. This man is of course Jesus who came to earth with the same sense
of humanness as man because he was born through the womb of a woman. We will have
so much to say about Jesus in other lessons but here we want to see that he shows us what
it means to be created in the image of God, the very place that man started.

Read Heb 1

Jesus is the "radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, …" The
"exact" is so exciting! From Jesus we can know exactly what God is like and therefore
we can know exactly what we should be like. We have a perfect model. That is why the
focus of all our theological study is Jesus. Let us look at a few things about Jesus to
compare with our understanding of man's original creation.

Jesus had a perfect relationship with the Father

Everywhere in the gospel accounts of Jesus life we see that he was in continuous
communication and fellowship with God. He gave continuous honour, reverence and
respect to God.

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Jesus had relationship with people

Jesus example and teaching show that he regarded everyone as a neighbour, a way of
saying that we are closely connected to each other in relationship and responsibility.
Jesus helped every person who came to him. Even when tired he poured his life out for
others.

Jesus ruled over creation

Jesus spoke to a storm and subdued it. He took a few fish and loves and made them
sufficient to feed thousands. He turned water into wine. All the time Jesus interacted with
creation to restore harmony with it. Creation benefits man but never by plundering or
destruction.

We can already see that in every way Jesus was what man was intended to be.
Let us now look at some theology Paul developed to compare Jesus with Adam

The two representatives of mankind

Read; Romans 5; 12 - 21.

By one man Adam, death entered into the world. By this transgression (sin) of one man
Adam, condemnation came to all mankind. A man is condemned when he is found guilty.
Adam's sin caused all mankind to be found guilty of sin because sin took root in the
nature of mankind and was imputed or imparted from one generation to another as like
reproduces after it's own kind. (Genesis 1; 24 - 25.) Paul confirmed this principle in
Romans 3: 23. (NEB)... "All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory”

By one man - Adam

1. Sin entered the world. Romans 5: 17.

2. Death came to all men. The penalty of sin. Romans 6: 23.
3. Judgement resulted in condemnation. Romans 5: 16 - 18.
4. His disobedience resulted in many sinners. Romans 5: 19.

The rulership extended over the people of the earth through Adam's sin is summed up in
Romans 5; 21 (NEB) “Sin ruled by means of death!” No earthly power has been able to
conquer or overthrow the dominion of the reign of Death!

The GOOD NEWS!

By one man Jesus Christ, the grace of God abounded to bring justification to all mankind,
being the free gift of righteousness from God to mankind. Romans 5: 17 - 19.
"Justification" means simply..." just as if I had never sinned." It places us in the position
of Adam before he ever sinned. Isn't that fantastic! God isn't just offering to patch us up
47
and make us look good on the outside. He's annulling every aspect of sin's curse and
making us like newly created beings!

"Grace" is not only God's unmerited favour bestowed upon us without reserve, but also
His enabling power to cause us to triumph over sin and death.

"Righteousness" is God's truth and justice. The justification and grace we receive
through Christ are freely to given to us through God's justice and truth (righteousness).
No short-cuts have been taken, no rules bent or changed in order to pardon us. The full
penalty of the Law has been met by Christ's sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. The sinless
Christ has been sacrificed for the sinful person....you and me. Read 2 Cor. 5: 21. We are
free... free
from sin and Death...Hallelujah!!! By one man Christ Jesus...
1. God's grace and the gift of righteousness overflows to many. Romans 5: 15.
2. The gift brought justification. Romans 5: 16.
3. Grace and the gift results in reigning now with Christ. Romans 5: 17.
4. His one act brought eternal life. Romans 5: 18.
5. His obedience made many righteous. Romans 5: 19.

Prayer

Spend some time asking God to show you attitudes of your heart and actions you have
done that have breached your relationship with God and friends, family and others. Write
them down on a piece of paper using only the left-hand half of the page. Now head up the
right hand side of the page with the words "restitution." Write down on the right-hand
side of the page any acts of restitution that you need to do to correct the sin you have
committed. Set yourself goals with dates as to when you will take corrective action and
seek the unconditional forgiveness of those you have hurt. Repairing relationships is the
most valuable thing you can do in your life!

May God grant you the grace to do the things necessary to restore relationships.

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 SECTION 5
THE REDEMPTION PLAN

Section Overview

We have seen in the last section that Jesus came to earth in human nature so that he could
present a perfect representation of God. He is what we are destined to be. However God's
plan to restore man back to his original relationship also required him to deal with the sin
that had so deeply ingrained itself in the very soul of mankind. And there were justice
issues too. Man's sin caused death and destruction to himself and all creation. Justice
requires that punishment is administered and restitution made. Because blood was shed in
man's sin, the shedding of blood was required in the restitution process.

In this section we will see that Jesus Christ was made the redemption price for sinful
mankind. To redeem literally means to "purchase." God the Father freely gave His only
begotten Son, born by Immaculate Conception and without sin, as the redemption price
for mankind. The benefit of this redemption is available to "whoever will trust in God's
provision of Christ as the redemption price." As we are all sinners (Romans 3: 23), we
are all in need of this redemption offered to us as a free gift.

Jesus Christ's death on a Roman cross was the means by which the price was paid. It
extracted the full restitution required for man's sin by the death of an innocent person.
This makes the event of Jesus dying on the cross the most important event in the whole of
history for mankind and all creation.

We will look at the details of Jesus sacrifice in more detail in this section but we also
want to consider two other aspects raised by the following questions:

• If Jesus sacrifice was made about AD30, then what about all the people living before
that time? Was there some provision for them?

• If Jesus came to redeem us from sin and we as Christians have received his provision
then why is life not restored back to the level of original creation?

Lord we pray that you will open the eyes of our understanding as we undertake the
lessons of this section.

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 COVENANTS, THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION
LESSON 13

Read and Study This

God’s Provision through Covenants

All of redemption history is focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Through
this event God is justified in forgiving our sins and drawing us deeply into the
relationship he always intended to have. However God had also made provision for
relationship with people before that time by establishing agreements with them called
Covenants.

Covenant contains the idea of contract because there are obligations on both sides once a
covenant is established. There are many examples of covenants being made between
powerful kings and lesser rulers. For instance a powerful ruler would guarantee
protection of the weaker and in return he would receive a percentage of the grain crops.
But covenant in the bible goes further than the idea of contract. A good example is
marriage. Certainly there are mutual obligations but it is not the idea of personal gain or
benefit that motivates the covenant in the first place. It is value of relationship and delight
of making another happy that establishes a true marriage. The same can be said of
covenants with God. He wants to bless us and the fact that there is an obligation to obey
him is not a sign of control but rather an observance of practices that are necessary to
hold the relationship together.

It is important to note that God by nature is a covenant God. His very essence as triune
shows that Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell together in perfect unity. There is an inter-
trinitarian relationship that is outgoing. Each person in the Godhead reveals himself by
promoting the others. The Fathers says: "this is my beloved son"; the Son always honours
the Father and the Spirit always reveals the things of the Father and Son. This inter-
relationship is called perichoresis and is the example we should look to, to understand
covenant relationship.

In the Bible the following pattern can be seen in the covenants:

A sacrifice to remind that there is a cost involved in redeeming mankind

A promise the way in which God wants to bless us

An obligation this is usually two way: first there is a requirement to acknowledge

God's sovereignty, for without God's greatness there could be no
basis for establishing a relationship. His mercy is the only thing
that rescues us from eternal condemnation. Secondly there is an
obligation toward other people. God's covenants are arrangements
that enable us to co-labour with him to reach others with the same
message of mercy that we have received.

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In the Old Testament there are five major covenants that God made with mankind. Every
time in history man has broken his covenant with God, God has sought to establish a new
covenant with mankind as a reassurance of His eternal love.

Adamic Covenant

Adam and Eve sinned and God renewed His commitment to them through:

1. The promise in Genesis 3:15;

There would be enmity between the serpent and the woman. The seed of the woman
would be bruised on the heel, but in turn the seed of the woman would bruise the head
of Satan.
2. The sacrifice in Genesis 3:21;
Animals representing innocent blood had to be shed in order to make clothes or a
covering for Adam and Eve because their sin had taken away their innocence.
3. The sign or seal in Genesis 3:21;
God made clothing for Adam and Eve. They lost their covering through sin. Their
clothing became a sign of God's covenant to utterly destroy Satan.

Noahic Covenant;

1. The people of the world were so sinful that God judged them in a catastrophic flood;
2. The promise in Genesis 8:22;
While earth remains the seasons, harvest, and day and night will not cease and the
earth shall not be destroyed by flood. (Genesis 9:11.)
3. The sacrifice in Genesis 8:20;
Noah sacrificed one of every clean beast and bird that he had taken into the Ark as a
burnt offering to God. Note: of the clean animals and birds he had taken seven of
each into the Ark. (Genesis 7: 2).
4. The sign or seal in Genesis 9:13;
The rainbow in the clouds.

Abrahamic Covenant;

The people of the world who spoke one language conspired to use their unity to plunder
heaven itself through the tower of Babel. (Genesis 11.) After God scattered them across
the face of the earth and multiplied their languages He raised up a man (Abraham) with
whom He made covenant to bless all peoples of the earth through one man.

1. The promise in Genesis 12: 1 - 3.

Abram would become a great nation, be blessed, have a great name, be a blessing,
and bless all the families (peoples) of the earth. God would bless those who bless
Abram and curse those who curse him. His seed would multiply as great as the dust
of the earth and the stars of the heavens. He would father many nations, and kings
will come out of him. The promise is an everlasting one.
51
2. The sacrifice in Genesis 12; 4, and Genesis 22; 10;
To leave his home country and his fathers house and relatives, and to sacrifice his
only son (Isaac). He did all this willingly because he knew God as Jehovah Jireh: the
Lord will provide. (Genesis 22: 14).
3. The sign or seal in Genesis 17; 10 - 14; Genesis 17; 15 - 17;
Circumcision, being the separation and cutting away of the flesh. And the giving
of a son to Abraham when he was past his years. A sign of supernatural provision.

Mosaic Covenant;

God's chosen people were being held captive in a foreign land. God promised deliverance
from their captivity. He would bring them into a new land under a new form of
government and relationship both to God and man.

1. The promise in Exodus 3; 6 - 10; Exodus 19; 4 - 6;

Deliverance from captivity, protection and the promise of a land of rest. God's
possession among all the peoples, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The giving
of the law in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 1 - 17), the civil law (Exodus 21),
and the religious law (Exodus 25).
2. The sacrifice in Exodus 12; 3 - 13; Exodus 19; 12 - 25;
The sacrifice of an unblemished one year old male lamb, spreading the blood on the
door posts of the houses, and the roasting and consumption of all the flesh by dawn.
The consecration of all the people and the setting of boundaries in their behaviour
towards God and His manifest presence.
3. The sign or seal in Exodus 4; 1 - 8; Exodus 3; 21 - 22; Exodus 31; 15 - 17;
The rod of Moses turning into a serpent; the hand of Moses turning leprous; the
giving of gold and silver to the women of Israel when they fled Egypt, The cloud by
day and the fire by night during their flight, and the keeping of the Sabbath day by
the children of Israel throughout all generations.

Davidic Covenant

This covenant was in response to the children of Israel wanting a king as a judge. Their
sin was that they had forsaken God and worshipped other gods. (1 Samuel 8; 6 - 22; 1
Samuel 12; 19). Although Saul was the first king over Israel God did not make a
covenant with Saul because he acted foolishly. (1Samuel 13:14 - 15). God made the
covenant with David because he was a man after God's own heart.

1. The promise in 2 Samuel 7; 4 - 16;

David's son would be greatly blessed as king over Israel and not forsaken when he
sinned but corrected mercifully. David's throne would last forever. His name would
be made great amongst all the kings of the earth. The people of Israel will be planted;
take rest from their enemies and the Lord would build David a house.
2. The sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Psalm 51:17. The sacrifice of
praise. 2 Samuel 22:1 - 23: 7. The sacrifices of animals. Psalms 51:18 - 19.
David chosen as a man after God's own heart knew that the sacrifices of the heart
52
 were those that were pleasing to God. He offered God a broken and contrite heart and
sacrifices of praise from his heart and lips. He had a revelation that unless these
sacrifices of the heart were offered first, the animal sacrifices were not acceptable to
God. Animal sacrifices offered by those whose hearts were right with God were
pleasing to Him. This was why Saul was rejected as king over Israel. Read 1 Samuel
13:5 - 14.
3. The sign or seal in Psalms 89:3 - 4; 28 - 37
The seed of David would last forever as day follows night.

Finally, we come to the New Covenant that God established in Christ's blood. Luke 22:
20. Hebrews 13:20 - 21. It is an eternal covenant for the purpose of surpassing all other
covenants and bringing many to glory (maturity).

New Covenant

The new covenant is constituted to take away the sins of mankind (Matthew 26:28) and
change the stony heart of man into a heart of flesh. It takes the ultimate act of God in the
giving of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to make it possible. The ultimate sacrifice
makes way for the ultimate solution to man's sinful condition. In the new covenant all the
other covenants find their fulfilment. Read; Galatians 3; 6 - 14.
1. The promise in Hebrews 8; 8 - 12;
God's laws will be placed in the minds of His people and in their hearts also. God will
be their God and they will be His people, and they shall know Him. He will forgive
their iniquity (sin) and remember their sins no more.
2. The sacrifice in Hebrews 9; 11 - 14;
The person of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.
3. The sign or seal in Ephesians 1; 13 - 14, 4; 30, 2 Corinthians 1; 22;
The Holy Spirit coming into residence in our lives is the seal of this new covenant.
With His indwelling presence the fullness of the new covenant is able to be manifest
in us to keep us until the day of Christ's appearing. So the sign of the new covenant
is the work of the cross in the life of the believer. The person who dies daily to the
self life and submits to the Lordship of Christ each day carries the sign of the new
Covenant. This ensures that the new nature in man made possible through the
Cross is manifest in the life of the believer. Matthew 10; 38, Galatians 6; 14.

Reflect and Pray

Prayer

Write out a prayer that reflects your desire to take full part in the covenant relationship
that God offers to us.

Text Reading

Read Milne 125 - 141

53
 JESUS OUR REDEEMER
LESSON 14

Read and Study This

In the Old Testament we found that the descendants of Abraham were under special grace
arrangements called covenants. The covenant allowed a holy God to work with sinful
people by stipulating a set of rules they were to obey. Blood of animals was used to show
that a sacrifice had been made for the sins of the people.

On several occasions God spoke to the people of Israel and said that the agreements
weren't good enough because the basic nature of the people wasn't being changed. Even
when they tried to obey the rules embedded within the covenant they weren't successful
and often they didn't even try. At the same time he promised that he would strike a new
covenant in the future. Strangely it seemed; if they entered into that covenant it would
have the capacity to change them from within:

• Jeremiah 31:31 - 34
• Ezekiel 36:22 - 38

For several hundred years they waited in expectation for what was called the new
covenant.

We already know that it finally came through Jesus and an agreement that people would
be saved through his sacrificial death. But let us take a look at what was actually required
by the new covenant.

The problem of the sinful nature

Thousands of year previously man had sinned and discovered that the nature of sin is
such that when you do it even once it gets inside and you can never be free of
it. It has a contaminating effect. In our modern understanding we would say
that it was imprinted in our DNA so that we can never escape it and it
automatically passes onto the next generation. The effect of sin was not only
on man but came to rest on the whole of creation. Also remember that there is
an enemy to mankind, Satan, so filled with jealousy of man that he stops at
nothing to cause him to sin. In such a state man could never be what God
originally intended him to. How could it be dealt with? People expressed
sorrow for their sin but that didn't change their basic nature.

Let’s try and understand it through a simple contemporary example:

Imagine a person in the state of Texas, USA, who murdered someone, was caught, stood
trial and was found guilty. He received the death sentence, which was about to be carried

54
out. A friend heard about the situation and because he cared for himself he spoke to the
judge with an unusual request. He said, "can I die in the place of my friend so that he can
go free". The judge ponders for a while and returns with the following. "The course of
justice might be fulfilled through this, as someone is prepared to take the punishment for
the sin. But that would only work if you are not guilty, one murderer cannot take the
place of another, because both are due for punishment. And even if you were not guilty
we could not let the original offender free because we don't know if he will go and do the
same thing again."
As with the problem of the old covenants, nothing would ever solve the problem unless
man's basic sinful nature could be changed. And even then you have to find a guiltless
substitute, something that is true of no person. It doesn't take much to see that there is a
real dilemma here. Man cannot possibly help himself. Fresh meat can go rotten but rotten
meat cannot become fresh. What on earth did Jesus do then?

The sinless substitute

First of all God provided a man who was free of sin. Now no one could be born in the
usual fashion and live free of sin. So the man needed a special birth. How? God became a
man himself! By his very nature he was pure, so he could be the perfect substitute. The
only problem with such a solution is that as a substitute he had to die in order to take the
due punishment. And that is exactly what Jesus did! The punishment due to all mankind
could be offloaded onto a pure, sinless, innocent victim. Then we discover a most
amazing thing. Death only has meaning for a sinful nature. One who has no sin cannot
ever be held by death. So Jesus was raised back to life, because of his sinlessness but in
the meantime he had carried away the burden of sin from man. Man was free of his past
sin!! Before moving on from this let us remember that it is easy to tell the story but
behind it lay much suffering. For God to become man (incarnation) he had to suffer the
distress of shifting from the glory of heaven to the squalor’s of an earthly body and
environment that was contaminated by sin and sickness. As a man he had to undergo
misunderstanding, scorn and rebuke from the very people he had to come and help. He
had to endure the pain of one of the most hideous forms of death ever devised my
mankind. The sacrifice worked but it was costly.

The sinful nature

Obviously the substitution worked in terms of punishment for our sin but what about our
sinful nature? Would it deal with our tendency to sin? By the incredible wisdom of God
yes! There is much to be said about this later but we need a brief understanding now.

Change can only come from within. We can say that as the Holy Spirit, God can come
into another being, he can co-habit with man in this way as we see examples of in the Old
Testament. But he could never do this fully in a sinful person; in fact it was sin that made
man loose the presence of God in the first place. But the Holy Spirit did live within Jesus
because of his purity. When Jesus had carried out his substitution for sin it in effect gave
him the right to continually forgive us for any sinfulness in our lives and because of that
forgiveness the Holy Spirit could come to us at any instant without compromising his
55
own holiness. Jesus made us "just as if we had never sinned" and this opened the way for
the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit in our lives it is as if the creative power of God is
again at work, this time to renew our very inner being. This process is called
sanctification.

One More Thing

We have tried to write this explanation of God's redemptive activity to show how
absolutely amazing it is. The Apostle Paul, meditating on God's salvation proclaims:
Oh, the depths of riches of wisdom and knowledge of God!

We through familiarity must never loose our wonder for what God has done. The plan is
so amazing that even Satan who is ever boastful of his own wisdom did not see how this
would work until Jesus triumphantly rose from death to life and then it was too late. Here
is why it was so bad for him. When Satan enticed Adam and Eve to eat forbidden fruit,
their disobedience seems to have created plenty of opportunity for Satan to develop
counter God activities. Every time man sinned it was like a victory for Satan. He realised
however that God would do something in history by sending a deliverer. He recognised
that this was exactly what Jesus had come to do but in his limited insight he sought the
death of Jesus. For a moment of time he thought he had won the ultimate victory by
destroying the one who had come to save. But as God turned Jesus death into victory he
realised (undoubtedly with horror) that he had trapped himself. For now he was guilty of
the attempted murder of God and God acted in judgement of Satan for the first time in
thousands of years. Paul's description of the collapse of the counter kingdom goes:

" .. and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a

public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
(Colossians 2:15)

And John's vision in Revelation describes it this way:

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the
devil, or satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled
to the earth and his angels with him (Revelation 12:7 – 9)

The work of Jesus on the cross will for all eternity be the centre point in history. God's
plan of redemption had reached a climax. It had achieved forgiveness of sin, a new
beginning for man, the destruction of Satan's kingdom and provided future hope for all of
God's good creation.

56
Text Reading

Read Milne 141 - 164

Reflect and Pray

Spend some time thinking about the amazing thing that Jesus has done for you. Write a
personal thank you to him in your Journal.

Written Assessment

Write an assessment on the meaning of Redemption.

Write an Assessment on the meaning of Redemption

57
 REDEMPTION AND THE FUTURE
LESSON 15

Introduction

In the last lesson we saw that Jesus death on the cross paid for our sins and purchased us
so that we could be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the central point of history for all
of creation. But is that where it ends? We would not be satisfied in our current redeemed
state if that is all there is. We still see sin and suffering in the world and in our own lives
and people still die. There must be something more! There is!

According to the Bible and orthodox Christianity there is another major event in the
future that will completely change creation and life. This event is the consecutive
happening of all of the following occurrences:

1. The return of Jesus

2. The destruction of the anti-Christ
3. The resurrection of all the dead
4. The judgement of all people
5. The restoration of all creation
6. The beginning of eternal life for the righteous

In this lesson we will examine the meaning of these events and show where they are
revealed in the Bible.

Read and Study This

The Return of Jesus

Matthew 24:30 is one example where Jesus himself declares that he will return to the
earth. Note that in his incarnation he revealed himself as a man, with humility and is
called the Lamb of God. In his Second Coming, everyone will see him, there will be
much noise and declaration and he will also be known as the Lion of Judah.

We don’t know when he will come but the context of the passage includes the
commission to preach the Gospel to all people groups.

Paul also speaks about the Lord’s return in 1Thessolonians 4 and 5. There he encourages
the believers to reject any teaching that Jesus has already returned. When that happens no
one will be in doubt because it will be such a calamitous that everyone will know about
it, whether dead or alive. He also tells believers to encourage each other with the hope
that Jesus is coming again.

58
Jesus’ return heralds the establishment of the whole kingdom of God and the destruction
of his enemies

The Destruction of the anti-Christ

This idea causes a lot of confusion and some fear, but as we look at it in the Bible you
will see that it is not so difficult to understand. Paul talks about the anti-Christ in 2
Thessalonians 2. He speaks about a being that was already present (vs. 7) in his own time
and will be destroyed by the appearance of Jesus at the end of the age. Since there is
almost 2000 years between those two events already, we are not talking about a single
human being, it must be a spiritual entity.
John (1John 2:18) also talks about the coming of an anti-Christ and anti-Christs. He
indicates that they are men who have gone out among the people. We understand by this
that anti-Christ means a person who is influenced by an evil power to do things that are
against Christ. We could look back in history and identify people like Hitler, Amin, Pol
Pot etc as being anti-Christs.

We also assume that towards that time of Jesus return there may be another person who
could be identified in the same way. However, we need not assume that such a person is
only characterised by violence. Religious deception is in many ways far more destructive
and it is likely that in the future there will be figures who will deceive many because of
their religious activity. A large scale version of David Koresh if you like.

Do we need to be afraid of such things? We don’t need to be afraid but we do need to be

careful. All of us need to be careful of deception that can originate from our own carnal
desires but if we walk before the Lord with an open heart we need not fear deception
from outside. We need to remember Jesus words in John 10 about his protection over us.
And remember that Jesus is going to slay the devil when he returns

Resurrection of the Dead

In John 5:28-30, Jesus gives a clear description of the resurrection. People who have been
dead in tombs will rise back to life, ready to be judged for their deeds.

Paul in 1Thess 4:13 – 18 makes it clear that those who are alive at the time of Jesus
return will participate in the same way as those who are taken from the grave.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul gives a lot more detail about the meaning of the resurrection. It
is not only a coming back to live of dead bodies as it is the receiving of a new spiritual
body. If you will recall what Jesus did with his body after resurrection you will be able to
imagine what our new bodies will be like.

What is not very clear from the Bible is what happens to people between the time they
die and are resurrected. Some theories are
1. Stay in an intermediate heaven/Hades place waiting for judgement day
2. Go into soul sleep
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 3. Go straight to be with the Lord

There is no conclusive answer on which is right (if indeed any of them are)

The Great Judgement

In John 5:28-30, Jesus alludes to the fact that after resurrection there will be a judgement
based on the way we have lived on earth.
Paul says in 1 Cor 5:9-10:
For we must all stand before the judgement seat of Christ, that each may receive
what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

It is clear that whether righteous or unrighteous all will have to stand before Christ. What
is not so clear is what makes us righteous. Our salvation comes through faith in Christ
and is never earned by works. However it seems that there is an intimate connection
between faith and works. Faith must reveal itself in works, and works, in turn are
evidence of true faith. As John Calvin once put it, “It is … faith alone which justifies, and
yet faith which justifies is not alone.”

In this respect God’s judgement on the righteous will be in terms of rewards. Salvation is
wholly of grace, but the Bible indicates there will be a variation in rewards that will be
received by God’s people on the day of judgement.

See Luke 19:12-27 and 1Cor 3:10 - 15

The Restoration of all Creation

When sin affected mankind it also destroyed the harmony of all creation. God has
therefore promised new heavens and earth (2Peter 3:13). We don’t know exactly what
that means because the limitations of time and space as we know it will be removed when
we receive our resurrection bodies. However we consider what Paul says in 2Cor 10
about the unspeakable wonder of his glimpse at the future and we are satisfied that it is
going to be good.

Eternal Life

This again is beyond our comprehension. Who can imagine what it will be like to live
forever and ever? There will not be any sin, suffering or sorrow. The joy will be
something that we have not yet experienced on earth.

