Category: Hear From the President

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

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Scripture tells us that Jesus, our High Priest, was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). This powerful truth is represented in the historic Christian teaching that Jesus, in his humanity, is the “vicarious man.”

Vicarious is a Latin word that means “in place of another,” or “on another’s behalf.” Through the Incarnation, the eternal Son of God, while remaining God, became human. Calvin referred to this as the “wondrous exchange.” T. F. Torrance used the word substitution: “In the incarnation, the Son of God abased himself, substituted himself in our place, interposed himself between us and God the Father, taking all our shame and curse upon himself, not as a third person, but as one who is God himself” (Atonement, p. 151). In one of his books, our friend Chris Kettler refers to “the deep interaction between Christ’s humanity and our humanity at the level of our being, the ontological level.”

In his vicarious humanity, Jesus represents all humanity. He is the second Adam who is far superior to the first. Representing us, Jesus was baptized for us—the sinless one baptized for sinful humanity. Our baptism then is a participation in his. Representing us, Jesus was crucified and died for us so that we may live (Romans 6:4). Then Jesus rose from the grave, making us alive with him (Ephesians 2:4-5). Then he ascended, seating us with him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). Everything Jesus did, he did in our place, on our behalf. And that includes being tempted on our behalf.

I find it encouraging to know that Jesus went through the same temptations I face and overcame them in my place, on my behalf. To face our temptations and overcome them was one of the reasons Jesus went into the wilderness following his baptism. Even though the enemy was there to interfere, Jesus prevailed. He is the overcomer—on my behalf, in my place. Understanding this makes a world of difference!

In my Weekly Update letter last week, I wrote about the crisis that many face concerning their identity. I shared three unhelpful ways that people typically identify themselves: by what they do, by what others say about them and by what they possess. It’s interesting to note that the three temptations faced by Jesus in the wilderness had to do with all three of these identity factors.

You will recall that in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (in Matthew and Luke), the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy. Jesus did not go through these trials alone. He was accompanied by the Holy Spirit. He was never alone—just as we are never alone.

After 40 days of prayer and fasting, the enemy came to Jesus and said, “If…” Now that’s a big word, and I suggest that many of our own temptations start with the word “if.” “If I could just…” “If you are…” “If you had your way…” etc. Satan taunted Jesus with the words, “If you are the Son of God…” In doing so, Satan was tempting Jesus to doubt his true identity in relationship to his heavenly Father—to lead him to think he needed to prove his identity and act in certain ways to secure it for himself.

Satan sends similar temptations our way—calling into question our relationship to God and leading us to think that we, by our own efforts, must achieve our identity as children of God. But Jesus exposes the lies of these temptations hidden behind all of the “ifs.”

Jesus’ first temptation involved the false assumption, I am what I do. Satan said, ”If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” In other words, prove to yourself that you really are the Son of God. See if you have miraculous powers to feed yourself and demonstrate your self-sufficiency!

The second temptation involved the false assumption, I am what others say about me. Satan said to Jesus,“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down and let the angels rescue you.” In other words, prove to yourself that you are the Son of God by seeing if the angels will obey your command and then if others witnessing this spectacle will confirm to who you are.

Jesus’ third temptation involved the false assumption, I am what I possess. Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, fall down and worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.” In other words, prove you are the Son of God by having all the rulers of the world under your authority as you ought to. Simply submit to my authority to take possession of them all.

Jesus saw through the false assumptions behind each temptation. With each one he replied, “It’s a lie!” For Jesus, there was no “If I am the Son of God,” but always “Because I AM the Son of God.” Jesus knew there was nothing he needed to do or possess to be who he truly was. Jesus knew who he was and remained secure in his relationship with the Father, confident in the Father’s faithfulness. Under the pressure of temptation, the Holy Spirit, who had sent him into the wilderness in the first place, was there to remind him. Knowing who he was, Jesus had no need to prove it to himself. He had no need to act independently from his Father, out of unbelief, as if he could not trust his Father’s love and provision.

Torrance reminds us that Jesus, being the Son of God, did not need to go through and overcome temptation for himself. In his vicarious humanity, Jesus met and overcame these temptations on our behalf: “It was for our sakes and in our place that Jesus lived that vicarious life in utter reliance upon God and in laying hold upon his mercy and goodness” (Incarnation, p. 125). Jesus did this for us knowing clearly who he was—the Son of God and the Son of Man.

For us to be delivered from temptations in our lives, it’s essential that we know who we truly are. As sinners saved by grace, we have a new identity—we are Jesus’ beloved brothers and sisters, God’s dearly loved children. This is not an identity we earn, and certainly not one others can give us. No, it’s something God has given to us through the vicarious humanity of his Son. We simply trust him to be who he is for us and then receive from him this new identity with much thanksgiving.

