Neither Right Nor Left

On Friday morning, our home was rattled by the largest earthquake ever experienced in the Louisville area - 5.2 on the Richter scale.  There was no evidence of damage to our place.

 

Amazingly, my brother who lives in California experienced the biggest shake of his life...in Kentucky!  Here are the news reports and a picture from near our church.

Thabiti's message was entitled Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, the Church.  It was one of the best of the entire conference.  Here is the overview of Thabiti's message:

 

Our problem is that we operate with a view of race that is fundamental to our worldview.  We have unbiblical assumptions about our identity and minitry and these need to be reformed.

 

1 - Our unity in Adam: What we call "race" doesn't exist.  We have solidarity with Adam in his sin.  But we are all geneological and biological descendants.  We were made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28; Gen 2:22-24).  In Gen 3:20, there is a biological unity of humanity.  In Gen 1-11, the Bible shows how Adam and Eve become the father and mother of all humanity.  Gen 5:1ff Adam is made in God's image, SEth is in Adam's image; Seth is not a different image; Gen 9:5-6 shows that all men descend from ADam, Noah.

 

But ethnology arose to explain aboriginals in the New World.  By late 18th century, slavery was justified by using Gen 10 to explain people's differences.  What was read into Gen 10 was the table of nations.  Gen 10: 1 & 32 show that there is a biological unity, not the diversity.  So this is a rise of ethnicities, not races. 

 

Race is a theory that assumes that there are essential biological differences.  But ethnicity is fluid through language, nationality, citizenship, etc...  Ethnicity is not rooted in biology or skin color; People can look the same but be radically different.  Scripture notes our oneness, our continuity through Adam.  Therefore race as a category to explain differences is a concept that does not really exist.

 

There are 6 problems if we adopt the category of race:

1. Abuse of people and Scripture that have come from race - emphasizes people's differences and suggests that people are different because of biology.

2.  It is a small step from race to racism.

3.  Allowing categories of race prevents meaningful engagement with others.  Race is inherently ad hominum.

4.  Removing race as a category is necessary because it undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture because race then defines us and gives us our identity instead of God's word.

5.  Holding on to this unbiblical doctrine may be resisting the Holy Spirit.

6.  This category may undermine the gospel itself.  If all are not from Adam, then not all are under Adam's sin and not redeemed by the cross for Adam's race.

 

Therefore, we should emphasize our common ancestry in Adam and deny anything that sounds like race as a category.  What happens in people's minds is that they look for someone like them, assume they are safe, seek benefits from them, and believe there are joys to be shared.  The opposite of the last sentence is also true in why we avoid people.  We should see people as all "like me", fallen sinners, sharing our heritage in Adam and therefore cross these bridges.  We won't get to character if we emphasize race.

 

2.  Our unity in Christ - we are all made in the image, are fallen, and are in need of grace.  Our union ith Christ gives us a basis for relationships with others.  Union with Christ must shape us and our identity.  John 17:20-26 - The Father is in the Son, the Son in us, and we are together.  when we come to Christ and join him, we are brought together in Him, transformed into newnewss of life.  2 Cor 5:14-18 - our view is changed from worldly to heavenly.  Christ's blood creates a deeper lineage than our genes.  This is because we are being changed into the image of Christ: Col 1:15, Heb 1:3, Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:10.  On the basis of our union in Christ, there is no Jew/Greek, salve/free.  Even our ethnic differences are minimal because our identity is shaped by Christ's person and work.  We do not make ethnic shrines by holding on to a majority status that is seen in our holding on to our priviledged status.  We should embrace Christ, and then we will inevitably embrace others. 

 

3.  Our unity in the Church - where this newness is displayed (penultimatly), ultimately seen in the age to come; but we have not fully lived in the already.  Eph 2:14-18 - the past tense of verbs show how our unity in the church has been accomplished at the cross; the present tense is that he is our peace, that is in his body, the Church - something to be experienced and worked on now.  Eph 3:6 shows that our spiritual union with Christ impacts us and this is seen in Eph 4:1-6 - unity is not limited; Churches are to be the display of God's glory in our diversity and union in Christ.  Let us love one another in our differences and not seek out familiarity.  Thabiti read Article 17 of the T4G Affirmations and Denials. 

