GCI Vice President Greg Williams rightly calls 2018 a year of transitions. One of the biggest comes in April with the move of our Home Office from Glendora, CA, to Charlotte, NC. It’s a transition we have talked about for several years, but the timing never seemed right until recently.
In purchasing a building for our new Home Office just outside Charlotte, and in the sale of our building in Glendora (just completed), there have been several “blessed coincidences”—ones GCI Treasurer Mat Morgan and I view as God’s guiding hand. Our Triune God has blessed us with a beautiful building in Charlotte that is partially furnished (with furnishings nicer than those in Glendora), saving us on furnishings and moving costs. Here are some pictures of the Charlotte building (click to enlarge):
Another transition for us in 2018 involves the retirement of several long-time denominational leaders and pastors. We’ll be sharing information about those retirements during the year, but you’re probably already aware that I’ll be retiring at the end of 2018, and Greg Williams will take my place as GCI president. My decision to retire was made with much prayer and counsel. When I retire, I won’t stop doing ministry—Tammy and I plan to continue participating in what Jesus is doing, and that keeps us looking forward expectantly to what lies ahead.
Joseph W. Tkach, Sr.
As I began planning my final year as GCI President, I recalled how I came into this ministry position in the first place. I was director of Church Administration and my father (Joseph W. Tkach, Sr.) realized he was losing his battle with cancer. We spent many hours talking about the transformation God was bringing about within Worldwide Church of God (WCG), and how that transformation was not complete. Dad shared that just before WCG founder Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) died, he told Dad there were changes that were needed, including looking at some of our doctrines. But because of his ill health, HWA did not have the time or energy to mentor my dad, nor did he give him a lot of details concerning the changes HWA felt were needed. However, he did tell Dad to follow the lead of the Spirit. That is just what Dad did, leading WCG through many changes during his tenure as president.
It was during those changes that Dad became ill and named me as his successor. Like HWA before him, he told me that WCG needed to continue on the path of transformation. However, he also said that he would not determine what those changes should be. You may recall that Dad’s health deteriorated quickly, so there wasn’t a lot of time for him to mentor me. Dad told me to surround myself with reliable, wise counselors, and never forget that it is Jesus who is the real leader of his church. I’ve tried to follow that advice throughout my 21 years as president of WCG, which became GCI.
Greg Williams
It gives me joy knowing that God has given me ample time to mentor Greg Williams as he prepares to become GCI’s next president (click here for Greg’s bio). I gave Greg the same challenge Dad gave me—to surround himself with wise counselors, and to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. I also told him that I do not believe GCI’s transformation is complete, and reminded him that we are to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Pet. 3:18), heeding God’s challenge given through Isaiah:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isa 43:18-19a)
God continues to do new things in GCI. Our challenge is to discern what those are, embrace them, then live them out. I know Greg is committed to doing so.
Various changes have already been made in GCI administration in anticipation of the transitions ahead. Under Greg’s leadership, the Church Administration and Development (CAD) team in the US has been restructured. We now have five regional pastors serving as administrators/supervisors over their respective regions. Alongside Greg in the Home Office is Pam Morgan (CAD operations coordinator) and Michelle Fleming (CAD communications and training coordinator). The CAD team also includes Anthony Mullins (coordinator of Ministry Coaching, the Intern Program and the Pastoral Resident Program), Heber Ticas (coordinator of Church Multiplication Ministries), and Jeff Broadnax (coordinator of Generations Ministries). Ted Johnston (who, like me, is retiring at the end of this year), serves as CAD publications editor and assists Greg with special projects related to our ongoing transitions. This restructured CAD team works beautifully, in a highly collaborative way!
Internationally, Greg is already working with our denominational leaders around the world, helping them form working groups to maximize the effective use of resources and talents. We’re also refining and enhancing Grace Communion Seminary (GCS) and Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM). These two educational arms of GCI are of great importance to our current and future transitions as we identify, equip and send a new generation of leadership for our denominational ministries and congregations. In these ways and more, it’s clear that God is doing something new that will benefit GCI for many years to come.
Though the realization that 2018 will be a year of transitions in GCI will excite many of us, some will be apprehensive. Throughout my 21 years as GCI president, there have been many challenges and uncertainties, yet God has led us through them all. For that I give him, and you, my thanks and I encourage you to look forward with hope and expectancy. I see 2018 as an exciting year, and throughout the year I plan to share some of the lessons I’ve learned as GCI president, along with insights and dreams concerning GCI’s future. I ask that you join all of us here in the Home Office in praying for smooth and successful transitions.
Looking forward with anticipation, Joseph Tkach
PS: Next week’s cover letter here in GCI Update will be from Greg Williams. Throughout this year, Greg and I will be sharing this duty as part of our transition plan. See you in two weeks!
Happy New Year! In accordance with the new schedule, a full issue of GCI Update (our new name) is not being published this week (this shortened version is a reminder). To read the last full issue, click here.
(Wikimedia Commons)
GCI Equipper will now be published on the first Wednesday of each month, and GCI Update will be published on the other Wednesdays (except on U.S. national holidays or the fifth Wednesdays in a month). Are you subscribed to GCI Equipper? If not, you may do so at https://equipper.gci.org/subscribe. Once subscribed, each time Equipper is published, you’ll be sent an email with links to the online articles and sermons. Here are links to the January issue:
January issue of GCI Equipper 2018: A year of transitions
From Greg: Celebrating Jesus’ headship Looking forward, in faith, to the transitions coming in 2018, Greg Williams reassures us that Jesus is head of his church, GCI included.
