Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As I write, Tammy and I are in South Africa, where we have the joy of participating in two conferences with GCI brothers and sisters from various parts of the world. The first conference, now complete, was the International Mission Developers’ Conference in Johannesburg. The second, still in session, is the Pan-African Conference in Bela-Bela, north of Pretoria (see the map below). In this Weekly Update letter I’ll give you a brief report on each one.

Pan-African Conference

In this conference, hosted by Kalengule Kaoma and co-hosted by Tim Maguire, 70+ elders and other congregational leaders representing GCI churches in Africa are meeting with our Mission Developers and members of our home office team.

This is my first opportunity to meet several of our African church leaders. I’m humbled by their enthusiasm for the gospel and their love for our GCI church family. They traveled here from Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Sadly, some African leaders were unable to attend the conference. Leaders from The Congo, Nigeria and Uganda could not obtain visas. Illness and other difficulties prevented the attendance of leaders from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritius, Namibia, Reunion, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania and Togo. Our prayers are with them and we hope to see them in the future.

International Mission Developers (MD) Conference

Prior to the Pan-African Conference, our International Mission Developers met for four days with several GCI national leaders (Anthony and Jane Gachanja from Kenya, Gavin Henderson from the UK, and Emmanuel and Margaret Okai from Ghana), and members of our home office team (Charles Albrecht, Gary Deddo, Rick Shallenberger, Nathan Smith, Greg and Susan Williams, Tammy and I). During the conference, which was hosted by Tim Maguire, each MD gave a report concerning the region they serve. I’ve provided excerpts of their reports below.

• John McLean, representing Australia, reported that churches that formerly preached what they were against, now share the inclusiveness of Christ. In a nation where helping others is part of the culture, our churches follow suit by reaching out to their communities, finding ways to help. They realize that if they want a seat at the community table, they must be actively involved within the community.

• Robert and Tonia McKinney, representing the Caribbean (standing in for Charles and Carmen Fleming, who were unable to attend for health reasons), shared that they are looking for more ways to equip the next generation. They also are training existing pastors and ministry leaders by offering ACCM classes throughout the Caribbean.

• Tim Maguire, representing the southern part of Africa, noted that he too is focused on training younger people for ministry. He shared that two younger men have recently been ordained and another has been approved. The “church under the tree” we’ve told you about is now meeting in a tent. That congregation consists of about 80% youth—they get excited when older people join!

• James and Shirley Henderson, representing Europe and the UK, talked about the challenge of being a Christian in Europe where believers are seen as suspect or archaic. Though this presents a challenge to our churches, they are excited about being part of GCI, and are reaching out within their communities. Much of the congregational ministry is conducted by volunteers, so James asked us to pray for these volunteers and for ideas on how to train and promote volunteerism.

• Eugene and Lulu Guzon, representing the Philippines, said that because of the relational nature of the Philippine people, evangelizing is more natural and people come to church because of those relationships. The latest trend is that people are coming to GCI because they find the message encouraging and positive—we have become known as a place to escape legalism. Over the last year, 150 members and three churches were added.

• Hector and Paulina Barrera, representing South America, are focused on discipleship. They have started a one-year training program to teach the Bible and theology to new leaders. Evangelical churches are growing in South America, and Hector and his team want to have leadership ready for that growth. Hector and Paulina will host next year’s MD Conference in Bogotá, Colombia.

• Kalengule and Nsama Kaoma, representing eastern and western parts of Africa, talked about working with youth camps and with youth and children’s ministries to identify potential new pastoral leaders. Kalengule also told about his Pastor’s Basket project where he gives volunteer or partially compensated pastors seed money to invest in helping sustain their families. Some grow vegetables, others bake bread or other products to sell.

• Gary and Wendy Moore, representing Canada, talked about how an influx of immigrants into Canada (most are Christians) are having a positive impact in Canadian churches. Many of our GCI congregations in Canada have partnered with our congregations in Africa. Their contributions have made a tremendous impact on the growth in these African congregations. Wendy shared a devotional suggesting the difference between Christians and non-Christians is not about behavior, church affiliation or adherence to a moral code, but about our attitude of gratitude. As Wendy said, “The big story is that God has created, man has fallen, God has redeemed and will bring redemption to completion. For that we are eternally grateful.”

• Rod and Ruth Matthews, representing southern Asia and the South Pacific, gave daily updates on the impact of the recent devastating earthquake in Nepal. Our ministry partner in Nepal, along with his family and the 16 orphans in his home, were not harmed, but the infrastructure in that nation will take years to rebuild. We’ve sent money from our GCI Disaster Relief Fund to help. Rod mentioned two young teachers in Myanmar who recently contacted us and are excited about translating GCI literature into their local dialects.

• Greg and Susan Williams, representing the United States and Mexico, shared stories from the U.S. about how God has built things seemingly ex nihilo (out of nothing). Greg’s prayer is that God, who can do anything, will continue building up GCI by allowing the impact of his love to move us forward. Susan gave updates concerning Grace Communion Seminary and answered questions about classes and degree programs. She said, “Visiting South Africa has been a remarkable experience that I will not forget. The beautiful smiles and generous hospitality were vivid reminders of the bond we share in Christ. Our joyful fellowship demonstrated the messages of Christ’s love given by several conference speakers.”

A highlight of the MD conference was a presentation from Gary Deddo entitled “Jesus Christ: Spirituality, Eschatology, and the Kingdom of God.” Gary noted that in the Christian life, hope is as important as faith and love. Our hope is in Jesus and his kingdom. We live now with the first-fruits (the down-payment) of the kingdom—having the inheritance, yet waiting in hope and with patience for the day when the glory of our Lord’s reconciling victory over death and evil will be fully revealed. The Father, Son and Spirit will bring to completion all that God has begun both in us and throughout the entire universe down through history. Living now in that hope (along with faith and love), we provide a living sign of the kingdom’s coming fullness and of Jesus’ present rule and reign in every area of life—in every relationship, including our primary relationship of worship with the Father, Son and Spirit.

Enjoying our international connectivity,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

If asked to identify the oldest living thing, some might point to Tasmania’s 10,000-year-old pine trees [1] or its 40,000-year-old shrub [2]. Others might point to the 200,000-year-old seagrass on the coast of Spain’s Balearic Islands [3]. As ancient as these plants may be, the oldest living thing is far older—it’s the eternal God, who is revealed in Scripture to be living love. Love is God’s nature, and the intra-personal love of the Trinity has existed from before creation. There never has been a time when true love did not exist because our eternal, Triune God is the Source of authentic love.

