Christmas, Greek Words, and Embodied Deity

A Larger Story

The Apostle John opens his gospel with the words “In the beginning…” Sound familiar? That’s how Genesis 1:1 opens, “In the beginning…”

With this one phrase John not only connects his gospel to the larger body of the Hebrew Scriptures, but he also connects his gospel to the larger story of redemption that the Israelites believed they were a part of. There is also implication that the work of this Jewish rabbi from Nazareth is equal in magnitude to the Creation of the cosmos. John connects the creation of all things to this story of New Creation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5; 14)

Logos and Zoe

John’s gospel is the most theological and possibly the most artfully written book in the New Testament. The themes and words and stories John selects for his telling of the story he witnessed is layered and beautiful. One of the themes and layered metaphors John uses is related to his use of a particular Greek word. John borrows a term from Classical Greek philosophy. The Greek word translated as “the Word” is the Greek word λόγος, or logos.

The idea of the “logos” is first attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, and the idea is beyond my intellectual capacity to explain in a way that does justice to the idea.

In short, the “logos” was the idea that there was something fundamentally and absolutely true that brought order and purpose to the universe. The “logos” was the unifying force or principle that governed and pervaded the reasonable order we see in the universe. The “logos” was the organizing principle that brought order to the ever changing nature of life and reality.

Later Greek philosophers adapted the idea of the “logos” and applied it to human reason and rationality.

A sort of modern way of understanding this would be to say that the “logos” is the ultimate reality behind the existence of all things. The idea of “logos” is still talked about in academia today. Professor and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson said,

You could think about it as the power of speech to transform reality. But even more importantly, more fundamentally, it’s the power of truthful speech to transform reality in a positive direction. We have this magical ability to change the future, and we do that through action, obviously. But action is oriented by thought, and thought is mediated by dialog. And so it’s speech, in particular, that’s of critical importance to this logos process. The logos is symbolically represented in the figure of Christ, who’s the word that was there at the beginning of time. So that’s a very complicated topic, but what it essentially means is that the West has formulated a symbolic representation of the ideal human being, and that ideal human being is the person who speaks the truth to change the world.[1]

Like I said, the depth of the concept in historical philosophy and modern day academics is beyond my current capacity to explain.

John begins his gospel by essentially affirming this secular, Greek idea of the “logos.” He sort of basically says, “Yeah, you guys were on to something here.” Paul does this in Acts when he is in Athens. In Athens, they built an altar to the “unknown god.” Paul says, “I am going to proclaim truth to you about this ‘unknown god’” (Acts 17:23).

What I love about this is that sometimes Christians tend to take a defensive posture towards secular ideas whether they are found in science, philosophy, psychology, or even ideas from other religions. I believe the biblical witness shows us that we can claim all truth wherever we find it as God’s truth and apply redemptive revelation to it. So, when science discovers something true about nature, when psychology offers insights for mental health, and even when other religions affirm moral truths—we don’t have to reject the truths, but rather we can re-ascribe the implications in a way that points to Jesus.

John says that the organizing force that brings order and purpose to the cosmos is pre-existent, and that this pre-existent Word, the “logos,” is also the originating source and sustainer of all things.

In fact, he says that in this “logos” was life. The Greek word here is ζωή or zoe. This word for life carries more than just the idea of biological life. Zoe has to do with the vitality and fullness of life. We might say when someone has a sort of contagious joy that they are “full of life.” We often understand that there are things that are “life-giving” and “fulfulling.” Many of us have experienced a concert, an adrenaline inducing ride, or once in a life-time opportunity and said something along the lines of “I feel so alive.” That’s “zoe.”

Zoe is a sunrise with painted with brilliant hues of purple, pink, yellow and orange. Zoe is a hot cup of coffee paired with a delectable strawberry scone. Zoe is laughing with family until it hurts. Zoe is finishing a half-marathon and with that finish accomplishing a goal you never thought possible. Zoe is your wedding day.

Zoe is what permeates the Christmas spirit of joy that we can all identify with yet can’t quite explain. Zoe is the sense that life and life-giving things are good, right, and true. Which is why John says that this Zoe gives light to all men. John also says that the darkness, evil and chaos, did not and by implication will not overcome it.

