Comprehending the Love of God through Christ: The New Humanity Part 14

Eph 3:14-21  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  (15)  from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.  (16)  I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  (17)  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.  (18)  I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  (19)  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  (20)  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,  (21)  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The above passage from Ephesians has always been one of my favorites. Paul is writing a prayer of his heart for the Ephesian saints. but, this prayer is for all of us and should encourage all of us. After the experience on the Damascus road, Paul spent a lot of time with the Spirit of the Living Christ Jesus, and had so much revealed to him. He said in one place that he was caught up in the third heaven, and heard things that it is not lawful for humans to utter. He got a glimpse of the incomprehensible God of the universe. He makes two main points in this prayer. First is the indescribable scope and intensity of God's love for humanity. Second he eludes to the tremendous power that is at work in the saints because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Apostle John wrote God is Love twice in one chapter. God is perfect love and is perfectly good. So why would one fear love? John also wrote that perfect love casts out all fear as fear is torment and the one who fears has not realized they are loved with perfect love.  And yet, so sadly so many of my dear sisters and brothers fear God. If we go back to the garden story. Our prototypes ran and hid when they discovered they were naked. Of course they had been naked all along, but the awareness of the fact, caused them to fear God and hide from him as he approached them. Ever since then people try to hide from God whenever they become aware of their failure and are reminded of the presence of God. Jesus, the last Adam and the ultimate prototype walked among us as God to convince us that we did not need to hide from God. He explained that God was our Papa. He told us about the absolute relentless love that the Father had for him. Jesus Papa loves his creation in an unfathomable way. As Paul mentioned in his prayer for the saints, it is a love that surpasses knowledge. I know he said the love of Christ. However, Paul also said in another place that in Jesus the Godhead dwells bodily. So the love of Christ is the love of Father/Papa.

Paul prayed that we/they would be able to comprehend the magnitude of this love. But read the last part of the prayer. He mentions that the power of God is at work in us. That power is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can imagine. What a promise! This is made available as we begin to lean on, trust in, and cling too the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the power that is in work in us. Peter wrote that we become partakers of the divine nature. I believe that the Holy Spirit is the mind of Christ. Paul said that we should let the same mind that is in Christ Jesus be in us. He did not mean allow it in. It is there as a guarantee of our redemption. He meant that we should begin to acknowledge the mind of Christ within us. That mind will assure us of the love of Papa and will birth the same love in us for our fellow humanity.

That is the character and being of the New Humanity. We understand that Christ indwells us, and it is our hope of glory. When Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God was among them, the fact is, that after Pentecost, the kingdom of God was WITHIN them as they were indwelt by the mind of the King. This is such encouraging news. It is the kind of news that will stir our spirits to the good works that Papa designed for us to walk in before anything was created. Rejoice in this prayer and read it often for encouragement.

As we become increasingly aware of this let us allow our minds to align with His mind in us. Don't take these words of Paul as a commandment that you can fail at. Take them as and encouraging focus for your mind. Php 4:8  "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Characteristics of the New Humanity; New Humanity Part 12

1Co 13:2-3  "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  (3)  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

A question that has been asked through out the centuries by Christians of all ages is "how then shall we live?" It is a very important question. The answer to this question was shown to us by the incarnate life of Jesus. Joh 13:35  "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." So first and foremost, the characteristic of the New Humanity is love. It is important to point out that it is agape/love, the same love that the Apostle John wrote of when explaining who God is. It is unconditional love that puts the good of the other first. It is patient and kind. It does not envy, is not arrogant or prideful. It is hopeful and faith filled. It loves truth and it is unending.

How is it birthed in the New Humanity? What is the source of this love? The simple answer it is God's grace. All of the previous posts in the New Humanity Series have focused on God's grace, the finished work of the cross of Jesus, and the absolute fact that it was accomplished in God's plan before creation. As I have stated over and over in many different ways on this blog, transformation results from believing the gospel of God's grace. Being justified by the faith of Jesus, being reconciled to God by the faith/faithfulness of Jesus produces real profound peace with God which in turn results in real profound love for God. This peace and love is the source of agape/love in the believer.

Jesus modeled a perfect example of this love in his earthly sojourn. He became the champion of the disenfranchised. Wherever he found a need he met it. He healed the sick and maimed. He fed the hungry masses. Further, and probably most important he taught what loving "agape-style" looked like. It was to love our enemy. It was to do good to them that misuse us. It was to go the extra mile when asked to only go one, in other words, do more than was requested. These were not platitudes. It was how he lived his life. Paul describes Jesus as a human this way. Php 2:5-8 " Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,  (6)  who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,  (7)  but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,  (8)  he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross." In other words, he became a servant though he was the King.