Here’s a question to consider: Should Christians celebrate Jesus’ first coming? Some who profess to be Christian say we should not. While I don’t judge their motives (I understand what deception can do), it breaks my heart that they are unable to embrace the joy of celebrating this monumental event, which fulfilled numerous prophecies and changed everything in a powerful, positive way. To celebrate Jesus’ first coming is to celebrate God’s plan of redemption. Before the foundation of the world, God planned that the Son of God would temporarily leave behind his heavenly glory, be born as a human being, then live a perfect life that would reflect God’s glory (1 Pet. 1:20; John 1:14; Phil. 2:5-11).
Jesus’ coming into the world as its Savior and King is the Bible’s central theme. Genesis 3 says that a redeemer would come to restore humanity’s broken relationship with God. In that account, God says to the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15). This ancient prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming. John the Baptist testified that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Think about that: Jesus came to put sin away—to bring an end to all evil. The reason Jesus (who is the truth) came into our world was “to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). As the apostle Paul testified, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Given this biblical witness, why wouldn’t a Christian want to celebrate what Jesus accomplished in his first coming?
Jesus came not merely to teach us how to live or to perform miracles. He came to save us—to rescue us from sin. He came to take our broken, weak, twisted human nature up into himself and there bend it back to God by living a perfect life in reliance upon God. In doing so, he gave his life in exchange for ours. He did so all the way to the cross—taking on our sins, and letting God abolish them in him, so that we might be forgiven and thus made right with God. Through his perfect sacrifice on our behalf, Jesus made it possible for us to be delivered from darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col. 1:13). That his first coming is great good news is made clear in these words: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).
Jesus’ coming into the world is cause for celebration on multiple levels. When people asked Jesus when the kingdom would come, he replied: “The kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21). As its embodiment, Jesus ushered in the kingdom at his first coming. He continues to extend the influence of the kingdom as he, by the Spirit, lives within Christians (Gal. 2:20, KJV). One day, he will reveal the fullness of the kingdom at his second coming.
It is appropriate that we celebrate all three of these comings of Jesus, and that is what we do during Advent (“advent” means “coming”). We recall Jesus’ first coming, even as we remember the words of the angel to the disciples following Jesus’ ascension: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The author of Hebrews also testified to the first and second comings of Jesus, saying that “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28).
Jesus came the first time as author of our salvation, and he will come the second time as the finisher of our faith. When he came the first time, there was no room for him in Bethlehem’s inn, but when he comes the second time, the whole world will make room for him (Phil. 2:10-11) even if some continue to resist his rule and reign. In celebrating Jesus’ first coming, we acknowledge that he came and fulfilled God’s plan of redemption for us, that he remains with us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and that he will come again in glory to “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). There is no second coming without the first—both are cause for celebration.
The Adoration of the Shepherds by van Honthorst (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
During Advent, we remember all three of Jesus’ comings, then at Christmas we celebrate the great truth that he came into our world by being born of the virgin Mary. This first coming of Jesus (including his Incarnation and birth) is reason for great celebration. Our Christmas celebrations are not really about decorating and gift-giving. While those activities can be joyful aspects of our celebrations, Christmas is more about experiencing joy with friends and family and even with the “strangers” we invite into our homes for a meal. It is more about sharing God’s love with others, which might include visiting people in hospitals and nursing homes, remembering the reasons Jesus first came.
I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas! Joseph Tkach
PS: To read a Christmas eve sermon by GCI member Sheila Graham, click here. For an announcement from GCI Publications Editor Ted Johnston concerning upcoming publication changes, click here. As Ted notes, the next issue of Update will be published on January 10, 2018.
I became a fan of English author, philologist and poet, J.R.R. Tolkien after reading The Hobbit and its sequel, the epic three-volume novel, The Lord of the Rings. Among other literary achievements, Tolkien in his fantasy books constructed the grammar and vocabulary of at least 15 languages and dialects, the most-developed being the one spoken by his Elves. Though the extent of his literary achievements is amazing, what impresses me most is what lies behind those achievements—Tolkien’s appreciation and love for the goodness of God.
Though he avoided direct references to Christian doctrine in his books, Tolkien pointed people in that direction by connecting fantasy to the realities of the human condition in a fallen world. Who among us hasn’t had to deal with a Troll or two? Who hasn’t found a special place of peace and tranquility? Not only does Tolkien deal with these human realities (along with bravery, sacrifice, hospitality, honor, beauty and love)—he also indirectly points his readers to transcendent realities. For example, in The Two Towers (the second volume in The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Tolkien utilizes the imagery of light breaking into darkness—imagery that mirrors the Light of the World coming into a dark, sin-sick world via the Incarnation.
In one of his letters, Tolkien wrote that, “the incarnation of God is an infinitely greater thing than anything I would dare to write” (Letter 237). Thus, it is no surprise that Tolkien, the great story teller, was enamored with the Incarnation, for it is the greatest story ever told! For the substance and reality of that story, we rely not on Tolkien, but on the writers of the New Testament Gospels like the apostle John, who began his Gospel with these evocative words:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5, NRSV)
Though Tolkien’s fantasy novels do not tell the complete Christian story, they are full of themes he hoped would prepare people to hear the Christian gospel. What I especially appreciate is the way The Lord of the Rings trilogy points out the reality of good and evil, the power and temptation of sin, and the fact that everyone needs redemption. If you read the trilogy or watch the movies based on it, you’ll encounter dark and heavy moments where good people suffer, and some give in to the darkness of evil. Yet you’ll also find that no matter how far a character might fall, Tolkien shows there is always hope—always opportunity for redemption.
