People of Reconciliation

In my studies of the theology and teachings of Saint Augustine, I have come to agree with other scholars that although a brilliant philosopher and thinker he inadvertently placed on the eyes of the Church glasses that represent an obstruction particularly concerning the Nature of God.

According to Augustine, we are each guilty of a sin we did not personally commit: the sin of Adam in which we are in some way seminally implicated. Other modern expressions of this that I hear among Evangelicals is that “zero sin is required to deserve hell” because you were born with one (the Sin of Adam).

You are not only born diseased with sin but you are essentially a corpse- with an unfree free will that cannot respond to God. Yet while being unable to respond to God -you are still left responsible.

Augustine was among a small percentage of theologians who in a sense got their “business” from interpreting scripture. Most of these scholars were very sincere in their work, but at the same time you had to stand out among your peers to increase your “business”. One way Augustine, I believe, did this is by taking a few statements made by his opponent Pelagius and building up a strawman argument- basically that Pelagius believed we are all good enough to save ourselves. Those that haven't really studied what Pelagius believed will be surprised to find out he wasn’t very Pelagian. He believed the grace of God needed to be received, but that in itself did not constitute a “saving of ourselves”. So there was this sort of kneejerk reactive position taken by Augustine that was aligned with philosophies that he had previously rejected.

That Stoic view of a meticulously deterministic God that required an utterly helpless mankind or else it diminishes God’s sovereignty. Especially in "Reformed" camps that hold this view of God, they love to equate salvation with the resurrection of Lazarus.

It’s a nice story right? From death to life.

I can tell you the story of Lazarus has nothing to do with salvation- it was a demonstration of God’s ability to resurrect our bodies in the Last Day- it was eschatological, it was proleptic.

Mary even says, “I know he will be raised in the last day”.

Even she knew Lazarus would not stay a corpse. But Jesus rolled the promise of the future into their present to demonstrate HE WAS THE RESURRECTION.

I guess technically we are saved from a life that leads to death.

Breaking up with Original Sin

Why should we break up with the Western idea of original sin? What’s the issue? Why is this nonsense?

Well if sin was the only issue, Adam could have just confessed it and ask for forgiveness.

God said, “in the day that you eat of the fruit, you will surely die”

These weighty kind of agreements are given to beings that know Him and experience Him.

Think of the spirit beings who have rebelled against God- eternally cast out from His presence.

He could have brought this consequence upon man, but God has always with “reckless abandon” (at least in our perspective) desired to have a family relationship with mankind.

Death was the promised outcome of breaking God’s Adamic Covenant.

Death was certainly the result of disobedience.

This disobedience was indeed a sin

But “Death” can be best understood as alienation, as being orphaned, separated from knowledge of God’s will.

When we look at what actually happened in the Garden this is the reality we see. (entropy, shame, guilt). And sin caused alienation- a state of separation from the Father.

But listen closely…It is now alienation that leaves us to our orphaned free will and the powers of the age.

And it’s no surprise that alienation results in sin (duh)

So, sin brought alienation and now alienation brings on sin. Some might ask, “why give us free will at all if it would end up trapped in this state of alienation?”Well, it wasn’t created to be that way- free choice shows genuine love

Immediately Covenants were put in place to begin the process of redemption.

And the Law wasn’t actually one of those avenues of redemption…

The problem with the Law is that exposes sin but without treatment to the alienation

In fact, once you are on board with the Divine Council worldview, you see that the Law was not given only because of man’s sin but also for the compounding effect of the rebellious elohim (the Watchers) bringing more and more wickedness into the nations (see Psalm 82).

The Law was a type of check-valve,“a Limiter” on Sin.

Again, the problem with the Law is that it exposes sin but without an actual solution to the alienation.

The sacrifices and peace offerings were provisional ways the alienation could be at least minimized (still filtered through judges and prophets, etc.) All during the time of the Law, the avenue of faith was still available to them that enabled them to draw near to God and find favor (Heb. 11). But these provisional avenues of reconciliation, especially the Day of Atonement were a foreshadowing of the Gospel.

We have inherited a very Western proclamation of law-court justice, an announcement of Sin. Evangelism in the West, especially as modeled by many street preachers, makes the proclamation of sin our first priority

We must make people convinced of their horrific damnable selves in order to bring a desperate fear of hell that leads to a decision of confession

I think where we get this is from places like 2 Peter 3, and I know we’re all dying to know how repentance fits in with alienation, but we’ll get there, I promise…

The emphasis in Romans on the Law exposing sin (that the Reformers really latched onto) was written to those who were confident that it was the Law that brought them into reconciliation with God. And really when you dig deep into the scholarship of Romans, Paul’s phrase “under the law” simply meant the children of Israel. Their confidence was simply on being a Jew

In fact when writing to Gentiles in the Letter to the Ephesians (2:12,13) Paul says, ...remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Then a few verses later he says:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (I think “household” is how Paul pictures the Kingdom)

Almost like the nations of the Gentiles comprised a second-level alienated people. This sounds almost identical to the passage in 2 Cor. 5:11,14-19

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord [the awesomeness of God], we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

v14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all,that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Guess what Gentiles, you get to skip the Law and be brought into reconciliation through Christ and the law will be written on your heart and you will be given a new heart of flesh!!