We take strength knowing that Jesus overcame for us the deceit of Satan’s subtle, yet powerful temptations concerning the nature and source of our true identity. As we live in Christ, secure in that identity, we will find that what used to tempt us and make us fall becomes less and less powerful. We grow in strength as we embrace and live into our true identity—secure in knowing it is ours in relationship with the triune God who is faithful and full of love for us his children.

If we are not secure in our true identity, temptations likely will set us back. We may doubt we are Christians, or that God loves us unconditionally. We might be tempted to think that being tempted means God has begun to withdraw from us. But knowing our true identity as God’s dearly beloved children is a freely-given gift. We can rest secure knowing that Jesus, in his vicarious humanity, overcame all temptation for us—in our place and on our behalf. Knowing this enables us to stand back up when we fall (and we will), make whatever amends we need to make, and trust God to lead us forward. In fact, confessing that we have fallen and are in need of God’s forgiveness are signs that God remains unconditionally faithful to us. Were he not, had he actually abandoned us, we never would turn back to him to receive again his freely-given grace and thus be renewed in his welcoming embrace.

Let us look to Jesus who was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. Let us rely on his mercy, his love, his strength. And let us praise God because Jesus Christ, the vicarious human, has overcome for us.

Living in his grace and truth,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In our high-tech world, all it takes to make a fake ID is some photo paper, a couple of laminating sheets and an ability to use retouching software. A survey of 1000 U.S. university students (reported on LiveScience.com) found that two-thirds had fake IDs—typically used to gain entry to dance clubs and bars. While these students pretend to be someone they are not for the sake of under-age drinking, many people in our world experience the ongoing pain and frustration of a much deeper identity crisis.

In writing about this crisis, Henri Nouwen noted that for most people, identity is a function of three factors: what they do, what others say about them and what they possess. When they do well, they feel good about themselves. But when they do poorly, they feel bad. When the apostle Paul assessed himself by his own performance he declared this: “What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:24). Fortunately, Paul learned that his true identity resided in Christ, not in his own Law-based performance.

When our identity is grounded in the factors mentioned by Nouwen, our emotions will run the full gamut. When we’re affirmed, we’ll feel good. But when people speak ill of us, we’ll be devastated. This is especially true when people speak religious-sounding “you are not” statements like these: “You are not known by God—not forgiven—not worthy—not important—not loved.” Such statements cause us to question our value and can lead to a self-identity that is grounded in shame and even self-loathing.

Sadly, much of humanity lives under the terrible burden of a badly mistaken identity. Why? Because they do not know Jesus the incarnate, crucified, ascended Son of God and son of man. Not knowing they are God’s beloved children in union with Christ, they think that they are self-sufficient and must make their own way. But an identity disconnected from the truth about humanity in Christ, is a mistaken one that leads eventually to frustration and pain.

What people need is to hear is the message proclaimed by the angels to shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” This news comes with a wonderful promise: “Peace to those on whom his [God’s] favor rests.” Yes, there is joy and peace in knowing that God sent his Son to become one of us, to speak our language, to feel our pain and to show us that God forgives us no matter what we’ve done. Even when we try to run from him, or act as if he is not there, or refuse his help, God remains our loving Father, our Abba. That good news of God’s grace defines our true identity as God’s beloved children. It’s good news that needs to be shared with others—indeed, doing so is our mission.

The reality of God’s love and grace does not mean that God has turned a blind eye to evil. No, God hates evil because it hurts his children. Evil destroys right relationship with God and promotes lies about his nature and character. In Jesus, God dealt decisively with evil—taking upon himself the suffering it brings, showing that he alone has the right to forgive sin. In Christ, the barrier between God and humanity caused by evil is torn down. This truth calls upon us to live in the light of who God is and who we are in relationship with him. Yes, we can return to a fake identity if that’s what we want, but who would want that?

Scripture is clear: we were dead but now are alive; lost but now are found (Luke 15:24). We were dead in sin but now are alive to God in Christ (Romans 6:11). We were in darkness but now the light of Christ has dispelled the darkness (2 Peter 1:19). Remember Paul’s words to the church at Corinth:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

From God’s perspective, the astounding change from “out of Christ” (dead) to “in Christ” (alive) took place in an instant. But for us, it’s often a long journey of awakening to this stunning reality. It can take time to fully embrace the truth of our true identity in Christ. That identity is not a function of what we do, what others say about us, or what we possess. Our true identity is in Christ—our sharing in who he is and what he has done. It’s also based on what Christ continues to do—on his continuing ministry by which he administers God’s unconditional love and grace to undeserving sinners. What the Father said to Jesus at his baptism, he now says to us: “You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” That, dear one, is your true identity. Embrace it!

