Evangelical Review of Theology

EDITOR: DAVID PARKER

Volume 33 • Number 1 • January 2009 Articles and book reviews reflecting global evangelical theology for the purpose of discerning the obedience of faith

Published by

for WORLD EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE Theological Commission ISSN: 0144-8153 Volume 33 No. 1 January 2009

Editor David Parker

Committee The Executive Committee of the WEA Theological Commission

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Typeset by Toucan Design, 25 Southernhay East, Exeter EX1 1NS and Printed in Great Britain for Paternoster Periodicals, PO Box 300, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 0QS by Polestar Wheatons Ltd., Exeter, Devon. ERT (2008) 33:1, 3 Editorial: ‘The Whole Gospel’ : Lausanne reflects on its own vision

‘THE WHOLE CHURCH taking the whole be something that is only a partial or gospel to the whole world’. This is the incomplete gospel. But would that be phrase with which the Lausanne gospel at all? Certainly, we are aware Covenant (1974) sums up the meaning that there are many presentations of of evangelization. It is a resounding what is claimed to be the gospel that triplet that has become an unofficial seem to fall short of the comprehensive motto of the Lausanne movement, cap- good news of all that the Bible says turing as it does that holistic commit- God has done and will do for the ment that has always been at the heart restoration of his broken creation and of Lausanne’s understanding of mis- the redemption of humanity. sion. Fine words, but what exactly do So, in the papers that follow, partic- they mean? ipants wrestled with the meaning of The Lausanne Theology Working the whole gospel in the whole Bible; Group, in association with the WEA the fullness of the achievement of the Theological Commission, held a meet- cross; the power of the Holy Spirit; the ing in Limuru, Kenya, in February ethically transforming demand and 2007, seeking to set an agenda for the- promise of the gospel; the wholeness of ological and missiological reflection in the gospel as seen down through its the years leading up to the planned historical reception and across the Lausanne III Congress in Cape Town in range of human cultures. These main October 2010. The theme of the papers were illustrated with a variety Limuru consultation was “Following of case studies, which unfortunately Jesus in Our Broken World”. The cannot find space here, though it is papers of that consultation were pub- hoped to publish all our materials on lished in a special issue of ERT (31:4, the Lausanne website in due course. October 2007). We trust that the glory of the gospel We then decided to explore theolog- will shine more brightly as you read, ically each of the three phrases of the and motivate us more strongly as a Lausanne slogan. Accordingly, the whole church (our theme in 2009) to group of about 30 from all continents demonstrate it to the whole world. met once again in Chiang Mai, Thai- land, in February 2008, to consider Chris Wright what we mean by ‘the whole gospel’. Chair, Lausanne Theology Working The phrase suggests that there might Group ERT (2009) 33:1, 4-18 ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation

Chris Wright

KEYWORDS: Canon, witness, mission- revealed himself through this complex al, story, creation, redemption, salva- phenomenon we call the canon of tion, sin, world Scripture. We must allow all of it to inform and govern what we understand the gospel to be and what we then com- I Introduction mit ourselves to live out and proclaim. Our purpose in this meeting of the Lau- Secondly, the Bible as a whole, in all sanne Theology Working Group its canonical parts, contributes to the (LTWG) is to reflect on the meaning of good news. It is not something to be the phrase: ‘The Whole Gospel’. I have found in only the New Testament, or undertaken to lead our thinking on just the Gospels. All that God has spo- what it means in relation to the revela- ken in his word is relevant to the good tion of God in the whole Bible. I want news we have heard and are to pass on. to do this because too often, it seems to Thirdly, the Bible as a whole must me, evangelicals when they speak the function to control the criteria by which word ‘gospel’ have in mind one or two we are able to discern what makes the key texts, or a particular articulation of good news truly good, and what is actu- what they assume the ‘good news’ is. ally bad news disguised as good, ie, to And when they think about evangeliza- distinguish the true gospel from the tion as ‘spreading the gospel’, again, it many popular but false alternatives. is often a single concept of what ‘the So, if we are to be the whole church gospel’ means that they have in mind. taking the whole gospel to the whole I want to urge the Lausanne move- world, we absolutely must go to the ment as a whole to be fully biblical (in whole Bible for the comprehensive line with its own DNA from the Lau- truth of the good news. In this paper, sanne Covenant). By this I mean three for reasons of space, I have been able things: Firstly, the Bible as a whole to survey only the first two points conveys the whole good news. God has above. My hope is that as Lausanne

Rev Dr Christopher J.H. Wright (PhD, Cambridge) taught at Union Biblical Seminary, India, 1983-88 and then All Nations Christian College, UK, where he was Principal, 1993-2001. He is now the International Director of the Langham Partnership International, and is the author of Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (2004), and The Mission of God (2006). ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 5 engages in the necessary task of themselves the product of, and wit- defending the biblical gospel and ness to, the ultimate mission of exposing and rejecting all false God.1 gospels, it will indeed turn to the whole The whole Bible, then, actually con- counsel of God in all the Scriptures to stitutes good news by its existence as do so. proof of the loving self-revelation of God intended for our redemption.2 There would be no good news if God did II The Bible as a Whole not love us; there would be no knowl- Conveys the Whole Gospel edge of that good news if the story of In what ways does the whole Bible con- God’s love and its redemptive achieve- vey good news? I suggest at least ment were not recorded for us in the three: by its existence, by its story, and Scriptures. by its central witness. 2 By its story 1 By its existence The reason the Bible as a whole con- The Bible is the record and product of veys good news is because it tells the the God who has chosen neither to whole story of what God has done to remain hidden from us, his human save the world. This narrative nature creatures, nor to approach us only in of the gospel is of utmost importance, anger at our rebellion and disobedi- especially in relating to other religions, ence. God reaches out to us in love and since the only reason we can say that grace, with words of promise and acts there is no salvation in other religions of redemption. The Bible is where we is not because they are inferior as reli- find these, and so, in and of itself, it is gions (as if our religion were better; as good news. Here is what I have written if religion were the thing that saves in relation to this point, in relation to anybody, when the Bible says religion the Bible being missional by its very saves nobody—only God saves), but existence. because other religions do not tell this story, the story that constitutes the A missional hermeneutic of the saving good news. Bible begins with the Bible’s very Once again, here are some extracts existence. For those who affirm from what I have written elsewhere: some relationship (however articu- When the Bible talks about salva- lated), between these texts and the tion, God is the key, the centre, the self-revelation of our creator God, prime actor. Because salvation, the whole canon of Scripture is a according to the Bible, is the prop- missional phenomenon in the sense that it witnesses to the self-giving movement of this God towards his creation and towards us, human 1 Christopher J.H. Wright, Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Grand beings in God’s own image, but Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 48. wayward and wanton. The writings 2 Charles R. Taber, ‘Missiology and the which now comprise our Bible are Bible’, Missiology 11 (1983), 232. 6 Chris Wright

erty of God, then this means that somebody’s good idea. The gospel salvation can never be a matter of is the good news about what the bib- human initiation or human achieve- lical God has done, is doing and ment. Salvation is not something will finally do, within the history of that we human beings can accom- the world. That is why it is so plish or earn by any means, even important, as I have repeatedly including religion. Salvation is in emphasized, that we use our whole God’s hands. It is not something Bible in coming to an understand- that any human religion can offer ing of salvation, and not rely solely as a reward for doing this or that on a few isolated verses of doctri- ritual, or following this or that nal teaching from Paul’s letters.3 practice. Salvation belongs to God, not to any religion. 3 By its central witness to Christ According to the Bible, salvation is It is a truism that the whole Bible bears initiated by God’s grace, achieved witness to Christ. There are, of course, by God’s power, offered on God’s all kinds of hermeneutical alligators terms, accomplished by God’s Son, lurking in the placid waters of that secured by God’s promises, and affirmation—not to mention homileti- guaranteed by God’s sovereignty. cal traps as well. But still, inasmuch as Salvation is fundamentally a the good news of the gospel is essen- story—The Story. Salvation is con- tially what God has done in Christ, it is stituted within the all-encompass- to the whole Bible that we must go to ing biblical meta-narrative that find out the comprehensive richness of forms the biblical worldview. The what that is. Bible is fundamentally a grand nar- For us, as for Jesus himself, it is rative with four major parts or sec- from the scriptures of the Old Testa- tions: creation, fall, redemption in ment that we learn the rich contours of history, and new creation. And sal- Jesus’ identity and mission: who he vation, as biblically defined, is all was and what he came to accomplish. that is contained in the third and It is the Old Testament story of Israel fourth parts of that great story: that declares the mission of the God of redemption in history and the Israel—for them and through them for future hope of new creation. the world of nations. That was the mis- Salvation spans the great arch of sion that Jesus came to see to its fulfil- history from God’s covenant with ment. From the Gospels and the rest of Abraham to the second coming of the New Testament we understand the Christ. fullest significance of his life, death The story of salvation is what fills and resurrection. All that he said and the gap between the scattering of did, in life and death, must be received the nations in Genesis 11 and the healing of the nations in Revelation 22. The Bible is, above all else, the 3 Christopher J.H. Wright, Salvation Belongs story of salvation….The gospel is to Our God (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, not somebody’s theory. It is not 2007), 39-40. ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 7 within the total context of the biblical that one can make any kind of ‘good world historically and the biblical rev- news’ the equivalent of the biblical elation theologically.4 gospel. To say, ‘the gospel is good news, therefore all good news is gospel’, would be like saying ‘dogs III The Bible as a Whole have four legs, therefore all four legged Contributes to the Whole creatures are dogs’. Gospel So although I do want to show the great variety of ways in which the Bible As I pondered how best to explain what brings us good news, I do not imply that I mean by that affirmation, the follow- every one of these is in itself capable of ing two questions came to mind. being equated with ‘the gospel’, cer- Firstly, what makes the good news tainly as the New Testament uses that good? And, secondly, what do all the term. However, what I certainly do want major parts of the Bible contribute to to affirm is that, were it not for the fun- the good news being good? damental gospel truth that the whole I worked my way mentally through Bible conveys to us, of God’s grace and the Bible, and the list grew longer and love and redeeming actions in history longer. Many of the points below need climaxing in the work of Jesus Christ, little elaboration. But the cumulative there would be no other good news of effect is quite stunning (at least to any sort to tell in the universe. me!). There is just so much good news The same kind of point could be in the Bible! And so many ways in made about the many examples we which it is good news. When I finished might give of love, goodness or beauty my list, I felt like singing the doxology, in human history generally. Ultimately and indeed there may be the seeds of all of these flow from and depend upon some very powerful liturgy here. With the fact that God himself is the origin the example of Psalm 136, we need not and sustainer of all that is loving, good fear a bit of repetition! and beautiful. He is the ontological Now at this point I should correct a source of any such particulars in false impression that might arise from human life. It is because of the love, the following survey. I am well aware goodness and beauty of God that we of the danger of etymological fallacy can experience such things. combined with invalid reverse logic. Similarly, it is because there is good That is to say, just because the word news rooted and grounded in the char- ‘gospel’ translates evangelion, which acter and redemptive action of God, means ‘good news’, I do not imagine that human life can have multiple and ordinary examples of good news— such as the Bible portrays in great vari- 4 For an extensive discussion of how we are ety and richness. to understand the centrality of Christ to the Having made that point clear, let us whole Bible, or how the Old Testament relates survey the many dimensions of the to him, see Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (London: Mar- good news the Bible conveys to us, all shall Pickering, 1992), reprinted by Monarch of which are fundamentally good news Books and InterVarsity Press (USA), 2005. in and through and because of Christ. 8 Chris Wright

1 Torah intellectual, emotional, relational, social), and every culture throughout a) Genesis 1-11 the rolling ages of history. The Bible’s It is good news that we know our Creator: portrayal of the scale and scope of our Too many versions of ‘the gospel’ sin contributes to the scale and scope begin only with Genesis 3 (and end of the gospel’s remedy. only at Calvary). In such versions, the It is good news that God is committed good news is confined to the solution to to life on earth: The primal history from our problem of human sin. Now there is Eden to Babel includes several indica- no doubt that this is at the heart of the tions of God’s merciful commitment to story, and indeed constitutes the human well-being, in spite of the evil in longest part of the biblical narration. which we wallow and revel. Genesis But when confined to that, we lose the 3:15, sometimes referred to as the beginning and the ending, Genesis 1-2 ‘proto-evangelium’ (the first declara- and Revelation 21-22, which are uni- tion of good news), promises that the versal in scope, encompassing the serpent will not have the final victory whole creation. but will be crushed by a son of Eve. The It is good news that we live, not in a story of Enoch shows that God’s power chaos but a creation, that we are not the is greater than the otherwise universal product of blind chance, but of benevo- reign of death. But especially the story lent purpose; that we are made in the of the flood and its aftermath in the image of the one true living personal covenant with Noah explicitly declares God, not the spawn of competing God’s commitment to life on earth. malevolent gods. It is good news that God has not aban- It is good news that we know the depth doned the nations: The ethnic diversity and breadth of our sin: The value of any of human nations is a creational good, remedy depends on the seriousness of which Genesis 10 implies was God’s the sickness it cures. And the serious- way of enabling the creation mandate ness of the sickness can be known only of ‘filling the earth’ to be fulfilled. It by accurate diagnosis. False diagnosis ended up in arrogant stasis at the leads to false or inadequate prescrip- tower of Babel, in Genesis 11. But tion, with fatal results. The Bible tells God’s answer was not to destroy the it as it is. Part of the good news that the nations, but to confuse their language Bible offers is its radical, comprehen- such that they could not unite in sive and uncompromising analysis of schemes of totalitarian self-aggrandis- the bad news. ement. So the scattering of the nations From Genesis 3 onwards, the nature across the face of the earth continues; of our human predicament is portrayed the redemption of the nations from the with ruthless simplicity and candour. If curse of sin and separation from God there is to be good news at all, it will still awaits. have to be a very big answer to a very big problem, which involves every b) Genesis 12-50 human person, every dimension of the It is good news that God has promised to human person (spiritual, physical, bless the nations: When we come to ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 9

God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis gious commitment, but in ethical 12:1-3, we know we are on ‘gospel’ ter- behaviour. Genesis 18:19 is a key text ritory, because Paul actually refers to on this point. It expresses the very pur- this promise as the Scripture ‘propose of Abraham’s election in terms of claiming the gospel in advance’ (Gal. an ethical community walking in the 3:8). It is a good way of talking about way of the LORD (instead of the way of this promise, since the rest of the bibli- Sodom), and doing righteousness and cal story of redemption which consti- justice, so that the LORD could bring tutes the gospel begins here, and does about what he had promised Abraham, not end until the promise is fully real- namely, blessing to all nations. ized in the great assembly of the Herein lies the source of a trajectory redeemed from all nations in Revela- in which election, mission and ethics tion. In fact, just as the promise of Gen- are integrally linked within the mean- esis 12:3 needs to be seen against the ing of the gospel itself, a trajectory that background of the ‘tribes, languages stretches ultimately to the way Paul and nations’ of Genesis 10, so does the speaks of the gospel as an ethically as picture of the fulfilment of that promise well as a redemptively transformative when people from ‘every nation, tribe, message. people and language’ in Revelation 7:9 It is good news that God works sover- gather in worship of the Lamb of God. eignly for good in the midst of human evil: The gospel is for nations. The book of Genesis begins and ends As evangelicals we easily neglect with the goodness of God, the good- this dimension of the gospel, by reduc- ness of creation, and the goodness of ing it to a message of individual salva- God’s sovereign planning. The words tion. The biblical story of salvation that of Joseph in Genesis 50:20 echo the constitutes the gospel begins and ends good creation of chapter 1, and point with God and the nations, not just God forward to the good plans of God for his and individuals. people (eg, Jer. 29:11), and the eternal It is good news that God has called his perspective of God’s total gospel good- people to be a community of righteousness ness in Romans 8:28-30. and justice: God’s answer to the prob- There is good news fundamentally lem of human sin was not to whisk indi- because God is good and plans good. vidual sinners off to heaven every now The cross is the supreme demonstra- and then. It was rather the much tion of the truth of Genesis 50:20, uni- longer-term project of creating a com- versally applied. munity, starting with Abraham, through whom God would bring blessing to the nations. This is to say that at c) Exodus to Deuteronomy one level, the gospel of God is inextri- It is good news that Yahweh is the God cably linked to the people of God. Our whose character is both justice and com- doctrine of salvation cannot be severed passion: Genesis illustrated the justice from our doctrine of the church. and compassion of God, in stories such But what is also clear from the as Sodom and Gomorrah (cf Gen. beginning is that this was to be a dis- 18:25), or Hagar (Gen. 16, 21). But tinctive community, not only in reli- Exodus provides both the paradigmatic 10 Chris Wright historical demonstration of the liberat- metaphorical use in the Bible of the ing justice of God, and the definitive ‘redeem’ vocabulary with God as sub- articulation of the character of Yahweh ject, Ex. 15:13; the only earlier one that it proved. Exodus 34:6-7 becomes being Jacob’s testimony in Gen. 48:16). a theme text in the Psalms and It is highly significant that what God Prophets for the merciful and redemp- actually did in the exodus was so com- tive character of God, and of course it prehensive. The people of Israel were also underpins the way Paul describes suffering a form of bondage in Egypt the gospel as the work of this God, that was political (they were an ethnic accomplishing precisely and simulta- minority with no independent status); neously the perfect demonstration of economic (they were being exploited as God’s compassion and God’s justice. slave labour for the economic benefit of It is good news that Yahweh is King the host nation); social (they were suf- and not Pharaoh: The first significant fering gross interference in their family mention of the kingdom of God comes life); and spiritual (their slavery to in the wake of God’s great liberating Pharaoh stood in the way of their wor- act of justice in the exodus. Up to that ship of Yahweh—the same word is point, the only king in the story is the used for slavery and worship in the Pharaoh, and his kingship is the model text). of human empire, blasphemously arro- The good news that God sent gant and oppressive. The climax of through Moses was not that they Moses’ song after the crossing of the would eventually escape to heaven sea is that it had now been proved who when they died, but that God intended was the real king. ‘The LORD will to deliver them from all four dimen- reign, for ever and ever’ (Ex. 15:18). sions of their bondage, which he spec- Yahweh is king (and not Pharaoh), tacularly did. The exodus thus pro- and that is exceedingly good news, vides the biblical gospel with a holistic which the rest of the Bible celebrates in content that does not just evaporate in another great trajectory that stretches the New Testament, but needs to be through many Psalms affirming the included in the totality of our biblical same thing, prophets who longed for it 5 to be demonstrated in history, and cli- understanding. It is good news that God’s law was maxes with the proclamation by Jesus that the kingship of Yahweh had been given in the context of grace, redemption decisively inaugurated in his own min- and covenant: There is an ethical istry. The gospel of the kingdom of God demand to the gospel, as we hope to is another of those great unifying bibli- make clear throughout, but it is cal themes, stretching from Exodus to founded upon the priority of the Revelation. redemptive grace of God. This is as It is good news that God’s redemptive true in the Old as in the New Testa- action is comprehensive—socially, politi- cally, economically and spiritually: Since 5 The exodus, of course, is a major text and the exodus stands as the classic bibli- theme in holistic theologies of the gospel and cal model of God in redemptive action mission. I have explored the topic more fully in (it called forth almost the first Wright, The Mission of God, ch. 8. ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 11 ment. When Israel reached Mount introduced to Jesus Christ and received Sinai in Exodus 19, the good news the gospel of personal salvation, as he Moses had brought them in Egypt has later did. now become a historical fact. God had It is good news that God chose to dwell brought them out. And in the crucial among his people: In a world in which hinge text of Exodus 19:3-6, God God had driven human beings from the emphasizes that divine initiative of sal- garden of Eden, and from which (in a vation before calling for the response sense), humans had driven God by of covenant loyalty expressed in obedi- their sin and rebellion, it is good news ence to the law. The law, in fact, was that God chose to make a home among given only on the foundation of redeem- his people, through the tabernacle in ing grace (cf Deut. 6:20-25). the wilderness, and eventually the It is good news that God called Israel temple in Jerusalem. Fundamental to holistic obedience in every sphere of misunderstandings of this reality could life: ‘This God thinks of everything’, arise, as the prophets discerned and was how a young Indian described to Stephen pointed out (Acts 7). But the me his experience of reading the Old essential truth of a God who chose to Testament law for the very first time, be present rather than distant is part of even before he became a Christian. He the gospel that the New Testament was from a Dalit background and sees fulfilled in the incarnation, the encountered the Bible only when he got indwelling Spirit, the metaphor of the to his university hostel (it was a Telugu whole church as the temple of God, and Bible put in his bedroom by Christian the hope of a new creation in which students). What he meant was that the God once more dwells with his whole of human life is represented in redeemed people. the covenant response that God called Good news indeed, from a tent of for from Israel on the basis of his cloth and skins, to a new creation that redeeming grace—personal, sexual, needs no such localized presence for parental, filial, agricultural, commer- God will be everywhere present with cial, judicial, political, international. his people. Another trajectory This is good news because it meant stretches from God tabernacling with (as the prophets saw very clearly) that his people in the wilderness, to the people could not claim to please God incarnation itself, when ‘the word through religious rituals while neglect- became flesh and “tabernacled” among ing the social and relational dimen- us’ (Jn. 1:14). sions of human life. The God of Israel It is good news that God provided would not accept the worship of those means of atonement for the weak and sin- who oppressed the poor and needy. For ful: The sacrificial system in itself was a Dalit, this was very good news. ‘I good news inasmuch as it took account never knew such a God existed’, he of human failure and provided a God- added, referring to the God of compre- given means for people to be restored hensive compassion and justice that he to fellowship with God and inclusion in found in the Old Testament. This the community. But the particular good understanding of the biblical God did news for the poor was that those who not diminish or change when he was could not afford the normally pre- 12 Chris Wright scribed animal sacrifices could bring ous world of Israel in their land: the his- either a pair of doves, or even a few tory of Old Testament Israel is so litres of flour, and have them counted fraught with failure, rebellion and judg- as a full blood sacrifice (Lev. 5:5-13). ment that it is perhaps difficult to dis- Clearly, the efficacy of the sacrifice in cern much that is gospel within it. And accomplishing atonement lay in the yet the very fact that God persevered grace of God and his willingness to for- with this people, repeatedly challenged give, not in the material or the size of and summoned them to repentance and the sacrifice itself. return, and eventually restored them It is good news that God anticipated after catastrophic judgment, is in itself Israel’s failure, and built it into his long a monument to the quality of divine term plans of grace and redemption: The love and patience that the Bible as a book of Deuteronomy is remarkable in whole predicates of the gospel. that it both begins and ends in failure. It is good news that the exile and But in neither case is God defeated. It return from exile modelled both the sover- begins with the failure of the exodus eign judgment and the sovereign grace of generation to take the land of promise. God—in both respects foreshadowing the But God offers a fresh choice and chal- cross of Christ: The New Testament lenge to the following generation. It Gospels present the life and work of ends with the anticipated failure of the Jesus as the completion of, and in many generations to come, after the death of ways, a recapitulation of, the story of Moses. And yet again, it holds out the Old Testament Israel. Matthew, for promise of hope even in the face of a bro- example, weaves exodus themes into ken covenant and calamitous curses, of his birth and infancy narratives. grace after judgment (Deut. 29-31). The story of the exile foreshadows This sequence of divine promise, the cross in several ways. It was an act human failure, and sovereign divine of simultaneous human wickedness, grace weaving even that failure into violence at the hands of the Babyloni- plans of gospel grace and a hope-filled ans, and divine sovereign justice exer- future, is what ultimately shapes the cised by that means. In the same way, as Peter pointed out (Acts 2:23), the New Testament understanding, articu- cross was the work of human evil and lated by Paul in Romans. The gospel is divine salvific planning. The crucial good news precisely because it takes difference was that, whereas the exile human failure so seriously, yet refuses is presented to us as a deserved act of to be defeated by it, and uses it to punishment for Israel’s sins, the cross accomplish God’s redemptive purpose. was endured by one whose sinless life The cross, again, is the supreme exam- deserved no such thing. The sin was ple. ours. Similarly, the prophetic interpreta- 2 The Prophets tion of the return from exile is that it was an act of God’s free grace and for- a) The former prophets giveness. The hope of Israel lay not in It is good news that God persisted with their native ability to survive, but in his saving purpose in the highly ambigu- God’s unbreakable will that they ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 13 should live, and that his mission people of God.6 Ultimately, the through them to all nations would be prophetic gospel is good news for the fulfilled. Thus, the New Testament whole creation, since God’s redemp- gospel affirms that in the death and tive purpose includes it all (Isa. 65:17- resurrection of Christ, God has kept his 25). promise to Israel, finally and fully (eg, This great Old Testament gospel Acts 13:32). vision laid the foundation for the theology and practice of mission to the b) The latter prophets nations in the New Testament, and It is good news that the prophets analysed reminds us yet again that our under- and exposed the complex anatomy of per- standing of the scope of the ‘whole sonal and corporate sin: We have gospel’ must go beyond individual sal- already noted the radical diagnosis of vation and have a national dimension, sin in the book of Genesis. To this, the however we articulate that. prophets add layer after layer of insight and analysis. The stain of sin, 3 The Writings as the prophets observed it, is deeply ingrained in every fibre of human life— a) Psalms individual, social, political, economic, etc. There is no part of human life that It is good news that we can worship the is free from it, and it is this profound living God in response to his revelation analysis of the problem that makes and redemption, not as a mechanism to their affirmation of God’s sovereign obtain them: We have already seen that grace to be the astounding good news the gospel of exodus is that redeeming that it is. grace comes before law. Obedience is a It is good news that the prophets per- response to grace. So is worship, and sist in affirming the ultimate purpose of this is the gospel of the Psalms. We do God to be redemption—for Israel and the not worship God in order to do him nations and the whole creation: Undoubt- favours (eg, by feeding or placating edly the greatest contribution that the him), or to persuade him to do us prophets make to the biblical gospel is favours. On the contrary the whole their refusal to give up hope in the God thrust of Psalter worship is responsive of Israel. However much Israel itself to what God has done already, in the might fail in its covenant obligations, history of God’s people and in personal God would never abandon his promise experience. Praise, therefore, in the that through Israel all the nations of Psalms is a gospel response to the sav- the world would be blessed. So they envisage that prospect in a rich variety of ways, in texts that por- 6 The following texts will repay reflection in tray the nations as being drawn to the the light of this perspective: Is. 2:3-5; 19:19- worship of God, experiencing the sal- 25; 45:22-25; 49:6; 66:18-24; Jer. 4:2; 12:16; Amos 9:11-12; Jon.; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 2:10-11; vation of God, called by the name of Mal. 1:11. This theme of God’s saving purpose God, sharing the blessing of God, and for the nations is explored in much greater ultimately included fully within the depth in Wright, The Mission of God, ch. 14. 14 Chris Wright ing work of God, not a legalistic effort will establish this as one of the sources to activate it. of the New Testament gospel for the It is good news that relationship with nations, as clearly articulated and God is intensely personal and involves the practised by Paul.7 whole of life, including its pain, suffering and injustice: Nevertheless, of course, b) Wisdom praise in the Psalter is not a matter of happy thoughts or words, but is an It is good news that the world reflects the acknowledgement of the reality and moral character of God (Proverbs): The presence of God in all circumstances of most universal part of the Old Testa- life. It can therefore actually take the ment canon is the wisdom literature, in form of lament, the largest single cate- the sense that it is open to and draws gory of Psalms. from the wisdom of surrounding The pervasive presence of lament in nations, while recognizing the creation the Psalms is an essential part of the gifts of rationality, insight and experi- biblical gospel for at least two reasons. ence in all peoples. Yet it still First, it recognizes that the whole of staunchly upholds the uniqueness of life is to be brought before God, is of Yahweh, God of Israel, as the one interest to God, and can expect to feel whom we are to fear if we are even to the impact of God’s character and start out on the road of wisdom. So action. Lament is holistic because no there are elements of gospel grace in element of human experience lies out- the way Wisdom links life on earth to side God’s concern. That is good news. the character and demands of God, in And secondly, lament passionately such a way that rational, spiritual and believes that God’s character is such ethical spheres are integral to each that he must and ultimately will do other. To be wise is also to be godly and something about evil (ie, finally righteous. destroy it and all who unrepentantly To be ungodly or unjust is also to be persist in it), and that is precisely the foolish. Such insight is not in and of affirmation and hope of the gospel. itself redemptive of course (and in the Lament is the voice of trust in God’s Old Testament Wisdom has to be set redemptive purpose in the midst of the within the overarching narrative of long wait under the pressure of things redemption), but it does point to the that appear to deny it. nature of gospel wisdom, which sees It is good news that the worship of the all of these embodied in the person of living God will eventually be universal Christ Jesus ‘who has become for us among the nations: Like the prophets, wisdom from God—that is, our right- the Psalms evince a mind-stretching eousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 imagination of faith which universal- Cor. 1:30). izes what Israel knew to be true for themselves in their own history into a remarkable vision of hope for all the 7 Eg, Ps. 22:27-28; 47:7-9; 67; 72:17-19; 86:9; 87:4-6; 96; 102:13-15, 21-22; 117; nations on earth. Once again, there is 138:4-5; 145; 148:11-13. Consideration of no space to elaborate, but pausing to some of these is also included in Wright, The read the Psalms listed in the footnote Mission of God, ch. 14. ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 15