The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom where his followers strive to follow his leadership. Not in a compulsive way; not as the commandments of the Old Covenant, but by a transformed mind that is ever growing toward being the very mind of Christ. As the mind of Christ develops in the believer, as she or he moves closer to having the compassion for humanity, especially the poor, the poor in spirit as well as the poor in possessions and wages, the more compelled he or she would be to love in an unselfish, serving way.

This is the importance of the synoptic gospels. The sermon on the mount, the sermon on the plain, Matthew 25:31-46 becomes important in understanding what it means to become a follower of Jesus and to begin to have the mind of Christ. Jesus said let your light shine before humanity so that others may see your good deeds and thereby glorify your Father in heaven. I love the way that Isaiah put it. Isa 58:6-12  "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  (7)  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  (8)  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  (9)  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,  (10)  if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.  (11)  The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.  (12)  Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in." Look at the promises that accompany this prophecy. There are two things that Isaiah points out. One is to have compassion and provide aid to the less fortunate, and the other is to refrain from religious judgment.

So when Jesus said the words recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, he was pointing out what Isaiah had  written 750 years earlier. Yes, one of the characteristics of the New Humanity is to rebuild the ruins of all the years of greed and oppression. The New Humanity, Jesus followers, will be busy doing these things, and quite frankly, if they did they would not have the time to focus on sin and sin management. They would be so busy doing the good works that God had determined before the foundation of the world for them to do that they would be too exhausted to sin. I say that in jest but in reality there is a lot of truth in it. This is where our resources should be donated. When I say resources I mean both our time and our financial contributions. It would not be to have stained glass windows and salaries for people who are doing our work so we don't have to. I would argue that very little of this work is being done by Curchianity anyway, but too often, the little that is being done is done by those who we have hired to do it.

I realize that there are many doing this, but when you look at world statistics, see how many people name the name of Jesus and attend some kind of church; there is precious little of this being done for there to be so many Christ followers in the world. I believe that the proper understanding of grace and the method that the Holy Spirit uses to transform needs to be widely understood for this work would become a natural outflow of redemption. It needs to be understood that these works are not the reason that God loves us so passionately. He loves us because he loves us and nothing will change that so it is not to gain favor that we will model these characteristics. Rather, it would be what we would/will do as we grow having the mind of Christ.

Until this becomes our characteristics as Christ followers, it is almost like having wasted grace. Oh it is definitely great that we realize we can set aside our shame and fear, and that we can rest in the eternal love of Father and Jesus, but demonstrating this love to the rest of humanity is another important reason for redemption. And, it will definitely bring more praise to God's glorious grace!

Why I believe Universal Reconciliation is a Historical Fact: New Humanity Part 13

I believe in universal reconciliation as a completed work and a historical fact. Yes, I believe that all humanity is reconciled to God by the faithful accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is different than ultimate reconciliation in that ultimate reconciliation accepts that all are reconciled at some point in the future, and only some are reconciled now. In fact, let me go so far as to say that I believe that all were reconciled before the foundation of the world, which is before anything was spoken into existence by the powerful loving Word of God. Yes, reconciliation was settled before creation. Redemption was God’s purpose in creation. God created with a single purpose in mind. It was to bring praise to his glorious grace and allow Him to bestow perfect love on his creation. Ultimately it was a plan whereby he could perfectly love his creatures and in turn, they would have the means to genuinely love him back with an intensity nearly unfathomable.

You will no doubt want to say to me, what about choice? What about beings with free will? To that I say each human has a choice to believe it or not. Each human has the choice to walk in this reality while in this earth or not. Each human has the ability to realize that they are image bearers of a loving God and demonstrate this quality in their world. It is the choice of being human on this earth plane. However, in the reality of eternal energy, that reality which quantum physicists are beginning to be able to observe, examine, and can see by repeatable experimentation. They are finding that this ultimate energy field has an awareness and intelligence, and though our understanding is still so primitive, one can only surmise that it is the source of all that is and that it is in fact, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit that holds all things together. The writer of Hebrews said as much. He said that Christ holds all things together by his powerful Word.  Paul told the Athenians that Jesus was the God in whom we live, move and have our being.

