The Why & How of Doctrine
101 subjects at university introduce and lay a foundation for further study. So this series provides a basic overview and lays a foundation for further study of Biblical Christianity. It seeks to cover the core concepts and features of the Christian outlook or worldview. As with a house, lay the foundations badly and the rest will never hold together rightly or well.
Doctrine is not all that popular. It is regarded as impractical and irrelevant, unnecessarily complicated, hair-splitting and divisive and restrictive of individual thought and expression - something only for academics and intellectuals, fanatics and adherents of institutions. Yet it is something everyone has and does. Ideas, beliefs and thinking are universal amongst humans, even if someone is not consciously reflecting on the process. And it is practical. Beliefs inevitably shape behaviour. So in the Bible, points of doctrine are always raised and addressed out of some practical pastoral concern. Divisive and restrictive? Only in so far as truth and falsehood should influence living. Indeed, truth should be the core of unity and real freedom!
Doctrines are points of teaching. In themselves they can seem dry, boring and irrelevant. But because truth is consistent and cohesive, Biblical doctrines interconnect, like points around a circle, to form a whole. So the seemingly abstract and mysterious doctrine of the Trinity has great implications for the ethic of love. Working theologically, as this series seeks to do, involves thinking around the circle, through the interconnections and implications of each doctrine so that they are always practical and held together as a whole. And just as if part of a circle is shifted or altered it can greatly affect the size and position of the whole, so twisting a point of doctrine can have great practical implications. Doctrine then is worth doing well.
Traditional studies of doctrine work systematically through a list of topics. Sometimes this means missing the Bible’s unfolding story. Sometimes the list reflects philosophical categories more than the balance of Biblical themes. Sometimes the focus shifts from God to man. Commonly interconnections are overlooked. Typically they referred to a number of Bible texts for support. This risks letting the flow of the Bible’s story slip from view and opens up the danger that verses be taken out of context and misapplied.
This series seeks to keep the Biblical flow in view and the focus on God and his actions. It traces the understanding of God as he is revealed across the unfolding Bible story. It does not seek to cover everything the Bible has to say on a topic but deals with just one or two main passages for any area. This should work for simplicity and reading contextually but will leave plenty of scope for further reading, research and discussion. (Some references for such wider reading will be provided.)
Outline
Creator 1 From eternity to eternal purpose
Genesis 1
Creator 2 God’s Image: from innocence to guilt
Genesis 2-3
Sustainer 1 From providence to miracles
Job 1-2 & 38-42
Redeemer 1 From patterns and promises of rescue…
Genesis 12:1-3 & Leviticus 1-16
Redeemer 2 …to Jesus the Rescuer
Matthew 1 & Hebrews
Sustainer 2 From the Holy Spirit to election
Ephesians 1 & 6
Glorifier From now to eternity
Revelation 21-22
Relater The Trinity
John 14
1. God the Creator (1) - From eternity to eternal purpose
Genesis 1
Genesis means ‘beginning’. It relates the beginnings of God’s Old Testament people, Israel, and the Bible’s story of salvation. Behind that it also relates the beginning of all things.
Stories of beginnings are common amongst religions and philosophies (indeed also modern science). They lay a foundation that expresses and supports the worldview of the particular religion (which is why debates over origins are commonly hotly contested - because of the critical support they supply to their worldview.)
Like the other writings of the Bible, Genesis 1 should be read through the ears of its original intended audience. What would they have understood? What impact would it have made on them? What issues and questions for them? What reassurances and challenges for them? Only then can it be rightly applied to our own time and to our own issues.
Genesis 1 was written to God’s people amidst a world dominated by paganism. One typical beginnings story of paganism is Babylon’s Enuma Elish, which may be outlined…
In the beginning there were 2 waters, chaos monsters, a male and a female. These waters mingled and gave birth to the gods. The gods began to rule and bring order. The oceans resented their disturbance and sought to kill them. Marduk (the chief Babylonian god) established his pre-eminence amongst the gods by defeating these monsters. He did so by powerful words in magical spells. He split the monsters-waters in two, so forming the earth and heavens, the waters above and the waters below. He gave the gods places in the heavens (stars etc) to rule world events. The gods complained about the work they had to do so he made people to serve these gods, to provide their needs so they could rest. These creation events then needed to be annually renewed to ensure that the floods receded and the floodplain again could be farmed, that the seasons of growth and life returned. This was the function of annual fertility rituals.