It is good news that God can be known have to handle the more familiar New and trusted, against all that points in the Testament delineation of the good opposite direction (Job), and that human news in summary form. wisdom is limited and not in itself redemptive, but is allowed to struggle with deep 4 The New Testament questions on the foundation of faith (Ecclesiastes): The gospel implicit in a) The Gospels Job and Ecclesiastes lies in the way It is good news that God kept his promise they face up to some of the desperate to Israel, and that Jesus as Messiah of contradictions of life in this fallen Israel is also Saviour of the world: All world (innocent suffering, loss, the three synoptic Gospels take us back to apparent hiddenness of God, futility, God’s promises to Israel in their open- unpredictability, death), and still continue to affirm the goodness and sover- ing verses. John’s Gospel takes us back eignty of the one true living God and to to creation. The New Testament thus hope in him. begins by recognizing that the gospel it To say that the cross and resurrec- proclaims is founded upon all that we tion of Jesus constitute the ultimate have just surveyed—the good news answer to the questions posed by Job that is pervasively and holistically and Ecclesiastes, is of course true. But explicit and implicit throughout the God has left them in the canon pre- Old Testament. cisely so that we can see how seriously The New Testament gospel is not a God himself takes these issues that sudden, exotic, new message never trouble us so deeply, and thereby dreamt of before. It is the culmination enables us not only to rejoice in the of the biblical story, through which hope that the gospel provides, but to God’s saving message and action on continue to wrestle with these things behalf of Old Testament Israel has on the foundation of that faith and reached its climax in Jesus of Nazareth, hope. and has thereby been released to bring I hope this survey has not fallen into about what had been promised to Abra- the trap of simply labelling everything ham from the beginning—the blessing that was remotely ‘good news’ in the of all nations, through faith in Christ. Old Testament as functionally equiva- It is good news that God became lent to the gospel, but rather has human and lived among us: The incarna- shown the rich and subtle ways in tion is an essential part of the gospel, which multiple ‘good things’ that the not only on the minimalistic grounds Old Testament reflects on are either that for Jesus to die for us he first had dimensions or anticipations or out- to be born and live among us, but also workings of the fundamental good on the intrinsic grounds that God chose news of what God has done for the to become human, the Word became world in and through Jesus Christ. flesh. The humanity of Jesus is utterly Because these Old Testament essential to the redemptive meaning of dimensions are so much less familiar, I the cross, and it is also crucial to the have given more attention to them, and universal significance of his resurrec- for reasons of space I will necessarily tion for all creation. 16 Chris Wright

It is good news that the kingdom of c) Epistles God has come and is at work in the world: It is good news that the gospel is so mag- The reign of God is a basic Old Testa- nificent that only by many metaphors ment affirmation—as a reality (his uni- were the apostles able to articulate what versal sovereignty over creation and God has accomplished through Christ. It history), and as a hope (that his reign is good news that we are called to live would eventually be manifested, out the truth of the gospel in trans- acknowledge and submitted to among formed lives and communities. all nations). The gospel proclaimed by Jesus was that that future hope was d) Revelation now beginning to be realized in and It is good news that God is on the throne through his person, life and work. of the universe and that salvation belongs It is good news that Jesus demon- to him. It is good news that the cruci- strated the quality of God’s love in his life, fied Lamb of God reigns and all history the extent of God’s love in his death, and is under his sovereign purpose. It is the vindication of God’s justice in his res- good news that God’s people will sur- urrection: The life, death and resurrec- vive and triumph over all that threat- tion of Jesus, of course, have to be ens to destroy them. It is good news affirmed as the very heart and soul of that Jesus will return, the dead will be the biblical gospel. Whatever else is raised, God will bring all things to per- good news is good news because God fect justice, and evil will be destroyed. was incarnate in the person of his Son, It is good news that there will be a new Jesus of Nazareth, bore our sins in our creation in which God will dwell among place on the cross, and rose again to his redeemed humanity forever. defeat all the powers of evil and death.

b) Acts IV ‘According to My Gospel’ It is good news that God sent his Spirit, This is a phrase that Paul uses several both universalizing and internalizing the times. Clearly he had an understanding presence of Jesus. It is good news that of the good news in Christ that could be with the gift of the Spirit, the new age summed up in that one word. What did of salvation is inaugurated. It is good it signify? news that the church was birthed as a In search of an answer to this ques- community of forgiven sinners, com- tion, I read through the whole Pauline mitted to faith, love, care, justice, and corpus, noting every use of the word. costly witness. The church in its My broad analysis of this suggests that essence and character is actually part Paul uses the word as shorthand for at of the good news, not just the vehicle of least the following six things. In each it. It is good news that God has opened case I list references in which Paul the door of salvation and covenant appears to use the term in these ways. membership to people of all nations, as Firstly, the gospel is an account of Luke illustrates from a Roman centu- the events of Jesus’ death and resur- rion in Acts 10 to the Roman capital in rection, understood in the light of the Acts 28. scriptures of the Old Testament, as the ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Whole Gospel in Biblical Revelation 17 means through which God has made is a polemical dimension to the gospel. our forgiveness possible. The gospel It exists in explicit contrast and con- then, is good news about something flict with other worldviews, and being that has happened in history, with a a servant of the gospel necessarily long pre-history. It is not merely a involves costly struggle and spiritual ‘good idea’, or a good myth that illumi- battle.10 nates reality. It is first of all, historical Fourthly, the gospel works trans- facts in which God has accomplished formation. The first aspect of its trans- salvation. It is what God has done for formative power is that it transforms us that we could not do for ourselves.8 our status. Paul’s message is that Secondly, the gospel is therefore a through the cross of Christ, the right- message to be proclaimed, as all good eousness of Christ can become ours news should be. It must be heard as ‘a through faith in him, so that we can be word’, and on being heard, it needs to declared righteous by God without vio- be received and believed. This message lating his own justice. But further- is to be preached to all nations, for it is more, the status of Gentiles is trans- precisely all nations that are in view in formed, along with believing Jews. the scope of what God has done in From having been alienated from the Christ in fulfilment of his promise to covenantal grace of God, it is ‘through Abraham. ‘The work of the gospel’, the gospel’ that Gentiles can enter into then, seems to refer primarily to this the same status with God as enjoyed task of making the good news known hitherto by Old Testament Israel, so by all means of communication possi- that the believing Jews and Gentiles ble and at whatever cost. There is an can become one in Christ as a new intrinsically verbal dimension to the humanity.11 All the other metaphors gospel. It is a story that needs to be that Paul uses to describe the work of told in order that its truth and signifi- the gospel in us have similarly trans- cance may be understood. And that sig- formative dimensions: redemption, nificance is not only for individuals and reconciliation, adoption, and eternal nations, but ultimately for the redemp- life. tion of the whole creation.9 Fifthly, the second aspect of the Thirdly, the gospel is thereby also gospel’s transformative power is ethi- truth that needs to be defended, cal. ‘Repent and believe the gospel’, against denial or perversion. So there said Jesus (Mk. 1:15). Radical change of life goes along with faith in the good news. And when they asked John the Baptist what he meant by repentance, 8 Rom. 1:1-4; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Gal. 1:11-12; 3:6- he was ruthlessly practical (Lk. 3:7- 8; 2 Thes. 2:13-15 (which presents the story of the gospel in the same order as the story of Old 14). Paul agreed. The gospel involved Testament Israel—loved, chosen, saved, sanctified, glory); 2 Tim. 1:10; 2:8. 9 Rom. 1:9,15; 15:16, 20; 1 Cor. 9:16, 23; 2 10 Gal. 1:6-9; 2:5, 14; Phil. 1:7, 27; 4:3; 1 Cor. 4:3-4; Gal. 2:2, 7; 4:13; Eph. 1:13; 3:6-7; Tim. 1:11; 2 Tim. 1:8; Phlm. 13. 6:19; Phil. 1:5; 2:22; 4:15; Col. 1:5, 23; 1 Thes. 11 Rom. 1:17 (read with 3:21-26); Gal. 3:6- 2:2-9; 3:2; 2 Tim. 1:11. 29; Eph. 2:11-3:6. 18 Chris Wright a putting off of the filthy clothes of the ated by Christ, and are being sustained old humanity and putting on the by Christ, will be reconciled by Christ, clothes that bore the aroma of Christ- through the blood of his cross. And, likeness. So Paul’s missionary goal says Paul, ‘This is the gospel’ (Col. was not evangelism only, in the sense 1:15-23).13 of communicating the message, but nothing short of ethical transformation among those who received it by faith. V Conclusion His shorthand for this comes in the If we could ask Paul what content he striking phrase with which he begins might give to Lausanne’s phrase, ‘the and ends his letter to the Romans— whole gospel’, he might have taken ‘obedience of faith among the nations’. even longer than this paper. But I think This is a vision steeped in Old Tes- he would at least have urged us to tament covenantal ethics and eschato- understand that the whole gospel is logical vision. And while Paul’s whole • a Christ-centred story to be told understanding of the gospel was that it • a hope-filled message to be pro- was the work of God’s grace, not the claimed achievement of our works, he was • a revealed truth to be defended equally adamant that the whole point • a new status to be received of grace being at work in us was to pro- • a transformed life to be lived duce the fruit of lives that have been • a divine power to be celebrated. transformed, negatively from evil and And I believe, that in urging us to positively in tirelessly doing good understand these dimensions, Paul (Eph. 2:8-10; Tit. 2:11-14).12 The would have directed us continually gospel that is intrinsically verbal is back to what he knew simply as ‘the equally intrinsically ethical. There is Scriptures’—our Old Testament, for it no gospel where there is no change. was ‘in accordance with the Scrip- Finally, the gospel is the power of tures’, that Jesus died and rose again God at work in history and creation. for our salvation. Our whole gospel, For Paul this was something to marvel then, must be drawn from the deep well at and celebrate. The gospel seemed to of the whole Bible, and our mission have life of its own, such that Paul must be integrated accordingly around could personify it as being at work, its great resonant narrative of saving active, and spreading. The great para- grace, its transforming demand for, dox of the cross—something shameful and promise of, covenantal obedience, and absurd to Jew and Greek—was and its vibrant hope and vision of a new nothing to be ashamed of, for it was the creation in which righteousness very saving power of God that was dwells, for God will dwell there with transforming history and redeeming his redeemed humanity from every creation. All things that have been cre- nation.

12 Rom. 1:5; 16:25-26; 2 Cor. 9:13; Phil. 1:27; 2 Thes. 1:8 (negatively); Tit. 2:11-14. 13 Rom. 1:16; Col. 1:6; 1 Thes. 1:5. ERT (2009) 33:1, 19-31 The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross Mark L. Y. Chan

KEYWORDS: Salvation, sin, atone- affirmed that the cross was no accident ment, substitution, victory, moral but an event that happened according influence, glory, justice to God’s will (Acts 1:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:29-32). Over and above human intentionality is the outworking I The Centrality of the Cross of God’s redemptive intention through Central to Christianity is the cross of the cross (Acts 2:23; Heb. 4:3; 1 Pet. Jesus Christ. The cross and the resur- 1:20; Rev. 13:8). rection of Christ formed the heart of Not surprisingly, the cross occupies the apostles’ preaching from the very a prominent place in the liturgy, writ- beginning (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2; 15:3-4)1 ings, proclamation and missionary out- and the belief that Christ died for the reach of the church.3 While much is sins of the world is an inalienable part made of the connection of the cross to of Christian confession. While attribut- the promise of salvation through ing Jesus’ death to human wicked- Christ, one should not forget the rela- ness,2 the apostles nevertheless tionship between the cross and our understanding of who God is, and the place it has in Christian discipleship, ethics, and missions. 1 See John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 17- 40; James Denny, The Death of Christ, ed. R. V. G. Tasker (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1951), 17-155; Leon Morris, The Cross in the 3 Evangelical devotional literature and New Testament (Exeter: Paternoster, 1965); and hymnody are full of references to the cross and The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 3d ed. (Lon- the blood of Christ. Benjamin A. Pugh don: Tyndale Press, 1955, 1960, 1965). describes the phenomenon of ‘blood mysti- 2 The Sanhedrin and the Roman authorities cism’ or the visualisation and verbalisation of converged on the political expediency of having the blood of Christ with a view to enriching Jesus executed. See N. T. Wright, Jesus and the one’s relationship with God. ‘A Brief History Victory of God (London: SPCK, 1996), 540-611; of the Blood: The Story of the Blood of Christ and Scot McKnight, Jesus and His Death: Histo- in Transatlantic Evangelical Devotion’, Evan- riography, the Historical Jesus, and Atonement gelical Review of Theology 31 no. 3 (2007): 239- Theory (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005). 255.

Dr Mark L. Y. Chan, (PhD, Nottingham), is Lecturer in Theology and Coordinator for the Faith and Society research cluster with the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia, Trinity Theological College, Singapore. He is the author of Christology From Within and Ahead (Brill, 2001). 20 Mark L. Y. Chan

II Biblical Perspectives on the the Israelites break the terms of the Cross and Salvation covenant and find their relationship with Yahweh severed,4 they turn to the We understand the significance of the God-given means of making sacrifices cross rightly only when we understand for sin, namely the burnt offering ‘to it within the overarching biblical make atonement’ (Lev. 1:4), the sin framework of creation, fall and offering and the guilt offering (Lev. redemption. More than just individual 4:20; 7:7). The word ‘atonement’ is forgiveness of sin and reconciliation used frequently to translate various with God, the salvation procured by the forms of the Hebrew verb kipper, with crucified Jesus is about God’s reorder- many English translations linking the ing of a disordered creation and the word to ‘forgive’ or ‘pardon’, with God reconstituting of all things in Christ as the subject (eg, Ps. 65:3; 78:38; Jer. (Col. 1:19-20). The cross must be 18:23). The idea of sin being purged or appreciated against the backdrop of forgiven is therefore closely associated God’s redemptive activity in history, with the Levitical notion of making particularly in the history of Israel, in atonement. the incarnation, death and resurrection In a slightly different vein, some of Jesus, in the preaching and teaching scholars suggest that the idea of atone- of apostolic Christianity, and in the ment is tied to the word kõper, meaning present ministry of the church leading ‘ransom’ or ‘compensation’ (see Ex. up to the second coming. In what fol- 30:11-16; 32:30; Num. 25:10-13; lows, we will explore the salient fea- 35:29-34; Deut. 21:1-9; etc). Arguably, tures of a biblical understanding of the concept of atonement in the Penta- Christ’s work of atonement. teuch carries with it the sacrificial The disobedience of Adam and Eve sense of purification, as well as the introduced sin into the world and non-sacrificial sense of making pay- plunged humanity into a state of rebel- ment of a price or ransom.5 It is easy to lion and alienation from God. Sin vio- lates the sacred order established by God for his creation, resulting in the 4 To be sure, the representation of the human holy God turning away from problem in terms of a broken relationship with humankind until something is done to God is but one of many different ways the OT blot out the offence to his holiness. depicts the human predicament. Besides the Without this, sinners will remain hope- relational, the human predicament is also por- lessly cut off from God. It is in the trayed as: disturbance of shalom, rebellion against authority, offence resulting in guilt divinely orchestrated process of repair- that necessitates punishment, uncleanness ing this breach that we find the biblical and pollution, shame and disgrace, and finally history of salvation. death. See Christopher J. H. Wright, ‘Atone- The calling of Abraham, the rescue ment in the Old Testament’, in Derek Tidball, of the Hebrews from Egypt, and the David Hilborn, and Justin Thacker, eds., The Atonement Debate constituting of Israel as God’s (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 69-82. covenantal people at Sinai are part and 5 See David Peterson, ‘Atonement in the Old parcel of the outworking of God’s Testament’, in David Peterson, ed., Where redemptive plan for the world. When Wrath and Mercy Meet: Proclaiming the Atone- The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 21 get so tied up with the debates on the Turning to the NT, the fourth Ser- precise meaning of the different sacri- vant Song of Isaiah (Is. 52:13-53:12) ficial rites mentioned that one misses stands out as particularly illuminating the important point that sinners can of the death of Jesus, with the suffering draw near to God and enjoy his pres- servant of Isaiah 53 understood very ence and promises only through the early on in church history as prophetic means that God himself provides. From of the atoning sufferings of Christ, eg, the perspective of biblical theology, the Philip’s application of this text to Jesus OT sacrificial system foreshadows the (Acts 8:32-35).7 The characterization all-sufficient and sin-bearing sacrifice of the servant in Isaiah 53 as a repre- of Jesus the God-Man on Calvary (Heb. sentative figure who is rejected (v 3), 9:12, 14, 24-28) and furnishes the NT bears the guilt and sin of many (vv 4- writers with the conceptual backdrop 6c, 12),8 suffers undeservedly on behalf to articulate the significance of Christ of sinners (v 8) even though he is and his work. blameless (v 9b), gives his life like a Significantly, God himself is said to lamb led to the slaughter (v 7) and ‘atone’ or ‘cleanse the land for his peo- pours himself out to death as ‘an offer- ple’ (Deut. 32:43) when it is polluted. ing for sin (vv 10b, 12) so as to bring Even when the Israelites follow the healing (v 5), provides a ready scrip- prescribed rituals, the Lord is still tural grid to interpret Jesus’ sufferings implored to ‘absolve’ or ‘atone for’ his and death. The penal substitutionary people (Deut. 21:8). God is therefore nature of the Servant’s offering of him- the ultimate source of atonement for self for the healing of Israel points sin in the OT sacrificial rituals.6 ahead to the substitutionary death of Equally significant is the connection Jesus. And it is likely that Jesus inter- between the shedding of blood and the preted his own ministry and passion in deliverance and forgiveness of God’s terms of the suffering Servant (Luke people. We see this in the first 22:37; cf. Isa. 53:12 and Mt. 26:28).9 Passover (Ex. 12:7, 12-13) and in the The Christological gloss on Isaiah rituals of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 53 is representative of the attempt by 16:1-34; 23:27-32), where the blood of a slaughtered goat is sprinkled ‘upon the mercy seat and before the mercy 7 See Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey and seat’ so as to ‘make atonement for the Andrew Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions: sanctuary’ (vv 15-16). Recovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), 52-67. 8 See J. Alan Groves’ discussion on the meaning and significance of ‘bearing guilt’ in his ment Today (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2001), 2- ‘Atonement in Isaiah 53’, in Hill & James III, 15; Emile Nicole, ‘Atonement in the Penta- Glory of the Atonement, 76-89. teuch’, in Charles E. Hill and Frank A. James 9 See R. T. France, Jesus and the Old Testa- III, eds., The Glory of the Atonement: Biblical, ment (London: Tyndale, 1971) and the discus- Theological & Practical Perspectives (Downers sion in W. H. Bellinger, Jr. and W. R. Farmer, Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 47-50. eds., Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 6 Peterson, ‘Atonement in the Old Testa- and Christian Origins (Harrisburg: Trinity ment’, 10. Press International, 1998), 70-151. 22 Mark L. Y. Chan the NT writers to embed the cross 8; 14:9; 1 Cor. 8:11; Gal. 2:21; 1 Thes. within the OT narrative, taking into 5:10). The significance of the cross is account God’s antecedent work in expressed through ‘a plurality of Israel. In explicating the meaning of images’12 and overlapping ideas: atone- Christ’s death, they appeal to the ment (or propitiation), reconciliation, Hebrew scriptures and allude to OT justification, redemption, sanctifica- events and concepts, all within the tion, regeneration, etc. Paul affirms rubric of eschatological fulfilment. unambiguously that God has ‘recon- Jesus’ announcement of the arrival of ciled us to himself through Christ’ (2 the kingdom of God in his ministry sig- Cor. 5:18) by making him ‘to be sin who nals the beginning of the end. The knew no sin’ (2 Cor. 5:21). Through covenantal promises associated with Christ’s atoning blood (Rom. 3:24-25), the ‘day of the Lord’ have begun to be we have been delivered from the wrath realized in history in and through of God (Rom. 5:8-10) and made ‘the Jesus. God’s plan of salvation for righteousness of God’ (2 Cor. 5:21). Israel—and through Israel for the rest For Paul, the meaning of the cross is of the world—comes to a climax in rooted fundamentally in his under- 10 Jesus. In their different ways, the four standing of the divine purpose, in Gospels present Jesus and the cross as God’s righteousness, wrath and love. the means by which God accomplishes The book of Hebrews bears sus- salvation, ie, takes away the sin of the tained witness to Jesus’ high-priestly world (Jn. 1:29; Mt. 1:21) and brings work (2:17) of making ‘purification for ‘forgiveness of sins’ (Lk. 1:77).11 sins’ (1:3) and his death as a once-for- For the apostle Paul, the cross is the all atonement for sins (eg, 2:17; 7:27; power of God to salvation (1 Cor. 1:18) 9:25-26; 10:12). Hebrews insists on and Christ is ‘our paschal lamb’ (1 Cor. the sinlessness of Jesus (4:15; 7:17-28) 5:7). Along with the resurrection, the and presents him as both priest and cross is central to Paul’s theology, with the confession, ‘Christ died for sacrifice, portraying his atoning work us’, appearing in various forms as the fulfilment of the Day of Atone- throughout his writings (eg, Rom. 5:6, ment ritual. Through the shedding of his blood, without which there can be no forgiveness of sins (9:22), Christ made a perfect offering as our repre- 10 See N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of sentative (6:20; 7:25), liberating us God (London: SPCK, 1996) for a sustained argument for rooting Jesus’ messianic ministry within the context of God’s salvific purposes for Israel, and through Israel for the 12 Joel B. Green, ‘Death of Jesus’ in Gerald F. whole world. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and Daniel G. 11 See I. Howard Marshall, Aspects of the Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters Atonement (London: Paternoster, 2007), 34- (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 52; and Joel B. Green, ‘Death of Jesus’, in Joel 203. For an overview of Paul’s ideas of atone- B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Mar- ment, see Ronald Wallace, The Atoning Death shall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels of Christ (London: Marshall Morgan & Scott, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 1981), 32-51; and Peterson, Wrath and Mercy 146-63. Meet, 35-47. The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 23 from bondage to death and the devil before God only because the Lamb was (2:14-15) and securing for us forgive- slain. ness of sins and an ‘eternal redemp- With that glorious vision of the final tion’ (9:12). Because of the cross, eschatological outcome of Calvary, we Christ has become the ‘mediator of a turn now to examine the multi-faceted new covenant’ (9:15; 12:24; cf. Jer. achievement of the cross. 31:31-34). We find a similar understanding of the cross in the rest of the NT. Peter III The Achievement of the asserts that Christ’s sufferings were Cross anticipated in the prophets (1 Pet. Unlike the Trinity and Christology, 1:10-12) and that believers have been which received formal conciliar ‘ransomed’ with the blood of Christ, expressions in the Nicene Creed (325 the lamb without defect or blemish (v A.D.) and Chalcedonian Formula (451 19). Christ ‘suffered for sins once for A.D.) respectively, the nature of all, the righteous for the unrighteous’ Christ’s atoning death has never been (3:18) in order to bring us to God. Like set forth precisely in a creedal confes- his fellow NT writers, Peter alludes to sion, even though the substance of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (1 what Christ achieved on the cross is Pet. 2:21-25). Through Christ’s death, not in dispute within mainstream our wounds are healed and we are Christianity. The meaning of Christ’s enabled to ‘live for righteousness’ (v achievement on the cross has been var- 24; cf. Isa. 53:12). For Peter, the cross iously explained by a number of has ethical implications and behav- metaphors or ‘stories of salvation’.13 ioural ramifications, an emphasis also Whether in terms of a sacrifice, a vic- evident in John’s letters, where to live tory, a punishment, a ransom, a pur- right is to walk in God’s light. chase, a legal vindication, or a cleans- To those who fail to live in the light ing, these metaphors seek in their own and fall into sin, John offers the assur- ways to make sense of the mystery of ance that the blood of Christ cleanses 14 them from all sin (1 Jn. 1:9). Christ is the cross. the ‘atoning sacrifice for our sins’ and There are a number of theories of ‘the sins of the whole world’ (2:2). On the atonement in Christian thought, this cosmic note, we turn, as John did with the main ones being: (a) the satis- on Patmos, to gaze at the dazzling Lord faction theory of Anselm of Canterbury Jesus in the book of Revelation, the one (1033-1109), which the Reformers ‘who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood’ (Rev. 1:5b). Jesus is consistently designated as ‘the Lamb’ 13 Stephen R. Holmes’ expression in The whose blood has ‘ransomed for God’ Wondrous Cross: Atonement and Penal Substitu- saints from every nation (Rev. 5:9). tion in the Bible and History (London: Pater- noster, 2007). Strikingly, Christ the Lamb is at the 14 Sometimes different images are found in heart of the throne of God (Rev. 5:6), the same passage, such as Rom. 3:24-25 from where he receives the praise of all where three are found—the legal, the slave God’s people, who stand righteous market and the sacrificial offering. 24 Mark L. Y. Chan developed into what is known as penal a) The glory of God manifested substitution atonement; (b) the Christus Jesus’ humiliating death is described Victor model, after Gustaf Aulén’s paradoxically in John’s Gospel as a 1931 book of the same name; and (c) ‘glorification’ (Jn. 17:1); in it both the the moral influence theory associated Father and the Son are glorified (Jn. with Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Much 3:14; 8:28; 12:32). The shameful spec- has already been written about the tacle of the cross may be folly to the merits of these approaches, and we do world, but to the eyes of faith, it is the not need to rehearse these here.15 Suf- wisdom and power of God to salvation fice to say that not all theories of atone- (1 Cor. 1:18). The lifting up of the Son ment carry the same weight despite the on the cross represents a wholly para- light that each throws on the subject. doxical manifestation of God’s glory. Nevertheless, we maintain that there is value in enlisting the different b) The justice of God is revealed metaphors in probing the mystery of on the cross. the cross. The fact that there are diver- An oft-repeated challenge to faith is gent images points to the church’s the perplexing question of why God recognition of the complex and pro- seemingly allows the wicked to pros- found reality of what God did on the per and injustice to go unpunished. cross. No one picture suffices; all are One way Scripture responds to this is needed, though not all are equally per- to point believers to the future judg- suasive or important. ment of God. The other is to look back What then did the cross of Christ to the decisive judgment that has achieve? In tackling this question, we already taken place on the cross. The shall allude to the different theories as sins that apparently went unpunished a foil for our exploration. in the past have now been judged on the cross, so that God is vindicated. By 1 The cross reveals God’s love condemning the sins of the world in Christ, God shows his justice. Thus to the world Paul maintains that on the cross the The cross is at once the place of righteousness and justice of God have redemption and God’s self-revelation; been revealed (Rom. 3:21-26). At Cal- it is at once ‘a word as well as a work’.16 vary, God reveals himself as one who The revelatory word coming from the will not condone evil, so that no one cross is about the glory, justice, and love can accuse him of injustice or moral of God. We shall look at these in turn indifference. briefly. c) The love of God profoundly expressed on the cross. The cross is at once a statement about 15 See James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, eds., The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views (Down- God’s justice and wrath, and a demon- ers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic, stration of God’s love for the world (Jn. 2006) 3:16). We know love because Christ 16 Stott, Cross, 204. has laid down his life for us (1 Jn. 3:16) The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 25 as an ‘atoning sacrifice for our sins’ (1 stands before us as an example of self- Jn. 4:10). God demonstrates his love in giving love. Paul appeals to the cross in the self-emptying of his Son, who calling the Ephesians to imitate ‘became obedient to death’ on the Christ’s love and live a compassionate cross (Philp. 2:7-8). Such is the self- life (Eph. 5:1-2; cf. 2 Cor. 5:14). Peter giving love of God on the cross that does the same in urging his readers to Moltmann, following Luther and late follow the example of the suffering medieval theology, describes him as Christ (1 Pet. 2:21; cf. 4:1-2). It is ‘the crucified God’.17 The God we see on therefore understandable that one the cross is not a deity who mocks our should emphasize the moral illumina- moral ineptitude, but one who, know- tion and persuasion entailed in Christ’s ing our weaknesses, enters into our death. But to say that the meaning of pain and pours himself out in sacrificial the cross is exhausted by this exem- love, and in so doing extends to us his plarist intent is surely reductionistic. divine hospitality. All Abelardian theories of the atonement are primarily subjective, and d) The moral influence of the have no need for the objective sin-bear- cross. ing dimension of the divine-human transaction. Jesus is presented as pri- Christ’s exemplary death has led some marily teacher and example, and the to interpret its significance in terms of traditional notions of justification, rec- the power of its moral impact. Abelard, onciliation, redemption, and the effi- widely regarded as the first represen- cacy of Christ’s death are interpreted tative of what is known as the moral exclusively in subjective terms. Con- influence or exemplarist theory of the spicuous by their absence is the sever- atonement, argues that God does not ity and extent of human rebellion need any satisfaction, sacrifice, or ran- against God, the violation of God’s hon- som to forgive us. He can do so simply our, and the reality of his wrath. because he loves us. The reason Jesus Christ’s death may exemplify moral went to the cross was to demonstrate courage, but for his action to be mean- God’s love to us. As the ultimate ingfully exemplary it has to be expression of self-sacrifice, the cross grounded in some objective state of teaches us how much God loves us and affairs, and it has to be appropriately how we ought to love him and others in motivated. It is not enough to say that return. God’s love demonstrated on the cross is morally influential; one Calvary should inspire us to embody must enquire into how Christ’s love is that same self-giving love. displayed on the cross. ‘True love’, To be sure, God’s love revealed on Stott maintains, ‘is purposive in its the cross is morally inspiring; Christ self-giving; it does not make random or reckless gestures.’18 Nicole illustrates it thus: ‘If I should die in attempting to 17 Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The save a drowning child, my action may Cross of Christ as Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, trans. R. A. Wilson and John Bowden (New York: Harper & Row, 1974). 18 Stott, Cross, 220. 26 Mark L. Y. Chan be judged heroic and exemplary. But if victory, for on it Christ not only saved I thrust myself in the water to give an us from sin and guilt but also from example to those present, my act will death, the devil and all evil powers be seen as insane and far from a (Mk. 3:27; Jn. 12:31; 1 Jn. 3:8; Col. paragon of virtue.’19 Insofar as Christ 2:13-15; Heb. 2:14-15). gave his life as ‘a ransom for many’, his While the early church understood action would challenge us to imitate the atonement as Christ’s victory, him. But if his death were motivated there was little attention paid to the simply by a desire to serve as our way atonement works. To the ques- model, then it would not be exemplary. tion, ‘How is the victory of Christ secured?’, the answer had to do invari- 2 The cross a decisive victory ably with some sense of redemption. Because of sin, people find themselves Through the death (and resurrection) captives to Satan. In order to release of Christ, God triumphed over sin, sinners from this bondage, a ransom death, evil, Satan and all spiritual pow- must be paid. Hence one way the early ers. What looks like defeat is in reality Christians described the work of Christ a victory; the crucified is in fact the is in terms of the giving of his life as a conqueror. God placed all our tres- ransom. Jesus characterised his own passes on the cross and made us alive mission as one of giving his life as a with Christ, and in so doing conquered ‘ransom for many’ (Mk. 10:45; cf. Mt. death (1 Cor. 15:54-57) and ‘disarmed 20:28; cf. Job 33:24; Ps. 49:5-9, 15). the rulers and authorities’ (Col. 2:13- The word for ‘ransom’ (lytron) in 15; cf. 1 Jn. 5:4-5; Rev. 6:2) so that we classical Greek denotes payment made can be ‘more than conquerors’ through to free a slave or a prisoner, and its use Christ (Rom. 8:37). in Mark 10:45 and elsewhere in the NT This understanding of Christ’s death (eg, 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:18-19) points as a triumph is central to Gustaf to Jesus’ death as a price paid to wipe Aulén’s influential study, Christus Vic- out the debt of sin and set captives free 20 tor. Aulén argues for what he calls the from bondage to sin and Satan (1 Cor. ‘dramatic’ or ‘classic’ view, whereby 6:20; 7:23; Eph. 1:7; cf. Col. 1:14 and God in Christ dramatically battles the Rev. 5:9). To redeem sinners, a ransom forces of evil and triumphs over them. price was paid, though neither Jesus This view of the atonement is ‘classic’ nor any other NT writer tells us to in that it was the dominant view for the whom the ransom was paid. The NT is first thousand years of church history. content to state that Jesus gave his life Aulén rightly emphasizes the cross as as a ransom without specifying how atonement is achieved. With the payment of Christ’s life as 19 Nicole, ‘Postscript’ in Hill & James III, a ransom, Satan was defeated and eds., The Glory of the Atonement, 447. Christ emerged victorious, with all who 20 Gustav Aulén, Christus Victor: An Histori- are in Christ partaking of that spiritual cal Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of the Atonement, trans. A. G. Hebert (London: victory. To be sure, the consummation SPCK, 1965), from the original Swedish title of this conquest on Calvary awaits the published in 1931. parousia (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Philp. 2:9- The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 27