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (d. 430), emphasized this truth by referring to the Father as “Lover,” the Son as “Beloved,” and the Spirit as the love existing between them [4]. Out of his infinite abundance of love, the Triune God created all that exists, including you and me. In The Triune Creator, theologian Colin Gunton argues for this Trinitarian explanation of creation, noting that we must consider the whole biblical witness and not just the Genesis creation accounts. Gunton notes that this approach is not new—it’s how the early church understood creation. For example, Irenaeus noted that a Trinitarian perspective requires viewing creation in the light of what happened in Jesus. The God who created everything out of nothing (ex nihilo) did so with great purpose—out of love, in love, and for love.

As T.F. Torrance and his brother J.B. liked to say, creation was the result of the overflow of God’s love. This is seen clearly when God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). In the phrase “Let us…” we find a hint of God’s triune nature. Some interpreters disagree, saying that viewing this as a reference to the Trinity is to impose New Testament understanding on the Old Testament. They typically explain either that “Let us” is a literary device (the “majestic we”), or that God is talking with the angels as his co-creators. But Scripture never attributes creative powers to angels. Further, we should interpret all Scripture through the lens of Jesus’ person and teaching. The God who said “Let us,” was the Triune God whether or not ancient humans knew it.

As we read the Bible through the lens of Jesus, we come to understand that God’s creation of humankind in his image is a profound expression of God’s nature, which is love. In Colossians 1:15 and 2 Corinthians 4:4, we learn that Jesus, himself, is the Image of God. Jesus images the Father to us because he and the Father are one in being in a relationship of perfect love. Scripture tells us that Jesus is connected to creation (including humankind), referring to him as the “firstborn” of creation. Paul calls Adam (the first man), the copy (“type”) of Jesus “the one who was to come” (Romans 5:14 NRSV). Jesus is thus the prototype of all humanity. Paul also calls Jesus the “last Adam,” who as the “life-giving spirit,” renews fallen Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), thus transforming humankind into his own image.

As Scripture tells us, we have “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10), and “we all, who with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). He is the true Image of God, who in taking on our human nature, “tasted death for everyone.” By uniting himself to us, Jesus sanctified us and made us his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:9-15). We have been created and now are being re-created according to the image of the Son of God who, himself, images for us the holy loving relationships in the Trinity. We are to live and move and have our being in Christ, who has his very being in the tri-personal communion of love of the Father, Son and Spirit.

In Christ and with Christ, we are God’s beloved children. But sadly, those lacking understanding of God’s Triune nature of love easily miss this important truth, embracing instead various misunderstandings:

• Tritheism, which denies God’s unity, claiming there are three separate and distinct gods, thus making any relationships between them external and not essential to God’s nature.
• Modalism, which teaches that God is a single being who appears at various times in one of three different modes. This teaching also denies any relationships internal and eternal to God.
• Subordinationism, which teaches that Jesus is a creature (or a divine being who is less than the Father) and thus not eternally the divine Son of God. This teaching also denies that God in his being is a triune relationship of holy love for all eternity.
• Other teachings, though affirming the doctrine of the Trinity, fail to grasp its deepest glory: that the Triune God is loving in his very being before there ever was a creation.

Understanding that the Triune God is, in his very nature, love, helps us see that love is the foundation of all things. At the center of that understanding is that all things come from and revolve around Jesus who reveals the Father and sends the Holy Spirit. Thus, the place to start in understanding both God and his creation (including humankind), is in asking this question: Who is Jesus?

It is inescapably Trinitarian that the Father has created all things and established his kingdom by placing his Son at the center of his plan, purpose and revelation. The Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. The Holy Spirit, who doesn’t speak of himself, constantly points to the Son, thus glorifying the Son and the Father. The Father, Son and Spirit delight in this triune interaction of love. And when we, God’s children, confess Jesus as Lord, we do so by the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father. As Jesus predicted, true worship is “in spirit and in truth.” When we worship the Father, Son and Spirit, we are worshiping the oldest living thing who, in love, created us to love him and dwell with him forever!

Feeling loved,
Joseph Tkach

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[1] http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=3240

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/20/world/australians-report-40000-year-old-shrub.html

[3] http://www.dogonews.com/2012/2/10/ancient-seagrass-may-be-the-worlds-oldest-living-organism

[4] Classical Trinitarian Theology, a Textbook by Tarmo Toom, T&T Clark, 2007, pp. 153-54.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Several years ago, a brother in Christ from another denomination approached me with a sense of urgency. He said he had a “word of knowledge” for me from the Lord. He said God wanted me to know that unless I went to a particular church in Toronto or Pensacola to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God would remove me from church leadership within six months and our denomination would disappear within a year. Wanting to be polite, I didn’t say what I was thinking: “I believe Jesus is telling me not to listen to you!”

Though I believe the Spirit, from time to time, gifts some with special wisdom and discernment, this brother’s message was clearly the invention of his own imagination. Over the years, many have felt the need to share with me a word of knowledge or a prophecy, which they claim is from the Lord. On one occasion, a gentleman declared that he wanted to anoint and ordain me. I explained that I already had been ordained and wasn’t sure why he wanted to anoint me (I wasn’t feeling sick—at least not until he mentioned this “word”!). It reminded me of the people who audition for one of those TV singing contests. Though they sound awful, they get angry when the judges won’t let them on the show!

Though I’ve had several of these experiences over the years, the only times the prophecy was true, was when it mirrored (coincidentally?) what already is revealed in Scripture. One time, a woman who said she was a prophetess brought me this message from the Lord: “God loves you!” She seemed taken aback when I replied, “He loves you too!” She seemed genuinely surprised when I then told her that God’s love for all people is one of the fundamentals of the faith. I mentioned that the old song is true, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I think she walked away disappointed.

On another occasion, a man told me that God told him to “wash my feet.” He seemed surprised when I replied that his message was more for him than for me—perhaps God was telling him to serve me and others in practical ways. It’s sad that some people are motivated to convey a “word of knowledge” for others, yet they do not hear God’s already-revealed word for them!

Those who have come to me with a word of knowledge or a prophecy generally have not brought a new revelation. Not a single one of these prophecies has come to pass. But that’s no surprise, because the purpose of prophecy is not to foretell the future but to point to Jesus, who is the center of God’s plan of redemption. As the apostle John wrote, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Jesus declared that all Scripture (and that includes all its prophecies) point to him (John 5:39). As declared by the author of Hebrews: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus is now our prophet, as well as our priest, sage and king.

When someone proclaims that the Spirit has given them a special gift, they (perhaps unwittingly) imply that the Spirit is operating separately from Jesus and the Father. Some even proclaim that the Spirit gets “the short end of the stick” when he doesn’t receive as much worship as do the Father and the Son. They seem to conceive of the Trinity as three-in-competition rather than three-in-communion. But let me be clear: The Spirit has not altered God’s plan of redemption; has not displaced Jesus as the center of all prophecy; and never works separate from Jesus and the Father. The Spirit never does anything outside the unity and communion of the Trinity.