So, for John, this pre-existent “logos”—this “ultimate reality” that brings beauty, life, love, music, joy, and orderly purpose—was with God and is God.

It Gets Personal 

But it gets better. You see, for the Greeks, the “logos” was an impersonal force or Divine reason.

John says that this ultimate reality is not just an impersonal Divine force, but that the Divine is a personal God and by nature also relational. And, this God became flesh.

The “logos” became flesh and dwelt among us. The idea behind the word “dwelt” is that the “logos” tabernacled or took up habitation among men. This language here would have reminded any Jewish readers of the tabernacle in the wilderness. The central place in which the very presence of God was believed to inhabit among God’s people.

John says that ultimate reality was embodied in the person of Jesus Christ and he dwelt among man!

The glory of this ultimate reality as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth. Think about that. Grace and truth.

Christmas and Embodied Deity

So what do a few Greek words and tabernacles have to do with us?

Jesus is the embodiment of God—of ultimate reality. Paul put it this way: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… (Colossians 2:9). The author of Hebrews wrote, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).

Christmas is about more than just a baby in a manger. Christmas is about more than just the necessary prelude to the main event of Christ’s atoning work on the cross.

Christmas is about the incarnation. The “enfleshing” of the Divine nature. Christmas is about the expression of God’s love being revealed in a person. The transcendent divine nature took on flesh. Part of the message of Christmas is that God is fundamentally a relational, personal being.

Pre-existent transcendence is deeply and fundamentally personal—God is relational.

What is more, He desires a relationship with you!

And, this divine, transcendent reality is good. When the fullness of God is embodied, we see that God is full of grace and truth.

When all the fullness of deity took up residence in a First Century Jewish rabbi…

When the divine nature could be passed by on the street, heard teaching in a synagogue, hosted at a dinner party…

When God became human…

…We see Jesus. We see that God has compassion for the poor, the power to heal the sick, and the desire to associate with outcasts.

Jesus is the supreme revelation of the Divine nature and this revelation culminates in the humiliation of the Messiah through his death on the cross. The paradox is that in this humiliation, the supreme revelation of God in Jesus is glorified. 

I am convinced that the glory of God on the cross is not just about the atoning work of Jesus’ death for our sin, but it is also about the self-giving love of God on display in Jesus.

When the “logos” that gives “zoe” is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, ultimate reality is revealed to be fundamentally personal and radically oriented towards self-giving love.

The Logos Was With God… The Logos Is God…

There’s this cool scene in Exodus 33 where Moses asks to see God’s glory. God tells him that he cannot see his face because it would kill him. This is not to mean God’s literal face. Essentially, God is telling Moses that the weight of the fullness of his glory would crush him. So, he will pass by Moses and declare his name.

Exodus 34:4-7 records Moses going to the top of Mount Sinai and God doing as he said. He passes by Moses and declares his name. Verses 6-7 are the most quoted verses in the whole of the Old Testament:

The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

Many people get hung up on the “bringing consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren. There’s a lot there to unpack there and it is not what it seems. In short, God will make things that sin has destroyed right and will hold people accountable. Not only that, our actions have far reaching consequences. Just ask a child of an alcoholic or an abusive parent or of divorced parents if their parent’s sins have brought consequences upon them.

What is important to notice in this passage is that the order in the original Hebrew indicates importance and repetition indicates emphasis.

When God describes himself, he leads with his compassion and grace and emphasizes his faithful love by mentioning it twice.

In his book God Has a Name, John Mark Comer connects this to John 1. He writes:

Usually people read ‘grace and truth’ and talk about how Jesus was the perfect balance of grace and niceness and loved mixed with truth and the backbone and the courage to say what needed to be said. That’s totally true. It’s just not remotely the point that John is making. John is ripping all this language out of the Exodus—‘tabernacled’ and ‘glory’ and ‘love and faithfulness’—as a way of retelling the Sinai story around Jesus. He’s making the point that in Jesus, we see the Creator God’s glory—his presence and beauty—like never before. In Jesus, Yahweh becomes a human being. In Jesus, we get a new, evocative, crystal-clear glimpse of what God is actually like.