The Bible’s story shares many subjects and terms in common with this and other such stories. This is not to suggest it is a copy or adaptation but that it is couched as a contrast and counter to the dominant surrounding worldview of its time - just like the opposing lanes of a freeway cover the same territory but head in opposite directions.
What subjects and terms does Genesis 1 have in common with this pagan story of beginnings?
How is its understanding of God distinctly different?
Paganism Bible
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How is its understanding of the world (leave man until the next study) distinctly different?
Paganism Bible
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What was the state of the world at the beginning [1:2]?
How was this formed and filled over the six days?
Day 1 -
Day 2 -
Day 3 -
Day 4 -
Day 5 -
Day 6 -
What was the state of the world after these days?
What formula or pattern is repeated over these days?
What is different about the 7 th day (in both what is said and how it is said)?
What is the goal of creation? How is this different from the pagan view?
How is the Biblical understanding of God necessary to support such a goal?
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
2. Creator (2) - God’s Image: from innocence to guilt
Genesis 2-3
Questions as to man’s identity are fundamental to any religion and worldview. Indeed, questions about God and the world to a large degree take their significance because of their impact on the human question.
What are some modern thoughts as to the nature, character and place of man?
How is Genesis 1’s understanding of man distinctly different from the pagan Enuma Elish’s?
Paganism Bible
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Genesis 1 presents man as the climax and apex of God’s creation.
What does it mean to be God’s image?
[v26]
[v27]
What tasks were given to man [v28-30]?
How are these related to being God’s image?
Summarise what is the nature, character and place of man according to 1:26-31.
Genesis 2-3 focuses in on man in creation and within God’s rest. C3 presents a reverse of c2.
Scene 1 : God makes man from the ground and places him in the garden.
Scene 2: The man is set in his relationships with the animals and the woman.
There is harmony within the ordered hierarchy set by God.
Scene 3: The serpent tempts the woman to rebel.
It seeks to upturn God’s created order.
Scene 4: The man and woman rebel. They upturn God’s created order.
Scene 5: God confronts the man and woman over their rebellion.
Scene 6: God pronounces judgment on rebellious creation.
God’s hierarchy is re-asserted but now with disharmony.
Scene 7 : God expels man from the garden to return ultimately to the ground.
Genesis 2 presents the original ideal for man.
What is man’s origin [2:5-7]? How does this complement c1?
What task is given man in the Garden of Eden [2:15]? How does this relate to c1?
What restriction is placed on man [2:16-17]? What do “the tree of life” and “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” represent? How does this relate to c1?
Summarise what is the nature and place of man in relation to the world according to 2:5-17.
Summarise the relationship between man and woman according to 2:15-18. How does this complement c1?
What has all this to say to our modern world?
Genesis 3 presents the spoilt reality of man. It relates the origin and pattern of man’s fault and failure.
How was the serpent cunning? Why did the forbidden fruit appeal to the woman [3:1-6a]?
What are the respective roles of the serpent, the woman and the man?
What is the nature of this failure in terms of …
1. Man and God himself?
2. Man and God’s Word?
3. Man and God’s created order?
What are the consequences of this fall in terms of …
1. Man and God [3:8-13]?
2. Man and the serpent [3:14-15]?
3. Man and woman [3:7,16]?
4. Man and the world [3:17-19]?
5. Man and God’s created order?
6. Man and life [3:20-24]?
7. Man and his commissioned role?
Despite this tragic disaster what hope remains for man [3:15b, 20-21]?
Summarise what is the nature, character and place of man according to Genesis 2:1-3:25.