Scene from the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (source)
Another thing I like about Tolkien’s stories is the way they refute the dualistic idea of the separation of body and spirit (soul). In pointing to the dynamic unity of body and spirit, Tolkien undermines philosophies (such as naturalism and Gnosticism) that separate body and spirit. In doing so, he indirectly opens a door for his readers to consider that the Incarnation (the union of the uncreated Son of God with created human nature) might be possible. The heroes of his stories represent real people who live as “embodied souls,” and “ensouled bodies” (as Karl Barth put it). Tolkien’s characters appreciate good ale, a simple meal and enduring fellowship, all the while taking seriously the universal obligations of the good, and the real dangers of the evil.
Some people worry that fantasy novels like Tolkien’s risk perverting good theology. But that would be true only if we were to look to such books as sources of theology. The fact of the matter is that they are not. Tolkien never intended his trilogy to be more than a prequel to the biblical gospel. His goal was to point out the questions, problems and challenges in life, not to provide answers that come only through biblical revelation.
Tolkien cleverly directs a secular world away from the naturalism and nihilism that is so prevalent in our world, towards the biblical world of moral meaning and personal relationship with the living God of intervening grace. His overarching message is that no matter what adversity we face in this world with its darkness, a real and transcendent goodness (light) is still present and prevailing. No matter how far astray we might have gone from that light, there is hope of restoration. The overall conclusion of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy is that this hope exists no matter what we face. The apostle Paul draws a similar conclusion in his letter to the churches in Rome:
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5, NRSV)
Tolkien understood a powerful truth, which he pointed to in his writings: The Incarnation is the best story that can be told. We celebrate that story in a special way during the Advent-Christmas season.
The incarnation of the eternal Son of God is of such great importance that without it there can be no true Christianity. The apostle John put it this way:
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:2-3, ESV)
As I noted in my Update letter last week, the virgin birth of Jesus is an important part of the doctrine of the Incarnation. It declares that the Son of God took on a full and complete human existence while remaining what he was—the eternal Son of God. The fact that Jesus’ mother Mary was a virgin was a sign that it was not by human initiative or involvement that she became pregnant. The voluntary conception that occurred within Mary’s womb came about through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who joined Mary’s human nature to the Son of God’s divine nature. The Son of God thereby took on a complete human existence from birth to death, to resurrection and ascension, continuing forever in his now glorified humanity.
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa. 9:6 KJV). (source)
There are those who scoff at the idea that Jesus’ birth was a miracle from God. These skeptics disparage the biblical record, as well as our faith in it. I find their objections quite ironic in that while viewing the virgin birth as an absurd impossibility, they maintain their own version of a virgin birth in connection with two principal claims:
They claim that the universe came into existence by itself, from nothing. I think we’re entitled to call that a miracle, even though they say it came about mindlessly and purposelessly. Of course, when one looks more closely at their descriptions of nothing, we find that it is a case of smoke and mirrors. Their nothing is redefined as something such as quantum fluctuations in empty space, or cosmic bubbles, or an infinite assembly of the multiverse. In other words, their use of the term nothing is misleading, since their nothing is filled with something—the something that our universe came forth from!
They claim that life arose from non-life. To me, this claim is far more “out there” than the idea of Jesus being born of a virgin. Regardless of the scientifically verified fact that life comes only from life, some still manage to believe that life arose from a lifeless primordial soup. While scientists and mathematicians have pointed out the impossibility of such an occurrence, some still find it easier to believe in a mindless miracle than to believe in the true miracle of Jesus’ virgin birth.
In support of the first claim, physicist Stephen Hawking said this: “The universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, [it is] why we exist” (The Grand Design, p. 180). Philosopher Quentin Smith put it this way: “The fact of the matter is that the most reasonable belief is that we came from nothing, by nothing and for nothing. We should… acknowledge our foundation in nothingness and feel awe at the marvelous fact that we have a chance to participate briefly in this incredible sunburst that interrupts without reason the reign of non-being” (“The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism,” Philo 4.2., 2000).
Though skeptics like Hawking and Smith embrace their own forms of virgin birth, they consider it fair game to lampoon Christians for believing in the virgin birth of Jesus, which necessitates a miracle from a personal God who transcends creation. Doesn’t it seem to you that those who see the Incarnation as impossible or improbable are embracing a double standard?
Scripture teaches that the virgin birth was a miraculous sign from God (Isa. 7:14), designed to fulfill his purposes. The repeated use of the title “Son of God” acknowledges that Christ was conceived and born of a woman (and without the involvement of a man) by the power of God. That this truly happened is affirmed by the apostle Peter:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Pet. 1:16, ESV)
Peter’s declaration (together with other similar New Testament statements) provides clear, evidential refutation of all assertions that the story of the Incarnation, including Jesus’ virgin birth, is a myth or legend. The fact of the virgin birth testifies to the miracle of a supernatural conception by God’s own divine, personal creative act. The birth of Christ was natural and normal in every way, including the full period of human gestation in Mary’s womb. For Jesus to redeem every aspect of human existence, he had to assume it all—overcoming all its weaknesses and regenerating our humanity in himself from beginning to end. For God to heal the breach that evil had brought between himself and human beings, God had to, in himself, undo what humankind had done.
