Baptism: Bringing Us into God’s Story

A few more baptism thoughts…

The ceremony of baptism is loaded with imagery from the Old Testament. For the early Christians, it was natural to think of baptism (and all of life) in terms of the story/stories of the Hebrew Scriptures. Baptism gathers up much of the narrative of the story of Israel, and, as someone receives baptism, they are caught up into this story. The story of what God is doing in history becomes their story. It is the narrative of their lives, in contrast with the plot-lines that the rest of the world demands we live in. Baptism is a ceremony that symbolically initiates you into God’s Story.

This became more clear to me this year during Easter. I attended the Easter Vigil at my sister’s Anglican church, which is a traditional time for baptisms. The liturgy included a reading of huge sweeps of Scripture from creation to Christ, hitting all the high points of redemptive history on the way. At the end of this reading, the baptisms occurred. The presentation of the Scripture was artfully done, and the effect of the liturgy was stunning. Baptism became more than a personal act by the time the readings were done. It was truly a part of God’s running narrative of salvation.

Here are some of the key points of the OT story that baptism symbolizes.

Creation

Go and read Genesis 1 again. Notice how the scene is set at the start:

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The primeval chaos that existed before God brought order to the world is depicted as a churning ocean. Before God speaks, all is death, disorder, and purposelessness. When other parts of the OT, such as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Prophets depict creation, they often use the imagery of water being restrained. Creation is pictured as God calling new life out of watery death. Baptism takes up this theme and the new Christian becomes part of God’s New Creation in Jesus.

The Flood

Genesis 6-9 tells the tale of Noah’s flood. The flood was a consequence of the intense evil of the humans at that time. They were wicked and full of violence. God was anguished by what humanity had become and the mess they had made of the world. So, God decided to wipe the slate clean, to purge the world of evil. In an act that was as much a cleansing as a judgment, the world was overwhelmed by the waters of chaos, returning to the state it was in just before God formed the world. But, as the waters of death purged the land of evil, new life came out of the destruction. Noah’s family was spared through the waters of judgment, and they lived to begin creation anew, with the blessing of God upon them. This story is mentioned in connection with baptism in the New Testament. In one of his letters, Peter says that just as Noah’s family was saved “through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 3:18-22)

Circumcision

When God first initiated his plan of salvation for the whole world, he approached Abraham. He called Abraham out of his old life, promised him a great land and a large family. Through this family, blessing would come to the whole world. God confirmed his promises by making a covenant with Abraham. As a sign of this covenant, Abraham and his sons underwent the act of circumcision. For the Jews, this served as seal, marking out who participated in the covenant with God and who did not. Any who joined in with the Jews in pledging themselves to God and trusting in God to fulfill his promises took on this mark. In the New Testament, circumcision is fulfilled in baptism. Baptism is now the symbol that marks off who is in and who is out of God’s people. Those who claim the promises of God in Christ undergo baptism, just as those before Christ underwent circumcision.

The Exodus

Abraham’s children moved to Egypt and eventually became slaves there. But, God supernaturally rescued them from their slave masters. He triumphed over the powers of death, the rule of a leader who thought he was a god. The final, climactic defeat of the Egyptians came at the Red Sea. God’s people were trapped, caught between the pursuing armies of Pharaoh and the shores of an uncrossable sea. The people were powerless, but God told them to simply be still. Through Moses, God parted the waters of the sea, and the people pass through on dry ground. The Egyptians however, were caught in the waves, and the water brought them down to death. In the New Testament, baptism is symbolically connected to this event. Paul says, “our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (I Corinthians 10:1-2) Our baptism is just like this crossing of the Red Sea. In it, we are set free from the rule of sin. We are no longer slaves to the forces of death that dominate this world, but we are rescued to live a new life of freedom. We pass through the waters of death, but we emerge on the other side to a new life. The act is not our own, but it is the work of God. He brings us from slavery to freedom. He parts the waters. We only need to be still.

Crossing the Jordan

After Moses leads the people out of Egypt, they go to the promised land. When they arrive, spies enter the land to scout it out. They return, and most of them are too afraid to invade. They lack the faith to take God at his word that he will provide them the new land. This rebellious generation ends up wandering around the desert for 40 years, until nearly all of them are dead. Then, their children end up being the ones to enter into the Promised Land. Joshua replaces Moses as their leader, and he leads the entry into the new land.