Text Reading

Read Milne pages 253 – 267

If you are interested I studying these concepts in depth a there are many good books, one
of which is ‘The Bible and The Future’ by Anthony Hoekema 1991.
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 SECTION 6
CHRISTIANITY

Section Overview

This is the final section of the course. In it we want to take what we have learned about
God, Man, the Fall and God's redemption plan and see what happened as a result of Jesus
work at the cross.

When Jesus died and rose again he left a small group of followers (disciples) who were as
bewildered about the amazing events as anyone else. But they were the first ones to
receive the full indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. This changed them drastically in
terms of their ability to live with freedom from sin and also in their understanding of
God's purpose and in their ability to participate in it. Soon they were teaching about the
New Covenant everywhere they went but they didn't call it that. Instead they spoke about
the "gospel" which means good news! This message soon developed to include all of the
following points:

1. A review of how people are at heart sinners

2. A proclamation of how we can be freed from sin through Jesus death and resurrection
3. What we have to do to participate in it
4. How we should live as a result

The disciples also taught that people who follow Jesus really become members of a new
kingdom, one in which God is king. That kingdom for the time being was invisible like
its king but nonetheless very real. Since the kingdom is for the moment invisible,
followers should have some way of coming together to share fellowship, teaching and
material goods with each other. The communities that were formed for this purpose were
called the church. They were characterised by great joy and care for each other. They
were ever conscious of the Holy Spirit indwelling their lives.

In this section we look at all these things in more detail. In the next course - Living in the
Kingdom - the truths we discover in this section are applied into contemporary Christian
living

61
 THE GOSPEL
LESSON 16

Introduction:

Read and Study This

Gospel is the joyous Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. The Greek word
(evangelion - yoo-ang-ghel-ee-on) translated as gospel means “a reward for bringing
good news” or simply “good news”. In Isaiah 40:9, the prophet proclaimed the “good
tidings” that God would rescue His people from captivity. In His first sermon in
Nazareth, Jesus used a passage from the Old Testament to characterise the spirit of His
ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the
gospel to the poor” - Luke 4:18.

The Gospel is not a new plan of salvation; it is the fulfilment of God’s eternal plan of
salvation which was conceived before time, established through the covenants, with
Abraham’s seed (Israel), completed in Jesus Christ, and now made known by the living
church. The gospel is the saving work of God in His Son Jesus Christ and a call to faith in
Him - Romans 1:16-17. Jesus is more than a messenger of the gospel; He is the gospel.
The Good News of God was incarnate in His life, teaching, and atoning death.
Therefore, the gospel is both a historical event and a personal relationship.

Judging from the emphasis of Jesus’ ministry and the clear commission He gave His
followers, the gospel of the kingdom is the most important message in the Bible. Jesus
declared that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to
all the nations, and then the end will come” - Matthew 24:14.

Nothing is to be more central to the understanding or personal mission of each follower

of the Lord Jesus than the truth of this gospel and our Assessment to bear it to the world.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

The Gospel is Both Word and Deed. There is no gospel other than the gospel of the
kingdom of God (or “of heaven”; Matthew 3:2, 4:17; Acts 28:23; Galatians 1:8-9). The
gospel of the kingdom is the same as the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself used the
former expression frequently, while His followers rightly saw in Jesus both the coming of
God’s kingdom and the place of Jesus as King of the kingdom. Within a short time, the
revelation of Jesus as Lord and Christ turned the popular way of referring to God’s
gospel toward the form most familiar to us: “the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The Kingdom of God is therefore an extremely important and large subject. To

summarise the key points we note the following:

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1. The Kingdom is not a geographical concept like the Kingdom of Spain. Rather it
refers to the whole realm in which God is king. That includes the material and
spiritual world. It means that all of creation is subject to God’s sovereignty.

2. The Kingdom is said to be present already when there are people who are willing to
acknowledge God’s sovereignty. This means that wherever there are Christian, there
also is the kingdom.

3. The Kingdom has a future understanding in that there are many who now do not
acknowledge God’s sovereignty but in the future God will reveal himself in such a
way that all must. This will be accomplished with a renewal of all creation so that it
(including us) is freed from the current frustration caused by sin.

4. The promises of the future kingdom are available to us in part just as we have a
deposit of the Holy Spirit. This is said to be the breaking in of the kingdom into the
present. Although we are not sinless we are being sanctified. Although there is still
sickness there is divine healing. This means we are living between the ages or in the
already but not yet.

5. That the Kingdom is breaking into the present is evidenced by “signs of the
kingdom.” Jesus said that healings, proclamation of good news; miracles and
deliverance are all signs of the kingdom.

6. There is no exegetical ground for distinguishing between the kingdom of heaven and
the kingdom of God.

7. The gospel of the kingdom incorporates, first, the promise of eternal life for all who
receive God’s King as Lord and Saviour - John 3:16-19, 33-36. Second, it also
contains the promise of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling - Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9-11 and
empowering - John 7:38-39; Acts 1:8.

8. With the Spirit’s enabling, each “witness” (agent or representative of the kingdom)
can minister the gospel in the power of the Lord, assured that the gospel proclaimed
will be confirmed by the gospel demonstrated through “signs following” - Mark
16:15-20.

9. The gospel of the kingdom promises that ultimately the King shall come again to
consummate the rule of God upon the earth - Revelations 19:11-16; 20:1-6. Then all
who believe and follow Him shall dwell forever in the eternal kingdom with God. -
John 14:1-6; Revelations 20:7-27.

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The Message, Mission and Motive of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

God’s Kingdom works in this world through the power of the Gospel. “And this gospel
of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all
nations; and then the end will come” This text reveals three things. There is a message, a
mission and a motive.

The Message

We discover that the Gospel of the Kingdom is the Gospel, which was proclaimed by the
apostles in the early Church. At His Ascension, the Lord commissioned His disciples:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe al that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with your always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:19-20.)
The disciples and hence the church is commissioned to take a message of all that Jesus
taught to all people. What is that message that we are to carry? We can identify the
following important aspects:

That which Jesus has done: Paul summarised the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
in 1Cor 15: 3 – 8 very eloquently. The historical event of the cross is always part of the
gospel message.

Who God is: God is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and as the revelation takes
place people will appreciate the character of God and what he has done.

The message of love: It was out of love that God sent Jesus (John 3:16) and it is love that
will draw people to him.

Forgiveness of sin: Somewhere in the process of communicating the gospel, people must
be made aware of their inherent sinfulness. This applies to everyone. But the gospel is the
message of forgiveness for those who will receive it.

A new beginning: Paul states that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
has gone, the new has come.” (2Cor 5:17). Practically this means that people no longer
have to fall into old patterns of behaviour, they can start to live a new life that is in
accordance with Christian morality.

Christian behaviour: People who respond to Jesus will live in accordance with
Kingdom standards. Although this involves a lot it is summarised in the Sermon on the
Mount in Matt 5 – 7. This is not a set of rules but a revelation of the heart attitude that
God can give us and expects us to develop.

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This is not by any means exhaustive, nor is it necessarily the order in which we share
with people. For example we would not start talking to a Muslim about the Trinity, but
we probably would talk about God’s love. The most important thing is that we all know
the Gospel message sufficiently well to share it with others. Often the best way is to talk
about the way it affected and changed you.

The Mission

The passage that we started with shows that not only do we share with people who come
to us but also we also actively reach out to others to share the Gospel. Does that mean
you and me as well? It does in terms of the fact that we are part of the church and we are
witnesses to Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors of the Lord. We are all called to share the
truths that Jesus revealed whether it is by what we say or the life we live. But we also
acknowledge that different people have different roles in this. For example some are
called to preach to large crowds of people or to go to remote tribal situations. God may
not have called you to do anything that radical and you don’t need to feel guilty about it.
But everyone of use should be ready to tell the truth about Jesus and what he has done to
us to anyone who shows interest or is in need.

This doesn’t mean bible bashing but it does mean living a lifestyle so that people will see
a difference in the way you live. Out of this opportunities will arise at some stage to
explain to people why you live differently.

Some will definitely be called to be more active in mission and reaching people of
another culture. This is that way the Gospel will spread into the whole world. Check
through prayer to see if God might be challenging you with this sort of call. It is unlikely
that he will tell you to drop everything and go. On the other hand he may put a dream in
your heart and show you how to work towards it. And never forget that we can be an
important part of spreading the Gospel by supporting those who do go. We can give,
pray, equip and encourage. Maybe you could believe that your children will become
missionaries.

The Mission

In the second place, we find in Matthew 24:14 a mission as well as a message. This
Gospel of the Kingdom, this Good News of Christ’s victory over God’s enemies, must be
preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. This is our mission. This verse is
one of the most important in all the Word of God to ascertain the meaning and the
purpose in human history.

The Bible has an answer. The central theme of the entire Bible is God’s redemptive work
in history.

The ultimate meaning of history between the Ascension of our Lord and His return in
glory is found in the extension and working of the Gospel in the world. “This gospel of
65
the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations;
and then the end will come”. The divine purpose in the years since our Lord lived on
earth is found in the history of the Gospel of the Kingdom. The thread of meaning is
woven into the missionary programme of the Church.

This is a staggering fact. God has entrusted to people like us, redeemed sinners, the
responsibility of carrying out the divine purpose in history.

God has entrusted to us this mission; and unless we do it, it will not get done.

This Good News of the Kingdom of God must be preached, if you please, by the Church
in all the world for a witness to all nations. This is God’s programme. This means that
for the ultimate meaning of modern civilisation and the destiny of human history, you
and I are more important than the United Nations.

Let us recognise what we are as God sees us and let us be about our divinely appointed
programme. This Good News about the Kingdom must be preached in all the world for
a witness to all nations and then shall the end come. I am glad, indeed proud, to be a part
of the Church of Christ because to us has been committed the most meaningful and
worthwhile task of any human institution. This gives to my life an eternal significance,
for I am sharing in God’s plan for the ages. The meaning and destiny of history rests in
my hands.

The Motive

The starting text contains a mighty motive. “Then the end will come.” When the Church
has finished its task of evangelising the world, Christ will come again. The Word of God
says it. Why did He not come in AD 500? Because the Church had not evangelised the
world. Why did He not return in AD 1000? Because the Church had not finished its task
of worldwide evangelisation. Is He coming soon? He is - if we, God’s people, are
obedient to the command of the Lord to take the Gospel into the entire world.

Someone else will say, “How are we to know when the mission is completed? How
close are we to the accomplishment of the task? Which countries have been evangelised
and which have not? How close are we to the end? The answer is, We do not know. God
alone knows the definition of terms. We cannot precisely define who “all the nations”
are. Only God knows exactly the meaning of “evangelise”. He alone, who has told us
that this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony
unto all the nations, will know when that objective has been accomplished. Here is the
motive of our mission: the final victory awaits the completion of our task. “And then the
end will come”. There is no other verse in the Word of God which says, “And then the
end will come”.

But that is not all that motivates us. We can testify to the change that has been made in
our lives by encountering the living God – love, hope, peace and joy in a dimension that
we never experienced. And God has blessed us individually and corporately in many
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other ways. But what about those who have never heard? They can not enter into these
blessings and what is more their eternal destiny is uncertain. Christ’s love for all people
motivated him to go – what about us. Christ said, “I came to seek and save the lost”. We
should be infected with the same concern. Each one of us will be called in a different way
to participate but let us all be clear of our motivation so that we are ready for the
challenge.

Reflect And Pray

Spend some time writing in your journal the following:

• What specific parts of the Gospel were most important to you when you first became
a Christian? Was it conviction of sin, the love of God or something else?

• What are the greatest changes that the Gospel made in your life?

Pray about the following:

• In what way is God calling you to be an ambassador of the Gospel? Maybe the Lord
wants to show you some new challenges or maybe he will affirm you in what you are
doing

Text Reading

Use the index in Milne to do a little more study on aspects of the Gospel and the
Kingdom of God.

Written Assessment

Write an assessment on The Gospel.

67
 THE HOLY SPIRIT
LESSON 17

The earliest proclamation of the Gospel after Jesus death was on the day of Pentecost.
This was a special day in the Jewish Calendar and so many people were gathered in
Jerusalem. At the same time a group of about 120 of Jesus’ disciples were gathering
together for prayer as Jesus had instructed them to. Now read the whole of Acts 2 to find
out what happened.

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit revolutionised peoples' lives and started the
development of the church. Since that time Christian doctrine has established that the
Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who dwells in us. He can do so because Jesus'
work of redemption declares us holy and so the Holy Spirit can dwell in us inspite of our
frail humanity. In this lesson we will look at the revelation of the Holy Spirit throughout
the Bible and then explain what it means for us today.

Read and Study This

The Revelation of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

1. Creation

The Holy Spirit as an Agent in Creation. Each Person in the Godhead is represented as
having been involved in creation:

The Father
- “God, ... Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, ....by whom also he made
the worlds ...” - Hebrews 1:1,2;

The Son

- “all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was
made” - John 1:3,
- “for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all
things were created by him, and for him...” - Colossians 1:16;

The Holy Spirit

- “When you send your Spirit they (speaking of all creation) are created, and you
renew the face of the earth.” – Psalm 104:30.
- “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life” – Job
33:4

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These various passages are not to be thought of as contradictory, but rather they set firth
the principle which prevails through the Bible, that all three Persons of the Trinity work
together to accomplish the divine will. In fact, the opening statement of the Bible – “ In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” – suggests that the entire Trinity
were active; for the word “God” is the Hebrew Elohim, which is a uni-plural word
indicating more than one personality.

2. Supernatural Empowerer

Throughout the historical books of the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was seen as an
empowerer who enabled men to do supernatural things. For example you can look at the
abilities of Samson in the book of Judges when the Holy Spirit came upon him. He was
able to slay 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass and he pushed over a whole building.
Yet when the Spirit left him he was quite weak.

3. Spirit of Prophecy

When people were filled with the Spirit they often prophesied or declared things with the
authority of God. (1Sam 10:10)

4. Divine Presence

In Psalm 51 David equates the presence of God with the Holy Spirit. The sense of the
presence of God was the in contrast to the normal Hebrew transcendent perception of
God. Very few people were bold enough to assume that God would draw near to them
but King David changed that perception dramatically.

5. The Promise of God's future presence

Two prophets in particular speak about the coming of the Spirit in a greater way than they
had previously experienced.

Joel prophesied a coming that would empower people to know God through dreams and
visions. Peter quotes this in Acts 2 to explain what was happening on the day of
Pentecost.

Ezekiel predicts the coming of the Holy Spirit in that people would be able to understand
God's ways and empowered to live according to them.

These two prophets together have a very accurate vision of what the Holy Spirit actually
does with Christian today.

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The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

1. At the Birth of Jesus

Luke records that the Holy Spirit came to Mary and enabled her to conceive without
having intercourse with a man.

2. At Jesus Baptism

When Jesus was baptised the Holy Spirit came like a dove and rested on him. John the
Baptist declared that God told him that this would be proof of Jesus identity.

3. In Jesus Ministry

After Jesus had been baptised the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness and afterwards
it declares the "full of the Holy Spirit Jesus….". Jesus himself quotes Isaiah 61 to say "the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me.."

Text Reading

Read Milne pages 176 – 181

4. The Promise for Believers

When Jesus was explaining to the disciples that he would soon depart, he promised that
he would send the Holy Spirit. He explained that the Spirit would do the following
things:

1. The Holy Spirit witnesses to the Redeeming Work of Christ. God’s plan for, and
method of, salvation is borne witness to be the Holy Spirit. None would know it
better than the Holy Spirit.

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him
Has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these
things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey
him” - Acts 5:30-32.

2. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. “And
when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgement ...” - John 16:8. The word “reprove” is variously translated in
different versions as: convince, convict, expose and rebuke. Someone has stated:
“These three things are the most difficult to impression on any man, for he can
always attempt to justify himself by asserting an excusable motive for evil
actions, or be pleading a relative scale of ethical standards in the place of absolute

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 righteousness, or by assuming that judgement is indefinitely deferred so that it is
no real threat”.

3. The believer is born again of the Holy Spirit. We emphasise here the fact that this
experience is wrought through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit” - John 3:5,6. This new spiritual life is imparted to the believer through the
indwelling Holy Spirit, which is the mark of the New Testament Christian. “But
ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” -
Romans 8:9.

4. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the believer’s sonship. “He that believeth on the
Son of God Has the witness in himself...” - 1 John 5:10. “The Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” - Galatians 4:6. It is important to notice
that in each of these verses it is the Spirit who takes the initiative. He is the One
who bears the witness within the heart of the believer. This is not just an inner
feeling. It is a Divine witness of a new relationship brought about by the Holy
Spirit; and when it is accomplished. He is the One who testifies to its reality.

5. The Holy Spirit baptises the believer into the Body of Christ. “For as the body is
one, and Has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many,
are on body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free...” - 1 Corinthians
12:12,13). The baptism spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is conducted by the Holy
Spirit, and has to do with the believer’s position in Christ.

6. The Holy Spirit seals the believer. “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye
believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit promise, which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession...” - Ephesians
1:13,14. “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption” - Ephesians 4:30. The sealing of the believer brings out the
thought of ownership. When we are saved, God places His seal of ownership
upon us. It was common, in Paul’s day for a merchant to go down to the harbour
and select certain pieces of timber bearing his mark or seal. The seal of God’s
ownership of His saints is the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling their hearts.
This is an earnest or pledge that they are His, until the day when He shall return to
take them unto Himself. “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having
this seal, the Lord knows them that are his” - 2 Timothy 2:19a.

Text Reading

Read Milne pages 181 - 191

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7. The believer is sanctified by the Holy Spirit. “But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God Has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief
of the truth. “ - 2 Thessalonians 2:13 - See also 1 Peter 1:2. The believer is
enabled to mortify the flesh through the Holy Spirit. - Romans 8:5-13. It is the
Holy Spirit who enables us to mortify - make dead - the flesh, and live
victoriously in the Spirit. We mortify the deeds of the flesh by reckoning the old
man crucified with Christ - Romans 6:11, and then by choosing to walk under the
guidance and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit transforms the believer into the image of Christ. This thought
also has to do with the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit in transforming the
nature of the child of God. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by
the Spirit of the Lord” - 2 Corinthians 3:18. Weymouth translates this verse:
“But all of us, as with unveiled faces we mirror the glory of the Lord, are
transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, even as derived from the
Lord the Spirit.”

We are being changed (the word is literally “transformed”) by the operation of the
Holy Spirit into the same image of Christ, which we are endeavouring to reflect.
If we will keep in focus with Jesus, the impress of His image is going to be
implanted upon our own lives through the inner ministry of the Holy Spirit.

8. The Holy Spirit strengthens the believer for greater revelations of Christ. -
Ephesians 3:16-19. He reveals these things that the believer sees the desirability
of having them, and then faith and desire reach out to possess them.

9. The Holy Spirit leads the sons of God. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God” - Romans 8:14. “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye
are not under the law” - Galatians 5:18. “He will guide you”, Jesus said of the
Holy Spirit - John 16:13. One of the greatest privileges of the children of the
Lord is to be led by the omniscient, unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are
going a way which we have never gone before. We are passing through
unfriendly territory with enemies on every hand. What a blessing to have One,
Who knows all that lies ahead, as our Guide. The Holy Spirit is a Person, and His
guiding makes life a personally conducted tour. Not only does He lead the sons
of God; the Holy Spirit enables and empowers each one to walk in the path of His
choosing.

10. The Holy Spirit performs the office of the Comforter. In four great passages of
Scripture, in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.
These are: 14:16-18; 14:26; 15:26 and 16:7-15.

11. The Holy Spirit brings forth fruit in the believer’s life.
Galatians 5:22; Romans 14:17; 15:13; 1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:10;
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 2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 5:8,9; 2 Timothy 2:24,25; 2 Peter 1:5-7

12. The Holy Spirit baptises and infills believers, giving power for service. The
familiar words of the Great Commission, as expressed in Mark 16:15 “Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”, are followed, as stated in
Luke 24:49, by the further command from the Lord, “...but tarry ye in the city of
Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high”. This baptism with the
Holy Ghost and fire - Luke 3:16, and the peculiar anointing of power that would
come as a result, was to be a new phase in the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had
promised, “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in
the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” - Luke 24:49.
Again just before His Ascension, He had enlarged upon this promise by telling
the disciples, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth” - Acts 1:8.

13. The Holy Spirit reveals and gives understanding of the Word of God. The chief
tool that the Christian worker needs and uses, is the written Word of God - the
Bible. Here is contained God’s complete revelation to Man, pointing to the
means of salvation and giving instructions in how to live the Christian life. One
of the most important ministries of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the truths of God’s
Word to the heart of the believer.

14. The Holy Spirit helps the believer to pray. Along with a study of the Word of
God, prayer is the chief source of the Christian’s strength for his daily life and his
constant battle with the enemies of his soul. The Holy Spirit is vitally connected
with both these sources of Christian life and power.
“Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself (“Himself”, NASB) makes intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints
according to the will of God” - Romans 8:26,27

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit...” - Ephesians 6:18.

“But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost...” -Jude 20

The Spirit’s ministry in prayer is very precious. Praying in the strength and
wisdom of the flesh can be very difficult and trying. It is hard to realise the
presence of God to whom you are praying. It is hard to exercise faith for things
that you cannot see. It is almost impossible to know how to pray bout things that
are beyond your human understanding. But all this is changed when the Holy
Spirit anoints the heart and mind. The presence of God becomes real; the Spirit
opens the understanding; and faith is simple, as God is so real.

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15. The Holy Spirit gives power for preaching the Word of God. Paul testified: “And
my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but
in demonstration of the Spirit and of power...” - 1 Corinthians 2:4. Again he says
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and I the Holy
Ghost...” - 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Peter recognised the presence of the Holy Spirit
in his preaching as he testified before the Jewish Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. He
declared, “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost...” - Acts 5:32. Effective preaching of the Gospel must be under the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more impossible than to try to bring men
to realise the value, and their need of spiritual things, unless the message is
delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus testified that he was especially
anointed for His preaching ministry - Luke 4:18,19. If this was necessary for
Him, it most certainly is for all lesser servants of the Cross.

16. The Holy Spirit gives the believer spiritual gifts for ministry to others. The
subject of spiritual gifts is brought before us in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 and Romans
12:6-8. That they are to be used in spiritual service for ministry to others is
clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 12:7: “But to each one is given the manifestation
of the Spirit of the common good” (NASB)

Text Reading

Read Milne pages 191 – 208

Points to Ponder

Discuss these points in class or with your course supervisor, mentoror a church leader

1. When do you receivethe Holy Spirit?

2. Is the Holy Spirit received in stages?

3. Can the Spirit leave you as in the Old Testament?

Write your thoughts on these three questions in your journal

Written Assessment

Write an assessment on The Work of the Holy Spirit

74
 THE CHURCH
LESSON 18

The Birth of the Christian Church

'The experience of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost created an opportunity for
Peter to preach to all the people gathered in Jerusalem with the result that 3000 people on
that day decided to follow Jesus Christ. In subsequent days and weeks even more became
followers. This posed an overwhelming question for the 12 apostles and the other
hundred or so who had been meeting together since Jesus resurrection. What were they to
do with all these people in terms of meeting, worship, leadership, membership etc.? The
question was partly answered in the fact that the majority of these converts were Jews
and so they could continue to worship in the temple or the synagogues. However the
unresponsive Jews, including many of the leaders were not sympathetic to the new sect
and many tensions developed. The new believers also had many questions and needed to
gather together apart from the religious constrictions of the traditional Jewish structures.
With no other place to go they began to gather in houses belonging to the people. We can
confidently reconstruct a picture of people gathering in houses to listen to one of the
apostles who was visiting that night to teach them. They would often share meals
together and as part of the meal celebrate Jesus death and resurrection by partaking of
bread and wine in a ritual called the Lord's supper.

This then was the beginning of the Church. The structures were informal although entry
into the church community was by undergoing baptism. The leaders were Jesus' apostles
although they soon had to promote other people into roles including deacons (Acts 6).
They had no formal meeting places but most members attended temple or synagogue
worship and met in people's houses. Their primary concerns were teaching, fellowship
and caring for each other, They believed very seriously that Jesus would return soon.

Jesus Teaching

Jesus Christ is obviously the founder of the Christian Church. It was his ministry both in
the flesh and then through the Holy Spirit that drew people together and gave them
identity and purpose But the most startling thing is that Jesus himself said almost nothing
about what his church should look like. His only significant references to the church are
found in the following passages:

Matthew 16:16 - 20
Matthew 18:15 - 20
John 21:15 - 25

These passages indicate that Jesus foresaw the fellowship of believers and their need for
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structure, purpose, care and leadership but he never established any pattern for how this
should be done. This is very significant and from it we draw a very important conclusion.
There is no fixed, right way in which the church should be developed but it should
always have the freedom to develop within the context of its location responding to the
culture and needs of the people who form it. This does not mean that there ate no
principles that we can use. Jesus gave clear guidelines in the following points:
1. The Church is to be a community of people who through Christ believe in the
Father.
2. They will know the presence of the Holy Spirit in each of their lives
3. They will live a life characterised by love towards each other and to outsiders
4. They will attempt to live lives of purity

Other than this Jesus imposes no pattern on the Church. Some people would say that
through the apostles and subsequent church leaders a model for the ideal New Testament
Church was developed. They hold that we should try to follow this so-called model in
church structures today. But this is not very useful, for the models of the New Testament
churches varied considerably and they fitted contexts that are not applicable to us today.
Instead what we can learn from the New Testament is how the first Christians applied
Jesus limited teaching into creating a church that met the needs of the New Testament
world. In such an examination we can certainly build up a clearer understanding of the
principles of developing the church. To do this in depth is beyond our present scope; it
properly belongs to a theological study called Ecclesiology. We will now look at a few
basic points about Church:

Metaphors for the Church

To convey the organic nature of the Church the New Testament writers developed several
metaphors:

The Body of Christ

This expression shows how closely related to Christ the Church is. The metaphor is
extended to make Christ the head of the body and compare the roles of people in the
church with parts of the body (1Cor 12)

The Bride of Christ

This expresses the intimacy of relationship and the expectation of a special union in the
future (Eph 5). Note that some see the bride as a separate group of Christians from the
body of Christ. This sort of teaching misses the point of the metaphor and sets up an
elitist mentality.
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Household or Family of God

This emphasises universality of the church and the "Fatherness" of God. (Eph 3:14)

God's Building

Paul uses this to emphasis that the church is built up by addition of members and growth
of maturity

Temple (of the Holy Spirit)

The temple has always been seen as a place where God can come to meet with man so
Paul conveys that now people meet with God through Christians.
These metaphors were very important for the NT writers to be able to convey the
dynamic nature of the church. All the metaphors helped to focus the emphasis on the
people rather than buildings or structures.

