The New Creation in John 20

John 20 is one of the most incredible passages of the bible. There's a lot of heavy things going on in John 20. And a lot of it only makes sense in light of the Genesis account of the creation of man. While John 1:1-18 could be considered the sequel to Genesis 1:1, John 20 is the sequel to Genesis 1-2 in totum.

Everything in this chapter of John is the new creation. The beginnings of the church community, the resurrection day as the first day of week where the risen Jesus meets his disciples in the evening. There was morning (resurrection) and there was evening (the risen Jesus appearing to his first disciples). This was the first day of a new creation, and he declared peace to be upon them! Jesus had accomplished his work, and was about to enter that heavenly rest. So he declared peace to his disciples, because his Father saw that His work was very good!

The darkness/light motifs which came up throughout John are still in play as well. It was still dark when the tomb was first visited, etc. I remember how Charles Dennison links this continual mentioning of darkness and light to unbelief and belief. Before the risen Jesus identified himself and explained everything, it was all so disheartening and confusing for even his closest followers.

"Fear of the Jews": this is important too. The old order of theocratic Israel cannot peacefully coexist with the new covenant which has superceded it. "The Jews", that is wayward Israel as represented by their corrupt religious authorities, in the minds of the disciples were probably intent on thoroughly cleaning up loose ends once the leader of this sect had been whacked. This is a sad text to read, because Israel was once the exclusive people who had the special presence of God dwelling in their midst, yet by and large they were now the hostile enemy of Jesus, "God-with-us" and his disciples (Paul, himself a "Hebrew of Hebrews", would pick up on this confusing situation in Romans 9-11). Much irony here.

Jesus breathing on the disciples so that they receive the Holy Spirit: this is more new creation language. It reaches back to the first man. God first breathed life into Adam and he became a living soul. But the last Adam became a "life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).

Hebrews as Explanation to Jesus fulfilling the Law and Prophets?

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. " (NASB)

First a few of my initial thoughts on this verse's meaning.

What appears to be Jesus' clearest statement on the relationship between the commandments of the Law and himself (and by extension the new covenant community) has been the cause of much controversy and disagreement. I take the position that Jesus is not simply saying he is there to "confirm" the Law and Prophets. He speaks of "fulfill" in the same sense when he already said he came to "fulfill all righteousness" by undergoing John's baptism. He was there to do them in a fulfilling manner. But there's even more to it, I think. Jesus was there to "fill out" what the Law and the Prophets only pointed towards in their contingent ways, and I believe that includes the moral commands of the Law. This does not mean the moral law as God's standard of right and wrong have changed even a bit, but they have now been more fully revealed in the person and work of Christ the new covenant mediator and fulfiller.

It has been argued by others that the actual commands of the Law bear no explicit indication that their true prima face meaning is for example prohibitions against dispositions of anger and lust. I believe this view has some merit. The commands of the Law were there to regulate the daily life of Israel in very concrete and visible situations. Combine this with the fact that Jesus has given a new command for his disciples to "bless those who curse you", and other such statements, and we begin to perceive the fuller picture of Jesus as the new covenant mediator who is authoritatively administering a Law that is better than the first Law (which pointed to his Law). These are not commands written on tablets of stone, they proceed from the mouth of the God-man in the flesh. His conjunctional phrases "But I say to you . . . " are not mere corrections of popular misnomers. He is purposefully making it explicit that it is He from whom these commands are spoken and find their origin! Jesus is establishing his own law-giving authority as the One who from the mountain explicates the demands for kingdom righteousness, to which the Law and the Prophets testified.

This is the righteousness which comes by faith, so it is those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who will be blessed - contra the blessings of the Mosaic Law which conditionally blessed righteous adherance to its commands. The commandments of Christ do not come to an obstinate Israel who were predominantly characterized by rebellion and unbelief, they come to the disciples whom Jesus had chosen and promised to send the life-giving Spirit, and that they would bear much fruit and that fruit will remain. This is a new covenant which is lasting and cannot be broken.

So now I'm thinking about the letter to the Hebrews. It seems to me that Hebrews can be viewed as an expository writing on this matter regarding Matthew 5, i.e. how Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant, how the old covenant which only spoke of earthy, fleshy things, was insufficient and passing away. The Gospel of Matthew teaches us that Jesus' filling out of all righteousness testified by the Law and the Prophets included his bringing new commands of righteousness which reflect the eschatological fulfillment of righteousness in his deeds and words. In short, the way of the cross was not required by the Law, but the Law and Prophets in its typology and prophecies pointed to this way which Jesus would undertake. Hebrews further builds on this in an even more explicit manner.

These are only my rough collection of thoughts as I begin to think about all of this. There is much more to explore. To be continued.

Faith in Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)

Faith as it is defined here is not specifically talking about trust in God, nor primarily about how to live faithfully. It is the substance and evidence of the people's own lives as revelation of things to come. They did have a basis for the faith by which they lived: they heard the promises of God and they believed in them. That, according to the author to the Hebrews, is what so shaped their lives as to make their lives bear witness to the coming day of salvation. All of the events and examples given throughout that chapter in Hebrews are the "substance and the reality" of heaven projected down into history, making them actual instances of revelation. So this author is basically saying that the stories of these people's lives in times past are the concrete evidence (as in a court of law) of things hoped for: the coming of Christ and the kingdom of God.

I would think this point would not be missed by the Jewish-Christian audience. For they knew the stories, and they probably in the past had stumbled over some of them. Why did God divinely command Abraham to sacrifice his own son and thereby jeopardize the coming promised seed, and then divinely intervene at the last moment? Abraham was supposed to live according to promise, so how would his faith be in line with the promise of a blessed posterity if he had carried through and obeyed the command to kill?

These are the revelatory evidences of a redemption not yet seen. Abraham, seeing Christ from afar, "had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."

Asleep unto the World

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, " How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

Revelation 6:9-11

In prior times I had considered this passage to be possible evidence that the saints in heaven, who await the final resurrection and consummation of all things, are to some degree aware with the goings-on in world history. Thus they inquire when God will act out his final day of consummate judgment, which means all things will have their finality. But upon further reflection this passage seems to depict just the opposite. The imagery of the souls resting underneath the altar, then crying out, then being told to rest a little while longer, correlates perfectly with Paul's description of the dead in Christ as those who have "fallen asleep." These souls are asleep under the altar, they wake up to ask "What time is it?" (N.T. Wright's paraphrase), and then told to go back to sleep. They are resting in heaven in this intermediate state between their bodily deaths and their bodily resurrection, asleep unto the world and even gently dissuaded by the Lord from worrying about the times or seasons until final glorification.

It seems I'm afraid that prayers to saints which are so prevalent in certain traditions are unfortunate exercises in futility. Our departed brothers and sisters are getting a momentary but well deserved rest, asleep unto the world.

Peter and Cornelius

I had a lengthy discussion with my roommate the other night. He had just submitted a sermon on Acts 10 for his homiletics class. He was a bit stumped on a couple of the phrases used when Peter is speaking to Cornelius in vs. 34ff. Today I emailed him with more thoughts on the matter, here it is.


John -

Per our conversation last night, I took a second look at Acts 10. I think it's clear now on the one issue you brought up, i.e. what did Peter mean by "doing good" in his gospel recounting in Acts 10:37-43. Jesus' "doing good" is a descriptive summary of a great portion of Jesus' ministry: healing the sick, preaching to the poor, confronting the enemies of the lost sheep of Israel, etc. It simply describes Jesus' perfect fulfillment of his servant role in accordance with the Father's will, being ever righteous in his assigned task.

Then as to the other passage, Acts 10:34-35, Peter says "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him."

The easy mistake, because of the moralism of our age, is to understand "does what is right" in ethical terms. But that's not what is meant. We can know from the text what Peter is referring to at least in relation to Cornelius.

- Cornelius feared God along with all his household

- He devoutly prayed to Yahweh

- He gave alms to the Jewish people

The "fear of God" was an expression for various Gentiles in the OT who did not necessarily participate in the redemptive hope of Abraham's seed but still had a fearful knowledge of God as creator and sustainer of all things, and *somehow* favors Israel as his people. For example the Egyptian midwives in Exdous 1 saved the Israelite babies because they "feared God" more than Pharaoh's decree, etc.

However Cornelius not only acknowledged God's existence as One to be feared, he prayed to God. He understood that God is sovereign and God is able to save.

Furthermore, Cornelius gave alms to the Jewish people. This activity is clear evidence for the kind of faith in Cornelius: he expectantly participated in the Jewish hope that Israel's God would somehow rescue His people.

Peter has finally understood the much fuller implications of God's kingdom being received by faith in Christ; the just shall live by faith, not by works of the Law and not by bloodline. The kingdom is granted to sinners, Gentiles even!, who take hold of the promise by *faith*. Cornelius' devout activities were outward evidences that he possessed an OT-kind of faith, though he was outside the Law. He lived according to the Abrahamic promise.

So, while God shows no partiality with respect to the nations or sinners, faith is absolutely necessary (though it only be instrumental). Jesus wasn't arbitrary with his miraculous signs and his promising of the kingdom, it was the sinners who somehow evidenced faith to which the kingdom promises were extended.

And this last point is important since, as you have brought out already, the things happening in places like Acts 10 are at the "hinge" history of salvation. The case of Cornelius cannot be cited as a theological proof that in soteriology faith logically precedes regeneration/salvation/etc. Rather it is an example of the ministerial pattern during the time "between the ages", when great anticipation of the Messianic hope was still among scattered inviduals throughout the land, while the new covenant giving of the Holy Spirit had just begun under the apostolic ministry. Cornelius is where the old and the new meet, and the old is swallowed up by the new just as promise is swallowed up by fulfillment.

In like manner, Jesus' ministry cannot be abstracted from its redemptive historical circumstances. Jesus was roaming the cities and countrysides, on the one hand he was promiscuously preaching the kingdom of God, but also in particular he was seeking out true Israel in order to release her from spiritual bondage. That is why he would wait, or inquire, or dialogue in such strange ways in order to get a confession of faith out of people *before* he pronounced blessing or healed or forgave sin. He was not there to fulfill the sinful expectations of Israel as a whole, he was there to announce salvation to his people, broken sinners and lost sheep who eagerly hung on the Abrahamic promises that God would somehow establish his people forever through the eternal son of David who would be their king and savior.