The initial point of of entry is at the Jordan river. They approach the river during flood season, which makes the river impossible to cross. The story is quite dramatic, and you can read it yourself in Joshua 3. To sum it up, God tells the people that they are to cross the river while it is flooding, and that the priests were to go first, carrying the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the symbolic throne of God on earth, and the symbol of God’s presence with his people. When the priests’ feet touch the water and the Ark enters the river, the water is miraculously parted, and the river dries up. While the priests stand in the river, the people of Israel pass through it on dry ground. God enters the water, enabling the people to enter the land.

In the New Testament, baptism first occurs with John the Baptist. Where does he do it? The Jordan river, the same place where Israel first entered the land. What does he do? He calls people who are part of a rebellious generation to come and pass through the waters again, to repent, and truly become Israel again. God, he says, is about to fulfill his promises just as he did in Joshua’s day. His baptism is a re-crossing of the Jordan. And of course, like the first crossing, the presence of God on earth shows up. Jesus comes to enter the river, to stand in it with us, and be baptized.

Conclusion

The ceremony of baptism is not a private matter. It is the entry of individuals into a story much bigger than themselves. Baptism initiates you into the story of God’s work in the world. God is restoring creation, using his people. He has been doing it from the start. He has consistently worked to bring people out of death, slavery, and chaos. He does so by bringing them through the flood of death itself, giving them new life on the other side. God’s story is sweeping, covering the span of history. When we enter into this story through baptism, it redifines the narrative of our lives. The story claims us. We no longer live in the competing stories that the world offers us.

There are hundreds of false stories that we are called to believe in. The advertisers tell us that the plot of our life is one of consumption. The government tells us the story of the inevitable advancement of democracy around the world. We are painted a picture of career advancement, self-fulfillment, and status achievement. 20-somethings believe that they are supposed to take a few years to enjoy themselves before they take on responsibilities like family or ministry. Married couples are painted the picture of the happy, healthy family in a single-family home, with children who excel in school, music, and sports. This is the story they are told they are in, and their life is supposed to fit into that plot.

But baptism breaks this pattern. It brings us into the real story of the world. It brings us into God’s story and reveals that the others stories are lies and imitations of the world’s real plot. In baptism, God says, “You’re in my story now.”

A Taste of Things to Come: The Church in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians

Recently, I wrote a paper for my New Testament Theology class. The assignment was to trace a theme in one of Paul’s letters. I chose to write about Paul’s teaching about the church in the book of Ephesians. It is titled, “A Taste of Things to Come: The Church in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.” I posted it in parts, so as to make it easier to read in this format. It is an academic paper, not a sermon, so it might have some technical terms in it, although I think it should be fairly readable. If you have any questions, let me know.

• Introduction and Background to Ephesians
• The Context of the Church: Cosmic Unity
• The Composition of the Church: Racial Unity
• The Calling of the Church: Dynamic Unity
• The Conduct of the Church: Practical Unity
• Implications for the Church Today

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 6): Implications for the Church Today

What would it mean for Christians today to take seriously what Ephesians teaches about the church?

At the most basic level, it would mean giving the church a central place in our thinking and life. For many American Protestants especially, there is a tendency to think of the church as a secondary feature of Christianity. We think the main thing in Christianity is personal salvation and growth. The church is at best sort of a helpful addition to assist this, providing means to personal salvation and growth. Ephesians shatters this small vision, placing the church in an essential place in the plan of cosmic redemption. A solid “theology of redemption should inevitably lead to a vibrant ecclesiology in so far as the essence of this redemption consists in the move away from the alienation…towards personal reunification in Christ with God and neighbour.”[1] The church is not an optional, secondary, or merely helpful institution. It is absolutely fundamental to God’s plan for bringing reconciliation to the world, both in heaven and on earth.

Furthermore, if we take Ephesians seriously, our view of the church will take on a much larger scope. If the church is “God’s pilot scheme for the reconciled universe of the future,”[2] then it is inappropriate to reduce it to an arena of personal devotion or even merely a spiritual support network. It is the place where God’s redemptive plan for all of creation is first enacted. This means the church must concern itself with all of life, from economics to politics to social issues. Our worship, community, and growth are all contributing to God’s display of his multi-faceted wisdom before the world and the spiritual forces. We dare not reduce this to mere private piety. The church does impact the world by making nice, “spiritual” people, but by radically re-orienting all the structures of life. Christ’s eschatological reconciliation will impact all of society, every realm of creation and human culture, transforming every institution. The church is the vanguard community for experiencing this transformation. If we fail to focus on the whole scope of human life, opting for an internal or merely ethical spirituality, we will fail to live out our identity in Christ.