Text Reading

Read Milne 209 -221

Features of the Church

The NT develops the principles that Jesus laid down for the Church and gives them
practical meaning. Some of the main features are:

No racial, gender or socio-economic discrimination

The church in fact did not start with this principle, as the early Christians tended to build
on their Jewish heritage, which excluded gentiles. First Peter (Acts 10) had a revelation
by vision that this racist attitude was to be broken as God was accepting people of all
backgrounds into equal fellowship with himself. The church had to be a reflection of
God's attitude to all people. The apostle Paul developed this fully in all the churches he
planted and used the slogan:
"There is nether Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ"

Gathering for Worship

Paul writing to the Corinthians corrects some of their wrong understanding and highlights
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the role of corporate gathering for worship (1 Cor 12 - 14). That worship apparent
included:
• Singing
• Prayer
• Use of Spiritual gifts for encouragement
• Teaching
• Giving

Paul stresses that freedom and spontaneity are a primary characteristics of all corporate
worship but this does not allow for degeneration into chaos or everybody "doing their
own thing". Because worship allowed them to experience the presence of God
corporately it was to be conducted with order, respect and honour.

Some of the NT writers also stress the need to meet together regularly, (Heb 10)

Leadership

The NT church had to learn how to balance two aspects of leadership:

1. Strong leadership that was able to give direction and maintain order and discipline
when necessary.
2. Servant leadership that refused to control and exercised care and compassion for
others.

Human nature usually finds it difficult to hold these two aspects in harmony but leaders
like the apostle learned to exemplify it under the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

The NT writings constantly emphasise the importance of character qualities even over
strong leadership skills.

The apostles who started the churches and those with prophetic ministries first exercised
leadership in the churches. Paul developed a pattern of appointing elders and deacons to
take responsibility for organising the church and caring for the congregation. In the
beginning these positions were not full time paid roles although those who worked hard
were to be financially remunerated in some way.

The church also recognised as special ministry gifts those who were evangelists, pastors
and teachers Eph 4:11). These were appointed to help prepare all of God's people for
ministry.

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Text Reading

Read Milne pages 221-229

Historical Development

The history of the church over 2000 years shows various developments on the NT model
although overall the progress was not always beneficial. From the third century and
accelerating greatly in the fourth, the church became progressively institutionalised. This
happened particularly in the following areas:
1. The formalisation of leadership structures with the development of hierarchies
2 The ownership of buildings
3 The development of liturgical worship forms that replaced the spontaneous forms

These things are not necessarily bad in themselves but at various times they became so
rigid that one wonders if God himself had the freedom to come into the church.

Church Today

The main point of as far as we are concerned is that most church structures that we see in
the Western world today are the product of historical institutionalisation and may not be
the best ways for today. This does not necessarily mean that we should rebel against
them but we should all be open to adopting new ways of meeting the needs of people
today.
One of the ways this has happened is the development of cell churches or small groups
within a large church. These allow people to gather in informal settings and in smaller
groups so that everyone's presence is meaningful.

Other churches have specially focused services to attract non-Christians.

In all of this we should remember that God's people in the Church should together fulfil
the following roles:

1. Corporate worship to Father, Son and Holy Spirit

2. Teaching about god and Christian living.
3. Support and encouragement in the faith
4. Healing and care for the hurt and suffering.
5. Outreach in both evangelism and mercy ministry to those outside the church
6. Provide a challenge to the world in moral issues.

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Text Reading

Read Milne pages 241 - 250

Points to Ponder

What contribution do you make to the Church?

Is the Church overall meeting the responsibilities that God has assigned to it?

Written Assessment

Write an assessment on The Church

80
 WHERE TO FROM HERE – GROWING IN CHRISTIAN MATURITY
LESSON 19

More Study?

The material that has been covered in this course is foundational in that it establishes the
most important beliefs in Christianity. Obviously all of the topics can and need to be
studied in further depth. Therefore you are strongly encouraged to keep studying. We can
never develop too much understanding of God and his ways. The question is not whether
you should study but what and how you should study.

1. What to study

Biblical studies
The Fundamental source of Christian belief is the Bible therefore it is vitally important to
be familiar with it. Bible study falls into two major categories

Bible Survey: this enables you to become familiar with the content and
background of the writings

Bible Interpretation: this develops the skills for understanding the meaning in
its original context and how it can be applied today. You will have noticed during
the course that there were passages that had different meanings from what you
originally thought. You will want to develop these skills for yourself.

Christian Thinking
We are encouraged to have the “mind of Christ” or to think in the ways he wants us to
This requires study, practice and patience. The following subjects help develop his.

Christian Theology
This is the study of God, God's ways and the beliefs relating to Christianity.

Church History
This looks at the way people have interpreted Christian beliefs in the past. We
can learn so much from the experiences of those Christians who have grappled
with issues before us.

Christian Ethics
This subject helps us to apply our beliefs into real life situations and examines
how we can be salt and light in the world.

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Spiritual Formation Topics
'There are many short or long subjects that are aimed at developing spiritual maturity.
They should cover topics like prayer, Servanthood, discipleship, family, Christian care
etc. Christian leadership.

Ministry and Mission Topics

These subjects develop special skills for ministry to other people. Normally you will
select subjects that are related to your specific calling.

2. How to Learn
Among Christians you can often observe a tension between studying theology and
“getting out there and doing it”. That tension shouldn't really exist because Christian
living is all about balancing both sides.

You should learn by study, through going to classes, and through reading. There are
many good courses around and today more than ever you can choose between full-time or
part time study. You can go to morning or evening classes; you can live at home or at a
College. You should think and pray about the best way for yourself and discuss it with a
pastor or leader.

Leaning by being involved is just as important. Paul the apostle advised people to imitate
him and the concept of mentoring is very important. When you see someone doing things
well it is more effective to imitate them and ask them for help rather than simply studying
about it. You should look around very carefully and note the people who are mature and
doing things in a way you admire, imitate them and maybe ask them if you can be their
‘apprentice’. (This may mean becoming involved in a meaningful mentoring relationship)

You should also be thinking in the other direction. Who can you help by becoming a
mentor to them? Is your life an example of Christian maturity so that you would feel
confident if someone imitated you?

There is more than One Way

When we gain some knowledge or skills in Christian living it is easy to think that we
have the right way. This is not completely true because often in Christian practice there is
not a particular right way. Take corporate worship for example. Is loud and fast better
than slow and reflective? Are choruses better than hymns? The answer depends on your
background, circumstances, culture and probably age. Learn not to despise others if they
like something different. God loves diversity.

Sometimes you may have reason for believing your way is better but often that is not the
important issue. For example what is more ‘biblical’, baptism by sprinkling or baptism by
immersion? We believe in immersion. But you can become an arrogant immersed
Christian who looks down on a lovely humble and mature Christian who has been
sprinkled. You can be sure that God is with the latter as much if not more than the
former.
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Does this mean that correct doctrine is not that important? No, but it does mean that in
many ways character is more important than knowledge. The best of both worlds is to
have a sound understanding of doctrine and a well developed character.

The One Commandment to live by.

The Old Testament people were directed by a law that was derived from Ten
Commandments (Exodus 20 and Deut 6). These commands were intended to keep them
from idolatry, to help them live in harmony and to become an example nation to other
peoples. They were to “be holy for I the Lord your God am holy”.

In the New Testament we hear that the Ten Commandments can actually be summed up
by just two:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your hearts, mind and strength and

2. Love your neighbour as yourself

Many people recognise these two commandments as the foundation for the New
Covenant but in fact this is not strictly true. Jesus replaced the Old Covenant with one
new commandment:

Love one another as I have loved you.

Notice how this parallels and replaces "Be holy for the I the Lord your God am holy."
The concept of holiness becomes subsumed and complete within love. Whatever we do in
Christian living it should find its basis in love. Is it any easier to love than to be holy?
The answer is probably no but it does have more meaning for us. In the OT God's
holiness was always a sign of his transcendence and mystery. How could you imitate
God? But in the NT we have the perfect concrete example of love. Jesus gave himself to
us in sacrificial love on the cross. This at least we can understand enough to imitate even
if we don't always have the courage to. But the NT as well as the Old doesn't just present
us with a command and expect immediate obedience. It comes as a promise of what God
is doing and will do in our lives. If we allow him to he will work in our lives until we can
respond in love. Remember how Peter and Paul lived and died. God, by His own promise
is doing the same in our lives. It takes a revelation of how much he loves us.

Congratulations on finishing this unit but remember that in fact you are just starting the
true course, which is to live out the truths of Christian in the real world. May God
strengthen you and help you to do so with courage and determination.

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 SURVEY OF CHRISTIAN BELIEFS

This activity assesses :

Unit: 9974 (1 of 2 Assessments)

Element

Element 1 Explain a commonly held theological understanding of a wide

range of Christian beliefs
Element 2 Explain implications for the lives of believers of a commonly held
Christian theological understanding of a wide range of Christian
beliefs.

Conditions: Complete all of the student Worksheets and return to MTCNZ for
assessment
Task 1:

Instructions:

Use your notes, Bible or any other reference material to complete 8 charts on the
Christian
Beliefs we have studied. You will need to complete a separate chart for each belief.

Explanatory notes

A. Sources (Element 1. PC 1.1)

In this section you must provide at least 2 Old Testament references, 2 New
Testament references and two references from another source that illustrates the
Christian belief. These references should clarify the information you give under key
elements.
Examples of other sources include: church teachings, Christian tradition, ancient and
modern Christian writings that are regarded as ‘classics’, experience. Any sources
must be documented.

B. Context of the Source. (Element 1. PC 1.1, 1.4)

This includes relevant background or surrounding context of the chapter or book of
the Bible, or other source.

C. Key Elements (Element 1. PC 1.1, 1.2, 1.4)

84
 In this section you should clarify what Christians believe concerning the belief you
have chosen. You can include the things that are considered essential in our
understanding of the belief. Each key element should clarify what Christians believe
in relation to the source and context chosen.

D. Glossary (Element 1. PC 1.2, 1.4 )

In this section you can list and define any special words or technical terms that are
associated with the Christian belief you have explained.

E. Application (Element 2. PC. 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4)

In this section you need to describe an implication or outworking of the belief in the
personal or social life of the believer OR faith community. Possible areas of
outworking could be seen for example in a form of worship, church organisation,
lifestyle, way of relating to God, attitude or value, mission, or method of
evangelisation.

You must also explain why this implication or outworking is desirable. You must
quote two references from theological sources to support or backup your explanation
of desirability. (Sources include – the Bible, church teachings, Christian tradition,
ancient and modern Christian writings that are regarded as ‘classics’, experience.)

All you answers should be consistent with representative accounts of a selected

Christian theological understanding. It can include the theological perspective of
denominational groups e.g. Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal or of theological thought e.g.
fundamentalist, reformed, evangelical etc.

Make sure you note the perspective or understanding you have selected to explain at the
top of each chart.

AppendixOne

Sample Assessment.

85
 SURVEY OF CHRISTIAN BELIEFS

This activity assesses:

Unit: 9974 (2 of 2 Assessments)

Element
Element 1 Explain a commonly held theological understanding of a wide range of
Christian beliefs

This activity covers PC 1.3

The explanation identifies the significance of each selected belief to other selected Christian
beliefs and to Christian theology as a whole.

Conditions: Write an essay answering one of the questions below.

Task 2:

Instructions:

Use the content of at least three beliefs that you have studied to WRITE AN
ESSAY answering ONE of the questions below. In answering the question you should
show how these beliefs interrelate and enhance each other and fit into theology as a
whole.
All you answers should be consistent with representative accounts of a selected
Christian theological understanding. It can include the theological perspective of
denominational groups e.g. Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal or of theological thought e.g.
fundamentalist, reformed, evangelical etc.
You should also be able to use in context any general words or technical
theological terms that are associated with each belief.
At the beginning of your essay please state the theological understanding that you
are expressing and the beliefs you have chosen to use to answer the question.

Answer one of:

1. Who will be saved?
2. What must I do to be saved?
3. What advice would you give to a believer who is finding that church attendance is
no longer relevant?
4. How should a Christian relate to God?
5. How should Christians relate and interact with the world in which they live?

Appendix Two
Sample Assessment.

86
 Christian Belief Revelation Selected Perspective Reformed Student Name

A. SOURCE B. CONTEXT OF C. KEY ELEMENT D. GLOSSARY

SOURCE
Ps 19:1 In poetic form the Because God is infinite and we are finite General Revelation – God
Psalmist attests to the we cannot know God unless God reveals revealing himself to all
witness of God in himself to us. One aspect of God people in all places
creation. revealing himself to us is through through nature, history,
creation, history and the human person.
This revelation is universally available to
and the inner being of the
all people. It is an indirect or general human person
revelation of God.

Hebrews 1:1-3 The writer to the Hebrews At times God has revealed himself Special revelation – God
contrasts God’s revelation directly to people. The best or most revealing and
through Jesus to earlier complete example of this special communicating himself
forms of revelation. The revelation is seen in the life, death and with particular people at
writer indicates that the resurrection of Jesus. particular times. Eg The
incarnation is superior
because it is more direct.
Bible

Exodus 31 In this book of law Ch 31 The giving of the 10 commandments to

relates how Moses Moses is an example of special revelation
received the law

1 John 1:1 John shows how Jesus Jesus was God and therefore could best Incarnation – The act by
both spoke the Father’s reveal God to us. The revelation of who which the son of God,
or words and demonstrated God is as seen in Jesus, is expressed without ceasing to be God
the Father’s attributes. through human witness ie. The became man. In this way
(John 14:9) Scriptures, and the proclamation and life Jesus was the most
of the church. complete revelation of
God because he was God.

Faith Seeking Migliore has a reformed Migliore says special revelation is

Understanding theological background. interpersonal. It promotes a direct
By Daniel He writes from this relationship between God and ourselves.
Migliore perspective but also He likens it to the development of human
interacts with current interpersonal relationships. Peoples
Eerdmans ideas from liberation character and nature are revealed, in the
1996 theology. context of their personal story, through
interactions that involve patterns of
behaviour, promises and invitations to
trust.

Chapter 2 Some people believe that you can come to a

genuine knowledge of God through general
revelation. Others believe that because sin
has marred creation it is impossible for the
believer to come to a redeeming knowledge
of God through general revelation.

87
 E. APPLICATION
Explain one implication or outworking of this belief in the personal or social life of
the believer OR the faith community.

As a believer I can worship God as I interact with his creation for example reflecting
and being present to God while sitting in the bush or walking by the sea.
Or
As God is revealed through creation the believer can increase his knowledge of God by
studying nature and creation.
Or
If the believer wants to know the true character and nature of God he can discover this
by studying the life of Jesus as recorded in the Scriptures.
Or
The believer can develop an interpersonal relationship with God through interaction
with the Scriptures, the proclamation and life of the church and God’s creation
Or
If people can only be redeemed by special revelation then the faith community has a
responsibility to share their knowledge of Jesus and his incarnation and the scriptures
with others.
Or
The community of faith should assist it’s members to study and understand the special
revelation of God expressed by the Scriptures.
Or
The faith community could assist their members to be more creative in their worship
expression by having some services out doors.
Or
Because creation is a reflection of the glory of God, as a community of faith we should
care for God’s creation in practical ways eg. Recycling, controlling pollution and
abuse of the natural environment.
Explain why this implication or outworking is desirable. (You must include two
references to support your answer.)
It is important for the faith community to enable it’s members to understand the
Scriptures because “ Scripture revolutionises our understanding of our own identity,
power, and freedom as creatures made in the image of God .” (ibid. Migliore pg. 53)
The Scriptures, through the working and revelation of the Holy Spirit, can enhance and
expand out relationship with God. (1 John 2:5-6, 2Tim 3:16)

Appendix Three
Assessment Preform sheets.

88
CHRISTIAN BELIEF SELECTED PERSPECTIVE
STUDENT NAME

A. SOURCE B. CONTEXT OF C. KEY ELEMENT D. GLOSSARY

SOURCE

89
CHRISTIAN BELIEF SELECTED PERSPECTIVE
STUDENT NAME

E. APPLICATION

Explain one implication or outworking of this belief in the personal or social life of the
believer OR the faith community.

Explain why this implication or outworking is desirable. (You must include two
references to support your answer.)

Appendix Four

Supplementary Readings.

90
ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 2

EXTRACT ON INSPIRATION TAKEN FROM:

NEW BIBLE DICTIONARY, 2ND ED, IVP, 1982

INSPIRATION. Noun formed from Latin and English translations of theopneustos in 2

Tim. 3:16, which AV rendered: 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
'Inspired of God' in RSV is no improvement on AV, for theopneustos means our-breathed
rather than in-breathed by God-divinely ex-spired, rather than in-spired. In the last
century Ewald and Cremer argued that the adjective bore an active sense, 'breathing the
Spirit', and Barth appears to agree (he glosses it as meaning not only 'given and filled and
ruled by the Spirit of God', but also 'actively out-breathing and spreading abroad and
making known the Spirit of God' (Church Dogmatics, I. 2, E.T. 1956, p.504)); but B. B.
Warfield showed decisively in 1900 that the sense of the word can only be passive. The
thought is not of God as breathing through Scripture, or of Scripture as breathing out
God, but of God as having breathed out Scripture. Paul's words mean, not that Scripture
is inspiring (true though this is), but that Scripture is a divine product, and must be ap-
proached and estimated as such.
The 'breath' or 'spirit' of God in the OT (Heb. ru'ah, nesama') denotes the active outgoing
of divine power, whether in creation (ps. 33:6; Jb. 33:4; cf Gen. 1:2; 2:7), preservation
(Jb. 34:14), revelation to and through prophets (Is. 48:16; 61:1; Mi. 3:8; Joel 2:28f:),
regeneration (Ezk. 36:27), or judgment (Is. 30:28, 33). The NT reveals this divine 'breath'
(Gk. pneuma) to be a Person of the Godhead, God's 'breath' (i.e. the Holy Spirit)
produced Scripture, as a means to the conveyance of spiritual understanding. Whether we
render pasa graphe as 'the whole Scripture' or every text', and whether we follow RSV or
RV in construing the sentence (RV has 'Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable
(which is a possible translation), Paul's meaning is clear beyond all doubt. He is affirming
that all that comes in the category of Scripture, all that has a place among the 'sacred
writings' (hiera grammata, v. I5, RV), just because it is God-breathed, is profitable for
the guiding of both faith and life. On the basis of this Pauline text, English theology
regularly uses the word 'inspiration' to express the thought of the divine origin and quality
of Holy Scripture. Actively, the noun denotes God's out-breathing operation, which
produced Scripture: passively, the inspiredness of the Scriptures so produced. The word
is also used more generally of the divine influence, which enabled the human organs of
revelation-prophets; psalmists, wise men and apostles-to speak, as well as to write the
words of God.

I. The idea of Biblical Inspiration

According to 2 Tim. 3:16, what is inspired is precisely the biblical writings. Inspiration is
a work of God terminating, not in the men who were to write Scripture (as if, having
given them an idea of what to say, God left them to themselves to find a way of saying
it), but in the actual written product. It is Scripture the written text-that is God-breathed.

91
The essential idea here is that all Scripture has the same character as the prophets
sermons had, both when preached and when written (cf 2 Pet. l: 19-21), on the divine
origin of every 'prophecy of the Scripture'; see also Je 36; Is. 8:l6 - 20). 'That is to say,
Scripture is not only man's word, the fruit of human thought, premeditation and art, but
also, and equally, God's word, spoken through man's lips or written with man's pen. In
other words, Scripture has a double authorship, and man is only the secondary author; the
primary author, through whose initiative, prompting and enlightenment, and under whose
superintendence, each human writer did his work, is God the Holy Spirit.

Revelation to the prophets was essentially verbal; often it had a visionary aspect, but even
'revelation in visions is also verbal revelation' L. Koehler, Old Testament Theology, E.T.
1957 p. 103). Brunner has observed that in 'the Words of God which the Prophets
proclaim as that which they have received directly from God, and have been
commissioned to repeat, as they have received them . . . perhaps we may find the closest
analogy to the meaning of the theory of verbal inspiration' (Revelation and Reason, 1946,
p. l22 n. 9). Indeed we do; we find not merely an analogy to it, but the paradigm of it; and
'theory' is the wrong word to use, for this is just the biblical doctrine itself. Biblical
inspiration should be defined in the same theological terms as prophetic inspiration:
namely, as the whole process (manifold, no doubt, in its psychological forms, as pro-
phetic inspiration was) whereby God moved those men whom he had chosen and
prepared (cf Je. 1:5; Gal. 1:15) to write exactly what he wanted written for the
communication of saving knowledge to his people, and through them to the world.
Biblical inspiration is thus verbal by its very nature; for it is of God-given words that the
God-breathed Scriptures consist.

Thus, inspired Scripture is written revelation, just as the prophets' sermons were spoken
revelation. The biblical record of God's self-disclosure in redemptive history is not
merely human testimony to revelation, but is itself revelation. The inspiring of Scripture
was an integral part in the revelatory process, for in Scripture God gave the church his
saving work in history, and his own authoritative interpretation of its place in his eternal
plan. 'Thus saith the Lord' could be prefixed to each book of Scripture with no less
propriety than it is (359 times, according to Koehler, op. cit., p. 245) to individual
prophetic utterances which Scripture contains. Inspiration, therefore, guarantees the truth
of all that the Bible asserts, just as the inspiration of the prophets guaranteed the truth of
their representation of the mind of God. ('Truth' here denotes correspondence between the
words of man and the thoughts of God, whether in the realm of fact or of meaning.) As
truth from God, man's Creator and rightful King, biblical instruction, like prophetic
oracles, carries divine authority.

II. Biblical Presentation

The idea of canonical Scripture, i.e. of a document or corpus of documents containing a

permanent authoritative record of divine revelation, goes back to Moses' writing of God's
law in the wilderness (Ex. 34:27f.; Dt. 31:9ff., 24ff.). The truth of all statements,
historical or theological, which Scripture makes, and their authority as words of God, are
assumed without question or discussion in both Testaments. The Canon grew, but the
92
concept of inspiration, which the idea of canonicity presupposes, was fully developed
from the first, and is unchanged throughout the Bible. As they’re presented, it comprises
two convictions.

I. The words of Scripture are God's own words. OT passages identify the Mosaic law and
the words of the prophets, both spoken and written, with God's own speech (cf I Ki. 22:8-
16; Ne. 8; Ps. 119; Je. 25:1-13;36, etc.). NT writers view the OT as a whole as 'the
oracles of God' (Rom. 3:2), prophetic in character (Rom. 16:26; ef 1:2; 3:21), written by
men who were moved and taught by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. l:20f.; cf I Pet. l:l0-12). Christ
and his apostles quote OT texts, not merely as what, e.g., Moses, David or Isaiah said
(see Mk. 7:10; 12:36; 7:6: Rom. 10:5; 11:9; 10:20, etc.), but also as what God said
through these men (see Acts 4:25; 28:25, etc.), or sometimes simply as what 'he' (God)
says (e.g. I Cor. 6:16; Heb. 8:5, 8), or what the Holy Spirit says (Heb. 3:7; 10:15).
Furthermore, OT statements, not made by God in their contexts, are quoted as utterances
of God (Mt. l9:4f.; Heb. 3:7; Acts 13:34f, citing Gen. 2:24; Ps 95:7; Is. 55:2 respectively).
Also, Paul refers to God's promise to Abraham and his threat to Pharaoh, both spoken
long before the biblical record of them was written, as words which Scripture spoke to
these two men (Gal. 3:8; Rom. 9:17); which shows how completely he equated the
statements of Scripture with the utterance of God.

2. Man's part in the producing of Scripture was merely to transmit what he had received.
Psychologically, from the standpoint of form, it is clear that the human writers
contributed much to the making of Scripture- historical research, theological meditation,
linguistic style, etc. Each biblical book is in one sense the literary creation of its author.
But theologically, from the standpoint of content, the Bible regards the human writers as
having contributed nothing, and Scripture as being entirely the creation of God. This
conviction is rooted in the self consciousness of the founders of biblical religion, all of
whom claimed to utter-and, in the case of the prophets and apostles, to write- what were,
in the most literal sense, the words of another: God himself. The prophets (among whom
Moses must be numbered: Dt. 18:15; 34:10) professed that they spoke the words of
Yahweh, setting before Israel what Yahweh had shown them (Je. 1:7; Ezk. 2:7; Am.
3:7f.; cf I Ki. 22). Jesus of Nazareth professed that he spoke words given him by his
Father (Jn. 7:16; 12:49f.). The apostles taught and issued commands in Christ's name (2
Thes. 3:6), so claiming his authority and sanction (1 Cor. 14:37), and they maintained
that both their matter and their words had been taught them by God's Spirit (I Cor. 2:913;
Cf Christ's promises, Jn. 14:26; l5:26f; 16:13ff.). These are claims to inspiration. In the
light of these claims, the evaluation of prophetic and apostolic writings as wholly God's
word, in just the same way in which the two tables of the law, 'written with the finger of
God' (Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 32:16), were wholly God's word, naturally became part of the
biblical faith.