11). Meanwhile, through the ministry metaphor of Anselm and his preferred of the church, the victory of Christ is victory model. The two are not mutu- actualized more and more in history as ally exclusive, and just as the NT does sinners are transferred from the not demand that we choose one over stronghold of Satan into the kingdom the other, we should embrace both of of Christ. Until then, we recognize that these as different yet converging per- there is a spiritual battle21 at hand and spectives. We turn next to the heart of we must be vigilant against the what Christ achieved on the cross. schemes of the evil one (Eph. 6:12). Paul characterizes his ministry as 3 The cross turning away God’s opening the eyes of those blinded by wrath the devil (2 Cor. 4:4) and setting sinners free from his power. Salvation is The idea that Christ’s death was a ran- thus understood as deliverance from som paid to the devil was robustly chal- the snare of the devil, which results lenged by Anselm. In his treatise, Cur from Christ’s conquest of the evil one. Deus Homo?, Anselm suggests that sin It is the prior triumph of Christ that has so dishonoured God’s majesty that makes possible our freedom. satisfaction is necessary to repair the Aulén’s arguments though are not damage. Because God is sovereign, the without problems. His presentation of insult cannot be simply brushed aside. the development of atonement theol- And since the injury to God’s honour is ogy strikes one as being too one-sided; so great, only one who is God can pro- his suggestion that the early church vide that satisfaction; but since the was singularly committed to the Chris- offence is perpetrated by man, the sat- tus Victor theme is arguably an over- isfaction can be made only by man. Pulling these two strands together, statement; and his critique of Anselm Anselm argues that only one who is for failing to regard Christ’s death as simultaneously God and man could an offering from God to man and not make satisfaction for God’s offended just from man to God is certainly honour, hence the necessity for the unfair.22 Nevertheless, Aulén is correct incarnation. to emphasize the cross as victory, and Anselm’s satisfaction theory of the one may even argue that ‘Christus Vic- atonement has the merits of taking tor’ can be ‘a unifying framework’ to seriously both the gravity of sin and the understand the work of Christ. holiness of God. Unlike the moral influ- We maintain that it is not necessary ence theory, it emphasizes the objec- to differentiate too sharply, as Aulén tive satisfaction made to God. How- does, between the satisfaction ever, the stratified feudal framework on which his theory is based risks treating God like a feudal lord who is 21 See Gregory A. Boyd, ‘Christus Victor duty bound to uphold some abstract View’, in Nature of the Atonement, 25; cf. his extended treatment on spiritual warfare in code of honour that is somehow objec- God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict tified apart from him. Does such a view (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997). do justice to the biblical picture of God? 22 Stott, Cross, 229. Furthermore, apart from an over- 28 Mark L. Y. Chan reliance on medieval justice theory, the the controlling model for all articula- Achilles’ heel in Anselm’s theory is tions of the meaning of the cross.25 that there is no mention of any penalty The belief that Christ was crucified for sin.23 And there does not seem to be for us, and ideas of substitutionary suf- any necessary connection between fering are not new; they go back to the Christ’s death and the salvation of sin- early church where we find references ners. to the penal character of the cross Building on Anselm’s view on the among the fathers.26 This crucified for seriousness of sin and the need for sat- us character of Jesus’ death has clear isfaction, the Reformers draw atten- scriptural support. Apart from intima- tion to the wrath of God and the curse tions of this in the OT (eg, in Ps. 22 and that sinners labour under, and contend Isa. 52), we find it expressed in, for that the main obstacle to the restora- instance, the epistles of John and Peter tion of humanity’s broken relationship (1 Jn. 2:2; 4:10; 1 Pet. 2:24). Christ’s with God is God’s righteous wrath death on behalf of sinners is often pre- against human rebellion. The only way sented in the NT by means of the prepo- God’s righteous wrath can be appeased sition hyper or ‘for’ (eg, Lk. 22:19-20; is through Christ taking upon himself Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 11:24; etc). The bless- vicariously the penalty that is due to ings arising from his death are possible sinners, and offering himself up as a only because Christ has taken the pun- perfect sacrifice to God on their behalf. ishment and guilt of sinners. Christ did The penal substitutionary atone- not just die as our substitute; he bore ment is therefore premised on three our punishment or judgment as well. Hebrews 2:17 speaks of Christ mak- biblical and theological ideas: human ing ‘a sacrifice of atonement sinfulness and guilt; the holiness of God; and the sacrifice of Christ.24 Penal substitution was a key element of Protestant Orthodoxy in the seven- 25 Eg, J. I. Packer, ‘What Did the Cross teenth century and the evangelical Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution’, The awakening from the eighteenth cen- Tyndale Bulletin 25 (1974): 3-45, reprinted in J. I. Packer and Mark Dever, In My Place Con- tury on. It continues to be defended demned He Stood (Wheaton: Crossway Books, staunchly by many in the modern era 2007), 53-100; Leon Morris, The Atonement: who wish to see penal substitution as Its Meaning and Significance (Leicester: Inter- Varsity Press, 1983) and Jeffery, Ovey and Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions. Stott rejects unequivocally ‘every explanation of the 23 For Anselm, punishment and satisfaction death of Christ which does not have at its cen- are alternatives. Satisfaction is made not tre the principle of “satisfaction through sub- when someone takes the punishment in place stitution”, indeed divine self-satisfaction of another; rather it is made when someone through divine self-substitution’. Stott, Cross, dies an obedient death and thus compensates 159. for God’s lost honour. In other words, Anselm 26 Boersma, Violence, 158-63. Not surpris- commends substitutionary obedience, not ingly, we have in the Nicene Creed the state- penal substitution. ment that it was ‘for our salvation’ that the 24 See Thomas R. Schreiner, ‘Penal Substi- Lord Jesus Christ ‘came down from tution View’, in Nature of the Atonement, 72-93. heaven…and was crucified also for us’. The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 29

(hilaskesthai) for the sins of the people’. deities who punish indiscriminately Paul is unequivocal in describing God and must be bribed through appropri- as offering Christ up as ‘a sacrifice of ate offerings. Rather it is the wrath of atonement (hilasterion) by his blood’ a holy God directed at sin (Ps. 11:5-6; (Rom. 3:25). The meaning of hilasterion Jer. 44:4), which severs humanity’s used here has been widely debated, relationship with God. To satisfy God’s with scholarly opinions divided. Suffice righteous anger, Christ took upon him- to say that there are persuasive tex- self our penalty, offered himself on the tual, historical and theological reasons cross as a perfect sacrifice to God and to render the word hilasterion as ‘propi- turned away his wrath (Rom. 5:9; cf. 1 tiatory sacrifice’ in the sense of turning Thes. 1:10). away God’s wrath, rather than the The wrath of God is as much mani- more subjectively oriented ‘expiation’ fested on the cross as the love of God. with its focus on the cleansing and neu- God is angered when he sees his good tralising of sin.27 Not that there is no creation violated and evil visited upon place for the latter. the innocent and vulnerable. In the The imagery of sin being purged or face of exploitation and atrocities per- expiated certainly has biblical reso- petrated by evildoers, God cannot say nance (eg, Isa. 43:25; Jer. 33:8; 1 Jn. to them, ‘Never mind, I love you any- 1:7, 9; Rev. 1:5b) and is an important way’. To do so would be to make a concomitant to redemption. Be that as mockery of his love. There are some it may, expiation need not be used things that God hates precisely exclusively, and certainly not in a way because he is love. that rejects the notion of divine wrath The turning away of God’s wrath is entailed in the concept of propitiation. but one aspect of the salvific achieve- On the contrary, we suggest that expi- ment of the cross. Along with propitia- ation and propitiation are compatible; tion, the other biblical images for sal- defilement is removed when God’s just vation include: redemption, justifica- anger against sin has been satisfied. tion, and reconciliation. These comple- The word ‘propitiation’, from the mentary images take off from the foun- Latin, propitiare, meaning to ‘render dational truth of Christ as our substi- favourable’, was used widely in the tute. pagan world with the sense of appeas- We look first at redemption. ing the wrath of the gods and winning Whereas propitiation focuses on avert- their favour. The biblical view of the ing God’s wrath, redemption under- wrath of God though is nothing like the scores the sorry state of sinners from capricious vindictiveness of pagan which they have been ransomed by the cross. In Christ, ‘we have redemption through his blood’ (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). The imagery is drawn from 27 On the rationale for this interpretation, the ancient world of commerce where see Leon Morris, The Atonement, 151-176; and the payment of a ‘ransom’ (lytron) his Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 184-202. See also Stott, Cross, 168-175, and D. A. Car- secures the release of a slave. Christ son, ‘Atonement in Romans 3:21-26’, in Glory achieved freedom for us through the of the Atonement, 119-139. heavy price he paid on the cross. 30 Mark L. Y. Chan

Through his death, we have been hand, the different aspects and magni- released from our captivity to sin and tude of human depravity and need, and guilt. In addition, because Christ our on the other hand, the saving initiative redeemer paid for our release with his of God in giving his Son on Calvary. blood, he has proprietary rights over While the different metaphors of the us. The redeemed are therefore bought atonement contribute positively to our with a price to serve the redeemer. understanding of the cross, we main- The substitutionary death of Christ tain that penal substitutionary atone- overturns the verdict of condemnation ment, with its realism about human and renders the sinner justified before sin, its acknowledgement of God’s holy God. Justification is a legal term signi- wrath against sin, and its affirmation fying a verdict of acquittal. In Christ, of the sacrificial and substitutionary sinners are found ‘not guilty’ and nature of Christ’s death, is best suited declared righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). The as the ‘normative soteriological the- words justification, justified, righteous ory’ or ‘unified theory of atonement’.28 and righteousness share the same root word, dikaiosyne. Thus to be justified is to stand righteous before God. On IV Conclusion: Toward a account of Christ, the holy God will Missional Atonement treat sinners as if they have never The achievement of the cross is not sinned. This justification is ‘by faith’ simply a thing of the past; it continues (Rom. 5:1), which results in our having a right standing before God. to run its course today, for to be recon- A final dimension of salvation in ciled to God is to be entrusted with the Christ is reconciliation, whereby ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18- Christ’s death changes the relation- 20). The experience of God’s atoning ship between God and sinner from one grace should make a difference in the of estrangement to one of communion. way Christians live and conduct their Through Christ, we have received rec- lives. According to Scot McKnight, onciliation (Rom. 5:11), and from ‘atonement is not just something done Christ we have been given the ministry to us and for us, it is something we par- of reconciliation. And even as Chris- ticipate in—in this world, in the here and tians discharge this ministry, God is at now. It is not just something done, but work reconciling sinners to himself (2 something that is being done and Cor. 5:18-21). Reconciliation thus has something we do as we join God in the both a vertical and a horizontal dimen- missio Dei’.29 sion: reconciliation with God and One may quibble that McKnight’s between people. Through Christ, all characterisation risks not giving suffi- the barriers that divide people are tran- scended (Eph. 2:13-16, 18). This is first embodied in the Christian commu- 28 Alan Spence, The Promise of Peace: A Uni- fied Theory of Atonement (New York: T&T nity, and then expressed in the Clark, 2006). church’s ministry in the world. 29 Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atone- The four key NT images of salvation ment (Nashville: Abingdon, 2007), 30-31; also canvassed above highlight on the one 117 (author’s italics). The Gospel and the Achievement of the Cross 31 cient emphasis to the once-for-all Through the ministry of God’s peo- nature of the atonement, but his call to ple, the cross continues to confront the embody the achievement of the cross in world. One of the criticisms levied the life and ministry of the church against penal substitution is that it ensures that the atonement does not encourages individualism by focusing remain an abstraction. One can insist on the guilt and forgiveness of the indi- on the ‘it is finished’ nature of Christ’s vidual. Yet if we believe in the cosmic work and simultaneously affirm the significance of the cross, then our continuing work of Christ in the world atonement theology must lead us to carried out through his Spirit-empow- engage the world at large. Those who ered people. carry their crosses are never blind to N. T. Wright reminds us that the the social realities around them. ‘call of the gospel is for the church to If the achievement of the cross is to implement the victory of God in the be actualized in the world, then it is world through suffering love. The cross imperative that Christians and is not just an example to be followed; it churches be thoroughly cruciform. The is an achievement to be worked out, cross must move from being a part of put into practice’.30 What God does for the church’s architecture or furniture, us in Christ cannot be separated from to being a part of the church’s DNA. As what he does in us and through us. article #6 of the Lausanne Covenant This is in line with our affirmation at asserts, ‘a church which preaches the the outset that atonement theology cross must itself be marked by the must be grounded in the redemptive cross’. As redeemed people bought work of the Trinitarian God. The with the price of Christ’s blood, we are redemptive reconciling of the world in to mirror that self-sacrificial love that the Son is an ongoing work of the prompted our redeemer to give his life. Father through the Spirit, who empow- To exercise a ministry of reconcilia- ers the church to serve the divine pur- tion, the church as a community must pose. Only such a Trinitarian under- embody that reconciliation in the way standing will ensure that what hap- her members relate to each other. The pened on the cross does not remain a cross, Luther reminds us, is the test of past event, but continues to be a pre- everything (crux probat omnia), and this sent reality that reconciles sinners and is true not just in our congregational transforms the world. life but also in the message we proclaim. We must resolutely resist the temptation to dilute the scandalous 30 N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God message of the cross. Evangelism (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), today cannot afford to bypass the scan- 98. dalous yet wondrous cross. ERT (2009) 33:1, 32-46 Signs, Wonders, and Ministry: the Gospel in the Power of the Spirit

J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Keywords: Salvation, worldview, and power of the Holy Spirit. Seen in transformation, anointing, supernat- terms of ‘the anointing’, Pentecostal/ ural, demons charismatic churches draw attention to the need to bring together in ministry the Word and Spirit in order that I Introduction God’s power may be evident in Christ- This article examines the inseparable ian witness. relationship between the Holy Spirit Indeed, patterns of global Christian and the power of the gospel of Jesus growth confirm the viability of pursu- Christ. The subject matter is consid- ing a theological agenda that believes ered from the viewpoint of contempo- in the connection between the Holy rary Christianity in the global south, Spirit, the gospel of Jesus Christ and particularly, African-led Pentecostal/ signs and wonders in ministry. The charismatic Christianity. We will look work of the Holy Spirit is to take what at how these African churches, includ- is of God, animate it with his Presence ing a very fascinating African-led and through that restore life to human charismatic church in post-communist brokenness. For, as J.I. Packer writes, Europe, are invoking the power of God ‘the essence of the Holy Spirit’s min- in ministry in order to bring the inter- istry, at this or any time in the Christ- ventions of the Spirit in the name of ian era, is to mediate the presence of Jesus Christ to people with all kinds of our Lord Jesus Christ’.1 He proceeds to soteriological concerns. commend the contribution of the The central concern of the African charismatic renewal movement ‘as a and African-led Pentecostal/charis- God-sent corrective of formalism, insti- 2 matic churches represented here is to tutionalism, and intellectualism’. witness to the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, unlike the his- 1 J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Find- toric mission denominations of the ing Fullness in our Walk with God, rev ed (Grand nineteenth century, the newcomers put Rapids: Baker Books, 2005), 49. a lot of emphasis on the manifestation 2 Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit, 184.

Rev Prof J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu (PhD) teaches African Christianity, Pentecostal/charismatic theology and new religious movements at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Accra, Ghana. His publications include African Charismatics: a Study of Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana (Leiden: Brill, 2005). Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 33

II Pentecostal/Charismatic churches as ‘benchwarmers’ and Christianity accused them of losing ‘the power of the gospel’ that was very real in the Lesslie Newbigin identifies three main early Jesus movement.5 Conversion in streams of Christian persuasions in the Africa, as far as Pentecostal/charis- history of the church with each defined matic churches are concerned, is ulti- by a particular theological orientation. mately a contest between alternative Roman Catholicism puts its emphasis sources and resources of supernatural on structure, ritual and the sacra- power. ments, while ‘orthodox’ Protestantism Thus in African Pentecostalism, gravitates towards the centrality of Jesus is, above all else, the one who scripture and Pentecostalism operates rescues people in the power of the with the conviction that ‘the Christian African life is a matter of the experienced Spirit. In his recently published Pentecostalism power and presence of the Holy Spirit , Ogbu Kalu talks about today’.3 The distinctive contribution of how in contradistinction to the cere- the Pentecostals and their charismatic bral and rationalistic theologies of his- progenies to Christian theology is the toric western mission Christianity, emphasis on ‘the here and now activ- African Pentecostals ‘creatively wove ity’ of the Spirit of the God and Father the Christ figure into the African uni- of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Pente- verse as the person who could rescue, costal/charismatic emphasis on power the Agyenkwa, as the Akans [of Ghana] 6 is evident particularly in Africa where would say’. Commenting on the role of the movement functions within a cul- Christ as Agyenkwa, literally meaning tural context that holds ardently to ‘Saviour’, or the one who grants abun- belief in a universe alive with benevo- dant life, Mercy A. Oduyoye explains: lent and malevolent powers. The Agyenkwa, the one who res- Thus Christians in Africa have cues, who holds your life in safety, found the categories of power, domin- takes you out of a life-denying situ- ion and alleviation of suffering by the ation and places you in a life-affirm- power of the Spirit relevant in the gen- ing one. The Rescuer plucks you eral struggle with fears and insecuri- from a dehumanizing ambiance and ties within a universe in which super- places you in a position where you natural evil is considered hyperactive.4 can grow toward authentic human- Members of the African pneumatic ity. The Agyenkwa gives you back movements and churches studied here your life in all its wholeness and have often profiled the mainline fullness.7

3 Lesslie Newbigin, The Household of God 5 Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: an Intro- (London: SCM, 1953), 95. duction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4 André Corten and Ruth Marshall-Fratani 2008), 7. eds., Between Babel and Pentecost: Transna- 6 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, ix. tional Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin Amer- 7 Mercy A. Oduyoye, Hearing and Knowing: ica (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa University Press, 2001), 5. (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1986), 98. 34 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

The apostles, with whom it is was shaken’; the apostles ‘were all expected the church would have a con- filled with the Holy Spirit’, and conse- tinuing ministry, understood too the quently, they ‘spoke the word of God relationship between the message of boldly’ (Acts 4:31). the gospel and the manifestation of the Pentecostal/charismatic power power of the Spirit. Thus, following approaches to the gospel suggest that Pentecost, Peter said of Jesus, ‘God these occurrences have not ceased. exalted him to his own right hand as They defiantly resist the position of Prince and Saviour so that he might Pentecost cessation theories that give repentance and forgiveness to signs and wonders ceased with the Israel. We are witnesses of these death of the last apostle. In our time, things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom the growth of the Christian church has God has given to those who obey him’ not occurred in places where there is (Acts 5:31-32). theological sophistication and high A little earlier the apostles had been church order and where rational theol- released from prison after their incar- ogy reigns supreme. Rather, it has ceration for preaching the resurrected been felt mostly in the two thirds world Christ. They accredited to the power of where Pentecostal/charismatic spiri- Jesus Christ the miraculous healing of tuality with its emphasis on experien- a cripple at the Beautiful Gate. The tial theology is particularly cherished. response of the apostles to a subse- Thus the greatest contribution of this quent injunction ‘not to speak or teach stream of Christianity to theology, at all in the name of Jesus’ (Acts 4:18), world mission and evangelization is its was to pray that God might confirm the insistence that the gospel of Jesus message of the gospel with signs and Christ is most effective when pre- wonders wrought in the power of the sented in the power of the Holy Spirit. Spirit. Gathered in prayer, they first If churches in Asia, Africa, Latin affirmed the sovereignty of God before America and African-led churches in asking him to confirm his word in acts Europe are growing, I argue, it is of power: because they have come to the realization that the gospel must be preached You made the heaven and the earth in the power of the Spirit with signs fol- and the sea, and everything in lowing. The pneumatic orientation of them. You spoke by the Holy churches in the two thirds world defies Spirit…Now, Lord, consider their western enlightenment approaches to threats and enable your servants to the gospel, evangelism and mission by speak your word with great bold- taking seriously what Rudolf Otto ness. Stretch out your hand to heal refers to as the non-rational aspects of and perform miraculous signs and ‘the Holy’. This is seen in the emphasis wonders through the name of your placed on the experiential dimensions holy servant Jesus (Acts 4:24-30). of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Following this very direct request Although as I point out later, they may for the gospel to be mediated in the sometimes lose sight of the element of power of the Spirit, we are told that weakness in it, St. Paul is a particu- ‘the place where they were meeting larly loved character in this type of Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 35