For God to reconcile himself to us, he had to come himself, reveal himself, give himself to us, then take us to himself, beginning from the very root of human being. And that is precisely what God, in the person of the eternal Son of God, did. While remaining fully God, he became fully one of us so that in and through him, we might have fellowship and communion with the Father, in the Son, by the Holy Spirit. The author of Hebrews refers to this stunning truth with these words:
Since… the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. (Heb. 2:14-17, NRSV)
In his first advent, the Son of God, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, literally became Immanuel (God with us, Matt. 1:23). The virgin birth of Jesus was God’s declaration that he is going to set all things right in human life, from beginning to end. In his second advent, which is yet to occur, Jesus will overcome and vanquish all evil bringing an end to all pain and death. Looking forward to that great day, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that “the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus means that one day everything sad will come untrue.” The apostle John put it this way: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!'” (Rev. 21:5).
I have seen grown men cry as they witnessed the birth of their child. We sometimes refer to “the miracle of childbirth,” and rightly so. I hope you see Jesus’ birth as the miracle of the birthing of the One who truly is making “everything new.”
I pray you have a joy-filled Advent as we await our celebration of Jesus’ virgin birth at Christmas, Joseph Tkach
The first Sunday of Advent (December 3 this year), begins a new cycle of worship in the Christian liturgical calendar. Together with Christmas, Advent proclaims a key point of Christian doctrine—the virgin birth of Jesus.
The Apostles’ Creed
In accord with Matt. 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-2:20, The Apostles’ Creed affirms that Jesus “was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” Though not written by the original apostles, the Creed was widely embraced as an accurate summation of the first apostles’ core teachings. The basic content of The Apostles’ Creed appeared as early as A.D. 215 in a document used by Hippolytus in preparing candidates for baptism. Restatements of this basic teaching then appeared over the next several centuries in multiple places, including a commentary on The Apostles’ Creed, written by Tyrannius Rufinus in about A.D. 400. The version of the Creed he examined is quite similar to The Apostles’ Creed that is used today by many churches (GCI included).
“Birth of Christ,” by anonymous (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Though early versions of the Creed contained the same central doctrinal ideas (called the “rule of faith”), they varied somewhat, due largely to the need to defend against different heresies. Some of those early versions were quite long—here is the first part of one written by Tertullian:
Now, with regard to this rule of faith—that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend—it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is only one God, and that he is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through his own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called his Son, and, under the name of God, was seen “in diverse manners” by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ.
Now, compare what Tertullian wrote with the opening lines of The Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth; I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Though The Apostles’ Creed is more succinct (which I appreciate!), both statements establish three key points of Christian teaching concerning Jesus: 1) that the eternal Son of God began his earthly life as a special act of God the Father, 2) that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and 3) that Jesus was genuinely the son of a human mother (Mary) who, at the time Jesus was born, was a virgin.
“The Annunciation” by Jean Hey (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus
There are, of course, those who deny the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus (and thus reject The Apostles’ Creed along with the Nicene Creed). Then there are others who misconstrue that doctrine, claiming that Mary somehow is co-redeemer with Jesus in our salvation. However, as the Gospel of John declares, our salvation (which involves being “born of God”) is not a matter of “natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will” (John 1:12-13). T.F. Torrance comments:
The virgin birth… excludes the idea that God and man are co-equal partners [in salvation]…. What took place [in the virgin birth of Jesus] is an act under the sovereign will of God, in which God alone was Lord and Master, so that the birth was grounded in the sovereign will of God alone. (Incarnation, the Person and Life of Christ, p. 99)
Through Jesus’ virgin birth, God, by his own sovereign decision, joined himself with our humanity. Mary is thus not co-redeemer, though as T.F. also points out, she is an admirable model of obedient faith in response to the grace of God:
Grace takes a form in the birth of Jesus which we may take as a pattern or norm for all our understanding of grace. Here God takes the initiative and approaches Mary through the word of his angelic messenger—the word proclaimed to Mary is the word of election or grace: she is chosen and told of God’s choice. She has nothing to do in this matter except what is done in her under the operation of the Spirit. What Mary does is simply to receive the word, to believe, which she does not in her own strength but in the strength given her by the Lord, and she is blessed because of that, not because of her virginity…. The Word which Mary heard and received and obeyed became flesh of her flesh. That is the normative pattern for the believer in his or her attitude toward the Word announced in the gospel, which tells men and women of the divine act of grace and decision taken already on their behalf in Christ. (Incarnation, the Person and Life of Christ, p. 101)
Celebrating God’s work on our behalf
As the apostle Paul states in Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by God’s grace, not by our works. It is the gracious work of the Triune God on our behalf that saves us. Our works (and the works of any other person, Mary included) do not bring about that salvation. Instead, by faith (also God’s gift), we are born of God, receiving, through the Spirit, the salvation that has been accomplished for us in Jesus Christ. Note this comment from T.F.:
What happened once and for all, in utter uniqueness in Jesus Christ, happens in every instance of rebirth into Christ. Just as he was born from above of the Holy Spirit, so are we born from above of the Holy Spirit through sharing in his birth. (Incarnation, the Person and Life of Christ, p. 102)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers a similar perspective on the miracle of the Incarnation that we celebrate during the Advent-Christmas season:
Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken. (God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, p. 22)
To T.F.’s and Bonhoeffer’s words, I add my hearty, Amen.
Wishing you and yours a blessed Advent-Christmas season, Joseph Tkach
Update on 12/6/17: for more on this topic, click here.
