THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Palm Sunday -- April 5, 2009 2nd Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

From an old sinner for whom Christ died.

This is an early Christian hymn beginning with verse 6. It describes Christ in the servant role. He had equality with God but did not cling to it but rather for our sakes he humbled himself and became even obedient unto death, death on a cross.

Paul introduces it in verse 5. That is THE CRITICAL VERSE that sets the tone for the rest. IT ALL DEPENDS ON how one reads verse 5.

Free willers (that is, those who hold that we have free will to chooses good or evil) read it as a call to imitate Jesus. For those who know that free will is a lie and that we have NO FREE WILL it is a remarkable expression by Paul of that which permeates all of his writings, which is conformity to Christ, not imitating Jesus.

I pulled several Bibles from my library and checked how they translated verse 5. I knew in advance that because FREE WILL dominates our religious culture most of the translations would push “imitate” Jesus. So we have the following:

“The attitude YOU SHOULD HAVE is the one that Christ Jesus had…”(Today’s English Version)

“Your attitude SHOULD BE the same as that of Christ Jesus…” (NIV)

“THINK the same way that Christ Jesus thought…” (CEV)

“LET the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (NRSV)

Imitate, imitate, imitate, these translations shout. “You should,” “your attitude should,” “think,” “let,” they scream at us. It’s in your hands they insist. You have the free will to choose they argue. All of which is a big fat lie!

The RSV comes close with this translation, “Have this mind among yourselves WHICH YOU HAVE IN CHRIST JESUS…”

For Paul, EVERYTHING depends on being IN CHRIST. Baptized we are therein united with Christ in his death and resurrection so that we DIED with him and now HE is the life in us. IN CHRIST we have been discharged from THE LAW (Romans 7:6). WE have died to the demands of the Law. Therefore the translations above (except for the RSV) seek to put us back under the demands of the Law thereby discharging us from CHRIST HIMSELF.

Paul points out in I Cor. 2:16, that “we have the MIND of CHRIST” because of our baptism into CHRIST. Thus it is consistent for him to state in verse 5 of Philippians 2: “have his mind among yourselves which in fact you already have because of your incorporation into CHRIST JESUS through the waters of baptism.” This is the very opposite of “imitating” Jesus. It is “conformity to CHRIST” which is God conforming us to CHRIST HIMSELF.

Where “imitating” would call for us to be active trying to achieve this, Paul is setting forth “conformity” which calls for us to be TOTALLY PASSIVE in the face of God’s activity in us; totally passive because we have already died. Dead things don’t do anything. And we are dead through baptism (Col. 3:4; Rom. 6:3-4).

In II Corinthians 3:17-18, Paul makes it so obvious that the free willers have to wince when it is read: “Now where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED in his image from one degree of glory to another. And all this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit!”

“ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED” is the phrase that declares “conformity to CHRIST.” There is NO PLACE for the person’s participation in this. It is happening to us by God alone, period.

There is NO PLACE for “imitation of Jesus.” There is ONLY “conformity to CHRIST.”

Free Will is exposed for the lie that it is.

THE END OF FREE WILL IS THE BEGINNING OF FAITH!

The servant role described in Phil. 2:5-11 is your role and mine because you are IN CHRIST JESUS. You HAVE the mind of CHRIST. IT is the role being played out in you and me because the life in you and me is CHRIST HIMSELF.

This is not a SHOULD but an IS.

©Richard J. Smith

A "Cruciform" Vocabulary: Law

In theological conversations one quickly discovers that--like Jesus and Nicodemus--theologians of the cross and practitioners of theologies of glory talk past one another because the vocabulary they use does not carry the same meaning for the "cruciform"--those shaped by the cross--as it does for glory-seekers. While each one uses the same words, the meanings are not the same or even similar. "Law," "Repentance," "Gospel," etc. and other terms, while common to both the cruciform and the glory-seekers, are invested with particular definitions suited to their respective theologies. This series of posts--A "Cruciform" Vocabulary" will lay out some of the common terms and their distinctive use for theologians of the cross.