Christianity because his theology of Spirit seriously, and to ‘ward off or cast power sustains the inseparability of out evil spirits’ and offer people ‘pro- the gospel and signs and wonders of tection and healing’ in his power, the Spirit. became causes of drifts into Pente- In the power of the Spirit, we dis- costal/charismatic churches and move- cover the graces of conversion, heal- ments.8 Wherever Pentecostalism has ing, deliverance, comfort and strength emerged in Africa the ministries of for this life and the assurance of escha- exorcism, healing and deliverance tological hope. In the words of St. Paul have been its main means of evangeliz- in his epistle to the Corinthian church: ing. ‘My message and my preaching were It is in these ministries of the Holy not with wise and persuasive words, Spirit that people see the existential but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s meaning of the ministry of the Lord power, so that your faith might not rest Jesus Christ. For the mission of the on [human] wisdom, but on God’s Spirit is ‘to bring glory to Jesus’ by tak- power’ (1 Cor. 2:4-5). ing from what is his and making it I have come to the conclusion known to the disciples (Jn. 16:14). through my reading of scripture, per- When the imprisoned John, out of his sonal ministry and by observing pat- own uncertainty, inquired about Jesus, terns of growth and success in con- he responded by using the language temporary African Pentecostal/charis- from Isaiah 61 as the authentication of matic Christianity that the viability of his messiahship (Lk. 4:18) and cited the Christian message lies in holding the acts of deliverance that accompa- together in the same breath belief and nied his ministry as evidence. From experience in theology. this it could be concluded that our gospel is not simply that of saving souls, it is rather, as with Jesus, the III Gospel, Power and bringing of wholeness to broken people Anointing in Africa in every kind of distress. In other The belief in supernatural power words, the kingdom of God comes with means Pentecostal/charismatic spiri- power. tuality is popular in Africa because its The ‘power approach’ to evange- interpretations and responses to evil lism, which takes demon possession are not discontinuous with traditional seriously is one that, as we note, religious ideas in which evil is believed coheres with African philosophical to be mystically caused. In this world- thought. The underlying worldview dif- view, belief and experience always fers from that of the typical western- belong together. oriented historic mission church in For example, in her work, Translat- which the Christian faith, as Ghanaian ing the Devil, which is based on ethno- graphic data on the Peki-Ewe of 8 Birgit Meyer, Translating the Devil: Religion Ghana, Birgit Meyer notes how the and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana (Edin- inability of historic mission churches burgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999), to take the experience of the Holy xviii. 36 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu theologian Kwame Bediako points out, course and so in the Christology of one reflects that which has been transmit- Ghanaian gospel music, Jesus is ‘the ted through the intellectual history of changer of evil destinies’. In that sense the West: in both traditional and indigenous Coinciding as it did with significant Christian worldviews, evil is anything advances in scientific discoveries, that destroys abundant life. Thus the the Enlightenment acted to direct performance of traditional ritual, intellectual attention away from described by Meyer, as ‘the pivot of the realm of transcendence to the Ewe religious life’ is aimed at achiev- empirical world that could be seen ing ‘health, fertility, protection, and 11 and felt, that is, from the intangible success in life’. to the tangible. By and large, In the process of conversion, the Christian theology in the West Ewe Christians, we are told, ‘measured made its peace with the the success of Christianity by its capac- Enlightenment. It responded by ity to counteract evil at least as suc- 12 drawing a line between the secular cessfully as Ewe traditional religion’. world and the sacred sphere, as it In response to the challenges of were, and so established a frontier preaching the gospel in the African between the spiritual world on the context, Pentecostalism provides one hand, and the material world alternate ritual contexts within which on the other, creating in effect, a the consequences of evil and spirit pos- dichotomy between them. Many session may be dealt with. Thus in earnest Christians have been Ghana, the Pentecostal/Charismatic attempting by various means since phenomenon of ‘ayaresa ne ogyee’ then to bridge the two worlds.9 (‘healing and deliverance’) has been consciously integrated into the evan- It is here, as Bediako further points gelizing efforts of many Christian tra- out, that Africa has followed a different ditions, pressurizing even historic mis- path culturally and intellectually from sion denominations to hold national the Enlightenment heritage.10 Among evangelistic crusades that emphasize the Akan of Ghana, for example, ‘evil’ the power of the gospel in acts of deliv- mbusu is and most of the time it is erance. supernaturally caused. When used in Wherever I have seen growth in mbusu connection with life generally, is Christian ministry the power of the that which prevents people from living Spirit has also been evident. It is my a holistic lifestyle. custom to ask the initiators of these This mindset has been sustained in ministries about what, in their think- popular Pentecostal/Charismatic dis- ing, accounts for the successes they may be having. In almost every case the word ‘anointing’ has come up in the 9 Kwame Bediako, ‘Worship as Vital Partici- pation: Some Personal Reflections on the conversation. As one such charismatic African Church’, Journal of African Christian Thought vol. 8 (2005), 3. 10 Bediako, ‘Worship as Vital Participation’, 11 Meyer, Translating the Devil, 61, 68. 3. 12 Meyer, Translating the Devil, 138. Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 37 church leader put it to me recently, ‘the does confirm even today that there is a anointing makes the difference’. The relationship between the Spirit and the anointing is a mediated phenomenon power of the gospel. and the openness of the leadership of new Pentecostal/charismatic churches to these graces has served as a major IV Jericho Hour challenge to traditional understand- In the lives of the Pentecostal/charis- ings of ministry. matic streams of Christianity, the What the new crops of African expression ‘anointing’, used by Jesus charismatic Christian leaders under- in his mission statement in Luke, sim- stand by ‘the anointing’ is continuous ply implies ‘the power of God in action’. with the understanding with which At the Christian Action Faith Min- Jesus worked. The anointing accounts istry’s (CAFM) imposing Prayer Cathe- for the viability of the relationship dral in Accra, Ghana, a weekly non- between the gospel and the power of denominational prayer meeting dubbed the Spirit as succinctly outlined in St. ‘Jericho Hour’ is held from nine o’clock Luke’s proclamation of the mission of in the morning until twelve o’clock Jesus Christ: noon. The four thousand seat audito- rium is always filled to capacity at this The Spirit of the Lord is on me, time. People from all walks of life come because he has anointed me to into the Prayer Cathedral to pray that preach the good news to the poor. God will release them from the burden He has sent me to proclaim free- of sin and other encumbrances of this dom for the prisoners and recovery life. They pray that he will bring the of sight for the blind, to release the deep-seated problems of their lives oppressed, to proclaim the year of down, as he did the walls of Jericho in the Lord’s favour (Lk. 4:18-19). Joshua’s day, and then set them free Luke makes it clear that both the from sickness, financial indebtedness, Saviour himself and his followers are unemployment, barrenness and steril- empowered for the life and ministry of ity. In short, people patronize Jericho the kingdom by the Holy Spirit. He sin- Hour in search of ‘healing and deliver- gles out the Spirit as the power for the ance’. life and mission of Jesus. Streams of Testimonies abound that the prayer Christianity that believe in this mission time works. Evident in the testimonial statement, as outlined by Luke, and narratives I have encountered week appropriate it for their ministries do after week at the CAFM Prayer Cathe- not usually have to search their dral are a number of identifiable areas archives for evidences of the power of of emphases relevant to our discus- the gospel in the work of evangeliza- sion: forgiveness of sin, healing for the tion. physically sick, deliverance for the The experience of the Spirit brings possessed and prayer for the reversal results: the Bible talks about it; the his- of evil destinies that people may pros- tory of the church proves it; and the per in life; in short, holistic salvation. promise of Jesus Christ that those who On several occasions, including during believe in him would do greater works a visit on Thursday, 3 January 2008, 38 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu participants were anointed with oil ‘for things in order to transform their con- breakthrough’ in whatever brought ditions for the better. Thus the sick may them to the ‘presence of the Lord’. be anointed and so may be haunted Jericho Hour serves the same pur- homes and physical objects in order to pose as the many Pentecostal/charis- restrain evil influences upon them. matic healing camps found in various This idea of anointing is illustrative African contexts where the sick and of the African worldview in which sin troubled may even be quarantined as and evil on the one hand and sickness they await ‘a visitation’ from the Holy and suffering on the other go together. Spirit. E. Kingsley Larbi has studied The Bible does not always see things these healing camps and his thoughts this way. So in John 9, Jesus did not on why people patronize them are consent to the interpretation that the worth quoting at some length: condition of the man born blind could have been caused either by personal Suppliants primarily go to the sin or generational curse. Neverthe- camps in search of salvation that less, it is also true that as Christians relates to the here and now. They we believe that to accomplish anything go there because of sickness and in life, God’s favour is required. It is the need for healing; they go there thus instructive that in the mission because of financial and economic statement of Jesus in Luke, ‘anointing’ problems; they go there because of and ‘favour’ come together within the problems related to marriages, chil- same context. dren, employment, family needs; Pentecostal/charismatic Christian- they go there because of lawsuits; ity takes this relationship seriously they go there because they are and to this end, anointing services are struggling with drunkenness and meant to, as one charismatic church they want to overcome it; they go program in Ghana was themed, ‘acti- there because of educational vate God’s presence’ in the lives of issues…they go there because of believers. African Pentecostal/charis- alleged problems with demons and matic believers are aware that the witchcraft. But this is not all: some, ‘anointing’ originates from a source in addition to their material needs, more profound than a bottle of olive oil. seek ‘spiritual upliftment’.13 The anointing oil points to transcen- At Jericho Hour and at these healing dence as Pastor Joseph Eastwood camps, people go in search of anointing Anaba of Ghana puts it in his book, The to break their yokes. ‘Anointing’, we Oil of Influence: ‘It is the personality, have noted, is a mediated phenomenon power, and glory of the Holy Spirit and the expression is used primarily in released in the believer and upon him the context of the application of olive oil to saturate his spirit, soul and body so either to persons to effect healing or to that he can operate and live like Jesus on earth.’14

13 Emmanuel K. Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity (Accra: CPCS, 14 Anaba Eastwood, The Oil of Influence (Bol- 2001), 407-408. gatanga: Desert Leaf Publications, 2000), 18. Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 39

The anointing is therefore synony- ing mighty power of the gospel of Jesus mous with the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ.16 My participation in anointing services has always established very forcefully the thinking that ‘anointing’ is the V The Spirit, Anointing and power of God in action. This is how I Power of Conversion also understand St. Paul’s submission The anointing, something Jesus had that his message and preaching did not and of which the church stands in need occur with ‘wise and persuasive words’ today, is akin to what G. van der Leeuw but with a demonstration of the power describes as ‘ the power of God poured of the Spirit. In contemporary Pente- out and absorbed’, which enables costal/charismatic thought, St. Paul recipients to perform miracles and would be spoken of as someone with operate in ‘the gifts of grace’.17 Having ‘anointing’. In the context of general established that there is a connection Pentecostal/charismatic theology this between the experience of the Spirit power of God is available for ministry and the power of the gospel, I now turn in keeping with the promise of the glo- to a very contemporary example rified Christ: ‘you will receive power through the ministry of Pastor Sunday when the Holy Spirit comes on you’ Adelaja. (Acts 1:8). Pastor Adelaja is founder of ‘The To this end, Bishop David O. Church of the Blessed Kingdom of God Oyedepo of the Living Faith Ministries for all Nations’ based in Kiev, Ukraine. Worldwide notes that ‘every believer He is a man anointed by God. Pastor requires the anointing for sustenance, Sunday Adelaja has taken Eastern performance, success, breakthrough Europe by storm with a very forceful and fulfillment’. The different levels of message that ‘Jesus makes a differ- anointing, he submits, make the difference’. Since its formation in the mid ence between degrees of impact in the 1990s the Embassy of God has grown proclamation of the message of the from a handful of people praying in a gospel.15 I point out elsewhere that the living room to a 25,000 member strong line between ‘anointing’ and ‘power’ church in 2007. In the last three years appears very thin indeed. This power is part of my research has focused on this authenticated in things and persons by church. The Embassy of God marked virtue of their becoming effective and its fourteenth year of existence in April influential. Thus ultimately, the 2008. anointing is God’s abiding presence, There is no reason to believe that his Holy Spirit, who empowers those the numbers are exaggerated. In May who speak in his name, enabling them to function in various gifts of grace and 16 Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Unction to through that demonstrate the liberat- Function: Reinventing the “Oil of Influence” in African Pentecostalism’, Journal of Pentecostal Theology. vol. 13 no. 2 (2005), 231-256. 15 David O. Oyedepo, Anointing for Break- 17 G. Van Der Leeuw, Hans H. Penner, J. E. through (Lagos: Dominion House Publica- Turner, Religion in Essence and Manifestation tions), 63. (New York: Harper Row, 1963), 35. 40 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

2004, I joined members of the Embassy and intervention of the Holy Spirit. The of God in street evangelism procession, personal transformations, restora- the ‘Jesus March’. At the time, mem- tions, and reclamation of dignity that bership was supposed to be around followed forced Ukrainians to take a 20,000 and given the numbers that keen interest in the mission of Pastor showed up at the Jesus March, it was Adelaja in their midst. Today people obvious that this was a truly mega- whose lives were going nowhere either sized church. My second more exten- serve the church as pastors, leaders or sive visit took place in December 2007 else have settled down as responsible during a Winter Prayer and Fasting citizens who have re-channelled their program that afforded me the opportu- gifts and talents into viable economic nity to hear and see presentations from ventures to the glory of God and a the various ministries of the Embassy blessing to those who are still in the of God church. The testimonies of ‘world’ and under the influence of the transformation sounded genuine and evil one. moving and as each ex-convict, ex-drug addict, ex-leader of a mafia gang, former prostitutes and alcoholics nar- VI Jesus, the Gospel and the rated how they came to Jesus Christ Power of the Spirit through the ministry of Pastor Sunday I pointed out earlier that the story of Adelaja, my mind kept returning to the the Gadarene demoniac is particularly interventions that Jesus made in the instructive as an interpretative model lives of such persons as the Gadarene in the expression of the gospel through demoniac in Mark 5:1-20. the power of the Spirit. A significant Starting the new ministry with number of Bible scholars and theolo- seven people as a home fellowship, gians make much of the fact that this Pastor Sunday Adelaja began to reach particular healing miracle of Jesus out to the ‘outcasts’ and ‘oppressed’, took place in Gentile territory, sup- which, as he explained to me, meant porting the fact that the kingdom of those whose human dignity had been God was now universal. Jesus asked eroded through addiction to narcotics, the healed man to spread the word armed robbery, prostitution, and alco- about the mighty deeds and mercy of holism. These were people whose fam- the Lord and he did so enthusiastically. ilies were ashamed of them, and whom In line with the emphasis on his Gen- the Ukrainian establishment was find- tile background, Eckhard J. Schnabel ing difficult to deal with and rehabili- concludes that the result of the procla- tate. The extent of drug abuse in many mation of the healed demoniac, though European countries threatens to over- not recorded, ‘implies that a positive whelm the resources available to reha- outcome of his witness was not consid- bilitate its victims. For many such peo- ered futile’.18 ple scientific and clinical solutions have simply not worked. At God’s Embassy, such problems, 18 Eckard Schnabel, Early Christian Mission: Pastor Sunday says confidently, are Jesus and the Twelve (Downers Grove: Inter- confronted with the mightier power Varsity Press, 2004), 337. Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 41

This outcome, I suggest, would have Second, the devil or demons are depended not so much on the fact the agents of destruction: ‘Night and day man was a Gentile, important as that among the tombs and in the hills he may be, but on the fact that Jesus had would cry out and cut himself with power over demons and evil powers. He stones’ (Mk. 5:5). Blinded by the has grace, that is, the anointing, to demons, the situation that confronted restore God’s distorted image in the the demoniac reeked of ‘triple unclean- human person destroyed, not just by ness’—he lived in the midst of unclean sin, but its other consequence of mak- pigs, he lived in the unclean world of ing the human person vulnerable to the the dead (tombs) and was possessed by activities of evil powers. To that end, a legion of unclean spirits.19 The behav- we encounter in this story of the iour of the demoniac recalls the state- Gadarene demoniac three main themes: ment of Jesus that ‘the thief comes to First, we find a message of the real- steal, kill and destroy’, but Jesus ity of evil. Whether it is personified as comes that humankind may have life Satan, the devil, or seen through mul- and have it in its fullness (Jn. 10:10). titudinous demonic powers as found in The demoniac’s behaviour before the the passage, the important point is that encounter with Jesus was an indication the power of the gospel comes out of his need for some form of interven- forcefully in the encounter with evil. tion. He needed to be delivered from The victim of demonic possession who the destructive powers of the demons came out to meet Jesus from the tombs, that were controlling his life and bring- we are told, operated with some form of ing him to ruin. superhuman strength: ‘For he had African initiated Christianity has often been chained hand and foot, but always focused on this message. he tore the chains apart and broke the Witchcraft, for example, is not only irons on his feet. No one was strong real but for African Christians it is also enough to subdue him’ (Mk. 5:4). an instrument of the devil for the Usually, I distinguish between destruction of victims. The prophets of demon possession and demon oppres- African independent churches won fol- sion. Demonic oppression refers to lowers by acknowledging the older cases in which malevolent supernat- spiritual powers and absorbing them ural powers influence a person’s life with a new Christian synthesis. As the for ill. In demonic possession, evil spir- new African initiated churches estab- its actually take over the executive fac- lished prayer centres to tackle the evils ulties of a person and so he or she suf- of witchcraft, the historic mission fers some form of personality dissocia- churches dismissed it as a figment of tion. The extreme case of demonic pos- people’s imagination and a psychologi- session, which is the type we cal delusion. Members of the older encounter in this passage, is insanity. denominations troubled by witchcraft The ministries of healing and deliverance offered in places like Jericho Hour and the healing camps are designed 19 Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of purposely as interventionist methods God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Not- in such cases. tingham: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 508. 42 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu voted with their feet and walked out of influence because the effects of the the churches to look for help where it gospel on others become palpable. The could be found. evidence of the transformation of the Third, Jesus demonstrated, as he Gadarene demoniac, one can conjec- did so many times in his ministry, that ture, gave some weight to his procla- he indeed had power to overcome evil. mation that God’s salvation in Christ Jesus, ‘far from being contaminated works. It is easy to imagine how his himself through his contact with such transformed personality was enough Gentile pollution, transforms it by his testimony to the power of the gospel. presence and word’.20 It is not insignif- A similar submission could be made icant that in the Bible the presence of of the effects of the gospel on the peo- God is synonymous with the presence ple one encounters at the Embassy of of the Holy Spirit. The reference God and other such places where testi- Wright makes to ‘presence and word’ monies abound regarding the trans- underscores the fact that Jesus minis- forming power of the Spirit of God. tered in the power of the Spirit. He did Based on the work of Kenneth S. not only cast out the evil powers Latourette, Andrew Walls has recon- destroying the man’s life but Jesus also sidered the history of Christian expan- restored the glory he lost as a result of sion in terms of the ‘influence of demonic control. Christ’.21 This influence of Christ is When the former demoniac’s neigh- seen in the ‘greater works’ of those bours heard of his deliverance and who follow the footsteps of Christ in came running to see this spectacular mission. Three major influences are act of power encounter, they saw a identified in the work of Latourette: transformed human being: ‘they saw first, the spread of Christian proclama- the man who had been possessed by tion in particular areas, which Walls the legion of demons, sitting there, recasts as, the ‘Church test’; second, dressed and in his right mind’ (Mk. the number and strength of new move- 5:15). The man became a living testi- ments owing their origin to Christ, mony and Jesus turned him into a dis- which he recasts as the ‘Kingdom test’; ciple to go and spread his own story of and third, the effect of Christianity on healing and deliverance (v. 19). humankind as a whole, recast as the ‘Gospel test’. VII Mission, Transformation In looking at this threefold means of measuring the influence of Christ, I and Influence find Walls’ use of these tests helpful When the gospel is carried in the power tools in explaining the importance of of the Spirit, the evidence from the life carrying the gospel in the power of the of the early church suggests that there Spirit as evidenced in the story of the is first ‘transformation’ and then ‘influ- man from Gerasa and in the mission of ence’. There is transformation because lives are turned around and there is 21 Andrew Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 20 Wright, Mission of God, 508. 2002). Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 43

Pastor Sunday Adelaja and his demons are cast out by the finger of Embassy of God church. God. The kingdom of God has drawn In Walls’ reinterpretation of near in the presence of Christ with his Latourette’s work, the first sign of the acts of power’.24 In other words, the influence of Christ is the physical pres- kingdom of God comes with power and ence of a community of people willing when it does, the dark night of sin and to bear his name, that is, ‘the existence all that detracts from human whole- of a statistically identifiable, geograph- ness are chased away so that God’s ically locatable Christian community, image in people may be restored. The however small’.22 What has made God image of the Gedarene demoniac after Embassy in the Ukraine the talking his encounter with Christ, found by wit- point in terms of Christian mission is nesses to be ‘sitting there, well the identifiable community of trans- dressed, and in his right mind’ (Mk. formed people in a supposedly atheis- 5:15) is one that may also be invoked tic environment testifying to the influ- here to explain what the coming of the ence of Christ upon their church as a kingdom upon people is like. community functioning in the power of It is instructive that many African the Holy Spirit. With a sense of what Pentecostal/charismatic ministries the church as a community of believers like the Embassy of God can point to stands for, Pastor Sunday Adelaja former narcotics and prostitutes who gives voice to the ‘church test’ when he are now turned around for Jesus after writes that, ‘God wants everyone to encountering his power. Kingdom actively participate in the life of the signs like these, Walls notes, mark the church, so that his greatness, might, new innovative movements that reflect and glory could be manifested through true Christian expansion. Like the us’.23 It is for the same reason that the kingdom, he writes, ‘they sprout and former demoniac was mandated to stir up; they produce a more radical ‘[g]o home to your family and tell them Christian discipleship’.25 how much the Lord has done for you, The kingdom test signifies how God and how he has had mercy on you’ (Mk. intervenes in the lives of people in order 5:19). The ultimate aim of this kind of to restore them—a message that, as we testimony was to generate a commu- have noted, is an underlying theme of nity that believed in Jesus Christ and Pentecostal/charismatic theology. As his mission. with true kingdom movements, the The second test is the ‘Kingdom Embassy of God and the other move- test’ and relates to the demonstration ments have established as movements through the church of the transforma- of reformation, renewal and revival. tive power of God. In the words of And indeed when I asked Pastor Sun- Walls, ‘the kingdom is declared when day Adelaja to summarize his vision in one word, he told me: ‘God has called us to effect another reformation’. 22 Walls, Christian History, 10. 23 Sunday Adelaja, Church of the Embassy of God Eighth Anniversary Brochure (Kiev: Fares 24 Walls, Christian History, 14 Publishing, 2002). 25 Walls, Christian History, 14. 44 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

The final test is the ‘gospel test’ and This is particularly so because tes- relates to the difference that the resur- timonies invariably focus on the inter- rection of Christ makes in the here and ventions of the Spirit and demonstra- now.26 Out of the chaos that is associ- tions of his power in healing and ated with lives wasted on narcotics and restoration. Smail notes how, bol- other vices the Pentecostal/charis- stered by what has happened to us, we matic movement sees itself as an can easily come to see ourselves as ‘liv- instrument of newness in the land and ing in a world of supernatural power in people’s lives. The motivational that leads us from triumph to triumph, messages of Pastor Sunday Adelaja, where the weak, desolate sufferer of for example, help bring the message of Calvary has been left behind, or at any the resurrection as newness to a peo- rate has ceased to dominate the ple looking for hope after ‘death’ in scene’.27 Pentecostal/charismatic tri- post-communist Europe. In all the umphalism is evident in its choruses, cases of transformation and interven- the names of churches, testimonies tion we encounter in the Bible includ- permitted in public worship and in the ing those of the prodigal son, the very sermons that are preached. Fur- woman of Samaria and Zacchaeus, this ther, the bulk of African Pentecostal/ metaphor of ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’ charismatic sermons come from the applies. As the father in the story of the Old Testament. The reason is simple. prodigal son captured his son’s transi- The stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob tion in the explanation to the com- and Jabez are easily used to support plaining older brother: ‘this brother of theologies of prosperity and triumph yours was dead and is alive again; he on which preachers like to dwell. was lost and is found’ (Lk. 15:32). Celebrating our victories in Christ is in order. However, Smail counsels that we should begin to be in constant VIII The Cross and the Power guard in case, without any conscious of the Spirit intention, we should begin to evade the The rejuvenation, empowerment and cross by devising and promoting a restoration that come from the experi- charismatic theology of glory: ‘A spirit ence of the ministry of the Spirit have who diverts us from the cross into a tri- often led to a certain triumphalism on umphant world in which the cross does the part of the Pentecostal/charismatic not hold sway may turn out to be a very movement. In the contexts of the social unholy Spirit.’28 The experiences of tremors that many experienced in post- Jesus Christ on the cross and those of communist Europe and the harsh and St. Paul, particularly in the refusal of debilitating economic conditions of God to answer his prayer to remove his Africa, Christian triumphalism has thorn in the flesh, are indications that often left those who may still be going through ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ without testimonies. 27 Tom Smail, Nigel Wright, and Andrew Walker, eds., Charismatic Renewal (London: SPCK, 1995), 56. 26 Walls, Christian History, 19. 28 Smail, Cross and Spirit, 58. Signs, Wonders, and Ministry 45 sometimes God’s purpose in those dif- investment in which what is ‘reaped’ ficult situations may be to grant the depends on what one ‘gives’ and even grace of endurance. If Jesus bore our the rewards are seen more and more in grief upon the tree, the call to take up material terms.31 The numbers of peo- our cross and follow him must be seen ple one meets at African healing camps as a call to bear pain and suffering by who have not had their problems standing with those who need our solved tend to be many more than empathy in a fallen world. those who testify to different break- The Pentecostal/charismatic throughs. emphasis on signs and wonders as There is reason to thank God for the integral to Christian ministry is cer- victories but it is equally important to tainly a turning away from what Roger appreciate the grace that God grants to Bowen refers to as the ‘closed’ West- those who must necessarily go through ern worldview and a turn towards the one form of pain and difficulty or world of the Spirit and the manifesta- another. God’s power, Bowen percep- tions of his power.29 However, the tri- tively concludes, ‘is at work not only umphalism associated with signs and for the poor and weak but also in the wonders which we have discussed poor and weak, and there is no escape must necessarily be balanced with the from the way of the cross’.32 theological worldview within which Jesus carried out his own ministry. His also was a ministry carried out in the IX Conclusion power of the Spirit but one that was In spite of some obvious deficiencies in ‘always exercised out of weakness, its theological understanding, the cen- sorrow, conflict, suffering and even trality of healing and deliverance in the defeat’.30 message of salvation and its import for With the increasing use of the media Christian mission cannot be overem- in particular there are clear abuses and phasized. It provides some evidence of faulty theological interpretations the practical difference between occurring in churches. In a case African indigenous Pentecostal recalled by Jenkins, the church sells thought and the inability of traditional anointing oil for healing and television western mission Christianity to viewers are asked to place glasses of respond adequately to the theological water and bottles of oil by their sets questions raised by African Christians that they may be infused by divine in particular. power through remote control. Giving In the neo-Pentecostal ministry of in particular is fast losing its place as healing and deliverance, God’s salva- part of our response to God in worship. tion is given active expression as a sal- The church offering is now given the vation of power meant to be experi- same interpretation as a secular

31 Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The 29 Roger Bowen, So I Send You: A Study Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford: Oxford Guide to Mission (London: SPCK, 1996), 164. University Press, 2002), 65. 30 Bowen, So I Send You, 164. 32 Bowen, So I Send You, 164. 46 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu enced. Information gleaned from inter- way of doing ministry should not be views, messages, and the writings of considered confessional or denomina- exponents and observations of the phe- tional but rather the way Jesus Christ nomenon in practice suggest that the did his ministry. It is the way to remain phrase ‘healing and deliverance’ is relevant to the Bible and the task of the used correlatively in African Pente- church. A word of caution as we end. costal/charismatic theology to refer to Miracles do not actually prove any- the deployment of divine resources, thing about God. Therefore the focus of that is, power and authority in the discussion ought always to shift from name or blood of Jesus—perceived in their actuality to the nature of God, in pneumatological terms as the inter- whom truth alone resides. That nature vention of the Holy Spirit—to provide is one which intervenes in our lives in release for demon-possessed, demon- order that we may be translated from oppressed, broken, disturbed and trou- destruction, whatever form it takes, bled persons, in order that victims may into abundant life in Christ. In the be restored to ‘proper functioning prophecy of Zechariah as quoted by St. order’. That means they are restored to Luke: ‘[God] spoke by the mouth of his ‘health and wholeness’ and are thus holy prophets…that we should be freed from demonic influences and saved from our enemies and from the curses, that they may enjoy God’s full- hand of all who hate us…that we, ness of life understood to be available being delivered from the hand of our in Christ. enemies, might serve him without fear, Our world stands in need of a gospel in holiness and righteousness all the carried in the power of the Spirit. This days of our lives’ (Lk. 1:68-79).

