Don't Miss the Forest for the Trees

 

 

 

Is it possible we’re looking at Christianity too closely? There is no end of debates between denominations over What specifically makes one a Christian. It’s a fair question, with very few opinions agreeing. Perhaps we’re looking at the details and missing the image. I know I’ve personally spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the timing of events, the perceived boundaries between law and grace, and trying to determine actions that are Christ-like. Something seems to be jumping out to me of late that upends all of those questions.

I have been spending some time attempting to disconnect myself from conceptual baggage that I’ve accumulated of the years. I’ve realized there is much more of it than I thought. Trying to study Christianity is a lot like putting a puzzle together. Now, imagine you have this puzzle, but you also have an image of what you THINK the puzzle is.. That’s what I’m trying to ignore, what I think I know.

For the purpose of this article, I want to look at the Bible, as we know it, as a narrative, or a story. That DOES NOT mean I’m reducing the bible to just a story, far from it. What I’m intending to do is ADD a perspective of what I consider important and fundamental text.

 

Emergence of the Ideal - 

In my studies I seem to always come to the same conclusion about the nature of a Christian. From the Patriarchs in Genesis with their novel commands and statutes given directly by God to each man, to the nation of Israel with novel statutes and laws given by God and administered by man, to the fulfillment of those symbols by Christ Himself, to the instructions of the New Testament writers who insist on the internal nature of laws, they all point to the same thing in my mind. The Nature of a Christian is one of pursuing the Ideal. (Ideal – noun, a person or thing regarded as perfect.)

The process of becoming a perfect thing. In this case, God. From the very beginning as recorded, man is made, or formed in the image of God. Man is NOT God at creation, but is in the image of God. Man's existence in the image of God at creation is also correlated to Animals and their purpose to replicate themselves after their kind. 

The Patriarchs like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and so on, are given novel directives. God gives them specific instructions, and they are to carry them out. These commands aren't, as far as it is recorded, given in a framework of organized religion. They are plain and simple, unusual or novel directives. As we read about each of these people and their stories, we find an acting out of a 'piece' of the character of God. Not a big piece, but fundamental aspect of the nature of God. For instance;

The account of Noah early on in the history of mankind, lays out an architype of a worthy savior. The idea that there IS an entity that is capable of saving. There are no shortage of Christ-like concepts imbedded in the story, but I don’t want to get bogged down in details. I want to scan the scriptures at low resolution to see if there’s a forest around all of these trees.

Then there’s Abraham opening his eyes, and being aware, we start to see the Godly-man architype emerge. In his case, he was made aware of a choice, he had wealth, and opportunity already, but illumination came in the form of God offering something better. The story tells us how he Chose his path, and the story makes him the hero for his Choices. Abraham is a conscious man, not just following life as it happens. He was actively navigating life.

Later the story of Jacob introduces new characters and new concepts not previously seen. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, or 'he who wrestles with god', not just depicting a specific bout, but even deeper the concept of endeavoring. Jacob's story is more or less about a man who seeks, searches, tests, proves and pursues goal. Jacob doesn’t accept the promises to him blindly. He also struggles with God, not only in a wrestling match, but with the idea of God leading him.

By this early point in the narrative, just the book of Genesis, we have an ideal. There is a goal that has emerged. It might not be defined well, but the shape is visible. It's something like; 

1. Man was designed to look like God and to replicate himself in God's image. (creation)

2. Salvation being necessary, because man is not yet God, it's a good thing to be worthy to fill that need. (Noah)

3. When confronted with life, and specifically truth, it is a good thing to acknowledge it and consciously navigate it. (Abraham)

4. The heroic way of conducting oneself is to contend with purpose and take your prospects serious enough to expend your energy pursuing them. (Jacob)

That's obviously not an exhaustive list of the attributes of the ideal found in Genesis, and it's also my personal interpretation, but nonetheless I think it's fair to say there is an ideal, or a goal emerging in the story. That, in my mind ends the first chapter, or time period.

 

 

 Offering of the Ideal - 

The next time period we come to, seems to me like a whole new chapter, that is the Nation of Israel. The interaction between God and Man changes here. There are reasons for that change, and while those reasons are important I'm going to focus on the progression of the narrative, rather than the details at this point. The main thing here, is that The Ideal (the perfection of the patriarchs and God’s satisfaction with them) is offered to a group of people. This group of people is given, because of the promises of God to their ancestors, a chance to be redeemed from their sins. They did not act like their righteous ancestors, but God offered them an olive-branch in the form of codifying the requirements of the Ideal.