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
(Going further:
Creation Psalm 19; Isaiah 65:17; John 1:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17; Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 22:1-6
Adam (Man) Psalm 8 & Hebrews 2; Romans 5:12-20; Philippians 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-58
Temptation Matthew 41-17; 26:36-46; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Ephesians 6:10-18; Hebrews 4:14-16; James 1:2-15; 4:7; 1 Peter 2:21-24
Man & Woman Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 5v22-33; Colossians 3v18-19; 1 Corinthians 11v1-16; 1 Timothy 2v11-15; 1 Peter 3v1-7)
3. Sustainer (1) - From providence to miracles
Job 1-2 & 38-42
At the beginning of the modern era, as modern science with Sir Isaac Newton’s “laws of physics” grew in influence, a theological movement called “deism” sought to accommodate the religious thought to this newly dominant approach. It viewed God as a creator who put together and started the mechanism of creation then left it to run according to the “laws of physics” without further intervention. God becomes remote and detached, impersonal and inactive. Miracles are excluded as an impossible breach of natural laws. Taking this trend further, the modern world has commonly relegated religion from public authority and policy to personal opinion or ineffective impersonal remoteness.
In response, some Christian thinkers shifted the foundations to some inner awareness, others to a renewed emphasis on the miraculous. We are left with confusion: Is God still active and involved? How? How can we know? How is he experienced? Does prayer really work? Do miracles really happen? In it all, the Biblical recognition of God as Sustainer as well as Creator, at work in both the ordinary and the extraordinary, is lost. Too often, we either neglect prayer or demand a miracle in answer.
Job’s suffering is about the search for wisdom in understanding the world’s moral order - why do the righteous suffer so? The answer lies beyond human understanding in the mystery of God’s ways. In a climactic poem (c28) Job asserts that wisdom is beyond the search of men and known only to God and so concludes, “ the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom”. Apart from his own reasoning, Job also learnt this from his climactic encounter with God. Job had wished to question God. But instead, God appeared in a whirlwind to question Job. Each question concerned God’s ordering of the world and brought home Job’s human limitation - he, not just didn’t, but couldn’t understand.
The subjects of the questions pick up, not only on God’s mysterious work in the beginning of creation, but also on his mysterious work in the ongoing ordering of the world. That is, he is not only Creator, but also Sustainer. From Job 38-39, which questions pick up on God’s mysterious work …
… in the beginning of creation?
… in the ongoing management of the world?
(Going further:
Colossians 1:15-20 also provides a clear statement of God in Christ as both Creator and Sustainer.)
God’s oversight and management extends not just over natural phenomena but also over evil. The same lesson is then (c40-41) extended to Job’s concerns. From Job 40-41, to what other area does God’s mysterious management extend (Note: Context 40:10-14 and that Behemoth and Leviathan also signified sea monsters and evil)?
God’s mysterious management of evil was revealed earlier. In the opening section (c1-2) the reader is taken behind the scenes of the earthly action to heaven. What are the respective parts of God and Satan behind Job’s suffering? What is the extent of God’s control?
Some approaches to the question of good and evil uphold a dualism of approximately equal opposed forces - a free Satan behind everything bad and God nicely behind everything good. But the Bible portrays Satan and evil as firmly under God’s management and control. Yet evil remains truly evil and God remains truly good (James 1:13).
(Going further:
1 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1 also complementarily portray both God and Satan as standing behind the same earthly event. The majority of Biblical passages simply overlook any role of Satan and assert the direct hand of God over evil: Genesis 1:1-2; 45:7-8; 2 Samuel 10:16; Isaiah 10:5-19; Romans 8:28. Job himself ignored any part played by Satan and acknowledged God’s hand over his suffering: 1:20-21 & 2:9-10.)
Implicit within Job but explicit elsewhere, is the further extension of God’s management and control to cover the human will. What does Proverbs 21:1 suggest for those less than the king?
People remain fully responsible and God completely in control. It seems God does not need to override the human will he created but is able to influence it at every point and work through it.