Taking Ephesians’ teaching on the church seriously also means the direct confrontation of racism and the pursuit of practical unity. North American churches have grown content with congregational hegemony. The well-known quote is unfortunately accurate: the most racially divided hour of the week is on Sunday morning. According to Paul in Ephesians, this is an affront to the gospel because it denies the cosmic reconciling power of Christ. Bruce Fong says, “What Jesus initiated in the Church demands that there be visible unity regardless of race, language or culture.”[3] While it is not clear what this will look like in today’s context, it does mean we need to start having difficult and honest conversations with churches that are different from us, both down the street and around the world.

Even where race is not a factor, practical unity among Christians is a non-negotiable. From individual Christians to local churches to ministry organizations to denominations, Christians must promote tangible oneness. This includes the pursuit of forgiveness between divided Christians, tangible forms of cooperation in ministry, and participating in shared corporate worship across dividing lines. We must remember that in the end, all churches and Christians will be completely united in Christ. That is the inevitable result of Christ’s reconciling work. That means that right now, being one with our brothers and sisters should be a paramount concern. It is our responsibility as Christ’s people to pursue real, visible unity. To not do so “would be completely inconsistent with being God’s masterpiece of reconciliation and ultimately with his purposes of summing up everything as a totality in Christ.”[4]

The church is God’s new creation, foreshadowing the coming re-creation of the whole world. Let us live out the cosmic reconciling power of Christ so that angels, demons, and people all races will marvel at God’s magnificent wisdom and praise his glorious grace.

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[1] Turner, “Unity,” 162.

[2] F. F. Bruce, quoted in O’Brien, Ephesians, 63.

[3] Fong, “Racial,” 572.

[4] O’Brien, Ephesians, 64.

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 5): Conduct of the Church in Ephesians

Conduct of the Church: Practical Unity (4:17-6:9)

Starting in 4:17, Paul launches into specific instructions on how the church should conduct itself, emphasizing the concrete, practical practice of unity. Throughout this section, Paul’s underlying logic remains firmly fixed to God’s unifying and reconciling purposes in Christ. He is calling “readers to live in a way that corporately expresses the cosmic unity God has inaugurated”[1] by renouncing “the old-creation patterns of alienated and alienating behavior”[2] His exhortations are aimed at things “which cause dissension and alienation within the body, that is, they are sins which work against the body’s unity.”[3] By targeting anger, brawling, unwholesome talk, sexual immorality, and drunkenness, he attacks sins that damage healthy community life. Likewise, he encourages behaviors that build up unity in Christ, such as forgiveness, corporate singing, compassion, and mutual submission. The communal logic of Paul’s instructions can be seen clearly when he condemns lying. He says “each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor.” This is not just a detached moral command. Rather, it is the natural outcome of believing that “we are all members of one body.”[4] If we belong to each other, then there is no reason to deceive each other.[5] This is an ethic rooted in our fundamental identity as people in community because of Christ.

All relationships are transformed in the context of the church, the arena of God’s redemption in Christ. This carries over into every relationship with a fellow believer, including the relationship between slaves and masters,[6] children and parents,[7] and husbands and wives.[8] These relationships all become tangible expressions of the eschatological cosmic reconciliation in Christ that the church experiences. Paul unpacks the marriage relationship most completely, connecting it directly to the redeeming work of Christ for his church by comparing the husband to Christ and the wife to the church. Marriage no longer exists in a vacuum, but instead becomes “a pledge of God’s purposes for the unity of the cosmos.”[9] Furthermore, by connecting Christ’s love for the church with God’s original picture of marriage in Eden,[10] we see that marriage is a specific arena where God’s new creation is exemplified.[11] The unity of the church which foreshadows the unity of all creation in Christ works its way into the unity of specific husbands and wives. Andreas Kostenberger explains:

“Marriage is not an end in itself; it is part of a life under God in the church and in the world. Marriage is a relationship in the process of restoration. To the extent that a married couple sees itself as part of the global eschatological movement toward ‘summing up all things in Christ’ (Eph 1:9), it will experience fulfillment and share the perspective on marriage Paul presents in the passage at hand.”[12]

Marriage is the most vivid example of this, but the same is true of all our interactions with fellow Christians. All our specific relationships are to be transformed in light of our participation in the church, the community that experiences now the eschatological cosmic reconciliation in Christ. One day God will sum up all things in Christ, and for the church that reality should begin filtering down into our specific, everyday relationships.