From creation to the time of Moses, there was one-on-one interaction between God and man, and the commands and instruction given were very simple monochromatic concepts. When we get to the time of Moses things become more complex. If we take the ideal that emerged from the first section, and let this next time period build on to it as the same project, we’ll find that this new set of directives adds detail to the Ideal.

The Mosaic Law, at a very basic level, describes what righteousness looks like in physical terms. Interestingly at the same time that God is explaining what physical righteousness would look like, He is lamenting the fact that He is having to explain it in the first place because people are refusing to internalize His instruction. From the very inception of the mosaic law God explains that the physical keeping of that law is to illuminate the spiritual truth of it. It's a map, a map of how to act, more specifically, it's a picture of what a person would act like, if they were internally righteous. During this time period of the physical Nation of Israel, we need to remember that God repeatedly sent prophets to proclaim to the people that God was NOT satisfied with their sacrifices, and offerings, and Sabbaths, and new moons, etc because those things were supposed to teach them to act righteously. Instead, the nation turned the law into a checklist and never internalized the concepts.

So let's take our ideal and add some of these details, remember, we are scanning at low-resolution;

5. Sanctification is required to progress towards the Ideal. (Levitical law)

6. Sacrifice is required to progress towards the Ideal. (Levitical law)

7. It is a requirement to Love God and to have a singular focus in becoming more like Him. (1-4 commandments)

8. Love for mankind is required to be a Godly-man. (5-10 commandments)

These details and requirements help define The Ideal. Remember the Apostle Paul said, these specific things were recorded for our sake. From here in Exodus to Malachi it is a collection of recordings about people living their live with the knowledge of The Ideal. Some stories detail those who pursue it and attain it in some measure like David, Solomon, Samuel, as well as numerous prophecies and references to One who will fulfil all things. The rest, and the majority it seems, of the stories go into details about the price of ignoring or not pursuing The Ideal.

 

Christ, the Fulfilment of the Ideal - 

The third time period starts with Jesus Christ. Jesus starts His earthly ministry with several actions and statements to prove who He is. He then, leads a physical life of service. Constantly teaching the correlation between the mosaic law and the spiritual law. He teaches repentance and belief, while serving people in physical ways. Then He is killed, fulfilling The Ideal. He acted out the whole thing, and made the idea of what a righteous man would look like come to life. He Embodied the Ideal.

There is much more to the story obviously, but remember, this is a low resolution scan. We are not looking at details we are looking to see if the whole thing together has a pattern.

This third chapter or time period shows the whole process. Christ embodied the Ideal described in the Patriarchs, being in God’s image, being a worthy sacrifice, consciously navigating, and being heroic in perseverance of the goal. He also fulfilled the requirements of Sanctification, Sacrifice, Singular love for God, and Love for Mankind. He did the thing.

Most importantly (to the narrative we’re following), He Set us an example.

Christ embodying the Father:

Hebrews 5:7

John 14:9-11

Hebrews 12:1-13

Go ye and Do Likewise – Embody The Ideal 

 

The next part of the story, is one that has caused a lot of trouble. The New Testament is a collection of documents written by ordinary men who either were directly trained by, talked with, handled, or knew Jesus. It is a testimony of men who were there. They recorded Jesus’ words and deeds and actions, and then gave their sense as to how one could follow Him. What was the consensus? Embody Him. That is, to take the things He did, the words He spoke, the message He preached, and make it come to life in us. These concepts of ‘feed on Christ’, ‘Clothe yourself with Christ’,’take, eat, this is my body’, are not about cannibalism. They’re about making Christ’s actions come alive in you. Galatians 2:20, is not a passive belief that you are saved, it’s an active life of being Christ-like.

An example to Embody:

Romans 13:14

Ephesians 4:13

Mark 16:15-20

Romans 8

John 12:26

Matthew 10:38

John 13:15

1 Peter 2:21

John 15:9

 

During this time immediately following Christ’s resurrection, mankind is given the Holy Spirit to help in this endeavor. The purpose of the Spirit is to recall to mind all the things our savior did and said, so that we can act them out.

The Bible as we know it is a narrative about becoming God. It has the reasons why the ideal exists, the description of the ideal, an example of the ideal being achieved and the tools and directions to achieve it yourself. The entire concept of Christianity is in name. A Christian, is one who is of Christ.

-SF