The truth of evil and human responsibility, alongside God’s complete management and control, is seen most clearly in the death of Christ (Acts 2:23). The Bible asserts but never explains how God’s mysterious management connects with evil and human will. (Perhaps it flows inevitably out of the nature of God as the infinite transcendent Creator who as Sustainer engages within creation person to person.)
(Going further:
God’s management and control even over human will is reflected in the following: Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12,35; 10:1,20,27; 11:10, 14:4,8,17; 1 Samuel 2:25; 10:9-10; 19:20-23; Isaiah 6:10 [compare 2 Corinthians 4:4 & Isaiah 44:20]; 44:18; 63:17; Ezekiel 20:25-26; Revelation 17:17.)
Don Carson’s, “How Long O Lord” is arguably the best detailed exploration of the theme of evil and suffering.
The language of “natural” and “super-natural” reflects our modern adherence to the idea of fixed “laws of nature”. So a miracle is regarded as a super-natural breaking of a “law”. Yet if we avoid the assumption of “laws” and stick just with the observed facts of regular patterns in nature we are closer to the Bible’s approach. Instead of natural and super-natural events, they are simply God’s ordinary and extra-ordinary ways. So a miracle is simply God working in an extra-ordinary way for some reason, perhaps to highlight his work.
Whether miraculous or ordinary, God’s mysterious management and control as Sustainer lies behind important practical perspectives: 1. God being Provider and Protector to whom his people look in prayer. 2. All human intention and effort is dependent on God’s will and blessing for success.
(Going further:
God’s Providence :
Israel ’s wilderness wanderings [Exodus 16-18 & Numbers 11-12 & 16-21] & the covenant blessings and curses [Deuteronomy].
Jesus’ critique of worry [Matthew 6:19-34] & Paul’s contentment [Philippians 4].
God the key to success :
Israel ’s victories [1 Samuel 14:6-15; 17:31-51; Judges 7:1-23 & many many more],
Psalm 127; James 4:13-17.
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
4. Redeemer (1) - From patterns and promises of rescue…
Genesis 12:1-3 & Leviticus 1-16
To think in terms of God simply as Creator and Sustainer would take us no further than modern science and “the laws of nature” - man futilely struggling to live out his role in creation until his end came in death and everything rolling along sustained but going nowhere. But the God of the Bible remains committed to his creation, his purposes for it and man’s role in it. The Creator-Sustainer is also the Redeemer. He is committed to rescue and restore his creation spoilt and broken in man’s rebellion.
The Bible’s story is one of creation for blessing … rebellion (un‑creation) into curse … redemption rescue restoration (re‑creation) into blessing again. Creation-rebellion covers the first three chapters. The remainder of the 66 books covers God’s work of redemption.
The Old Testament (before Jesus) presents the promise or anticipation or shadow of redemption. The New Testament (Jesus and following) presents the fulfilment and reality. The Old testament promise comes as programme or plan of redemption and as patterns of redemption.
Programme of Redemption
The story of man’s rebellion (Genesis 3) is followed by a series of stories portraying the spread of sin to the Man’s son, other descendents, all men and human society as a whole - the Tower of Babel where men together sought to build to heaven and make a name for themselves (c11). Keeping pace with sin is always God’s judgment and also his mercy. Until Babel, that is, when there is no accompanying touch of mercy. Instead, Babel is followed by the story of Abram.
God made great promises to Abram, initially in outline (12:1-3) then repeated and filled out (c15 & 17). The keeping of these promises is the Bible’s unfolding story of redemption. What key word dominates the promises (12:1-3)? How does this relate to c1 and c3?
They may be summarised: plenty from God for God’s people in God’s place. (God’s people being Abram’s descendents through Isaac, through Jacob, renamed Israel, who had twelve sons who headed twelves tribes. God’s place being the Land of Canaan - approximating modern Israel-Palestine). Who else are to be the beneficiaries of God’s promises?
How does Genesis end? How does this relate to the promises to Abram?
In keeping these promises God rescued or redeemed his people, Israel, from slavery in Egypt - the Exodus. These promises (or covenant) with Abram were then complemented with a further covenant with all the Israelites under Moses at Mt Sinai. What is the core of this covenant (Exodus 19:4-6; Deuteronomy 30:15-20)?