Jesus explained that the Spirit is sent to guide us into all truth and in doing so does not speak on his own. He is sent to do the will of the Father. The Spirit comes from the Father, through the incarnate Son, and actualizes within us all that God accomplished for us in Christ. Elmer Colyer put it this way in an article entitled “Thomas F. Torrance on the Holy Spirit”:

Jesus, our brother, does all of this for us on our behalf and in our place in and through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is born of the Spirit. At his baptism, Jesus was anointed for us with the Spirit without measure, for he received the Holy Spirit into the very humanity Christ assumed in the incarnation. Jesus Christ lived out his entire earthly life and ministry in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Everything our Lord did, he did in the communion of the Spirit, including his death and resurrection. So it is no isolated or naked Holy Spirit who comes upon the church at Pentecost, but rather the “Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7), the Holy Spirit who was fully engaged in the life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord.

Just as Jesus does not do anything behind the back of the Father, neither does the Holy Spirit work independently of the Father and Son. T.F. Torrance talked about the Spirit “hiding behind the Father” and bringing the “radiance of God’s glory to bear upon us.” The Holy Spirit does not have a separate agenda nor does he give messages separate from what the Word is saying. Note this from T.F.:

Like Christ the Holy Spirit is one in being and of the same being as the Father, but unlike Christ the Holy Spirit is not one in being and of the same being as we are, for he incarnated the Son but does not incarnate himself, he utters the Word but does not utter himself. He directs us through himself to the one Word and Face of God in Jesus Christ in accordance with whom all our knowledge of God is formed in our minds, knowledge of the Spirit as well as of the Father and of the Son. This is the diaphanous self-effacing nature of the Holy Spirit who hides himself, as it were, behind the Father in the Son and behind the Son in the Father, but also the enlightening transparence of the Spirit who by throwing his eternal Light upon the Father through the Son and upon the Son in the Father, brings the radiance of God’s Glory to bear upon us. We do not know the Holy Spirit directly in his own personal Reality or Glory. We know him only in his unique spiritual mode of activity and transparent presence in virtue of which God’s self-revelation shines through to us in Christ, and we are made through the Spirit to see the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father.

When the Scripture speaks of the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is not speaking of things separate from the Father or the Son. The fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.), are characteristics of the Son that we share in through the indwelling Spirit. Likewise, the gifts of the Spirit (including the “word of knowledge”) are not separate from the Father or the Son, and are given principally to encourage and embolden the faith of the recipient.

Let me close with this from T.F. Torrance: “What Jesus Christ does for us and to us, and what the Holy Spirit does in us, is what God himself does for us, to us, and in us” (Christian Doctrine, p. 95). Now that’s a word of knowledge!

Looking to Jesus, the one true prophet,
Joseph Tkach

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Note: the cartoons in this issue are used with permission from Naked Pastor (www.nakedpastor.com).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On the way out of church one Sunday, a young boy announced: ”Mommy, I’ve decided to become a minister when I grow up.” She replied, “That’s okay with us, but what made you decide that?” “Well,” said the little boy, “I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, and I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell, than to sit and listen.”

Thankfully, most of our pastors and other preachers are not into yelling, though I chuckle remembering being “yelled at” in sermons when I was growing up.

I’m reminded of another story about preaching: A boy was watching his father, a pastor, write a sermon. “How do you know what to say?” he asked. “Why, God tells me,” his father answered. The boy then asked, “So, why do you keep crossing things out?”

Certainly God puts in our hearts both the desire to preach and the content of the message, and yet we have our part to play—a part that certainly challenges us. When I sense God sharing something with me during times of study and meditation in Scripture, I often desire to share what I’m learning with others through a sermon or article. God, who desires to be known, uses our preaching to tell people about his nature, character, heart, mind and purpose as revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ. As Martin Luther said, “Beyond all the might and the power of the world and of all creatures, Christ proves his ability to draw the hearts of men to himself through the Word alone.” Our preaching should deliver God’s Word, the gospel, to God’s beloved children. In emphasizing the importance and power of that type of preaching, Martin Luther said this:

The lips are the public reservoirs of the church. In them alone is kept the Word of God… Unless the Word is preached publicly, it slips away. The more it is preached, the more firmly it is retained. Reading it is not as profitable as hearing it, for the live voice teaches, exhorts, defends, and resists the spirit of error. Satan does not care a hoot for the written Word of God, but he flees at the speaking of the Word (Luther’s Works, volume 18, p. 401).

Luther believed that the Holy Spirit was uniquely at work in the preaching of God’s Word. John Calvin held the same belief and emphasized a verse-by-verse, expository method. He would spend months preaching through books of the Bible. His series in Acts took more than three years. He gave 186 sermons in Corinthians, 353 in Isaiah and 200 in Deuteronomy. Now, I’m not recommending we do exactly as Calvin did. He preached ten times every two weeks, but most of us preach once a week at most. However, there is much to be said about having a thorough knowledge of Scripture—understanding who it is written to and what events were occurring when it was written, then keeping that knowledge under the umbrella of the most important exegetical question of all: Who is Jesus?

I marvel at what occurs between the delivery and reception of a sermon. The ideas the preacher seeks to convey sometimes are quite different from what an individual listener receives. On several occasions someone thanked me for “the very clear point” they heard in my sermon. When they describe that point, I wonder if they heard what I actually said! It’s not that they weren’t listening, or were hearing what they wanted to hear. God had a message just for them. That God often works in this way is one of the reasons I spend a lot of time in prayer during sermon preparation.

When I preach, I seek to follow Jesus’ method of using stories, humor and drama, with references to common practices of contemporary culture. Story-telling is one of the most effective tools in preaching. I seek to faithfully communicate the expository background/context of the passage, then illustrate the application of its main point by telling a relevant story. Though listeners may not remember all the background, they will often remember the story and its main point.

The church’s founding fathers, who also were preachers, tended to tell stories to effectively communicate the message of the gospel. In the book of Acts and the Epistles we find Peter, John and Paul sharing stories of their personal journey with Jesus. We also find this narrative approach in the sermons of such notable preachers as John Chrysostom (the “golden mouth” preacher), Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, John Knox, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon and David Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Though none of us are famous preachers, our sermons still are of great value, particularly when well-prepared. In his book for preachers, Between Two Worlds, John Stott says it takes at least 12 hours to prepare an effective sermon. Though many of our preachers are unable to devote that much time, I urge us all to make sermon preparation a high priority. As noted above, that includes time in prayer.