Aspects of the Atonement Cross and Resurrection in the Reconciling of God and Humanity I. Howard Marshall The Christian understanding of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ and its relationship to the salvation of sinful humanity is currently the subject of intense debate and criticism. In the first two chapters Howard Marshall discusses the nature of the human plight in relation to the judgment of God and then offers a nuanced defence of the doctrine of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for sinners. The third chapter examines the place of the resurrection of Christ as an integral part of the process whereby sinners are put in the right with God. In the final chapter Marshall argues that in our communication of the gospel today the New Testament concept of reconciliation may be the most comprehensive and apt expression of the lasting significance of the death of Christ. The papers are expanded versions of the 2006 series of Chuen King Lectures given in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I. Howard Marshall is Emeritus Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Honorary Research Professor at the University of Aberdeen. He has authored many books on the New Testament. 978-1-84227-549-8 / 216 x 140mm / 176pp (est.) / £9.99 Paternoster, 9 Holdom Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK1 1QR, UK ERT (2009) 33:1, 47-61 The Gospel and Ethics

Jonathan Bonk

KEYWORDS: Discipleship, obedience, birth—whose faith is ‘credited to them behaviour, Christendom, religion, as righteousness’ (Rom. 4; Heb. 11-12). faith, evangelism That is very good news! But the quali- fying adjective ‘whole’ implies that there is such a thing as a ‘partial’ I Introduction gospel, a gospel that is somehow diminished, distorted, or compro- Why do evangelicals draw such a sharp mised, and perhaps therefore fatally cognition distinction between faith as delusional. and faith as a way of life? Given our Since the word evangelion or its Lord’s teaching, example, and depic- derivatives (translated ‘gospel’ or tions of the final judgment, it is appro- ‘good news’ in the NIV) occurs at least priate to begin with the reminder that 117 times in the New Testament; and the New Testament was written by dis- since evangelism is at the very core of ciples for disciples whose primary com- the Lausanne Movement for World mission was to make disciples wher- Evangelization, it is appropriate that ever they went in the world. This our understanding of the term, as evi- stands in marked contrast to modern denced in our evangelical practices, be evangelical stress on proselytizing and revisited against the standard of Scrip- church planting, with expansion of a ture, and in particular our Lord’s own particular theological franchise as the teaching. goal. Jesus did not invite people to believe in the New Testament or to become 1 What do we mean by the Christians. Jesus himself was not a Whole Gospel as distinct from ‘Christian’. He invited men and women to learn from him, to follow him, and to the Gospel? acknowledge him as Lord. There is no The ‘gospel’ means that salvation is gospel apart from Jesus Christ. And our always and has always been a free gift, gospel is not only about who Jesus was offered by our loving creator to all per- and what he did, but about what he says sons, regardless of the culture-specific and where he leads. Someone who does social and religious conditioning that not follow Jesus cannot be said to be comes with all human survival beyond his disciple in any New Testament

Jonathan Bonk is the executive director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center, the editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, and project director for the Dictionary of African Christian Biography. He also serves as visiting professor of mission and evangelism at Yale Divinity School. 48 Jonathan Bonk sense of that term. It is discipleship II What is the relationship that we are called to live and proclaim.1 between the gospel and ethics? Jesus proclaimed ‘good news’, but In answering this question, Scripture because appropriation of this good is best left to speak for itself. If one news was contingent upon following were to remove the ethical content him, learning from him, obeying him, from the New Testament, whatever and living and dying with him, it was remained would be undecipherable or deemed by many of his contemporaries meaningless. As Jesus himself said, to be bad news. ‘Whoever serves me must follow me; and wherever I am, my servant also will be’ 2 What do we mean by ethics? (Jn. 12:26). ‘He became the source of eter- ‘Ethics’ means, most simply, human nal salvation for all who obey him….’ behaviour in relation to persons, peo- (Heb. 5:9); ‘…the Holy Spirit… God has ples, and all things, including creation. given to those who obey him’ (Acts 5:32). According to the online version of ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a Encyclopedia Britannica, ethics is all new creation; the old has gone, the new about ultimate value and how human has come’ (2 Cor. 5:17). actions can be judged right or wrong.2 It is not the purpose of this paper to 1 Gospel and ethics—Jesus go into the theology of ethics. It is enough to point out that if ethical con- Watch out for false prophets. They tent were to be stripped from our scrip- come to you in sheep’s clothing, but tures, there would be almost nothing inwardly they are ferocious wolves. left. We live out our lives in a moral uni- By their fruit you will recognize verse, created by God. In Christ, God them. Do people pick grapes from showed and taught his people how to thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? live in his universe. The history of Likewise every good tree bears God’s chosen people, both Abrahamic good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad and New Covenant, is an epic saga that fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad begins with creation and culminates in fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear the final judgment. Biblical ethics good fruit. Every tree that does not involves both restraint from personal bear good fruit is cut down and evil and active pursuit of the neigh- thrown into the fire. Thus, by their bour’s good, even if that neighbour is fruit you will recognize them. an enemy. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who 1 See Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: does the will of my Father who is in Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Disci- heaven. Many will say to me on pleship (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2006), that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not especially ch. 1, ‘Discipleship: For Super Christians Only?’ (3-17), and ch. 2, ‘Who Is prophesy in your name, and in your Your Teacher?’ (18-31). name drive out demons and per- 2 accessed on 22 January 2008. tell them plainly, ‘I never knew The Gospel and Ethics 49

you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ with such great faith. I say to you (Mt. 7:15-23). that many will come from the east In the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5- and the west, and will take their 7), Jesus explains what was intended places at the feast with Abraham, by the Law (5:17-7:6), concluding his Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of exposition by cautioning listeners to heaven. But the subjects of the distinguish between two roads, two kingdom will be thrown outside, kinds of trees, and two kinds of builders. into the darkness, where there will In the case of the roads, not comfort be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ along the way, but destination, is (Mt. 8:10-12). everything; in the case of the two trees, Only those who did God’s will could the one that produces fruit is the good actually be said to have appropriated tree; in the case of the two builders, it the good news of peace with God. It is the one who goes down to bedrock was the doing of his will that consti- whose house stands. In each of these tuted irrefutable proof of family-of-God examples, Jesus references obedience affinity. to what he has taught—ethical behav- While Jesus was still talking to the iour in one’s relationship to people, crowd, his mother and brothers things, and circumstances—as the stood outside, wanting to speak to way, the fruit, and the foundation. As him. Someone told him, ‘Your his cousin so tactlessly reminded the mother and brothers are standing esteemed religious leaders of the outside, wanting to speak to you’. time—calling them a ‘brood of vipers’— He replied to him, ‘Who is my escape from the coming wrath neces- mother, and who are my brothers?’ sarily requires ‘fruit in keeping with Pointing to his disciples, he said, repentance’ (Mt. 3:7-8). Far from being ‘Here are my mother and my broth- inimical to the gospel, genuine repen- ers. For whoever does the will of tance, evidenced by ethical behaviour, my Father in heaven is my brother is at its very core. and sister and mother’ (Mt. 12:46- Jesus frequently warned religious 50). insiders whose flawless social stand- In the story of Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:1- ing and impeccable religious creden- 10), it was not until the tax collector tials were thought to give them the had actually repented—giving half of inside track with God that if these were his possessions to the poor and repay- the primary basis of their presumed ing fourfold those whom he had good standing before God, they were cheated—that Jesus said, ‘Today sal- profoundly deluded. He would go on to vation has come to this house…’. Wel- comment with strong approval on the coming Jesus as his guest was only the faith of persons whose sole qualifica- first step of the genuine repentance tion was behaviour (Mt. 8:10-12). that ensued, and it was his repentance When Jesus heard this, he was that elicited from Jesus his reassuring astonished and said to those fol- words about salvation. lowing him, ‘I tell you the truth, I In the sobering account of the final have not found anyone in Israel judgment (Mt. 25:31-46), the Son of 50 Jonathan Bonk

Man reminds his listeners that for a insisting that his gospel ‘and the procla- thirsty person the good news is a cup of mation of Jesus Christ… [is] now water; for a prisoner it is social com- revealed… so that all nations might munion; for a stranger it is a warm wel- believe and obey him…’ (Rom. 16:26). come into the bosom of one’s own fam- For the grace of God that brings ily. The gospel is not merely a speech salvation has appeared to all men. about Jesus, but a practical personal It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodli- response, however inconvenient, to ness and worldly passions, and to concrete need. live self-controlled, upright and While words may well come later, godly lives in this present age, they are not an adequate response while we wait for the blessed when it is within one’s power to do hope—the glorious appearing of more than talk. Jesus clearly demon- our great God and Saviour, Jesus strated this pattern by stopping to pay Christ, who gave himself for us to attention to the socially utterly redeem us from all wickedness and insignificant men and women who con- to purify for himself a people that stantly ‘interrupted’ his ministry—the are his very own, eager to do what lepers, the blind, the deaf, the lame, is good (Tit. 2:11-14). the sick, and the social outcasts. ‘What Paul—so often misused to support do you want me to do for you?’ (eg, Mk. the notion that there can be spiritual 10:51; Lk. 18:35ff), he would ask. If regeneration without any evidence of there were those who could not speak new life in Christ—leaves no doubt for themselves, Jesus would respond to about what he means by the gospel. requests on their behalf.3 In all of these Conversion is to Jesus, and disciple- and other instances, perhaps never ship is a lifelong, essential part of what more poignantly that in his story of the it means to follow him. Pressing on is an Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25ff), Jesus indispensable element of Paul’s under- showed what it means to do good to standing of discipleship, and anyone another person simply because one has who is not a disciple of Jesus may not the power to do it (Jas. 4:17). This is a in any gospel sense of the word be said profoundly ethical dimension of the to be a follower of Jesus. The good true gospel. news is that ‘ours is a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is 2 Gospel and ethics—Paul written: “The righteous will live by faith”’ (Rom. 1:17). It is this that unites those Paul’s teaching is consistent with that who are his from the beginning to the of Jesus. He begins Romans by speak- end of the human story. Righteous men ing of ‘the obedience that comes from and women live by faith. They don’t faith’ (Rom. 1:5) and concludes by simply talk about it, or use it as a kind of magical key to heaven or as a handy fire escape from hell. Faith is a way of 3 eg, Mk. 1:29ff; 2:1ff; 5:22ff; 7:24ff; 8:22; 9:17ff; 10:13ff; Lk. 4:31ff; 4:38ff; 5:12ff; living. Paul’s passionately reasoned 5:17ff; 6:6ff; 7:11ff; 8:26ff; 8:40ff; 9:37ff; argument in Romans 8 reinforces the 13:10ff. point that those who belong to Christ The Gospel and Ethics 51 live as followers of Christ: knowledge—obedience to what has Those who live according to the been revealed—that marks his true sinful nature have their minds set children, whatever their religious on what that nature desires; but label. those who live in accordance with Righteousness never comes apart the Spirit have their minds set on from God, Paul continues in the next what the Spirit desires. The mind of chapter: sinful man is death, but the mind This righteousness from God controlled by the Spirit is life and comes through faith in Jesus Christ peace; the sinful mind is hostile to to all who believe. There is no dif- God. It does not submit to God’s ference, for all have sinned and fall law, nor can it do so. Those con- short of the glory of God, and are trolled by the sinful nature cannot justified freely by his grace through please God. the redemption that came by Christ You, however, are controlled not by Jesus. God presented him as a sac- the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if rifice of atonement, through faith in the Spirit of God lives in you. And if his blood. He did this to demon- anyone does not have the Spirit of strate his justice, because in his Christ, he does not belong to forbearance he had left the sins Christ. But if Christ is in you, your committed beforehand unpun- body is dead because of sin, yet ished—he did it to demonstrate his your spirit is alive because of right- justice at the present time, so as to eousness. And if the Spirit of him be just and the one who justifies who raised Jesus from the dead is those who have faith in Jesus. living in you, he who raised Christ Where, then, is boasting? It is from the dead will also give life to excluded. On what principle? On your mortal bodies through his that of observing the law? No, but Spirit, who lives in you. on that of faith. For we maintain Therefore, brothers, we have an that a man is justified by faith apart obligation—but it is not to the sin- from observing the law. Is God the ful nature, to live according to it. God of Jews only? Is he not the God For if you live according to the sin- of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles ful nature, you will die; but if by the too, since there is only one God, Spirit you put to death the mis- who will justify the circumcised by deeds of the body, you will live, faith and the uncircumcised because those who are led by the through that same faith. Do we, Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom. then, nullify the law by this faith? 8:5-14). Not at all! Rather, we uphold the In Romans 2:1-16, Paul returns to law (Rom. 3:22-31). the argument that he raised earlier in The freedom that is found in Christ his discourse on God’s righteous judg- Jesus is the freedom to follow him, to ment. He makes it clear that God can- be on intimate terms with God, to not be fooled by a religious or racial escape the tiny, dark dungeons of our pedigree. It is behaviour based on sinful egos, and to be transformed by 52 Jonathan Bonk the renewing of our minds so that we who are in need. Practise hospitali- can ‘test and approve what God’s will ty. Bless those who persecute you; is—his good, pleasing and perfect will’ bless and do not curse. Rejoice (Rom. 12:2). In Romans 12, following with those who rejoice; mourn with his outpouring of praise for the breadth those who mourn. Live in harmony and width and depth of God’s mercy with one another. Do not be proud, and grace to those outside the Abra- but be willing to associate with hamic bloodline, Paul goes on to press people of low position. Do not be the logic of what he has just said, urg- conceited. Do not repay anyone evil ing his readers to worship God through for evil. Be careful to do what is the offering up of their bodies as living right in the eyes of everybody. If it sacrifices. This sacrifice, it is clear, is is possible, as far as it depends on not merely some kind of mental assent you, live at peace with everyone. to correct doctrinal formulations! Paul Do not take revenge, my friends, says that the life-sacrifice he is talking but leave room for God’s wrath, for about entails giving up one’s precious it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I conformity to ‘the world’; that is, to the will repay’, says the Lord. On the social, moral, and political conventions contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, and expectations peculiar to the soci- feed him; if he is thirsty, give him ety that creates, defines, recognizes something to drink. In doing this, and legitimates who we are. you will heap burning coals on his Christ’s followers become strangers head’. Do not be overcome by evil, in their own cultures, not because they but overcome evil with good (Rom. forget the language and complex social 12:9-21). syntax that provide the unique mean- Paul returns to these ethical themes ing, cohesion and sense of place for repeatedly in his other letters. every human being, but because their Whether it be their treatment of behaviour as followers of Jesus spouse, children, slaves, the weak, the increasingly mirrors their Lord’s will. poor, the sick, the ordinary, or the As ‘dearly loved children’, they ‘imi- enemy, those who have welcomed the tate God’ in living lives of love (Eph. gospel with open hearts and minds 5:1-2). Paul makes by clear practical have turned around and embarked on a implications for everyday life what he lifelong ultimate metamorphosis into intends his readers to understand by Christ-likeness. Being ‘alive in Christ’ this: has direct ethical consequences, as far Love must be sincere. Hate what is as Paul is concerned, including living evil; cling to what is good. Be as children of light (Eph. 4), and imi- devoted to one another in brotherly tating God in the most practical, every- love. Honour one another above day ways imaginable (Eph. 5-6). In his yourselves. Never be lacking in letter to the Philippians, similarly, zeal, but keep your spiritual fer- Paul stresses the ethical outcome of vour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in imitating the humility of Christ (Phil. hope, patient in affliction, faithful 2-4). in prayer. Share with God’s people Believers in Colossae, too, were The Gospel and Ethics 53 reminded of the ethical import of the god is their stomach, and their gospel. After a stirring call to freedom glory is in their shame. Their mind from the self-justifying but stultifying is on earthly things. But our citi- rules and regulations to which all reli- zenship is in heaven. And we eager- gions, including Christianity, are so ly await a Saviour from there, the naturally inclined, Paul goes on to Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the insist in Colossians 3:5-17 that power that enables him to bring because we are free in Christ, we, as everything under his control, will the chosen people of God, should set transform our lowly bodies so that our hearts on things above and put to they will be like his glorious body death the earthly nature, all in the (Phil. 3:12-21). name of the Lord Jesus. The freedom that we have in Christ As Paul personally demonstrated is not simply an invitation to ‘invite and tirelessly taught, the good news Jesus into our hearts’, and then get on that is in Christ Jesus is by no means with our lives as though what he says incompatible with ‘press[ing] on to take is either irrelevant or too impractical to hold of that for which Christ Jesus took bother with. It is through the training hold of [us]’ (Phil. 3:14). of our minds that we become like Not that I have already obtained all Christ, and enter into the freedom of this, or have already been made our Lord. Like anything else that is perfect, but I press on to take hold worthwhile—mastering an instru- of that for which Christ Jesus took ment, an academic discipline, a new hold of me. Brothers, I do not con- language, a technical science, or an sider myself yet to have taken hold artistic skill—the transformation that of it. But one thing I do: forgetting takes place when we follow Jesus is not what is behind and straining sudden, but gradual, requiring a life- toward what is ahead, I press on time of joyful effort to master and sus- toward the goal to win the prize for tain. Paul could press on with all his which God has called me heaven- might (Phil. 3 above), and yet be ward in Christ Jesus. All of us who supremely free. are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will 3 Gospel and ethics—other NT make clear to you. Only let us live writers up to what we have already The apostle John insists, ‘If you know attained. that he is righteous, [then] you know that Join with others in following my everyone who does what is right has been example, brothers, and take note of born of him’ (1 Jn. 2:29). He goes on to those who live according to the pat- warn, in ways strikingly reminiscent of tern we gave you. For, as I have Jesus, that there would be leaders who often told you before and now say would attempt to lead us astray on this again even with tears, many live as very point: enemies of the cross of Christ. Everyone who sins breaks the law; Their destiny is destruction, their in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you 54 Jonathan Bonk

know that he appeared so that he rest in his presence whenever our might take away our sins. And in hearts condemn us. For God is him is no sin. No one who lives in greater than our hearts, and he him keeps on sinning. No one who knows everything. continues to sin has either seen Dear friends, if our hearts do not him or known him (1 Jn. 2:28-3:24). condemn us, we have confidence Dear children, do not let anyone before God and receive from him lead you astray. He who does what anything we ask, because we obey is right is righteous, just as he is his commands and do what pleases righteous. He who does what is sin- him. And this is his command: to ful is of the devil, because the devil believe in the name of his Son, has been sinning from the begin- Jesus Christ, and to love one anoth- ning. The reason the Son of God er as he commanded us. Those who appeared was to destroy the devil’s obey his commands live in him, and work. No one who is born of God he in them. And this is how we will continue to sin, because God’s know that he lives in us: We know seed remains in him; he cannot go it by the Spirit he gave us (1 Jn. on sinning, because he has been 3:16-24). born of God. This is how we know The author of Hebrews, likewise, who the children of God are and insists that God’s people are those who who the children of the devil are: do what God tells them to do. ‘So do not Anyone who does not do what is throw away your confidence’, the author right is not a child of God; nor is says; ‘it will be richly rewarded. You need anyone who does not love his broth- to persevere so that when you have done er (1 Jn. 3:4-10). the will of God, you will receive what he As shocking as these words might has promised…. My righteous one’, the seem to the soothing advocates of writer continues, ‘will live by faith cheap grace, John is still not finished. [emphasis mine]. And if he shrinks back, He goes on to suggest that any biblical I will not be pleased with him. But we are doctrine of eternal security is insepa- not of those who shrink back and are rable from following Jesus and doing destroyed, but of those who believe and what he says: are saved’ (Heb. 10:35-39). This is how we know what love is: What follows in chapter 11 illus- Jesus Christ laid down his life for trates the author’s argument: ‘By faith us. And we ought to lay down our Abel offered…. Noah… built an ark…. lives for our brothers. If anyone has Abraham… obeyed and went…. Abra- material possessions and sees his ham… offered Isaac as a sacrifice…. brother in need but has no pity on Isaac blessed Jacob…. Jacob… blessed him, how can the love of God be in each of Joseph’s sons…. Moses’ parent him? Dear children, let us not love hid him…. Moses… refused to be known with words or tongue but with as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter [and] actions and in truth. This then is chose to be mistreated along with the how we know that we belong to the people of God rather than enjoy the truth, and how we set our hearts at pleasures of sin for a short time. He The Gospel and Ethics 55 regarded disgrace for the sake of made to the Sermon on the Mount, the Christ as of greater value than the trea- core of our Lord’s teaching? How could sures of Egypt…. By faith he left men and women be sent into exile, Egypt… persevered… [and] kept the thrown into prison, tortured on the Passover…. By faith the people passed rack, burned at the stake or otherwise through the Red Sea…. Rahab…wel- subjected to agonizing deaths simply comed the spies….’ And so on. for holding doctrinal opinions at vari- It is significant that not a single one ance with those preferred in the cen- of these had ever heard of Jesus, and tres of power? yet Moses is described as ‘regarding Similarly, how could ‘Christians’ be disgrace for the sake of Christ as of characterized chiefly by insatiable greater value than the treasures of Egypt, greed for the gold and silver of others, because he was looking ahead to his by murder, genocide, and the theft of reward….’ (Heb. 11:26). In all entire continents in the name of Christ instances, the stress is not on any in pursuit of that idolatrous obsession? refined theological system that pro- And how could it be that all this was vided believers with the correct names, carried out at the behest and with the relative proportions and properties of hearty blessing of ‘Christian’ leaders? the Godhead, but obedience in every- How did it come about that those who day life. identified themselves as Christians It is not farfetched to conjecture could devote such prodigious thought that James was, of all of the New Tes- to who Jesus was in the Godhead, rev- tament authors, among those most erencing him in the Eucharist, and yet intimately and deeply influenced by give such scarce heed to what he actu- Jesus; after all, he was his elder ally said they should do? How has it brother. It is little wonder that his become customary for evangelicals to teaching is so reminiscent of Jesus’ say ‘Lord, Lord’ and ignore the Lord’s words in the Gospels. Not surprisingly, will for the everyday lives of his fol- when it comes to the relationship lowers (Mt. 7:21)? between the gospel and ethics, he is as Finding answers to such questions adamant as was Jesus himself. ‘Faith requires revisiting the prolonged without deeds is dead’, he famously con- debates characterizing the first five cluded, at the end of a blistering centuries of the Christian faith.4 As expose of false faith that included the tart reminder that in the depth, breadth and orthodoxy of their theology, the 4 I addressed this in my earlier article, ‘Fol- demons are unparalleled (Jas. 2:26, lowing Jesus in Contexts of Power and Vio- 19). lence’ in Evangelical Review of Theology, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Oct. 2007), 342-357. For an overview of this critical period in the history of III Gospel-Ethics dichotomy Christianity, two of Ramsay MacMullen’s How can it be that in churches around books are helpful: Christianizing the Roman Empire (A.D. 100-400) (New Haven: Yale Uni- the world the Nicene Creed or its equiv- versity Press, 1984), and Voting About God in alent is recited regularly and repeat- Early Church Councils (New Haven: Yale Uni- edly, while no recurring allusion is versity Press, 2006). 56 Jonathan Bonk

Peter Brown points out in his that Christians, including non-clergy, admirable biography of Augustine of should make growth in Christ-likeness Hippo, fierce debates characterized the primary goal in life. Christianity in the eras preceding and The idea that Christian life entailed following the sack of Rome. These more than compliance with sacramen- debates were won, not by argument tal requirements largely disappeared alone but by legal compulsion and force until the Reformation and Radical of arms. Each of the protagonists— Reformation a full millennium later. Augustine, Donatus, Pelagius and Personal, voluntary faith in God Julian—was able to muster strong bib- through Jesus Christ was displaced by lical arguments in support of their par- a coercive system that obliged every- ticular views. But in the end, military one to be a member of the church. power rather than theology assured an Admission standards were minimal. outcome favourable to Augustine. Ethics meant little more than compli- The church’s collaboration with ance with the laws of the dominant political and military power necessi- state, however unjust. With Charle- tated a hermeneutic that gave central magne’s ascent to power several cen- place to sacraments, canon, and doc- turies later, Christendom emerged full- trine. While there continued to be a blown, infusing the West’s self-percep- strong emphasis on the salvific work of tion in its violent rise to global eco- Jesus, his distinctive ethical teaching nomic and military hegemony. was ignored, marginalized or contra- It is within the cocoon of Christen- dicted. Much of his teaching was rele- dom orthodoxies that the theological gated to the realm of the sweet by and assumptions and formulations of the by, or else selectively applied to per- missionary movement from the West sonal ethics, permissible only insofar as were gestated. Much of what we now their practice did not contravene or associate with the category ‘Christian’ undermine the state. Since what Jesus derives from well-intentioned, highly advocated and modelled for his follow- ingenious use of the Hebrew and Chris- ers was rightly regarded as impractical tian scriptures to legitimate, facilitate for the maintenance, protection and and sustain political and military expansion of civil society through vio- power, on the one hand, and from the lence, the category ‘Christian’ came to privileges concomitant with their serve primarily as an indicator of assent accommodation to secular power. The to correct doctrinal formulations. result was a deeply compromised It is lamentable that in the pro- Christianity that has sadly born closer longed and often unseemly process, resemblance to the powers of this dark much—including ethical integrity— world than to the one in whose name was lost to the church. Swept away wars, genocides, robberies, pillage, were biblical emphases on the fruit of torture, and the evangelization of all of the Spirit, on the purity of Christ’s the world’s continents by European bride (the church), and on the idea of a peoples has been blessed. sojourning community of pilgrims and Our evangelical doctrines explain- strangers following the Lord through ing the processes that trigger God’s alien territory. Eliminated was the idea salvific grace and mercy rely far more The Gospel and Ethics 57 on Christendom thought than on what Discipleship is not simply an option Jesus himself taught. Today, as a for Jesus’ followers. The word ‘disciple’ result, evangelical thought and behav- occurs 269 times in the New Testa- iour are often jarringly inconsistent ment, while the word ‘Christian’ with what Jesus himself lived and occurs only three times—as a designa- taught. That is why it is possible for tion for the disciples of Jesus who could evangelical believers to speak of ‘the no longer be regarded as simply gospel’ and ‘ethics’ as though they another Jewish sect (Acts 11:26). One were separable. Dallas Willard is right is either a follower of Jesus, or one is when he observes that many professed not a follower of Jesus. In the words of Christians practise ‘vampire Christian- Dallas Willard: ity’. A vampire Christian says to Jesus, [T]he kind of life that we see in the in effect: ‘I’d like a little of your blood, earliest church is that of a special but I don’t care to be your student…. type of person. All of the assur- In fact, won’t you just excuse me while ances and benefits offered to I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in humankind in the gospel evidently 5 heaven’. presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the IV Implications for deluxe or heavy-duty model of the evangelism Christian—especially padded, tex- Since the Lausanne Movement is about tured, streamlined, and empowered evangelization, I will suggest the most for the fast lane on the straight and fundamental implication that occurs to narrow way. He or she stands on me. Christ’s followers are not called to the pages of the New Testament as plant churches, and they are not com- the first level of basic transporta- missioned to win converts. Christ’s fol- tion in the Kingdom of God.7 lowers have been commissioned to Discipleship is an integral part of make disciples wherever they are in the what it means to be a Christian. And world, according to what is commonly discipleship means ethics. There can be referred to as the ‘Great Commission’ 6 no Christian conversion without ethical found in Matthew 28:19-20. repentance and a life of steady transformation, until we are like him when we see him face to face. There is noth- 5 Willard, The Great Omission, 14. ing in the teaching of Jesus that sug- 6 In reference to the Greek text, Christopher gests the option of enjoying forgiveness J. H. Wright points out that ‘go’ is not an at Jesus’ expense, and then having imperative but ‘a participle of attendant circumstances’ whereas the imperative is to nothing more to do with him. There is ‘make disciples’. Christopher J. H. Wright, The nothing in our scriptures to suggest Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand that the belief of faith and the life of faith Narrative (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, are two different things—the first com- 2006), 35. What would the evangelical mis- pulsory and the second optional. sionary movement and its ecclesiastical off- spring have been like if the King James Ver- sion had properly translated this text? 7 Willard, The Great Omission, 3. 58 Jonathan Bonk