These covenants were also later complemented with further promises to King David. What is the core of these promises (2 Samuel 7:11-16)? What hope or expectation does this produce?
The Prophets called the people to faithfulness to the covenant. They promised God’s blessings if they obeyed and threatened his curses if they did not. Eventually, as the Israelites sank deeper and permanently into disobedience and they were subjected to the covenant curse of Exile (into Babylon), the prophets shifted in their hopes to a new fuller work of redemption by God. What does Jeremiah look forward to (31:31-34)?
How then would you summarise the Old Testament’s story?
(Going further:
Graham Goldsworthy’s “According to Plan” and William Dumbrell’s “The Faith of Israel” are excellent explorations of the Old Testament’s anticipation of redemption. See also the P.T.C. subject, “Introduction to the Bible” and the course, “The Bible Overview”.
Noting the opening and ending of each book and using a Bible dictionary, summarise the contribution of each Old Testament historical book to the Old testament’s story.
See Psalm 2; Ezekiel 37; Daniel 7 & Isaiah 53 for more on the Old Testament’s future expectation.
Pattern of Redemption:
The Exodus (Exodus 1-20) provides the Old Testament’s great pattern of redemption and restoration. How does it match the pattern of salvation from slavery, to freedom, by grace, through faith, for works?
Leviticus outlines the Old Testament sacrificial system by which faithful Israel is maintained in the holiness necessary to survive and enjoy the Lord’s Presence amongst them. This system too set a pattern for redemption. What is practice and function of the sacrifices (Leviticus 1:19 & c16; also 10:10 & 17:14)?
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
5. Redeemer (2) - … to Jesus the Rescuer
Matthew 1-4; Hebrews 9-10
Different cultures look to different events for their beginning or their key turning point. Up until recently Western culture looked to BC -AD as the key reference date in history. Now there is a growing trend to speak of BCE ( Before the Common Era). It picks up the same date but finds its significance in the meeting of civilizations not some Biblical event.
Matthew is the most Jewish of the Gospels. It was probably written to evangelise Jews or support Jewish Christians. It especially picks up many characters, events, verses and themes from the Old Testament programme and patterns of redemption. Here we will look through Matthew 1-4.
A genealogy (the list of unpronounceable ancestors) may seem to us to be a somewhat quaint and tedious for Matthew to open his Gospel, but it provides important background information for his main character, Jesus. To what significant Old Testament characters and events is Jesus linked [Matthew 1:1-17]? From God’s unfolding Old Testament programme of redemption, what is the significance of Jesus being a descendent of Abraham and David?
The nativity stories may also seem quaint and ho-hum to us through over-familiarity. How does each link Jesus back to the Old Testament programme for redemption …
1:18-25 with Isaiah 7:10-14; 9:1-7; 11:1-5?
2:1-12 with Micah 5:1-5?
2:13-15 with Hosea 11:1? (Note this and the following quotations do not pick up predictions but the pattern and place of Israel.)
2:16-18 with Jeremiah 31:15-34?
2:19-23 with Isaiah 53? (Note: v23 is not a quotation and “Nazarene” is a term of disdain.)
So also the beginning of Jesus’ ministry presents him as fulfilling the Old Testament programme for redemption and the pattern of Israel’s place in it. Who is Jesus and what is his role according to John’s ministry and his baptism [c3]?
How does Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness parallel Israel’s experience there [4:1-11 with Deuteronomy 6:13,16; 8:3]? How does he succeed where Adam and Israel failed?
Hebrews is the most Jewish of the Epistles. It was probably written to encourage Jewish Christians to persevere in Christ and not to turn back to Judaism. It moves through a number of characters and their roles. It shows how each is superseded by Christ who perfectly completes that role. Each section is concluded with an exhortation. For example, chapter 1 compares and contrasts God’s complete revelation in his Son with the role angels behind the Old Testament. 2:1-4 then exhorts to “pay much closer attention” and not “drift away”. Here we will look just at Hebrew 9-10.