Effective sermons clearly communicate the gospel and leave the audience wanting more. Many of us have experienced a child squealing with delight when we lift them into the air and spin them around. Their first response is often, “Do it again!” So we lift and twirl them again, only to hear, “Do it again!” and again and again. When we tire and put them down, they still call out for more. Effective preaching is like that. When we tell the story and make our point, people respond with, “Tell us more!”

Jesus exhorts us to embrace a child’s wide-eyed enthusiasm and trust that wants more and more of God’s Word. There have been many times when I’ve heard a sermon that was 90 minutes or longer, but because it was so captivating, seemed only a few minutes long. Then there were other sermons that after only 10 minutes felt like two hours! That’s why I remind preachers that it’s better to finish with the audience wanting more, than to have them wish they had left early.

I thank our pastors and other preachers for their labor of love in giving effective sermons. Let us all remember that when we preach, we have opportunity to share the exciting, encouraging, powerful, inspiring and life-giving good news (gospel) of God grace. Concerning that grace, note this from T.F. Torrance:

Grace is to be understood as the impartation not just of something from God but of God Himself. In Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit, God freely gives to us in such a way that the Gift and the Giver are one and the same in the wholeness and indivisibility of His grace.… (Reality and Evangelical Theology, pp. 14-15).

When people come to church, they need to hear from God about that grace. They need to hear about God’s love, and about how, in love, he works to change them from the inside out, and works to transform the entire world, often in hidden ways. As we bring this word (the gospel), through our preaching, I believe “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7, NRSV) will be released into people’s lives. As a result, an energy and trust to live faithfully despite temptations and trials will be fostered in them by the Spirit. I pray you will not become weary in this vital task, and that together we will co-minister with Jesus, setting up signs of his kingdom through the effective preaching of his Word.

Now it’s time for me to get to work on my next sermon…

Preaching the Word with you,
Joseph Tkach

PS: Dan Rogers is putting together a course in preaching at Grace Communion Seminary. It takes a while for new courses to be developed and approved. We’ll let you know when this new course is first offered.

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Note: the three paintings above are public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Leading up to Holy Week, my Weekly Update letters have focused on Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. Now that Holy Week has come and gone, it would be easy to turn our focus elsewhere. But Jesus must remain our focus throughout the year. He alone is the final and ultimate revelation of who God is (Hebrews 1:3) and he alone is our mediator: “For there is one God, there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human” (1 Timothy 2:5 NRSV).

Jesus’ two natures—divine and human—are inseparably united in what theologians call the hypostatic union. And Jesus’ mission shows just how much God is with us and for us. Indeed, we can’t overstate the importance of Christ’s vicarious work—his work in our place, on our behalf. The truth that the atonement is accomplished by, in and through the incarnate Son of God, is truth that sets us free. Knowing who Jesus is and what he has done for us helps us grow in understanding the reconciliation we have with God and each other. In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we are set free to love. Allow me to explain some related concepts:

Vicarious

In A Passion for Christ, the Vision that Ignites Ministry (a book Gary Deddo and I highly recommend), brothers Thomas, James and David Torrance define the word vicarious as “speaking and acting in place of another, on that other’s behalf.” They note that this is exactly what Jesus did for us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. To speak of Jesus’ vicarious humanity is to indicate that all Christ did in his humanity was done in our place and on our behalf.

Recently, I’ve written about Jesus being baptized for us, going through the wilderness and being tempted for us, dying and entering into darkness for us, and rising from death into life in order to take us with him in the ascension to our Father. In all this work for our salvation, Jesus did not play a merely instrumental role (like a tool used to build something). Rather, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit planned together for Jesus to fulfill in his own Person and work the pivotal role in our salvation. The atonement, in its entirety, is accomplished in, with and through Jesus: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Objectification

God objectified himself in Christ without becoming impersonal. When the Son of God became human, he became an object we can see and touch and worship. He was God to man. And when Jesus assumed our humanity, he also became the appropriate response from man to God as led by the Holy Spirit. Note T. F. Torrance’s comment in his book, God and Rationality:

[Jesus Christ] is in Himself not only God objectifying Himself for man but man adapted and conformed to that objectification, not only the complete revelation of God to man but the appropriate correspondence on the part of man to that revelation, not only the Word of God to man but man obediently hearing and answering that Word. In short, Jesus Christ is Himself both the Word of God as spoken by God to man and that same Word as heard and received by man, Himself both the Truth of God given to man and that very Truth understood and actualized in man. He is that divine and human Truth in His one Person. In his incarnate constitution as God and man joined in reconciling union, Jesus Christ is both the objective revelation of God and the appropriate response and conformation of man to divine revelation. He is not only the Truth (cf. John 14:6) spoken from the highest, he is also the perfect response to that Truth, heard and actualized from within the ontological depths of the fallen humanity he assumed in the incarnation.

Mediation

I like to say that in the Incarnation of Jesus, we have “double fact.” Others call this the “twofold, inseparable movement of mediation.” First, as Torrance likes to phrase it, “Jesus is God’s language to humanity.” But it doesn’t stop there. Second, Jesus is humanity’s true and faithful response to God. Jesus Christ is our true word and gives true speech for humanity to God. In other words, Jesus Christ mediates the things of God to humanity and simultaneously mediates the things of humanity to God.

Let me illustrate this from God’s relationship with Israel, beginning with Abraham. The eternal Son of God, who is one with the God revealed in the Old Testament, later reveals himself, the Father and the Spirit when he becomes incarnate as the person Jesus Christ. Lovingly and patiently, God worked in covenant relationship with Israel as his chosen people. We see this with Abraham when God provided a sacrifice in place of Isaac, Abraham’s beloved son. In this event there not only was instruction against child sacrifice, it served as the prototype of what the Son of God would do himself following the Incarnation.

Because God knew that Israel would not (indeed could not) fulfill their side of the covenant to live as holy, obedient people, God gave his people under the old covenant a liturgy different than that of the pagans. While Israel and the pagans all celebrated spring and fall harvest festivals, Israel was given divinely prescribed patterns for worship that signified the fact that only God can forgive sin, remove guilt and reconcile people to himself. All of Israel’s sacrifices and ordinances, as well as the priesthood itself, were vicarious ways of covenant response to God.

Because of God’s faithfulness and love for Israel, he gave them an experiential way to worship. However, as the Old Testament tells us, Israel repeatedly abandoned worship as given to them by God. In doing so, they failed the mediating priestly mission that they had been given on behalf of all nations. In contrast, Jesus, through his life, death, resurrection and ascension, was the perfect, unfailing response to God that Israel was unable to provide.

