What Does It All Mean?
By Jonathan Mitchell
The beginning of Israel, as a nation by their being given a constitution (the Law, at Mt. Sinai), happened after they were rescued from slavery, and delivered from servitude to the king of Egypt. The first Passover was held in Egypt, just prior to the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land, which, in Christianity, has been seen as an example, or type, of the human delivery from sin, which is supposed to begin a journey that leads unto the spiritual realm of the Promise - however that may be interpreted, through various Christian doctrines (but, cf Heb. 9:8, "the Way into the holy of holies").
We find it interesting that Paul does not seem to develop a doctrine of the Passover, even though many Christians continue to celebrate that Feast, along with the Jewish culture and religion, since Jesus was crucified during Passover. Paul only mentions it, in passing, when speaking of the need for the called-out Christian communities to cleanse their present spiritual environment (1 Cor. 5:7-8; Deut. 16:3), using that ancient event, and Israel's Feast regulations, as a metaphor for personal conduct and group decisions, within the Corinthian assembly.
Many Christian doctrines have been constructed around the Logos becoming flesh, taking on the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7-8), being the Light of the aggregate of humanity, being the Way to the Father, the Truth of the new reality of God's presence in His kingdom activities, and the Life of union with God, while God was not counting our sins and failures against us, giving us Life from the dead (Rom. 6:4-5), transferring us, from out of the authority of the Darkness, into the kingdom and reign of God's Son (Col. 1:13-14), and transforming us to be other than we were (2 Cor. 5:18-19), so that we can both behold and reflect the glory of His image and presence (2 Cor. 3:18).
He caused our sins to flow away from us, He covered over our mistakes (Heb. 9:11-28; 10:18-22), and joined us to Himself so that we are, with Him, one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). He caused all the old things to pass away, when He brought in the new arrangement within a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). He brought near all those who had been far from His works (and His set-apart people) and who had not been considered to be a part of His Family (Eph. 2:11-22), but now became His home (His temple), His city (the New Jerusalem, which is above the realm of darkness). He grafted us into His oil (anointing)-producing Tree (Rom. 11:17) and into Himself to where we are now branches of Him who is the Vine (Jn. 15:1ff), so that we can now produce His Fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).
He made, within Himself, One New Humanity, breaking down the barriers that had come into being through, and as, the Law (Eph. 2:15). He brought an end to worshiping God in a building or in a specific location (Jn. 4:23-24), and released communion with Him into the realm of spirit and reality (Truth; Christ), not in ritual or in religious "works." He brought us Peace (Rom. 5:1), by joining us to Him and to one another (the Greek noun "peace" comes from the verb that means "to join").
He gave birth to a new humanity, the Second Humanity (1 Cor. 15:45-49), through the Life, Death and Resurrection of the Last Adam, who then sent the Spirit of Himself and of His Father (Acts 1:4, 8) into our hearts, impregnating our spirits so that we could be born (Jn. 3:7) and then mature into being the Father's sons (Rom. 8:14), and Christ's brothers (Rom. 8:29), as He proceeded to progressively, one-after-another, make all humans new (Rev. 21:5). We became His flock of sheep, and He leads us into green pastures, beside still waters, and repeatedly refreshes our souls. We are His work, His great opus, His construction project (Eph. 2:10), His field which produces Food for others (1 Cor. 3:6-9).
We are once again His Garden of Delight (Eden) where we eat His Fruit from the Tree of Life. We came out from the midst of Him, are passing through the midst of Him (in all His environments - seas, deserts, mountains and well-watered valleys), on our way back into the midst of Him (Rom. 11:36). He taught us that the way to finding our true selves is a cruciform life of following Him (Mat. 16:24-26), where our first Adam can die-off, while the new person, born of His Spirit, can be found and then nurtured by His Life (Ps. 23; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).
But He first freed us from our slavery to sin (failure to hit the target of His Plan for us) by including us in His own death (Rom. 6:3-11), and He then raised us up into His new Life, seating us together with Him in the higher realms (atmospheres; heavens; clouds of His presence - Eph. 2:5-9), and thus standing us on the same Ground of Being in which He stands, relating to us as His brothers.
So what does this all really mean to, and for, us? Paul references God's deliverance of Israel, how they were "baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," and then Israel was given "spiritual food and spiritual drink from a spiritual Rock which followed them, and that Rock was Christ (or: the Anointing)" (1 Cor. 10: 1-4). Then, in 10:11, he told the Corinthians:
"Now all these things went on progressively (or: from time to time) stepping together among (or: to; with) those folks by way of types (as examples; figuratively), and it was written with a view toward a placing [of them] into the minds of us: ones unto whom (directed into the midst of whom) the ends (= conjunctions; or: consummations; goals) of the (or: these) ages have come down to (or: arrived at and meet) and are now face to face [with us]."