(Going further:
Identify the sections through Hebrews. How does Christ supersede and fulfil each character and role? What exhortation is drawn from each?)
Hebrews 9-10 compares and contrasts Christ’s “once and for all” work with that of the Old Testament priesthood. How was the ministry of the Old Testament priesthood ultimately inadequate [9:1-10]?
How did Christ also minister as a High Priest [9:11-14]?
How was his priestly ministry perfect and complete [9:15-28]?
What has been achieved for the New Testament worshipper by Christ’s “once and for all” priestly ministry [10:1-14]?
What therefore is exhorted [10:19-25]? What are the three main instructions? (Note these instructions are in the present or ongoing tense.)
(Going further:
The following are some of the New Testament’s fullest discussions and explanations of Christ’s redemptive work: Rom.1-8; 2 Cor.5:16-21; Gal.2:15-21; Eph.1:3-14; Col.1:13-23; 1 Pet.1:3-21; 1 John 2:1-2 & 4:9-10.)
How then would you summarise God’s work as our Redeemer?
Implicit in this exploration is that redemption is something the Redeemer, God, has done for people in Christ, not something people do or achieve or earn for themselves. It is by grace, through faith, for works [Ephesians 2:1-10].
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
6. Sustainer (2) - from the Holy Spirit to election
Ephesians 1 & 6
Just as God is not merely the Creator but also the Sustainer of his creation, so also he is not merely the Redeemer (Re-Creator) but also the Sustainer of his redeemed re-creation.
In keeping with the modern experienced focussed individualist culture, the Holy Spirit is often focussed on for his work through believers - empowering them for victorious living and giving them heightened spiritual experiences. Too often then the deeper, more foundational but less noticeable work of the Spirit in and for believers is overlooked.
Just as God’s sustaining of creation involved a mysterious management that covered but did not override or empty human will, so also the Spirit’s sustaining work in the re-creation is a mysterious oversight that covers but does not override or empty the place of individual responsibility.
Ephesians 1 opens with an overwhelming outline of God’s work for believers in Christ. List what God has done for us [Ephesians 1:3-12].
What is the outcome or purpose of this work [v6,12,14]?
What phrases emphasise God’s initiative and mysterious oversight?
How is salvation by grace linked to God’s election?
What part is played by God’s Spirit [1:13-14]? How is this linked to the theme of God’s election?
(Going further:
Thinking and understanding of the Spirit’s work are commonly dominated by a few popular features and the assumptions of popular piety supported by a few proof texts. A better method is to survey the main passages touching on the great work of God’s Holy Spirit. What is the thrust of the Spirit’s role and work in …
John 14:15-26 & 16:7-15? (Note that Jesus is addressing the apostles and their particular coming role - 20:29-31.)
Acts 1:1-8?
Romans 8:1-17?
1 Corinthians 12?
Galatians 5:16-26?
Note too that all this has focussed on the work of the Spirit in the believer and overlooked His prior work in Christ. That is, the Spirit also stands behind redemption.)
One response to God’s sustaining oversight in re-creation, a wrong one, is to pull back from or deny any individual effort or responsibility. This overlooks the principle, in both creation and re-creation, God’s mysterious sustaining management covers but does not override or exclude human will of responsibility. (How this can be is a matter of much philosophical discussion. I would suggest it has to do with the infinite transcendent Creator engaging person-person with his creators. That is, with interfacing the heavenly and earthly realms. But this is to go beyond the Biblical text.)
The Apostle, Paul, opened his letter to the Ephesians with a long and grand statement of God’s mysterious initiative and oversight in re-creation. (In 2:8 he even went further and asserted that even faith is a gift.) He does not then back off from exhorting and instructing the Ephesian Christians to apply themselves to living out and persevering in their faith.
In Ephesians 6 Paul summons much effort taking up the metaphor of warfare. Previously he has used the language of walking (E.g. 4:1). How does his language shift in 6:10-14a?
Against whom or what do they need to make this stand (6:11b-12)? What was said about these in 1:19-23?
What must they do to make this stand [6:11,13]?
