Common themes between the New Testament and Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now." Part 2

The all in all....

Eph 1:23 NET Bible  "Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

The overlaid, and underlying premise of Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" is that at the most basic level, you could call it the God level, all is one, all is present, in other words there is only NOW. Further, Tolle states that we are all connected in the present in the presence of knowing. This is akin to Jesus' teaching that He and the Father are one, and that beyond that, all those who put faith in the gospel message are one with him and the Father. First of all Jesus states this: John 10:30  "The Father and I are one.” What does this mean? Well, it means there is no separation at the core at the underlying essence. But he goes on... Joh 17:20-26  “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony,  (21)  that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.  (22)  The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one –  (23)  I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.  (24)  “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.  (25)  Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me.  (26)  I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.” There is a lot to unpack here but I will focus on just one verse.

Look at verse 21,  that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. This is a perfect explanation for the ALL IN ALL. Paul uses this theme in so many different places. In Ephesians chapter four where he addresses unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace he writes this. Eph 4:4-6  "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,  (5)  one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  (6)  one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." When you couple this with Jesus words in John a compelling case begins to unfold. In fact, this is inextricably linked to the gospel/good news. Not only are we the righteousness of God in Christ, but we are one with the creator of the universe, and further, we are one with one another. Paul expands this theme in passages where he says that their is neither male nor female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, but rather we are ALL one in the Christ. When I refer to "the Christ," I am not diminishing Jesus of Nazerath. I am however aware that the unifying element in this oneness is the Spirit of Christ that indwells us all and is really our original created state as declared in Gen 1:31. 

When Jesus and Paul are so focused on this oneness, why is evangelical Christianity so focused on otherness? I think it is because sin has been so misunderstood. Ultimately "sin" is not believing the report that God was in Christ, reconciling a fallen world to himself, but more than that, it is not believing God's declaration found in Genesis 1:31. When one embraces the gospel that God has declared humanity righteous through Jesus Christ the last Adam, he merely punctuated his original declaration found in the Genesis passage. He then, supplied the Spirit of Christ to help with our doubt. It is the Spirit of Christ indwelling each of us that enables us to rest in the fact that we are one and that God is indeed ALL IN ALL.

(Note: There are many posts on this blog that show that the author of Hebrews equated sin and unbelief. Just type in unbelief or sabbath rest and you will find them. The fact is that it is a reality.)

So what implications does this have? Well first off, it could go a long way toward healing the great divide found in humanity. If we understand that we are one with God and connected in that oneness it would go a long way toward solving some of our greatest problems. If one could embrace the real gospel and not the perverted gospel that most of evangelical Christianity subscribes to, and if we could understand the real definition of sin, and not the perverted definition of sin that most of evangelical Christianity has embraced it would go a long way toward truly freeing the mind. If one could embrace the correct view of scripture... that of the redemptive narrative.... and reject the perverted view of scripture... seeing it as a legal constitutional document... it would go a long way toward producing the love that God has purposed for all humanity. After all, GOD IS LOVE, and that is another view held by Tolle which will be fodder for a later post.

This love would indeed become a transforming catalyst for all of mankind....