He points to Israel's story as something that should inform us regarding our walk with Christ in the new covenant, in the reign of God. Both Jesus and Paul used metaphors that give us pictures of God's sovereign activities upon, among, and within, humanity. Christian doctrine has historically abstracted "salvation theories" - in trying to explain what God, in Christ, has done - by extracting from the texts certain words of the text, giving them "technical" positions within theological constructs that have been developed, over the centuries, by theologians and philosophers.
We feel that what were organic, descriptive terms explaining Christ's work in relation to humanity, quickly became categories of theological systems (some of which battled philosophically and theologically against one another). Christianity became a religion of technical words, ideas, and mental beliefs, instead of being a living organism which incarnated Christ, via His Spirit, and which is at its core the reality of God's Family.
Does the average laity of the Christian church understand how "being saved" is different from "being born again"? Or how these metaphors of the New Reality (the spiritual realm of the Christ) differ from "being justified, being redeemed, or being transformed"? What is the difference between "forgiveness (literally: a causing to flow away)" and "atonement"? How does "resurrection" fit into this - is it just a revived corpse being, some day, brought up from its grave? What is the difference between justification and conciliation (or: reconciliation; the being changed to be other than we were)? Paul summed this all up with the simple pronouncement,
"For the freedom, Christ immediately set us free (or: [The] Anointed One at once frees us in, to, for and with freedom)! Keep on standing firm, therefore, and do not again be habitually held within a yoke of slavery (or: a cross-lever [of a pair of scales] whose sphere is bondage)" (Gal. 5:1).
He was referring to the bondage from the legal scales of a religious system, where judgment is measured out in accordance to Law. Recall, also, the simple picture that he gave us, in Rom. 11:32,
"For you see, God encloses, shuts up and locks all mankind (everyone; the entire lot of folks) into incompliance (disobedience; stubbornness; lack of being convinced), to the end that He could (or: would; should) mercy all mankind (may make everyone, the all, recipients of mercy)!"
Such simple affirmations seldom seem to find their ways into systematic theology, as it is drizzled out to the congregants of the local assemblies.
Jesus described God's reign, i.e., His sovereign influence and actions, in agricultural terms, in animal husbandry terms, in business terms, in terms of a wedding celebration and of a banquet, in terms of being born back up again - from above, as being like a pearl merchant, as like a woman mixing a batch of bread dough, etc. It seems to us that the "kingdom" is like everyday living. Were Paul's teachings talking about something entirely different? Well, many theologians have felt that he was. They have concluded that Paul's vision of God was one of Him being a Judge, rather than being a Good Shepherd (remember: Yahweh was David's Shepherd - Ps. 23) or a Father who SO loves the aggregate of humanity (Jn. 3:16).
In Mat. 20:28, Jesus gave a purpose statement for His life, but did not explain exactly what this meant, or how it was to be worked out:
"The Son of the Man (= Adam's son; the eschatological human) did not come to be taken care of by attending service and dispensing, but to the contrary, to give attending service and to dispense - even to give His soul-life (consciousness; = Himself): a corresponding ransom, a price paid for liberation (or: a loosener), in the place of many, to effect their release."
Notice that there were two parts to the purpose:
1) to give attending service and to dispense (conflated from two meanings of one Greek word);
2) "to give His soul-life (consciousness; = Himself): a corresponding ransom, a price paid for liberation (or: a loosener)." Well, Paul adds a little to this by the term that he uses in 1 Cor. 6:
20.
for you people were bought, as at a marketplace: [there was] value and honor involved in the price (or: [you are] of value)
(or: = you see, you folks were bought and paid for; or: it follows that from a valuable price you folks were bought at market).
By all means then, glorify God (bring a good reputation to God; manifest that which calls forth praise to God) within your body (or: within the midst of the body which you folks are)!"
So we have another metaphor: most likely it is a comparison to slaves being bought in the public square. Now recall Jesus' straightforward pronouncement, in Jn. 6:
44. "No one is able (or: is presently having power) to come toward Me unless the Father - the One sending Me - should drag him [as with a net] (or: draw him [as drawing water in a bucket or a sword from its sheath]), and I Myself will progressively raise him up (proceed to resurrect him; continue standing him back up again) within (or: in union with) this Last (the eschatos) Day. [Cf Jn. 6:65]
45. "It exists having been written within the Prophets: 'And all humans (all people) will continue existing being God's taught-ones (or: folks having had instruction from God).' [Isa. 54:13] All humanity - which, in hearing from the Father (or: the person listening at the Father's side), and learning [D and others read: progressively learning] - is progressively coming toward Me!
46. "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the person continuously being at God's side (or: existing from God) - this person (or: One) has seen the Father.
47. "It is certainly true (or: Amen, amen), I am saying to you folks, the person presently and continuously trusting (or: constantly believing; progressively faithing-it; continuing loyal) presently and continuously has and holds eonian Life (life having its source, qualities and characteristics from the Age [of the Messiah]; age-enduring and eon-lasting life; or: = the life of the coming Age)!
48. "I, Myself, am (or: continuously exist being) the 'Bread of the Life' (or: the bread which is life and which gives and imparts life).