For all his emphasis on the cosmic, universal nature of church in Ephesians, Paul does not dodge the issue of concrete life in a local community of Christians. Paul does not want us to simply love other Christians with a vague or general sense of “oneness.” Merely having a pleasant feeling of “unity” is not enough. Paul will not let us neglect the more difficult and less inspiring work of specific relationships with a brother or sister who has a name, a history, real sin, and actual problems. How does the church display the cosmic reconciliation wrought by Christ? Through the nitty-gritty of seeking unity with our fellow Christians.

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[1] Ibid., 148.

[2] Ibid., 190.

[3] O’Brien, Ephesians, 64-65.

[4] Eph 5:25

[5] Interestingly, not lying is part of the eschatological promises of the OT. cf. Zech 8:16.

[6] Eph 6:5-9

[7] Eph 6:1-4

[8] Eph 5:22-33

[9] O’Brien, Ephesians, 55.

[10] Eph 5:31

[11] Turner, “Unity,” 156.

[12] Andreas J. Kostenberger, “The Mystery of Christ and the Church: Head and Body, ‘One Flesh’,” Trinity Journal 12NS (1991): 93.

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 4): Calling of the Church in Ephesians

Calling of the Church: Dynamic Unity (4:1-16)

Because, in the divine economy, the church bears the special privilege of experiencing Christ’s cosmic reconciliation ahead of time, it also has a high calling which it must live up to, the call to unity. The foundation of this unity is the oneness of the blessings given to the church:

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”^[1]

Because of the unity of God and his gifts, the church must be one. Division is foreign to its nature and a contradiction of what God has called it to be. This unity is not a human accomplishment, but founded on the work of the triune God.

Paul is clear that this unity is not the result of uniformity, but harmonious diversity. God has given the whole church one Spirit, one hope, one faith, and so on, but he has given a plurality of gifts to the individuals that make up the church. “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”[2] Primary among these diverse gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers.[3] In the body of Christ, they “function as ligaments, providing connections between the various parts.”[4] These specific roles have been given to the church to “to prepare God’s people for works of service.”^[5] Everyone in the church has been given gifts by God that must be coordinated and used for the benefit of the whole church. Each part must do its work.[6]

It is likewise clear that the church’s unity is not a static reality, but a dynamic one. The church is constantly growing, being “built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”^[7] The church is pictured as a developing organism, “not a dead, unapproachable, mighty or rich body, but is Christ’s living and growing body.”[8] The church is a developing reality whose unity will one day be fully experienced. This is part of the tension between the church’s present experience of reconciliation in Christ, and the coming fullness of the still future cosmic redemption. At that time the body will reflect truly the image of its Head, Christ.

This dynamic, diverse unity of the church is not merely a side effect of Christ’s work. It is, as Max Turner explains, “not simply a matter of pragmatism…unity in love is the distinguishing mark of the new humanity over against the alienated world doomed to pass away.”[9] The unity of the church is at the heart of the gospel and a sign of the efficacy of Christ’s reconciling work.

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[1] Eph 4:4-6

[2] Eph 4:7

[3] Eph 4:11

[4] Lincoln and Wedderburn, Theology, 98-99.

[5] Eph 4:12

[6] Eph 4:16

[7] Eph 4:12-13

[8] Barth, “Wall,” 110.

[9] Turner ,“Unity,” 151.