Christmas reminds us that the Word became flesh and showed us what God is like. It turns out, God is full of compassion and grace, he is faithfully true, and he made the debt of sin right by absorbing it’s consequences on the cross! 

Reflection:

1. What is God like? Do you have impressions and ideas of God that are void of any personal or relational attributes? Or, when you think about God do you think about a loving, relational, and personal being?

2. If you are a follower of Jesus then we are called to imitate Christ. This raises the question: Does our imitation of Jesus reflect and exemplify grace and truth?

May Christmas be a reminder of God’s deeply personal nature and of his self-giving love for you.

[1] https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/transcripts/transliminal/

Theologizing the End: Frameworks

Before I dive more deeply into some interpretive issues with some End Times theological perspectives, I feel there are some other paradigmatic frameworks that need to be established. Specifically, in regards to how we view the relationship between heaven and earth, and how we view the Gospel of the Kingdom. We will only be able to cover “Heaven and Earth” in this post.

Heaven and Earth

Many Christians have views about heaven and earth that have more of a Greek, pagan philosophical influence than a Jewish, biblical influence. Specifically, many people’s views reflect more of a pseudo-Christian, Platonic Dualism than a truly biblical theological perspective.

Some people view heaven as literally some place up in the sky blue, thousands of miles away. While others view heaven as existing in the spiritual realm with no connection or interest in the physical realm. The latter view is a more correct view of heaven in the sense of it being a place in a different realm. Heaven is God’s space, dimension, or realm. Earth is our space, dimension, or realm.

The problem with the latter view is the dualistic view of the physical and spiritual. Many people seem to believe that the body (flesh, physical, earth) are bad, while the spiritual parts of us are good. The goal of the Christian hope is to “save our souls.” The earth will be destroyed and those in Christ will be snatched away to spend eternity as disembodied souls in some other-worldly place called “heaven.”

What’s wrong with this view you might ask? It gets the whole trajectory of the biblical view of heaven and earth wrong as well as the whole trajectory of our Christian hope. It sounds accurate because the bible speaks of the flesh in negative ways and there are passages that speak about the earth being destroyed.

I don’t have time to exegetically address these specific passages at length, but the reference to the flesh is not a condemnation of our physical bodies. The linchpin of our faith is our hope, faith and confidence in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. God became human (the incarnation) and in doing so redeemed our humanity. Jesus still has a physical, albeit glorified, body. When Paul speaks about the flesh he is speaking about the carnality of our fleshly driven desires.

Similarly, God’s plan for his created world is to restore it. When the bible speaks of the world being destroyed there are two things we must keep in mind: 1.) Often times the reference to the “world” is referring to the way of the world as opposed to the way of the Kingdom. In other words, the old way of exerting power and the old way of exulting our selfishness will pass away for it will not be welcome in the renewed Creation. 2.) Even if the cosmos will literally be destroyed, like Christ’s death, the end goal is resurrection.

Just in case you are having a hard time buying into what I am describing let me concisely lay out the biblical trajectory of Creation:

1. God created the cosmos and said that it was good (Genesis 1:31).

2. “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7). The KJV translates “living person” as “living soul,” seeming to affirm the divide between the body and soul. Other translations translate it as “living person” because the idea of the Hebrew word being translated (nephesh) is the idea of a whole person. We are embodied souls. The dualistic distinction between the body and soul is not as prevalent in the Hebrew mind as it was the Greek mind.

3. The biblical view is that heaven and earth were meant to overlap and interact. Sin and rebellion created a divide between heaven and earth. The OT emphasis on holy and unholy, clean and unclean was intended to teach the Israelites how to enter into a relationship that joined God’s realm to our realm. This happened symbolically and truly in the Temple (my wedding ring is a symbol, but not merely a symbol—it symbolically and truly represents a one flesh relationship)

4. Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us(John 1:14). The incarnation represents the joining of God’s divine nature with human nature. Which also reveals God’s trajectory of redemption. We are heading towards a marriage of heaven and earth.