V Biblical understanding of Jesus Christ. But in light of the extent the gospel and ethics to which our doctrinal formulations have been influenced and even sub- 1 For nominal Christians verted by Christendom, we do well to Given that both Christendom and neo- remind ourselves that our relatively recent evangelical faith is part of a Christendom have been marked by any- much longer story of God’s active rec- thing but the good fruit described by onciling love for his creation. Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, we For the greater part of human his- might legitimately conclude that Chris- tory, according to our own scriptures, tendom is a rotten tree, a false prophet, those whose faith has been credited to a house built upon the sand. If the them as righteousness have had no behavioural standards outlined in St. knowledge of Jesus Christ. As Jesus Paul’s famous fruit of the Spirit pas- told his disciples, ‘[M]any prophets and sage (Gal. 5:16-26) are, as he insists, righteous men longed to see what you see normative for followers of Jesus, and if but did not see it, and to hear what you our Lord’s own frequently reiterated hear but did not hear it’ (Mt. 13:17). teaching is to be taken seriously, then Jesus in no way diminishes the secure many religious derivatives of Christen- standing of these prophets and right- dom can scarcely be identified as eous men and women before God, but ‘Christian’. A tree is known by its fruit. simply points out that those who see Our Lord’s criteria for identifying and hear Christ are more privileged. his own have often been neglected. It is There is nothing in the Hebrew and of no little significance that in his Christian scriptures to suggest that sobering pronouncements on the final this mercy is triggered solely by men- judgment, touched upon at the begin- tal appropriation of insider information ning of this paper, doctrinal correct- about mysterious doctrines. Whether ness seems to play little pivotal role in the beneficiary of God’s mercy is a fol- the fate of the person standing before lower of Jesus or simply a righteous him. Instead, verdicts are rendered on person who longed or longs to see what the basis of personal qualities and rela- the followers of Jesus now see, mercy tional behaviour, as summarised by the is a result of God’s action, not ours. righteous judge in his own Sermon on The lives of ‘prophets and righteous men’ the Mount. God’s people are those who are seen through the cross of Christ— do the will of the Father. the spotless lamb of God who was ‘slain before the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 2 For those who behave 13:8), taking away the sins of the ‘Christianly’ but do not claim world. Christ Since it is here that I am most likely to 3 For our evangelical theology be misunderstood, I begin by affirming and evangelism that by ‘gospel’ we mean the good What if the church synods had been as news that we can have peace with God concerned about Christ-like behaviour through the atoning work of our Lord as with coherent, internally consistent The Gospel and Ethics 59 doctrine? What if post-Constantinian that gave rise to the several Reforma- Christianity had been as preoccupied tions to which we modern evangelicals with what Jesus taught as with what trace our roots. It is not surprising that people should be permitted to think it was evangelicalism—with its tradi- about him? What if instead of, or in tional awareness that genuine faith addition to, a creed that distilled the will always express itself in both words doctrinal essence of Christianity, the and life—that produced the great council of Nicea had formulated a man- social movements of the nineteenth ifesto or charter of kingdom citizen- century, including the abolition of slav- ship—the identifying behaviour of a ery, prison reform, the war against follower of Jesus, based on what Jesus vice, the emancipation of women, pub- himself said? lic schools for poor children, child What if those charged with adminis- labour laws, orphanages for the par- tering, defending, and expanding entless, homes for abandoned women, Christian territory had been as con- and philanthropic missions to the cerned about Christ-like behaviour as world.8 they appeared to be about doctrinal The title of a book by the most beliefs and sacraments? What if the prominent evangelical of his day is tes- church fathers had wrestled as long timony to an acute awareness that the and hard with the implications of our ostensibly ‘Christian’ nations and their Lord’s Sermon on the Mount as they comfortably established churches did in puzzling out normative theories were far from ‘Christian’.9 The gulf about the nature and work of the triune between official belief and actual prac- God? tice could be bridged only by genuine Our answers to such questions pro- conversion. This was the message of foundly influence our understanding of the Moravians, the Pietists, the a sinner’s standing before God, and the Anabaptists, the revivalists, and their way that we proclaim the good news of heirs, we contemporary evangelicals. reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. These answers also directly affect those of us who— 8 For an account of evangelical social action because we are professionally reli- in North America, see Norris Magnuson, Sal- gious people who make a living from vation in the Slums: Evangelical Social Work maintaining and promoting our several 1865-1920 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977); for versions of orthodoxy—easily slip into an examination of evangelical social action in Great Britain, see Kathleen J. Heasman, Evan- the error of the Pharisees, reifying our gelicals in Action: An Appraisal of their Social self-justifying pieties to such an extent Work in the Victorian Era (London: Geoffrey that sometimes there is no room for Bles, 1962). God himself. When he comes among 9 The best known evangelical reformer of all us, we get rid of him, because he is too time is probably William Wilberforce, whose unlike the god over whom we imagine book, A Practical View of the Prevailing Reli- ourselves to have achieved a theologi- gious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes, Contrasted with Real cal monopoly. Christianity, was published in 1797. Reveal- It was the acute awareness of this ingly, on the face page of the book appear the discrepancy between words and deeds words ‘Search the Scriptures!’ from John 5:39. 60 Jonathan Bonk

What is the relationship between My conviction is that some of the most the gospel and ethics? To push this significant movements to Christ in the question to the limit, can the behaviour Muslim world and across the continent of someone from another religion be of Africa are successful precisely credited to them as righteousness? Is it because they have eschewed the reli- possible for someone who has never gion of Christendom so that they can heard of Jesus—or who has heard such follow Christ as Lord. garbled, conflicted, and ethically com- Anyone familiar with powerfully promised nonsense as to make ‘Chris- hegemonic western cultural forces and tianity’ either totally incomprehensible with the history of western migrations, or morally reprehensible—to be saved? sometimes brutal global expansion and Is it possible for such a person to be on morally flawed cultures can appreciate a life trajectory that aims at Christ the how difficult it would be for a morally centre without even being aware of it? upright person in a Muslim culture to Both the Hebrew and the Christian associate himself or herself with the scriptures—Constantine’s Bible—pro- category ‘Christian’. The term is at vide abundant evidence in support of times so closely associated with behav- this argument. Our scriptures remind iour that is anti-Christ in its impulses, us that for most of human history, practices and objectives as to make those who have been ‘saved’ have had refusal to convert to ‘Christianity’ a no knowledge of Jesus the Christ. As matter of basic integrity. What person, Jesus told his disciples, ‘I tell you the with any integrity, would want to iden- truth, many prophets and righteous tify himself or herself with a movement men longed to see what you see but did chiefly associated with violence, impe- not see it, and to hear what you hear rialism, slavery, economic and military but did not hear it’ (Mt. 13:17). This hegemony, unjust treaties, porno- suggests to me that it is entirely possi- graphic arts, dysfunctional families, ble, indeed probable, that persons and greed? today, similarly, who have no actual The so-called ‘insider movement’ knowledge of Jesus, or whose may one day prove to have been God’s encounter with ‘Christianity’ is such as way of preserving the true church to make refusal to join our ranks an beyond the life expectancy of Christen- issue of maintaining integrity, can be dom and its deeply compromised and are being saved. There are those churches. One does not have to be a who have too much integrity to identify ‘Christian’ in the formulaic under- themselves with the category ‘Christ- standing of that word in order to live in ian’. poverty, sorrow, meekness, and thirst If we can get beneath or behind for justice; those who call themselves Christendom orthodoxies as being the Christians have no monopoly on mercy, final arbiter of who is and who is not a purity of heart, or peacemaking. follower of Jesus, and begin to think Of course, those of us who call our- instead of a family identity based upon selves Christians should be at once rec- doing what our Lord says, then these ognizable by these identity tests of our ‘insiders’ are true followers of Jesus, Lord, but we have no exclusive monop- even though they worship in mosques. oly on them. And when we see these The Gospel and Ethics 61 qualities in persons whose geographi- verts or save people, but to make disci- cal and social circumstances have not ples who—with us—learn of and from provided them with the luxury or Jesus, and who follow him in communi- opportunity to meet Jesus personally, ties of faith that are significantly, we should nevertheless recognize redemptively countercultural, a palpa- them as brothers and sisters, bearing a ble expression of their genuine ‘longing distinct family resemblance to Jesus for a better country—a heavenly one. our Lord and Saviour, whose advent, Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for death, and resurrection they, like them’ (Heb. 11:16). In short, such an Abraham, would rejoice to see! And we understanding would once again result should introduce them to Jesus, and in a whole gospel, alive with the life- invite them to be his disciples. transforming good news of what Jesus Missiologically, such an under- did and what he promised to those who standing would take us back to the follow him as the way, the truth, and original commission, not to make con- the life.

The Wondrous Cross Atonement and Penal Substitution in the Bible and History Stephen R. Holmes Stephen Holmes has been described as one of the bright lights of the new generation of evangelical theologians. In this book he offers an accessible and enlightening account of the way the saving work of Jesus is presented in the Bible, and has been understood throughout Christian history. In particular, the book offers background to the current debates about penal substitutionary atonement by looking at that idea in biblical and historical perspective. Holmes argues that we can, and should, continue to talk of the cross in penal substitutionary terms, if we understand this as one of many complimentary descriptions of the salvation we find in Christ. Stephen R. Holmes is a Baptist Minister and Lecturer in Theology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

978-1-84227-541-2 / 216 x 140mm / 144pp (est.) / £9.99 Paternoster, 9 Holdom Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK1 1QR, UK ERT (2009) 33:1, 62-76 ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table Gospel in Mission and Culture

Ruth Padilla deBorst

KEYWORDS: Parable, counter-cultur- can be tidily woven into a braid, gospel, al, trans-cultural, divine image, jus- culture and mission mix and mingle tice rather like food and guests, smells and tastes, tinkling glasses and laughter at a shared and well-laden table. This paper proposes that Christian commu- I Introduction nities can and do live out God’s mission Split cod and ale. That is all they have in the world when they are willing to eaten for years on end. But today the live, in ever-present tension, as ‘third- sisters’ table is sumptuously spread culture’ followers of Jesus. As they with exquisite fare that awakens all together indwell the story of God’s sav- senses. With lavish love the servant ing action recorded partly in Scripture, Babette has spent even her last cent on submit to Christ’s sovereignty and are this banquet. And no one who partakes filled by the Holy Spirit, Christians of it is left unchanged: an estranged from around the world can become an couple kisses in forgiveness, two sis- alternative culture, which draws on the ters discover the bounty of creation, particularities of their unique back- and a stray general is struck. ‘Grace grounds but also transcends them. makes no conditions, it takes all to its These welcoming communities are his- bosom and proclaims amnesty. That torical out-workings of God’s mission which we have rejected is poured out and localized expressions of the boun- on us’. Babette’s Feast, Gabriel Axel’s tiful banquet of God’s kingdom. 1987 film, marvellously ushers us into Background for that claim is laid the theme of gospel in mission and cul- out in several sections: readers are ture. first invited to witness the telling of a The theme of this paper is broad and story around a table, and the con- demands an interdisciplinary frontation of two socio-cultural and approach. Not discrete strands that religious paradigms: that of some

Ruth Padilla de Borst, who is concluding her doctorate in Missiology and Social Ethics at Boston University School of Theology, is President of the Latin American Theological Fellowship, a member of the International Justice Mission Board and has engaged in student ministry in Latin America for many years. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 63

Pharisees and that of Jesus, who, in his previously confirmed their attendance; prophetic role, draws on the long story and their refusal to attend is not taken of God’s action in human history.1 lightly by the host.2 So, countering all Then, with broad strokes, a narrative cultural expectations and rules of table portrait is depicted of God’s banquet etiquette, the host sends not for table through the ages, one to which all friends, brothers, relatives or other people are called so that they may live rich neighbours (v. 12), but for the out their creational purpose as rela- poor, the crippled, the blind, and the tional and cultural beings, and the lame from the roads and lanes, the rel- world may come to know God’s love. egated people from ‘outside’ town. The spotlight next rests on the early followers of Jesus, revealing their 2 The ‘Expected’ Guests at the struggles and successes in becoming a community whose lifestyle affirmed Table their relational bond to each other and Important as is the content of the para- to God as well as their creational, cul- ble, the textual and historical context ture creating, calling. Finally, a call is illumines our matter yet further. It is issued for followers of Jesus today to the Jewish Sabbath and Jesus is seated live as inculturated expressions of at the table of a leader of the Pharisees. God’s mission in today’s world. The gospel account paints an air preg- nant with tension. Jesus has daringly healed a man with a severe illness that II Good News at the Banquet caused fluid retention, under the scru- Table tinizing eye of those who are ‘watching him closely’ (Lk. 14:1). He has just 1 Jesus’ Banquet Story challenged religiously and culturally The Gospel of Luke records a parable acceptable and highly discriminatory of Jesus about a great dinner (Lk. seating arrangements (v. 8-11); and he 14:15-24). The table is abundantly now tells the story in response to the laden; however, when sought out, the piously self-assured exclamation of a initial invitees ‘begin to make well-fed dinner guest: ‘Blessed is any- excuses’, alleging more important one who will eat bread in the kingdom occupations. Of course, they are of God!’ (v. 15). wealthy, powerful people, capable of Of course, ‘anyone’ in the vocabu- buying land, purchasing five yoke of lary of most of the privileged Judean oxen for a proportionately big plot of scribal groups and Pharisees applies to land, and probably particularly a rather circumscribed circle of influ- respected and esteemed in their city. ential men which probably does not But even they customarily would have include uneducated Galilean peasants, even less despised Samaritans, and

1 For further discussion on the assertion that Jesus was, in effect, a Pharisee, see Hyam 2 Craig Keener, The IVP Bible Background Maccoby, Jesus the Pharisee (London: SCM Commentary—New Testament (Downers Press, 2003). Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 230. 64 Ruth Padilla deBorst never, heaven forbid, unclean Gentiles, ble with a provocative editorial com- like occupying Roman forces or foreign ment: ‘For I tell you, none of those who traders. ‘Blessed’ in this man’s mind is were invited will taste my dinner!’ (v. a qualification limited to people like 22). The shocking turn of the story is him: sons and perhaps some daughters that those who feel most secure in their of Abraham, who abide within the same ‘right’ to belong, and consequently take socio-cultural and religious framework upon themselves the role of judges and as he does. excluders of others, are precisely the Particularly blessed within that ones who run the risk of excluding framework are men like him who, at themselves from the celebration. Their least publicly, seek to interpret Mosaic self-assuredness blinds them to the law carefully, according to the tradi- recognition that there, sitting at their tions of previous generations of the very table, eating and drinking with pious, and to apply them rigorously.3 them, is the very Lord of the banquet, The ancient words of the prophet the only true host, and prevents them regarding the feast of the Lord — ‘a from accepting his invitation.4 feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged At the Pharisees’ table, a man with wines, of rich food filed with marrow, dropsy had been brought in, not as a of well-aged wines strained clear’ (Isa. welcome guest but as bait to trap 25:6)—pertain to them. They are to be Jesus. At the table of God’s kingdom, counted among the chosen of God, and, Jesus dares suggest, it is precisely the in the resurrection, theirs is the pre- people excluded from the socio-cul- rogative of being fed abundantly in the tural and religious establishment who intimacy of God’s kingdom. are the celebrated guests. With such a People from outside that enlight- brazen statement, Jesus radicalizes the ened circle can gain limited access to prophetic role he has publicly assumed the table only if they submit to the upon his arrival in Jerusalem (Lk. socio-religious and cultural traditions 13:33). He has made explicit his adop- and standards of the insiders: this is tion of a certain ‘script’ existent in the case of the Jewish proselytes who their shared cultural tradition: in iden- can draw close by means of circumci- tifying himself as God’s prophet, he sion, baptism and adherence to Jewish attributes to himself characteristic law and practice. Theirs is a rather traits, roles and messages recogniz- 5 exclusive banquet. able to his contemporaries. He stands

3 A Prophetic Vision 4 Moessner points to the fact that in this pas- As the story goes, Jesus does not overtly sage the Greek kyrios, Lord, is applied to counter the pious affirmation of the din- Jesus, and not to the naturally expected owner ner guest. Instead, he turns the entire of home. David Moessner, Lord of the Banquet: picture upside down, and ends his para- the Literary and Theological Significance of the Lukan Travel Narrative (Minneapolis: Augs- burg Fortress, 1989), 275. 5 Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and Empire: the 3 Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary, Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder 828. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 58. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 65 in the line of their father, Abraham called to shape family and community, (Gen. 20:7), of the prophetic prototype culture and science in relationally Moses (Deut. 34:10). responsible ways, multiplying and fill- Jesus speaks and acts as God’s ing the earth as expressions and prophet, as ‘a human being called by agents of God’s good purposes for all of God for a specific mission: to proclaim creation.8 the divine vision of the world and soci- The epic continues: in spite of the ety and to invite conversion to that marring of that image through rebel- vision.’6 As God’s prophet, Jesus dares lion and its deadly consequences, men hearken back to a vision of God’s king- and women do shape families and dom often forgotten or distorted in his develop diverse cultures. Some live in day and all too frequently throughout tents and raise livestock. Others play the history of God’s people. The good the lyre and the pipe. Yet others make news he incarnates and announces is bronze and iron tools. No one culture is not really new, though it needs to be upheld as best. All communities, in witnessed and proclaimed afresh: their particular ways and within their ‘unexpected guests’, particularly peo- own cultural paradigms, ‘invoke the ple devoid of power within the ruling name of the Lord’ (Gen. 4:17-26). All cultural framework, are welcome are welcome to the table. Problems, guests at God’s table. however, arise when people disregard either of the two interrelated expressions of their divine image: first, their III God’s Multicultural relational character in reverence to Kingdom Table God and respect for other people, and The good news experienced and second, their cultural character, their recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures call to organize their lives in order to begins with the story of creation, which creatively care for all forms of life is necessarily cast within a particular (Gen. 4:8-16; 6:1-8). language and cultural ethos. Its impli- Even in the midst of these contra- cations, nonetheless, are universal: all dictions, there still is good news: God humans are created in God’s image,7 as is experienced and portrayed as one relational, creative beings, and are who does not abandon his mission when under pressure. Beginning with Noah, God establishes and re-estab- 6 Alejandro Botta, Los Doce Profetas Menores lishes a ‘covenant’ with humanity, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 1 resembling the ancient Hittite (author’s translation). Suzerain’s ‘treaty’ with his vassals, 7 Croatto affirms that the ‘image’ of God in always offering anew the possibility for the Genesis didactical narrative is not acci- people to live out their relational and dental but essential: ‘humans, and all humans, are “image” of God. They are “theomorphus”.’ Severino Croatto, El Hombre En El Mundo: Creación y Designio. Estudio De Génesis 1.1-2.3 8 Regarding the ontological aspects of the (Buenos Aires: Editorial La Aurora, 1974), creational and relational responsibility of 175 (translation and gender inclusive lan- humankind as God’s image, see Croatto, El guage added by author). Hombre En El Mundo, 181. 66 Ruth Padilla deBorst culture-creating nature (Gen. 9:1-7).9 nations. Imbedded in this law is good When humanity is tempted to concen- news for every day life.10 As Wright trate numbers, power and wealth in puts it: ‘All nations belong to God, but one place, running the risk of estab- Israel will belong to God in a unique lishing hegemonic and life-denying uni- way that will, on the one hand, demand formity at Babel, God disperses them, covenantal obedience, and, on the safeguarding diverse cultural expres- other hand, be exercised through a sions and languages. priestly and holy identity and role in When God calls Abraham out of his the world’.11 land to begin a new people, a particular Within the covenant community, blessing is promised in relation to a religious commitment is inseparable universal intent: ‘I will make you a from economic and political relations: great nation… so that you will be a debts are to be cancelled, land is to be blessing…. in you all the families of the returned to the original family (Lev. earth shall be blessed’ (Gen. 12:2-3). 25), even the foreigner in the land is to Centuries later, the apostle Paul would be protected (Ex. 22:21) and received frame this expansive promise as in love (Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:19). ‘gospel’ in that it evidences God’s Particularly the poor, the defenceless favour, not restricted to one ethnic, and people whose circumstances have cultural or language group, but avail- uprooted them from family and native able to all peoples (Gal. 3:8). culture are welcome to the table. Trou- When the Egyptian empire, feeling ble ensues, however, whenever alle- its power threatened by the growth of giance to foreigners is accompanied by Abraham’s descendents inside its the adoption of their gods and the con- domain, tightens its grip and institutes current turning away from God and his carefully tailored ethnic cleansing, ethical and relational standards. God intervenes (Ex. 3:16ff). God not Although the table of the Lord of hosts only liberates the Israelites through is spread ‘for all peoples’ (Isa. 25), Moses, assuring their survival as a there is room at it for only one head people, but also establishes ethical, host, and this is the incisive and recur- social and economic conditions aimed ring message of the Old Testament again at guaranteeing their capacity to prophets. live out fully their relational and cul- Even when disobedience leads to turally creative calling among the exile and the Jews become strangers in unknown lands, surrounded by differ-

9 ‘The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture’ in Robert T. Coote and 10 Horsley affirms: ‘Interpreters of the John R. W. Stott eds., Down to Earth: Studies in Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) have Christianity and Culture: The Papers of the Lau- long…recognized that, in theological terms, sanne Consultation on Gospel and Culture the Mosaic covenant includes gospel along (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980). Regarding with law’. Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 113. the ‘Noahic Covenant’, see Arthur Glasser, 11 Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of Announcing the Kingdom: the Story of God’s God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative Mission in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Aca- (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Acade- demic, 2003), 49-51. mic, 2006), 257. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 67 ent cultural traditions and expres- whose presence may threaten the iden- sions, the relational and culture-cre- tity and challenge the cultural patterns ational call still holds fast. As Glasser of God’s people, is welcome at the table points out, the prophet Jeremiah’s of God’s kingdom. words parallel those of Genesis 1: he Along with the biblical record we urges the people to build houses, plant fast-forward four centuries. The Jewish gardens, eat what they produce, marry people have undergone much change and have children, multiply and not since the days of Malachi: Persians and decrease (Jer. 29:5-6). But the call is Greeks were followed by precarious not merely to survive. ‘Seek the wel- independence and they are now under fare (peace, shalom) of the city where I the iron rule of Rome.13 Horsley paints have sent you into exile, and pray to the the picture: Lord on its behalf’, continue the words This new world order established of the prophet (v. 7). Theirs is a cul- by Rome… meant disruption and ture-creating role, which engages them disorder for subjected peoples of in all dimensions of the life of their the Middle East such as the ‘host’ culture in search of the wellbe- Judeans and Galileans. In conquer- ing of its inhabitants. In keeping with ing and reconquering them the this vision, Scripture records Daniel Roman military forces repeatedly and his friends training for the Baby- slaughtered and enslaved the lonian civil service and Mordecai serv- inhabitants and destroyed their ing Xerxes, the king of Persia, as ‘sec- 12 houses and villages, particularly in ond in rank’ (Esth. 10:3). the areas of Jesus’ activity around The biblical story briefly records the villages such as Nazareth and return from exile as a time during Capernaum.14 which effort had to be made to rebuild not just a place but a people. In seek- Roman power is exerted locally ing to create a ‘distinctive Jewish iden- through Judean kings who in turn build tity’, Ezra and Nehemiah insist on obe- up a temple structure that religiously dience to Mosaic law, surround the city ratifies their authority. Suffering, for with a wall and purge the community the majority of the population of the from all things foreign. The book we region, is compounded by the imposi- know as Malachi, written about those tion of heavy taxation in addition to tra- days, also attacks cultic impurity and ditional temple tithes. The very culture marriage with foreigners, both con- of the people is threatened when a cerns that could, and eventually did, Roman-style temple is built, Palestin- lead to attitudes of superiority and ian cities are renamed and dedicated to exclusivity. Yet the offerings accepted the emperor, and high priests are by the promised ‘messenger of the appointed by the Roman governor. covenant’ are those presented by peo- Repression and taxation run families ple who care for and respect the for- into debt and hunger, ripping at the eigner (Mal. 3:1, 5). Even the alien,

13 Glasser, Announcing the Kingdom, 163. 12 Glaser, Announcing the Kingdom, 130. 14 Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 34. 68 Ruth Padilla deBorst very social texture of their communi- nomic exploitation, but also to revi- ties.15 Galilean and Judean peasants talize and rebuild the people’s cul- respond with political unrest and agi- tural spirit and communal vitality.17 tation in defence of their traditional As the New Testament reflects, the way of life: theirs is a resistance to for- first followers of Jesus perceived and eign domination, but also to Herodian recorded his life and message as good and high priestly connivance with this news within their socio-economic, his- rule at the expense of their own people torical, cultural and religious contexts. and with total disregard for their law In the ‘official story’ of Roman and 16 and tradition. temple power, peasants and fisher- It is in the thick of such tension that men, women and children are insignif- we encounter Jesus at the table of the icant cogs in the imperial system, Pharisee, and witness the clash worth no more than their meagre between two incompatible interpreta- taxes. It actually favours the powers- tions regarding who is welcome at the that-be for internal rivalries and table of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ story regional competitions to keep people confronts the ‘official’ story line of the away from one another. In these days comfortable and relatively powerful of uncertainty and massive threat to religious man who lives within the cul- their identity and survival as a people, tural expectations of his context. Jesus reminds his fellow Jews of who Jesus’ story, however, is far from they are: a community of mutual con- exotic, extra-cultural or foreign to Jew- cern held together by God’s sustaining ish identity and tradition. It springs hand, in order to illustrate to others from and extends the long story of what God’s good purposes look like in God’s good purposes for all people that Jews, even not highly educated ones, the here and now. would recognize as part of their tradi- In the imperial story they are a rel- tion. egated, insignificant colony, nobodies In his prophetic role, Jesus is spear- close to extinction. In God’s story they heading a mission of renewal among are welcome guests at the table of his people that builds on God’s mission God’s kingdom. It is to them that Jesus of reestablishing the relational, cre- announces and demonstrates the good ational image of God in all people, news of salvation, reconciliation, heal- which is being threatened by human ing, restoration and freedom during the sin, by imperial power, and by legalis- years of his public ministry. tic and ritualistic religious power. Accordingly, on the climatic night Again in Horsley’s words: before Jesus’ death, he gathers around the Passover table, not the renowned Jesus launched a mission not only figures of his day, not the press, the to heal the debilitating effects of military, nor the diplomatic core, but a Roman military violence and eco- handful of simple folk, twelve of his followers, including even the one who