Christ and the apostles bore striking witness to the fact of inspiration by their appeal to
the authority of the OT. In effect, they claimed the Jewish Scriptures as the Christian
Bible: a body or literature bearing prophetic witness to Christ (Jn, 5:39fl; Lk. 24:25ff.,
44f.; 2 Cor. 3:14ff.) and designed by God specially for the instruction of Christian
believers (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:14ff.; cf the exposition of Ps. 95:7-11 in
93
Heb 3-4, and indeed the whole of Hebrews, in which every major point is made by appeal
to OT texts). Christ insisted that what was written in the OT cannot be broken' (Jn.
10:35). He had not come, he told the Jews, to annul the law or the Prophets (Mt. 5:17); if
they thought he was doing that, they were mistaken; he had come to do the opposite- to
bear witness to the divine authority of both by fulfilling them. The law stands forever,
because it is God’s word (Mt. 5:18; Lk. 16:17); the prophecies, particularly those
concerning himself, must be fulfilled, for the same reason (Mt. 26:54; Lk. 22:37; cf Mk.
8:31; Lk. 18:31). To Christ and his apostles, the appeal to Scripture was always decisive
(cf Mt. 4:4,7, 10; Rom. 12:19; I Pet. 1:16, etc.).

The freedom 'with which NT writers quote the OT (following LXX, Targums, or an ad
hoc rendering of the Hebrew, as best suits them) has been held to show that they did not
believe in the inspiredness of the original words. But their interest was not in the words,
as such, but in their meaning; and recent study has made it appear that these quotations
are interpretative and expository-a mode of quotation well known among the Jews. The
writers seek to indicate the true (i.e. Christian) meaning and application of their text by
the form in which they cite it. In most cases this meaning has evidently been reached by a
strict application of clear-cut theological principles about the relation of Christ and the
church to the OT. (See C. H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures l952; K. Stendaffi, The
School of St Matthew, 1954; R. V. G. Tasker, The Old Testament in the New Testament,
1954; E. B. Ellis, Paul's Use of the Old Testament, 1957.)

III. Theological Statement

In formulating the biblical idea of inspiration, it is desirable that four negative points be
made.

1. The idea is not of mechanical dictation, or automatic writing, or any process which
involved the suspending of the action of the human writer's mind. Such concepts of
inspiration are found in the Talmud, Philo and the Fathers, but not in the Bible. The
divine direction and control under which the biblical authors wrote was not a physical
or psychological force, and it did not detract from, but rather heightened, the freedom,
spontaneity and creativeness of their writing.

2. The fact that in inspiration God did not obliterate the personality, style, outlook and
cultural conditioning of his penmen does not mean that his control of them was
imperfect, or that they inevitably distorted the truth they had been given to convey in
the process of writing it down. B. B. Warfield gently mocks the notion that when God
wanted Paul's letters written 'He was reduced to the necessity of going down to earth
and painfully scrutinizing the men He found there, seeking anxiously for the one who,
on the whole, promised best for His purpose; and then violently forcing the material
He 'wished expressed through him, against his natural bent, and with as little loss
from his recalcitrant characteristics as possible. Of course, nothing of the sort took
place. If God 'wished to give His people a series of letters like Paul's, He prepared a
Paul to write them, and the Paul He brought to the task was a Paul who spontaneously

94
 would write just such letters' (The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, 1951, p.
155).

3. Inspiredness is not a quality attaching to corruptions which intrude in the course of

the transmission of the text, but only to the text as originally produced by the inspired
writers. The acknowledgment of biblical inspiration thus makes more urgent the task
of meticulous textual criticism, in order to eliminate such corruptions and ascertain
what that original text was.

4. The inspiredness of biblical writing is not to be equated with the inspiredness of great
literature, not even when (as often) the biblical writing is in fact great literature. The
biblical idea of inspiration relates, not to the literary quality of what is written, but to
its character as divine revelation in writing.

95
ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 4

EXTRACT 1 ON TRINITY TAKEN FROM:

NEW BIBLE DICTIONARY, 2ND ED, IVP, 1982

TRINITY. The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, and though used by Tertullian in
the last decade of the 2nd century, it did not find a place formally in the theology of the
church till the 4th century. It is, however, the distinctive and all comprehensive doctrine
of the Christian faith. It makes three affirmations: that there is but one God. that the
Father, the Son and the Spirit is each God, and that the Father, the Son and the Spirit is
each a distinct Person. In this form it has become the faith of the church since it received
its first full formulation at the hands of Tertullian, Athanasius and Augustine.

I. Derivation

Though it is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in
the Bible, it can be seen to underlie the revelation of God, implicit in the OT and explicit
in the NT. By this we mean that though we cannot speak confidently of the revelation of
the Trinity in the OT, yet once the substance of the doctrine has been revealed in the NT,
we can read back many implications of it in the OT.

a. In the Old Testament

It can be understood that in ages when revealed religion had to hold its own in the
environment of pagan idolatry, nothing that would imperil the oneness of God could
be freely given. The first imperative, therefore, was to declare the existence of the one
living and true God, and to this task the OT is principally dedicated. But even in the
opening pages of the OT we are taught to attribute the existence and persistence of all
things to a threefold source. There are passages where God, his Word and his Spirit
are brought together, as, for example, in the narrative of the creation where Elohim is
seen to create by means of his Word and Spirit (Gn. 1:2-3). It is thought that Gn. 1:26
points in the same direction, where it is stated that God said: 'Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness', followed by the statement of accomplishment: 'So God
created man in his own image', a striking case of plural and singular interchanged,
suggesting plurality in unity.
There are many other passages where God and his Word and Spirit are brought
together as 'cocauses of effects'. In Is. 63:8-10 we have the three speakers, the
covenant God of Israel (v. 8), the angel of the presence (v.9) and the Spirit 'grieved'
by their rebellion (v.10). Both the creative activity of God and his government are, at
a later stage. associated with the Word personified as 'Wisdom' (Pr. 8:22; Jb. 28:23-
27), as well as with the Spirit as the Dispenser of all blessings and the source of
physical strength, courage, culture and government (Ex. 31:3; Nu. 11:25; Jdg. 3:10).
The threefold source revealed in creation becomes still more evident in the
unfolding of redemption. At an early stage there are the remarkable phenomena

96
 connected with the angel of Yahweh who receives and accepts divine honour (Gn.
16:2-13; 22:11-16). Not in every OT passage in which it appears does the designation
refer to a divine being, for it is clear that in such passages as 2 Sa. 24:16; 1 Ki. 19:35,
the reference is to a created angel invested with divine authority for the execution of a
special mission. In other passages the angel of Yahweh not only bears the divine
name, but has divine dignity and power, dispenses divine deliverance, and accepts
homage and adoration proper only to God. In short, the Messiah has deity ascribed to
him, even when he is regarded as a person distinct from God (Is. 7:14; 9:6).

The Spirit of God is also given prominence in connection with revelation and
redemption, and is assigned his office in the equipment of the Messiah for his work
(Is. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1), and of his people for the response of faith and obedience (Joel
2:28; Is, 32:15; Ezk. 36:26- 27). Thus the God who revealed himself objectively
through the Angel-Messenger revealed himself subjectively in and through the Spirit,
the Dispenser of all blessings and gifts within the sphere of redemption. The threefold
Aaronic blessing (Nu. 6:24) must also be noted as perhaps the prototype of the NT
apostolic blessing.

b. In the Gospels

By way of contrast it must be remembered that he OT was written before the

revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity was clearly given, and the NT after it. In the
NT it was given particularly in the incarnation of God the Son, and the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. But however dim the light in the old dispensation, the Father, Son and
Spirit of the NT are the same as in the OT.
It can be said, however, that preparatory to the advent of Christ, the Holy Spirit
came into the consciousness of God-fearing men in a degree that was not known since
the close of Malachi's prophetic ministry. John the Baptist, more especially, was
conscious of the presence and calling of the Spirit, and it is possible that his preaching
had a trinitarian reference. He called for repentance toward God, faith in the coming
Messiah, and spoke of a baptism of the Holy Spirit, of which his baptism with water
was a symbol (Mt. 3:11).

The special epochs of trinitarian revelation were as follows.

(i) The annunciation. The agency of the Trinity in the incarnation was disclosed to
Mary in the angelic annunciation that the Holy Spirit would come upon her,
the power of the Most High would overshadow her and the child born of her
would be called the Son of God (Lk. 1:35). Thus the Father and the Spirit
were disclosed as operating in the incarnation of the Son.
(ii) The baptism of Christ. At the baptism of Christ in the Jordan the three Persons
can be distinguished, the Son being baptised, the Father speaking from heaven
in recognition of his Son and the Spirit descending in the objective symbol of
a dove. Jesus, having thus received the witness of the Father and the Spirit,
received authority to baptise with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist would
seem to have recognised very early that the Holy Spirit would come from the
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 Messiah, and not merely with him. The third Person was thus the Spirit of
God and the Spirit of Christ.
(iii) The teaching of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus is trinitarian throughout. He spoke
of the Father "Who sent him, of himself as the one who reveals the Father, and
the Spirit as the one by whom he and the Father work. The interrelations
between Father, Son and Spirit are emphasised throughout (see Jn. 14:7, 9-
10). He declared with emphasis: 'I will pray the Father, and he will give you
another counsellor (Advocate), to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of
truth' (Jn. 14:16-26). There is thus a distinction made between the Persons,
and also an identity. The Father who is God sent the Son, and the Son who is
God sent the Spirit, who is himself God. This is the basis of the Christian
belief in the 'double procession' of the Spirit. In his disputation with the Jews,
Christ claimed that his Sonship was not simply from David, but from a source
that made him David's Lord, and that he had been so at the very time when
David uttered the words (Mt. 22:43). This would indicate both his deity and
his pre-existence.
(iv) The commission of the Risen Lord. In the commission given by Christ before his
ascension, instructing his disciples to go into the whole world with his
message, he made specific reference to baptism as 'in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'. It is significant that the name is one, but
within the bounds of the one name there are three distinct Persons. The Trinity
as tri-unity could not be more clearly expressed.

c. The New Testament writings

The evidence of the NT writings, apart from the Gospels, is sufficient to show that
Christ had instructed his disciples on this doctrine to a greater extent than is recorded
by any of the four Evangelists. They whole-heartedly proclaim the doctrine of the
Trinity as the threefold source of redemption. The outpouring of the Spirit at Pen-
tecost brought the personality of the Spirit into greater prominence and at the same
time shed light anew from the Spirit upon the Son. Peter, in explaining the
phenomenon of Pentecost, represents it as the activitv of the Trinity: 'This Jesus…
being …exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear' (Acts 2:32-
33). So the church of Pentecost was founded on the doctrine of the Trinity.
In I Cor. there is mention of the gifts of the Spirit, the varieties of service for the
same Lord and the inspiration of the same God for the work (I Cor. l2:4-6).
Peter traces salvation to the same triunal source: 'destined by God the Father and
sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ' (I Pet. 1:2). The apostolic
benediction: 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all' (2 Cor. 13:14), not only sums up the
apostolic teaching, but interprets the deeper meaning of the Trinity in Christian
experience, the saving grace of the Son giving access to the love of the Father and to
the communion of the Spirit.
What is amazing, however, is that this confession of God as One in Three took
place without struggle and without controversy by a people indoctrinated for
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 centuries in the faith of the one God, and that in entering the Christian church they
were not conscious of any break with their ancient faith.

II. Formulation

Although Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the Trinity, it contains all
the elements out of which theology has constructed the doctrine. The teaching of Christ
bears testimony to the true personality of each of the distinctions within the Godhead, and
also sheds light upon the relations existing between the three Persons. It was left to
theology to formulate from this a doctrine of the Trinity. The necessity to formulate the
doctrine was thrust upon the church by forces from without, and it was, in particular, its
faith in the deity of Christ and the necessity to defend it, that first compelled the church to
face the duty of formulating a full doctrine of the Trinity for its rule of faith. Irenacus and
Origen share with Tertullian the responsibility for the formulation which is still, in the
main, that of the church catholic. Under the leadership of Athanasius the doctrine was
proclaimed as the faith of the church at the Council of Nicea (AD 325), and at the hands
of Augustine, a century later, it received a formulation enshrined in the so-called
Athanasian Creed that is accepted by Trinitarian churches to this day. After it had
received a further elucidation at the hands of John Calvin (for which see B. B. Warfield.
Calvin and Agustine. 1956. pp. 89-284), it passed into the body of the reformed faith.

In the relationship between the Persons there are recognisable distinctions.

a. Unity in diversity'

In most formularies the doctrine is stated by saying that God is One in his essential
being, but that in his being there are three Persons, yet so as not to form separate and
distinct individuals. They are three modes or forms in which the divine essence exists.
'Person' is, however, an imperfect expression or the truth inasmuch as the term
denotes to us a separate rational and moral individual. But in the being of God there
are not three individuals, but three personal self-distinctions within the one divine
essence. Then again, personality in man implies independence or will, actions and
feelings leading to behaviour peculiar to the person. This cannot be thought of in con-
nection with the Trinity. Each person is self-conscious and self-directing, yet never
acting independently or in opposition. When we say that God is a Unity we mean
that, though God is in himself a threefold centre of life, his life is not split into three.
He is one in essence, in personality and in will. When we say that God is a Trinity in
Unity, we mean that there is a unity in diversity, and that the diversity manifests itself
in Persons, in characteristics and in operations.

b. Equality in dignity

There is perfect equality in nature, honour and dignity between the Persons.
Fatherhood belongs to the very essence of the first Person and it was so from all

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 eternity. It is a personal property of God 'from whom every family in heaven and on
earth is named' (Eph. 3:15).
The Son is called the 'only begotten' perhaps to suggest uniqueness rather than
derivation. Christ always claimed for himself a unique relationship to God as Father,
and the Jews who listened to him apparently had no illusions about his claims. Indeed
they sought to kill him because he 'called God his own Father, making himself equal
with God' (Jn. 5:1 S).
The Spirit is revealed as the One who alone knows the depths of God's nature:
'For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God…..No one comprehends
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God' (I Cor. 2:l0f.). This is saying that the
Spirit is 'just God himself in the innermost essence of his being'.
This puts the seal of NT teaching upon the doctrine of the equality of the three
Persons.

c. Diversity in operation

In the functions ascribed to each of the Persons in the Godhead, especially in man's
redemption, it is clear that a certain degree of subordination is involved (In relation,
though not in nature); the Father first, the Son second, the Spirit third. The Father
works through the Son by the Spirit. Thus Christ can say: 'My Father is greater than
I.' As the Son is sent by the Father, so the Spirit is sent by the Son. As it was the
Son's office to reveal the Father, so it is the Spirit's office to reveal the Son, as Christ
testified: 'He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you' (Jn.
16:14).
It has to be recognised that the doctrine arose as the spontaneous expression of the
Christian experience. The early Christians knew themselves to be reconciled to God
the Father, and that the reconciliation was secured for them by the atoning work of
the Son, and that it was mediated to them as an experience by the Holy Spirit. Thus
the Trinity was to them a fact before it became a doctrine, but in order to preserve it
in the creedal faith of the church the doctrine had to be formulated.

Ill. Implications of the Doctrine

The implications of the doctrine are vitally important not only for theology, but for
Christian experience and life.

a. It means that God is revealable

Revelation is as natural for God as it is for the sun to shine. Before there had been any
created being, there was self-revelation within the Trinity, the Father revealing to the
Son, the Father and the Son revealing to the Spirit, and the Spirit communicating that
revelation within the Being of God. When God willed to create a universe it implied
no change in God's behaviour: it meant letting his revelation shine outwards to his
creation. And this he did by his revealing Spirit.
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b. It means that God is communicable

As the sun shines it communicates its light and heat and energy. So if God is a
fellowship within himself he can let that fellowship go out to his creatures and
communicate himself to them according to their capacity to receive. This is what
happened supremely when he came to redeem men: he let his fellowship bend down
to reach outcast man and lift him up. And so because God is a Trinity he has
something to share: it is his own life and communion.

c. It means that the Trinity is the basis of all true fellowship in the world

Since God is within himself a fellowship, it means that his moral creatures who are
made in his image find fullness of life only within a fellowship. This is reflected in
marriage, in the home, in society and above all in the church whose koinonia is built
upon the fellowship of the three Persons. Christian fellowship is' therefore, the
divinest thing on earth, the earthly counterpart of the divine life, as Christ indeed
prayed for his followers: 'That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be in us' (Jn. 17:21).

d. It gives variety to the life of the universe

There is, as we have seen, diversity in the life of God. God the Father designs, God
the Son creates, God the Spirit quickens; a great diversity of life and operation and
activity. For that reason we can realize that if the universe is a manifestation of God,
we can expect a diversity of life within the whole of the created universe. We think
that the so-called uniformity of nature is utterly untrue. All the wonders of creation,
all the forms of life, all the movement in the universe, are a reflection, a mirroring, of
the manifold life of God. There is no monotonous sameness, no large-scale
uniformity of pattern, for nature reflects the many-sidedness of the nature and
character of the living God.

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 4

EXTRACT 2 ON TRINITY TAKEN FROM:

Faith Seeking Understanding, Daniel Migliore, Eerdmans, 1991

Classical Trinitarian Doctrine

OVER the course of several centuries, the church formulated an explicit doctrine of the
Trinity. Two milestones in the development of this doctrine were the Councils of Nicea
(A.D. 325) and Constantinople (A.D. 381). The crux of the classical Niceno-
Constantinopolitan teaching is that God is "one in essence, distinguished in three persons.
While this technical language of fourth-century metaphysics (mia ousia, tres hypostases)
is strange to us, the intent is to describe the reality of the living God in conformity with
the gospel story. The negative meaning of this affirmation of the unity and threefold self-
differentiation of God is evident in its opposition to the doctrines of subordinationism,
modalism, and tritheism.

According to subordinationism, the names "Father, Son, and Spirit" describe different
ranks or orders of deity. There is one great God - the eternal Father - and two exalted
creatures or inferior divinities. Subordinationism is a strategy to protect God from contact
with matter, suffering, mutability, and death. But such a strategy conflicts with the gospel
message. How can Christ be the Savior, and how can the Spirit be the power of divine
transformation here and now if they are not "very God of very God" but only exalted
creatures or second-rank divinities?

According to modalism, the names "Father, Son, and Spirit" refer to mere masks of God
that do not necessarily manifest God's inmost being. This would mean that the events of
Jesus' ministry among the poor, of his crucifixion and resurrection, and of the outpouring
of the Spirit were mere appearances and possibly unreliable indicators of the true nature
of God. But how can believers be sure of what God is really like if all they know of God
arr these external masks that keep God's real identity deeply hidden?

According to tritheism, the names "Father, Son, and Spirit" refer to three individual and
separate deities who collectively constitute the object of Christian faith. This view flatly
contradicts the command of the Old Testament and of Jesus to love God, the one and only
Lord. How can the object of Christian trust, loyalty, and worship be three different Gods?

Classical trinitarian doctrine, with its carefully conceived but now most puzzling
formulation, "one in essence, distinguished in three persons,” intends to guard against
the misunderstandings of subordinationism, modalism, and tritheism. But what does all
this technical conceptuality want to say positively? It wants to redescribe God in the light
of the event of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of God's transforming Spirit. It wants to
say that God is sovereign, costly love that liberates and renews life. It wants to say that
God's love for the world in Christ now at work by the power of the Spirit is nothing
accidental or capricious or temporary. It wants to say that there is no sinister or even
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 demonic side of God altogether different from what we know in the story of Jesus who
befriended the poor and forgave sinners. God is self-expending, other-affirming,
community-building love. The exchange of love that constitutes the eternal life of God is
expressed outwardly in the history of costly love that liberates and reconciles. Only this
God who "loves in freedom" (Barth), both eternally and in relation to the world, can be
worshiped and served as the ultimate power in full confidence and total trust.

To speak thus of God as triune is to set all of our prior understandings of what is divine in
question. God is not a solitary monad but free, self-communicating love. God is not the
supreme will-to-power over others but the supreme will-to-community in which power
and life are shared. To speak of God as that ultimate power whose being is in giving,
receiving, and sharing love, who gives life to others and wills to live in community, is to
turn upside down our understandings of both divine and human power. The reign of the
triune God is the rule of sovereign love rather than the rule of force. A revolution in our
understanding of the true power of God and of fruitful human power is thus implied when
God is described as triune. God is not absolute power, not infinite egocentrism, not
majestic solitariness. The power of the triune God is not coercive but creative, sacrificial,
and empowering love; and the glory of the triune God consists not in dominating others
but in sharing life with others. In this case, confession of the triune God is the only
understanding of God that is appropriate to and consistent with the New Testament
declaration that God is love (1 John 4:8).

In so interpreting classical Trinitarian doctrine, our aim is to get beneath the surface
grammar, to penetrate to the intention, rather than remaining stuck in the ancient
conceptuality with all of its strange terminology. We do not truly respect doctrines if we
simply repeat them as trained parrots might. Indeed, such mindless repetition often results
in the subversion of the real intent of church teachings. Thus the important question for
us is what was then, and what is now, at stake in affirming that God is triune, that God
communicates Godself to us in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. The answer to this
question is that Trinitarian doctrine describes God in terms of shared life and love rather
than in terms of domineering power God loves in freedom, lives in community, and wills
creatures to live in community. God is self-sharing, other-regarding, community-forming
love. This is what might be called the "depth grammar” of the doctrine of the Trinity that
lies beneath all the "surface grammar" and all of the particular, and always inadequate,
names and images that we employ when we speak of the God of the gospel.

Distortions in the Doctrine of God

WHEN attention to the doctrine of the Trinity declines, distortions of the Christian
understanding of God appear. The demise of vital Trinitarian faith is followed by a
variety of unitarianisms.

1. One distortion takes the form of the unitarianism of the Creator; or the first person of
the Trinity. Here God is viewed as the first principle of the universe, the origin of all
things, and not infrequently the "Father Creator" of a particular ethnic or national
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 group. American civil religion is by and large a unitarianism of the Creator. God is
acknowledged as the source of life, of certain inalienable rights, and of the providential
guidance of American destiny. There is little awareness of sin in this understanding of
our relationship to God and consequently little sense of the need for forgiveness,
repentance, or radical transformation of life. American civil religion is, of course, not
the only form of the unitarianism of the Creator. It also finds expression in other
national religions and in the vague theism espoused by many educated people whose
doctrine of God must be cut to the specifications of religion according to the limits of
Enlightenment reason.

2. Another distortion assumes the form of the unitarianism of the Redeemer; or the second
person of the Trinity. Jesus is the exclusive concern of this kind of piety. Jesus alone is
the object of trust and allegiance, but the unitarian Jesus is a cult figure of some sort or
other rather than the Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels. Little connection can be found
between this cult of Jesus my Savior and the biblical affirmation of the lordship of God
over all nature and history. Salvation is defined in terms of the welfare of me and my
little group. Nothing else is of real concern. If all that counts is that you "Honk if you
love Jesus," what does it matter if our environment is poisoned or if people are treated
brutally because of their race, religion, or sex? The unitarianism of the second person is
unable to discern any necessary connection between its cozy and sentimental
Jesusolatry and passionate concern for the coming of justice for all people and for the
renewal of the ravaged earth.

3. A third distortion in the Christian understanding of God appears as the unitarianism of

the Spirit, or the third person of the Trinity. Here the experiences and gifts of the Spirit
are everything. Little effort is made to test the spirits to see whether they are the Spirit
of God's Christ, the Spirit who builds up the community and commissions it for service
of God and others. Some "charismatic" groups skate dangerously close to a
unitarianism of the Spirit. In saying this, I do not mean to denigrate the movements of
spiritual renewal in the church today or undervalue their importance. The increased
emphasis in recent years on the experience of the Spirit and the new attention to the
doctrine of the Spirit in theology are no doubt legitimate protests against a Christianity
that so often gives the appearance of lifeless antiquarianism or bureaucratized
religiosity incapable of arousing and redirectirig our feelings, affections, and
dispositions. But the solution to this problem is not mere revelry in intense religious
experiences. The point that I want to make here is simply that in the Christian church
the experience of the Spirit is either the experience of the Spirit of the triune God or it
is a divisive and even destructive experience. The Spirit who empowers reconciliation
and liberation is the Spirit of Christ and of the one called "Abba, Father.”

Restatement of the Meaning of the Doctrine of the Trinity

I HAVE contended that the doctrine of the Trinity expresses the distinctively Christian
understanding of God and that where this understanding of God declines, the church is in
danger of losing its identity; Rather than becoming mired in the surface grammar of
trinitarian faith, I have tried to penetrate to its depth grammar
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From the earliest centuries of the church, discerning theologians have stressed the
inadequacy and relativity of all our language about God - including the trinitarian
symbols. Today we are even more aware of how imperfect and historically burdened all
language about God is. The search for new and more inclusive metaphors of God that
correct and complement the old one-sided, patriarchal metaphors is an important
development in recent theology. This search will doubtless help us to retrieve much
suppressed imagery of God in the biblical tradition. As the church's hymns and prayers
employ a wide range of images of God, the spiritual life and theological sensitivity of
both men and women In the church will be enriched.

