The human body as image of God

study-of-arms-and-hands“With our body we see, we speak, we walk, we descend, we climb, and so much more.  And in the Holy Scripture, all these functions, and so many more, are ascribed not only to our God, but they are ascribed in terms of the same senses and members of the body that we use for them. God also hears with his ear, sees with his eye, walks with his feet, strikes with his hand, saves with his arm, points with his finger, feels with his heart, moans in his inner parts, shows wrath in his face, and so much more. Of all these expressions and manifestations of life in God, an imprint has been put in man, and this imprint expresses itself through the members and senses of the body. And for this reason it won’t do to say that our body as such has nothing to do with the image of God.”

-Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace, 1:187

“Stoop, stoop!”

“The last time I saw your father [Cotton Mather] was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on my taking leave showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, “Stoop, stoop!” I did not understand him, till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed any occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, “You are young, and have the world before you; STOOP as you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps.” This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their carrying their heads too high….”

-Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Samuel Mather, 1784

* * *

Friend, Benjamin Franklin passes on good advice.  Yet sadly, from what I know if him, he did not stoop far enough.  We as sinners must stoop, indeed, bow down in the dust before God in Christ, begging for mercy. Only when we are hopelessly prostrate in the dust, looking for free and sovereign grace in the blood of Christ, can we be lifted up and spared for time and eternity.  So stoop, sinner, stoop!

Christ’s return to judgment, the completion of His work

662a7aecb7“. . . the return of Christ unto judgment is not an arbitrary addition that can be isolated from his preceding work and viewed by itself.  It is a necessary and indispensable component of that work.  It brings that work to completion and crowns it.  It is the last and highest step in the state of his exaltation.

“Because Christ is the savior of the world, he will someday return as its judge.  The crisis,  or judgment (krisis),  that he precipitated by his first coming he consummates at the second coming.  The Father gave him authority to execute judgment (krisin poeiein) because he is the Son of Man (John 5:27).  Eschatology, therefore, is rooted in Christology and is itself Christology, the teaching of the final, complete triumph of Christ and his kingdom over all his enemies.  In accord with Scripture, we can go back even further.  The Son is not only the mediator of reconciliation (mediator reconciliatonis) on account of sin, but even apart from sin he is the mediator of union (mediator unionis) between God and his creation.  He is not only the exemplary cause (causa exemplaris) but also the final cause (causa finalis) of creation.  In the Son the world  has its foundation and example, and therefore it has in him its goal as well.  It is created through him and for hims as well (Col. 1:16).  Because the creation is his work, it cannot and may not remain the booty of Satan.  The Son is the head, Lord, and heir of all things.  United in the Son, gathered under him as their  head, all creatures return to the Father, the fountain of all good.  The second coming is therefore required by his first coming.  It is implied in the first; in time, by inner necessity, it will proceed from the first; the second coming brings the first coming to its full effect and completion and was therefore comprehended in a single image with the first coming by Old Testament prophecy.”

– Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (4:685).

The springtime of salvation

Vision%20of%20St%20Bernard%20with%20Sts%20Benedict%20&%20John%20Evan%20Fra%20Bartolomeo“The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the fullness of time during the reign of sin and death (Gal. 4.4). But it is the glory of the Resurrection, in the new springtime of regenerating grace, that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth, whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection, when time shall be no more. And so it is written, ‘The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth’ (Cant. 2.11 f); signifying that summer has come back with Him who dissolves icy death into the spring of a new life and says, ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev. 21.5). His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection (I Cor. 15.42); and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth.”

-Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153)

 

“A Sad, But Blessed Detour”

Last Lord’s Day (Sunday), we considered the weighty saying of Christ, “The Son of man came not to serve, but to be served, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).  Jesus was going to the cross, but sadly, his disciples detoured him with their foolish question.  Yet Jesus made this sad detour a boundless blessing for them and us, if we have ears to hear.

Listen – if even for a minute or two – to the message here.

 

Christians, same-sex attraction, and the Great Story

There are many stories out there that challenge the dominant LGBTQ narrative, that those with Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) can in fact live within a full, complete, and joyful marriage to those of the opposite sex. Oh, and be a Christian too!  Doesn’t fairness require that their story be heard as well?

Listen to this piece from NPR (and kudos to them for demonstrating something of classic journalistic impartiality!).

And check out this too.