 

4.  Our unity in Glory - Rev 5:9-10 - every tribe, tongue, language around the throne praising God.

           Second, penal substitution is necessary for a holy God to justify sinful humans.  Because humanity is trapped in sin, there is no way for any human being to save oneself.  God’s standard is perfect righteousness by complete obedience to his law.  And complete obedience to his law is necessary because “the norms of the law express God’s character, the beauty and holiness of his person.[1]  Paul speaks of this standard in Galatians 3:10 where he says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”  One transgression, James says, makes a person a lawbreaker (Jas 2:11).  In light of God's radical holiness, "God demands perfect obedience, and no one has met that standard."[2]
            At the same time, the Scriptures speak that God justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5).  Proverbs 17:15 says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike – an abomination to the LORD.”  As John Piper rightly points out, “At the heart of the Christian gospel stands the sentence: God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5).  He acquits the guilty.  That is the gospel.  But how can it be right for God to do that?”[3]  Sin must be punished.  If it is not, God’s moral character is compromised, specifically his holiness and his moral integrity.  Therefore some punishment of sin is required for sinners to be justified.  And this is precisely what happens.  Romans 3:24 says that the ungodly are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  In the death of Christ, sinners are justified, and the justice of God is upheld.[4]

I sense tonight that my desires to be great are likely to frustrate God's intents for good to be done through me.  O Lord, let me pray again with earnest, honest heart: I will not to be great - only, God, grant to me Thy goodness.

Support for Penal Substitution

 

            In light of God’s holiness and humanity’s sinfulness, it is abundantly clear that the Scriptures teach that Christ died for our sins, suffering as a substitute for humanity’s punishment, in order that he might bring us to God.  The entirety of redemptive history points to Christ’s substitution for sinners by suffering the penalty they deserved.  This is borne out in several ways.

            First, penal substitution is the radical solution to humanity’s sinfulness.  Apart from penal substitution, humanity has no way of salvation.  Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, they were found guilty for breaking the command of God and deserved to die.  Through the sin of one man, the entire human race was condemned (Rom 5:18).  All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23) and no one has given the glory that is due to God alone.  Because every good and perfect gift is from God (Jas 1:17), anything that is good and praiseworthy is to be ascribed to the Lord (Ps. 29:1-2). Yet humans do not give honor to God, nor are they inclined towards giving him glory.  Instead, humanity spurns God’s glory and rejects his law (Jer 6:19).  Their eyes are blinded from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4).  The human condition and nature, therefore, is in opposition to God, and deserving of just condemnation and wrath (Eph 2:3). 

            Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people disobey and fail to keep his law, and this becomes problematic: “the continuing sinfulness of God’s people makes it impossible for the holy God to dwell with them without endangering them.”[1]  As Schreiner notes, “Human beings need atonement, then, because they are sinners, because they have failed to measure up to God’s law.”[2]

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Penal Substitution View

            The penal substitution view is the response to the basic question of how sinful humans can relate to a holy God.  Penal substitution contends that “God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.”[1] 

            The penal substitution view begins with the problem of humanity’s sin and the holiness of God.  God had told Adam that he was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that disobedience to this command would result in the punishment of death (Gen 2:17).  But Adam and Eve’s disobedience caused them and their offspring to be alienated from God because God is holy, and in him there is no imperfection, no evil, and no sin (1 John 1:5).  God’s holiness cannot overlook one sin, for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).  Rather, in his holiness he punishes sin, for “sin is failing to give God his due; [it] take[s] from God what is rightfully his and dishonor[s] him.”[2]  God alone deserves all glory and honor, yet humans act in defiance and rebellion against their Creator, defying his law and rejecting his ways (Rom 1:18ff).  As a result, God’s wrath is stored up for the day of judgment against sinful humanity (Rom 2:5).       

            Yet God, who is rich in mercy, and out of his unconditional love for human beings (Eph 2:4), had planned, along with his willing and obedient Son (Isa 53:10; John 10:18), to offer his Son has a propitiation for sin (1 John 4:10).  Christ is offered as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), appeasing God’s wrath by taking upon himself the sins of human beings and offering to those who respond in faith his perfect righteousness, accomplished by his sinless life (2 Cor 5:21).  In offering his life, Christ’s propitiating death is the only means by which “God as the holy and righteous judge can forgive sinners who have personally rebelled against their sovereign Lord.”[3]