Dallas Willard was one of the visiting professors I enjoyed immensely while in my doctoral program. A professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, Dr. Willard had just finished writing The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. In the book, he goes through the Sermon on the Mount, addressing what it means to be an “apprentice” of Jesus. In doing so, he gives a clear picture of what it means to participate in the redeemed life that God gives us in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. In class, Dr. Willard would often address the topic of daily living, saying, “Winter comes but nothing beyond the redemption of God can happen to you—no matter how bad the sinful mess you might create, God is able to redeem you.”
Dr. Willard also often repeated a sentence I still find myself repeating: “Living an authentic Christian life is different from the consumer image of it in our popular culture.” He would then offer an illustration of someone doing something selflessly to help others, then say, “Now, that’s authentic Christianity!” His point was that we do not serve others to get something in return. His emphasis was always on authentic participation in the life that is ours in Christ—an emphasis found frequently in the apostle Paul’s writings:
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
Jesus, through his acts of redemption, purchased us and made us his own. Having affirmed that truth, Paul and other New Testament authors admonish us to live into that truth—to live the redeemed life.
Unfortunately, as the apostle Peter warned, there will always be false teachers who will spread “destructive heresies… denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1). Thankfully, these teachers have no power to undo the reality of who Jesus is, and what he has done for us. Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). This purifying, which comes from Jesus, through the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit, enables us to live the redeemed life. Peter explains it this way:
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Pet. 1:18)
This knowledge enables us to appreciate the significance of the Incarnation by which the eternal Son of God came to us in human form, having assumed our human nature, which he then transformed, and now, through the Spirit, shares with us, enabling us to live the redeemed life. We live this life in grateful response to the truth that we belong to the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.
The atoning work of Jesus is the center of God’s plan for humanity. While most New Testament writers speak of this work by proclaiming us to be children of God, only Paul speaks of it using the word adoption. Are these identifying labels referring to different things? The answer is no. Confusion on this matter likely comes from our modern use of the word adoption to signify what happens when a child, born in one family, is legally and physically placed into another. But this is not the way the Bible uses the word. In Scripture, adoption and regeneration (being born again, or born from above) are two aspects of the same redeeming work, that having been accomplished on our behalf by Jesus, is being worked out in us by the Spirit.
Through the indwelling Spirit, we are able to share in Jesus’ humanity, which means sharing in his sonship—his fellowship and communion with the Father, by the Spirit (Titus 3:4-7). The early church fathers put it this way:
He who was the son of God by nature, became a son of man, so that we, who are the sons of man by nature, might become by grace the adopted sons of God.
As we receive and surrender to the work of Jesus and the Spirit, we are born into a new life—the life that has already been worked out on our behalf in the humanity of Jesus. That new birth (adoption) does not merely place us into the family of God in a legal sense, leaving us with an unchanged (unregenerate) nature. No, via our adoption (spiritual rebirth), we share in Christ’s own humanity, and we do so by the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul put it this way: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
In Christ, we are made new—we are given a new identity. If we were to compare this to human adoption, it would be like an adopted child receiving the DNA of their adopting parents! As we receive and respond to the indwelling Spirit’s ministry, we are born from above, thus becoming the adopted children of God who are sharing, through the Spirit, in Christ’s own humanity. Here is how John put it in his Gospel:
To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13, NRSV)
In being born from above, adopted as God’s children, we become in ourselves what we already are in Christ. Scripture uses the word adoption (just as it uses the word regeneration) to speak of the deep change in our natures that takes place so that, by grace, we can live the redeemed life—the new, reconciled relationship with God. What Jesus did for us as the Son of God and son of man, the Holy Spirit works out in us, so that by grace we become in our being (nature) the adopted children of God. God is the one who places believers in this renewed relationship with himself—a relationship that affects us down to the roots of our being. Here is how Paul phrased this stunning truth:
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Rom. 8:15-16)
This is the truth, the reality, of the redeemed life. As we head into the season of Advent-Christmas, let’s joyfully worship and praise our triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let’s continue celebrating his glorious plan of redemption, brought about by Jesus, the incarnate, eternal Son of God.
Living the redeemed life and loving it, Joseph Tkach
PS: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week, the next issue of GCI Weekly Update will be published on November 29. See you then!
As a fan of competitive cooking shows, I enjoy it when a chef, having put their heart into preparing a dish, declares, “This creation represents me and my personality—it’s me on a plate!” A statement like that, coming from a chef or some other artist, is not surprising considering that God, the ultimate artist, reveals something of himself in his marvelous creation. As King David exclaimed, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1).
While that is true, there is much about God that we cannot understand on the basis of his creation alone. In many important ways, God is unlike what he created. Consider humans, for example. Though Scripture says we were created in God’s image, we are finite (with a beginning, and a body that one day will die and decay), yet God is infinite (with no beginning or end).
The finite life we enjoy within time and space is a gift from the self-existent, eternal God. To add to the wonder, God, through Jesus and by the Spirit, has opened to us a personal relationship with himself that will never end. As I think about God and his marvelous plan for us, I join King David in declaring that, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Ps. 139:6).
Trying to wrap our minds around the enormity and beauty of our eternal relationship with God is, to paraphrase Paul, like “looking through a glass darkly.” On this side of glory, clothed as we are in a mortal body, we’re like the two-dimensional characters in Edwin Abbott’s novella Flatlandwho are unable to see the third dimension. To them, three-dimensional shapes are mere lines on a flat plane. They can’t imagine what cubes, cylinders, spheres, pyramids and other three-dimensional objects look like.
We too are limited in understanding what lies beyone the time and space within which we dwell. Yet, the Spirit enabled the writers of Scripture to break through those limits to glimpse what lies beyond. Reflecting on some of what he learned, the apostle John wrote this:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when [Christ] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2, ESV)
Here John is referring to God’s promise that a day of resurrection is coming when God will outfit us with a glorifiedbody fit for eternity. Clothed in an immortal body, we will be able to see (and enjoy) the fulness of relationship with God forever.