Everything that Paul speaks about, in a variety of terms, involves things that Christ did to, for, within, and among, humans. In 1 Cor. 2:2, Paul said:
"I decided not to see, perceive or know anything within or among you folks, except Jesus Christ - and this One being one having been crucified (suspended from a pole)!"
Now, in his letters, he spoke about faith (or: trust; or: faithfulness), and we find him speaking about this topic in Rom. 1-4, and of justification/righteousness (using the common renderings) in chapter 4. But then in Rom. 5, continuing in vss. 1-2, he continues the theme of justification/righteousness:
(or: we can and should) habitually retain and enjoy] peace and a joining, face to face with God (or: a harmonious joining [directing and conducting us] toward God),
through our Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ (or: Master, [the] Anointed Jesus), through Whom, also, we have had and now hold the conducted approach and access (or: the act of bringing toward to gain entrée), by [His] faithfulness
(or: in this trust; with that confidence; for loyalty),
into this grace and joyous favor within which we have stood and in union with which we now stand, and so we keep on celebrating, speaking loudly and boasting upon the expectation (or: expectant hope) of God's glory (the manifestation from God which calls forth praise; from the splendor, which is God [filling His Temple]; and: from God's good reputation; of the opinion from God; from the imagination which has the quality of God)."
Notice that I added, twice, and interpretative "[His]," for the reader's consideration. Paul then picks up this same theme in vs. 9,
"Much more, then - being NOW (at the present time) eschatologically delivered and rightwised (turned in the right direction; placed in right relationships of solidarity; righted and made fair within the Way pointed out; or: justified and made free from guilt; or: = placed in covenant; or: justified; made righteous) within His blood (or: in union with the blood from, and which is, Him) - through Him we will continue being rescued (saved; delivered; made healthy and whole; returned to our original state and condition; kept safe), away from the [conditions or situations of] personal emotion (inherent fervor; natural mental bent or disposition; teeming passion and swelling desire; or: [our] anger and [human] wrath). [cf 4:25b, above; Gal. 2:17; Phil. 3:9]
For you see, since (or: if) while continuously existing being actively hostile ones (or: enemies [of people, or of God]) we were suddenly changed from enmity to friendship by God (or: conciliated to God; or: changed to be wholly other and to be in line, consistent and compatible IN God) through His Son's death, much more (or: all the more, then) we will continue being kept safe and will be progressively delivered (rescued; saved; cured and restored to the health and wholeness of our original state and condition) - being folks that were conciliated (fully changed from enmity to friendship and made totally other than we were) within His Life (or: in union with the life from Him; in the midst of the Life which is Him). And not only that, but further, we also are now folks constantly celebrating, speaking loudly and boasting within, and in union with, God, through our Owner (or: Lord; Master), Jesus Christ - through Whom we NOW receive
(or: actively seize; grasp; take-down and hold by hand) the [aforementioned] act of being changed from enmity to friendship
(or: the full exchange of being changed to be in line, consistent and compatible, where we are totally other than we were; the reconciliation; the commensurate exchange; the change, [induced by the action of God,] which came down [upon us])."
Paul has not changed his line of reasoning, he has simply expanded it.
Next, in Rom. 5:12-21, Paul describes how the obedient Act of Christ turned Adam's act on its head, in a completely corresponding and commensurate extent (note "the MANY" that is used twice in vs. 15: these identical phrases refer to the same group - i.e., "all humanity" - vs. 12). Now in vs. 19 comes the kicker:
"For you see, JUST AS through the unwillingness to listen, or to pay attention, resulting in disobedience (or: the erroneous hearing leading to disobedience) of the one person THE MANY (= the mass of humanity; note: cf Weymouth NT in Modern Speech, 1909 Edition) were rendered (established; constituted; placed down and made to be) sinners (failures; ones who diverge and miss the target), THUS - in the same way - ALSO through the submissive listening and paying attention resulting in obedience of the One, THE MANY (= the mass of humanity) will continue being rendered 'set-right folks'(placed down and established [to be] just ones; constituted folks who have been rightwised to be people in the Way pointed out; made righteous ones who are guilt-free, fair, equitable, and rightly-turned in the solidarity of covenant relationships)."
All of this came about through
"the submissive listening and paying attention resulting in obedience of [Christ],"
that is to say, through "the cross." He listened to, and then obeyed, His Father. This is what Jesus did, and Paul describes Christ's work in a variety of ways, offering nuances of the results and effects of what God, within the Christ, did. We suggest that what all the action verbs (along with the descriptive metaphors and the various parables), mean is that the Son of God has come to take us all back to the Father. He did this, and does this (Heb. 13:8), because God so loves us. This is what Jesus meant, when He said,
"And thus I Myself: if (when) I should be lifted up from out of the earth (or: can be exalted from the midst of this Land), I will progressively (or: one after another) drag [note: drag as with, or in, a net; or: draw, as drawing water with a bucket; a sword from a sheath] all humans (or: everyone) to Myself." (Jn. 12:32)
Jonathan
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