What is this spiritual armour [6:14-18]?
How does it, even here at the point of summonsing the Christian to action, put the focus back on what Christ and the Spirit has done for us?
What is to accompany the armour [6:19]? How does this further reflect the mysterious interaction of human responsibility and God’s ultimate oversight?
(Going further:
Alongside all the New Testament’s exhortations and instructions addressed to the human will for which people are responsible, the following are some of the main passages touching on God’s initiative and oversight redemption and election:
Matt.11:25-27; 13:10-15; 16:17; 24:24; John.1:12-13; 3:3-8,27; 6:37,44-45,64-65; 10:26-29; 15:16; Acts 13:48; Rom.8:28-30; 9:9-24; 1 Cor.1:27-29; Eph.1:4-5; Phil.2:11-12; 1Pet.1:1-2; Rev.13:8; 17:8.)
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
7. Glorifier: from here to eternity
Revelation 21-22
Big Bang to Big Fizzle heat death in an endlessly expanding universe or to Big Crunch as the currently expanding universe turns to ultimately implode in on itself? Either way it, and humans are really going nowhere. Our only consolation is that we won’t be around to see either end.
Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Universe gave 42 as the answer to the meaning of life - another way of saying there is no answer. Much like Monty Python’s nonsensical “The Meaning of Life” was a way of saying it’s all non-sense.
But the Creator created with purpose and goal. From His eternal transcendence he spoke and enacted meaning into creation. As Sustainer and Redeemer he has carried through his commitment to his creation to see this goal and purpose established. He brings his creation to the glory he eternally intended for it, his own glory shared. He is its Glory and glorifier. He is its goal.
In Revelation 21 John relates how he has foreseen the new creation, “a new heaven and a new earth” [21:1]. What metaphor (taken from Isaiah 65) is used to portray this new creation [21:2]?
How will this fulfil the promises to Abram and the Old Covenant [21:3]?
How will it also mean a reverse of Adam’s fall [21:4]?
The metaphor of the New Jerusalem is then developed with much imagery [21:9-22]. What does this varied imagery convey about the final goal of the new creation? (Note how the elements pick up Old Testament passages, images, ideas and themes.)
The overall effect is to portray the city without a temple as itself the “Holy of Holies” of God’s Presence and glory (See the description of the tabernacle and its construction, Exodus 25-31 & 35-40, esp. 25:8 & 40:34-38.) God not only brings creation to its goal and glorifies it but also is himself its goal and glory!
(Going further:
The glory of God’s Presence (literally “face”) is an important Biblical theme especially taken up and developed in John’s writings. Trace this theme through the following:
Exodus : God’s Presence is the key theme throughout the whole book. The following are few key references from amongst many more. By his presence God freed Israel from slavery (3:8,12), led them in the pillar of cloud-fire (c14), sustained them in the wilderness (c16, esp.v7,10), brought to meet him (19:4 with c20). It is sought wrongly through idols (c32), mediated through Moses (c33-35) and settled amongst the Israelites in the tabernacle (25:8; 40:34-38).
Ezekiel : Seen by the prophet at his call (c1), seen depart from the temple and Jerusalem (c8-11), seen return (c43-44).
John : 1:14;2:11; 12:16,23,28,41,43; 17:1,4,10,22,24.)
The theme of God’s glory and Presence continues in Revelation22. Although still within the city, the new Jerusalem, the imagery shifts. What Old Testament setting does 22:1-6 pick up? (Note: Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross “today you will be with me in Paradise” is a reference to a garden.)
Like Jerusalem with the temple, the Garden of Eden was also a contact point with the Creator. There he walked with man. So the Bible finishes and creation, history and man are brought to their destiny with “the tree of life” and rivers of blessing. It’s the Creator’s original goal and purpose for his creation achieved. It’s back to the beginning but with a difference. What is different about the Garden setting at the end to the beginning? (Note: think in terms of sin.)
The original goal is achieved, transformed and guaranteed - not just a world of blessing but a world of blessing in which temptation, sin and evil have been vanquished for ever.