Jesus not only took on Israel’s affliction of failure, he assumed all of humanity’s brokenness and made it his own in order to heal it. In this we see Jesus’ twofold ministry, the “double fact” I mentioned above. Jesus mediates and intercedes from God to humanity and from humanity back to God. The old covenant highlights this truth in a number of ways: “I shall be your God and you shall be my people,” “I am holy, be you holy,” and “I will be your Father and you will be my son.” These declarations concerning Israel are fulfilled perfectly in Jesus who is both the covenant-making God and the true, singular, faithful Israel. Note this related comment from T.F. Torrance in one of his papers:

It is the whole incarnate life of Christ vicariously and triumphantly lived out from his birth to his crucifixion and resurrection in perfect obedience to the Father within the ontological depths of his oneness with us in our actual fallen existence, that redeems and saves us and converts our disobedient alienated sonship back to filial union with the Father. That is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (“The Atonement, The Singularity of Christ and the Finality of the Cross: The Atonement and the Moral Order,” 1993).

Jesus is fully God and fully human—God with us and God for us. He is the Word spoken to humanity and the Word heard and received by humanity. He is God’s relationship to us—through him we are in relationship with God. He is the God others could see and hear and worship and he is our worshipful response to God. Jesus is our atonement. He is our mediator. He is our focus—not just during Easter season but every day of the year. It is in Jesus that we live and move and have our being.

Staying focused on Jesus,
Joseph Tkach

PS: On April Fools’ Day, folks like to make jokes. My son, Joseph Tkach III, was part of an online joke you can watch at http://youtu.be/IlCx5gjAmqI. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, fake commercial about a high-tech product in which my son plays chief innovation architect Dr. Joseph C. Minkhuni. Enjoy!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Near the end of his Gospel, the apostle John made these intriguing comments: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book…. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 20:30; 21:25). Given these comments, and noting differences among the four Gospels, we conclude that these accounts were not written to be exhaustive records of Jesus’ life. John says his purpose in writing was that “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). The focus of the Gospels is to tell the good news about Jesus and the salvation that is ours in him.

Though in verse 31 John attributes salvation (life) to the name of Jesus, it’s common for Christians to speak of being saved by Jesus’ death. Though this short-hand statement is correct as far as it goes, relating salvation exclusively to Jesus’ death can stunt our understanding of the fullness of who Jesus is and all he has done to save us. The events of Holy Week remind us that Jesus’ death, though vital, is part of a larger story that includes our Lord’s incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension. All these are intrinsic, inseparable milestones of Jesus’ one redemptive work—the work that gives us life in his name. During Holy Week, and throughout the year, let’s look to Jesus—the complete salvation package.

Incarnation

Jesus’ birth was not the ordinary birth of an ordinary man. Unique in every way, it was the beginning of the Incarnation of God himself. In Jesus’ birth, God came among us as a human in the way all humans since Adam have been born. Remaining what he was, the eternal Son of God took on a whole human life, from beginning to end—birth to death. In his one Person, Jesus is both fully divine and fully human. In this stunning statement we find an eternity’s worth of significance that merits an eternity of appreciation.

Through the Incarnation, the eternal Son of God stepped out of eternity and into his creation of space and time to become a man of flesh and blood: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Jesus was indeed a genuine full-fledged man, but at the same time he was fully God—one in being with the Father and Spirit. The birth of Jesus fulfills many prophecies and is the promise of our salvation.

The Incarnation did not end with Jesus’ birth—it continued throughout his earthly life, and continues today in his glorified human life. The Son of God incarnate (in the flesh), remains one in being with the Father and Spirit—the fullness of the whole God is present and active in Jesus—making the human life of Jesus uniquely significant. As Romans 8:3-4 says, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Paul further explains that we are “saved through his life” (Romans 5:11).

The life and work of Jesus are inseparable—all part of the Incarnation. The God-man Jesus is the perfect high priest and mediator between God and man because he partook of the nature of man and reclaimed humanity by living a sinless life. His sinless life helps us understand how he can maintain a relationship with both God and man. While we typically celebrate his birth at Christmas, the events in Jesus’ whole life are always a part of our total worship, including during Holy Week. His life reveals the relational nature of our salvation. Jesus brought together, in his own person, God and humanity in perfect relationship.

Death

For some, the short-hand declaration, we are saved by Jesus’ death, carries with it the unfortunate misconception that Jesus death was a sacrifice that conditioned God into being gracious. I pray that we all see the fallacy of this notion.

T.F. Torrance writes that with a proper understanding of the Old Testament sacrifices, we will see Jesus’ death not as a pagan offering for the sake of forgiveness, but as a powerful witness to the will of a merciful God (Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, pages 38-39). Pagan systems of sacrifice were based on retribution, but Israel’s was based on reconciliation. Under Israel’s system, rather than sacrifices and offerings being given to earn forgiveness, God provided them to cover for and remove the people’s sin so that they would be reconciled to God.

Israel’s sacrificial system was designed to make manifest and to witness to God’s love and mercy, pointing to the purpose of Jesus’ death, which is reconciliation with the Father. Jesus death also defeated Satan and the power of death: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Paul adds that Jesus “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). Jesus’ death is the atoning part of our salvation.

Resurrection

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, which fulfills many Old Testament prophecies. The author of Hebrews tells us that Isaac being saved from death is a picture of resurrection (Hebrews 11:18-19). The book of Jonah tells us that Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster “three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). Jesus related that event to his death, burial and resurrection (Matthew 12:39-40; Matthew 16:4, 21; John 2:18-22).

We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with great joy because it reminds us that death is not permanent. It’s a temporary step toward our future—eternal life in communion with God. At Easter we celebrate Jesus’ victory over death and the new life we will have in him. We look forward to the time spoken of in Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” The resurrection is the hope of our salvation.

Ascension

Jesus’ birth led to his life and his life led to his death. But we cannot divorce his death from his resurrection and we cannot separate his resurrection from his ascension. Jesus didn’t just come out of the grave and live as a human being. Now a glorified human, Jesus ascended to the Father, and it was not until that great event occurred that he finished the work he started.

In the introduction to Torrance’s book Atonement, Robert Walker wrote this: “The ascension is Jesus’ taking of our humanity in his person into the presence of God into the union and communion of the love of the Trinity.” C.S. Lewis put it this way: “In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend.” The glorious good news is that in ascending, Jesus took us up with him: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7).

Incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension—all vital parts of our salvation and thus our worship during Holy Week. These milestones point to all Jesus has accomplished for us through his whole life and whole work. Throughout the year, let’s take in more and more of who Jesus is and all of what he has done for us. He is the complete salvation package.

Holy Week blessings to you and yours,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his Gospel and epistles, the apostle John tells us that God is light, love and life. These three key words are especially appropriate to consider as we approach Holy Week, which begins this Sunday (March 29). The apostle Paul also uses these three words in his epistles, where typically they appear in connection with the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Echoing Jesus’ proclamation in John 10:28-29, Paul declares that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, emphasis added). In his first letter to Timothy, Paul indicates the connection between life and light:

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen (1 Timothy 6:12-16, emphasis added).