Resurrection by Signorelli (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
What our resurrection body will be like, we can only surmise. However, we know that in our glorified state we will be different than we are now, as attested by the interactions people had with the resurrected Jesus. Continuing to be human (though now glorified), Jesus had a relationship with time and space quite different than the one he had prior to his resurrection—a difference confirmed in his bodily ascension.
Understanding something of that difference and applying it to us, the apostle Paul was led by the Spirit to note that though what was sown at creation was mortal (subject to death), what will be raised in the resurrection will be immortal (a glorified body not subject to death) (1 Cor. 15: 2, 53-54). Though in our resurrection bodies we will not be God (who, alone, is uncreated) we will be glorified humans like the resurrected man Jesus. Our eternal destiny is to share in Jesus’ glorified humanity!
In creating humanity as finite, God declared us “very good.” I mention that because some erroneously claim that being created finite is why we sin, or is the reason for the existence of evil. Implying that God created us evil, this claim makes God the author of sin. But knowing God hates sin, we would have to conclude that God hates what he created. That conclusion is illogical. The truth revealedin Scripture is that God is not both good and evil—his creation was not made good and evil. Scripture says God is sovereign over sin and evil, which are both alien to his creation. We learn this early in Scripture, especially in the story of Joseph, who having been sold by his brothers into Egyptian slavery, later declared to them, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20, ESV).
Even in our darkest moments on this side of glory, we can rely upon God who has promised that in all things he works for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28). Granted, many times things don’t work out the way we want. Nevertheless, we trust in the One who, unbound by time and space, sees far more than we can even begin to imagine.
I often marvel at how God works in people’s lives to fulfill the promise of Romans 8:28. How he works things out for good is sometimes seen clearly, but at other times it remains hidden, leaving us wondering why things did not go another way. At such times, I’m reminded of an important truth—not being able to see what God is doing (due to our limitations) does not mean that God is not present and at work for our good. Sometimes, it is only years later that we see what God had been doing all along. At other times, we’re still waiting to see. But because we know God, we trust him, eagerly awaiting the time when we will see what we have not been able to see—a vision that God will unfold for us when Jesus returns and we are glorified.
Looking forward to that day and the clarity it will bring, Joseph Tkach
Are science and theology at odds? Unfortunately many people think so. Thankfully, however, many scientists and theologians have come against this dualistic thinking—one well known to us is theologian Thomas F. Torrance. TF regarded theology as a legitimate science and taught that there is a proper way for what he called scientific theology to fruitfully interact with natural science. According to TF, the only way to know how things exist is to know them in a way that accords with what they truly are. He taught that we must adapt our ways of knowing according to the kind of things we’re attempting to know.
According to TF, this disciplined way of thinking is what true science is all about. You can’t know the moon, for example, with a microscope, or a microbe with a telescope. God has to be known according to his kind of existence—according to his transcendent “nature.” Thus, in accordance with TF’s scientific theology, God is known best and definitively only where he has made himself known to finite creatures, that is, according to his own self-revelation.
Knowledge of God and nature are interconnected
Thomas F. Torrance
TF taught that science and theology overlap, and while each has a different object of knowledge (creation in contrast to the Creator) they mutually help us become better knowers in their respective fields. Seeing creation as an integrated whole, TF expected the results of theology to illuminate all that we find out about creation through scientific inquiry.
According to TF, because we come to know God and creation as God’s creatures living in his creation, our knowledge of God and creation must, somehow, be interconnected. However, God is not creation and creation is not God. What we call natural science can tell us about God’s creation, but it cannot give us personal, direct and normative (dogmatic) facts about the nature, character, mind, heart and eternal purposes of God. Only God can give us that knowledge, and that is exactly what he has done fully and finally in the person of his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ—a knowledge that has been preserved for us in Holy Scripture.
While the finite cannot know the Infinite by its own powers, the Infinite can make itself (himself!) known to the finite. As Karl Barth said, “God is not imprisoned in his transcendence”—he can and has made himself known to humans in a creaturely form within the limits of our created being (see John 1:14).
TF strongly opposed the dualism of Enlightenment philosopher Emmanuel Kant by teaching a unitary approach that mirrored those of some of the greatest scientists of all history who were openly professing Christians. Kantian dualism, which imposes an absolute separation between God and the world, arose out of an attempt to develop knowledge of God out of the knowledge of natural created things (including the workings of our minds), apart from God’s historical self-disclosure in the person of Jesus Christ. In contrast, TF described theology as “the unique science devoted to knowledge of God, differing from other sciences by the uniqueness of its object, which can be apprehended only on its own terms and from within the actual situation it has created in our existence in making itself known.”
TF saw science as incomplete apart from theology in that science relies on pre-suppositional basics to work—things like the laws of logic, mathematical truth, the fact that the external world exists, the fact that the past is real and not an illusion of human consciousness, and the fact that the world is so structured that science can describe and predict how the physical world works. TF understood that certain fundamental issues related to the true nature of reality can only be addressed by theology—things like the meaning of life, the foundation for recognizing and affirming the existence of good and evil, the forgiveness of sin, and how to know God.