I hardly deny that many may suffer from SSA.  While I’ve never experienced it, I can empathize with those who do.  And in a sense, I can sympathize. There are many things that I am tempted to do that I simply don’t do.  If I acted on all my impulses and were thus “true to myself,” you would probably like me a lot less than you actually do.  (And if you don’t like me at all, well, you’d have even more compelling reasons!)  I’m afraid if I were true to myself, I wouldn’t have the lovely wife and beautiful children I do now. Every day I resist temptation, fighting against what some might call “natural” desires. But I distinguish between natural-good and natural-bad instincts. Eating food is a natural-good.  Being intimate with my wife is a natural-good. Yelling at my children when I am tired and haggard, however, is a natural-bad. It’s natural in the sense that it’s human, but human in the fallen sense.

And this leads us to yet another narrative that needs to be heard. The great ‘meta-narrative’ of the Bible. It is a story that explains exactly how this world ended up as a big, messy jumble of natural-good and natural-bad instincts. Here’s the basic plot: Creation – Fall – Redemption.  God created everything good, in proper harmony, with a perfect unity and complementing diversity. Mankind was at one with itself, at one with its environment, and above all, at one with its God. Mankind, though, transgressed, listening to the lies of the Tempter. And so our first parents fell into sin and misery, and we their offspring, fell in them. Inheriting their nature, we acted out the unnaturalness of our own sinful bent. We polluted the pristine waters of nature, we dirtied our souls!  But God, planning to redeem, made sure that man didn’t gaffe up everything. In His common grace, He hemmed in and restrained something of the natural-good, that it may continue until He sent His Son to fix the brokenness once and for all.  By the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, God broke into this disordered world to get back what He made.

Conversion gives the believer a radical new start.  They are a new creation in Christ. Yet, Christians aren’t perfected; they walk to heaven with a limp.The old man has been dealt a mortal blow, but he is still striving to regain control. The Christian struggles with temptations every day.  Temptations that the world will call “natural.” But he knows, she feels that this needs major qualification. That “natural” was then, this is now. And the now is natural-good, and good getting better every day!

Augustine, the great catholic teacher of the Church, was quite the womanizer prior to his conversion.  I suppose he was being true to himself. But after his conversion, things had changed from the inside. One day, an old flame found him on the street, came up to him, embraced him and exclaimed, “O Augustine!  It’s me!” To which he replied, “Yes, but it’s not me!” The old Augustine was gone (though I doubt not the old man wanted to rekindle the former romance). But he had embraced his new nature, a nature not unnatural, not repressed, not denied, but reborn.

 

 

O the Sweet Exchange!

Altar-of-Sacrifice“And when our iniquity had been fully accomplished, and it had been made perfectly manifest that punishment and death were expected as its recompense, and the season came which God had ordained, when henceforth He should manifest His goodness and power (O the exceeding great kindness and love of God), He hated us not, neither rejected us, nor bore us malice, but was long-suffering and patient, and in pity for us took upon Himself our sins, and Himself parted with His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy for the lawless, the guileless for the evil, the just for the unjust, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal. For what else but His righteousness would have
covered our sins?

“In whom was it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to have been justified, save only in the Son of God?

“O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many that are iniquitous!”

Epistle to Diognetus, 5:2-5 (ca. 150 A.D.)

An open letter to Mr. Trump

This open letter to Donald Trump is a first-rate piece on how the rehabilitation of marriage in our culture is the sine qua non of truly making America great again. It also underscores the tragic reality that “the way of transgressors is hard.”

Deeper than this need, however, is national repentance and renewing covenant with God and His Christ. Without the fear of God, not even demonstrable socio-economic harm will bring about the desperately needed reform, restore relationships and advance true human flourishing. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

La nueva justicia (y justificacion)

1280px-AuthorityOfLaw
En las ultimas semanas, hemos visto a varios estados luchando con las consecuencias de la decision de la Corte Suprema Obergefell vs. Hodges. Lo mas reciente, Mississippi ha pasado una ley protegiendo las libertades de pastores, floristas, y pasteleros, quienes no quieren tener sus consciencias implicadas por la nueva realidad. Han perdido la batalla pero desean salvaguardar su derecho de disencion y de simplemente no participar. Que cualquiera que desee soportar matrimonios del mismo sexo haga como quiera, pero esta gente no quiere ser incluida. Sin embargo, eso esta atrayendo una tormenta de protesta de todos lados, desde entretenedores, a empresas grandes, a gente en oficio publico. El gobernador de Nueva York Andrew Cuomo es solamente el mas reciente en unirse a la denuncia, respaldandolo con la vara de disciplina para con sus errantes, ignorantes anti-Americanos.