(Going further:
In addition to the new creation, new Jerusalem and new Eden, the New Testament uses a variety of metaphors and images to portray ‘heaven’, or as better described, the new creation:
Father’s family home : John 14:1-6
Banquet : Luke 16
Several features of this new existence stand out:
Rest at last : Hebrews 3-4
Reunion : 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:13
New bodies : John5; 1 Corinthians 15
From the context of Revelation 21-22 when will we experience this New Creation? What does that mean for our expectation of blessings now?
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?
8. Relater - the Trinity
John 14
Shows such “Friends” and other sit-coms and soapies, along with so many movies and books, gain their popularity from exploring the themes of human relationships. Relationships has become a buzz word (even if sometimes its narrowed unhelpfully to one-one personal chats over coffee or a couple’s rose-coloured romance or the nuclear family - a former generation would having seen going off to work or war as an aspect of their relationships.)
Yet according to the thinking of modern science we, and the people, we relate with are just a complex chemical reaction and these relationships a survival mechanism for our genes. As true and useful as that is, it is insufficient to truly support the significance and meaning we seek in the relationships in themselves.
In our series so far we have traced the Bible’s unfolding presentation of God in his works from creation through redemption and sustaining to re-creation. In all this he is seen to be a relater. That is, God is not just a eternal transcendent infinite force but a personal being who engages in personal relationships, both with others and within himself - He is Trinity who catches his creation up into that network of love.
From our earlier explorations of God as Creator-Redeemer-Sustainer, what demonstrated his concern to engage in person-person relationship with human beings?
God could be viewed as creating to fulfil his own desire or need for relationships - that is, if he was a simple unity of a single person.
The Old Testament is emphatically monotheistic (only one God) over and against the prevailing surrounding polytheism (many gods). How is this concern reflected in the following …
The name YHWH (Exodus 3:13-17)?
The plagues-passover-exodus (Exodus 7-15)?
The 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1ff)?
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
Isaiah’s critique of idolatry (Isaiah 44)
Although there may be hints in the Old Testament, it was the New Testament experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit that drove a shift of thought within this simple monotheism. Jesus was obviously a man but also obviously more - the Son of God, God the Son, fully man and fully God. The Spirit was not just a force or influence but a person. The One God turns out to be somehow three persons: Father, Son and Spirit.
The Christian Church has forged many statements of this Trinity, for example the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds. Each seeks to express the concept into the philosophical thought forms of the time. Perhaps it can be most simply stated:
1. There is only One God.
2. The Father is God.
3. The Son, Jesus Christ, is God.
4. The Holy Spirit is God.
5. These three are not the same or mere forms of each other but three distinct persons who talk with and love each other (yet somehow closer than any earthly relationship.)
Although this Trinity is never discussed systematically in the Bible, it comes in at many points throughout the New Testament. John 14 builds on prior statements of Jesus’ divinity (e.g. John 1:1-2,14-18; 5:18-29; 8:56-58. Later Jesus accepts worship as “Lord and God, 20:28.) What does Jesus assert about his own relationship with the Father [14:7-11]?
How does this stand behind his claim to be the only way to the Father [14:6]?
Jesus continued to introduce the coming Spirit and his role. What does he assert and suggest about the relationship of the Spirit with himself and the Father [14:15-26]? Who is the Spirit?
What does the coming of the Spirit achieve? What is his role (just from John 14)? (Note how he relates to the distinctive role of the Apostles, v26 with 20:29-31).
(Going further:
Although dispute has occurred over every aspect of the Trinity, the main turning point is in the divinity or deity of Jesus. The following are some of the key references for the various New testament evidences for Jesus being truly and fully God.
The above finds evidence for Jesus’ divinity in direct statements and proof texts. Equally important is recognising the necessity of Jesus’ divinity from its theological implications. What are the implications of Jesus’ divinity for the doctrines of …
Revelation - truly and fully knowing God?
Atonement - assurance of salvation?
Relationships - the rightness and importance of love?
What has all this to say to our modern world? How should this understanding lead us to live differently from the world around us?