5. Jesus was bodily raised from the dead (John 20:27-29; 1 Cor. 15:12-20).

6. Paul articulates most clearly that God’s intention for His “good” creation is to redeem it in Romans 8:18-25:

7. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruptionand obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

8. The final picture in Revelation is of Heaven and Earth being joined together (Revelation 21:1-4). The one flesh picture of marriage is a good metaphor. Some have noted that the Scriptures begin in a garden and end in a city. Anyhow, the trajectory is towards new creation not just an other worldly home in the skies.

In addition to an extremely brief overview of Scripture’s view on the created order, here are a few other theological voices to weigh in on the matter:

Dr. Tim Mackie states it like this:

So, in the bible the ideas of Heaven and Earth are ways of talking about God’s space and our space… And what we do get in the bible are images, trying to help us grasp God’s space, which is basically inconceivable to us. …in the Bible these are not always separate spaces. So think of Heaven and Earth as different dimensions that can overlap in the same exact space. …the union of Heaven and Earth is what the story of the Bible is all about, how they were once fully united, and then driven apart, and about how God is bringing them back together again.[1]

John Piper writes about our future hope in Future Grace:

Not the mere immortality of the soul, but rather the resurrection of the body and the renewal of all creation is the hope of the Christian faith. Just as our bodies will be raised imperishable for the glory of God, so the earth itself will be made new and fit for the habitation of risen and glorified persons…What happens to our bodies and what happens to the creation go together. And what happens to our bodies is not annihilation, but redemption.

Finally, N. T. Wright spells out in Surprised by Hope:

The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.

Why is this important? If our ideas of the “End Times” focus on our “souls” being snatched away while the earth goes to pot, then maybe those ideas are missing something. If we can dismiss one of God’s first commands (to subdue the earth and exercise the sort of dominion over it that reflects His loving character by caring for and stewarding creation, aka caring about the environment), then our eschatology misses part of what God is up to in restoring creation. Our “End Times” views should in no way create in us a justification for resigning from participating in God’s restoration project.

N. T. Wright sums up my concern about some of the theological positions when he writes,

The mindset that tends towards apocalypticism normally thinks of the heavenly realm, or the spiritual realm, or simply the non-physical realm, as always good, and the earthly, material, physical world as always bad. Hence the readiness to imagine the present physical world being blown apart in some great Armageddon, and the sublime confidence that “we” – whichever group that might be – will be rescued from the ruin in a “heavenly” salvation that has left earth far behind…. …How can we respond to the heavenly dimension of the world without lapsing into an anti-earth attitude? [2]

Whatever the “end” will look like and in whatever ways it unfolds, it will most certainly and ultimately involve the renewal of creation and the resurrection of our bodies.

[1] https://bibleproject.com/explore/heaven-earth/

[2] https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/04/04/apocalypse-now/

Vantage Point (Part 2)

[Note: This was originally intended to be a single post, but due to length I separated it into two parts. Please read part 1 here before part 2. Context is important.]

Hot Button Issues

With the ideas I have shared about cultural awareness and the danger of a single story in mind, I want to address three specific issues that I feel very passionately troubled about. I am passionate about the intersection of the gospel with life. The gospel interprets how we live. I am trouble by how I have seen Christians, primarily on social media platforms, address the following issues. I am sharing the following ideas for two purposes: 1.) adding dimension to the background and theology of my current views on such topics, and 2.) to challenge believers to at least think about issues from a different vantage point. If we claim to follow Christ, then our entire way of seeing the world is reinterpreted through the lens of the Kingdom.

Nationalism

I love America. I love living in America. I believe there are a lot of great things about this nation. I value and appreciate the blood that has been shed in order to protect the people and the freedoms of this nation. However, my patriotic identity and my patriotic allegiance does not even come close to my allegiance to Jesus. It just doesn’t. For many of us, it seems that our allegiance is divided equally between God and country. Personally, I have been convicted of the nationalism in my own life. Nationalism is characterized by a mentality of superiority. A mindset that views other countries and other people groups as inferior. I have heard people literally say that our country is better than other countries. The implication was that America is superior.