So is everyone already reconciled? No…Paul makes that clear in verse 20:

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If you take verse 21 just by itself, you might think Jesus became sin, just so He could deal with sin and declare us righteous.

But context is important, and the key word in this passage is RECONCILIATION

Now there was a tendency in the East to make an overly gnostic view of spiritual reconciliation that often overlooks sin- almost like a non-issue. I’m not saying that is the answer either. But one thing the Orthodox community has right is the view that alienation is the main problem- not sin. Obviously, sin is an issue because Jesus had to bear it upon himself (1 Cor. 15)

So the forgiveness of sin and bearing of our iniquities comes as a result of the reconciliation that Jesus has so sacrificially and faithfully won for us. You had a life apart from me, now you are alive with Me! (v.15)

Eternal life= life into the coming Age

Reconciliation = the power to be brought near

It’s like when a child doesn’t have the words for a proper apology but they climb on your lap and feel right again in the relationship- love covers a multitude of sin. We are in the business of reconciliation, not just in our personal walk, but with everyone around us

This “being alive in Him” is echoed in Col 2:13

And you, who were dead [alienated] in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses...

Again, this is often used to say we were dead like Lazarus, but again the story of Lazarus has nothing to do with salvation. Dead means “cut off from life”. God made us alive with what? With Him!! If anything we are called to go into the grave with Jesus and be raised with Him. And how did he solve this issue of alienation?

Read on in verse 14:

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

Legal demands of who? God? That’s what we’ve been taught. Some would say it is the Law. But the Law only shows us the impossibility of us breaking those demands. The following verses give us a clue what "demands" he's talking about.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities [2] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. [3]

These are rulers because they held legal demand over us- He disarmed them. They are authorities because they had the authority to hold us captive- they are now shamed because He has triumphed over them. You were cut off from Life, now you have access to “Him” day and night. And if it’s still not clear where the legal demands came from, go back to Chapter 1 verse 13:

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

You see the message of deliverance brings with it redemption and forgiveness…Not because you were finally convinced how sinful you were…But because you now understand who has the REAL legal demand over you, and now you must answer this question, do you want to be free?

Sin is no longer FIRST in our proclamation of the Gospel and Sin is no longer FIRST in our sanctification process. We get so focused on cleaning up our failures, we fail to realize that it was our affections that were somewhere other than on the Father.

So let’s tackle the repentance part. What is the Gospel that John the Baptist and Jesus preached? It wasn’t Repent because you are headed for hell, it was repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

What would that have meant to their hearers? Confess all your sins before you can come into the Kingdom?

The Evanglion is actually a military and political cry that the King has defeated his enemy and he has come to take his dominion (this is a study in itself). The announcer of such a proclamation would be heralding to everyone in the newly conquered kingdom to prepare for the new rule, the new governance, and the new power operating within that kingdom. This is the same announcement when John the Baptist made his cry of repentance. This repentance wasn't a "making yourself right" but a submission, a change of allegiance, and a rejection of all other oppressors including ourselves. We prepare for the Kingdom by acknowledging who is the rightful King.

I mentioned 2 Peter 3 earlier

7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But only 2 verses later it says

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Then we’ve all read Romans 2:4

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This comes after a pretty bleak picture for the ungodly in Chapter 1. How was God’s kindness shown? Through the work and faithfulness of Jesus. Repentance means we realize that we were focused on (and held captive by) something else other than God.

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand= Wake up and realize you are held captive under a different kingdom and a new one has come!

Let me give you one more passage in 1 Peter 2:

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.

Listen to verse 25 which finishes this thought of why the cross was necessary…

25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Straying sheep? I thought we were damnable reprobates.

Sounds like a God who leaves the 99 for the 1.

We are now returned? Sounds like we were alienated, cut off from Him and are now brought near

Transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son

We have re-branded that hammer of the Law exposing sin as the central motif in evangelism. The central idea of Romans (and Hebrews), however, is simply this: it is Jesus who has restored us to community.

We can can choose to explain the reason that we sin as something spiritually genetic that you inherited from Adam with a sin nature- depraved

OR, we can understand sin as direct consequence of a world and my will alienated from God, under legal demands of a domain of darkness and after the nature of that alienation.

I think you will find the later more in line with the heart of the Father.

Another aspect of alienation

Traditionally we have separated soteriology (theology of salvation) from ecclesiology (theology of the church). The Gospel of Kingdom that Jesus preached was that God has shown his power in His Son to bring us back into communion with Him AND with His people- these have equal significance. The fact that He is restoring you to Himself means He has dealt with your sins and has placed you in a family

So our soteriology must be overlapping our ecclesiology

Every day we are reconciled to the Father. We stir one another toward that reconciliation. We draw near to the throne of grace through the access that Jesus won for us. We come back to the God who has visited us before. We rediscover Him over and over. We’ve been called to point to the source of true freedom.

Out of all the interpretations of the Prodigal Son, the one that most resonates with me is that the Father is the central message of the story. That it’s possible the prodigal son represents the Gentile nations, and no matter how far they strayed from that Edenic place with the Father, the Father will always receive them coming home to Him, running out to meet them with a ring and a robe.