Living in my true identity,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

As you know, we’re in a time when the aging Boomer generation is leaving the workforce, making leadership succession a pressing reality in all sorts of places, our church included. In GCI, we have an increasing number of denominational and congregational leaders reaching the stage in life when they are retiring from active pastoral leadership. In noting this, I’m not implying that our older leaders need to step aside at a particular age. However, as we get older (and I include myself), we must give careful thought to the issue of leadership succession.

As we age, it’s natural that our energy level and overall health become limiting factors and those in leadership roles need to step aside to be replaced by those who are younger. With this in mind, we have increased our efforts to prepare younger members for church leadership. In the U.S., we have the GCI Intern Program, Generations Ministries leadership development programs, and other initiatives. I’m grateful that many of our congregations are actively addressing this issue by creating “open lanes” for younger adult members to participate in leadership. In all these ways and more, I see God answering a prayer I have prayed for a long time—that he would raise up in GCI a new generation to take up the mantle of church leadership.

Good planning helps minimize the times we might stumble in “passing the leadership baton.” Pastoral transitions are particularly delicate, yet they can be accomplished in a healthy way when we work together. Our U.S. Church Administration and Development (CAD) staff have established a process for pastor succession, and we have similar processes in place outside the U.S.

Please cooperate with those processes, including planning well in advance for leadership transitions. Why? Because the unexpected often occurs, as reflected in the well-known Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will (and Murphy was an optimist!). I’m also reminded of some corollary laws:

• Nothing is as easy as it looks.
• Everything takes longer than you think.
• If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
• If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly develop.
• Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
• Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
• Every solution breeds new problems.
• It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
• Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

I firmly believe that God calls ministers to particular leadership roles. But I also believe that leaders have a responsibility to prepare for the future care of their congregations and ministries. Think of it this way: What God anoints, we appoint. We have an important calling to shepherd leadership succession processes within our areas of responsibility. In doing so, it’s vital to proactively seek God’s direction and take other steps to prepare well in advance for leadership transitions. When we do, great joy results—a joy that often “passes understanding,” because it can mean that we decrease in order that others might increase. “Passing the baton” is not always easy. When it appears to have been easy, it’s because God’s grace prevailed.

With all this in mind, I urge our established leaders to take positive steps toward preparing for leadership succession within their congregation or ministry. Let’s work with our teams to prepare for the transitions that are coming. Such transitions are inevitable—the only question is whether they will be done well.

Successful succession processes minimize the drama involved. One factor that heightens drama is when established leaders are unwilling to step aside so that others can step up (are they struggling to let go of the honor and esteem that go with their office?). Another factor is existing leadership teams failing to adapt to new leadership (including not letting incoming leaders re-fashion the team).

To avoid such drama, we have succession processes in place. I call on our established leaders to actively engage those processes, approaching them with a selfless, cooperative spirit, trusting God to lead us in identifying and appointing new leaders. In the U.S., our regional pastors are there to assist in lead pastor succession—please enlist their involvement early on. The GCI-USA policy is that when lead pastors reach age 62, they are to have a discussion with their regional pastor concerning plans for eventual leader succession. Outside the U.S., lead pastors should contact their regional director or mission developer. This advance planning helps avoid all sorts of problems. Remember Booker’s Law: “An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.”

Let’s be reminded that leader transitions are not just about the established leaders—they are also about the congregations and the ministries they have been called to serve. None of us has our “own” ministries—there is only one ministry and it belongs to Jesus, the Great Shepherd. We are his “under-shepherds,” called to protect and care for our Lord’s ministry and his people. We must not be possessive of what was never really “ours.” Leader transitions call for careful shepherding of God’s flock so it is “strengthened” instead of “scattered” (Ezekiel 34:1-6). Leader transitions need to be handled with great care and in a timely way so that a congregation has time to adjust, say their goodbyes, and process through the grief that inevitably occurs. Thank you, my brothers and sisters, for your cooperation in this important matter.

Yours in Christ,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I find it amusing when people exclaim, “If I can’t see it, I won’t believe it.” I often hear this said when people express doubt that God exists or that he includes all people in his grace and mercy. Seeking not to cause offense, I point out that we don’t see magnetism or electricity, yet we know they exist by their effects. The same is true with wind, gravity, sound and even thought. In all these ways we experience what is called “imageless knowing.” I like to refer to such knowing as invisible visibility.