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 3): Composition of the Church in Ephesians

Composition of the Church: Racial Unity (2:11-3:13)

In Ephesians, the foremost result of the church’s experience of the cosmic reconciliation in Christ is the radical transformation of the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. In 2:11-12, Paul discusses the status of the Gentiles before encountering Christ. Prior to Christ’s reconciling work, Gentiles were alienated from Israel. Using the law, circumcision, and other cultural markers, the Jews engaged in what Tet-Lim N. Yee calls, “covenantal ethnocentrism,” keeping themselves racially and religious separate from Gentiles.[1] Because of this isolation from Israel, the Gentiles were “separate from Christ” and “without hope and without God in the world.”[2] However, because of Jesus’ reconciling work, the Gentiles can now be “brought near through the blood of Christ.”[3] Not only does Christ’s work unite people with God, it also unites people with each other, breaking down racial and cultural boundaries. Christ’s “purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”[4] This corporate “new man” is a part of Christ’s new creation, a restoration of the original unity of all people before sin. It is not merely a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, but a new “third entity” in which “the previous ethnic and religious categories have been transcended.”[5] This is not to say that people loose their ethnic identity in Christ. Instead they are united “without destroying what they possessed culturally, racially or linguistically.”[6] Gentiles are still Gentiles. Jews are still Jews. However, as the church models “the beginning of cosmic re-unification,”[7] Gentiles can “shed the stigma of being foreigners and aliens.”[8] The church is a community more fundamental than ethnic and cultural distinctions.

In 2:19-22, Paul makes the remarkable statement that this united group of Jews and Gentiles together make up God’s eschatological temple. They are being:

“Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

Here is a startling way that the church is a foretaste of the ultimate reconciliation of the cosmos in Christ. God’s dwelling is no longer exclusively among the Jews, isolated to the temple in Israel where access is denied to people lacking the ethnic markers of circumcision and Torah. Instead, God lives among the racially mixed community he has created. Paul is acutely aware of the radical nature of this claim because he has been arrested for bringing Greek Christians into the Jerusalem temple.^[9] It was truly bold to claim that a group that included Gentiles could be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”[10] But, for Paul this was fundamental to the gospel. Christ’s reconciling work necessarily resulted in the creation of the church, a united, yet ethnically diverse people. That the “the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel”^[11] was a concrete display of God’s grace and “the fulfillment of the eschatological hope in its widest and most generous expression.”^[12]

In 3:10-11, Paul makes it clear that the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in the church also plays a crucial role in God’s plan to deal with the spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. The fact that earthly divisions are being transcended by Christ’s work is a sign to heavenly forces that Christ’s work will also bring them into subjugation. God brings about racial reconciliation so that “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”^[13] The church is a witness to the heavenly realm of the richly varied, beautiful wisdom of the God who is reconciling all things. Or, in other words, racial reconciliation is spiritual warfare.

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[1] Tet-Lim N. Yee, Jews, Gentiles and Ethnic Reconciliation: Paul’s Jewish Identity and Ephesians.

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.)

[2] Eph 2:12

[3] Eph 2:13

[4] Eph 2:15-16

[5] Andrew T. Lincoln and A. J. M. Wedderburn, The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 93

[6] Bruce Fong, “Addressing the Issue of Racial Reconciliation According to the Principles of Eph 2:11-22,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38/4 (Dec 1995): 572.

[7] Turner, “Unity,” 144.

[8] Fong, “Racial,” 575.

[9] cf. Acts 21:28-29; Eph 3:1; See Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1993.), Eph. 2:14-16.

[10] Eph 3:19

[11] Eph 3:6

[12] R. J. McKelvey, The New Temple: The Church in the New Testament, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969), 118.

[13] Eph 3:10

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 2): Context of the Church in Ephesians

Context of the Church: Cosmic Unity (Ephesians 1:3-23)

The opening of Ephesians presents a sweeping picture of cosmic salvation that sets the backdrop for Paul’s view of the church in the book. After greeting the readers, Paul opens his letter with an exuberant praise of God for the glorious salvation given in Christ. He paints an expansive picture of God’s grace over the course of his eleven-verse berakah, reaching the “high point of the eulogy” in verses 9-10:[1]

“And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

From the very beginning, God’s plan has been for all things to be summed up under the rule of Jesus Christ. Because of sin, the world is currently in a state of alienation, brokenness, and hostility, rather than the original harmony of Eden. Just has he promised in the Old Testament, God is reversing this state of affairs, bringing creation “back from warring alienation into peaceful unity.”[2] More than simply saving individuals, Christ’s work accomplishes large-scale healing for the entire created order, both in heaven and on earth. It ultimately brings about “the reintegration of the whole cosmos rent asunder by sin” in which all things find their proper place under the rule of Jesus.[3]

The benefits of Christ’s cosmic rule are focused on the church. Paul asserts that “God placed all things under [Christ’s] feet and appointed him to be head over everything,” a huge claim of the supremacy of Christ. He continues, however, saying that the benefits of this accomplishment are “for the church.” Why? Because the church is “his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”[4] The wide-ranging effects of Christ’s cosmic redemption bless the church because it is the community that has been joined with Christ and is filled with his powerful, reconciling presence.