THE LAW

This difference in meaning is particular apparent when considering "Law." Both the cruciform and the glory-seekers invest the law according to the direction of their theologies. Consequently, they come to very different understandings of the law's character, content, function, and user. Today, I'll take up the contrast in the character of the law between theologians of the cross and practitioners of theologies of glory.

The Law's Character:

for the glory-seeker, the law is eternal

In theologies of glory the law has an "ontology;" that is, a "being-ness" of its very own. It is the "entity" of God's will. As such, the law is divine and and transcends the boundary between earth and heaven. Glory-seekers are confident that they will indeed "glorify" God and "advance" in righteousness by submitting their wills to God's will as it is expressed in the law. Usually, this advance is considered to "higher" as in "toward" heaven or getting "closer" to God. In some theologies of glory the law becomes a "ladder" by which glory-seekers demonstrate their righteousness and worthiness to enter heaven once they've achieved some certain level along the way; or, the glory-seeker uses obedience to the law as visual proof of their salvation in Christ.

Theologies of glory are always trying to get "beyond" the cross and to its meaning, to peer "behind" it in order to see its purpose, and/or to get "past" the cross and on to the really important stuff. Because of all this talk "about" the cross, glory-seekers have all sorts of theories about what Jesus "really" did when he died on it. Practitioners of glory theology are confident that the real work of the cross was done--not on it--but somewhere else. Of course, they can cite scripture as "proof" of all of their "theories" but--because theologies of glory can't hold Christ as the "living heart" of the scripture--these citations only demonstrate a distortion of scripture to suit their respective theologies. So for them, the real work of the cross gets done in heaven where God lives or in hell where the Devil lives because Jesus' death on the cross either satisfies God's wrath against sin so He can now show mercy upon humanity or Jesus' death was paid as a ransom to the Devil so that all humanity would be set free from the Devil's rightful claim upon them as sinners. Either way, humanity's disobedience to the law must be "atoned" for and by his death Jesus accomplishes our "atonement."

Do you see what this does? It makes the law supreme over Jesus. In these theologies of glory our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is NOT the way, the truth, and the life--the law IS. For glory-seekers Jesus must die so that the law will finally work.

for the cruciform, the law has an end

Theologians of the cross know that the law has its end in Jesus Christ. For the cruciform the law has no ontology or being-ness of its own. While it is indeed an expression of God's will, it is incorporated within the very "being" of God's creatures. However, because this creation is now broken by sin and humans are in bondage to sin, the law--for now--is no longer incorporated within their being. For now, the law is "instantiated," that is, it is given expression in the demands made upon sinners. These demands come as creation expresses its need for a "lord." They come as our neighbor expresses a need for a "good" neighbor. And, they come from our God who would have us be co-workers in establishing the trustworthiness of creation even in the midst of its disorder and broken-ness. The law is NOT eternal, nor is it necessarily divine, nor does it transcend the boundary between earth and heaven. The cruciform know that the law is not a measure of righteousness and that obedience to the law does not advance one upon the ladder to heaven, nor does it make visible their salvation in Christ.

Theologians of the cross do not try to get beyond the cross to discover some sort of meaning hidden there. To the cruciform the cross is to them just what is was to Jesus: an instrument of death, their death like it was his death. The "work" of the cross is not accomplished in Heaven or in Hell; the work of the cross is to put sinners to death so that God can raise up saints to walk in newness of life. Sinners die because the cross exposes them for who they are--inveterate theologians of glory who put the law above Christ and the only "cure" for this bondage is their death. Saints walk in newness of life--a life hidden for the time being with Christ in God--a newness of life only seen by the eyes of faith as the new creation breaks in upon the old in the person of its Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This "death of sinners" and "saints raised to new life" is accomplished by God's Word at the pulpit, the baptismal font, and the altar of the Lord's Table.