The biblical revelation is that our triune God is one and acts as one. We could summarize the Triune God’s unity of action by saying that the Father calls light and life into existence, the Holy Spirit illumines our lives with his light, and Jesus Christ is sent as the light and life of the world. Our Triune God does all this out of the overflow of their eternal holy love: “For God so loved the world.”

Light, love and life. Something about these three words evokes pleasure, and that leads to celebration. Have you noticed that weddings, renewal of vows, and even fundraising events are referred to as “celebrations of love”? Christmas and independence days are called “celebrations of light.” Late-life birthdays, funerals and memorial services are called “celebrations of life.” Such celebrations view light, love and life as gifts. But do people know the gift-giver?

In Scripture, light, love and life are interrelated as gifts that flow from the very being of God: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). The story of Jesus is about this light coming into the world to give us life because of the love of the Father. Indeed, light, life and love convey the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is seen in the last three days of Holy Week, which focus on Jesus’ passion (suffering), death and resurrection. These are three aspects of one, indivisible, unrepeatable, unique event that points us to one, indivisible person—Jesus Christ.

The one great event of Jesus’ “passover” from life to death, then back to life is called the Holy Triduum (and sometimes the Easter or Paschal Triduum). The word triduum (meaning “three days”) was first used by Augustine to express the essential unity of the three-day-long Paschal event beginning at sunset on Maundy Thursday (many GCI churches hold a Last Supper commemoration service that evening), leading into Good Friday (when we remember Jesus’ crucifixion and death), followed by Holy Saturday (when we remember Jesus lying in the tomb), and culminating with Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

Though Holy Saturday often is overlooked in Protestant churches these days, it has been emphasized throughout Christian history. Orthodox Christians refer to it as “the Great and Holy Sabbath.” Part of their liturgy is to sing “This is the Day the Lord has Made,” taken from Psalm 118, the last Psalm of Passover, which was believed to be the hymn Jesus last sang with his disciples. Coptic Christians refer to it as “The Saturday of Light” and “Joyous Saturday.”

We should not miss the imagery of Holy Saturday, which portrays Jesus’ lifeless body spending the Sabbath in the darkness of death, buried in the tomb. As explained by the apostle John, this imagery points us to the light and life of God: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). John reminds us that darkness and death did not hold Jesus in bondage. God entered the darkness and broke through. The good news for all is that, for the sake of his love, God brings resurrection light to dispel all darkness; to bring life out of death.

Because of Holy Saturday, we need not fear the dark. When young, my sisters were afraid of the dark and wanted a night-light in their bedroom. But then they experienced some panic when seeing strange shadows. I remember what my mother said to comfort them: “God is always with us, even in the dark.” My mom’s words were a cogent reminder that God loves us in ways we cannot imagine. He loves us in our darkness, ignorance and foolishness. Hearing we are forgiven and that, in Christ, there is no condemnation for us, not only makes me appreciate the depth of God’s love, it makes me want to light up fireworks! I sometimes dream of enjoying supernatural light shows when we experience eternal life in the fullness of God’s kingdom.

It is the light of God that reveals reality to us. Physically, we are unable to distinguish color in the dark. Darkness hides dangers, while light exposes them. We need light to see. We need God to see reality. The three days stretching from Maundy Thursday through Good Friday, to Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday point to three aspects of one great event—what Jesus has done to reclaim, redeem and reconcile us to God, bringing us into the radiant light of the glory of God. It was the love of God that sent the light of God to bring us into the life of God.

Living with you in God’s love, light and life,
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a helpful Holy Week meditation by Gary Deddo entitled, “Don’t Cry for Jesus” go to https://update.gci.org/2014/04/dont-cry-for-jesus/.

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Picture credits (top to bottom): It is Finished by Liz Lemon Swindle (used with permission); Jesus at the Tomb by Jean-Jacques Henner (public domain via Wikimedia Commons); Resurrection of Christ by Carl Heinrich Bloch (public domain via Wikimedia Commons).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Often when travelling, I’m asked to speak to GCI churches, conferences and board meetings. Sometimes I’m asked to give the closing benediction. When doing so, I frequently use the blessing Aaron proclaimed over the children of Israel in the wilderness (the year after their flight from Egypt, long before entering the Promised Land). On that occasion, God was instructing Israel concerning administration of the Law. The people were restless and rather passive (after all, they had been slaves all their lives!). Likely, they were wondering: “God delivered us out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and gave us his Law. But here we are, still wandering in the wilderness. What now?” God did not reply with details of his plan for them. Instead, he encouraged them to look to him in faith:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace'” (Numbers 6:22-26).

I envision Aaron standing before God’s beloved children, arms outstretched, proclaiming this benediction. What an honor it must have been to pronounce the Lord’s blessing upon his beloved. As you’ll recall, Aaron was the first high priest from the tribe of Levi:

Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever (1 Chronicles 23:13).

Pronouncing a blessing was a profound act of worship—representing God to his people in order to encourage them—in this case during the difficult sojourn between Egypt and the Promised Land. This priestly benediction invoked God’s name and blessing, so that his people might live with assurance of the Lord’s mercy and provision.

Though this benediction was first spoken over a people weary and frustrated with wilderness wandering, I see an application for us today. There are times when we’re unsure about the future, feeling like we’re wandering in a wilderness of our own. At such times we need words of encouragement to remind us that God has blessed us and will continue to keep us. We need to remember that God does make his face shine on us, is gracious to us, and gives us peace. Above all, we need to remember that because he loves us, God has given us his Son, Jesus Christ—the great and ultimate high priest who, himself, fulfills the Aaronic blessing.

Holy Week (also called Passion Week) begins in a week and a half with Palm Sunday (Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem), followed by Maundy Thursday (commemorating the Last Supper), Good Friday (where God’s goodness toward us was manifested in the greatest sacrifice of all) and Holy Saturday (when Jesus lay in the tomb). Then comes the glorious eighth day—Easter Sunday, which celebrates the resurrection of our great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God (Hebrews 4:14). This season of the year powerfully reminds us that we have been and continually are blessed “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

Yes, we all face times of uncertainty. But we rest in peace knowing how greatly God has blessed us in Christ. Like a mighty river whose waters flow from its source out to far lands, God’s name moves before the world. Though we don’t see the full extent of this movement, we stand in awe at what we do see. Truly God has and is blessing us, and Passion Week is a powerful reminder.

Though the people of Israel heard Aaron’s priestly benediction and, no doubt, were encouraged, they soon forgot God’s promises. Part of the reason had to do with the limitations, even failings, of the human priesthood. Even the best and most faithful of Israel’s priests died. But God had something (someone!) better in mind. The book of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, who lives forever, is our permanent high priest:

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Hebrews 7:25-26).