What is the problem with this? The problem is that God loves the world. The problem is that this superiority complex can cultivate in us a naivety. We can naively begin to believe that God favors our nation over others, we can think that we are always the “good guys” in a international conflict, and we can naively think that America is somehow more Christian than any other nation. Viewing history through this lens of patriotic Christianity we neglect to acknowledge the evils of imperialism and racism from our past. This lens can hinder our love for the world. If the primary way we view the world is through a lens of superiority then we cannot possibly see the world through the lens of sacrificial love—the lens through which God sees the world through. This was most clearly evidenced for me by how passionate people were, specifically Christian people, over the NFL National Anthem debacle. Regardless of where you stand… or kneel… the intensity of emotions and the things that were said surrounding the issue were at times out of line for Christ-followers.

The problem with nationalism is that it is unbiblical. The entire book of Jonah is about God’s love for Israel’s enemy—Assyria. Jonah was so angry with God’s forgiveness because he was a racist. In the New Testament Jesus addresses Jewish nationalism frequently. The Jewish religious leaders are often offended that the people he interacts with are not only sinners, but Gentiles. Tax collectors were hated because they were unpatriotic. They collaborated with Rome and essentially exploited their own flesh and blood. Jesus interacted with a Samaritan woman (John 4:1-46) and told a parable on which a Samaritan was the hero (Luke 10:25–37). A large part of Acts deals with the inclusion of Gentiles into this new movement based on faith in the Jewish Messiah. “The original believers were largely Jews, and The Way was considered a sect under the umbrella of Judaism. As such, many of their expectations were colored by their Jewish nationalism…[The Jewish believer’s] assumptions had to be radically reconsidered.”[1]

Further, much of Paul’s letters deal with the ethnic and racial issues of the time. Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians: “Here there is no Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (3:11). In Christ, our national, racial, economic, ethnic, and even denominational boundaries really do not mean anything. Patriotism is not necessarily a bad thing, but when our Patriotic identity is so syncretized with our Christian faith that it is somehow a Christian virtue to be patriotic, something has gone awry. When our patriotic identity fuels us with a sense of superiority, there might be some idolatry and sinful pride present.

The Least of These

Sometimes the way Christians talk about the least of these is heartbreaking. The evangelical community is really good at speaking up about the injustice of abortion, but sometimes we oversimplify the issues such as racial injustice, the refugee crisis, and poverty. Sometimes I have heard Christians make judgmental assumptions about people who are poor or who are on government assistance. I have seen Christians minimize the issues surrounding racial injustice. Some patriotic Christians accused me of advocating for open boarders when I proclaimed we should have compassion for the Syrian refugees. I know we are not going to agree on every point of tension, however, my heart is grieved that we are sometimes very quick to defend our perspective and very slow to listen to the story of someone else.

The Bible is abundantly clear that God cares a lot about the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. “The prophets in turn deal out warnings aplenty about Israel’s breaking of the covenant and the law. The people’s sins of idolatry and lack of mercy toward the poor and needy are the focus of the prophet’s concern.”[2] Here is just a sampling from the Scriptures:

1. If in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there is a fellow-Israelite in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help him. Instead, be generous and lend him as much as he needs. (Deuteronomy 15:7-8)

2. Learn to do right. See that justice is done — help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows. (Isaiah 1:17)

3. I, the Lord, command you to do what is just and right. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. Do not ill-treat or oppress foreigners, orphans, or widows; and do not kill innocent people in this holy place. (Jeremiah 22:3)

4. No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. (Micah 6:8)

5. Rich people who see a brother or sister in need, yet close their hearts against them, cannot claim that they love God. (1 John 3:17)

6. Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” – if you don’t give them the necessities of life? (James 2:15-16)

7. Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers. (Romans 12:13)

We get extremely passionate about calling out the sexual sins of our culture. To be clear, I have a conservative view on sexuality, but sometimes I wonder if we should be more concerned with how God is going to deal with our overindulgence of material luxuries and negligence in regards to global poverty than how God feels about society’s acceptance of same-sex marriage. Ezekiel 16:49 states, “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.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds somewhat applicable to Americans. People from other countries often view Americans as arrogant, we are one of the most obese nations in the world, and we sometimes seem unconcerned with the poor and needy.