Critical realism
TF taught that though there are both finite and transcendent realities to be known, they are not necessarily automatically or easily known. Knowing them requires critical thinking and methods for detecting error—for we can get it wrong in both science and theology. This “critical realism” does not put into conflict the dynamics of how we know things with the dynamics of the real being of things we seek to know. TF defined theology as being “a dogmatic, or positive and independent, science operating on its own ground and in accordance with the inner law of its own being, developing its distinctive modes of inquiry and its essential forms of thought under the determination of its given subject-matter.” He then noted that the natural sciences have done exactly the same thing in their investigations of nature.
According to TF, God, who is the object of scientific theological inquiry, sovereignly determines whether and how he will be known. He has done just that according to his holy, loving will through the mediation of the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, the incarnate eternal Son of God. We know God as triune through Jesus Christ by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The triune God has revealed himself to us as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in his own eternal and undivided Being.
The error of natural theology
The strictly natural theologies make the fatal error of setting up theological norms that override those revealed in the Bible concerning Jesus Christ. They determine these norms by what can be discovered in nature and then abstract the existence of God’s being from God’s external actions in nature (within time and space). In doing so, they limit themselves to concepts about God that can be detected within the material world. But on that basis, nothing can be said about who God is in himself—in his eternal being apart from time and space—about who God is in his nature, essence, eternal character. The result is that Jesus is reduced to what we can know of him as just another man (the error of Arius’ teaching).
According to natural theology, what Jesus tells us of the eternal nature and character of God (e.g. that God is Triune, that God is loving in his eternal being, that God can remake and put right the past, that God is entirely faithful and has no evil in his being at all) cannot be trusted because such claims cannot be verified by studying nature (things limited by time and space). What Jesus does cannot, in this mode of thinking, be identified with who God the Father and the Holy Spirit are. The assumed gap between the created and the Creator controls what we can know and believe, before it is even explored. This is because an unscientific method has been applied to the task of knowing God “from below” before the nature of the object of our knowledge is considered. This approach results in a knowledge of God that, at best, leads to deism. It certainly does not lead to understanding the true nature of God, which has been revealed by God in time and space, and flesh and blood in Jesus, the Son of God who is also the son of man.
The value of scientific theology
Scientific theology understands that God’s being and activity in Jesus are one and the same. As TF explained, “unless the Being and Activity of the Spirit are identical with the Being and Activity of the Father and the Son, we are not saved” (The Christian Doctrine of God, p. 169). According to TF, scientific theology…
…seeks to bring knowledge of God into clear focus, so that the truth of God may shine through unhindered and unobscured by the “opacity” of the human mind…. [It seeks] to allow God’s own eloquent self-evidence to sound through to us in His Logos [Jesus Christ] so that we may know and understand Him out of His own rationality and under the determination of His divine being. (Theological Science)
TF embraced the teaching of Athanasius, Irenaeus, Luther, Calvin and Barth that natural knowledge of God’s creation must not be excluded from nor seen in competition with revealed knowledge of creation that comes to us through the incarnate Word of God and biblical revelation. TF held science in high esteem and viewed “men and women involved in scientific endeavor as being the priests of creation” (The Ground and Grammar of Theology). He taught that as we come to know creation we can illuminate its meaning and purpose as it relates to God and God’s ultimate purposes for all things and not just the functioning of various unrelated bits and pieces. Thus our knowledge about creation, scientifically discovered, can become incorporated into part of our worship, personally and corporately. We can show how creation itself, even in some scientific detail, praises and gives glory to God—like the Psalmists did, with their observations of creation.
Nature, illuminated by the Bible, reveals the work and purposes of the triune God. Therefore, there is a proper “natural theology” that is very much unlike what it is usually understood to be. This additional task within “positive theology” integrates knowledge of creation from the top down, rather than from the bottom up. When seeking to fully understand natural things it is entirely proper to include their relationship to God in the light of scriptural revelation about God and what it says about creation. In order to be truly known, the knowledge of all created things, including the Incarnation or humanity of Jesus, must not be pursued independent of, nor abstracted from, the self-disclosure of our Triune God. Nor should theology be constrained by prior assumptions about how God should be known (if at all) as if God were simply another created thing to be known in the same way as all other created things. TF put it this way:
In theology, this means that natural theology [a theological knowledge of created things] cannot be undertaken apart from actual knowledge of the living God as a prior conceptual system of its own, or be developed as an independent philosophical examination of rational forms phenomenologically abstracted from their material content, all antecedent to positive theology. Rather, must it be undertaken in an integrated unity with positive theology in which it plays an indispensable part in our inquiry and understanding of God. In this fusion [of positive theology about God with theological knowledge of created things] “natural” theology [as normally but incorrectly understood] will suffer a dimensional change and will be made natural to the proper subject-matter of theology. No longer extrinsic but intrinsic to actual knowledge of God, it will function as a sort of “theological geometry” within it, in which we are concerned to articulate the inner material logic of knowledge of God as it is mediated within the organized field of space-time. (Space, Time and Incarnation, p. 70)
In TF’s view, there is plenty of room in theological science for scientific knowledge of nature (creation), that is, for the results of natural science. Theological science can explain the basis for why we can know nature and can incorporate what natural science discovers about it. But the practice of natural science cannot ultimately explain itself or God simply on the basis of its own functioning principles. Theology is the more comprehensive discipline and natural science ought to welcome this and make its findings open to theological interpretation. On the other hand, theology (in accordance with TF’s theological science) can remain open to incorporating the actual findings of natural science concerning nature (though not open to the philosophical speculations of some natural scientists).