The image of Aaron stretching out his arms over Israel to impart a blessing points us to an even greater high priest, Jesus Christ. The benediction that Jesus pronounces over God’s people far exceeds Aaron’s blessing (though it extends, intensifies and personalizes it):

I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (Hebrews 8:10-12).

Jesus pronounces a benediction of forgiveness that reconciles us to God, healing our broken relationship with him. It’s a benediction that transforms us—extending deep into our hearts and minds. It draws us up into deepest fellowship and communion with God. Through the Son of God, our brother, we know God as our Father. And by his Spirit we become his beloved children.

As I reflect on Passion Week, there is another reason this benediction has great significance for us. As Jesus was dying on the cross, his arms were outstretched. His precious life, poured out as a sacrifice for us, was a benediction—a forever blessing on the world. Hanging on the cross, Jesus asked the Father to forgive us in the midst of our sin, then he died that we might live.

Following his resurrection, and just before his ascension, Jesus gave another benediction:

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Luke 24:50-52).

In essence, Jesus was saying to his disciples, both then and now, “I myself bless you and keep you, I make my face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; I lift up my countenance upon you and I give you my peace.”

May we continue to live under the benediction of our Lord and Savior, no matter what uncertainties we may be facing.

Looking to Jesus in faith,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

While reading a list of the 100 best novels written since 1900, I noted two by Vladimir Nabokov. Not being familiar with this author, I checked him out on Google (ah, the marvels of search engines!) and found that in addition to being a famous novelist, he is known for coining the term doughnut truth, which refers to truths with holes in them, making them less than the full truth. It struck me that some of the current explanations of Christ’s sacrifice are doughnut truths of a sort. Let me explain.

“Jesus died to appease the wrath of God brought about by your sins” is a message being thundered from many pulpits. The idea is that Jesus had to interpose himself between God and us and suffer in order to absorb all of God’s wrath towards sinful humanity. Many Christians accept this penal-substitution theory of the atonement (sometimes called the forensic theory) as the Bible’s primary teaching on the topic. Sadly, an overemphasis on this theory leaves the impression that Christ died not as a substitute for sinners, but as a substitute object for God’s punishment. The mistaken idea is that God the Father had to take his anger out on someone—as if inflicting pain and suffering on someone would itself make things right.

There are significant problems with this theory (model) of the atonement. One is that the Bible uses not one but several models to describe the riches of Christ’s atoning work on our behalf, including the sacrificial model, the economic model of exchange (redemption), the familial or filial model of family (reconciliation), the marital model (fidelity), and the healing model (peace, shalom). As Gustaf Aulen points out in Christus Victor, An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement, the Bible also presents a Christ the victor (Christus victor) model of the atonement, which was the primary one taught by the early church fathers. According to this model, “The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death and the devil” (Christus Victor, p. 20). Rather than going to the cross to appease God’s wrath, Christ did so to claim victory over the bondage of sin, the threat of death and the power of the devil, thus making all things subject to himself. Just as God delivered Israel from the bondage of oppression into liberty, so God delivers us from these terrible forms of oppression into true freedom in Christ.

Some theologians, such as Gregory Boyd and Scot McKnight, teach that the Christ the victor model should be seen as the Bible’s central model of atonement and the forensic model should be viewed as only one of several. Some theologians who support the centrality of the forensic model offer cautions about doing so. J.I. Packer warns that it should not be based singularly on human models of justice (which often is retaliatory or reciprocal) and should not be understood as an automatic explanation of how penal substitution really works. John Stott, in The Cross of Christ, lists multiple cautions about misrepresenting the nature of the atonement.

It certainly is true that Christ’s death paid the price, the cost, the debt and even the penalty of our sin. Jesus did rescue us from the consequences of our sin and experienced those consequences in order to overcome them and transform them on our behalf. But the penal substitution model of the atonement can be taken too far. Here are some common ways:

• Misrepresenting the Father as forcing the Son to do what he didn’t want to do—making the will of God divided and opposed between the Father and the Son.
• Misrepresenting the Son as manipulating, appeasing or cajoling the Father into changing his mind about condemning humanity—again, making the will of God divided.
• Characterizing the Father’s wrath as being pitted against the love of Christ. This mistake pits God against God as if the character and purpose of God are divided, at odds.
• Modeling the atonement after human models of retribution or vengeance, which are rooted in violence and tend to look more like child abuse than grace—as if human wrath “works the righteousness of God,” when it does not.
• Portraying the sinner as the object of God’s wrath instead of the sinner’s sin. This mistaken approach loses sight of the biblical truth that God’s aim is to separate the sinner from the sin, so that the sin can be done away with and the sinner redeemed.
• Viewing the Old Testament sacrifices as God pouring out his wrath on the animals used for sacrifice—sending them to “hell” on behalf of Israel. The truth is that the sacrificial animals were not being punished, but as unblemished creatures were sacrificially giving their lives so that there might be life in others where there was only death.
• Misrepresenting forgiveness as God making exceptions for sin in the lives of some. The truth is that God is implacably opposed to all sin everywhere, and through Christ made a way to condemn all sin, yet rescue sinners, giving them new, regenerated natures and making everything new.
• Portraying God as being absolutely separate from sinners. This misrepresentation flies in the face of God dwelling among Israel and the entire story of the Incarnation.
• Attributing to God a role that actually is Satan’s (whose name means “accuser”), thus making God out to be the accuser of humanity (because humanity is unholy and unworthy) and portraying God as desiring sinners’ condemnation rather than their repentance (the mistake made by Jonah!).
• Viewing grace as a secondary, separate and optional work of God after his primary and necessary work of judicial justice has been accomplished.
• Separating God’s justice from God’s love; his righteousness from his mercy and grace.
• Portraying God as more bound by his own rules of retributive justice (punishing the bad and rewarding the good) than by his restorative righteousness and desire for the reconciliation of his covenant love (where God’s righteousness aims to put things right).
• Placing an exclusive emphasis on sinners being saved from the penalty or consequences of sin, rather than on the sinner being saved from sin and being given a share in Christ’s renewed and glorified human nature. The truth is that we are saved from sin and for a right relationship of holy love with God as his beloved children.
• Overlooking the incarnation, the cross and the resurrection, and thus the truth that the Son of God became the new Adam—the new head of humanity—who came to reconcile the world to God on behalf of the Father and in the Holy Spirit, and not to condemn the world.