Some Christians debate about the importance of social justice versus evangelism. The argument is that people’s eternal souls matter more than their present circumstances. While this is true, we cannot separate the call to care about injustice from the message of the gospel. Jesus himself included social justice in his declaration of his mission:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” Luke 4:18-19

Social justice and evangelism go hand in hand. We are called to be lights in the darkness—to be ambassadors for the Kingdom. To proclaim the gospel in word and deed. N. T. Wright suggests,

“The resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit mean that we are called to bring real and effective signs of God’s renewed creation to birth even in the midst of the present age…We cannot get off the hook of present responsibility, as many Christians try to do, …by declaring that the world is currently in such a mess and there’s nothing that can be done about it until the Lord returns. That is classic dualism.”[3]

If we are going to be Jesus followers, if we are going to be biblical, then we have to care about others. We have to care about sex trafficking, abortion, poverty, racial injustice, refugee crises, oppression, etc. We are light in the darkness. It is part of our identity as Jesus people.

Violence

I love action movies. I actually like movies that are quite violent. I know some will likely disagree with my movie standards, but that is for another discussion. Gladiator with Russel Crowe is still one of my top ten favorite movies. The Dark Knight trilogy is in the top five. Something in me feels a sense of justice and vindication when Denzel Washington unloads a can of… when Denzel beats the living tar out of the bad guys. I almost enjoy when justice is exacted through violence

I remember when 9/11 happened. I was in seventh grade. I remember there being a resurgence of patriotism. People would make comments about “Blowing the terrorists off the map,” and about enlisting so that they could “kill a bunch of towel heads.” I resonated with these comments because they sounded just and patriotic. The terrorists deserved to die. Even today the way people talk about war, terrorism, and guns edges near the line of blood thirsty. I have met people who seem almost eager to unload their side arm on an evil doer. Somehow their sentiments sound just, patriotic, and almost heroic.

I have a friend who is a member of the Brethren in Christ which is an Anabaptist denomination. The Anabaptists are pacifists who believe that Jesus’ teaching, specifically from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, calls Kingdom people to nonviolence. My friend and I have had a number of conversations in which we debated the logic and “reasonableness” of his nonviolent position.

I do not fully identify with pacifism. I do believe there are times when standing up for the weak may require the use of force. I believe national militaries and public servants also fall into different categories. However, the conversations with my friend forced me to take a serious look at the words of Jesus. When I looked at Scripture I had to admit that my friend’s argument was quite convincing:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” –Matthew 5:9; 38-45

I was also forced to acknowledge that my justification for violence was about the reasonableness of Jesus’ command. Then I realized that nothing about Jesus’ calling to follow him is “reasonable” in a human sense. The way of the cross isn’t about how reasonable grace and love and salvation is to the human mind.

Greg Boyd writes on Isaiah 2:4 and nonviolence:

“And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”

“This is God’s vision for humanity, and it begins to be realized in the Kingdom Jesus inaugurated. We are to be in the present what the world will become in the future. We are “the eschatological community.” Since there will be no violence when the Kingdom is fully come, there should be no violence practiced by Kingdom people now.”[4]

You may not agree with my convictions, and that is ok. However, I think we should take seriously the calling to be Kingdom people who are working to see the Kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth as in heaven. I believe our Kingdom identity should be considered when we enter conversations about violence. I believe we should never desire for war. We should never hope for someone’s destruction. Jesus died for sinners—which includes all of us.

Conclusion

I hope I have been clear that I am not intending to incite an argument or even a debate. I am simply explaining my theological perspectives that guide my views on other life issues. My hope is that maybe some others would be seriously willing to reevaluate their own perspectives like I have. To reflect on how their own perspectives align with Jesus.

“I do not believe a person can take two issues from Scripture, those being abortion and gay marriage, and adhere to them as sins, then neglect much of the rest and call himself a fundamentalist or even a conservative. The person who believes the sum of his morality involves gay marriage and abortion alone, and neglects health care and world trade and the environment and loving his neighbor and feeding the poor is, by definition, a theological liberal, because he takes what he wants from Scripture and ignores the rest.”  ― Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What

[1] Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church. (p. 79)

[2] Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung. Glittering Vices. (p. 128)

[3] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope. (p. 209, 213)

[4] http://reknew.org/2008/01/does-the-bible-teach-total-non-violence/