For years we could only speculate about what was in the skies, relying on unaided eyesight. Today with the help of telescopes (like the Hubble Telescope), we know much more. What once was to us “invisible” is now visible. Yet not everything that exists is visible. Dark matter emits no light or heat—it’s invisible to our telescopes. Yet scientists know that dark matter exists because they have detected its gravitational effects. A quark is a tiny theoretical particle that makes up protons and neutrons in the nucleus of atoms. Along with gluons, quarks also make up more exotic hadrons such as mesons. Though none of these sub-atomic particles has been observed, scientists have detected their effects.

There is no microscope or telescope by which God can be seen, for as Scripture tells us, God is invisible: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). There is no way to “prove” the existence of God using physical instruments. Yet we believe God exists because we have experienced the effects of his unconditional, outgoing love. That love, of course, is most personally, intensively and concretely revealed in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we see what his apostles concluded: God is love.

Love, which itself cannot be seen, is God’s nature, motivation and purpose. As T. F. Torrance puts it: “The constant and ceaseless out-flow of the Love of God which has no other reason for its movement than the Love that God is, is therefore [poured out] entirely without respect of persons and irrespective of their reactions” (Christian Theology and Scientific Culture, p. 84). God loves because of who he is, not because of who we are or what we do. And that love is manifested to us in God’s grace.

While we cannot fully explain the invisible—like love or grace—we know it exists because of what we partially see. Note I use the word partially. We don’t want to fall into the trap of assuming the visible explains the invisible. T. F. Torrance, who studied theology and science, postulates the opposite to be true; the invisible explains the visible. To make his point, he uses the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), where the vineyard owner hires workers throughout the day to work in the fields. At the end of the day, each worker gets paid the same even though some worked hard the whole day and others only worked a couple of hours. For most common laborers, this seems unfair. How could someone who only works an hour get the same wage as someone working all day?

Torrance points out that fundamentalist and liberal exegetes miss the point of Jesus’ parable, which is not about wages and fairness but about God’s grace, which is unconditional, generous and powerfully transforming. This grace is not based on how long we’ve worked, how long we’ve believed, how much we’ve studied, or how obedient we’ve been. God’s grace is based entirely on who God is. By giving this parable, Jesus makes “visible” the “invisible” nature of the God of grace who sees and does things quite differently than we. God’s kingdom is not about how much we earn—it’s about God’s lavish generosity.

Jesus’ parable tells us that God offers his amazing grace to all. And while all are offered the gift in the same measure, some choose to live in the reality of that gift sooner and thus may have opportunity to enjoy it longer than those who have not made that choice. The gift of grace is the same for all; what each person does with it varies widely. It is when we live in grace that what had been invisible to us becomes visible.

The invisibility of God’s grace does not make it any less real. God gave himself to us, in person, so that we can know and love him—so that we can feel his forgiveness and enter into a relationship with him as Father, Son and Spirit. We live by faith and not by sight. We have experienced his will in our lives—in our thoughts and actions. We know God is love because we know who he is in Jesus Christ, who “has made him known” (John 1:18). We feel the power of God’s grace as we come to know that his purpose is to forgive and to love us—to give us the amazing gift of his grace. As Paul says, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

Living in his grace,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A few weeks ago, while listening to Billy Joel’s song, “New York State of Mind,” I was scanning the news online. Coincidentally, my eyes fell on an article explaining that the state of New York had recently passed a law making it illegal to pierce or tattoo pet animals. It amused me to learn that a law like this is needed. Apparently the practice has become a trend. I doubt many New Yorkers took note of the passage of this law since it was only one among many recently enacted in the state.

By their very nature, governments (local, state and federal) have legalistic tendencies. They certainly enact a lot of laws! For the most part, they do so seeking to make the world a better place. But some laws are needed simply because people lack common sense. Whatever the reason, CNN reported that within the U.S. in 2014, 40,000 new laws were enacted at the state level.

Why so many laws? Largely because we humans, with our bent toward sin, find loopholes in existing laws. As a result, more and more laws are needed. Few would be necessary if laws were capable of making people perfect. But they aren’t. The purpose of law is to restrain imperfect people in order to promote social order and harmony.

In his letter to the churches in Rome, Paul wrote about the limitations of the law that God gave to Israel through Moses: “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…” (Romans 8:3). Not understanding these limitations, Israel’s religious leaders added bylaws and amendments to the law of Moses. It got to the point where it was nearly impossible to keep track of these laws, let alone obey them. And no matter how many laws were enacted, perfection was never achieved (and never will be) through law keeping. And that was exactly Paul’s point. God did not give the law to make his people perfect (righteous and holy). Only God, by grace, does that.