Conclusion
God has given us both natural science and theological science so that we can know more about him and his relationship to creation and so creation’s relationship to him and to us. Scientific theology describes how we come to know the truth of Holy Scripture in a way that corresponds to the way we discover the truth of the natural world. I love the picture of the light of God shining upon us and revealing more and more of himself to us, thus building our relationship with him as creatures living in God’s creation.
In the novella, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, who proclaimed his disdain for Christmas and all it represents by exclaiming, Bah humbug!
The word humbug is interesting. It’s an archaic word with 18th century origins that refers to deceptive or false talk or behavior. When used of a person, it means that the person is a fraud or a hypocrite. Thus in crying bah humbug, Scrooge was saying that anyone who sees Christmas as a time of joy, peace, hope and love is a fraud. In his warped mind, Christmas is a lie—a clever ruse by which people get out of work and receive undeserved gifts or bonuses. Bah humbug!
In the essay, “The Prevalence of Humbug,” Cornell Professor Max Black notes that “humbug has the peculiar property of being always committed by others, never by oneself.” He then gives the example of a woman who, though healthy and prosperous, complains to Anton Pavlovich that, “Everything is so grey: people, the sea, even the flowers seem to me grey…. and I have no desires… my soul is in pain… it is like a disease.”
In reply, Pavlovich says her unjustified humbug attitude truly “is a disease; in Latin it is called morbus fradulentous.” It seems that the ones who loudly proclaim bah humbug, have succumbed to this “fraudulant disease” themselves.
I suppose the reason the word humbug recently came to mind is that the Advent-Christmas season is just around the corner and that reminds me of the multiple Ebenezer Scrooges I’ve encountered over the years—people who have convinced themselves that everything about Christmas is fraudulent.
I’ve also encountered multiple Scrooges who exclaim bah humbug to the idea that Christianity is about living fully under the grace of God. Sadly, their humbug attitude toward grace is a defining characteristic of many Christian cults. Their viewpoint concerning salvation and the Christian life (sanctification) is known as “works-righteousness,” which they live out by extracting from the Bible various systems of rules and regulations for achieving salvation and spiritual growth. In a word, works-righteousness is legalism, which has two primary layers of deception that we must seek to avoid. Let me explain.
1. The deception that salvation is secured by works
The first layer of legalism is the deception that our works somehow contribute to our salvation. Legalism is grounded in the false premise that Jesus is not sufficient—therefore salvation requires that our works supplement those of Jesus. A legalist might say, “If I do my part, God will do his.” The reason people succumb to this legalistic premise is that it appeals to fallen human nature, which likes to think that we have some sort of capacity to earn, or qualify for, salvation. Fallen nature wants to be able to say, “Look what I’ve contributed!” Life in general provides evidence that supports this false view—as we acquire more information and skill, we get a better job, earn more money and achieve a better status. There is “no free lunch,” and we get ahead due to our own effort. It’s no wonder people project this way of the world onto God and his salvation. But doing so is a tragic mistake that distills down to the false premise that Jesus’ atoning work is somehow deficient or inadequate.
Our fallen human nature pridefully insists that we surely must have something that God needs from us to complete our salvation. But Scripture says just the opposite. In his letter to Christians in Colossae, the apostle Paul proclaimed that “In Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col. 2:9-10). When Paul pleaded with God to remove the “thorn” in his flesh, God’s replied: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7-9). The author of Hebrews adds that “By one sacrifice [Christ, our high priest] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14). The gospel truth is that when it comes to our salvation, Jesus is all-sufficient. We aren’t given salvation as a reward for our works. It is the work of Jesus, not our own efforts, that makes us holy. Our works in service and obedience to God are a thankful response to all that God, in Christ and by the Spirit, has done on our behalf to qualify us for salvation. We cannot qualify ourselves!
2. The deception that salvation is maintained by works
The second layer of legalism is the deception that our works somehow maintain our salvation. This is as much a humbug as the first layer, yet it is seductively deceptive in that it contains a seed of truth. It begins by rightly acknowledging that we all fall far short of God’s perfection. But then the lie creeps in as we think that this separation can somehow be resolved through our own efforts—through a righteousness grounded in our own works. This legalistic deception thus acknowledges that salvation is a gift, but then it embraces the lie that the gift must be maintained by our works.
If you think about it, it’s not possible that our works would somehow maintain our salvation since we know we cannot and do not behave perfectly once we commit ourselves to following Jesus. This is not to say, of course, that our response to God is to throw proper morality out the window and live recklessly. As Paul says, “God forbid!” (Rom. 6:2, KJV). The apostle Peter tells us that once we have tasted God’s goodness, we will continue to grow in our salvation (1 Pet. 2:1-3). That growth has to do with our relationship with our Triune God—Father, Son and Spirit. This is a gift of grace that flows from his love toward us, and the trust we have in his lordship.
Our transformation into the likeness of Christ is a gift we receive by and through the faithfulness of Jesus who, by the Spirit, lives and works within us (Gal. 2:20, KJV). Our salvation, deepening trust, and living communion with God come to us as God’s freely-given gifts. As we live into that communion, we receive upgrades as we learn to trust and obey God—as our faith continues to grow.
Sadly, in the history of Christianity there have always been some who distort the truth of God’s gospel of grace with add-ons that seem like genuine pathways to growth. In reality, these add-ons are legalisms—means employed to try to obtain and then maintain God’s good graces.
Let there be no confusion, brothers and sisters: God has sent Jesus to save us because, from start to finish, we cannot save ourselves!
Giving thanks that there is no humbug with God, Joseph Tkach
PS: Because several members of our Weekly Update production team will be out of the office next week, the next issue of Update will be published on November 1. See you then!