Although this cosmic reconciliation is primarily eschatological, occurring “when the times will have reached their fulfillment,” because it has already been achieved and inaugurated in Jesus, it can be experienced, in part, right now. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, God’s people can have both an assurance and a foretaste of the coming cosmic redemption.[5] Thus, the church is the arena in which the eschatological reconciliation can be seen and experienced ahead of time. It is “the first installment of cosmic reconciliation.”[6] The entire book of Ephesians can be read as an exposition of this reality, as it depicts what the life of the church looks like in light of the church’s present experience of future redemption in Christ.

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[1] P. T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians. (Leicester: Apollos, 1999), 92.

[2] Max Turner, “Mission and Meaning in Terms of ‘Unity’ in Ephesians,” in Mission and Meaning, ed. Antony Billington, Tony Lane, and Max Turner. (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1995), 140, 141-142.

^[3] Giles, 134.

[4] Eph. 1:22-23

^[5] Eph. 1:13-14

[6] Turner, “Unity,” 157.

A Taste of Things to Come (Part 1): Introduction and Background to Ephesians

The church is a foundational reality in the thinking and ministry of the apostle Paul. Unlike most modern readers, whose instincts are often individualistic, Paul has communal and corporate realities at the forefront of his thought. In each of his letters, Paul consciously spoke into the lives of Christian communities, not merely individual Christians. In his letter to the Ephesians, it is clear why the church is so important to Paul. Max Turner says that “in no Pauline letter is the church so remarkably prominent.”[1] Markus Barth says that “Ephesians is in its very essence a church letter.”[2] Ephesians shows us what a high view of the church Paul actually had. As Kevin Giles puts it, “Nowhere else in the New Testament do we find such a lofty ecclesiology.”[3] For Paul, the church was not a mere side-effect of the gospel, but an integral component of God’s unfolding salvation-history. This paper will explore the theme of the church in Ephesians, showing how it fits into the book’s cosmic vision of salvation in Christ and how that context impacts the concrete life of the church.

Background to Ephesians

Among Paul’s letters, Ephesians yields the least amount of information about the specific situation it addresses. In fact, it is not even certain that the letter was written to the church in Ephesus, as the label “in Ephesus” is missing from 1:1 in some of the best manuscripts.[4] Because of this and the general lack of specific names, places, or problems in the letter, scholars cannot come to a firm sense of what circumstances, if any, Paul aimed to address.[5] It is likely that the letter was at least partially intended to be circular, going to multiple churches in a region. As a result it lacks the specificity of other Pauline letters, like Galatians, Corinthians, or even the very similar letter to the Colossians. At best, some have suspected that Paul was addressing a church where some tensions existed between Jews and Gentiles, as this is a prominent theme in the book. Even so, it is difficult to read Ephesians against any particular background, and the letter functions as more of a general overview of Pauline teaching. This is probably why, when discussing the church, Ephesians tends to focus on the universal church, rather than a specific congregation.[6]

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^[1] Max Turner, Max “Ephesians, Book of,” in Dictionary for the Theological Interpretation of the Bible, ed. by Kevin Vanhoozer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 189.

[2] Markus Barth, The Broken Wall. (London: Collins, 1960), 17.

^[3] Kevin Giles, What on Earth is the Church? (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1995), 132.

^[4] D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, Introduction to the New Testament. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 309-311.