15 Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 33. 16 Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 54. 17 Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 126. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 69 would betray him. With them he shares meant to address people immersed in bread and wine, to them he reiterates that broad and diverse cultural his law of love which will be supremely milieu.19 Luke and Acts conform more illustrated in his own death, and to to Greco-Roman standards for histori- them he delegates the remembrance of cal writing than those of traditional this inclusive table at which the host Jewish biography present in the other gives himself away for the sake of his gospels.20 guests. Most significant for our theme is how this bi-cultural writer highlights the barrier-crossing nature of the good IV Followers of Jesus at the news as the plot moves from Galilee to Table Jerusalem (in Luke) and from Although Jesus’ life and ministry were Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (in circumscribed to a rather small geo- Acts).21 But borders crossed are not graphical area, that is not the case with merely geographical: women, along his followers. It was the Jews of the with the outcasts, the poor, the ‘out- Diaspora who provided the initial basis siders’ are prominent in Luke’s writ- for the growth of the early church. ing.22 This we have observed in his These were mostly Hellenized Jews, account of Jesus at the Pharisee’s primarily urban, more influenced by table. And we witness it again in Acts. Greek culture than their Palestinian Table issues—who is fed, when, counterparts. Many of them had taken what and how—surface in the narra- Greek names, employed Greek as their tions of Acts and threaten the unity of mother tongue and read the Septu- the fledgling church. Luke’s recollec- agint, the Greek translation of the tion is honest: the church has to grap- Torah.18 These were people who stood ple with the social and cultural differ- between cultures: they were immersed ences that spring up in every-day mat- in Jewish tradition but were inevitably ters. Diaspora Jews often returned to marked by their broader participation Palestine in order to die and be buried in the Greek world. This double identity underlies the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, Acts. On 19 ‘The word “Hellenist” is derived from the the one hand, it is obvious that Luke verb hellenizo meaning “to Graecize” in speech intends to prove the historical, theo- or custom.’ Bonnie Bowman Thurston, The logical connection of Christianity with Widows: a Women’s Ministry in the Early Church its Jewish roots. At the same time, both (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 30. in form and in content, his writing 20 Keener, IVP Bible Background Commen- reflects its Hellenist setting and is tary, 322. 21 Keener, IVP Bible Background Commen- tary, 186. 22 His Hellenistic sensitivities could explain, 18 Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: for example, Luke’s more emancipated atti- How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement tude toward women. Thurston attributes to Became The Dominant Religious Force in the this cultural sensitivity the fact that some Western World in a Few Centuries (San Fran- have called Luke’s the ‘Gospel of woman- cisco: HarperCollins, 1996), 49, 57. hood’. Thurston, The Widows, 23. 70 Ruth Padilla deBorst in the land of Israel. The widows would the self-understanding and mission of then receive support from the temple the early church. Peter, the prominent or synagogue. However, those that leader of the first believers, very much joined the sect of Jesus followers would an insider both of Palestinian Jewish have been cut off, and stood in need of tradition and of the Jesus movement, is charity.23 As the story recorded in Acts commanded in a vision to eat unclean 6:1-7 goes, the followers of Jesus from (non-kosher) food that had been off among the Hellenist Jews complained. limits for Jews since time immemorial. In their perspective, ‘their widows He is still puzzling in horror over the were being neglected in the daily dis- vision when messengers of a Roman tribution of food’ while the widows centurion call out to him, extending an among the Palestinian Jews were being invitation to Cornelius’ home. favoured. Against all Jewish ritual law— It is not difficult to imagine the according to which eating, drinking, inner workings of this conflict: possi- providing and receiving hospitality bly among the Hebrew widows were from non-Jews is strictly prohibited— some Galilean women who had fol- and probably overcoming much per- lowed and served Jesus and hence were sonal prejudice—Romans like Cor- given preference in the daily distribu- nelius were oppressing his people and tion.24 There might have been cultural had very recently crucified his clashes between these and the Hell- teacher!—Peter responds. He wel- enized women, deemed too liberated by comes the messengers into the house more traditional insiders. In any event, where he is staying, travels a long dis- the response was prompt and effective: tance with them, and enters Cornelius’ leaders were chosen from among the house, where he shares, and actually Hellenist followers of Jesus to care not discovers, the good news. In amaze- merely for their own people but for all ment he declares: ‘I understand that those whose needs brought them to the God shows no partiality, but in every table. It is not surprising, coming from nation anyone who fears him and does Luke, that in the next stories recorded what is right is acceptable to him’ we encounter two of these ‘minor’ lead- (Acts 10). ers taking on roles central to the wit- Much to the consternation of the ness of the new church: Stephen ‘central’ church in Jerusalem, Peter becomes the first martyr among Jesus’ actually enters into the intimacy of the followers; and Philip preaches in Roman centurion’s world: he stays for Samaria and to an African official, the days, partaking of the same food under first non-Jew (or Jewish proselyte) the same roof with this man who rep- whose conversion is recorded in the resents everything the Jewish people hate, fear and reject. Cornelius was Bible. Roman, a soldier of the imperial army Another ‘table story’ is central to that was crushing Israel. Although he feared God, he had never taken the 23 Keener, IVP Bible Background Commen- steps required to become a Jewish tary, 338. proselyte. He and his household 24 Thurston, The Widows, 30. adhered to traditions, habits, diets and ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 71 values abhorrent to them. Surely he new norms and new kinds of social should become like them in order to relationships able to cope with become one of them! Then he would be many urgent problems. To cities welcome at the table of fellowship. filled with homeless and impover- In striking contrast to that attitude ished, Christianity offered charity ring the words of yet another bi-cul- as well as hope. To cities filled with tural follower of Jesus, a man born as a newcomers and strangers, Roman citizen into an established fam- Christianity offered an immediate ily of Tarsus, a prominent city of the basis for attachments. To cities empire, but raised (possibly in filled with orphans and widows, Jerusalem) as a Jewish boy in the Phar- Christianity provided a new and isee tradition. Paul affirms that he is expanded sense of family. To cities willing to become like others, ‘all torn apart by violent ethnic strife, things to all men’, be they weak, Jews, Christianity offered a new basis for or people not bound to the law, in order social solidarity.26 that they may share in the blessings of Such an alternative way of living the gospel (1 Cor. 9:2-23). Accordingly, was not some new and passing fad but he dedicated his life to making the rather a current and contextually rele- good news of God’s kingdom known to vant indwelling of the good news story women and men, Jews and Gentiles, in of God’s good purposes for God’s cre- cities spread wide across the Roman ation. Against the backdrop of prevail- Empire. The early church stumbled, debated ing up-rootedness, injustice, oppres- and suffered as it made its way out of sion and relativity, the new people of its first, culturally determined ‘table God sought together to establish com- manners’ and sought to understand munities whose lifestyle affirmed their and convey the universal reach of the relational bond to each other and to good news in daily interaction with the God, as well as their broad creational people of many cultures, languages, calling. Drawing on elements of their and gods, that had been ‘dumped diverse cultural background, early fol- together helter-skelter’ by the Roman lowers of Jesus actually created ‘a new Empire.25 Their primary affiliation as culture capable of making life in Greco- 27 members of a new community allowed Roman cities more tolerable’. Christians to create a new and coherent culture and identity within the culturally diverse chaos of their day. V A Call to Christian Mission Stark summarises his analysis of this In recent years, a shift has occurred ‘revitalization movement’: within the social sciences regarding the concept of culture. Many sociolo- Christianity revitalized life in gists today favour an understanding of Greco-Roman cities by providing culture as a ‘repertoire of techniques’,

25 The entire book of Acts depicts this struggle. See particularly Acts 11 and 15. See also 26 Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 161. Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 213. 27 Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 162. 72 Ruth Padilla deBorst

‘a toolkit of strategies’, as ‘complex, particular culture… Christians are rule like structures that can be put to not haters or lovers of culture, any strategic use’ rather than as a tight more than fish could be said to hate network of a few abstract central or love water…. The question is themes or values instantiated in a not choosing for or against it; the range of symbols, rituals and practices question is what kind of culture is at in collective life. Culture is deemed as hand?29 more dynamic, as both constraining There are elements in all cultures and enabling. Personal agency is that reflect God’s creative, life-enhanc- accounted for rather than overridden ing goodness, and elements born out of by social conditioning, and more human rebellion that breed death in allowance is given to choice and varia- their wake. The issue is, how are Chris- tion. Within this understanding, people tians to discern the ones from the oth- can, and do, participate in multiple cul- ers or even to disengage from the very tural traditions at the same time; they water they swim in? also can and do question and override I propose that the church worldwide cultural constraints. The job of cultural has within herself the resources sociologists, within this understand- required for such discernment: Christ- ing, is to study how these information- ian communities can and do live out processing mechanisms or techniques God’s mission in the world when they (schema or scripts) are acquired, dif- are willing to live in the ever-present fused and modified.28 tension of being ‘third-culture’ follow- In light of this shift, our exploration ers of Jesus. In this section we will of gospel in mission and culture must explore what that might look like. move beyond the classical Niebuhrian What, in other words, are the missio- route regarding the position of Christ logical implications of the gospel in and church in relation to a supposedly culture? homogeneous and non-porous culture. Instead, we must consider what spe- 1 The Concept of a ‘Third cific aspects within any particular cul- Culture Kid’ tural construct are compatible with a David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken biblical worldview. Rodney Clapp define a ‘Third Culture Kid’, (or TCK), affirms in this regard: as follows: The church as a culture will A Third Culture Kid is a person who approach any particular host nation has spent a significant part of his (or cultural practice) with discrimi- or her developmental years outside nation. It need not indiscriminately the parents’ culture. The TCK reject, and it cannot indiscriminate- builds relationships to all of the ly accept, any and all aspects of a

29 Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People: The 28 Paul DiMaggio, ‘Culture and Cognition’ in Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 23 (1997), (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 265-268. 177. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 73

cultures, while not having full own- at their first national, ethnic or cultural ership in any. Although elements group as if from the outside, from a from each culture are assimilated more discriminating vantage point into the TCK’s life experience, the than would ever have been possible sense of belonging is in relation- from within. They are free to question ship to others of similar back- and imagine alternatives rather than ground.30 simply receiving their cultural environ- What is striking is that people who ment as a given and all-determining have grown up between worlds, tread- reality. ing both the home culture of their parents and the culture of their host coun- a) Third-culture communities at try, have been found to create, the crossroads together, and identify most strongly As third-culture people, followers of with a third culture that transcends all Jesus are called to recognize as relative original ones, without denying their many dimensions of their culture that value. The culture of a TCK is a ‘cul- those encased within it experience as ture between cultures’ in which he or inevitable and imperative. Third-cul- she engages meaningfully, and with a ture Christians stand in what Orlando sense of belonging, with people from Costas has termed the ‘crossroads’, very diverse cultural blends. those often unsettled and unsettling, uncomfortable, but generative places ‘where the forces of history (ideolo- 2 Missiological implications gies, political and economic systems, The parallels are obvious: Christians social and religious movements) con- are called, in Jesus’ words, to be in the front each other’.31 world, but not of it. Though imbedded Most communities grant space only in particular national, ethnic, and cul- to like-minded, like-looking, like- tural stories, Christians also claim to speaking people. But followers of Jesus belong to another reality as real as the are called to acknowledge they have first: they inhabit the story of God’s been sent as he was into the world, as action and mission in relation to the agents of reconciliation. So, unafraid of world—their second culture. mixing with the ‘wrong’ people, or of Through this ‘double belonging’, as not fully belonging, they must stand in TCKs do, they together create a new the interstices of society; between ‘third’ culture in which they share with belief and unbelief, between purposeful people from very diverse cultural back- and aimless living, between commu- grounds. Allegiance to that group nity and disintegration, between the grants its members the capacity to look global and the local, between people and nature, between haves and have- nots, between power and vulnerability, 30 ‘The TCK Profile’ seminar material (Inter- action, Inc., 1989), 1, in David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken, Third Culture Kids: the Expe- 31 Orlando E. Costas, Christ Outside the Gate: rience of Growing up Among Worlds (London: Mission Beyond Christendom (Maryknoll: Orbis Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2001), 19. Books, 1982). 325. 74 Ruth Padilla deBorst between north and south, east and as cultural, ideological, religions, west. Once they capture a vision of the social, economic and political borders table of God’s kingdom, submit to are crossed’—is most fecund, as Christ’s sovereignty and are filled by Costas says.34 the Holy Spirit, followers of Jesus are It is precisely its ‘third-culture- called to celebrate their unmerited ness’, its ecumenicity and catholicity inclusion at the table of God’s king- that offers the world church the neces- dom, and both welcome people who sary correctives to the inevitable cul- look, think, speak and eat differently tural blind-spots. ‘It is only by being than they do, and also take the risk of faithful participants in a suprana- confronting any power that excludes or tional, multicultural family of deprives people of their rightful pres- churches’, affirms Newbigin, ‘that we ence at the table. can find the resources to be at the same The good news is that, contrary to time faithful sustainers and cherishers most expectations, true gospel witness of our own respective cultures and also in the world does not rest on power, or faithful critics of them’.35 As ‘third-cul- the structures of Christendom, but on ture’ people, Christians are called to sharing in the passion of Jesus. In New- celebrate their unmerited inclusion at bigin’s words, ‘the very heart of the God’s kingdom table and stand in the biblical vision for the unity of often painful place of the prophet, humankind is that its center is not an denouncing national, class, ethnic and imperial power but the slain Lamb’.32 tribal values and practices that counter Consequently, the ‘central reality’ in God’s good purposes for all people, witness is ‘neither word not act, but even at the risk of exclusion, ridicule, the total life of a community enabled by persecution or death. the Spirit to live in Christ, sharing his passion and the power of his resurrec- b) Socio-cultural particularities 33 tion’. Of course, this ‘third-culture-ness’ being In so doing, or rather in so , the does not deny particularity. In Brett’s church—the multi-faceted community words, ‘Christian faith does not mean of Jesus disciples, gifted in ‘many the erasure of cultural identity alto- tongues’ by the Spirit—indwells God’s gether’.36 A Chinese Christian will con- story, she takes on God’s mission in tinue being Chinese and an Argentine, the midst of clashing and blending Argentine. What occurs, instead, is human cultures and is used by God to that ‘the specificities of social identity weave those strands into meaning and life-granting wholes. It is there, at the ‘crossroads’, where missiology—‘the 34 Costas, Christ Outside the Gate, 28. critical reflection about Christian faith 35 Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 197. 36 Mark Brett, ‘The Loss and Retrieval of 32 Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Ancient Religion in Ancient Israel and in Aus- Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 159. tralia’ in Michael Parsons, Text and Task: 33 Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Scripture and Mission (Bletchley: Paternoster 137. Press, 2005), 12. ‘Unexpected’ Guests at God’s Banquet Table 75 are given dignity within the larger body does not imply, however, that third-cul- of Christ’ and add to its rich multiplic- ture people must leave their initial cul- ity.37 In becoming a first-century, Ara- ture at the door in order to sit at God’s maic-speaking Jewish man, and bind- banquet table. God’s kingdom is not ing his divine identity into the speci- some amorphous, supra-cultural, ficities of that time and place in his- other-worldly milieu. Rather, it is a tory, God says ‘yes’ to socio-cultural space of vibrant, life-giving, God hon- particularity, even to a powerless par- ouring encounter of spice and colour, ticularity. And as the account of Pen- smell and sound here and now, in the tecost so vividly portrays, and the complex entanglement of human rela- impact of vernacular translations tions. As ‘third-culture’ people, follow- through the centuries attests, God’s ers of Jesus are called to live today in Spirit gifts people of diverse settings to light of the completion of God’s story, hear the good news in their own lan- with daily expectation of Christ’s immi- guage, even when it is not the language nent return. They are called to express of the empire of the day. in their daily interactions, the confi- The good news is that even in a dent belief that one day the triumphal world in which a given civilization is choir before God’s throne will be com- esteemed as privileged, more enlight- posed of a great multitude from every ened or progressive than others by the nation, tribe and people, proclaiming, powers-that-be (Rome in Jesus’ time, on bended knee, God’s sovereignty in the British Empire in its height, or their own very distinct languages. transnational capitalist elites today), no one culture is granted hegemony over others in God’s story. No one cul- VI Conclusion ture owns the keys of the Kingdom. No The characters in Axel’s film discover, one has generated the illumined read- or rather are discovered by, the good ing of the Bible and reality, the defini- news of healing, abundant, and unde- tive theological articulation or the served grace when they share in anointed outworking of faith in society. Babette’s lavish feast. In contrast, God’s mission enlists Christians to cel- today’s economic globalization, accom- ebrate the unique character and contri- panied by the individualistic and mate- bution of diverse people groups, to rialistic culture of its mostly western strive to make it possible for every per- proponents, is threatening the rela- son to encounter God’s story in her tional and creational capacity of peo- own language, and to stand against all ple, undermining community life, effac- homogenizing cultural impositions ing rich cultural distinctives, and plun- that nullify particular expressions of dering the environment the globe God’s creative image in diverse people. over.38 No longer able to support their A tempered appreciation of the families locally, ravaged by violence virtues and vices of particular cultures

38 Joseph E. Stiglitz, Making Globalization 37 Brett, ‘Loss and Retrieval’ in Text and Work 1st ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, Task, 13. 2006), 9. 76 Ruth Padilla deBorst and exclusion, millions of people emi- which goes out into the public grate or wander the world as refugees. square not in order to gain power, Thousands of women are left alone prestige or money but in order to with their children in crowded cities. incarnate that love of God which is Families are torn apart. And so is the expressed precisely in God’s entire eco-system: land is gouged by putting of all things to rights, God’s mining, rivers and air are polluted by righteousness, God’s justice.39 waste, with no respect for its integrity Is the community we belong to and or sustainability. create one such as this? Is our table Followers of Jesus, as creative and one at which immigrants, people of responsible stewards of both this diverse cultural backgrounds and dif- world and of God’s story, cannot ferent languages are welcome, not as remain indifferent. With humble yet oddities or welfare cases, but as full- bold confidence we can and must fledged members? In as far as Christ- affirm in prophetic word and deed that ian communities the world over live even within this ruling world order, or together in light of God’s grace-full disorder, there is good news for story, they become historically visible humanity. N. T. Wright puts it well: and culturally alternative out-work- What the Christian gospel offers, ings of God’s mission and localized and what Christian ministry must expressions of the bountiful banquet of urgently offer in its formation of God’s kingdom. communities of faith, hope, prayer and witness, is a love which cannot be deconstructed, a love which 39 N.T. Wright, The Gospel and Our Culture manifestly is seeking its neighbor’s (Nashotah: Nashotah House Studies, No. 1, good rather than its own, a love 2007), 32.

Text and Task Scripture and Mission Michael Parsons (editor) Practical, scriptural and contemporary, Text and Task is a series of essays on Scripture and mission. A team of biblical scholars suggest ways forward in areas such as the implicit missional narrative of David and Goliath, the story of Solomon and his Temple- building, the genre of lament, the explicit gracious message of the prophet Isaiah, Paul’s understanding of divine call and gospel, and the place of mission as a hermeneutic for reading the Bible. Theological chapters engage the issues of the Trinity and the unevangelized, the missional dimensions of Barth’s view of election, the gospel’s loss of plausibility in the modern West, the place of preaching in mission, and the idea of belonging to a church community before one believes the gospel. Michael Parsons lectures at the Baptist Theological College, Perth.

978-1-84227-411-8 / 229 x 152 mm / 232pp / £19.99 Paternoster, 9 Holdom Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK1 1QR, UK ERT (2009) 33:1, 77-92 The Gospel in Historical Reception ‘you welcomed the message with joy…’ 1 Thessalonians 1:6

Timothy C. Tennent

KEYWORDS: Advance, recession, fron- menical movement has been the focus tiers, Christendom, culture, missions, on Christian history, not merely church Majority world history. Church history tends to focus on particular denominations and con- I Introduction fessional movements identified by various churches through the ages. Chris- Central to the theological reflection of tian history, in contrast, seeks to cap- the Lausanne movement has always ture a larger perspective and examines been the realization that the gospel is the overall movement of Christianity as rooted in real history and the gospel a world movement. To understand this has been received within particular perspective, three key themes will be historical cultural contexts through addressed: the advance and recession the ages. The gospel cannot be prop- motif, the cross-cultural transmission erly understood in a vacuum or in iso- of the gospel and the shift in the ethnic lation from the history of those who and geographic diversity of the world have ‘welcomed the message with joy’. Christian movement. The purpose of this essay is to see how our history fits into the larger context of Christian history and how this has 1 Advance and Recession affected what Christians mean by the One of the peculiar features of the word ‘gospel’. spread of Christianity is that it has been characterized primarily by serial, not progressive, growth. In other II A Framework For words, Christianity has not had an Understanding Christian even, steady growth beginning with a History central, cultural and geographic centre One of the great contributions of the from which it subsequently spread to Lausanne movement to the larger ecu- its present position as the largest,

Timothy C. Tennent (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is Professor of World Missions and Indian Studies and the Director of Missions Programs at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Visiting Professor of Missiology at Luther W. New, Jr. Theological College in Dehra Dun, UA, India. He is the author of Building Christianity on Indian Foundations (ISPCK) and Theology in the Context of World Christianity (Zondervan). 78 Timothy C. Tennent most ethnically diverse religion in the distinctly Arab orientation. Devout world. Muslims insist that the Qur’an is Instead, Christian history has been untranslatable into any language other one of advance and recession. Christ- than Arabic. The call to prayer goes out ian history has witnessed powerful in Arabic, regardless of the national penetrations of the gospel into certain language of the surrounding Muslims. geographic and cultural regions, only All Muslims face towards Mecca when to later experience a major recession in they pray. All of these are important that region and, sometimes, even indicators that Islam has had a pro- wither away almost to extinction. How- gressive, not serial, growth. It has ever, just as Christianity was waning in always enjoyed a single cultural and one quarter, it was experiencing an geographic centre in Saudi Arabia and even more dramatic rebirth and expan- has never been forced to fully embrace sion in another. cultural translatability. This advance-and-recession theme Hinduism emerged in the Gangetic is such a major feature in Christian his- plain of North India over three thou- tory that the eminent church historian sand years ago, making it one of the Kenneth Scott Latourette uses it as a major organizing theme for his famous oldest religions in the world. Yet, Hin- multivolume work, A History of Chris- duism has never lost its cultural and tianity.1 The important point is to rec- geographic centre in North India. Just ognize that despite what it feels like as Islam can hardly be imagined apart when a Christian is living in the midst from Saudi Arabia, the home of the holy of a particular cultural and geographic city of Mecca, the Ka’ba, the black advance, if you step back and look at stone and the tomb of Muhammad in the whole picture of Christian history Medina, so it is difficult to imagine a then you must be forced to conclude Hinduism which withers away in India, that there is no such thing as a partic- but finds a new centre in, say, sub- ular Christian culture or Christian civi- Saharan Africa. lization. Yet, this is precisely what has hap- This picture is in stark contrast to pened repeatedly in the history of the what one observes, for example, in Christian movement. As Christians in Islam or in Hinduism, the two largest the twenty-first century we are experi- religions after Christianity. Islam ini- encing the most dramatic advance and tially emerged in Saudi Arabia, and recession in the history of the world from that geographic and cultural cen- Christian movement. However, in tre Islam has spread all over the world. order to understand this phenomenon, Today, there are far more non-Arab we need to see it within the historical Muslims than Arab Muslims. Yet, context of the second major theme; despite its diversity, Islam retains a namely, the cross-cultural transmission of the gospel. Within this theme, three examples will be highlighted. 1 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, vols. 1 and 2 (Peabody: Prince Press, 2000). The Gospel in Historical Reception 79