This brings me to the first proof of universal reconciliation. I am going to show a fairly large portion of Ephesians chapter one. The Spirit inspired Paul to write about the absolute sovereignty of the triune creator. Eph 1:3-14  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,  (4)  just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  (5)  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,  (6)  to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  (7)  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace  (8)  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight  (9)  he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,  (10)  as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  (11)  In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,  (12)  so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.  (13)  In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;  (14)  this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

The phrase, before the foundation of the world explains that it was prior to the Word speaking the world into existence. There are two passages in scripture that predate Genesis chapter one. One is John 1:1-5 and the other is the passage above from Ephesians chapter one. John chapter one predates all other scripture, but Ephesians one is next in order. I am not saying that either John chapter one or Ephesians chapter one was written chronologically before Genesis chapter one. What I am saying is that these two passages describe events that predate creation. And what is most important for my purpose is Ephesians chapter one explains God’s motive for creation. It was redemption. Further, it was to the praise of his glorious grace. So, let me ask a question. What would bring more praise to his glorious grace? The fact that he made it so some could choose to be redeemed or that he planned to redeem his entire creation? Of course, it would be to redeem the entire creation. And, Paul states that exactly in verse 10 by saying ALL things. What can possibly be left out of all things? Absolutely nothing!

Paul goes on to say that God accomplishes all things according to his council and will. So, when Peter tells us that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance then he will accomplish that. In the above passage, Paul establishes the absolute sovereignty of God. So, the first proof is established that God had chosen to redeem humanity before he created them, and the purpose was to praise his glorious grace. Now, what could be the greatest praise for his glorious grace? The answer is genuine love for God. In fact, this glorious grace is the key to enabling one to obey the first and greatest commandment. Once one grasps the plan that God put in motion before he created the world, one cannot help but love God with all their heart, with all their might, and with all their soul. This is the only way to enable real love for Father.

Moving on to the next proof; Rom 5:18 Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. In Adam all died and in Christ all are made alive. Notice what Paul says in the above passage. Does he say that Christ’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for some? Does it say that Christ’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all those who believe? No, it says that Jesus’ act of righteousness leads to justification and life for ALL. Paul begins Romans five by saying that having been justified by faith one has peace with Father. It is important to point out that it is not that people are justified by their faith. No, Galatians 2:16 explains that all are justified by the faith, faithfulness of Jesus. So once again we are confronted with a sovereign act that God does on behalf of humanity to further redemption and reconciliation. It is important to read Galatians 2:16 in either the King James Version, the NET Version or the YLT Version… but if you read it in any Greek Version you will see that one is justified by Christ’s faith and not their own. So now we see that ALL are justified. Would a sovereign God that is love justify someone that would later choose to go to eternal torture?

So now I come to the third proof; 2Co 5:17-21 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  (18)  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;  (19)  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  (20)  So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  (21)  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Here Paul speaks of the ministry of reconciliation. He says that God/Father was in Christ/Jesus reconciling the world to himself. Notice he does not say that God was in Christ reconciling the elect to himself or those who would one day believe to himself. No, Father was in Christ reconciling the entire cosmos to himself. The Greek word translated world in this passage is the kosmos. Again, after looking at the sovereign God in Ephesians chapter one, who planned redemption before the foundation of the world, reconciled the world to himself in Christ. Let us face the facts here. The entire cosmos is reconciled to God and it is very unlikely that he would allow anyone to perish and not partake of redemption and reconciliation.

I can hear it now. What about hell? What about all those who rejected Jesus in his earthly ministry? Well, that would require more words than I have written here but I will say this. All of Jesus references to hell was connected with the upcoming judgment on Jerusalem and the temple. All of the references to Gehenna were references to the imminent judgment that was to come on the Jews from Rome. Romans chapters nine, ten, and eleven, the place where Calvinists get their doctrine of election is parenthetical to explain why the Jews, God’s chosen people, missed out on redemption and why the Gentiles were saved with only a remnant of Jews that escaped the terror of Roman occupation in the first century. Yet, Paul says at the end of Chapter eleven that ALL Israel will be saved. Rom 11:26-35  “And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob."  (27)  "And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."  (28)  As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors;  (29)  for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  (30)  Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,  (31)  so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.  (32)  For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.  (33)  O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  (34)  "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"  (35)  "Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?" This puts the icing on the proverbial cake in my view. Here is another of Paul’s infamous ALL’S. All have been imprisoned under disobedience so that He can have mercy on some? Oh, that’s not what Paul said, God will have mercy on all.  I like how this passage ends Rom 11:36  “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.” This takes us back to the idea of the source in quantum mechanics. From Him, through Him and to Him. And guess what He gets the glory that he had purposed before creation.