^[5] Ibid., 312

[6] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 112. Paul’s presentation of the church in a more universal sense, rather than local, is somewhat unique to Colossians and Ephesians. Specifically, the church is portrayed as an eschatological and heavenly assembly. See P. T. O’Brien, “The Church as a Heavenly and Eschatological Entity,” in The Church in the Bible and the World, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), 88-119. Against this view, see Giles 125-51, I. Howard Marshal, New Testament Theology. (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2004), 392

The Importance of Context

Last week, we were trying to plan the devotional lessons for our summer mission trip. Our student leaders write the majority of the devotions, and so we have them help brainstorm verses and topics to use. This year, our trip’s theme is unity, and so we were discussing verses on that topic. One of the students suggested the following verse:

The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

It sounds inspiring, doesn’t it? One people! Nothing will be impossible! This is only the beginning! It is, until you realize that it is from Genesis 11:6, and you look up the context.

It is almost as good as the year (before my time) when the trip theme came from Habakkuk 1:5:

Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

Check out the context for that one.

So remember, always read the whole passage, and look into the written, canonical, and cultural contexts of verses before you use them…especially if they are from the minor prophets.

Palm Sunday is the Church’s April Fools Day.

I realized for the first time today that Palm Sunday is a celebration of the foolishness of the church.

I realized it when we sang a song in church today that was “inviting Jesus in” to “have his way in us.” It is a great prayer, but a little misleading. We often want Jesus to come into our lives and have his way, and rightly so. Our lives belong to Jesus. But what if we misunderstand what it means for Jesus to come in and have his way in us?

The crowds in Jerusalem invited Jesus to come and be King. It is a glorious vision, isn’t it? it is incredible to imagine people cheering and welcoming Jesus, praising and honoring him, waving branches in celebration. But what why were they celebrating? What were they expecting Jesus to do? (My friend and pastor, Ted, did a great job highlighting this tonight at Ecclesia…unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the whole sermon, so I don’t know where he took it.)

They were expecting revolution. They were expecting overthrow. The crowds were inviting Jesus to come in and have his way with their nation and city…but they thought his way was the way of revolution. They thought his way was the way of victory, the way of glory, the way of powerful overthrow. They danced for a Messiah who promoted their nationalistic dreams.

What they didn’t realize is that Jesus way was the exact opposite of what they expected. Jesus’ way was the way of pain, the way of death, the way of humiliation. His victory was hidden in death. His glory was buried in shame. His overthrow was found in defeat.

We celebrate Palm Sunday with joy and dancing and celebration…just like the crowds. But the crowds danced for the wrong Jesus. They danced for a Jesus of their own making, whose plan, they assumed was the same as theirs. How often is our celebration exactly the same? How often do we celebrate a Jesus we have imagined, a Jesus who endorses our idolatry of choice?

Republican Jesus?
Democrat Jesus?
Health and wealth Jesus?
Middle-class comfort Jesus?
Hippy Jesus?
Peace of mind Jesus?
Positive, Encouraging Jesus?
Punk-Rock Jesus?
Male-dominance Jesus?
Feminist Jesus?
Artsy-fartsy Jesus?
I’m-okay-you’re-okay Jesus?
Sunday-only Jesus?
Guilt-trip Jesus?
Warm-Fuzzy Jesus?

In churches, Palm Sunday celebrations are usually joyous, victorious occasions. But we have to remember, Jesus’ victory was not on Palm Sunday. It was on Easter. But in order to get to Easter, Jesus had to go through Good Friday. Jesus’ victory comes by way of death. You don’t get a lot of crowds for that one. Palm Sunday should not be a day of victory, but a day where we acknowledge our own folly and idolatry. It is where we repent of our false vision of Jesus. It is where we acknowledge that Jesus does not endorse our agenda, and we ask for forgiveness for co-opting him as a mascot for our plan. Palm Sunday is the Church’s April Fools Day.

Thoughts on Psalm 104, Priests of Creation

Last night, Michelle and I prayed from Psalm 104, which is an incredible song of the glories of God expressed in creation. It reminded me of a great quote from James Torrance:

“God has made all creatures for his glory. Without knowing it, the lilies of the field in their beauty glorify God with a glory greater than that of Solomon, the sparrow on the housetop glorifies God, and the universe in its vastness and remoteness is the theatre of God’s glory. But God made men and women in his own image to be the priests of creation and to express on behalf of all creatures the praises of God, so that through human lips the heavens might declare the glory of God. When we, who know we are God’s creatures, worship God together, we gather up the worship of all creation. Our chief end is to glorify God, and creation realizes its own creaturely glory in glorifying God through human lips.”