When I contrast law and grace, some accuse me of hating God’s law and encouraging antinomianism (the belief that one is released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law). But nothing is further from the truth. Like anyone, I wish people were better law-keepers. Who wants lawlessness to abound? But as Paul reminds us, it’s vital to understand what the law can and cannot do.

In his mercy, God gave Israel the law, which includes the Ten Commandments, to guide them along a better path. That’s why Paul said that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). But by its very nature, the law is limited. It cannot bring about redemption nor free anyone from guilt and condemnation. The law cannot justify or reconcile us, much less sanctify and glorify us. Only the grace of God through the atoning work of Jesus working in us by the Holy Spirit does that. As Paul wrote to the Galatians: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). Karl Barth made a similar point in a sermon he preached to inmates at a prison in Switzerland:

Let us hear therefore what the Bible says and what we as Christians are called to hear together: By grace you have been saved! No man can say this to himself. Neither can he say it to someone else. This can only be said by God to each one of us. It takes Jesus Christ to make this saying true. It takes the apostles to communicate it. And our gathering here as Christians to spread it among us. This is why it truly [is] news, and very special news, the most exciting news of all, the most helpful thing also, indeed the only helpful thing.

Some people upon hearing the good news (gospel) worry that God’s grace won’t work. Legalists in particular worry that people will turn grace into license. They can’t grasp the truth revealed in Jesus that our lives are about relationship with God—co-ministering with him rather than usurping his role as Creator and Savior.

Our role in living and sharing the gospel is to proclaim God’s love and to be an example of gratitude for God’s self-revelation and intervention in our lives. Karl Barth wrote in Church Dogmatics that this obedience to God begins in the form of gratitude: “Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning.” Barth commented further:

When God loves, revealing His inmost being in the fact that He loves and therefore seeks and creates fellowship, this being and doing is divine and distinct from all other loving to the extent that the love of God is grace. Grace is the distinctive mode of God’s being in so far as it seeks and creates fellowship by its own free inclination and favor, unconditioned by any merit or claim in the beloved, but also unhindered by any unworthiness or opposition in the latter—able, on the contrary, to overcome all unworthiness and opposition. It is in this distinctive characteristic that we recognize the divinity of God’s love.

I imagine your experience is not that different from mine when it comes to the topic of law and grace. Like you, I’d much rather have a relationship with someone that flows from love than one compelled by law. Because of God’s love and grace toward us, we desire to love and please him. Sure, I can seek to obey him out of a sense of duty, but I’d rather co-minister with him as the outflow of a genuine relationship of love.

Thinking about living by grace reminds me of another Billy Joel song, “Keeping the Faith.” Though not theologically precise, its chorus makes an important proclamation:

When the memory stays, yeah
I’m keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
I’m keeping the faith,
Yes I am

Living by grace and keeping the faith with you,

Joseph Tkach

PS: Anthony Mullins and Mike Rasmussen shared with me a video of a performance by Kyle Brownell of a piece of “slam poetry.” He performed this at our CrossWalk Camp in Oklahoma. It’s called “Saved By Grace” and the lyrics declare the good news in a profound and personal way. Watch and enjoy on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pxgCEKE51c&feature=youtu.be.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

My grandparents immigrated to the U.S. several years before the Russian Revolution. Seeing the signs of the times, Grandpa realized it was time for a change, so they moved. Way to go Grandpa!

Being aware and alert about what is going on around us is important. It helps us discern when and how to change, including how to participate with Jesus in the mission of God.

In grandfatherly fashion, the apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy about the signs of the times. In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 he warned of “terrible times” that would occur in what he referred to as “the last days.” He said that people would be “swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

Today, some mistakenly view “the last days” as a recent occurrence. But the Bible teaches that those days began nearly 2,000 years ago with Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. Peter, Paul and John all taught this (Acts 2:17, 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 1 John 2:18), and the author of Hebrews associated the last days with Jesus’ ministry (Hebrews 1:2). Because those last days continue today, what Paul said to Timothy about “signs of the times” applies to us as well.

In 2 Timothy 3:7, Paul refers to those who “are never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” In striving for freedom, they refuse conversion to Christ, who is the truth. How ironic that in seeking freedom they miss out on the one way that brings true freedom. In their blindness and obstinacy, Paul says they actually oppose what is true (2 Timothy 3:8).

My grandfather used to rant about this reality—especially when watching television news commentators. He would exclaim concerning them, “That person has to go to college to develop such refined stupidity!” Obviously, my grandpa wasn’t concerned about being politically correct. His attempts at “sensitivity” were equivalent to dropping a bowling ball on your foot! He used to say, “Joey, listen to me—the world is becoming more and more stupid.”