At present the church has not arrived at any consensus on how to expand the exclusive
masculine imagery of God in the tradition. Some urge doing away with all gender-
specific imagery of God by restricting our theological language to impersonal metaphors;
others propose speaking of the Spirit as feminine; and still others argue that it is both
appropriate and necessary to use masculine and feminine images of each member of the
Trinity.

The argument against the first-mentioned option is the fact that in the Bible God is
described most frequently in personal imagery. Of course, the biblical repertoire also
includes impersonal metaphors of God such as rock, fire, and water, and our
understanding and worship of God would be poorer without these images. Nevertheless,
much would be lost if the church departed from the biblical practice of addressing God
primarily as personal, as someone rather than something.

In favor of the other two options mentioned is the fact that the Bible depicts God not only
as a father who cares for and protects his chosen people (1 Chron. 22:10; Ps. 103:13;
Matt. 6:6-9) but also as a mother who gives birth to, feeds, and defends her children (Isa.
49:15; 66:l2-13; Matt. 23:37). In view of this richness of biblical imagery of God - all the
more remarkable considering the patriarchal setting of the biblical wirtness. The search
for other imagery to speak of the triune God should be affirmed. At the same time, new
images of God should be considered complements to rather than replacements for the
traditional images. And it must be remembered that all of our images of God, old and
new, masculine and feminine, personal and impersonal, receive a new and deeper
meaning from the gospel story beyond the meanings that they have in the contexts in
which they are ordinarily used. When we speak of God as father or mother, the meaning
of these designations is determined finally not by our cultural or familial history but by
the history of God's steadfast love for the world that stands at the center of the biblical
witness.

As theologians and local congregations explore new images of God, it is utterly crucial,
as some feminist theologians recognize, that we not lose the trinitarian depth grammar. I
have defined this depth grammar of trinitarian faith as the grammar of wondrous divine
love that freely gives of itself to others and creates community, mutuality, and shared life.
God creates and relates to the world this way because this is the way God is eternally
God. I want to expand this thesis by offering three additional interpretative statements
about the doctrine of the Trinity.
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1. To confess that God is triune is to affirm that the eternal life of God is personal life in
relationship. The Bible speaks of God as “the living God” (Matt. 16:16). God is not like
the dead idols who can niether speak speak nor act. God speaks' and acts creatively,
redemptively, transformatively. The God of the biblical witness is not impersonal but
personal reality and enters into living relationship with creatures. Yet according to trin-
itarian faith, God does not first come to life, begin to love, and attain to personhood by
relating to the world. In all eternity God lives and loves as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In God's own eternal being there is movement, life, personal relationship, and the giving
and receiving of love.

God is one, but the unity of God is not undifferentiated, dead unity. The Trinity is
essentially a koinonia of persons in love. Some twentiethcentury theologians,
preeminently Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, are reluctant to speak of three persons in God
because of modern philosophical conceptions of personhood. Their recommendation is to
speak instead of “three modes of being" in God or "three distinct ways of subsisting."
However, instead of relinquishing the concept of person in reference to Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, trinitarian theology does far better to challenge regnant understandings of the
meaning of personhood. The trinitarian persons are not isolated and independent selves
but have their personal identity in relationship. A trinitarian understanding of personal
life questions modern theories that equate personal existence with absolute autonomy and
isolated selfconsciousness. In such definitions there is no reference to relationship with
others as intrinsic to personal life. The trinitarian persons are not self-enclosed subjects
who define themselves in total separation from others. Instead, in God "persons" are
relational realities and are defined by intersubjectivity, shared consciousness, faithful
relationships, and the mutual giving and receiving of love.

If in the New Testament witness the one God is described as the faithful Father, the
servant Son, and the enlivening Spirit, then according to the doctrine of the Trinity, these
distinct ways of God's being present in the world and acting for our salvation are rooted
in the eternal being of God. In the fecundity and dynamism of the eternal triune life there
is differentiation and otherness rather than sheer mathematical oneness. Otherness is the
presupposition of personal relationship,' it is the sine qua non of the event of love., In
contrast to sinful human attitudes and practices that rest on fear or hatred of the other and
seek to remove or conquer the other, the triune God generates and includes otherness in
the inner dynamism of the divine life. That God's own being is a being in personal
differentiation and relationship is expressed outwardly in the creation of a world filled
with an extravagance of different creatures. So much of the spirit of conquest that
manifests itself in our relationshipswith the natural world and with people of other
nations, cultures, races, and gender stems from a fear of the other that ultimately betrays a
monarchical rather than a trinitarian conception of God.

2. To confess that God is triune is to affirm that God exists in community. The divine life is
social and is thus the source and power of inclusive community among creatures. Two
kinds of analogy have been used in trinitarian theology to depict the trinitarian life: the
psychological analogy that is based on the individual human person as a subject with the
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faculties of memory, understanding, and will, and the social analogy that takes the human
experience of community as the best clue to an understanding of the triune life of God (a
favorite triad being lover, beloved, and their mutual love). The Western church has given
primary emphasis to the psychological analogy, while the Eastern church has preferred
the social analogy.

While both of these analogies have their strengths, and neither can claim to
comprehend the whole mystery of God, it is the judgment of many theologians today
(and mine as well) that much greater attention should be given to the social analogy of
the Trinity. According to this analogy, trinitarian faith attests the sociality of God. The
God of the Bible establishes and maintains community. God is no supreme monad
existing in eternal solitude. God is the covenantal God. God's will for community with
and among the creatures is an expression of God's faithfulness to God's own eternal life,
which is essentially communal. According to classical trinitarian theology, the three
persons of the Trinity have their distinctive identity only in their deepest relationship with
each other. They "indwell" each other (as the technical trinitarian concept perichoresis
suggests); they "make room" for each other, are incomparably hospitable to each other;
or, to use still another metaphor they are united in an exquisite divine dance.

That God's life can be described in the light of the gospel with the beautiful metaphors of
trinitarian hospitality and the dance of trinitarian love has far-reaching implications. It
points to experiences of friendship, caring family relationships, and the inclusive
community of free and equal persons as intimations of the eternal life of God and of the
reign of God that Jesus proclaimed. That God is a trinity of love means that concern for
new community in which there is a just sharing of the resources of the earth and in which
relationships of domination are replaced by relationships of honor and respect among
equals has its basis in the divine way of life. In the words of Leonardo Boff, "the Trinity
understood in human terms as a communion of Persons lays the foundations for a society
of brothers and sisters, of equals, in which dialogue and consensus are the basic
constituents of living together in both the world and the church."

Christian social ethics is thus grounded in trinitarian theology. The Christian hope for
peace with justice and freedom in community among peoples of diverse cultures, races,
and gender corresponds to the trinitarian logic of God. Confession of the triune God
radically calls in question all totalitarianisms that deny the freedom and rights of all
people and resists all idolatrous individualisms that subvert the common welfare. The
doctrine of the Trinity seeks to describe God's "being in love" as the source of all genuine
community, beyond all sexism, racism, and classism. Trinitarian theology, when it rightly
understands its own depth grammar, offers a profoundly relational and communal view
both of God and of life created and redeemed by God.

3. To confess that God is triune is to affirm that the Gift of God is essentially selfgiving
love. However scandalous the idea, the gospel narrative identifies God as the power
of compassionate love that is stronger than sin and death. To have compassion means
to suffer with another.

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According to the biblical witness, God suffers with and for the creatures out of love for
them. Above all in Jesus Christ, God goes the way of suffering, alienation, and death for
the salvation of the world. It is this compassionate journey of God into the far country of
human brokenness and misery that prompts the revolution in the understanding of God
that is articulated - although never fully adequately - in the doctrine of the Trinity. God
loves in freedom not episodically but eternally. God can enter into vulnerable interaction
with the world, even to the depths of temporality, deprivation, suffering, and death,
because as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God is essentially a living process of mutual self-
surrendering love. This boundless love of the triune God is decisively revealed in the
cross of Christ and is the eternal source and energy of human friendship, compassion,
sacrificial love, and inclusive community.

A trinitarian understanding of God thus coheres with the witness of the Old and New
Testaments, with the suffering love of the God of the prophets (see Hos. 11:8-9), and
with all aspects of the gospel story: the compassion of Jesus for the sick, his solidarity
with the poor, his parables, and above all his passion and resurrection. Moreover, a trini-
tarian faith redefines the meaning of salvation. If the triune God is self-giving love that
liberates life and creates new community, then there is no salvation for the creature apart
from its sharing in God's agapic way of life in solidarity and hope for the whole creation
(ef. Rom. 8:18-39). Thus a trinitarian understanding of God and salvation gives new
depth and direction to our still fragile sense of the interdependence of life and our half-
hearted commitment to the struggles for justice and freedom for all people.

If the triune God is understood as a continuing history of compassionate and victorious

love, it follows that we must not, like so much of the tradition, think of the Trinity
primarily in retrospect, looking backward from God's dealings with the world to the
Trinity before creation. We must also think of the Trinity prospectively; looking ahead to
the glorious completion of the history of divine love. The trinitarian history of God
moves forward to a consummation symbolized as the reign or commonwealth of God.
The glory of the triune God will be complete only while the creation is set free from all
bondage and God is praised as "all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). Trinitarian faith thus
appropriately culminates not in doctrinal definitions but in doxology, praise, and
adoration.

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 8

EXTRACT ON MAN TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Man, Doctrine of, In, the 0T: In the Genesis account of creation man's presence in the
world is attributed directly to God. By this act alone, as the God of love and power man
was "created" (‘bara’,: 1:27; 5:1; 6:7) and "formed" (‘vasar’ or, 2:7-8). By this creative
act man "was brought into existence in a duality of relationships-at once to nature and to
God himself. He was formed of the dust of the earth and was endowed with soul life by
the breath of God, God is the source of his life, and dust the material of his being.
Man’s Nature. Man, then, did not spring out of nature by some natural
evolutionary process, He is the result of the immediate action of God, who used already
existing created material for the formation of the earthly part of his being, Man has thus
physiological similarities with the rest of the created order (Gen. 18:27; Job 10:8-9; Ps,
103:14. etc.) and consequently shares with the animal world in dependence on God's
goodness for his continuance (Isa. 40:6-7; Ps. 103:15; 104. etc.). Throughout the OT the
relationship of man to nature is everywhere stressed. As man shares with nature in the
constitution of his being, so does nature share with man in the actualities of his living.
Thus, while nature was made to serve man, so man on his part is required to tend nature
(Gen. 2:15). Nature is therefore not a sort of neutral entity in relation to man's life, For
between the two, nature and man, there exists a mysterious bond so that when man sinned
the natural order was itself deeply afflicted (Gen. 3:17-18; cf. Rom, 8:19-23). Since,
however, nature suffered as a result of man's sin, so does it rejoice with him in his
redemption (Ps. 96:10-13: Isa. 35' etc.), for in man's redemption it too will share (Isa.
11:6-9).
But however deeply related man is to the natural order he is presented nonetheless
as something different and distinctive. Having first called the earth into existence with its
various requisites for human life, God then declared for the making of man. The
impression that the Genesis account gives is that man was the special focus of God's
creative purpose. It is not so much that man was the crown of God's creative acts, or the
climax of the process, for although last in the ascending scale, he is first in the divine
intention. All the previous acts of God are presented more in the nature of a continuous
series by the recurring use of the conjunction "and" (Gen. 1:3,6,9, 4,20, 24). "Then God
said, 'Let us make man." "Then"- when? When the cosmic order was finished, when the
earth was ready to sustain man. Thus, while man stands before God in a relationship of
created dependence, he has also the status of a unique and special personhood in relation
to God.

Man’s constituents. The three most significant words in the OT to describe man in
relation to God and nature are "soul" (‘nepes’ 754 times). "spirit" (‘ruah’,378, times), and
"flesh" (‘basar’, 266 times)- The term "flesh" has sometimes a physical and sometimes a
figuratively ethical sense. In Its latter use it has its context in contrast with God to
emphasise man's nature as contingent and dependent (Isa. 31:3: 40:6; Ps. 61:5; 78:39; Job
10:4). Both 'nepes’ and ‘ruah’ denote in general the life principle of the human person.

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the former stressing more particularly his individuality, or life, and the latter focusing on
the idea of a supernatural power above or within the individual.
Of the eighty parts of the body mentioned in the OT the terms for "heart"(leb),
"liver"(kabed), “kidney" (kelayot), and "bowels" (meim) are the most frequent. To each of
these some emotional impulse or feeling is attributed either factually or metaphorically.
The term "heart" has the widest reference. It is brought into relation with man's total
physical nature as the seal or instrument of his emotional, volitional, and intellectual
manifestations. In the latter context it acquires a force we should call "mind" (Deut. 15:9;
Judg. 5:5-16) or "intellect" (Job 8:10; 12:3; 34:10). and is frequently employed by
metonymy to denote one's thought or wish with the idea of purpose or resolve. For one's
thought or wish is what is "in the heart," or, as would be said today, "in the mind."
These several words do not, however characterise man as a compound of separate
and distinct elements. Hebrew psychology does not divide up man's nature into mutually
exclusive parts. Behind these usages of words the thought conveyed by the Genesis
account, that man's nature is twofold, remains. Yet even there man Is not presented as a
loose union of two disparate entities. There is no sense of a metaphysical diachotomy
while even that of an ethical dualism or soul and body is quite foreign to Hebrew thought.
By God's inbreathing the man he formed from the dust became a living soul, a unified
being in the interrelation of the terrestrial and the transcendental.
Throughout the OT the two concepts of man as a unique and responsible
individual and as a social and representative being have emphasis. Adam was both a man
and yet mankind. In him individual personhood and social solidarity found expression. At
times in Israel's history there is emphasis on individual responsibility (eg Ezek. 9:4;
20:38; cf. chs. 18 and 35), while the "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not" of the law and the
prophets is characteristically singular being addressed to the individual. Yet generally in
Hebrew thought the individual is not viewed atomistically but in intimate connection
with, and representative of, the whole community. So does the sin of the single individual
involve all in its consequences (Josh. 7:24-26; cf. II Sam, 14:7; 21:1-14; II Kings 9:26).
On the other hand, Moses and Phineas stand before God to plead her people's cause
because they embody in themselves the whole community. In the intertestamental period,
however this awareness of solidarity passed from being a realised actuality in the social
consciousness of the nation to being increasingly an idealistic and theological dogma.
From this perspective of racial solidarity in the first man it follows that Adam's
sin involved every individual both in himself and in his social relationships. Because of
Adam's transgression everyone is affected in the whole range of his being and in the
totality of his societal living.
In the NT. The teaching of Jesus. In formal statements Jesus had little to say
about man. But by his attitude and actions among men he showed that he regarded the
human person as significant. To Jesus man was not just a part of nature, for he is more
precious in God's sight than the birds of the air (Matt. 10:31) and the beasts of the field
(Matt. 12:12). His distinctiveness lies in his possession of a soul, or spiritual nature,
which to forfeit is his ultimate tragedy and final folly (Matt. 16:26). Man's true life is
consequently life under God and for his glory. It does not consist in the plenitude of
earthly possessions (Luke 12:15). The sole wealth is therefore the wealth of the soul
(Matt. 6:20,25). Yet while emphasising the spiritual aspect of man's nature, Jesus did not
decry the body, for he showed concern through out his ministry for total human needs.
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 This view of man as a creature of value was for Jesus an ideal and a possibility.
For he saw all individuals, whether man or woman, as blind and lost and their
relationship with God broken off. Although he nowhere specified the nature of sin, he
clearly assumed its universality. All men are somehow caught up in sin's plight and
enmeshed in its tragic consequences. Thus, all who would live to God's glory and eternal
enjoyment must experience newness of life. And it was precisely this purpose that Christ
came into the world to accomplish (Mats. 1:21; Luke 19:10). It follows therefore that it is
by one's attitude to Christ as the Saviour of the world that individual human destiny is
finally sealed.

The Pauline Anthropology. Paul's declarations regarding the nature of man are generally
stated in relation to salvation so that his anthropology throughout serves the interests of
his soteriology. Foremost, therefore, in his teaching is his insistence on man's need of
divine grace. Paul is emphatic about the universality of man's sin. Because of Adam's fall
sin somehow got a footing it the world to make human life the sphere of its activity. Sin
"entered the world through one man" (Rom. 5:12; cf. I Cor. 15:1-2), Consequent on
Adam's transgression, "all have sinned a fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). To
meet man in his plight, Paul sets forth the gospel as a righteousness of God through faith
in Jesus Christ for all who believe (cf Rom, 3:22-25).
In this context Paul contrasts the "old man of nature” (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col.
3:9) who "after the flesh" (Rom. 8:4,12; Gal, 4:23, 29. Etc) with he "new man" in grace
(Eph. 4:24: cf, II Cor 5.17: Gal. 6:15) who is "after the Spirit"(Rom. 8:5, Gal. 4:29). He
speaks also of the "outer nature” or man which perishes and his "inner nature” which
abides and is daily being renewed in Christ. (II Cor, 4:16; cf. Eph. 3:16) and of the
"natural man" (psychikos anthropos) and "he who is spiritual" (I Cor 2:15: cf. 14:37).
In contrast with the second Adam, the first Adam is "from the earth, a man of
dust" (I Co 15:47), but is yet "a living being" (vs. 45),Though man on his earthly side
"bears the image of the man of dust" (vs. 45)' he can by grace through faith be made to
"bear the image of the man from heaven" (vs. 49).Man in himself is a moral being with
an innate sense of right and wrong which Paul speaks of as his "conscience" (21 times).
This conscience can, however lose its sensitiveness for the good and become "defiled' (I
Cor 8:7) and "seared" (I Tim. 4:2).

As the chief exponent of the application of Christ's saving work to personal life Paul can
hardly avoid reference to man's essential nature and makeup and inevitably such allusions
reflect the OT usage of terms. At the same time while he does employ his words with the
same general meaning as in the OT they are mort precisely applied in his, epistles. The
most significant terms in his anthropological vocabulary are "flesh" (sarx, 91 times),
which he use's in a physical and an ethical sense; "spirit" (pneuma, 146 times), to denote
generally the higher, Godward aspect of man's nature; "body" (soma, 89 times), most
often to designate the human organism as such, but sometimes the carnal aspect of man's
nature; "soul" (psyche', 11 times) broadly to carry the idea of the vital principle of
individual life. Paul has several words translated "mind" -in the English versions to
specify man's native rational ability which is in the natural man Seriously affected by sin
(Rom :88:6-7; Eph. 4:17: Col 2:18; 1 Tim. 3:8; Titus 1:15). But the mind transformed
brings God acceptable worship (Rom. 2:2: Eph. 4:23) and so becomes in the believer the
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mind of Christ (I Cor 2:16; cc. Phil, 2:5). The term 'heart" (kardia 52 times) specifies for
Paul the innermost sanctuary of man's psychical being either as a whole or with one or
another of its significant activities-emotional, rational, or volitional.

Sometimes Paul contrasts these aspects - flesh and spirit, body and soul - to give the
impression of a dualism of man's nature. At other times he introduces the threefold
characterization, body. soul, and spirit (I Thess. 5:23). Which raises the question whether
man is to be conceived dichotomously or trichotomously. The interchangeable use of the
terms "spirit" and “soul" seems to confirm the former view, while the fact that they are
sometimes contrasted is held to support tile latter. Yet, however used, both terms refer to
man's inner nature over against flesh or body, which refers to the outer aspect of man as
existing in space and time. In reference, then, to mans' psychical nature, "spirit" denotes
life as having its origin in God and "soul" denotes that same life as constituted in man.
Spirit is the inner depth of man's being, the higher aspect of his personality. Soul
expresses mans' own special and distinctive individuality. The pneuma is man's
nonmaterial nature looking Godward; the psyche' is that same nature of man looking
earthward and touching the things of sense.

Other NT Writings. The rest of the NT in its scattered allusions to man's nature and
constituents is in general agreement with the teaching of Jesus and of Paul. In the
Johannine writings the estimate of man is centred on Jesus Christ as true man and what
man may become in relation to him. Although John begins his Gospel by asserting the
eternal Godhead of Christ as Son of God, he declares in the starkest manner the humanity
of the Word made flesh. Jesus does all that may become a man, all that God intended
man should be. What people saw was a "man that is called Jesus" (John 9:11; cf, 19:5). It
is against the perfect humanness of Jesus that the dignity of every man is to be measured.
By uniting himself with man, God's Son has made it clear for always that being human is
no mean condition, For be took upon himself all that is properly human to restore man to
his sonship with God (John 1:13; 1 John 3:1). Such too is the theme of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, James declares that man is created in the "likeness" (homoiõsin) of God (3:9).

Historical Development. From these biblical statements about man's nature, the history
of Christian thought has focused on three main issues.

Content of the Image: The most enduring of these concerns is the content of the image.
Irenaeus first introduced the distinction between the "image" (Heb. Selem; Lat. imago)
and "likeness” (Heb. démút: Lat. similitudo). The former he identified as the rationality
and free will which inhere in man qua man. The likeness he conceived to be a superadded
gift of God's righteousness which man, because of his reason and freedom of choice, had
the possibility to retain and advance by obedience to the divine commands. But this
probationary endowment man was to forfeit by his act of wilful disobedience for both
himself and descendants. This thesis of Irenaeus was generally upheld by the scholastics
and was given dogmatic application by Aquinas. In Aquinas's view however, Adam had
need of divine aid to continue in the path of holiness. But this aid, in its turn, was
conditioned on Adam's effort and determination to obey God's law, Thus from the first, in
Aquinas's scheme, divine grace was made to depend on human merit.
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The Reformers denied this distinction between image and likeness upon which the works-
salvation of medievalism was reared in their insistence upon the radical nature of sin and
its effect upon the total being of man. Thus did they maintain that salvation is by grace
alone and by faith alone as the gift of God,

Some moderns have revived Irenaeus’s distinction under new terms, Emil Brunner for
example, speaks of the "formal" image to express the essential structure of man's being,
which is not greatly affected by the fall. The "material" image, on the other hand, he
regards as quite lost by man's sin. Reinhold Niebuhr has returned to the scholastic
distinction more closely as regards both terminology and thesis. Those who do not admit
a different connotation for the terms have sought to identify the content of the image as
either corporeal form or pure spirit. Schliermacher speaks of the image as man's
dominion over nature, a view expounded in more recent days by Hans Wolff and L
Verdium. Karl Barth conceived of it in terms of male and female, although he stresses at
the same time that only in relation to Christ is there a true understanding of man. The
Reformed position is that the image of God in man consists in man's rationality and moral
competency, but that it is precisely these realities of his being which were lost or marred
through sin. Others consider personality as the ingredient of the image, while still others
prefer to see it as sonship, contending that man was created for that relationship. But by
his sin he repudiated his sonship. which can be restored only in Christ.

The Origin of the Soul. In the light of such passages as Ps. 12:7; Isa, 42:5: Zech. 12:1;
and Heb. 2:9, the creationist doctrine that God is the immediate creator of the human soul
has been built. First elaborated by Lactantius (ca 240- ca 320), it had the support of
Jerome and of Calvin among the Reformers, Aquinas declared any other view to be
heretical and so followed Peter Lombard, who in his Sentences says, "The Church teaches
that souls are created at their infusion into the body:”

The alternative view, traducianism (Lat. tradux, a branch or shoot), expounded by

Tertullian, is that the substances of both soul and body are formed and propagated
together. Favoured by Luther it is consequently generally adopted by later Lutheran
theologians. In support of the view is the observation that Gen 1:27 represents God as
creating the species in Adam to be propagated “after its kind” (cf. Gen 1:12, 21, 25). And
this increase through secondary causes is implied in the following verse (cf. vs, 22: 5:3,
46:26; John 1:13; Heb 7-9-10) and in the passages which suggest the solidarity of the
race and its sin in the first man (Rom. 5:12-13; 1 Cor 15:22: Eph. 2:3).

From its stress on the continuing kinship of God and man, the Eastern church has
favoured creationism, Here God is regarded as acting immediately to bring individual life
into being. The Western church, on the other hand, by emphasising God's otherness from
the created order and the depth of the yawning gulf between the human and divine
consequent on mans sin, sees Gods contact with man in the world as more distant.
Traducianism therefore in which Gods relation to individual conception and birth is held
to be mediated, has had from the third century wide support.

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The Extent of Freedom. Consonant with his idea of the imago Dei as grounded in mans
nature as rational and free, Justin Martyr set in motion the view that every man is
responsible for his own wrongdoing which was to become a characteristic note of the
Eastern church. Thus Adam is seen as the primary type of each man's sinning and his fall
is the story of Everyman. Western theology, by contrast, regards Adam's transgression as
the fountainhead of all human evil, but against Gnosticism refused to locate its source in
individual life in the material of the body. Tertullian traced sin to humanity’s connection
with Adam through whom it has become a natural element of every mans nature. Yet he
allowed some residue of free will to remain.

