Yes! I survived the Spring semester (and with my GPA more or less intact, if my calculations are correct. There it is! Evidence that God can and does work miracles today!) It's over. For the past month, I've read 'till my eyes were sore from exhaustion, I've typed nearly to the point of carpel tunnel, I've thought and thought (often about things both simple and mundane; we dummies are like that) until my brain hurt, I've studied, reasoned, questioned, crammed, consumed inordinate amounts of caffeine, prayed, fought sleep, written, considered, and memorized. And I'm done.
Praise the Lord. Next year maybe I won't put things off 'till the end-of-the-semester-bottleneck, eh?
(Yeah, that's likely. Pshaw.)
Anyway, my sincere thanks to those of you who prayed for me (assuming anyone reads the stuff I write anyway, that is.) I made it through. I've got one Maymester night class to go (first session was tonight,) then the summer routine begins. I need a car, so I'll be attempting to procure some kind of full time employment near my place of dwelling. Should be fun, right? Uh...right?
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Let us turn our attention to I John 1:5-2:2
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Remember, first of all, that this epistle was not written to unregenerate non-believers, but to Christians. These passages do not concern Salvation of a Soteriological sense, but the everyday walk of fellowship with God that should be present in every believer's life. That is to say, this does not speak of Salvation from hell and eternal damnation, but how we live, specifically in relation to our fellowship and closeness with our God and eternal Savior.
The key to understanding this passage, I think, is found in the first verse. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. So often, I think (especially in the church of modernity) we try so hard to emphasize the love of God, which admittedly must be stressed, that we fail to mention the holiness of God. Both are absolutely essential attributes to the core of God's very being and essence; to sacrifice either is to chip away at his very nature, or to try to leastwise. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. He is, essentially, the most holy and sinless being in all of existence, and outside of it. Furthermore, he is infinitely more sensitive to sin that you or I ever could be. He cannot tolerate it. He cannot coexist with it. He must turn his back on it, and, sadly, anyone who is living in it. Does this mean that the Christian who lives in sin is abandoned by God? Of course not! Our Salvation is eternal and secure! But we cannot truthfully claim to have fellowship with Him if we are living in darkness.
John wrote these things so that we don't sin. But! If we do sin, he assures us that we not despair, as we have an advocate with the Father, namely Jesus Christ. The Greek work translated "advocate" is paraklaeton, and it conveys the idea of a representative or attorney in a lawsuit. In other words, whenever we sin (which we all do,) Jesus Christ immediately takes our case, and defends us before the heavenly Father. This is very important, as we know that Satan stands before the throne daily, accusing the Saints of God. (
The perfect advocate. And of course, we know that when He takes our case, He does not do so by saying to the Father, "Oh, no, don't listen to Satan. I know David; he's really not such a bad person. He'd never do that, Satan must be mistaken or lying." Of course not. He says, "Satan's right. David has fallen short of the standards the Father and I have set. But the punishment for his sin has already been taken. I know; I took it for him. I paid the price. He belongs to me, and he belongs to my Father, and as such, you, Satan, cannot have Him. No matter how far He falls, I and my Father will be there to catch him. My blood is sufficient to atone for his divers and numerous shortcomings. Case closed."
But we can still fracture our relationship with God by sinning. Such a detriment we are to ourselves! Who is our worst enemy? In fact, you see him or her every morning when you look into the mirror. "...Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (Jas 1:14) How do we restore that fellowship, and walk in the light with our Lord and our Savior? It's simple.
If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What is confession? Well, it's rather simple. The Greek word used here is homalagomen. It means, quite simply, to agree with God as to the condition of our sin. That is, to take His perception and make it our own. To concede the point, really, that our sin is filthy, sick, disturbing, detrimental, not expedient, implacable, unmerciful, etc. and so forth. To agree that we were wrong, to tell God we're sorry, and to resolve to turn from our sin. That's all it takes to restore fellowship with the Lord. If we do this in all sincerity, he will not fail to restore us.
And so, this passage which seems to emphasize the holiness of God is really and truly underscored and even over-toned by the love of God. No matter how far we fall, no matter how badly we sin, how long we turn our backs on God, or how severely we rebel, all it takes is that simple (but sincere) act of confession to enable God to forgive and forget, and to repair and rebuilt the fractured relationship. God is good, all the time, even when we are not. He is for us, even when we abandon Him. He is willing and just to forgive, even when we're ready to despise his sacrifice and ignore his blessings outpoured. Truly, our God is a mighty, immeasurable, and amazing God, slow to anger and of great kindness! We don't deserve him in the least...but we have him, if only we will accept and believe him.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, of famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Nay! In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, or nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Rom
And it was at
1 comment:
Thank you; your comment is much appreciated.
And, for what it's worth, I most certainly agree. God's holiness is too grandiose, too transcendent, and in point of fact too infinite to be accurately described in human terms. Or, perhaps I should say, to be *wholly* defined in human terms. It is possible to be accurate, and yet not be comprehensive.
Imagine, if you will, a lower form of life. Sentient, yet far more limited than we. What they are like or what they are called is not important, it is only pertinent to this hypothetical situation that we understand them to be capable of comprehension, but intellectually limited. In a desire to facilitate communications with them, one of us - you, for example - takes on their culture, learns their simplistic language, dresses as they do, and goes to live among them. And, to better know them, you try to describe yourself and your kind - humankind - to them. Only, as it turns out, they do not possess the capacity to truly apprehend such a concept of love, or of chivalry, or of villainy. Now, you might be able to synthesize these concepts, to give them a rudimentary glimpse into what they really mean, but while you are capable of understanding and conveying these ideas, they are not equipped with the potential of understanding them. And so you might describe a simplistic version of these "universally-understood" concepts. Love becomes a very good liking, chivalry becomes a type of obedience, and villainy becomes its opposite. In doing such, you are in a sense describing these ideals accurately, but not completely. They are indeed those things, oh this cannot be denied, but they are in fact so much more!
In the same way, God's holiness cannot be wholly defined on human terms. Neither can His love, or His grace, or His eternality, or His transcendence, or His immanence, or His triunity, or His impeccability, or...anything about him. But he gave us words to describe those attributes just the same, and while He is fully equipped to understand and to convey understanding of these attributes of His holy majesty, we are fundamentally unable to absorb them. And so he is described accurately, but not wholly, in passages such as, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. 4:8b) Or "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. 4:11) Or, on the love of God, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Accurate. Right. Good. True. But not complete, for a complete and whole view of God simply cannot be had by finite creatures. If it could, he would cease to be God, and we would cease to be finite. But the clearest demonstration of God's love is not exhibited by mere words; it is displayed throughout eternity by deeds, and in particular, one deed. The Lamb of God, clothed in the likeness of human flesh. Beaten, battered, and bruised, and hanging, barely recognizable as a man, on a cruel cross of wood. Separated, for the first time in infinity years, from His holy Father. Experiencing the ultimate in physical and spiritual punishment, hell in point of fact, all to bear away the sins of his worst enemies, those who nailed him to that cross. You. And me. And every human being which has ever lived. Which is every human being in the history of human existence, save one, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
So, no. Greek words cannot wholly describe anything about God. Nor can Hebrew words, or Aramaic, of Chaldean, or Latin, or English, or any language ever invented. And we can never wholly understand or appreciate God. But we are going to have an eternity to give it a try, and I can't wait for the opportunity.
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