Though I’m not sure about his conclusion, social scientists have noted in recent years that our ability to reason is becoming fragmented. This is due to the fact that much of the information we take in comes to us as disconnected, even conflicting “sound bites.” The media subject us to an onslaught of messages. As a result, our focus is fragmented. It’s not uncommon for people to cruise the Internet, watch TV and converse with someone in the room, all at the same time! We have become so steeped in this media-centric environment that our bandwidth increasingly overwhelms our brain-width! This flood of disconnected information can sway people away from what is true. In fact, much of the information promulgated by the media opposes truth.

Have you noticed that the media tend to focus on bad news? They know that bad news gets and holds our attention. Though they occasionally throw in a heart-wrenching good news story (so we don’t get completely depressed!), the proportion of bad to good news in their reports inaccurately reflects what is really going on in our neighborhoods and around the world where there is far more good news than bad.

Because bad news sells, we face a significant challenge in sharing the good news that is the gospel. To do so effectively, we must understand the signs of our times, just as Paul exhorted Timothy. We must understand who we are communicating with so that we reach our audiences “where they are.” Let me illustrate: When I grew up it was common for sermons to last 90 minutes or more. Pastors quoted multiple books and commentaries, shared the etymology of words and gave lengthy explanations. But audiences today typically are reached with shorter sermons (25 minutes is common) with stories and illustrations. It’s interesting that Jesus used this narrative approach in his day.

Adjusting the way we preach is not about pandering to our audiences—it’s about “being all things to all people,” just as Paul exhorted the church in Corinth to do (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). Preaching the gospel in ways that connect is not watering it down. After all, there is a great simplicity to the gospel, which declares the good news of God’s love and his desire for us to be in communion with him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When Paul wrote to Timothy about the signs of the times, he wasn’t using scare tactics. He was reminding Timothy that there is always good news no matter the condition of the world. Jesus himself is that good news. And in spite of the bad news constantly trumpeted by the media in our day, God, in Christ, by the Spirit is at work in the world accomplishing his good work of salvation. No bad news changes that!

Living and sharing the good news with you,
Joseph Tkach

PS: Please join me in congratulating Dr. Gary Deddo on his appointment as the next President of Grace Communion Seminary (he begins serving in June) and in thanking Dr. Russell Duke for his many years of faithful service to GCS and to GCI (see the announcement linked above, left).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A hot topic in the media these days is the way Christians respond to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues. A few weeks ago, Greg Williams, Charles Albrecht, Rick Shallenberger and I participated in a day-long discussion on this topic sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). We gleaned much helpful information—I’ll share some of it with you here.

Because same-sex marriage has been legalized in some states, pastors are being asked if they will officiate at same-sex weddings. During the gathering, an attorney explained that while the media tends to sensationalize reports of certain litigation, clergy will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages in the U.S. in the foreseeable future.

A presentation that was particularly relevant to pastoral ministry was given by Dr. Mark Yarhouse (pictured at left). Mark is an ordained elder, a faculty member in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Regent University in Virginia and founding director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity. He’s written two books: Homosexuality and the Christian, A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends and Understanding Sexual Identity, A Resource for Youth Ministry. He blogs at http://psychologyandchristianity.wordpress.com.

In his NAE presentation, Dr. Yarhouse identified three lenses through which people tend to view same-sex attraction:

• The integrity lens, which tends to focus on how integrity and sacredness of male and female differences are key.
• The disability lens, which tends to focus on how sexual orientation/identity is a reflection of the non-moral aspect of our broken and fallen world.
• The diversity lens, which tends to focus on how relationships and community present us with a call to compassion and the recognition of diversity.

Because each lens has strengths and limitations, Mark advocates that we take into account the strengths of all three. This broader perspective recognizes that God has ordained male and female differences as part of his good creation. It also recognizes that we live in a broken, fallen world where no aspect of life (physical, social, psychological, economic or political) remains untouched by the Fall and our sin. Though we celebrate the good differences of being male and female, we recognize that gender distinctions often are expressed in ways that display our brokenness. We also realize that sexuality is not the most important factor in our identity. Our calling, relationship and identity in Christ is the first and most important thing for all humanity.

In creating us human, God gave us a common nature and destiny. And while we have these similarities, we also have differences. Sexual identity, job identity, positional identity and all other forms of identity are secondary subsets of who we are and are becoming. This is where the gospel must remain clear and not be diverted to lesser issues in response to an agenda being set by society. The gospel is about our identity and relationship to God and his relationship to us, now and forever. The gospel is not primarily about our social identity, our brokenness, or even our sin. It is about who we are and who we are becoming under the grace of God through Christ in the power of the Spirit.