Si, Obergefell vs Hodges, fue realmente un momento decisivo; pero realmente se podria haber visto acercando desde hace tiempo. La corte de opinion publica ya habia juzgado antes de que el juez Kennedy escribio su opinion de mayoria. Kennedy solo consagro en ley—por autoridad judicial, nada menos—lo que ya se habia hecho la nueva justicia de America moderna. Rasco el comezon. No el comezon por justicia real. Si, muchos pensarian que eso es lo que fue. Una America fundamentalmente buena se estaba simplemente hacinedo mejor. Esto fue Derechos Civiles revividos. Pero yo lo veo de diferente forma—America tenia comezon de justificacion.

He aqui el problema. No somos la intachable, super-limpia nacion que queremos imaginar que somos. Estamos bien depravados. Y no estoy hablando solamente teologicamente. Nuestra depravacion es actual, palpable y visceral. La enfermedad ha llegado a la piel, y las llagas apestosas estan atrayendo moscas. Se ha hecho dolorosamente obvio. Somos sucios, hasta en las uñas. Y cuando miramos en un espejo, no nos gusta lo que vemos. Queremos ser limpios. Queremos la inocencia de nuevo. Queremos desquitarnos de la voz regañona de la consciencia que suena en los oidos: “Hemos abandonado a Dios y jugado al prodigal. Hemos perdido la virginidad y ensuciado el centro de nuestros seres.” Pero eso es simplemente muy doloroso. Y asi desesperadamente buscamos soluciones cosmeticas. Buscamos una nueva justificacion, para vindicar nuestras consciencias sin confesarnos ante Dios y el mundo.

Muchos Americanos procuran proyectar su suciedad sobre otros—usando un truco psicologico. “Es realmente el politico.” Aquel que vota es inocente. Las encuestas nunca se equivocan (y el cliente siempre esta correcto)! Pero una ves que ese votador es elegido y entra a la capital, cae de la gracia. Al final de su plazo, una mayoria justa y santa quizas lo vote fuera de oficio como castigo por convertirse malo.

Pero las realidades relatan otro cuento. Divorcio sin falta es lo normal ahora. Pornografia es lo normal. Fornicacion casual es ahora lo normal. El gobernador Cuomo esta haciendo justo eso. Sexo libre sin compromisos. Que noble! Pero quisiera decir que es diferente que cualquier fulano. Niños en todos los Estados Unidos ya estan acostumbrados a ser tirados como Frisbee de casa a casa porque sus padres se portan como niños mimados. Es extraño que esta nueva generacion este tan turbada? Por lo menos han sobrevivido la epidemia del aborto.

A mi me parece obvio. Nuestra nacion se une a la mas reciente crusada para encontrar justificacion en sus propios terminos. Encuentra una nueva causa, una nueva justicia—torcida como sea. Haciendose campeones por esa nueva justicia, se restaura la dignidad. El sentido de valor regresa de inmediato. Y cuando los malos, que mantienen una justicia mas antigua, hablan sus mentes, son callados. A lo menor, son marginalizados—los que odian odiaran!

Tengo poca confianza en el publico Americano, aparte de la restriccion de Dios. El Jurado esta corrupto, punto. Pero tengo toda confianza que cuando un Dios soberano oye las oraciones de su pueblo, cuando libremente escoge tener misericordia sobre quien tendra misericordia, que nada frenara la revolucion en las mentes del pueblo. Que El puede—cuando quiere—frenar la locura y restaurar a sus sentidos a una nacion prodiga en el lodo de la pocilga. El puede persuadir a America que renuncie su nueva justicia, su nueva justificacion, y que reciba la Suya por medio de Jesucristo.

The ring of truth in oddity

“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect. For instance, when you have grasped that the earth and the other planets all go round the sun, you would naturally expect that all the planets were made to match-all at equal distances from each other, say, or distances that regularly increased, or all the same size, or else getting bigger or smaller as you go farther from the sun. In fact, you find no rhyme or reason (that we can see) about either the sizes or the distances; and some of them have one moon, one has four, one has two, some have none, and one has a ring.

“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies-these over-simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”

– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity