5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

There is much to be said here. Verse 5 bridges the hymn back to what Paul has been talking about. The model that Messiah’s colony should follow is that of their Messiah. The Love and Humility that are to be the central virtues of the colony are shown in the gospel story, the story of Jesus. The relationships that make up the colony, not just personal relationships but those of business practices and those of commerce. This mustn’t be reduced to how one treats his friends or fellow Christians. It is the entirety of human life. The parent-child, husband-wife, employer-employee, teacher-student, business-client relationships must all be built around this narrative, this story. The king must rule and govern according to this narrative, the people governed by the king must follow the king according to this narrative. The whole society and community must be centered on the virtues this narrative glorifies.

The hymn itself contains so much to be digested. From Philippians 2:6 we learn that Jesus existed in form as Yahweh and yet distinct from the person Yahweh. We learn about the place of Jesus within the triune nature of God. He is equal with God in his nature and being and existence. And yet there are at least two distinct persons sharing this same nature, God. There is the father and there is Jesus, both God yet not the same person.

Secondly the hymn teaches the incarnation of God in the Messiah Jesus. Jesus, one of the persons who shares the nature (μορφή) of God, became a man. The hymn doesn’t say that Jesus ceased being God but rather became a servant to God, giving up his rank and status. Just as the Psalms say man is lower than the angels, so Jesus descended down to the level of human. But he didn’t just go down the level of human where he could have rightfully taken and/or established a throne to rule of the entire planet. The incarnation went farther and God became a servant. Not just some one who serves another person voluntarily or is paid for the service. Rather Jesus became a doulos, a slave (μορφὴν δούλου λαβών). He gave up all rights. He so humbled himself that he died the death required of him.

Thirdly the hymn gives us the justification of Jesus, the vindication of Jesus. God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Jesus the name above all names, Lord. Hidden in this exaltation is the resurrection. The spirit of Jesus didn’t receive this reward but the whole person, the God-man Jesus. He was raised from the dead and brought before God to receive his vindication before all of the world. Jesus is Lord of the world. He is lord over all lords, even Caesar.

Fourthly, the hymn gives the eschatological goal of Jesus’ mission: the bringing the world under the rule of Jesus. Every tongue confesses and every knee bows. He is their king, not Herod in Jerusalem. He is their Lord, not Caesar in Rome. Jesus, the one exalted to Lord, will bring all the world under his rule and dominion. And not in the providential rule of Jesus as God, but the kingdom of the Jewish Messiah and the Jewish God. And at the confession of Jesus as Lord by all of the world and all who live in it, the father of Jesus, God the Father, will fully display his glory in the whole world being filled with knowledge of him.

Fifthly, this eschatology of Jesus gives the church its mission, to declare to the world that Jesus is Lord–not Caesar. He is the rightful king. They must repent and surrender to him, bowing the knee and confessing the tongue. The church is to be the colony the brings Jesus’ lordship to the earth and shows the world what the lordship is to look like when Jesus bring the whole world under it. And by seeing that lordship on display in the church, God’s imperial colony, they will abandon the domain of sin and death and join the dominion and lordship of the Messiah Jesus.

Thus as individuals we must model our lives after the life of Jesus, being obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. As a community, the church is to be obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. The world must see what it looks like to be obedient to its Creator and Lord. It must see the true strength of humility and love, forsaking the self to look to the well-being of the other. By living lives of other-focused humility and love, the church completes its task of declaring that God has retaken his throne as king.

And when that task is complete, the world will be transformed into a world that not even the Garden of Eden could compare to. It will be the world that God had envisioned Adam and Eve to create. We won’t go back to the Garden because we will go forward to the heavenly city come down to earth with Jesus seated on the throne ruling as a slave to his God and to his people. And it is this slavery that we model our lives after, giving up all rights to any claims we might have in the knowledge that such abandonment will be vindicated with the greatest reward God will give. So let us figure out how to create a society whereby the virtues are not ambition at the cost of the other, but rather humility and love for the other at the cost of the self. Every level of that society will love the other above the self. That will be when we make heaven a place on earth, if I may borrow from a certain song.

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Paul gives his command or admonition within the framework of a “if…then” conditional statement. It’s like when as a kid I wanted to go play video games with my high school friends, Jay Wolf and Christopher Bunch, and seeking permission from my parents. They would say, “If you will clean your room, do the dishes, and finish the laundry,then you can go play video games at your friend’s house.” My parents would give me conditions to fulfill and upon filling those conditions I could go and have fun. Parents are the masters of “if…then” statements.

Philippians 2:1 gives the conditions: encouragement from union with Christ, comfort from his love, common sharing in the Spirit, tenderness, compassion. In other words, Paul is saying if the Philippians are these things then they can obey the command. Are they united with Jesus? This union means to be joined with Jesus in such a way that one’s own identity becomes Jesus. He represents us before God and we represent him before the world. His name is our own. That which God has given him–vindication and resurrection and blessing etc.–we share with him. Read passages like Romans 6:1-11 or Ephesians 2:1-10 or Galatians 2:16-21. Paul wants to know if there is encouragement from this union.

Do the Philippians possess Jesus’ love expressed most fully in his incarnation and death and resurrection? It’s the love that means Jesus doesn’t cling to his divinity but is found as a slave in human likeness and becomes obedient to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). It’s the love that enables his people to overcome all things (Romans 8:38-39). Do they possess this love from Christ?

Do they share together the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit inhabit and indwell the Philippian Christians?

If these conditions are true of them, then Paul has one request: complete his joy. What’s his joy? From Philippians 1, correct me if I’m wrong here, it is his declaring that Jesus is Lord to the world in partnership with the Philippian church. He rejoices in seeing God complete his good work in them. He rejoices in those who share the gospel, whatever their intentions and desires. Christ, himself, is his greatest joy. He asks the Philippians to complete that joy, complete the sharing of the gospel message that Jesus, through his life and death and resurrection, has been declared and made Lord of the world. Complete the work of the kingdom.

To complete his joy, the Philippians are to be unified in their love for others and valuing them above themselves (Philippians 2:2b-4). The unity they are to exemplify is one that takes their differences and bring them together in a glorious harmony. This unity brings order to their chaos. It allows each person to come to the community as an equal and participate. They are all united to the one Christ, experience his one love, fellowship in the one Spirit. They are one, therefore be one. Have the same purpose and love. Accomplish the task of proclaiming Jesus is lord. Show the world which is in chaos that Jesus brings shalom, peace and order. Be like a song, which takes various instruments and singers and brings them into one. Be like a body which has many parts that do different tasks but is still one (1 Corinthians 12-14).

To do this he changes their virtues that they are to esteem and value. No longer are they to seek their own glory and ambitions but they are to act in humility. They must lower the value they place on themselves. Paul turns their focus outwards, away from the self of the individual and the community, to the world around the Philippians. If they were sitting in pews at a church, Paul would want each individual hearing the letter read aloud to seek to fill the needs of the persons to the left and right. Then this community of individuals who value and esteem others more than themselves would seek the interests and needs of the communities around theirs. And these communities would then seek to fill the interests and needs of the society around them and the world.

It was Jesus who said he came not to be served but to serve and give his life. Paul points out the humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8 as he empties himself to take on the form of a servant in human form and became obedient the point of crucifixion. That is our model. This is the virtue that the King has established for his kingdom. If we belong to his kingdom, then that is our virtue. We humble ourselves and look to the other. We are to show the world what the future kingdom looks like by living it out right here and now. It starts at home with family and moves in the local and state and national and global scenes.

It’s time for preachers of the gospel to stop looking only at how to help individuals to be more humble in their own immediate spheres. It’s time to start thinking in a kingdom way, a kingdom that spans the globe as Revelation envisions. How do we get these individuals to be humble? How then do we get these humble individuals to come together as a community and a kingdom and show the world the way God created it to be? That has to be the question.

And it is that question that I just cannot think in terms of. How does one get an entire community to look totally away from self? What does that look like at a systemic level? I don’t know. It’s so different from the Western World that I live in which is based upon the “American Dream” that creates poverty and injustice, and then feeds off of it. My ways of thinking are so ingrained in this mindset that I cannot help but think, “Do what’s best for me and mine.” That’s not humility. That’s selfish ambition and vain conceit, even if I’m doing it with the best intentions.

I look at the nation I look in. It worships the economy and that idolatry is coming back to visit us. The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement has sprang up to say that there is something wrong with the system that this nation lives in, the system that worships the economy. Neither movement has the answer, but Jesus’ kingdom does. But the church needs to get the model down so that we can go to the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements and say, “Here is the answer to the problem you’ve correctly identified. It’s the Kingdom of Jesus!” But how do we model it on a large-scale, systemic fashion. How can we move this country, not just the individuals living here, to this virtue of humility and love?

Oh God, help me become more humble like my King Jesus and love others and value them more than myself. What can I do to be more Christ like? How can I move this people, this nation, this human race to be the people you created them to be? Oh please show us how to be model Jesus to a world that is crying out for him to come and be their king! It’s in his name that I plead. Amen.

For Paul, being worthy isn’t about wielding a hammer–although I would love to have Mjolnir as my hammer–it’s about something else entirely. Something more powerful than a hammer that was forged in the heart of a star with an indestructible metal called “uru.” For Paul it’s to wield a message. It’s to stand in a spirit. It’s to strive for a faith. He puts it like this in Philippians 1:27-30 (NIV),

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Paul pleads for the Philippians to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He is pleading with them to conduct their lives (Gk: πολιτεύομαι; “I live”) in a way that is worthy of the message that they carry. Much like Thor was to conduct himself worthy of the position he held as firstborn to Odin and heir to Odin’s throne–signified in the carrying the hammer, so to are Christians to live in a way that is worthy of carrying the message that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. This means we must live all of life in a way worthy. The way in which we interact with fellow Christians, non-Christians, the way we work at our jobs, the way we manage our monies, the way we vote and interact politically with the governing authorities. Every area needs to be lived in a manner worthy of the message that Jesus is Lord. Not only must we care for the unborn, but for the born who are impoverished and oppressed. Those who have no food both here in America and abroad. We must live worthy in how we view immigrants and the environment. We must live worthy in how we conduct business with other people.

If the Philippian Christians are living a worthy manner, then Paul will know two things: they are standing firm in the one Spirit (Greek can also read: standing firm in one spirit [ἑνὶ πνεύματι; heni pneumati]); they are striving together as one for the faith of gospel. I see this as meaning that Christians are walking worthy of the Gospel of Jesus when they are unified in their stand for Jesus as Lord. Together, in the Spirit, they are showing the world what it means for Jesus to be King of the world and not Caesar, not the US Constitution, or any other government. That’s what it means to be worthy. Living the future world now, in the present. It starts with love and moves to unity. This unity is not one in mind like a hive mind. But rather a oneness that comes from the one Spirit and from the one faith. We live together in this oneness that brings together our diversities in a beautiful tapestry.

And this living in a worthy manner speaks a powerful message. When the world sees the kingdom people living out the kingdom they see their doom. Caesar sees that Jesus has defeated him. The world will come back. But they know it’s a futile attack. They know they will be destroyed (Gk: ἔνδειξις ἀπωλείας; lit: declaration of destruction) and that we are safe. Caesar is doomed, we are safe. Jesus’ kingdom will last, not the empire of the world. And in the process, people will see the unity of our diversity, see our safety, and will jump ship from Caesar’s empire to God’s kingdom.

Thus Paul says to live worthily without fear. Be bold in telling the world that Jesus is Lord. The sign of our unity will not speak the message it is intended to speak. Fear destroys everything Jesus set out to accomplish. Thus Paul bolsters the Philippians up with his own example (Philippians 1:12-26, 30). And he also gives the Philippians one fact to ponder, it is God’s gift to his people to not only believe on behalf of Christ, but to suffer on his behalf. By suffering without fear, fighting for our unity in the faith of the gospel, the world will receive it’s message.

What Paul isn’t saying to the Philippians is to create a counter-culture that is divorced and disengaged from the world around them. He wants their community to interact with the larger community. To participate in dialogue about all the important issues of their day. To bring the Word of Christ to bear on the larger Roman world. Christians today have bought into the myth that the framers of the constitution worked so hard to establish, namely keep the church and state separate. Well, I take that back. Except for two issues (homosexuality and abortion), Christians keep their Christian worldview out of the public square. And I feel that this has helped to establish some of the anti-intellectual sentiment in Christianity. Give me Jesus to save me from my personal sins and the rest of the world can burn in hell. The entire mission of the church has been refocused into a salvation narrative, salvation for personal sins, instead of a kingdom narrative that brings the ideals of Jesus to bear on the world. Paul wants Christians to interact and to challenge the world with the truth that God has reclaimed his throne through Messiah Jesus. Let us get back to fulfilling that biblical command to live life, all of it, worthy of the good news that Jesus is King of the world, not Caesar.

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The first thing I noticed as I read this passage was that the church is a partnership. Paul says he and the Philippian church are a “partnership in the gospel” (1:5). He says that the Philippians “share in God’s grace with me” (1:7). This imperial colony, established by Jesus, is nothing less than Christians partnering together in the gospel, declaring Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:11), defending (ἀπολογία, apologia, apologetics) his Lordship and confirming it. It is Christians partnering together, willing to suffer imprisonment with Paul to defend and confirm Jesus as Lord. There are no lone-ranger Christians out there doing it on his or her own. It is the church together who is most capable of this task. It takes men and women working together exercising their gifts, given by the Spirit, to carry the church forward. It’s the same mission that Roman colonies had, they defended and confirmed Caesar’s claim on the land. And we do the same, not for Caesar, but for the Messiah who is the true Lord of the world.

The second thing I noted in reading this passage was that the church’s mission was eschatologically focused. In 1:6 Paul speaks of God completing the work he began in the Philippians “until the day of Christ Jesus.” Again in 1:10 he talks about being pure and blameless “for the day of Christ.” Our eschatology drives us as Christians and the church. It is the kingdom that God will establish in the future breaking into the present through the resurrection of Jesus and now the people of his kingdom. On the day of Christ God’s reign over the earth will be consummated. What Jesus began God will complete. The church is here to bear witness to God having reclaimed his throne over the earth, and all that is in it. Hence we defend his reign and confirm his reign. We are the sign-post to the world of the future reality here in the present as we await God to complete his redemptive work.

Thirdly, the church is divinely energized and empowered. As Paul says in 1:6, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Again Paul says in 1:11, [We have been] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” God is working through his kingdom-people to bring about the work of the kingdom. He began the work in Jesus and carries it forward through his people. And in each Christian, God works to bring about the work of the kingdom in a way that is unique to each person. Thus he paints a beautiful picture of the coming world that is fully redeemed and under God’s wise sovereignty. Thus we work to show the reign of God through Jesus in our own lives as individuals, but also as the collective colony established by the Messiah to declare to the world that he is Lord. Through us God shows what the world will look like under his wise reign–a world without sin in all of its manifestations. This has implications both politically and socially and economically as well as on the personal level of behavior and person-to-person interaction.

Fourthly, to be the kingdom people who declare to the world that God is now King and Jesus is Lord, and the world should look like with God as King, it requires us to be active in love. Paul prays for us to love (1:9). But that love needs to be “abound[ing] more and more in knowledge and depth of insight [αἴσθησις, judgment].” Our love must be an informed love that is able to discern and judge. And because it is full of knowledge and and correct judgments, love is able to examine and discern what is best (διαφέρω, be of more value), making us pure and blameless when Christ comes to consummate his kingdom work (1:10). The kingdom people declare God’s wise rule through loving this world in a wise and discerning way. The kingdom is shown to the world by the people of God loving the evil world it inhabits. The work that God has begun and will complete in the believer is the work of love.

Which brings to this conclusion, love grounds all things for the Christian and God’s church. It grounds our knowing. It grounds our relationships. It grounds our deeds. But the question that I am left wrestling with is how to articulate such a worldview. Love must be abounding in knowledge. What implications does this have on a person’s epistemology, a person’s way of knowing the world around them? How does one “know” through love? It moves beyond modernity and even post-modernity. But exactly how it does so I cannot figure out. It impacts our political decisions. We vote for which law and which candidates through the lens of love, as it is love which declares the wise sovereignty of God. Which laws and lawmakers run on a platform that will show God’s love for the world to the world? I’m not talking about some law that will create a “Christian nation” but laws to establish the world that reflects God’s reign over the earth. It’s tricky and it requires Christians to be informed and wise to approve what is best, as Paul says. But we seek to know through love how to vote, how to spend one’s wages and earnings and income.

It’s a concept that I have only began to think through and it’s one that I think the church needs to begin to reflect on and develop. We need to understand that our mission can only be accomplished through love. And to do that, to love in such a way that we discern what’s best and therefore be pure and blameless, we must rethink our entire worldview through the lens of love–shown must vividly and completely through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. God’s love declares boldly God is King and Jesus is Lord. Let us learn how to reorganize our entire existence through the framework and worldview of God’s love.

Recently some friends asked why I have been silent on the whole Rob Bell saga. My answer was that there isn’t a whole lot to say about it and that my Reformed brethren’s rush to judgement about the theology of a pastor based upon the promotional material for a book due out on Tuesday (March 15, 2011) was embarrassing. But that’s what I do want to talk about, the Reformed response.

Before I talk about it, I want to make something clear. I’m not a Rob Bell fan. I’ve never really liked him. As a student of Greek I find his handling of the language to be laughable at best–and to me discredits him as an authority. I also want to say that I haven’t read all his books, watched his Nooma video series, or listen to his podcasts. I’ve only read Velvet Elvis and laughed as I put it back on the shelf.

So with that established, I want to offer a critique of the Reformed response from within camp. There are two points that I want to make. The response was premature and thus unfair. And the response was based upon presuppositions about Rob Bell before actually hearing him.

When Rob Bell released his promo material for his book Love Wins at the end of February he touched off a violent F-5 tornado from the Reformed community. Justin Taylor blogged that Rob Bell has moved farther away from orthodoxy, going so far as to label him a universalist. John Piper tweeted, “Farewell @robbell” (I’m assuming he meant @realrobbell, which is the twitter account of the author/pastor under scrutiny). The dean of Boyce College (part of Southern Seminary), Denny Burk, joined Piper and Taylor. Kenny DeYoung came to Taylor’s defense in the wake of the backlash.

As a Reformed guy, especially as one who looks up to Piper in many ways, it was sad to see this happen. I understand that Bell has some out-there ideas. I understand he has a lot in common with the “emerging church” movement (Bell has denied being part of that group and I’ll give him benefit of the doubt there).

But why rush to judgement on the promotional material? If Piper was getting ready to publish a book, made the promo controversial, and people were labeling him a heretic without having read his book, he’d be upset and rightfully so. He would want people to wait and see what he said in the book where his actual claims are being put forward and his reasons for claiming them can be examined. His supporters, like Taylor and Burk, would plead for people to read the book before coming to conclusions. They would call it rushing to judgment and premature to label Piper as a heretic.

So to label Bell as a heretic, however true it may turn out to be next week, was rushed. And because it’s rushed it’s not fair at all. Isn’t one of the great things about America, and being a Christian, supposed to be a person isn’t going to be assumed guilty without first proving that guilt? I mean DeYoung’s post grasps at straws to say Bell’s questions were more than mere questions, but didactic by nature, smuggling in truth claims through the back door. There’s no interest in being fair here at all.

Which leads me to my second point. The Reformed response seems to have read in their presuppositions about bell into the video. When I watched the promo video and read the publisher blurb, I didn’t immediately think universalism. In fact, I thought Bell raised some good questions that should be answered by myself and my Reformed brothers. I didn’t assume Bell was setting up a heresy in these questions. And because of that I didn’t feel Bell was sneaking heresy in.

But Taylor, Burk, DeYoung, and others have assumed heresy first, without reading what the book actually claims, and then viewed the promo material. They are reading Bell with presuppositions of heresy.

I remember at the Desiring God national conference on postmodernism back in 2006 (I believe it was 2006). Mark Driscoll was preaching on the church in a postmodern context. He discussed Velvet Elvis and the illustration of a brick wall the Bell used. Driscoll, giving the exact page, claims that Bell said we can throw away the virgin birth of Jesus, and that Bell doesn’t believe in it. In the book all Bell is doing is challenging the idea that doctrine should be placed together like a brick wall. Bell even states that he believes in the virgin birth. Love Wins isn’t the first time people presupposed Bell is stating heresy. But this is probably people have done so before actually reading his book.

When I look at how hard and devastating the Reformed response to Bell’s promotional video and publisher’s note, I am reminded of the F-5 tornado. The funnel cloud can be up to a mile in diameter. Winds range between 261-318 mph. These things can turn cars into missiles and take the bark off of a tree. They are the most destructive force in nature. Skyscrapers cower in fear before the F-5 tornado. And that’s what I saw from the Reformed guys like Justin Taylor and John Piper.

There was no grace. There was no waiting to see what the book said. Piper’s tweet comes awfully close to saying that Bell is dead to him. “Farewell Rob Bell.” There was no invitation for dialogue and discussion and debate. There was only casting about the label of heretic. There was only condemnation. There was only the devastation of the F-5 twister.

I have no clue what Rob Bell is going to say. I prefer my heresy to come from N. T. Wright. When it comes to the doctrines of heaven and hell Rob Bell may believe that love wins, whatever that may mean. But when it came tommy brothers’ response to his promo stuff, Bell was devastatingly wrong. Love did not win.

Psalm 24
There are three points established by David in this poem. The dominion, the people, the king.

In 24:1-2 David declares, “The earth belongs to Yahweh, and so does everything in it. The world and all of those who live in it. Upon the seas he established it and upon the rivers he founded it.” David claims that in light of God being the creator of everything, he has dominion over his creation, the entire creation. There isn’t anywhere in all of reality and escape God’s domain and the step outside the place where he reigns. From the land to the seas to the skies and all that fills them, He owns and has dominion over all things. The universe is his dominion.

In 24:3-6 David asks this question, “Who will go up the mountain of Yahweh? Who will stand in his holy place?” Who are the ones who will live in God’s dominion? Who bears the distinction of being God’s people that he will enter into covenant with to be their God? David’s answer is this, “He who has clean hands and pure in heart. He who does not lift his soul on what is false. He who doesn’t swear deceit to his neighbor.” This person, David says, “will receive blessing from Yahweh, and will receive mercy from God his savior.” In other words David sums up his answer like this in 24:6, “This is the people seeking him, seeking the face of the God of Jacob.”

The third point establishes Yahweh as King of this dominion and people. And Yahweh is coming as king to rule. Watch starting in 24:7, “Your rulers open the doors, and lift up the gates of the ages and the King of glory will come in.” There is a king waiting to enter, the gates and doors need only to be opened. David asks and then answers the all important rhetorical question, “Who is this ‘King of glory’? He is Yahweh, mighty and powerful. He is Yahweh, powerful in war… Who is this king of glory? He is Yahweh, the one who commands armies! He is the king of glory!”

I think this Psalm is teaching us that God possesses all of creation. And that God is returning to his creation to rule over it as king, doing away with his enemies in victorious battle. And David’s charge is to prepare himself and those who will hear his call for this coming by cleansing their hands, purifying their hearts, and rededicate themselves to worship Yahweh and follow his Torah.

Matthew 5:8
Remember what we talked about when we first started looking at the beatitudes. In Matthew 4:12-17 Jesus is preaching that the kingdom of heaven, the promised return of God as king to rule over the world through his Messiah as king over Israel. It is God’s return as king.

And in the Psalm David says that God is ready to return as king. He stands waiting for the gates to open. The victorious King of glory has come and is ready to rule.

It is Jesus’ mission to call Israel to open the gates to welcome God in as King, as well as to act out God coming in and re-establishing himself as king. And therefore his ministry in Galilee is the calling of Israel to become the pure in heart and open the gates for the king to rule. Jesus is calling Israel to be those who ascend the mountain of God and stand in God’s holy place. And in going to Jerusalem Jesus opens the gates for Israel and enacts God’s return. In dying on the cross Jesus shows God to be the powerful one in war by defeating sin and evil. And in raising him from the dead God establishes his reign through Jesus, the risen Christ, over the whole creation.

And hear what the Psalmist says about those who dwell in this kingdom, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (16:11). To stand in the presence of God, the reigning king, is to be in the presence of joy and pleasure. There is no evil and no sin to steal that joy. There is only love, vibrant and living, flowing from person to person.

Matthew 15:1-28
What then does it mean to be pure in heart? The prevailing idea in Jesus’ day was to be a Jew, and not a Gentile. Gentiles weren’t the people whom God chose, given Torah and Temple, entered into covenant with. It is the Jews. And even further there differing ideas within Judaism about what it meant to follow Torah and worship in the Temple. The Sadducees had their way, the Pharisees their way, the Essenes their way. Everyone argued about what it looked like to follow Torah in the way God intended so that they could be seen as holy, separated from the pagan and evil Gentiles.

In Matthew 15 Jesus challenges this whole notion. Jesus’ disciples failed to wash their hands before eating a meal. The Pharisees saw this and called Jesus out on it for breaking the traditions of the elders. The hand washing wasn’t for sanitary reasons, germs and stuff, but to show them to be faithful Jews over against faithless Jews and pagan Gentiles. Jesus counters with saying they fail to obey the written Torah with these traditions, climaxing with him quoting Isaiah 29:13.

Then Jesus goes on to say this about being clean and pure, “10 And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘ Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.’ 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ 13 He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. [3] And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ 16 And he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? [4] 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.’”

Jesus redefines purity from external observations of rituals and traditions to internal attitudes and thoughts. Sexual immorality is a matter of the heart, not of deeds. Lying and cheating comes from a heart that lies and cheats. His disciples aren’t clean and pure, holy and set apart as God’s people, because they don’t wash their hands but because their hearts are evil.

In Matthew 7 and 12 Jesus says ones deeds reflects the condition of the heart like fruit reflects whether or not a tree is healthy. If the fruit is healthy fruit, the tree is healthy. If the fruit is bad then the tree is bad. Good trees don’t produce bad fruit and bad trees don’t produce good fruit. So how then does one become “pure in heart” if we are sinners and have unclean hearts?

We have to be made into a good tree. We have to have our hearts changed. In short, we need the resurrection. It is only through the resurrection that we can be created anew with a pure heart. And we can only experience the resurrection if the Holy Spirit will apply it to us and begin the new creation in us. As Paul says in Galatians 6:15, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

And that brings us to something Paul said in just the previous chapter, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). What sets us apart from the rest of the world is faith, believing the Jesus was raised from the dead and is the Lord of the world. And what evidences that belief is the action of love. Love expresses faith in Jesus.

So pray that God will show you how to love, those in this room, in this building, and those to whom this church is sending you to. Learn to love. Learn to no longer keep accounts of wrongs but be kind and gentle. Swallow pride and arrogance. Endure, bear up, hope, and be faithful. For it is through love that we will truly lean and know as God intended for us to do.

Let us pray: We bow our hearts, we bend our knees. Oh Spirit come make us humble. We turn our eyes from evil things. Oh Lord we cast down our idols. Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Oh God let us be a generation that seeks your face, oh God of Jacob.

But I feel the OT goes farther than he does in its “righteousness” language. Texts like Psalm 82:1-5 where God condems the council of gods because they were commanded to “uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” The Hebrew verb that the NIV (2011) translates as “uphold the cause of” is the hiphil of tsadaq, “justify.” Justification isn’t just a verdict in the court here but rather it is an action taken on behalf of the poor and oppressed. Same goes in 1 Kings 8:32 where Solomon prays that God will “vindicating the innocent [wulehatseddiyq tsaddiyq] by treating them in accordance with their innocence [ketsidqato].” Again using justification and righteousness language here. But it doesn’t seem like Solomon wants God to merely render a decision or verdict but to act on behalf of the righteous.

Finally there is the parable of the woman and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8 in the New Testament. Jesus uses one member of the δικ- word group often in this parable: ἐκδικέω/I avenge and ἐκδίκησις/vengeance or punishment (there are other members like ἀντίδικος/enemy and ἀδικία/unrighteousness). The woman is akin the unjust judge for vengeance, not just a decision. She expects the judge to punish her enemies for their crimes against her. The expectation isn’t merely a verdict, but a verdict that acts on behalf of the party it favors. That’s the biblical language of the δικ- word group.

I would like to see N. T. Wright allow for justification’s law court dimension to not be so “hyper forensic” as Dr. Mark Seifrid would say. I’m not saying that justification becomes the end all category that Wright feels it has become for his Protestant detractors. Just let the verdict actually do something like the people seeking the verdict would have when they went to the law court.

And I feel that this would strengthen his unity between the law court and eschatology. The resurrection, as it is for Christ, would be the effect of the verdict of the believer. It would be God’s verdict for us and vindication of us. Furthermore it would enhance his unity between covenant and law court. The verdict in our favor effects our entrance into the covenant family. This verdict, this justification, would effect forgiveness of sins and end of the exile.

This would also go a long way to bridge the gulf with his opponents who are having a difficult time understanding his position on this central Pauline doctrine. It would help them get past their unfortunate hang-up in thinking Wright believes in justification based upon works in a Pelagian or semi-Pelagian manner. While he definitely doesn’t hold to that position, this might help…a lot.

I was reading one particular narrative in Mark 1:40-45 that is seated in between narratives that use resurrection language to describe Jesus’ healing acts. This particular story is that of the leper who comes to Jesus and asks to be healed. Upon being asked, Jesus gets angry (yes, I don’t believe that Jesus took pity based upon the textual evidence) and heals the leper. Why he gets angry the text doesn’t say and therefore I won’t comment. But after healing him Jesus commands the leper, “Look, don’t tell anyone. Go and show yourself to the priests and offer up what Moses commanded for you cleansing as a witness to them” (Mark 1:44). There are other miracles where Jesus commands the same, such as in Luke 17:11-19 and the healing of the ten lepers.

What I am seeing here is this, the resurrection fulfills what the law commands. The Torah, mediated through Moses, taught and instructed Israel on who to live as Yahweh’s “son,” his representative agent through whom Yahweh rules over his creation and is present with his creation. Therefore it demanded the strictest purity and absolute moral uprightness. Israel was to represent God to the world. When the world looked at Israel, they were to see God himself through their actions. When there was a breech in this strict physical and moral purity, sacrifices were made to restore the Israelite and the nation back to the level of perfection it was to have.

In the resurrection, the persons who experience Jesus’ raising him or her up as part of the kingdom of God over which he reigns will be raised up free from the moral and physical impurities. In other words, the resurrection raises the believer up in the condition that fulfills the law. The cross is most definitely the offering that is prescribed by the Torah, all offerings summed up into one perfect sacrifice. But it is the resurrection that creates us to exist in the condition the Law prescribes God’s representative people to exist in.

So that, in the new heavens and new earth, the new creation, the aim that Yahweh had in giving Torah to Israel will be complete. The people the Law commanded to exist will in fact exist. Thus in raising Jesus from the dead, Jesus begins God’s restoration project that brings the Torah, God’s Law, to the aim and goal it had from the beginning: create a people who can represent God to his creation.

The most common relationship that Jesus has to the law comes in fulfilling the Law’s prophetic end. The Synoptic Gospels and John all point to this in different ways.

Luke and John see Jesus’ relationship to the Law as prophetic fulfillment, in that the Law prophesied Jesus coming, his death, and his resurrection. Consider Jesus’ encounter with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). In Luke 24:25-27 (NET) Luke relates, “So [Jesus] said to them, ‘You foolish people – how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures.” Luke says that he explained the need for the Christ to suffer and then enter into his glory first with Moses, which is shorthand for Torah or the Law. Thus Jesus saw his resurrection anticipated in part by Torah. Again to the Eleven he reiterated that the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms said that Jesus was to suffer and be raised up on the third day. In John 1:45 Philip speaks the same sentiments about the Law predicting the Messiah to his brother Nathaniel when Philip tells him about Jesus.

Next, consider Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus there says that he did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it (πληρῶσαι). The Greek verb πληρόω in Matthew is a prophetic term in every use. Thus Jesus is saying that the Law was prophetic, pointing to another reality, namely the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has come to bring that reality into being. And the way he intended to do that was his death and resurrection (cf. Matthew 16:21-23).

Thus it seems that Jesus’ resurrection was a fulfillment of Torah in at least two ways. First, it seems that Jesus and his disciples saw in Torah that one would come, suffer death, and then be raised up on the third day. Second, Jesus saw a reality, a kingdom, that he was sent to inaugurate. To do so Jesus went to the cross and was raised up from the grave on the third day.

In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says that not the least stroke of the pen, and in Hebrew the location of a dot can determine the letter, will disappear before all promised, prophesied in the Law is accomplished. Now this leads Jesus to exhort his audience to live a certain way and teaches them how to exceed the Pharisees and scribes in righteousness. Now while Leviticus 18:5 does not appear in Matthew, I cannot see a reason to exclude it from Jesus’ statement, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.” And thus Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfill the promise to bring life to those who observe Torah. Jesus as a reconstituted Israel, faithfully observing Torah, has gone through resurrection to end Israel’s exile. Jesus’ resurrection delivers him from his great tribulation at the hands of Israel’s leadership and the Romans. What the Old Testament anticipated the resurrection to accomplish Jesus did with his own.

In conclusion, the resurrection hasn’t destroyed the Law or Torah but rather brought about the kingdom, the reality, that it sought to create. The life it intended to unleash is unleashed through Jesus’ resurrection. The Messiah it promised to Israel came because Jesus rose from the dead. But what about Paul? How does he relate the Torah and resurrection? That’s for the next post.

In the three chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy death itself is directly challenged. In Isaiah 24 the prophet anticipates the joy and the horrors of when Yahweh, the Righteous One and God of Israel, will judge the whole earth because, “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5 ESV). And, as so prominent in Isaiah’s preaching, Yahweh does so to show forth his glory and honor as God of the whole earth, not just Israel. In Isaiah 25, those who are delivered through the outpouring of God’s wrath will enter into a great feast. Those who have refused to acknowledge Yahweh as the true God will be made to do so. God will raise up the weak over the strong. And God will defeat all enemies, including death. Isaiah writes,

[Yahweh] will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 25:7-8 ESV)

And this defeat of death happens when God defeats Israel’s enemies. As Isaiah writes, “For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill” (25:10).

In Isaiah 26 Judah sings a song about the peace that Yahweh has brought upon her when “Moab” is destroyed. In that song Judah sings of those who ruled over them, competing lords, that they have been destroyed by God and they shall never rise again (26:12-14). But for Judah, she writhed in birth pains. And the nation could not deliver herself but Yahweh increased her, showing forth his own honor and glory (26:15-18). And at the climax of this great deliverance Isaiah 26:19 says, “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” Most interesting is that the LXX uses ἀνίστημι and ἐγείρω, the verbal forms for resurrection (ανάστασις). Now as to whether this is literal in Isaiah or a metaphor is difficult to say because defeating Israel’s enemies and defeating death seem to parallel each other. Isaiah 27 points to this raising up from the dead to be a metaphor for her restoration from exile.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 points to the resurrection as a metaphor for Israel and Judah returning, as one nation, from exile. The valley of bones will be spoken to by the prophet and life will be given to the dead. Dead collections of bones will be formed into bodies and the Spirit of life will breathe life into those new bodies (37:1-10). The graves will open up and release Israel from her exile and to return to her land (37:11-14). Thus, life from death for Israel in the Old Testament seems to be the nation of Israel being restored from exile and pagan domination.

Then one comes to Daniel 12:1-5. Here resurrection seems to be literal. Physical bodies will come up out of the grave to everlasting life, others to shame and contempt. Those who receive life will shine like the stars in the heavens. And this resurrection is God’s deliverance of his people at the raising up of Michael during the time of trouble. Those whose name is written in the book will be raised up to everlasting life.

Thus the life of the nation becomes bound up with the life of the persons who comprise that nation. When God delivers them from their enemies through resurrection from the grave to eternal life God will deliver the nation from pagan rule over them and bring to an end their punishment for sin. When God raises the people of Israel from the dust of the earth he will end her exile.

The question now becomes, how does Israel obtain the life promised in Torah when she can effect no deliverance? God promises to raise the people from the grave and thus end the exile and give the promised life to the nation. To put it together, the life that Israel is seeking through Torah comes through God’s final judgment of th earth and deliverance of the people from her enemies. Now how does the New Testament say this has played out?