In Pelagius and Augustine these two views came into sharp conflict. Pelagius taught that
man was unaffected by Adam’s transgression, his will retaining the liberty of indifference
so that he possesses in himself the ability to choose good or evil. In the light of Rom.
5:12-13 Augustine maintained that Adam's sin has so crippled man that he can act only to
express his sinful nature inherited from his first parents. The inevitable compromise
appeared in the semi-Pelagian (or semi Augustinian) synergistic thesis while all men do
inherit a bias to sin, a freedom of decision remains that permits at least of men to take the
costly step toward righteousness. In the Calvinist-Arminian controversy of the
seventeenth century the conflict was reenacted. Calvin contended for the total depravity
of man "has no good remaining in him," Therefore they were not free to choose the good;
so Salvation is an act of God's sovereign grace, Arminius allowed that Adam's sin had
dire consequence, and that each possesses a "natural propensity” to sin (John Wesley),
while maintaining, at the same time, that it belongs to every man of his own free will to
ratify this inner direction of his nature. On the other hand, it is possible for any man, by
accepting the aid of the Holy Spirit, to opt for God's way for he still possesses an inner
ability so to do,

In the Pelagian-humanist scheme all men are well and need only a tonic to keep them in
good health, In the semi-Pelagian (semi-Augustinian). Arminian doctrine man is sick and
requires the right medicine for his recovery, In the Augustinian-Calvinist view man is
dead and can be renewed to life only by a divinely initiated restir.

Man, Natural. This theme has long been involved in the debate over natural theology
which has sought to define how much knowledge or God (if any) is available to man
outside Christ, But as a distinct theological term "natural man" is used by Paul in I Cor.
2:14, where "natural" is a translation of psychikos and stands in contrast to "spiritual"
(pnetitnaiikos, I Cor 2:13, 5; 3:1) and thus in parallel with "fleshly" (sarkittos, I Cor 3:2).
The meaning of “natural man" here is illuminated by I Cor 35:44-47, where the whole
phrase does not appear but psychikos is used a further three times, again in contrast to
Father ittasikes, and with reference to the contrast between Adam and Christ as "living
being" (psychikos) it and "life-giving spirit" (pitearsta) respectively (I Cor 5:45),
Tosummariu, the meaning of "natural man" indicates man in the "lower" aspects of his
being -i.e, in those aspects which mark him off as creature, as temporally and spatially
confined. as limited to this-worldly "fleshly" modes of perception that cannot penetrate
the world of the Spirit. it means much more than "fallen," for -it is applied by implication
to Adam at the moment of his creation, before the Call (I Cor 5:45), But the fall is
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involved, for that had precisely lie effect of shackling man irretrievably to tliOSC
creaturely limitations which Cor Adam could have been opportunities for discovery and
growth but became in fact a sentence of banishment. The contrasting "spiritual man" is
not therefore one delivered from all creaturely limitations, but one in whom the
indwelling Spirit is beginning to open the doors of perception which Adam slammed
shut.

S. Moista

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 10

EXTRACT ON SIN TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Sin. The Biblical Understanding of Sin.

In the biblical perspective, sin is not only an act of wrongdoing but a state of alienation
from God. For the great prophets of Israel, sin is much more than the violation of a taboo
or the transgression of an external ordinance. It signifies the rupture of a personal
relationship with God, a betrayal of the trust he places in us. We become most aware of
our sinfulness in the presence of the holy God (cf. Isa. 6:5; Ps. 51:1-9; Luke 5:8). Sinful
acts have their origin in a corrupt heart (Gen. 6:5; Isa. 29:13: Jer 17:9). For Paul, sin
(hamartia) is not just a conscious transgression of the law but a debilitating ongoing state
of enmity with God. In Paul's theology, sin almost becomes personalised. It can be
thought of as a malignant, personal power which holds humanity in its grasp.
The biblical witness also affirms that sin is universal. "All have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God," Paul declares (Rom. 3:23 RSV). "There is not a righteous man on
earth who does what is right and never sins" (Eccles. 7:20 NIV). "Who can say. “I have
kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?" (Prov. 20:9. NIV). "They have all gone
astray,” the psalmist complains, "They are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good,
no, not one." (Psa 14:3 RSV).

In Reformed theology the core of sin is unbelief. This has firm biblical support: in Gen. 3
where Adam and Eve trust the word of the serpent over the word of God; in the Gospels
where Jesus Christ is rejected by the leaders of the Jews; in Acts 7 where Stephen is
martyred at the hands of an unruly crowd; in John 20:24-25 where Thomas arrogantly
dismisses the resurrection of Jesus.
Hardness of heart, which is closely related to unbelief (Mark 16:14: Rom. 2:5), likewise
belongs to the essence of sin. It means refusing to repent and believe in the promises of
God (Psa 95:8; Heb. 3:8,15; 4:7) - It connotes both stubborn unwillingness to open
ourselves to the love of God (II Chr. 36.-13: Eph. 4:18) and its corollary-insensitivity to
the needs of our neighbour (Deut 15:7; Eph. 4:19).
Whereas the essence of sin is unbelief or hardness of heart, the chief manifestations of sin
are pride, sensuality, and fear. Other significant aspects of sin are self-pity, selfishness,
jealousy and greed.
Sin is both personal and social, individual and collective. Ezekiel declared: "Now this
was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and
unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy" (16:49 NIV). According to the
prophets, it is not only a few individuals that are infected by sin but the whole nation (Isa.
1:4). Among the collective forms of sin that cast a blight over the world today are racism,
nationalism, imperialism, agism, and sexism.
The effects of sin are moral and spiritual bondage, guilt, death, and hell. James explained:
"Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire
when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death"

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(1:14-15 RSV). In Paul's view, "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23 RSV; cf. I Cor
15:56).
According to Pauline theology, the law is not simply a check on sin but an actual
instigator of sin. So perverse is the human heart that the very prohibitions of the law that
were intended to deter sin serve instead to arouse sinful desire (Rom. 7:7-8).
Biblical faith also confesses that sin is inherent in the human condition. We are not
simply born into a sinful world, but we are born with a propensity toward sin. As the
psalmist says, "The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking
lies" (Psa. 58:3; cf. 51:5). Church tradition speaks of original sin, but this is intended to
convey not a biological taint or physical deformity but a spiritual infection that in some
mysterious way is transmitted through reproduction. Sin does not originate from human
nature, but it corrupts this nature. The origin of sin is indeed a mystery and is tied in with
the problem of evil. The story of Adam and Eve does not really give us a rationally
satisfactory explanation of either sin or evil (this was not its intention), but it does throw
light on the universal human predicament. It tells us that prior to human sin there was
demonic sin which provides the occasion for human transgression. Orthodox theology,
both Catholic and Protestant, speaks of a fall of the angels prior to the fall of man, and
this is attributed to the misuse or abuse of the divine gift of freedom. It is the general
consensus among orthodox theologians that moral evil (sin) sets the stage for physical
evil (natural disaster), but exactly how the one causes the other will probably always
remain a subject of human speculation.

Sin and Hubris. The biblical understanding of sin has certain parallels with the Greek
tragic concept of "hubris," and yet there are also profound differences. Hubris, which is
sometimes translated as "pride" (not wholly accurate), is not to be equated with the
idolatrous pride that proceeds from a corrupted heart. Rather, it is the unwise self-
elevation that proceeds from the vitalities of nature. Whereas hubris signifies the attempt
to transcend the limitations appointed by fate, sin refers to an unwillingness to break out
of our narrow limitations in obedience to the vision of faith. While hubris connotes im-
moderation, sin consists in misplaced allegiance. Hubris is trying to be superhuman; sin
is becoming inhuman. Hubris means rising to the level of the gods: sin means trying to
displace God or living as if there were no God.

In Greek tragedy, the hero has a quite different standing from the sinner portrayed in the
Bible. The tragic hero is punished for authentic greatness, not for unwarranted exaltation.
While the tragic hero is to be admired, the sinner, in so far as he persists in sin, is to be
justly condemned. Both are to be pitied but for different reasons. The tragic hero is a
victim of fate, and is not really responsible for his predicament. The sinner, on the other
hand, knows the good but does not do it. The tragic hero is tormented by the sorrow of
being blind to the forces that brought about its undoing. The sinner is troubled by the
guilt of knowing that he has no one to blame but himself. The fault of the tragic hero is
inevitable; that of the sinner is inexcusable. The tragic hero is a pawn in the hands of fate.
The sinner is a willing accomplice in evil. In Greek tragedy, the essential flaw is
ignorance. In the biblical perspective, the tragic flaw is hardness of heart.

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Historical Controversy over Sin. In the fifth century, Augustine challenged the views of
the British monk Pelagius, who saw sin basically as an outward act transgressing the law
and regarded man as free to sin or desist from sin. Appealing to the witness of Scripture,
Augustine maintained that sin incapacitates man from doing the good, and because we
are born as -sinners we lack the power to do the good. Yet because we wilfully choose
the bad over the good, we must be held accountable for our sin. Augustine gave the
illustration of a man who by abstaining from food necessary for health so weakened
himself that he could no longer eat. Though still a human being, created to maintain his
health by eating, he was no longer able to do so. Similarly, by the historical event of the
fall, all humanity has become incapable of that movement toward God - the very life for
which it was created.

Pelagius held that one could raise oneself by one’s own efforts toward God, and therefore
grace is the reward for human virtue. Augustine countered that man is helpless to do the
good until grace falls upon him, and when grace is thus given he is irresistibly moved
toward God and the good. At the time of the Reformation, Luther powerfully reaffirmed
the Pauline and Augustinian -doctrine of the bondage of the will against Erasmus, who
maintained that man still has the capacity to do the right, though he needs the aid of grace
if he is to come to salvation. Luther saw man as totally bound to the powers of darkness
sin, death and the devil. What he most needs is to be delivered from spiritual slavery
rather than inspired to heroic action.

In our own century, the debate between Karl Barth and Emil Brunner on human freedom
is another example of the division in the church through the ages on this question.
Though firmly convinced that man is a sinner who can be saved only by the unmerited
grace of God as revealed and conveyed in Jesus Christ, Emil Brunner nonetheless
referred to an "addressability" in man, a “capacity for revelation," that enables man to
apprehend the gospel and to respond to its offer. For Barth, not even a capacity for God
remains within our fallen nature: therefore, we must be given not only faith but also the
condition to receive faith, In this view there is no point of contact between the gospel and
sinful humanity. Brunner vehemently disagreed, contending that there would then be no
use in preaching. Barth argued that the Spirit must create this point of contact before we
can believe and obey. In contrast to Brunner, he affirmed the total depravity of man: yet
he did not believe that human nature is so defaced that it no longer reflects the glory of
God. In his later writings, Barth contended that sin is alien to human nature rather than
belonging to this nature. Nonetheless, he continued to affirm that every part of our nature
is infected by the contagion of sin, and this renders us totally unable to come to God on
our own.

Modern Re-appraisals of Sin. In the nineteenth century; theologians under the spell of the
new world consciousness associated with the Enlightenment and romanticism began to
reinterpret sin. For Friedrich Schleiermacher sin is not so much the revolt of man against
God as the dominance of the lower nature within us. It is the resistance of our lower
nature to the universal God-consciousness, which needs to be realised and cultivated in
every human soul. Sin is basically a minus sign, the inertia of nature that arrests the
growth of God-consciousness. Schleiermacher even saw sin in a positive light,
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maintaining that evil has been ordained in corporate life as a gateway to the good. Sin
has occurred as a preparation for grace rather than grace occurring to repair the damage
of sin. Schleiermacher did acknowledge a corporate dimension to sin.

Albrecht Ritschl, in the same century, understood sin as the product of selfishness and
ignorance. He did not see the human race in bondage, but instead believed could be
effectively challenged to live ethical, heroic lives. His focus was on actual or contrete
sins, not on a man’s being in sin. He even allowed for the possibility of sinless lives,
though he did not deny the necessity of divine grace for attaining the ethical ideal. For
Ritschl, religion is fundamentally the experience of moral freedom, a freedom that
enables man to be victorious over the world, At the same time, he acknowledged the
presence of radical evil, though, as in the case of Kant, this did not significantly alter his
vision of a new social order characterised by the mastery of spirit over nature. He also
tried to do justice to the collective nature of evil, but this was never quite convincing.

In Twentieth Century America, Reinhold Niebuhr pioneered in reinterpreting sin.

Rejecting the Reformation understanding of sin for its biblical literalism and
determinism, he also disputed the liberal view which confused sin with human weakness
and finitude. For Niebuhr sin is inevitable because of the tension between human freedom
and human finitude, but it is not a necessary implication of human nature. Our anxiety
over our finitude provides the occasion for sin; our ability to transcend ourselves is the
source of the possibility of sin. We are tempted either to deny the contingent character of
our existence (in pride) or to escape from the responsibilities of our freedom (in
sensuality),Niebuhr sought to preserve the paradox of the inevitability of sin and human
culpability for sin.

Paul Tillich saw the sin of man as consisting In estrangement from his true self and the
ground of his selfhood. Virtually making sin an invariable concomitant of human
finitude, he spoke of an ontological fall in addition to an immanent fall. Tillich made
generous use of psychological and sociological categories (such as "alienation" and
"estrangement") to illumine the mystery of sin. Just as sin is a fall from our onto-logical
ground, so salvation lies in reunion with this ground, For Tillich, the universal experience
of estrangement from the creative depth and ground of all being is the tie that links
Christians and non-Christians.
In liberation theology, sin is redefined in terms of social oppression, exploitation, and
acquiescence to injustice. It is also seen as greed for financial gain at the expense of the
poor. Just as sin is that which dehumanises and oppresses people, so salvation is that
which humanises them, that which liberates them for meaningful and creative lives.
Closely related is feminist theology which sees the essence of sin in passivity to evil, in
timidity and cowardice in the face of intimidation. Sin consists not so much in self-
affirmation as in self-contempt, The need for women who have been subjugated by a
patriarchal ethos is for self-assertion, and their sin lies in resignation to the social system
that relegates them to an inferior status.

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The understanding of sin has also undergone a profound transformation in popular culture
religion, where psychology is more significant than theology. Under the influence of
"new thought" and other neotranscendentalist movements, media religion reinterprets sin
as negative thinking or defeatism. In some other strands of culture religion, also showing
the impact of "new thought," sin is equated with sickness or instability. The cure lies in
self or group therapy rather than in a sacrifice for sin. The way to overcome guilt is
through catharsis rather than repentance. Atonement is reinterpreted to mean at-one-ment
with the self or the world.

Overcoming Sin. Christian faith teaches that sin cannot be overcome through human
ingenuity or effort. The solution to the problem lies in what God has done for us in Jesus
Christ, The penalty for sin is death, judgment, and hell, but the gospel is that God has
chosen to pay this penalty himself in the sacrificial life and death of his Son, Jesus Christ
(cf, John 3:16-17; Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:6-10; II Cor 5:18, 19: Col, 2:13-15).
Through his atoning sacrifice on Calvary, Christ set humankind free by taking the retribu-
tion of sin upon himself. He suffered the agony and shame that we deserve to suffer
because of our sin. He thereby satisfied the just requirements of the law of God and at the
same time turned away the wrath of God from fallen humankind. His sacrifice was both
an expiation of our guilt and a propitiation of the wrath of God. It also signifies the
justification of the sinner in the sight of God in that Christ's righteousness is imputed to
those who have faith. Likewise, it represents the sanctification of the sinner by virtue of
his being engrafted into the body of Christ through faith. The cross and resurrection of
Christ also accomplish the redemption of the sinner; because he has been brought back
out of the slavery of sin into the new life of freedom.

Humankind is objectively delivered through the cross and resurrection victory of Christ
over the powers of sin, death, and the devil; but this deliverance does not make contact
with the sinner until the gift of the Holy Spirit in the awakening to faith, The outpouring
of the Spirit completes the salvific activity of Christ. His atoning work is finished, but the
fruits of his redemption need to he applied to the people of God by the Spirit if they are to
be saved de facto as well as de jure, It is through regeneration by the Spirit, the imparting
of faith and love, that the sinner is set free from bondage to sin and enabled to achieve
victory over sin in everyday life.

Reformation theology insists that Christ saves us, not only from the power of sin, but also
from its dire consequences-physical and eternal death, We are given both immortality and
the remission of sins. The Christian does not suffer further penalties for sins committed
after baptism and conversion, for the punishment for sin has already been borne by
Christ, The Christian has been delivered from the guilt of sin, but he still suffers the
interior pain of guilt or feelings of guilt in so far as he continues to sin while in the state
of grace. The remedy lies, not in acts of penance prescribed by the church, but in the act
of repentance by which we claim again the assurance of forgiveness promised in the
gospel. The suffering that accompanies the sin of the Christian is to be understood, not as
a penalty for sin, but as a sting that reminds him of his deliverance from sin and also as a
spur that challenges him to persevere and overcome.

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Sin in Evangelical and Legalistic Religion. The meaning of sin is quite different in a
religion based on the gospel from one based on law. Sin, in evangelical perspective, is not
so much the infringement of a moral code as the breaking of a covenantal relationship.
Sin is not an offence so much against law as against love. In legalistic religion, sin is the
violation of a moral taboo. In evangelical religion, sin is wounding the very heart of God.
The opposite of sin is not virtue, but faith.

Biblical faith acknowledges the legal dimension of sin, recognising that the just
requirements of the law have to be satisfied. Yet it also perceives that sin is basically the
sundering of a personal relation between God and man and that the greatest need is not
the payment of debt but reconciliation.

The deepest meaning of the cross is that God out of his incomparable love chose to
identify himself with our plight and affliction. The suffering of Christ was the suffering
of vicarious love, and not simply a penal suffering cancelling human debt. Salvation
means that the merits of Christ are transferred to the deficient sinner and also that the
forgiveness of God is extended to the undeserving sinner. Christ not only pays the
penalty for sin, but he does more than the law requires: he accepts the sinner unto
himself, adopting that person into his family as a brother or sister. He gives the sinner a
writ of pardon and embraces him as a loving shepherd who has found the lost sheep. Just
as sin is deeper than the infringement of law, so love goes beyond the requirements of
law. The answer to sin is a forgiveness that was not conditional on the sacrifice of Christ
but one that was responsible for this sacrifice. God did not forgive because his law was
satisfied; yet because he chose to forgive, he saw to it that the demands of his law were
fulfilled.
D.G. BLOESCH

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 14

EXTRACT ON REDEMPTION TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Redeemer, Redemption, Though closely allied to salvation, redemption is more specific,

for it denotes the means by which salvation is achieved, namely by the payment of a
ransom. As in the case of salvation it may denote temporal, physical deliverance. In the
OT the principal words are pada and gâ’al, which are usually rendered by lytrousthai the
LXX, occasionally by rhyesthai. In the NT lytrousthai is the usual verb form, and nouns
are lytrosis and apolytrosis. Occasionally agorazein is used, or exagorazein, denoting the
act of purchase in the market, especially the slave market. For "ransom" lytron and
antilytron are used.

In the OT. In ancient Israel both property and life could be redeemed by making the
appropriate payment. Since the first born were spared in the last plague which God
visited upon Egypt, he had a special claim on these, so that the first born thereafter had to
be redeemed by a money payment (Exod 6:6; 15:13). According to the Pentateuchal
legislation, if a man lost his inheritance through debt or sold himself into slavery, he and
his property could be redeemed if one near of kin came forward to provide the
redemption price (Lev. 25:25-27, 47-54; cf. Ruth 4:1-12). The kinsman-redeemer was
also the avenger of blood on occasion.
God's deliverance of his people from Egypt is spoken of as a redemption (Exod, 6:6;
15:13), and he is Israel's Redeemer(Ps.78:35). The emphasis here may well be upon the
great output of strength needed to accomplish this objective - strength which itself serves
as a kind of ransom price. Once again God's people are found in captivity (Babylon), and
again the language of redemption is used in connection with their release (Jer 31:11;
50:33-34). The probable meaning of Isa. 43:3 is that the conqueror of Babylon and
therefore the liberator of Judah, even Cyrus, is being promised a domain in Africa as a
compensation for giving up captive Judah and restoring it to its inheritance in the land of
Canaan.
The individual also is sometimes the object of God's redemption, as in Job 19:25, where
the sufferer expresses his confidence in a living Redeemer who will vindicate him
eventually, despite all present appearances to the contrary. Prov. 23:10-11 presents the
same general cast of thought.

It is rather surprising that redemption is verbally so little associated with sin in the OT.
Ps. 130:8 contains the promise that Jehovah will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. Isa.
59:20, which Paul quotes in Rom. 11:26, says much the same thing in more general terms
(cf. Isa. 44:22). In Ps, 49:7 the impossibility of self-ransom for one's life is emphasised. It
is possible that the scarcity of reference to redemption from sin in the OT is due to the
ever-present proclamation of redemption through the sacrificial system, making formal
statements along this line somewhat superfluous. Furthermore, redemption from the ills

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of life, such as the Babylonian captivity would inevitably carry with it the thought that
God redeems from sin, for it was sin which brought on the captivity (Isa. 40:2).

The occurrence of numerous passages in the OT where redemption is stated in terms

which do not explicitly include the element of ransom has led some scholars to conclude
that redemption came to mean deliverance without any insistence upon a ransom as a
condition or basis. The manifestation of the power of God in the deliverance of his people
seems at times to be the sole emphasis (Deut. 9:26). But on the other hand there is no hint
in the direction of the exclusion of a ransom. The ransom idea may well be an assumed
factor which is kept in the back-ground by the very prominence given to the element of
power needed for lie deliverance.
In the NT. This observation affords the necessary bridge to the NT use of redemption.
Certain passages in the Gospels reflect this somewhat vague use of the word as implying
divine intervention in behalf of God's people without specific reference to any ransom to
be paid (Luke 2:38; 24:21).

Mark 10:45, though it does not contain the word "redeem," is a crucial passage for the
subject, because it opens to us the mind of Christ concerning his mission. His life of
ministry would terminate in an act of self-sacrifice which would serve as a ransom for the
many who needed it. The largest development of the doctrine in the NT comes in the
writings of Paul. Christ has redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13; 4:5;
exagorazein in both cases). In the apostle's most concentrated section on the work of
Christ he copies redemption with justification and propitiation (Rom. 3:24; cf, I Cor
1:30). One prominent feature of Paul’s usage is the double reference to the word-with a
present application to the forgiveness of sins based on the ransom price of the shed blood
of Christ (Eph. 1:7; cf. I Pet, 1:18-19), and a future application to the deliverance of the
body from its present debility and liability to corruption (Rom. 8:23). This latter event is
associated with the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), not in the sense that redemption will
then be operative for the first time, but that the redemption secured by Christ and applied
to the soul's forgiveness is then extended to include the body as well, so that salvation is
brought to its intended consummation.

Redemption, though it includes the concept of deliverance, is a more precise term.

Otherwise it would be expected that biblical writers would make more extensive use of
words denoting deliverance per s,. such as lyein or rhyesthai to the neglect of words for
redeem. Yet such is not the case. It is significant that Paul can content
himself with the use of rhyesthai when setting forth the relation of Christ's saving work
for us with respect to hostile angelic powers (Col. 1:13), yet when he passes to a
contemplation of the forgiveness of our sins he must change his terminology to that of
redemption (Col. 1:14).

No word in the Christian vocabulary deserves to be held more precious than Redeemer;
for even more than Saviour it reminds the child of God that his salvation has been
purchased at a great and personal cost, for the Lord has given himself for our sins in order
to deliver us from them.
E. F. Harrison
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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 16

EXTRACT ON GOSPEL TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Gospel. The English word "gospel" (from the Anglo-Saxon god-spell ie God-story) is the
usual NT translation of the Greek euangelion. According to Tyndale, the renowned
English Reformer and Bible translator, it signified "good, merry, glad and joyful tydinge,
that maketh a mannes hert glad, and maketh hym synge, daunce, and leepe for ioye"
(Prologue to NT). While his definition is more experiential than explicative, it has
touched that inner quality which brings the word to life. The gospel is the joyous
proclamation of God's redemptive activity in Christ Jesus on behalf of man enslaved by
sin.

Origin. Euangelion (neut. Sing.) is rarely found in the sense of "good tidings" outside of
early Christian literature. As used by Homer it referred not to the message but to the
reward given to the messenger (eg, Odyssey xiv. 152). In Attic Greek it always occurred
in the plural and generally referred to sacrifices or thank offerings made in behalf of good
tidings. Even in the LXX euangelion is found for sure but once (II Kings 4:10: Eng.
versions, II Sam.) and there it has the classical meaning of a reward given for good
tidings. (In II Kings 18:22,25, enangelion should undoubtedly be taken as fem. sing. in
harmony with vss, 20 and 27 where this form is certain.) Euangelion in the sense of the
good news itself belongs to a later period. Outside of Christian literature the neuter
singular fast appears with this meaning in a papyrus letter from an Egyptian official of
the third century AD. In the plural it is found in a calendar inscription from Priene about
9BC. It is not until the writings of the apostolic fathers (eg, Didache 8:2: II Clement 8:5)
that we sense a transition to the later Christian usage of euangelion as referring to a book
which sets forth the life and teaching of Jesus (Justin, Apology i.66).
Against this background the frequency with which euangelion occurs in the NT (more
than seventy-five times) with the specific connotation of "good news" is highly
informative. It suggests that euangelion is quite distinctively a NT word. Its true
significance is therefore found, not by probing its linguistic background, but by observing
its specific Christian usage.

