Deep Creek Anglican Church Blog

Feeling a little worn down by difficulties, suffering, discouragements?  Then lift your eyes to the crucified, risen, glorified, sovereign Lord Jesus Christ.  Bill and Gloria Gaither penned the words to ‘Because He lives‘ at a time of trauma in their lives:

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Chapter Seven: The ‘peace  dividend’

What a great title for chapter seven in God the Peacemaker.  The sacrifice of Jesus Christ brings shalom – at three levels: personal, corporate and cosmic.

And our author, Graham Cole, notes that this peace is objective – think in terms of ‘peace with’ or ‘peace between.’

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Personal

The personal benefits that flow from the atonement include union with Christ, forgiveness of sins, cleansing from sin, justification, redemption, adoption and reconciliation.  Here are some points that caught my eye in Graham’s excellent treatment:

• Union with Christ: foundational and secured by the Holy Spirit.  ”…the same Spirit who animated Christ’s humanity animates that of the believer’s own.  Thus the gap between the one and the many is bridged , and that that between past and present.”  The challenge for everyone is: ‘are we in Christ or in Adam?’
• Forgiveness: absolutely key in salvation.  The reality of sin means that unless sin is dealt with, the individual faces the prospect of divine judgment.  Especially emphasised in Luke/Acts.  Forgiveness shows itself in doing good to the other (eg. Gen 50:21).  This ‘blessing’ aspect of forgiveness is emphasised in the forgiveness seminar, part of the extremely practical Grant Mullen training DVDs, Transformation, featured in our monthly Free-in-Christ at Deep Creek.
• Justification: Cole does not agree with the NT Wright/New Perspective equation of justification=covenant membership.  Why?  Because of the themes of wrath and condemnation in Romans.  However, our author comments, “I am more comfortable in seeing covenant membership as a benefit of justification.” Cole also expresses concern with NT Wright’s position on final justification on the basis of an entire life.  According to Cole, this negatively impacts personal assurance of salvation.  So is Cole slamming Wright?  Not at all.   He expresses appreciation for “Wright’s many fine contributions to New Testament scholarship.”  And this is so wonderfully characteristic of Graham Cole’s irenic tone in interacting with others.  It is seen throughout God the Peacemaker; I witnessed it again over the weekend during Graham’s keynote address and a seminar on the ‘Trinity without tiers’ at the just concluded Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) International Conference 2010.
• Adoption: the ‘crowning blessing’ secured by Christ’s redemption.  Cole dismisses ‘second blessing theology’: there is no separation between adoption and the gift of the Spirit.
• Reconciliation: a cause for celebration!  Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 is the unfolding “story of estrangement and reconciliation.”

Corporate

God is building a new humanity – reconciled with Him; reconciled with one another (Eph 2:19-22).  Cole comments powerfully:

“Christians who maintain walls of hostility between themselves and others at the interpersonal level need to revisit the cross, the Pauline practice and the words  of Jesus himself ‘Blessed are the peacemakers (Matt 5:9).”

Cosmic

“The scope of the reconciliaiton and peacemaking effected by Christ is breathtaking” (see Col 1:15-20).  How are the ‘powers and authorities’ (Col 2:15) disarmed?  Through the forgiveness of sins on the basis of the cross (Col 2:13).  In one sentence, our author summarises much deep theology: “Christus Victor needs the explanatory power of substitutionary atonement.”  Absolutely!

Read chapter seven of God the Peacemaker slowly, with your Bible open and let the wonder of what Jesus has done, what He is doing, and will bring to completion, fill your heart with great joy, impacting the way we live now.

Chapter Four: Galations 3:28: Man and Woman: One in Christ

According to Payne, Gal 3:28 is “the classic statement repudiating ethno-religious, socioeconomic, and gender discrimination in the church.”  The verse speaks to more than the spiritual state of individuals before God (cf. 3:26).  The “you all” implies a social unit that has no distinctions.  Payne devotes the bulk of the chapter to repudiating views that divorce this verse from the life of the church. In so doing, he looks at:

• parallel passages, Col 3:11 and 1 Cor 12:13 that apply Gal 3:28′s principle of equality to the practical life of the church
• Paul’s argument in Galations against the Judaizers, who were seeking to elevate the Jews to a status with special privileges over the Gentiles.  In this context, Gal 3:28 is the core theological argument.  There is to be no discrimination within the community of faith.
• the Greek and Jewish cultural background where a number of famous thanksgivings affirm practically the opposite of Gal 3:28.  Paul clearly was rejecting discrimination and granting equal status and privilege to Gentiles, slaves and women in the church
• the reality of gender distinction in the New Testament, but this is not an excuse to deny privilege or status in the church based on gender.  In considering 1 Cor 12 and Eph 4:16, Payne comments, “Equality of opportunity does not entail uniformity, but it does prohibit discrimination or ranking by class.”  Paul’s praise of women gospel co-workers in Rom 16:1-6 demonstrates his commitment to actualising the social implications of Gal 3:28 in the church.

Payne provides detailed exegetical comments on the verse.  He notes that “male and female” is an illusion to the creation account in Gen 1, with new creation being a key theme in Galations.  He comments:

“It is not that Christ is irrelevant to the relations between male and female, but that gender, just as ethnicity and socioeconomic status, is irrelevant to status in Christ….discrimination and special privilege based on these external factors is contrary to the unity of Christ’s body.”

In discussing the breaking down of barriers ‘in Christ’, Payne considers the ‘barrier’ metaphor employed in Eph 2:14, noting that the court of the women with its own dividing wall lay between the court of the Gentiles and the temple.  “The barrier metaphor…implies not just equal spiritual standing but equal access and privileges within the church.”

When Paul states, ‘you are all one in Christ Jesus” he does not mean that individual believers merge into one personality in Christ.  Rather it is a distributive sense – harmony in the midst of diversity distinguishes the Body of Christ.

As Payne concludes his analysis of this critical verse, he assesses the counter arguments that Gal 3:28 applies only to one’s individual standing before God.  He comments:

“It is against Paul’s normal usage to divorce “in Christ” from relationships in the family and church, and no such divorce is supported in Gal 3:28 (98) …The eschatological new creation in Christ overcomes the barriers that excluded Gentiles, slaves, and women and grants them acceptance and full participation in God’s people (104).”

My review of this first exegetical chapter is necessarily brief – it is well worth reading Payne’s comprehensive treatment of Gal 3:28.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ generates lots of questions, such as:

• how can we sure that Jesus did rise from the dead?
• what about our own resurrection?
• why is the resurrection of Jesus SO important?
• for the follower of Jesus Christ, what does it mean that we have been ‘raised with Christ’ and how does that impact our lives?

Does the resurrection of Jesus Christ change everything?  That’s the question that is addressed in the soon to be released book, ‘Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything.’

Raised With Christ: How The Resurrection Changes Everything from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

This is a must read. It can be pre-ordered here.