This is one of my favorite thoughts: that we are the priests of all creation. We bring the worship of the world before the creator and express it in words. We are the voice, the mouthpiece of the whole world. In our worship, the natural world finds its meaning. To appreciate and express the beauty of the creation is one of the most human things we can do.

Of course, our sin is that we turn our praise away from God and honor the created world above the Creator (Romans 1). With the priests of creation directing praise everywhere but where it belongs, the created world is unfulfilled. It’s purpose is short-circuited. It groans to be what it was meant to be, an expression of the glory of God, completed in the articulated praise of humanity.

Thanks be to God for the Great High Priest, Jesus, who being the perfect human, brings perfect worship to the Father. He intercedes for us, offers our prayers and praises in the presence of God, and fulfills the purpose of humanity. He, our living and ascended head, represents humanity the way humanity was to represent creation, and so in Christ all of creation finds its meaning. In Christ, the cosmos comes together in worship. Jesus, true God, worshiped in glory is Jesus, true human, the only perfect worshiper.

The Sin of Sodom

Most people assume they know what the sin of Sodom was. I mean, don’t we still call that same sin “sodomy”? God killed them because they were homosexuals, right? I thought so to, until I stumbled across this verse in Ezekiel:

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.” (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

Interesting, isn’t it? I’m not saying that homosexuality is right, but it is interesting that the sins that God names are sins that most Christians (at least around me) happily commit. We are prideful. We have an excess of food and prosperity. We often ignore the poor and needy. We are haughty. Of course, there is that “abomination,” and maybe that is a reference to homosexuality, but it doesn’t seem to be the thing that God is focusing on. I guess we’re all sodomites now.

Two Thoughts from Psalm 103

Last night, Michelle and I were praying from Psalm 103, which is one of my favorite passages. A couple of thoughts struck me as we read. The first was a thought from verses 14-17. It is a simple thought, but one that is deeply reassuring to me:

“For he knows our frame he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him…”

That image that we are dust feels so true some times. There are times when you feel weak, dry, insubstantial, like dust. You feel passing and light, tossed around by the wind. You feel breakable. Your life feels like it is small. We tire and crack. And in the end it all blows away. But then the hope…the love of the Lord is forever. When our life feels insubstantial and tiring, the love of God is real. It is solid. It lasts. It is the ultimate reality. The love of God is firm and substantive, rich and full. And God’s love is for those who fear him, people like you and me who can seem to face the reality of God because we are so fleeting and weak. We are small and humble before God, and his love is for us. His love for us is everlasting. The reality behind our life is the unchanging, solid love of God. That is good news.

The second thought is from verses 20-22:

“Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!”

Most times when I read this Psalm, these are the verses that are the least exciting for me. Telling the angels to bless the Lord seems sort of distant from my life, sort of hard to imagine, and frankly, I figured angels know better than I do that they ought to praise God. Isn’t that what they do all the time? It is weird if God’s angels don’t praise him.

But then I realized, perhaps we ought to marvel at the fact that the angels praise God? Perhaps it is a wonder that the angelic hosts bow their knee. Have you noticed how every time an angel appears in the Bible, they have to say, “Don’t be afraid!”? Have you ever imagined what it would be like to actually see the leader of the heavenly army, like Joshua did, or be visited by the cherubim who guard the very presence of God, like Ezekiel, or be stopped on the road by a angel sent to kill you like Balaam? It would be terrifying! John, in the book of Revelation had to be told not to worship the angels because that was his instinctive response to seeing one. Perhaps if we realized the fierceness and the beauty of angels we would marvel that they submit to anyone at all. We might be amazed that they bow down to any being or worship anything. We don’t expect a tornado to obey anyone’s command? We don’t expect the sun to do what someone says? Lightning and volcanoes and stars and fires do not submit to anyone, why should angels? Why should the warriors of heaven? Perhaps if we knew the nature of angels we wouldn’t find an angelic rebellion so surprising?…Until we encountered God. Because God is the one who commands, and the angels obey. God is the one who speaks a word, and the fiercest most uncontrollable beings in existence do what he says. God, with the voice to shape winds and waves and flame, whose whispers break mountains and melt glaciers, God is to be feared and obeyed. All his works submit to him. All his works praise him.

Even the angels.
Even the forces of nature.
Even the dust.

Because this same God is the one whose love is from everlasting to everlasting. Alleluia. Amen.