Jason Hood on Idolatry, Gospel, and Imitation of God

Over at CT, Jason Hood has a fine piece on Idolatry, Gospel, and the Imitation of God.

Why Being Called "Antinomian" is not a Sign of Orthodoxy

Jason Hood has another cool article out over at CT. This time he is arguing that being accused of being antinomian is not a badge of honor for orthodox Christians. Here's a quote to whet your appetite: "Jesus' requirements for any and all who wish to be his disciple and bear his name—self-denial and cross-bearing, holiness and purity—will inevitably sound like legalism in a restraint-free culture dominated by Eat, Pray, Love spirituality and Joel Osteen-grade theology."

Christian Sanctification - Indicative but no Imperative?

One of the standard features of Christian ethics is that it has an indicative part (what God has done for us in in salvation) and an imperative part (how we are to live in consequence). In other words, because of what God has done for you, now you should live in a manner worthy of your salvation. This pattern of indicative and imperative certainly works in Paul (e.g., Romans 6), but I would argue that it is also the pattern in the Pentateuch since the long is given to a redeemed people not to redeem the people. In fact, Charles Talbert's study on the Sermon on the Mount shows that while Matthew is big on imperatives, he still has an indicative.

Where am I going with this? Well my concern is that some are beginning to replace the imperative element in Christian sanctification (i.e., the need to diligently prosecute, pursue, and cultivate holiness and godliness) with the need for more knowledge of the indicative (i.e., believing more in the grace of God). Dan Ortlund, who is a jolly nice chap, gives a big listing of quotes that basically take this line. For instance, one guy quoted, Jared Wilson, writes: "As pat as the answer may sound, the key to healthy Christian growth in godliness is submissive study of the Scriptures". Now let me say that I believe in big "G" grace and I'm against big "M" moralizing. I'm fully aware that an understanding and appreciation of Christ and his work will work itself out in transformed behavior. No denials. But I am concerned that the "now go and do this" and "in response let us live like this" or "don't do this" that we find in the Scriptures are being marginalized in the name of a piety that is largely cognitive rather than transformative, a piety that is cerebral rather than practical.

But let's consider one of the exhortations to godliness in the Scriptures. Here is 2 Pet 1:3-10 (I preach a sermon on this passage called "Godly Mathematics").

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now notice that there is clearly an intellectual aspect about knowing the call of God and his promises, but thereafter we are called to add certain virtues to our life in order to life a godly life. It is not just a matter of read your ESV study Bible more or "let go and let God brother". We have the responsibility to deliberately adopt changed attitudes and changed behaviours that show our family likeness by our conduct and thereby make our calling and election sure! This is not some moralizing self-help step ladder to salvation, it is the genuine calling of the Christian to work out what God has worked in (Phil 2:12-13). Good theology, godward passion, and christocentric interpretation is not enough. Based on the words of Jesus, Paul, and James I'm willing to say that the differences between the sheep and the goats, between the followers and the fans, between hearers and doers, and between wearing a cross and carrying one, is whether one earnestly struggles against sin and earnestly seeks after godly virtues in the power of God's Spirit. It is mediation on grace, imitation of Christ/God, transformation of the self, and actively pursuing application that will make us godly people.

HT: to Jason Hood for pointing out Dane's post to me.

Ben Witherington on NT Ethics

BW3 has a post from the second volume of his forthcoming book on NT Theology and Ethics. Here is a foretaste:

"It is sad but true to say that NT ethics has been the step-child of NT studies throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. There are a variety of reasons for this in the scholarly world. One is the disparaging remarks made about NT ethics by various highly influential NT scholars. When you complain that what we have in large portions of the NT is ‘bourgeois’ ethics (e.g. in the Pastoral Epistles), or an ethical miscellany cobbled together from Greco-Roman and Jewish ethics, or a baptizing of various forms of the status quo, the contempt for what is being urged in the NT is not far beneath the surface of the discourse. But there is another reason why NT ethics has suffered both abuse and neglect and it is theological. In some forms of Reformed theology, ethics is frankly an after-thought. Reformed theology is all about God’s sovereignty, and grace and divine salvation, and there is an allergic reaction to the notion that the ethics of the NT might have something to do with theology, might have something to do with human salvation, because of course ethics is almost exclusively about human behavior, not God’s behavior. Even when a Reformed scholar emphasizes ethics as an essential act of gratitude in response to grace, he has failed to do justice to the inherent and necessary connection between theology and ethics in the NT. For example, salvation has to do with both theology and ethics in the NT. And there is a crucial epistemological issue to consider—how exactly can you ‘know’ a truth in the Biblical sense without living into and out of that truth? In the Bible, understanding often comes from doing or experiencing. Belief and behavior are not meant to be separated from one another into hermetically sealed off containers. The obedience which flows from faith is also the obedience which reassures, strengths and more fully forms faith."