Gospel-focused pastoral care does not mean that we never talk about sin, but it does mean that we don’t use sin (or particular sins) as a means to divide others from us. We don’t allow sin to be the primary means of identifying who we are. Instead, we realize that we are all forgiven sinners and have all fallen short of the glory of God. The apostle Paul gave us the proper way to relate to anyone in any kind of sin: “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). This is nailed down well in a statement attributed to C.S. Lewis:

There is someone that I love enough even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me. (Quoted in UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters, p. 198).

Lewis pointed out another important understanding in one of his letters:

I take it for certain that the physical satisfaction of homosexual desires is sin. This leaves the homosexual no worse off than any normal person who is, for whatever reason, prevented from marrying… Our speculations on the cause of the abnormality are not what matters and we must be content with ignorance. The disciples were not told why (in terms of efficient cause) the man was born blind (John 9:1-3): only the final cause [ultimate purpose], that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This suggests that in homosexuality, as in every other tribulation, those works can be made manifest: i.e. that every disability conceals a vocation, if only we can find it, which will “turn the necessity to glorious gain.” (Quoted from a 1954 letter from Lewis in Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy, pp. 146-148).

As the NAE gathering drew to a close, we found consensus on these key points:

• We define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
• We are not required to perform any marriage, homosexual or heterosexual.
• As Christians, we are opposed to verbal or physical abuse of anyone in the LGBT community or any other community.
• We should point out that singleness is a spiritual gift.
• We understand marriage to be the exclusive biblically-sanctioned context for expressing sexuality.

These points are relevant to pastoral ministry and I believe we all can accept them. Greg, Charles, Rick and I spent extra time talking about singleness as a spiritual gift. Unfortunately the words and actions of some churches imply that if you are single, you are somehow not a whole person. But that viewpoint is wrong—it flies in the face of the gospel, which proclaims that it is Jesus who makes us whole. Jesus was single and Paul wrote about singleness as a gift (1 Corinthians 7:1-40). We hope to address this topic in the future. In the meantime, let me recommend the resources listed in my PS below.

Another highlight of the NAE gathering was a presentation from Christopher Yuan (pictured at right). He told us that while attending dental school he began using illicit drugs and living promiscuously as a homosexual. Within a few years, he had been expelled from school, imprisoned for drug dealing and found to be HIV-positive. He now lives an abundant new life in Christ, is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College Graduate School, and is now pursuing a doctorate at Bethel Seminary. At http://youtu.be/NJdEZv_24Uk you’ll find a video of a panel discussion that includes Christoper. The discussion has some of the most helpful material I’ve found on same-sex attraction. What Sam Allberry says is especially helpful (Sam is the author of a book entitled Is God Anti-gay?).

Though some declare celibacy impossible for gay people because their homosexual orientation is the “unifying center of their consciousness,” I believe that Jesus and Paul would disagree. Both were unmarried celibates who went out of their way to praise the single (celibate) life. This does not mean that our gender as men and women who have particular sexual orientations is irrelevant or an unimportant aspect of who we are. But first and foremost, we belong to Christ and are called to die daily so as to be transformed and grow up continually in him. Our sexual orientation and marital/single status can never be as important to us as our union with Christ and our calling to live a new life in him—a life lived in the hope of where he is taking us as his beloved children. In Christ we are members of his body and thus members one of another. Together we live at the foot of the cross—in the light of his holy, loving and transforming grace. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. That is our true identity!

Our calling as pastors is always to share the good news, which says that God’s love for us is not conditioned by our sexuality, our relationship status, or anything else. He loves us unconditionally because he is our Father and we are his children. He forgives all our sin so that we might be reconciled to him. As pastors and church leaders, we always need to promote positive views and examples of marriage and sexuality. In the same vein, we need a more robust view of singleness, friendship and simply being brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Living and sharing the gospel with you,
Joseph Tkach

P.S. Here are some additional resources related to this topic. I think you’ll find them helpful:

• Dr. Gary Deddo’s papers at http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/topical/why-we-are-gendered-beings-g-deddo.pdf and http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/topical/trinityandgender.pdf.
• NAE’s booklet, “The Theology of Sexuality” at http://nae.net/theology-of-sex/.
• Ron Sider’s Christianity Today blog post at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/november-web-only/ron-sider-tragedy-tradition-and-opportunity-in-homosexualit.html.
• N.T. Wright’s presentation at http://youtu.be/AsB-JDsOTwE.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In explaining Trinitarian incarnational theology, we’ve spoken and written a lot about faith, describing it as personal participation in what God has called us to do—this is active faith. But we’ve also described faith as participation, by the Spirit, in Jesus’ own faith—this is passive faith. If addressing faith in both of these ways has caused confusion, I apologize. The truth is that it’s not either/or—it’s both/and. Christian faith is both active and passive. Let me explain.