This is not to deny. of course, that the basic concept has its rightful origin in the religious
aspirations of the nation Israel. Some seven centuries before Christ the prophet Isaiah had
delivered a series of prophetic utterances. With vivid imagery he portrayed the coming
deliverance of Israel from captivity in Babylon. A Redeemer shall come to Zion
preaching good tidings unto the meek and liberty to the captives (Isa. 60:1-2). "How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings" (Isa. 52:7).
Jerusalem itself is pictured as a herald whose message is good tidings (Isa. 40:9).
Jesus saw in these prophecies a description of his own mission (Luke 4:18-21; 7:22).
They expressed that same sense of liberation and exultation which was the true
characteristic of his messianic proclamation. What was at first simply a literary allusion
came easily to represent the actual message which was being proclaimed. Euangelion

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was the natural result of the LXX's euangelion. Thus Mark could write that Jesus came
into Galilee "heralding the euangelion of God" (Mark 1:14).

Euangelion in the Gospels. Upon examining the four Gospels we find that the word
euangelion is used only by Matthew and Mark. The concept, however, is not foreign to
Luke. He uses the verb form twenty-six times in Luke-Acts, and the noun twice in the
latter book. In the Fourth Gospel there is no trace of either verb or noun.

In all but one instance Matthew further describes euangelion as the gospel "of the
kingdom," This gospel is not to be distinguished from what Mark calls the "gospel of
God" (many manuscripts read "the gospel or the kingdom of God") and summarises in
the words, "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:14-15). On
the other occasion Matthew writes "this gospel" (Matt. 26:13) - the context indicating that
Jesus is alluding to his coming death, The phrase "preaching the gospel of the kingdom"
is twice used in summary statements of the ministry of Jesus (Matt. 4:23; 9:35). This
gospel is to be preached throughout the entire world prior to the consummation of the age
(Matt. 24:14; cf. Mark 13:10).

The way in which Mark uses euangelion is suggested by his opening words, "The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Here euangelion is a semi-
technical term meaning “the glad news which tells about Jesus Christ". Where Luke
writes "for the sake of the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:29), the Markan parallel is "for my
sake and for the gospel" (Mark 10:29). This gospel is of such tremendous import that for
its sake a man must be willing to enter upon a life of complete self-denial (Mark 8:35). In
the long ending of Mark, Christ commands his disciples to "preach the gospel to the
whole creation" (Mark 16:15)

The Gospel According to Paul Over against the six occasions (discounting parallels) on
which euangelion is used by the Gospel writers, it is found a total of sixty times in the
writings of Paul. Euangelion is a favourite Pauline term. It is evenly distributed
throughout his epistles, missing only in the note to Titus.

Paul's ministry was distinctively that of the propagation of the gospel. Unto this gospel he
was set apart (Rom. 1:1) and made a minister according to the grace of God (Eph. 3:7).
His special sphere of action was the Gentile world (Rom, 16:16; Gal. 2:7). Since Paul
accepted the gospel as a sacred trust (Gal. 2:7), it was necessary that in the discharge of
this obligation he speak so as to please God rather than man (I Tim, 2:4). The divine
commission had created a sense of urgency that made him cry out, "Woe to me if I do not
preach the gospel" a Cor 9:36). For the sake of the gospel Paul was willing to become all
things to all men (I Cor 9:22-23). No sacrifice was too great. Eternal issues were at stake.
Those whose minds were blinded and did not obey the gospel were perishing and would
ultimately reap the vengeance of divine wrath (II Cor 4:3: II Thess. 1:9). On the other
hand, to those who believed, the gospel had effectively become the power of God unto
salvation (Rom. 1:16).

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Because Paul on occasion speaks of his message as "my gospel" (Rom. 2:16; II Tim, 2:8),
and because in his letter to the Galatians he goes to some pains to stress that he did not
receive it from man (Gal. 1:1ff.). It is sometimes maintained that Paul's gospel should be
distinguished from that of apostolic Christianity in general.

This does not follow, I Cor 15:3-5 sets forth with crystal clarity the message of primitive
Christianity. Paul, using terms equivalent to the technical rabbinic words for the reception
and transmission of tradition, refers to this message as something which he had received
and passed on (vs. 3). In vs, 11 he can say, "Whether then it was I or they so we preach
and so you believed." In Galatians, Paul tells how he laid before the apostles at Jerusalem
the gospel which he had preached. Far from finding fault with the message, they extended
to him the right hand of fellowship (Gal. 2:9). What Paul meant by his earlier remarks is
that the charges against his gospel as a mere human message were completely fraudulent.
The revelation of the full theological impact of the Christ-event was God given and
stemmed from his encounter on the Damascus road. Thus he speaks of "my gospel”
meaning his own personal apprehension of the gospel. On other occasions he can speak
freely of "our gospel" (II Cor 4:3; I Thess. 11:7).

For Paul, the euangelion is preeminently the "gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1; 15:16; II Cor
11:7; I Thess. 2:2, 8-9). It proclaims the redemptive activity of God. This activity is
bound up with the person and work of God's Son, Christ Jesus. Thus it is also the "gospel
of Christ" (I Cor. 9:12 II Cor. 2:22: 9:13; 10:14; Gal. 7:1; I Thess. 3:2; vss 16 and 19 of
Rom. 15 indicate that these an interchangeable terms). This gospel is variously expressed
as "the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (II Thess 1:8), "the gospel of the glory of the blessed
God" (I Tim. 1:11), "the gospel of his Son” (Rom. 1:9), and "the gospel of the glory of
Christ” (II Cor. 4:4) - It is a gospel of salvation (Eph. 1:13) and peace (Eph. 6:15). It
proclaims the hope of eternal life (Col, 1:23). It is "the 'word of truth" (Col. 1:5; Eph.
1:13). Through this gospel, life and immortality are brought to light (II Tim. 1:10).

The Apostolic Preaching, If we wish to investigate more closely the specific content of
the primitive gospel, we will do well to adopt the basic approach of C. H. Dodd (The
Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments). While Dodd refers to the message as
kérygma, he is ready to admit that this term is a virtual equivalent of euangelion
(kérygma stresses the manner of delivery; euangelion, the essential nature of the content.)
There are two sources for the determination of the primitive proclamation, Of primary
importance are the fragments of pre-Pauline tradition that lie embedded in the writings of
the apostle. These segments can be uncovered by the judicious application of certain
literary and formal criteria. While at least one purports to be the actual terms in which the
gospel was preached (1 Cor 15:3-5), others take the form of early Christian hymns (eg,
Phil. 2:6-11), summaries of the message (eg, Rom, 10:9), or creedal formulas (I Cor 12:3;
I Tim. 3:16).

A second source is the early Petrine speeches in Acts, These speeches (on the basis of
their Aramaic background, freedom from Paulinism, and the general trustworthiness of
Luke as a historian) can be shown to give reliably the gist of what Peter actually said and
not what a second generation Christian thought he might have said.
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These two sources combine to set forth one common apostolic gospel. In briefest outline,
this message contained: (1) a historical proclamation of the death, resurrection, and
exaltation of the person of Jesus, set forth as the fulfilment of prophecy and involving
man's responsibility; (2) a theological evaluation of the person of Jesus as both Lord and
Christ; (3) a summons to repent and receive the forgiveness of sins.

It will be noticed that the essential core of this message is not the dawn of the messianic
age (as Dodd implies) - although this is most certainly involved - but that sequence of
redemptive events which sweeps the hearer along with compelling logic toward the
climactic confession that Jesus is Lord. The gospel is not the product of a bewildered
church pondering the theological significance of Good Friday. It is rather the result or a
natural development which had its origins in the teachings of Jesus himself. The Passion
sayings of Jesus-far from being "prophecies after the event" (cf R. Bultmann, Theology of
the NT 1, 29) - are undeniable evidence that Jesus laid the foundation for a theology of
the cross. In his teaching regarding his own person Jesus furnished what R. II. Fuller has
aptly termed "the raw materials of Christology" (The Mission and Achievement of Jesus).
The resurrection was the catalyst which precipitated in the minds of the disciples the total
significance of God's redemptive activity. It released the gospel!

This gospel is power (Rom. 1:16). As an instrument of the Holy Spirit it convicts (I
Thess. 1:5) and converts (Col. :6). It cannot be fettered (II Tim, 2:9). Although it is good
news, it is strenuously opposed by a rebellious world (I Thess. 2:2). Opposition to the
message takes the form of opposition to the messenger (II Tim. 1:11-12; Philem. 13). Yet
those who proclaim it must do so boldly (Eph. 6:19) and with transparent simplicity (II
Cor. 4:2 - not with eloquence lest the cross of Christ be robbed of its power (I Cor 1:17).
To those who refuse the gospel it is both foolishness and a stumbling block (I Cor
1:18ff.) but to those who respond in faith it proves itself to be "the power of God onto
salvation" (Rom. 1:16). R. H. Mounce

Gospel, Social Implications of. The gospel is the proclamation and demonstration of
Gods redemptive activity in Jesus Christ to a world enslaved by sin. Redemption is
personal as men and women respond to the claims of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Redemption is also social, but the nature, priority, and extent of the social implications of
the gospel have not been as readily agreed upon.

Early Period, The social implications of the gospel have been evident in every era of the
church's life. The early church, for example, expressed a social witness by faithfulness to
the radical demands of Christian community (Acts 2:42-46). Limited in their social
expression by virtue of being members of a persecuted sect, many Christians challenged
cultural values in their refusal to bear arms.

The church continuously manifested its social conscience with a concern for the poor
Basil the Great, for example, created a whole complex of charitable institutions in the
fourth century. The monastic movement generated much philanthropic activity. The

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institutional charities of the Roman Catholic Church take their impetus from this
medieval social heritage.

The Reformation heralded a renewal of biblical faith, including the Scripture's social em-
phasis. Though Martin Luther denied that good works had any place in the drama of
salvation, he nevertheless commended good works as the proper response to the gracious
gift of redemption. John Calvin, a second-generation Reformer; gave greater attention to
the implications of the gospel for society. Whereas for Luther the civil rule was a
restraining force because of sin, for Calvin government should be a positive force for the
common welfare. In Calvin's Geneva this meant a commitment to education and to
welfare for refugees, and outside Geneva sanctioning, under certain circumstances, the
right of resistance for peoples suffering under unjust rulers.

Modern evangelicalism traces its roots to the Reformation, but is more directly the result
of a variety of post-Reformation movements. Puritanism grew up in England in the
sixteenth century, but its spirit flowered in America in the seventeenth century. "The
Puritan dilemma" in America was the tension between individual freedom and social
order. The strong emphasis on the covenant, though, meant an impetus toward self-
sacrifice for the common good. Puritanism is sometimes remembered for its
individualism, but it deserves to be known as much for its contribution to the social
realm, bequeathing elements that would help form the American political tradition.

German pietism infused new life into seventeenth century Lutheranism. Though often
characterised as individualistic, legalistic, and other-wordly, the pietists nevertheless
complained heartily against a lifeless orthodoxy that did not translate into love and
compassion, Thus Philipp Jakob Spener challenged wealthy Christians to give their goods
to the poor in order to eliminate begging. Spener's pupil, August Hermann Francke,
transformed the University of Halle into a training centre for pastors and missionaries,
and in the town itself an orphanage and hospital were founded and the poor were both
catechised and fed.

Fuelled in part by the example of pietism, and especially the influence of the Moravians,
an evangelical revival swept across Great Britain in the eighteenth century. John and
Charles Wesley along with George Whitefield, preached in fields and streets in an
attempt to recapture the alienated poor for the church. Their emphasis on sanctification
and the holy life energized their followers into opposing slavery, exhibiting concern for
prisoners, and initiating reforms related to the industrial revolution.

In America the First Great Awakening, which began as a season of individual

conversions, resulted in an intercolonial movement that reshaped the social order. Under
the leadership of Jonathan Edwards and Whitefield the hierarchical nature of both church
and society was challenged. Indeed, it is widely recognized that this movement, with its
democratizing influence, helped prepare the way for the American Revolution.

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Modern Period. The modern discussion about the social implications of the gospel has
been shaped by a variety of movements and factors. Revivalism has been a crucial force
in determining the nature of the discussion because of the prominence of revival leaders
in moulding modern evangelicalism. In the nineteenth century Charles C. Finney
maintained that religion came first, reform second, but he sent his converts from the
"anxious bench" into a variety of reform movements, including abolitionism. Energized
by a postmillennial theology, Finney often said that "the great business of the church is to
reform the world." Dwight L Moody on the other hand, saw little hope for society. As a
premillennialist he pictured the world as a wrecked ship: "God had commissioned
Christians to use their lifeboats to rescue every man they could."

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 17

EXTRACT ON HOLY SPIRIT TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Holy Spirit. In the NT the third person of the Trinity: in the OT God's power.
The OT. In the OT the spirit of the Lord (rúah yhwh; LXX, to pneuma kyriou) is gen-
erally an expression for God's power, the extension of himself whereby he carries out
many of his mighty deeds (eg, I Kings 8:12; Judg. 14:6ff:

I Sam, 11:6). As such, "spirit" sometimes finds expression in ways similar to other modes
of God's activity, such as "the hand of God" (Ps, 19:1; 102:25) “the word of God” (Ps
33:6; 147:15, 18) and “the wisdom of God” (Exod 28:3; I Kings 3:28, Job 3:28). The
origins of the word “spirit” in both Hebrew (rúah) and Greek (pneuma) are similar,
stemming from associations with breath and wind which were connected by ancient
cultures to unseen spiritual force, hence “spirit” (cf John 3:8 - note the association with
air in English, eg, pneumatic, respiration, etc). The AV uses the term “Holy Ghost” for
“Holy Spirit” based on an obsolete usage of the word ghost (from Middle English and
Anglo Saxon originally meaning “breath”, “spirit” –cf. the German Geist) Thus it is
understandable that Gods creative word (Gen 1:3ff) is closely akin to Gods creative
breath (Gen 2:7). Both ideas are identified elsewhere with Gods spirit. As an agent in
creation, God’s spirit is the life principle of both men and animals (Job 33:4; Gen, 6:17;
7:15).

The primary function of the spirit of God in the OT is as the spirit of prophecy. God's
spirit is the motivating force in the inspiration of the prophets - that power which moved
sometimes to ecstasy but always to the revelation of God's message, expressed by the
prophets with "thus saith the Lord.” Prophets are sometimes referred to as "men of God"
(I Sam 2:27; I Kings 12:22 etc); In Hos 9:7 they are men of the Spirit. The general
implication in the OT is that the prophets were inspired by the spirit of God (Num 11:17;
I Sam 16:15; Mic 3:8 Ezek 2:2 etc).

The phrase “Holy Spirit” appears in two contexts in the OT but is qualified both times as
Gods Holy Spirit (Ps 51:11; Isa 63:10-11, 14), such that it is clear that God himself is the
referent, not the Holy Spirit which is encountered in the NT. The OT does not contain an
idea of a semi-independent divine entity, the Holy Spirit. Rather; we find special
expressions of God; activity with and through men, God's spirit is holy in the same way
his word and his name are holy: they are all forms of his revelation and, as such, are set
in antithesis to all things human or material. The especially the prophets, anticipates a
time when God, who is holy (or "other than /separate from" men; cf, Hos. 11:9) will pour
out his spirit on men (Joel 2:28ff.; Isa, 11:1ff; Ezek, 36:14ff) who will themselves
become holy. The Messiah/Servant of God will be the one upon whom the spirit rests
(Isa. 11:1ff; 42:1ff; 63:1ff), and will, inaugurate the time of salvation (Ezek 36:14ff; cf.
Jer 31:31ff.).

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Intertestamental Judaism. Within intertestamental Judaism several significant
developments shaped the idea or "Holy Spirit" as it was understood in NT times. After
the OT prophets had proclaimed the coming of the Spirit in the messianic age of
salvation, Judaism had developed the idea that the spirit of prophecy had ceased within
Israel with the last of the biblical prophets (Syriac Bar 85:3; I Macc. 4:46; 14:41; etc, cf,
Ps, 74:9). Consequently, there arose from time to time a hope of the dawning of the new
age. Specifically within the apocalyptic movement, which generally pointed to a
supposed Messiah and/or prophetic reawakening or some kind (cf. Acts 5:34ff.). The
Qumran community is illustrative of this, since it understood itself to be involved in the
fulfilment of Israel's messianic hope as the “preparers of the way of the lord" (Isa. 40:3;
cf I QS 8.14-16). The Qumran literature also shows increased identification of the spirit
of prophecy with "God's Holy Spirit" (I QS 8.16; Zadokite Documents II.12). The phrase,
"the Holy Spirit," occasionally occurs in Judaism (IV Ezra 14:22; Ascension of Isa. 5:14:
etc.), but, as in the rabbis, it generally meant "God's spirit of prophecy". Thus, the
messianic expectation of Judaism, which included the eschatological outpouring of God's
spirit (eg, I Enoch 49:3, citing Isa. 11:2; cf Sybilline Oracle III, 582, based on Joel
2:28ff.), was bound up with the conviction that the Spirit had ceased in Israel with the last
of the prophets; the Holy Spirit was understood as God's spirit of prophecy which would
be given again in the new age to a purified Israel in conjunction with the advent of a
Messiah.

The concept of the Holy Spirit was broadened through the Wisdom Literature, especially
in the personification of wisdom as that idea came into contact with the idea of Spirit. As
early as Prov. 8:22ff, and Job 28:25ff, wisdom is presented as a more or less independent
aspect of God's power (here as agent in creation), and wisdom is credited with functions
and characteristics that are attributed to the Holy Spirit in the NT Wisdom proceeded
from the mouth of God and covered the earth as a mist at creation (Sir 24:3); she is the
breath of the power of God (Wisd. Solomon 7:25); and by means of his wisdom God
formed man (Wisd. Sol. 9:2). The Lord poured out wisdom upon all his works, and she
dwells with all flesh (Sir 1:9-10). Moreover wisdom is full of spirit, and indeed is
identified with the Spirit (Wisd. Sol. 7:22; 9:1; cf.1:5). Thus the Jews of NT times were
familiar with the background of these ideas as they are variously expressed in the NT;
ideas which use these background concepts but move beyond them to some unexpected
conclusions. Indeed, Jesus taught that his Messiahship and the corresponding outpouring
of the Spirit were firmly rooted in OT understanding (Luke 4:18ff, citing Isa. 61:1-2),
and, similar to intertestamental Judaism, understood the messianic Spirit of the Lord to be
the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:32), that spirit which had foretold through the prophets that the
coming Messiah would inaugurate the age of salvation with the pouring out of the Spirit
on all flesh. Jesus developed the idea of the Holy Spirit as a personality (eg, John 15:26;
16:7ff.), specifically as God working in the church.

The NT. The NT teaching of the Holy Spirit is rooted in the idea of both the spirit of God
as the manifestation of God's power and the spirit of prophecy. Jesus, and the church after
him, brought these ideas together in predicating them of the Holy Spirit, God's
eschatological gift to man. When Mary is "overshadowed" by the power of the Most
High - a phrase standing in parallel construction to "the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:35; cf. 9:35)
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we find echoes of the OT idea of God's spirit in the divine cloud which "overshadowed"
the tabernacle so that the tent was filled with the glory of the Lord (Exod. 40:35; Isa.
63:11ff. identifies God's presence in this instance as "God's Holy Spirit"). Luke records
Jesus' power to cast out demons "by the finger of God," an OT phrase for God's power
(Luke 12:20; Exod. 8:19; PS, 8:3). This power is identified as the "Spirit of God" (Matt.
22:28), ie, the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:32). At Jesus' baptism the spirit came upon him
(Mark 1:10; "the Spirit of God”. Matt, 3:16; "the Holy Spirit” Luke 3:21), and he
received God's confirmation of his divine sonship and messianic mission (Matt. 3:13ff.
par). Jesus went up from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1) and after the
temptation began his ministry “in the power of the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). Taking up the
message of John the Baptist, Jesus proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God (Matt
4:17; cf. 3:I) - a coming marked by the presence of tile Holy Spirit (Matt 12:28 ff, par) as
the sign of the messianic age of salvation (Luke 4:18ff.; Acts 10:38; etc.).

From the beginning of Jesus' ministry he identified himself with both the victorious
messiah king and the suffering servant figures of OT prophecy (Isa. 42:1ff.; cf Mark
10:45), ideas which Judaism had kept separate. Jesus further defined the role of God's
Messiah as proclaiming God's favour, God's salvation, in the new age - a message
stressed far beyond that of “judgment of the nations," which the Jews had come to expect.
At the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16ff) when Jesus identified himself with the
Messiah promised in Isa. 61:1-2a he stopped short of reading the "words of judgment" of
Isa. 61:2c, (even though Isa. 6i:2c, "comfort to those who mourn," is part of Jesus'
teaching at Matt, 5:4). This emphasis is made again when John the Baptist asks whether
Jesus is indeed the one who was to come (Luke 7:18-23). Indeed, even though John the
Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the one who would "baptize in the Holy Spirit and in fire"
as aspects of the new age (salvation and judgment, respectively - Luke 3:15ff.; note the
clear judgment connections of "baptism with fire" in 3:17), Jesus' own focus was on the
positive, salvific aspect of the new age as represented in the baptism with the Holy Sprit
(Acts 1:5; 11:16).

Jesus understood the Holy Spirit as a personality. This comes out especially in John's
Gospel, where the Spirit is called the "Paraclete” ie, the Comforter (Counsellor,
Advocate). Jesus himself was the first Counsellor (Paraclete, John 4:26), and he will send
the disciples another Counsellor after he is gone, ie, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit
(14:26; 15:26; 16:5). The Holy Spirit will dwell in the believers (John 7:3 S; cf, 14:17),
and will guide the disciples into all truth (26:23), teaching them "all things" and bringing
them "to remembrance of all that [Jesus] said" to them (14:26). The Holy Spirit will
testify about Jesus, as the disciples must also testify (John 15:26-27).

In Acts 2:14ff, Peter interpreted the Pentecost phenomena as the fulfilment of Joel's
prophecy of the outpouring of the spirit upon all flesh in the messianic age (Joel 2:28ff).
The outpouring of the spirit upon all flesh was accomplished for the benefit of Jew and
Gentile alike (Acts 10:45; 11:15ff) and individual converts had access to this gift of the
age of salvation through repentance and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ (Acts
2:38). This, according to Peter, put the converts in contact with the promise of Joel's
prophecy, the gift of the Holy Spirit; "for to you is the promise…for all whom the Lord
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our God will call" (Acts 2:39; Joel 2:32). The apostles and others carried out their
ministries "full of the Holy Spirit" (4:31; 6:5; 7:54; etc), and the Holy Spirit - identified
in Acts 16:7 as the Spirit of Jesus - directed the mission of the fledgling church (Acts
9:31:13:2; 15:28; 16:6-7). The salvific aspects of the new age practiced by Jesus - notably
heating and exorcism - were carried out by the early church through the power of the
Holy Spirit. Visions and prophecies occurred within the young church (Acts 9:10; 10:3;
10:10ff; 11:27-28; 13:1; 15:32) in keeping with the Acts 2 citation of Joel 2:28ff. The
experience of the early church confirmed that the messianic age had indeed come.
Paul taught that the Holy Spirit, poured out in the new age, is the creator of new life in
the believer and that unifying force by which God in Christ is "building together" the
Christians into the body of Christ (Rom. 5:5; II Cor 5:17; Eph. 2:22; cf. I Cor 6:19).
Romans 8 shows that Paul identified the spirit, the spirit of God, and the spirit of Christ
with the Holy Spirit (cf. the spirit of Christ as the spirit of prophecy in I Pet 1:10ff), and
that these terms are generally interchangeable. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ
he does not belong to Christ (Rom. 8:9) but those who are led by the spirit of God are
sons of God (Rom. 8:14). We all have our access so the Father through one spirit (Eph
2:18) and there is one body and one spirit (Eph 4:4). We were all baptised by one spirit,
into one body. and we were all given the one spirit to drink (I Cor 12:13). The believer
receives the spirit of adoption or “son-ship” (Rom. 8:15) - indeed the spirit of Gods own
Son (Gal 4:6) - by whom we cry “Abba Father” that intimate address of filial relationship
to God pioneered by Jesus, the unique Son of God (Mark 14:36).

The believers are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the spirit (Eph.
4:22). To each one was apportioned grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ
(Eph. 4:7 cf Rom. 12:3) and Christ has given different ones to be prophets apostles
evangelists pastors and teachers (Eph 4:11) for the edification of the body. Similarly the
Spirit gives different kinds of spiritual gifts for different kinds of service (I Cor 12:4-5, 7)
all for the common good. The way of love is to be followed in all things; indeed, the fruit
of the spirit is love, joy, peace, etc, (Gal. 5:22ff.). All of this is because God has initiated
the new covenant (Jer 31:31ff; Ezek. 36:14ff.; 26) in the hearts of men by means of his
eschatological spirit (II Cor 3:6ff.). In this new age the spirit is the earnest of our
inheritance (II Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14), a "first fruits," the seal of God (II Cor 1:22;
Eph. 1:13; 4:30).These phrases point out the "already vs. the not yet" tension of the new
age: the new age has dawned, and the eschatological spirit has been poured out, yet all of
creation awaits the final consummation. Even though the spirit bears witness with our
spirit that we are sons of God (Rom. 8:16) and we truly have the firstfruits of the spirit
(Rom. 8:23), we await the adoption as sons (8:23) at the final consummation. Until that
time Christians have the Comforter; the Spirit who intercedes on behalf of the saints
according to the will of the Father (Rom. 8:27).