Re: the bold type, I understand his objection and I've seen Reformed theology go doctrinaire and antinomian, but this still strikes me as a Weslyan/Arminian caricature of Reformed Theology. I'd like to know which Reformed Theology he is talking about. That said, BW3 does have some genuinely good stuff in his post on NT ethics, esp. in relation to the role of the Holy Spirit in ethics, the commonality of NT ethics being a shared narratological framework, and his focus on the kingdom .

Burridge on Inclusivist NT Ethics

A new book on the scene is Imitating Jesus: An Inclusive Approach to New Testament Ethics by Richard A. Burridge (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2007). This book will prompt much debate and discussion. Central for Burridge is that NT ethics revolves around: (1) NT ethics means imitation of Jesus, and (2) NT ethics calls for a radical inclusiveness in an all embracing community. Burridge seems to come close to equating non-acceptance of homosexuality with apartheid in South Africa. The closing words of the book are: "Whenever we are presented with a choice between being biblical and being inclusive, it is a false dichotomy - for to be truly biblical is to be inclusive in any community which wants to follow and imitate Jesus" (p. 409). I'd like to know (1) how the heck Burridge gets around a text like 1 Cor. 5.1-5, and (2) how would Richard Hays respond (Hays' book The Moral Vision of the New Testament is already an academic classic)?

Colossians in Focus

Here's my translation of Colossians 3.1-17 and note in bold the questionable translations that I have made. Feel free to offer critical comments.

If then you have been raised with Christ seek the things above where Christ is, enthroned at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things above and not on the things of earth. For you have died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with him in glory. Therefore, put to death the members of your earthly being, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed which is idolatry. Because of which the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience and in them you formerly walked when you lived in these things. But now you also put off all such things, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and perverse talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, stripping off the old man with its deeds and having clothed yourselves with the new man which is being renewed according to the image of the one creating him. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcized and uncircumcized, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free; but Christ is for all and in all. Therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved, cloth yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bearing with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against someone, forgiving each other just as the Lord graciously forgave you, and thus so with you too. And to all these virtues add love, which is the bond of perfect unity. And Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, into which you were called in one body - and so be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing each other in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thanksgiving in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Let me offer two notes on application.

(1) On forgiveness in v. 13. This is a word that is used often in the NT (see Col. 1.14 and the link with redemption) and we use it all the term in talking about relationships. As a matter of definition forgiveness means that I forfeit the right to demand reparation or reprisal for your misdoing even though I am the offended party (think on that!). Forgiveness does not mean that I no longer feel the pain and anger of your hurtful action, but I give-up my right to show my hurt and seek reprisal. That is what God does in the cross. He does not forget our sin in the literal sense but God gives up his right to inflict a judicial recompense upon us. That becomes a model of human relationships too. As someone once said, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

(2) Count yourselves dead to sin in v. 5. Biologist E.O. Wilson noticed that colonies of ants communicated through a complex system of chemical pheromones that could indicate certain things such as danger, hunger, mating and even death. Ants that emitted the pheromone of death were carried away from the nest. Wilson decided to experiment and see what would happen if a fully functional ant was sprayed with the death pheromone. He found that the death-smelling ant, despite being alive and healthy, was picked up by other ants like a dead ant and carried away from the nest and dumped. The ant would return to the nest and resume work, only to have the same process repeated again and again. This provides a fine analogy for Christians who live between the ages and have a life that is hid with Christ in God, but also wait to be revealed with Christ in glory (Col. 3.3-4). They are to put death earthly things even if they are not quite dead yet.