I hope we remind ourselves every morning to live that day through faith in Christ. Doing so not only motivates us to prepare for the challenges ahead, it reminds us where our faith comes from. Faith and the repentance that accompanies it are gifts of the Spirit. I believe this is what Peter had in mind when he wrote, “Prepare your minds for action” (1 Peter 1:13 NASB). The early church must have had this in mind as they grew over a period of 300 years from 120 believers to dominating the Roman Empire. This reminder to live by the Spirit through faith in Christ is both active and passive.

Seeing our faith as either active or passive leads to an imperfect understanding of the revolutionary nature of Christian discipleship. Christ lives in us (active) but we also live in Christ (passive). As the apostle John makes clear in 1 John 1:8-10, we know no matter how active our faith may be in this life, we will never be totally free from sin and so never perfect. Thus our active faith is never sufficient. But, praise God, this is not the final word. Jesus came and began a new life in us that he will finish (Philippians 1:6)—he will continue to give us the gift of sharing (more and more) in his perfect faith (trust) in the Father by the Spirit.

I believe it is not only more theologically accurate, but also beneficial to our mental health that we recognize faith as both active and passive. Emphasizing one over the other leads to all sorts of problems. If we emphasize active faith, there is the danger of self-righteously viewing others as less faithful and righteous. But if we emphasize passive faith, there is the danger of antinomianism (believing there is no obligation to keep a moral law), libertinism (living without morals and responsibility) and spiritual laziness. Both extremes stem from an incomplete understanding of sanctification (in Christ and by the Spirit) and often results in a joyless Christian life.

Put another way, taking one side or the other is being one-dimensional in a four-dimensional world. Think of the two aspects as two points on a circle, each point leading to the other, and the whole circle in Christ. We better understand faith when we carefully examine the topic of sanctification. The word translated “sanctification” means “set apart” or “separation.” In his high priestly prayer, Jesus said: “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:19). Jesus set himself apart in order to set us apart. Sanctification speaks to the passive side of faith as reliance on God to make us more like Jesus Christ by uniting us with him. In being united with him we are then drawn by his Word and Spirit into deep and personal relationship with the Triune God. This is the active side of faith—our response to God’s love, our desire to grow in our relationship with God. In that relationship we realize that God is empowering us to pursue and live out holiness, that is, live out our being set aside for communion with the Triune God.

Faith, in both its passive and active elements, rests upon and is under-girded by the faith of Jesus Christ, who lived in and lived out his relationship with the Father in the Spirit. This is what he came to share with us. When we lack assurance in the faith of Christ (his own faith and repentance in our place and on our behalf), we are thrown back upon ourselves to rely upon our own repentance and faith. One thing we should all acknowledge is that we can’t even remember all the sins from which we should repent. For this reason alone, we don’t want to be thrown back upon our own spiritual strength—we want the faithful strength of Jesus to be at work in us.

Note how T.F. Torrance explained Jesus’ faithfulness:

Jesus Christ stood in our place, taking our cause upon him, also as Believer, as the Obedient One who was himself justified before God as his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased. He offered to God . . . a perfect faith and response which we are unable to offer, and he appropriated all God’s blessings which we are unable to appropriate. Through union with him we share in his faith, in his obedience, in his trust and appropriation of the Father’s blessing; we share in his justification before God. Therefore when we are justified by faith, this does not mean that it is our faith that justifies us, far from it—It is the faith of Christ alone that justifies us, but we in faith flee from our own acts even of repentance, confession, trust and response, and take refuge in the obedience and faithfulness of Christ—“Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” That is what it means to be justified by faith. (“Justification: Its Radical Nature and Place in Reformed Doctrine and Life,” Scottish Journal of Theology, vol 13, no 3. pp. 225-246.)

Our sanctification is the work of the Trinity. Jesus said “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). Our heavenly Father always works in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). God works in us to change our wrong desires. Jesus’ ministry sanctifies us, and his work on the cross became our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30 NASB). He is the author and the finisher of our faith. The Holy Spirit is the agent of our sanctification. He produces in us the fruit of sanctification (Galatians 5:22-23).

Perhaps we can see more clearly that we are both passive and active in our being sanctified. Passively, we trust God to sanctify us, for it is his will that we be sanctified. Actively, we choose to do what is good, right and faithful. Here is how Paul put it: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4).

An easy way to show the value of both active and passive faith is in this statement: We praise God and respond (active) to the gift of sanctification that we can receive (passive) through the faith and faithfulness of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Living in faith,
Joseph Tkach