Patristic and Medieval Theology. In the patristic period we encounter little that moves
beyond the biblical ideas of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic fathers reflect the NT idea that
the spirit is operative in the church, inspiring prophecy and otherwise working within
individuals (Barnabas 22:2; Ignatius, Phil 7:1). Itinerant Christian prophets are dealt with
as a present reality in the Didache, but as time passes, such charismata are treated as
theoretical. The view that the spirit of OT prophecy is one and the same Holy Spirit that
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inspired the apostles periodically encountered (Justin, Dialogues 1-7; 51; 82; 87; etc;
Irenaeus, Against Heresies II, 6:4; III 21.3-4), and the apostles emerge as the "Spirit
bearers" (pneumatophoroi) - a designation give to the OT prophets (Hos. 9:7. LXX). The
Holy Spirit is credited with empowering the church even with inspiring certain non-
canonical writings - as late as the fourth century.

Even though the “trinitarian” formula of Matt 28:19 is found in the apostolic fathers, the
word "trinity" is first applied to the Godhead by Theophilus of Antioch (To Autolyclus
2:15). Tertullian clearly taught the divinity of the Holy Spirit, an idea that was later to
occupy the church in discussion for a thousand years. Tertullian wrestled with the
problem of the tension between the authority of the Spirit in the church versus apostolic
tradition and Scripture as received revelation. He espoused montanism for a time, a
system which placed primary importance on the current inspiration of the Spirit in the
body. The church, however; rejected montanism in favour of the objective authority of
apostolic tradition a reflected in Scripture, and montanism eventually died out. The
church's stand against the montanist heresy was largely responsible for the demise of
Christian prophecy and other charismata. The Muratorian Canon (lines 75ff.) states that
the number of prophets is settled, and even the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, which
elevates charismatic leadership above ecclesiastical structure, restricts the term "prophet"
entirely to the canonical prophets. In the late fourth century John Chrysostom could speak
of the spiritual gifts as belonging to an age in the past.

In the period immediately prior to Nicaea the church was preoccupied with the famous
"Christological controversies" and paid scant attention to a doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
The Nicene Creed confesses faith in the Holy Spirit, but without any development of the
idea of the Spirits divinity or essential relationship to the Father and the Son. This
question became a major issue within the church in the late fourth century and following,
and the Council of Constantinople added to the words of the Nicene Creed, describing the
Holy Spirit as "the Lord and Giver of Life, proceeding from the Father to be worshiped
and glorified together with the Father and the Son." A controversy developed around the
source of the Spirit, specifically concerning whether he ought not also be confessed as
"proceeding from the Son," Following Augustine's teaching. the phrase filioque ("and the
Son") was added by the Western church to the above creed at the Council of Toledo in
589, The Eastern church rejected the filioque doctrine, and the creed constituted
confessional grounds for the split between East and West which had already taken place
in practice.

Although other aspects of the Spirit were occasionally discussed, the procession of the
Spirit continued to occupy theologians in the West. Anselm of Canterbury brought the
debate into the era of scholasticism and, although

reason as proof of doctrine was unevenly received, filioque remained the standard of the
church. Peter Lombard argued from Scripture for filioque, and the fourth Lateran Council
again espoused Trinitarianism and filioque. Although Aquinas rejected reason as a means
to know the distinctions of the Divine Persons, he affirmed that the spirit proceeds from
the special relationship that exists between the Father and the Son. Such discussions as
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this continued into the fifteenth century when the Council of Florence again attempted to
unite the Western and Eastern churches, The filioque idea was reaffirmed and, although a
cosmetic change of wording was made in an attempt to satisfy the Eastern church, the
Greek Orthodox Church rejected the substance of the creed. The position of the Roman
Catholic Church has remained essentially unchanged, and the rift between East and West
over this issue remains to the present.

The Reformation. Although other aspects of the Spirit's work were of importance in
medieval theology - including sanctification and illumination - it was not until the
Reformation that the work of the Spirit in the church was truly rediscovered. This was
due at least in part to the rejection of Rome's dogma of church tradition as the guarantor
of correct Scripture interpretation and formation of true doctrine. This reaction led to a
Reformation stress on the idea of sofa Scriptura and the work of the Spirit in salvation
independent of the Catholic Church’s "unbroken succession back to Christ.” While
Luther rejected "enthusiasm" (the subjective claim of direct guidance by the Spirit
independent of Scripture or church structure, he stressed Spirit over structure, and
understood the Spirit to be at work through the Word (the gospel), primarily in preaching,
and in the sacraments, and therefore in salvation. The Spirit works in salvation by inf-
luencing the soul to reliance, by faith, on Christ. Faith is itself a mystical gift of God
whereby the believers mit Gott Kuche werden (become kneaded into one cake with God).
Without the grace and work of the Spirit man is incapable of making himself acceptable
to God or of having saving faith (cf. The Bondage of the will, 1525). This is
accomplished by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Salvation is thus a gift be-
stowed by the grace of God, and Luther implies that the Word (the Gospel) as preached is
primarily the efficacious Word of God after the Spirit works upon the heart of the hearer.
For Luther, the Word is the main sacrament, for faith and the Holy Spirit are conveyed
through the preaching and the teaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:17); baptism and the
Lord's Supper are signs of the "sacrament of the Word," in that they proclaim the Word
of God. Luther favoured the preached Word over the written Word, but did not hold the
two to be mutually exclusive. To be Christian the preaching of the church had to be
faithful to the Scripture: but to be faithful to Scripture, the church had to preach.

The Word - primarily the incarnate Logos - is God's channel for the Spirit. Man brings
the Word of the Scripture to the ear; but God infuses his Spirit into the heart; the word of
Scripture thus becomes the Word of God (Lectures on Psalms; Epistle to the Romans).
No one can rightly understand the Word of Scripture without the working of the Spirit;
where the Word is, the Spirit inevitably follows. The Spirit does not operate independent
of the Word. Luther resisted the enthusiasts' sharp distinction between inward and
outward Word. On the other hand, he rejected the Roman Catholic idea that the Spirit is
identified with church office and that the sacraments are effective in and of themselves
(ex opere operato). Thus the Spirit makes Christ present in the sacraments and in
Scripture; only when the Spirit makes Christ present in the word is it God's own living
Word. Otherwise the Scripture is letter, a law - it merely describes, it is only history. But
as preaching, the Word is gospel (as opposed to law): the Spirit makes it so. The Spirit is
not bound to the Word; he exists in God's eternal glory, away from the Word and our
world. But as revealing Spirit he does not come without the Word.
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Melanchthon followed Luther with few exceptions. Although allowing more room for
mans response to the gospel than did Luther; he still stressed the primary work of the
Spirit in salvation. Melanchthon showed more flexibility than Luther in the issue of the
real presence in the Lord's Supper (cf. the Wittenberg Concord), but was in basic
agreement with Luther as seen in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology. Zwingli
departed from Luther and Melanchthon over the work of the Spirit in the sacraments,
denying the necessity of baptism and asserting the largely commemorative significance
of the Lord's Supper. The radical Reformers, too, were at odds with Luther and
Melanchthon, and taught the priority of immediate revelation over Scripture. Lutherans
and Catholics alike were condemned by the Schwarmer (fanatics) for their dependence
upon the letter of Scripture instead of making the Bible subject to tests of religious
experience.

Calvin taught that the Spirit works in regeneration to illumine the mind to receive the
benefits of Christ and seals them in the heart. By the Spirit the heart of a man is opened to
the penetrating power of the Word and sacraments. Calvin went beyond Luther in
asserting that not only is the preached Word the agent of the Spirit but the Bible is in its
essence the Word of God (Genevan Catechism). The Spirit works in the reading of
Scripture as well as In the preaching of the Word and the Word - preached or read - is
efficacious through the work of the Holy Spirit. The divine origin of Scripture is certified
by the witness of the Spirit; the Scripture is the Word of God given by the Spirits
guidance through limited human speech. Thus the exegete must inquire after Gods
intention in giving Scripture for us (eg, in the modern application of the OT Institutes
2.8.8). The highest proof of Scripture derives from the fact that God in person speaks in
it. Ie, In the secret testimony of the Spirit (Inst 1.7.4). We feel the testimony of the Spirit
engraved like a seal on our hearts with the result that it seals the cleansing and sacrifice
of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ unites us to himself (Inst 3.1.1).
Although Calvin rejected rational proofs as a basis for authenticating Scripture,
interconfessional battles later caused the rigidifying of Reformed thought and a tradition
of scholastic proofs was developed to overcome the subjectivism of Calvin’s
authentication theory (cf the Canons of Dort).

A seventeenth century reaction to strict Calvinism arose in Holland among the followers
of James Arminius. Arminius rejected strict predestination, allowing for mans freedom to
reject Gods offer of grace. The Arminian position was denounced by the Synod of Dort,
but had great influence in England. John Wesley grew up in early eighteenth century
England within this climate of Arminianism, and through him Methodism was given its
distinctive Arminian character. For Wesley, God acts in cooperation with, but not in
violation of, free human response in the matter of saving faith. God does not merely
dispense upon man justifying grace, nor does man simply acquire such grace by
believing. There is rather a unified process of God's giving and man's receiving. The
Holy Spirit convicts of sin and also bears witness of justification. There-after the Holy
Spirit continues to work in man in sanctification, such that the believer feels in his heart
the mighty workings of the Spirit of God. God continually "breathes" upon man's soul,
and the soul "breathes unto God"-a fellowship of spiritual respiration by which the life of
God in the soul is sustained. Sanctification - the renewal of man in the image of God, in
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righteousness and true holiness - is effected by the Spirit through faith. It includes being
saved from sin and being perfected in love. Works are necessary to a continuance or
faith, and "entire sanctification," perfection, is the goal of every believer.

The Modern Period. While seventeenth century radical Puritanism produced the Quakers
with their emphasis on subjective experience of the Holy Spirit (the inner Light of
George Fox) - such that Scripture is only a secondary source of knowledge for faith and
practice (Robert Barclay, Apology) -eighteenth century Methodism expressed a more
balanced approach to the work of the Spirit. The focus of later Methodism on the work of
the Spirit after conversion as an experience of divine grace has found development in the
modern Holiness Movement, represented by churches in the Christian Holiness
Association.

Another development that can be traced to Methodism's stress on sanctification is the

twentieth century reawakening of Pentecostalism. Stemming from earlier emphases upon
"second experience," Pentecostalism has placed great importance upon the "baptism of
the Holy Spirit” which is seen as the completion of a two-stage process of salvation.
Since the inception of this modern movement at the turn of the century, speaking in
tongues has been proclaimed as the main sign of Spirit baptism, although other "gifts of
the Spirit" - notably healing - are also emphasized. From its fundamentalist/biblicist
beginning the Pentecostal movement has grown into what is loosely called the
charismatic movement, which now touches all of Protestantism and has made inroads
into Roman Catholicism. This movement generally proclaims a distinct experience of
"Spirit baptism" and, as a rule, focuses on speaking in tongues as the manifestation of
that experience.

One of the most significant twentieth century developments in understanding the holy
Spirit was made in the teaching of Karl Barth. Barth was a Reformed theologian who was
largely responsible for the introduction of neoorthodoxy the so-called dialectical or crisis
theology. Barth and others broke with classical liberalism in the first decades of the
twentieth century, denying liberalism's theology of pious religious self consciousness, its
man-centredness (Schleiermacher; Ritschl; Feuerbach). Barth emphasized the "infinite
qualitative distinction" between man and God, and prophetically proclaimed God's nein
to all of man's attempts at self-righteousness. Barth's Letter to the Romans sounded this
note of man's "crisis" - the acknowledgment that what man knows of God, God has
himself revealed. Barth developed his idea of God's self-revelation in terms of the
doctrine of the Word of God (Church Dogmatics 1/1 and 1/2). First and most
importantly, Jesus is the incarnate Logos, the Word of God. The Word of God is
subsequently found in the preaching of the gospel, and "among the words of Scripture"
(cf, Luther's doctrine of Spirit and Word). The Word of God is God himself in Holy
Scripture. Scripture is holy and the Word of God, because by the Holy Spirit it became
and will become to the church a witness to divine revelation. This witness is not identical
to the revelation: it is not itself revelation, but the witness to it. Faith in Jesus as the
Christ, specifically in Jesus' resurrection, is effected through the work of the Holy Spirit.
The subjective "in Spirit" is the counter-part to the objective "in Christ." God's grace is
manifested both in the objective revelation of God in Christ and man's subjective
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appropriation of this revelation through the Spirit. According to Scripture, God's
revelation occurs in our enlightenment by the Holy Spirit to a knowledge of God's Word.
The outpouring of the Spirit is God's revelation. In this reality we are free to be God's
children and to know, love, and praise him in his revelation. The Spirit as subjective
reality of God's revelation makes possible and real the existence of Christianity in the
world. For, Barth observes, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (II Cor.
3:17); God in his freedom discloses himself to man and so makes man free for him
(Evangelical Theology, pp. 53ff.).

Concluding Observations. This sketch shows some of the diversity in the development of
Christian thinking about the Holy Spirit. It is ironic that God's eschatological gift to man
has so often been a point of contention and division among Christians. Since the road
ahead appears no less difficult than the way we have come, we would do well to be
humbly mindful of God sovereignty and of our weakness.

Because God in Christ has initiated the messianic age with its outpouring of the Spirit,
man's relationship to God has been forever changed. No longer can the law be used as a
means of exclusion and oppression of the disenfranchised: Jesus has preached the
messianic gospel of release to the captive, sight to the blind, and good news to the poor;
the new law of life has been written on the hearts of men. Thus we must abhor any new
legalism which uses the Scripture to exclude and oppress - this is to turn the good news
of Christ into "the letter that kills”. We must, rather, recognize the "God-breathed'
character of Scripture, and the "Spirit that makes alive." Only so will the Scripture be
profitable. Conversely, the Spirit cannot be claimed as the mark of an elite, as that which
distinguishes and divides. The gospel of Jesus Christ includes the message that the Holy
Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. All abuses of Scripture and the Spirit must hear
God's message: "The promise is to those who are near; and to those who are afar off, as
many as the Lord Our God will call.”
T.S. Caully

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ADDITIONAL READING FOR LESSON 18

EXTRACT ON CHURCH TAKEN FROM:

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell (ed), 1984, Baker

Church, The. The English word "church" derives from the late Greek word kyriakon, the
Lord's house, a church building. In the NT the word translates the Greek word ekklésia.
In secular Greek ekklésia designated a public assembly, and this meaning is still retained
in the NT (Acts 19:32; 39, 41).

In the Hebrew OT the word qáhál designates the assembly of God's people (eg, Deut.
10:4; 23:2-3; 31:30; Ps. 22:23). and the LXX, the Greek translation of the OT, translated
this word will both ekklésia and synagoge. Even in the NT ekklésia may signify the
assembly of the Israelites (Acts 7:38: Heb. 2:12); but apart from these exceptions, the
word ekklésia in the NT designates the Christian church, both the local church (eg. Matt.
18:17; Acts 15:41; Rom. 16:16; I Cor 4:17; 7:17; 14:33; Col. 4:15) and the universal
church (eg. Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28; I Cor 12:28; 15:9; Eph. 1:22).

Origin. According to Matthew the only Gospel to use the word "church," the origin of the
church goes back to Jesus himself (Matt. 16:18). Historical problems, though, arise in
regard to this passage. For only in Matt. 16:18 and 18:17 does Jesus use the word
"church," and there are no good reasons that Mark would omit the words of Matt. 16:17-
19 if they were spoken by Jesus. Further; if Jesus expected God to establish his kingdom
soon (cf. Mark 9:1; 13:30), then he would not have foreseen the need to establish a
church with regulations for binding and loosing -ie, to decide which actions are
permissible and not permissible according to the teachings of Jesus. Matt. 16:18-19 may
well be the Syrian church's declaration of independence from the synagogue and may
derive from that early community which identified itself with Peter.

The question thus arises: Did Jesus intend to establish the church? The answer to this
question must be based not on statements of church dogma but on careful interpretation
of the NT writings. Here one's conclusions will be affected by the degree to which one
assigns various statements of Jesus to Jesus himself or to the post-resurrection church and
by ones interpretation of terms such as "Son of man" and parables such as the fish net, the
leaven, and seeds of growth (Matt. 13:47-50; 13:33; Mark 4:1-20). Critical study of the
Gospels reveals that Jesus probably did not give teachings for the purpose of establishing
and ordering the church. Rather his whole life and teaching provide the foundations upon
which the church was created and called into being through its faith in the risen Lord.

Nature. Throughout most of history the nature of the church has been defined by divided
Christians trying to establish the validity of their own existence. The Donatists of North
Africa in the early centuries focused on the purity of the church and claimed to be the
only church that measured up to the biblical standard. In the Middle Ages various sects
defined the church in such ways as to claim that they, and not the Roman Catholic

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Church were the true church. The Arnoldists emphasized poverty and identification with
the masses; the Waldenses stressed literal obedience to Jesus teachings and emphasized
evangelical preaching. Roman Catholics claimed that the only true church was that over
which the pope was supreme as successor of the apostle Peter. The Reformers Martin
Luther and John Calvin following John Wycliffe distinguished between the visible and
invisible church claiming that the invisible church consists of the elect only. Thus an
individual, including the pope, might be a part of the visible church but not a part of the
invisible and true church.

If one is to be true to the NT testimony, it must be acknowledged that there is a

multiplicity of images and concepts that contribute to an understanding of the nature of
the church. In the appendix of Images of the Church in the New Testament, Paul Minear
lists ninety six images which he classifies as (1) minor images, (2) the people of God, (3)
the new creation, (4) the fellowship in faith, and (5) the body of Christ. Listing only a few
of these will demonstrate the great diversity of images: the salt of the earth, a letter from
Christ, branches of the vine; the elect lady; the bride of Christ; exiles, ambassadors, a
chosen race, the holy temple, priesthood, the new creation, fighters against Satan, the
sanctified slaves, friends, sons of God, household of God, members of Christ, spiritual
body.

Though such a plethora of images exists, it is nonetheless possible and useful to find the
major concepts that hold these many images together. From the Council of
Constantinople in 381 and reaffirmed at Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) the church
has affirmed itself to be “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”
Tire Church Is One. According to the World - Christian Encyclopedia (1982), there were
an estimated 1,900 church denominations at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Today there are estimated 22,000. Do not such numbers effectively refute the theological
assertion that the church is one. The answer must be no.

First of all, the NT witness is clear regarding the unity of the church, In I Cor 1:10-30
Paul warns against divisions in the church and urges the people to be united in Christ. In
this same letter (ch 12), he states that while there are many gifts, there is one body (cf.
Rom. 12:3-8). The Gospel of John speaks of the one shepherd and the one flock (10:16),
and Jesus prays that his followers may be one even as Father and Son are one (17:20-26).
In Gal. 3:27-28 Paul declares that in Christ all are one, with no distinction of race, social
status, or sex. Acts 2:42 and 4:32 are likewise eloquent testimony to the oneness of the
church. Perhaps the most stirring passage on this point is Eph. 4:1-6: “There is one body
and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and
in all (vss, 4-6).

Unity, however does not demand uniformity. Indeed, from the beginning the church has
manifested itself in many local churches (in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, etc.);
and the one NT church had neither uniformity of worship nor structures, or even a
uniform theology. Certainly the ecumenical movement which arose in this century out of
the missionary movement of the nineteenth century has challenged the church today to
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recognize that "God wills unity" (Faith and Order Conference, Lausanne, 1927). The
challenge for Christians today is to live in unity without insisting that our worship,
structure, and theology be more uniform than that of the NT church. Unity is possible
when we stop thinking of our church or denomination as the vine and all others as the
branches, Rather Jesus is the vine and all of us are branches.

The Church Is Holy. According to I Corinthians, Christians there were guilty of incest
(5:1), suing one another in pagan courts (6:6), defrauding each other (6:8), having sexual
relations with prostitutes (6:16). In Rome the weak Christians were judging the strong
Christians, and the latter despised the former (Rom. 14:10). Such is the partial testimony
of the NT concerning the reality of sin in the church, but then one scarcely needs to leave
the twentieth century church to verify this reality. Does not the presence of sin refute the
theological assertion that the church is holy? Again, the answer is no.

Various solutions have been proposed in the history of the church to reconcile the fact
that the holy church is a sinful church. Donatists as well as Gnostics, Novationists,
Montanists, Cathari, and other sects solved the problem by claiming that they alone were
holy while all others were not really members of the church.

But I John 1:8 reminds one that the church which has no sin to confess simply does not
exist. Others have claimed that the members are sinful but the church is holy. But the
church does not exist in the abstract: it is sinful people who constitute the church.
Gnostics claimed that the body was sinful while the soul was holy. But biblical
anthropology declares that it is the whole, undivided human being who is sinful.

The solution lies in the awareness of what "holy" means in the Bible. To be holy is to be
separated from what is profane and to be dedicated to the service of God. It does not
mean that the Christian is free of sin. The apostle Paul said of himself: "Not that I have
already obtained this or am already perfect" (Phil. 3:12a), and in the greetings to the
Corinthian Christians he calls them "sanctified" and "saints." Christians are holy in that
they are separated for Gods service and set apart by God (II Thess. 2:13; Col. 3:12, etc).

The Church Is Catholic, The word "catholic" derives from the Latin catholicus, which in
turn derives from the Greek katholikos, meaning "universal". Although the word is not
used in the NT to describe the church, the concept which it expresses is biblical, Ignatius
of Antioch wrote in the early second century, "Wherever the bishop is, there his people
should be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Smyr 8:2). Only
from the third century on was "catholic" used in a polemical sense to refer to those who
were "orthodox" Christians as opposed to schismatics and heretics. To speak of the
catholicity of the church is thus to refer to the entire church, which is universal and which
has a common identity of origin, lordship and purpose. While the local church is an
entire church, it is not the entire church. As catholic, the church includes believers of past
generations and believers of all cultures and societies. It is unfortunate that the church in
the Western world has for far too long formulated theology and mission strategy in
isolation from the churches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the churches of the two
thirds world. The World Christian Encyclopedia shows that whites now represent 47.4
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percent of the Christian population of the world, the first time in 1,200 years that whites
are not the majority. Two hundred eight million Christians speak Spanish, 196 million
speak English, 28 million speak Portuguese, followed by German, French, Italian,
Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Dutch.

The Church Is Apostolic. Eph. 2:20 states that the church is "built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone." Apostles are those
who were eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus and prophets are Christian prophets who
were spokesmen for the risen Jesus. Previous centuries of Christians assumed that the NT
manuscripts were written by the apostles or else by someone who was closely associated
with them. Many critical scholars today question apostolic authorship for all four
Gospels, Acts, James, and II Peter, Jude, and Revelation, and further question or reject
Pauline authorship of Ephesians, Colossians, I and Il Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. Yet
the truth is that regardless of who wrote these Gospels and letters, the church canonized
these writings and accepted them as normative for faith and practice. The message of
these documents is thus the norm by which the life of the church is to be measured; and
the church can be one, holy, and catholic only if it is an apostolic church.

To claim that the church is apostolic is not to assert a direct line of succession through
specific individuals, it is to recognise that the message and the mission of the apostles as
mediated through Scripture must be that of the whole church.

The adjectives "one, holy, catholic, apostolic" are terms specific enough to describe the
essential nature of the church and yet allow for differences within denominations and
churches in the ways in which each fulfills the mission and ministry of the church in the
world. As previously mentioned, the NT uses nearly a hundred images that relate to the
church. One major image, the body of Christ, is especially rich in what it communicates
about the nature of the church.

The Body of Christ. Of the NT writers only Paul uses this term. It is significant that he
speaks of the church as the body of Christ but never as a body of Christians. Scholars
debate how literally Paul intended this phrase to be understood. One may safely say that
though the image may perhaps be taken too literally, it cannot he taken too seriously.
Christians are one body in Christ with many members (Rom. 12:4-5; I Cor 22:27).
Indeed, the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22,23; 4:12), who is the head of the body
(Eph. 5:23; Col, 1:18); and the body is dependent on its head for its life and growth (Col.
2:19). The church is never directly called the bride of Christ, but is so understood by
Paul's analogy in which the husband-wife relationship is said to be like the Christ-church
relationship (Eph. 5:22-33). Husband and wife are to be one flesh, and this is the same
regarding Christ and the church (Eph. 5:31-32).

Through this image several important theological concepts are expressed concerning the
church. Christians form a unity both with Christ and with one another, and Christ is
acknowledged as both the authority who stands over the church and the one who gives
life and growth. Also, this image is a strong assertion regarding the need for and proper
appreciation of the diverse gifts that God gives to the church.
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Purpose. God has called the church out of the world for a purpose. He intended for his
creation to have fellowship with him. When that fellowship was broken, God called the
people of Israel to be "a light to the nations" (Isa. 42:5-8); but when Israel failed, God
called a remnant (Isa. 10:20-22). In the fullness of time God himself entered fully into
human history in the birth of Jesus Christ, whom Simeon at the temple called "a light for
revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel" (Luke 2:32). Jesus then
called twelve disciples as symbolic of the new Israel of the end time which he was
creating (Matt. 19:28). These twelve formed the nucleus of God's new people, the church,
which like Israel of old has been called into being to be the means by which all of
humanity is restored to fellowship with its creator (Acts 1:8; Matt, 28:18-20).
The church has a dual purpose; it is to be a holy priesthood (I Pet. 2:5) and is to "declare
the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (I
Pet. 2:9). It is the whole church in relationship to the world which is to exercise the tasks
of priesthood. As a priesthood the church is entrusted with the responsibility of bringing
God's word to mankind and of interceding with God on behalf of mankind.
In addition to the priestly function, the church also has a missionary function of declaring
God's wonderful deeds. The missionary task of the church is not optional, for by its very
nature the church is mission. Furthermore, mission is in and to the world, not in and to
itself.
R. L. Omanson

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