Faithful and accurate consideration of the atoning work of Christ will take into account the whole of the biblical story and teaching. When one aspect of that truth is singled out and developed in isolation, distortion inevitably results. But when we assemble all the pieces, giving all of them full weight while keeping Jesus at the center, we’re on the right track. That holistic approach keeps clearly in mind Christ’s relationship to the Father and the Spirit, and his relationship to us, and why he came. This is what the apostle Paul did in writing that God poured his love out lavishly upon us in Jesus Christ in order to condemn sin in his flesh so that we might have his new life and love in us by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:7-8; Romans 8:3-4). The author of Hebrews adds that Jesus Christ paid the price to bring this reconciliation about freely and gladly, united in heart, mind and will with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 12:2; 9:14). The Bible teaches that Jesus’ atoning work was an act of the eternal, divine love of the Father, Son and Spirit.

We understand God and his lavish love for us through Jesus’ life and especially through his self-giving death. As T.F. Torrance notes in The Mediation of Christ, “the cross is a window opened into the very heart of God.” The cross reveals a God who is passionately in love with the world, not one who is furiously angry with it. Indeed, God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Yes, God hates sin, but he hates it because it hurts the world that he loves; it hurts his beloved creation. God does not pour out his wrath on the object of his love—Jesus or any of his other children. Jesus did not go to the cross to appease an angry God, but to show clearly the unconditional love of a Father, Son and Spirit whose greatest desire is to be in relationship with us. And that’s not doughnut truth—it’s whole, gospel truth!

Appreciating Christ’s sacrifice,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We watch spellbound as the magician, wrapped in chains and secured by padlocks, is lowered into a tall tank of water. The top is then closed and the magician’s assistant stands on top, draping the tank with a shroud of cloth, which she lifts above her head. After only a moment or two, the shroud is dropped and to our surprise and delight, the magician stands on top of the tank with his assistant now inside, chains securing her. This sudden, mysterious “exchange” happens right before our eyes. We know it’s an illusion, but how the seemingly impossible was accomplished is not revealed so that this act of “magic” can be repeated to the surprise and delight of other audiences.

Some Christians view baptism as if it is an act of magic—at the moment one goes under the water, sins are washed away and the person is made new. But the biblical truth about baptism is far more exciting. It’s not the act of baptism itself that accomplishes salvation—Jesus does that as our representative and substitute. Nearly 2,000 years ago, he saved us through his life, death, resurrection and ascension.

It’s not in the act of baptism that we trade places with Jesus—exchanging our filth and sinfulness for his righteousness. Jesus doesn’t take on the sin of humanity each time a person is baptized. He did that once, for all, in his own baptism, life, death, resurrection and ascension. The glorious truth is that our baptism is a sharing, by the Spirit, in Jesus’ baptism! We are baptized because Jesus, our representative and substitute, was baptized for us. Our baptism is a sign and pointer to his. We put our trust in Jesus’ baptism, not our own.

It’s important to realize that salvation is not about what we do. As the apostle Paul wrote, it’s about Jesus—who he is and what he has done (and continues to do) on our behalf: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

With Holy Week only a few weeks away, thoughts of celebrating my baptism have begun to stir. The baptism I have in mind is more than my own in the name of Christ many years ago—it’s the baptism with which Jesus himself was baptized as the representative (vicarious) man I wrote about last week.

In his vicarious humanity, Jesus is the last Adam. As a human being like us, he was born, lived, died and was resurrected with a glorified human body and ascended into heaven. When we are baptized, we join Jesus in his baptism—his baptism applied to us by the Holy Spirit. In other words, when we are baptized, we are baptized into Jesus.

This baptism is fully Trinitarian. When Jesus was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist (see the painting above), the Trinity was present: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17).

Jesus was baptized in his role as the one mediator between God and humanity. He was baptized on behalf of humanity, and our baptism signifies our participation in the full and vicarious humanity of the Son of God. Baptism has a basis in the hypostatic union through which God draws near to humanity and humanity draws near to God (hypostatic union is a theological term derived from the Greek word hypostasis, which describes the inseparable union of Christ’s divinity and humanity—making Jesus fully God and fully man at the same time). As Christ is fully divine and fully human, by his nature he draws God near to us, and us near to God. Here is how T.F. Torrance explained it:

For Jesus, baptism meant that he was consecrated as the Messiah, and that he, the Righteous One, became one with us, taking upon himself our unrighteousness, that his righteousness might become ours. For us, baptism means that we become one with him, sharing in his righteousness, and that we are sanctified in him as members of the messianic people of God, compacted together in one Body in Christ. There is one baptism and one Body through the one Spirit. Christ and his Church participate in the one baptism in different ways—Christ actively and vicariously as Redeemer, the Church passively and receptively as the redeemed Community.

When Christians think they are saved by the act of baptism, they are misunderstanding who Jesus is and what he has done as Messiah, mediator, reconciler and redeemer. I love the answer T.F. Torrance gave when asked when he was saved: “I was saved about 2,000 years ago in the death and resurrection of Jesus.” His answer articulates the truth that salvation is not in the experience of baptism but in the work of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. When we talk about our salvation, we are transported back in time to the moment in salvation history that had little to do with us, and everything to do with Jesus. It was the moment when the kingdom of heaven was inaugurated and God’s original plan to elevate us was sparked in time and space.

Though I did not fully understand this four-dimensional reality concerning salvation when I was baptized, it is no less real, no less true. The sacraments of baptism and communion are about Jesus uniting himself to us and us to himself. These grace-filled expressions of worship are not about our timing, but about what occurred in God’s timing. So whether we were baptized by sprinkling, pouring or immersion, the reality is what Jesus did for us all in his atoning sacrifice.

In GCI, we follow Jesus’ example and typically baptize by full immersion. However, that is not always possible—most prisons, for example, do not allow baptism by immersion. Also, many infirmed people cannot be immersed, and it’s appropriate that infants be sprinkled. Some humorously refer to Jesus’ encounter with the thief on the cross as baptism by “dry cleaning.”

Let me wrap this up with another quote from T.F. Torrance:

All this helps to make it clear that while baptism is both the act of Christ and the act of the Church in his Name, it is to be understood finally not in terms of what the Church does but in terms of what God in Christ has done, does do and will do for us in his Spirit. Its meaning does not lie in the rite itself and its performance, nor in the attitude of the baptised and his obedience of faith—even the secondary reference of baptism, by its nature as a passive act, in which we receive baptism and do not administer it to ourselves, directs us to find its meaning in the living Christ who cannot be separated from his finished work and who makes himself present to us in the power of his own Reality (Theology in Reconciliation, p. 302).

As I look forward to Holy Week and the celebration of Jesus’ passionate sacrifice for us, I find myself thinking fondly of the day I was baptized by immersion and how much better and deeper I now appreciate Jesus’ act of obedient faith on our behalf. My hope is that a better understanding that your baptism is a real joining with Jesus in his baptism will be a cause for celebration as you head into the Easter season.

Appreciating our baptism,
Joseph Tkach