2 The Cross Cultural of Jewish believers and a few Gentile Transmission of the Gospel God-fearers like Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch who had accepted a) From Jewish Birth to Gentile the Torah. In other words, the Gentile Home God-fearers had accepted the Jewish Christianity began as a Jewish move- messiah as their messiah and were liv- ment fulfilling Jewish hopes, promises ing out their new faith on Jewish terms. and expectations. Indeed, the continu- The cultural centre of this young, ity between Judaism and Christianity fledgling movement, known simply as seemed so seamless to the earliest ‘the Way’ (Acts 9:2; 19:23; 24:14), was believers that they would have never based in Jerusalem under apostolic thought of themselves as changing leadership. Jerusalem was the first their religion from Judaism to some- geographic centre of the Christian thing else. They understood Christian- movement and Judaism was its first religious and cultural home. ity as the extension and fulfilment of The importance of Jerusalem is their Jewish faith. underscored by what happened when Yet, right in the pages of the New news got back to Jerusalem about this Testament we read the story of those surprising turning to Christ among unnamed Jewish believers in Antioch Gentiles. The apostles in Jerusalem who took the risky and very controver- sent Barnabas down to Antioch to sial move to cross major cultural and investigate this new movement. Later, religious barriers and share the gospel Paul and Barnabas entered into such a with pagan, uncircumcised Gentiles. sharp disagreement with some Judaiz- Acts 11:19 begins by recounting how, ers who strongly opposed the Gentiles after the persecution in connection coming to Christ apart from Judaism with Stephen, these scattered believ- (circumcision, submission to the Torah ers began to share the gospel ‘as far as and dietary restrictions among other Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling things) that Paul travelled to the message only to Jews’. The very Jerusalem to make his case before the next verse records one of the most apostles. important missiological moments in The Jerusalem Council met to the entire New Testament: ‘Some of debate and to discuss the basis for them, however, men from Cyprus and accepting Gentiles into the church. The Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to group decided, of course, that Gentiles speak to Greeks also, telling them the did not need to come to Jesus Christ on good news about the Lord Jesus’. Jewish cultural and religious terms. This is the beginning of a new cul- They were not asked to submit to or to tural frontier which, though radical at keep the many intricacies of the Jewish the time, would soon become so promi- law, but only to respect a few broad nent that it would be considered nor- guidelines which would clearly sepa- mative Christianity. At the time that rate the Gentiles from their pagan past, these unnamed believers from Cyprus while still affirming that sinners are and Cyrene began to preach the gospel saved not by keeping the law, but by to Gentiles, the church was comprised faith in Jesus Christ. The Jewish ‘cen- 80 Timothy C. Tennent tre’ formally recognized the presence Greek-speaking peoples with a Hel- of Christ in these new Gentile brothers lenistic culture and a pagan back- and sisters. Since this ‘Way’ now ground were now the best example of included Gentiles on their own cultural representative Christianity. Indeed, by terms, it could no longer regard itself the fourth century, Jewish Christians as a curious subset of Judaism. The represented only a tiny percentage of faith had successfully traversed its the church. first major cross-cultural transmis- Throughout the fourth century the sion. Roman Empire increasingly showed signs of weakness and disintegration. b) The Fall of the Empire Tragically, the moral and spiritual cli- The turn of the fourth century in the mate of nominal Christianity generally Roman Empire was marked by the mirrored that of the declining empire, most brutal persecution the church had as the church, during this period, was ever experienced. Emperor Diocletian either focused on internal doctrinal disordered the destruction of church putes (as reflected in the ecumenical councils) or Christians had become part buildings and Bibles, and he impris- of monastic communities which were oned many Christian leaders. How- not interested in revitalizing Roman ever, all of this changed when his suc- civilization. The post-Constantinian cessor Constantine issued the Edict of Christian movement became culturally Toleration in A.D. 313. In the decades triumphalistic and spiritually decadent. which followed, Christianity experi- Looking back, Christianity might have enced dramatic expansion among Hel- shared the same demise as the empire, lenistic Gentiles until Christianity soon symbolized best by the famous sacking became the ‘professed faith of the over- of Rome by the Goths in 410. whelming majority of the population of Remarkably, however, Christianity the Roman empire’.2 In fact, Christian- found new vitality outside the empire, ity became almost conterminous with among new people groups westward in the empire. Ireland and Scotland and eastward According to Stephen Neill, the esti- into Arabia, Persia and beyond. St. mated number of Christians in the Patrick arrived in Ireland around A.D. empire on the eve of the Edict of Toler- 432, Columba founded his famous ation was approximately five million monastery in Iona in 563, and Aidan (10% of the population) and by the time founded Lindisfarne in Northumbria in Emperor Justinian officially closed the 635. Many of the invading Germanic School of Athens in 529 the number of 3 peoples were also brought to faith in Christians was closer to 25 million. Jesus Christ. In a matter of a few decades the church was facing another new cul- 2 Latourette, A History of Christianity, vol. 1, tural shock with the entrance of Visig- 97. oths (Spain), Ostrogoths (Italy), 3 Latourette, A History of Christianity, vol. 1, 269; see also Stephen Neill, A History of Chris- Franks (Northern Gaul), Burgundians tian Missions (London: Penguin Books, 1990), (Southern Gaul), Vandals (N. Africa), 39, 41. Angles and Saxons (Britain), all enter- The Gospel in Historical Reception 81 ing the church in significant numbers. people groups and the ability to adapt Centuries later, this pattern would to new cultural and geographic cen- repeat itself. The relatively stable Car- tres. olingian empire, which had substan- tially been Christianized, eventually c) A Faith for the World disintegrated, and a new wave of inva- The Protestant Reformation led by sions began with the arrival of the Luther (1483-1546), along with the Scandinavians, who were also, in turn, Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation evangelized. led by Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), Not only was Christianity continu- represent renewal movements which ally making cultural gains on one hand helped to stimulate new vitality among while suffering losses on the other previously Christianized peoples who hand, but the geographic centre was had become largely nominal. Christian- also shifting. By the end of the second ity in the Middle Ages was still con- century, Rome, as capital of the fined primarily to Europe, which empire, was the most important city for remained the geographic centre. How- Christians. Indeed, even in the struc- ever, a revitalized European Christian- ture of the book of Acts, we are already ity eventually led to dramatic mission- beginning to see the strategic and cultural importance of Rome for Chris- ary endeavours which brought the tians. However, in 330 Constantine gospel to many new people groups, relocated the capital to Byzantium including most of Latin America and (modern day Istanbul), which he many new people groups of Asia. renamed Constantinople. By the time Fuelled by missionary activity in the Rome was sacked in 410, Constantino- wake of the Padroado (1493), the Papal ple was the undisputed geographic decree which divided the world centre of the Christian faith. Christian- between Spain and Portugal, initially ity experienced some remarkable giving Spain exclusive rights to the advances in the East during this time, New World in the West and Portugal including important progress among the rights to the East, the Roman the Slavic peoples. Catholic Church in 1622 founded the During the ninth and tenth cen- Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. turies, when Christianity in the West Its purposes were to assist in training had reached dangerously low levels of new missionaries, to oversee all faith and practice, Constantinople rep- Roman Catholic missionary work, and resented the most vibrant expression to coordinate major new missionary of Christianity in the world. In fact, the initiatives in non-Roman catholic Russian ruler Vladimir was so moved regions of the world. Eventually the by what he experienced in Constan- Protestants, beginning with the Mora- tinople that he sponsored the propaga- vians and later through the creation of tion of Eastern Christianity throughout dozens of new mission-sending soci- Russia. Christianity, it seems, was eties, followed with their own mission- becoming accustomed to reinvigorat- ary initiatives. The nineteenth century ing its vitality and inner life through missionaries would plant the seeds for cross cultural transmission to new a future twenty-first century Christian 82 Timothy C. Tennent harvest beyond anything they could places like Lagos, Nigeria and Seoul, S. have imagined during their lifetimes. Korea, where the presence of Chris- However, quite apart from mission- tianity at one time seemed almost aries committed to sharing their faith unimaginable, are today vibrant cen- across cultural and geographic lines, tres of Christian faith.5 Europe itself was engaged in the Augustine witnessed the barbarian largest ocean-based migration in the invasions, realized their significance, history of the world. From 1500 until and produced his classic City of God. the middle of the twentieth century, William Carey lived at one of these millions of Europeans relocated to the seams of history and produced his new world, bringing their faith with influential Enquiry. We now live at them and spawning the birth of mas- another one of these great seams in the sive new populations, largely Christ- history of the world Christian move- ian. The gospel, once again, proved ment and, as I have learned over the that it was culturally and geographi- past twenty years teaching in two sem- cally translatable. Soon the English- inaries, one in the US and one in India, speaking world, including Britain and God is raising up new voices who will North America, became the most move beyond merely lamenting the important new centre of vibrant Chris- emergence of a post-Christian West. tianity. But will we be able to articulate the significance of the remarkable re-dis- d) Living on the Seam of History covery of Christianity—the re-discov- The purpose of these brief snapshots is ery of a Christianity which is simulta- to underscore the fact that the neously more ancient and more shock- lifeblood of Christianity is found in its ingly fresh, a Christianity which is both ability to translate itself across new post-western and trans-western? cultural and geographic barriers and to Christianity is being re-discovered recognize that areas which once were apart from the West, but due to dra- the mission field can, over time, matically changing immigration pat- become the very heart of Christian terns into North America and Europe vitality, while those areas which were once at the heart can lose the very faith they once espoused. Jerusalem, Anti- 5 Bill Bowder, ‘Worship Numbers Fall och, North Africa and Constantinople Again’, Church Times, found at , Christian vibrancy. Yet all of these accessed 26 August, 2008. In fact, there are more Anglicans in Nigeria alone than the places have only a very tiny remnant of whole of Europe. Ruth Gledhill, ‘Archbishop Christianity remaining and, with the Thanks Africa for Lessons on Faith’, The exception of Jerusalem, are almost Times (London), 26 July 2003, 20; Charlotte completely Islamic.4 In contrast, Allen, ‘Episcopal Church Plays Russian Roulette on the Gay Issue’, Los Angeles Times, 10 August 2003, M-1; Dianne Knippers, ‘The 4 Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Anglican Mainstream: It’s Not Where Ameri- Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude (Lon- cans Might Think’, Weekly Standard, 25 don: Associated University Press, 1996). August 2003. The Gospel in Historical Reception 83 and the growth of Christianity in so less than ten million on the entire con- many different parts of the world, even tinent of Africa.6 Today there are over the language of ‘Southern Christianity’ 367 million Christians in Africa, com- may yet be inadequate to describe what prising one fifth of the entire Christian is happening. church. Throughout the twentieth century a net average gain of 16,500 peo- 3 The Seismic Shift ple were coming to Christ every day in The most evident sign that we are liv- Africa. From 1970 to 1985, for exam- ing on a ‘seam’ of some new historical ple, the church in Africa grew by over epoch of Christian history is the rise of six million people. During that same the ‘Majority World’ church and the time, 4,300 people per day were leaving the church in Europe and North signs of the possible, although once 7 unthinkable, demise of western Chris- America. tianity. Therefore, this deserves more The church is not just moving south- careful scrutiny. Evidence of this ward, it is also moving eastward. In South Korea, for example, despite the development is seen, for example, fact that Christianity was not formally when we observe where the majority of introduced within the country itself Christians are now located around the until the eighteenth century, it is stag- world. gering to realize that today there are After its birth in Asia, Christianity over 20 million Christians in South had its most vigorous growth as it Korea alone. In fact, South Korea is moved steadily westward and north- widely regarded as the home of the ward. As more and more people in the modern church growth movement, West embraced Christianity, Europe exemplified by the remarkable story of and, eventually, North America the Yoido Full Gospel Church pastored became the heartland of the world by Dr. David Cho. Founded in 1958 Christian movement. However, begin- with only five people in a small living ning in 1900, Christianity has experienced dramatic growth in the south and east, away from the traditional 6 The World Christian Database notes that locus of where the majority of Chris- there were 380,641,890 Christians in Europe tians were located for over a thousand and 9,938,588 Christians in Africa. See years. http://worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/esweb For the first time since the Protes- .asp?WCI=Results&Query=415, accessed 26 tant Reformation the majority of Chris- August, 2008. 7 Whose Religion is Christian- tians (approximately 67%) are now Lamin Sanneh, ity?: The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand located outside the western world. Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 15. Elizabeth Some specific examples of how the Isichei says that the number leaving the church is changing will, perhaps, help church in the West is 7,500 per day. See Eliz- to illustrate this shift better. At the abeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa turn of the twentieth century the Chris- (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 1. See also Dana Robert, ‘Shifting Southward: Global tian church was predominately white Christianity since 1945’, International Bulletin and western. In 1900, there were over of Missionary Research 24 no. 2 (April 2000), 380 million Christians in Europe and 53. 84 Timothy C. Tennent room, the church now claims over ‘secular city’.11 Their solution has been 700,000 members, making it easily the to call the church to abandon faith in largest church in the world. the supernatural and the historic con- India has been called the cradle of fessions of the Christian faith. They the world’s religions, having given have argued that doctrines such as the birth to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism deity of Christ, the Trinity and the and Sikhism. Yet, today, this land of authority of the Bible are no longer exotic eastern religions is also the credible or believable in the modern home of over 60 million Christians.8 world. Therefore, Christianity should Church planting in India, particularly conform to the norms of western secu- in the traditionally Hindu north, is tak- larism. However, it seems that rather ing place at a blistering pace so that than saving Christianity, secular, rela- many missiologists are predicting that tivistic forces are quickly turning by the year 2050 India will have over twenty-first century mainline liberal 9 126 million Christians. However, even Protestantism into a curious aberra- Korea and India cannot match the dra- tion, a mere footnote, in the larger matic rise of the church in China. Even story of the advance of global Chris- as recently as Mao Zedong’s (Tse- tianity. tung) famous Cultural Revolution In contrast, the dramatic rise of (1966-1976) there were only about one Majority World Christianity is to a million Christians in China. Today, the large extent morally and theologically Chinese church comprises over 90 mil- conservative. These new Christians lion believers and is the fastest growing church on the planet.10 believe the Bible, are Christ centred, Western scholars and liberal Chris- and are supernaturalistic. Philip Jenk- tians have long predicted the demise of ins’ study of Majority World Christian- historic Christianity and the rise of the ity found, in contrast to their western counterparts, that they have a ‘much greater respect for the authority of scripture’, especially the Old Testa- 8 Todd M. Johnson, Sarah Tieszen and Thomas Higgens, ‘Counting Christians in ment and the book of James, and ‘a spe- India, AD 52-2200’, an unpublished research cial interest in supernatural elements report produced by the Center for the Study of of scripture, such as miracles, visions, Global Christianity, the research center at and healings’, and they also believe in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary which produces the World Christian Encyclopedia. This represents 6.15% of the population of India, far above the official 3% figure given by 11 See John Spong, Why Christianity Must the government. However, the official figures Change or Die (San Francisco: Harper Collins, disenfranchise millions of Christians who are 1999), 29-42; Harvey Cox, The Secular City: counted as ‘tribals’ or who are remaining Secularization and Urbanization in Theological within Hindu communities. Perspective (New York: MacMillan Press, 9 This is the current projection of the Center 1966). But see Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: for the Study of Global Christianity. This will The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the represent 8.94% of the population of India. Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century 10 Barrett, Kurian and Johnson, World Chris- (Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., tian Encyclopedia, 191. 1995), xvi. The Gospel in Historical Reception 85 the ‘continuing power of prophecy’.12 Christians changed their understand- As Peter Berger has said, ‘To put it ing of what the word ‘gospel’ means simply, experiments with secularized and, if so, what is the nature of these religion have generally failed; religious transformations? movements with beliefs and practices dripping with reactionary supernatu- a) Christendom and post- ralism have widely succeeded’.13 The Christendom French writer Gilles Kepel has aptly ‘Christendom’ refers to a political and called this dramatic turnaround the ecclesiastical arrangement which rein- ‘revenge of God’ (la revanche de Dieu).14 forces a partnership between the As Harvey Cox has noted, ‘if God really church and the state. The state did die, as Nietzche’s madman pro- strengthens the church by promoting claimed, then why have so many bil- Christian hegemony over religious and lions of people not gotten the word?’15 cultural life. The church, in turn, gives There is a global Christian revolution legitimacy to the state by supporting happening outside the western world, the ruler and tacitly implying divine and most western Christians are only sanction on the actions of the state. In gradually beginning to realize the full the context of Christendom, Christian- implications of this shift. ity receives protection from the civil authorities (eg, the English monarch has the title, ‘Defender of the Faith’) III Cultural receptions of the and receives many privileges because Gospel it is the ‘established’ religion of the realm. 1 The ‘Gospel’ and Cultural The classic phrase was ‘Cuius regio, Embodiments eius religio’, broadly meaning, the faith If the gospel does not exist in a vac- of the ruler was the religion of the realm. The ruler was responsible for uum, but must become manifest in par- the spiritual welfare of his or her peo- ticular contexts, then it raises the ple; the ruler decides how they will question as to how the very word worship, and in his or her dominion ‘gospel’ has undergone change in the uniformity of faith and practice is con- midst of the emerging new cultural sidered normal. To embrace a different receptions and embodiments. Have faith was to be a ‘dissenter’ with all of the explicit and implicit sanctions that term implied. Because of the connec- 12 See Philip Jenkins, The New Faces of Chris- tion with the state, Christendom often tianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (even unconsciously), regarded the (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 4, Christian faith in territorial ways. To 53, 54, 60-62. belong to the ‘realm’ means, by defini- 13 Berger, ‘Desecularization of the World’, 4. tion, that you shared the faith of the 14 As quoted in Cox, Fire from Heaven, xvii. See Gilles Kepel, The Revenge of God (Cam- ‘realm’. Particular embodiments of the bridge: Polity Press, 1994). gospel were, therefore, linked to spe- 15 Kepel, The Revenge of God, 103. cific geographic regions and, tragi- 86 Timothy C. Tennent cally, became unduly linked with does not need to robustly defend itself nationalistic identities. against, for example, either secular Christendom has existed in both atheism or some alternative religious official, explicit ways as well an unoffi- worldview such as Islam or Hinduism. cial, implicit expressions. In certain Islamic or Hindu counter-claims are regions, most notably Europe and virtually non-existent in Christendom. Latin America, Christianity was con- The most frequently found encounters stitutionally granted special status which Christendom-type Christianity and, therefore, we find Christendom has with non-Christian faiths are when its most explicit expression. In other it has engaged them as a cultural regions, such as the United States, ‘other’ in military campaigns (such as there is an official separation between the Crusades) or in sponsoring a mis- church and state. The U.S. Constitu- sionary who, often unwittingly, trans- tion does not sanction a particular ver- mitted the gospel and the host culture sion of Christianity, but, nevertheless, in a single package. it found innumerable ways to extend Today the ‘gospel’ has to be redis- special status to Christianity over covered in the West apart from Chris- other non-Christian religions. State tendom. We can learn much from many funerals take place in the National of our Majority World brothers and sis- Cathedral, God’s name is invoked in ters who have learned over many cen- public speeches and biblical texts are turies how to live out their faith as a quoted on public occasions, and so minority faith or, often, in the context forth. Even in unofficial Christendom, where there is a state sponsored reli- society is frequently committed to a gion other than Christianity. civil religion as a kind of societal con- Many countries with a predomi- sensus which affords Christianity a nately Islamic population have their privileged status within the broader own version of ‘Christendom’. How- society. ever, rather than calling it something Protestantism originated as a move- like ‘Islamicdom’, it is often best ment within the larger context of Euro- observed by the presence of Islamic pean Christianity and, therefore, was Sharia as the governing arrangement born in the context of Christendom. and which, effectively, merges This profoundly influenced the way the ‘mosque and state’. Even in a place like word ‘gospel’ was understood. To be a India which is governed by a secular Christian within a Christendom constitution, Hinduism consistently arrangement is to see Christianity at receives special recognition and pro- the centre of all public discourse. Evan- tection. Similar examples could be gelism occurs passively because Chris- given with countries like Bhutan, tianity is the prevailing plausibility Nepal or Thailand. structure. What are the implications of this for Christianity is the normative how the ‘gospel’ is understood? Sev- expression of religious faith and ethi- eral examples can be given. cal action and there are no major dis- First, the gospel must be invested senting voices or alternative religious with a renewed capacity to critique cul- worldviews. Therefore, the ‘gospel’ ture, not just accommodate it. Only The Gospel in Historical Reception 87 when the gospel is freed from the knowledge and discourse. In this sense chains of Christendom can it provide ‘Jerusalem’ represents a society the necessary critique of the state and framed by revelation and, therefore, the prevailing culture which is theological and cultural stability. required when the kingdoms of this ‘Jerusalem’ represents a congregation world clash with the lordship of Jesus of the faithful gathered to hear God’s Christ. word, the centrality of the pulpit, and Second, the gospel must become the one-way pronouncements which more robust in responding to very spe- are issued ‘six feet above contradic- cific challenges which hitherto went tion’. In contrast, ‘Athens’ represents unnoticed. In a Christendom context, dialogue and speculation. ‘Athens’ is the challenges of unbelief or from other the place of religious pluralism and dia- religions are distant and remote. logic speculation. Therefore, the gospel gradually Today, we must recognize that we becomes domesticated and weakened. are no longer proclaiming the gospel Today we are witnessing the rise of from the ‘Temple Mount’ of our many new challenges all around us: ‘Jerusalem’. Instead, we are seeking to post-modern relativistic secularism, persuade the gospel into people’s lives the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the in the midst of the raucous, pluralistic, seeping pluralism of Hinduism, to experimental, sceptical environment of name a few. These challenges will the ‘Mars Hill of their “Athens”’. There inevitably force faithful Christians to are competing deities and revelations become far more articulate about what which clamour for attention. The constitutes genuine Christian identity. gospel which we proclaim is largely Third, evangelism has to become ‘unknown’ and our witness may need more intentional and one cannot to find collaborative help from general assume that any of the dominant Chris- revelation to gain a hearing for the tian paradigms of the last century are gospel. widely understood. Even basic religious categories like ‘God’ or ‘sin’ or b) Modernity and post- ‘faith’ which once sat very comfortably modernity within the security of a mono-religious discourse must now be explained and The second cultural embodiment clarified. which must be examined is how the Tertullian famously once asked, ‘gospel’ is understood in the context of ‘What has Athens to do with modernity and post-modernity. Peter Kuzmic, the internationally renowned Jerusalem…what has the academy to do with the church?’16 Tertullian envi- leader from Eastern Europe, and ple- sioned a culture with the revelation of nary speaker for Lausanne II in God’s word at the centre. Divine self- Manila, once commented that the most disclosure is seen to trump all other defining word of our time is the word ‘post’. We live in a post-communist, post-Christendom, post-denomina- 16 Tertullian, De Praescriptione Haereticorum tional, post-western, post-Enlighten- 7.9. ment and post-modern world. 88 Timothy C. Tennent

One of the earliest writers to recog- which gives meaning and purpose to nize the collapse of modernity and the our civilization. We are left only with movement towards a post-Enlighten- our personal narratives. The only ment world was the French philoso- ‘truth’ which remains is what is true pher Jean-François Lyotard in his 1979 ‘for me’ with little courage or confi- article entitled, The Postmodern Condi- dence remaining to state anything with tion: A Report on Knowledge.17 In the certainty which is true for everyone or article, he coined the word ‘post-mod- speaks about objective truth. To use ern’ in the way that it is used in today’s the language of Lesslie Newbigin, in discourse. He stated that the funda- post-modernism there are no more mental shift of our time as western civ- ‘public facts’, all we have left are ‘per- 18 ilization is a growing crisis of truth. In sonal preferences’.19 the modern world there was a belief in Looking back from this perspective, an overarching truth—whether it is easy to see how the evangelical informed by a Christian world-view or understanding of the gospel has been even a secular belief in progress and influenced by Enlightenment thinking. the perfectibility of humanity. Lyotard On the positive side, the gospel bene- argued that modern societies produced fited from the notion of a meta-narra- order and stability by generating what tive and the idea of a final, all encom- he called ‘grand narratives’ or ‘master passing ‘telos’ to which all of human narratives’. These grand narratives history was moving. The Christian provide a clear sense of ‘telos’ of des- meta-narrative and final goal of history tiny. Intellectual reflection was the may have been different from that of embarking on a journey with a clear the Enlightenment, but, at least the destination—the pursuit of truth. In contrast, the post-modern con- paradigm was there to build on. On the text is marked by a collapse of all negative side, the over emphasis on grand narratives. Post-modernism reason sometimes produced hyper- marks the movement away from claims rational expressions of Christianity. to objectivity and a greater emphasis Furthermore, the deeply imbedded on fragmented forms and discontinu- notions of human progress often ous narratives. In short, the very caused evangelicals not to take sin notion of truth as Truth has begun to seriously enough and to render the collapse. There is no longer a cohesive ‘gospel’ as nothing more than the ‘canopy of truth’ or meta-narrative greatest ‘self-help’ plan. How is post-modernism influencing the evangelical understanding of the 17 Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern gospel? What implications does this Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Minnesota: have for Christian mission? University of Minnesota Press, 1985). It is clear that post-modernism 18 For a brilliant analysis of this trend and the implications of it for the contemporary church, see David F. Wells, No Place for Truth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993) and Above 19 This is one of the central arguments in All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern Lesslie Newbigin’s Foolishness to the Greeks, World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005). (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986). The Gospel in Historical Reception 89 poses a number of serious challenges means to be the people of God called to to the gospel. First, post-modernism mission. erodes the very concept of objective Finally, and this is one of the great truth rooted in God’s self-revelation. contributions of the Lausanne move- Therefore, the authority of the Bible, ment, we need to discover deeper ecu- the trustworthiness of expository menism which looks beyond our own preaching and the call to repentance, institutional aggrandizement and to to name just a few, all suffer. Second, discover that overarching evangelical post-modernism’s emphasis on per- unity which can move the church for- sonal narrative separate from any over- ward in the face of the challenges of arching meta-narrative has further our day. pushed the church towards a priva- tized understanding of the gospel. c) One centre and multiple Under the sway of post-modernism, the centres of universality gospel loses its historical, missional We are now observing something and cosmic dimensions and through a unique in Christian history, the emer- radical kind of reductionism becomes gence of what John Mbiti has called merely a prescription for obtaining per- multiple new ‘centres of universality’.20 sonal peace. This means that for the first time in his- Third, post-modernism’s emphasis tory, the gospel is simultaneously on the autonomy of personal choices emerging with strength in multiple dif- has further pushed the church towards ferent cultural centres. It is not as if a full acceptance of marketing strate- the gospel is emerging with vitality gies for attracting new believers, busi- only in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also ness models for long-term planning emerging with renewed vitality in and strategy and a general entertain- Korea, China, India and even Latin ment orientation because in this new America. We now have multiple centres world the ‘consumer is king’. Once the of universality. gospel must be made ‘fun’, then there For the first time, this means that is little room for the prophetic imagi- the gospel can no longer be identified nation, the cost of discipleship, and the primarily with one cultural centre. This call to repentance. will inevitably enhance the universal- In response, the church must regain ity of the gospel and it will also simul- confidence in the truth of the gospel of taneously enhance the need for greater Jesus Christ. We need a fresh under- cultural sensitivity, global partner- standing of the rule and reign of God as ships and cooperation, all things which the great eschatological fact to which are the hallmarks of the Lausanne all history is moving. The wonderful movement. The day has finally arrived thing about the biblical vision of the when we can say that the church of eschaton is that it simultaneously Jesus Christ on every continent is both trumps the modernist notions of human progress as well as the post- modern malaise about any ultimate 20 As quoted in Kwame Bediako, Christianity meaning at all. We need a renewed call in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion to repentance, a metanoia about what it (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995), 157. 90 Timothy C. Tennent sending missionaries and receiving Nevertheless, it is very unusual that missionaries. This new reality has the very place which boasts the been captured well by Samuel Escobar strongest educational centres for theo- in his book, The New Global Mission: logical education (namely, Western The Gospel from Everywhere to Every- Europe and N. America) is also the very one.21 The phrase, ‘from everywhere to centre where Christianity is declining everyone’ precisely describes the new the fastest. This is another new situa- situation we are in. tion the church is facing. The other major development is that All of this has profound implications the demographics are transforming for missions in the twenty-first cen- even the former heartlands of Chris- tury. We are in danger of becoming tianity. Immigration patterns are what John Mbiti calls ‘kerygmatically slowly transforming the face of Chris- universal’ while remaining ‘theologi- tianity even in North America and cally provincial’.22 In other words, the Europe. The fastest growing Christian global centres of the church’s vibrant groups in North America and Europe proclamation are becoming increas- are the non-white, non-European peo- ingly diverse, whereas theological ples. African, Chinese, Korean, Indian reflection continues to be dominated by and Hispanic churches, to name a few, western scholarship. Mbiti’s point was are springing up all across America in that even though ‘the centres of the unprecedented numbers. Church’s universality are no longer in What are the implications of this for Geneva, Rome, Athens, Paris, London the ‘gospel’? First of all, the gospel or New York’ but are now in ‘Kinshasa, must be re-discovered as a post-west- Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa and ern faith. The gospel has been overly Manila’, there has not been the corre- identified with the West for so long sponding shift towards ‘mutuality and that we cannot even imagine all the reciprocity in the theological task fac- 23 ways the gospel has been unwittingly ing the universal church’. domesticated by its long sojourn with This means that the church in the western culture. The church all over West must re-think our missionary role the globe, (even in the so-called post- beyond first generation gospel work of Christian West), must re-discover the evangelism and church planting and gospel as a post-western faith. also think about our role in helping to Second, even though the geographic stimulate theological training institu- centre of global Christianity has tions and encouraging indigenous the- moved, this has not dramatically ological writing, and so forth. The changed the fact that in terms of theological training, finances, book publi- 22 John S. Mbiti, ‘Theological Impotence and cations, to name a few, the West con- the Universality of the Church’, in Gerald H. tinues to play a central and vital role. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, eds., Mis- sion Trends No. 3: Third World Theologies (New York: Paulist Press, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 21 Samuel Escobar, The New Global Mission: 1976), 6. The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone (Grand 23 Mbiti, ‘Theological Impotence’, 9, 10; Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2003). Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 154. The Gospel in Historical Reception 91

West itself will be increasingly in need another major ‘advance and recession’ of first generation gospel work and the motif and we are caught in the middle Majority World will increasingly need (or on the seam) between a ‘western second and third generation gospel recession’ and a ‘non-western work. advance’. Living during the transition Finally, we must learn to re-think between two major historical epochs is how the gospel is transmitted to new always fraught with a sense of disequi- people-groups. This is another unique librium and special challenges. The feature in the history of Christian Lausanne movement is uniquely expansion. There are very few exam- poised to reflect on these changes and ples in Christian history where a peo- to serve as a bridge between important ple group with less power and eco- conversations going on by Christians nomic strength have brought the all over the world. gospel to a people group with greater This essay has also sought to under- power and greater economic strength. stand how these historical changes are Throughout Christian history, the influencing how Christians, particu- gospel has almost uniformly been larly evangelicals, have understood the shared by people with greater eco- gospel. We have seen that the gospel nomic and political power to those with is, to use the language of Andrew less power and resources. To this day, Walls, both the ‘prisoner’ and the ‘lib- the very word ‘missions’ in the minds erator’ of culture. On the one hand, the of many people is synonymous with gospel’s transformative work tran- economic assistance and various min- scends any cultural particularities. On istry of mercy. the other hand, it is clear that the However, today, the emerging dom- gospel message has often been domes- inant paradigm is that people groups ticated because of its long sojourn from under developed countries are within a particular cultural context. likely to produce the greatest number This essay highlighted three major of cross-cultural missionaries. This shifts in how the word ‘gospel’ is now means that the traditional ways in being understood in a post-Christen- which missions has been supported dom, post-modern, multi-cantered will no longer be viable. It will probably Christian movement. mean a dramatic rise in self-supporting Because we are living in such an and/or bi-vocational missionaries from important ‘seam’ of history, there is around the world, closer to the eigh- wisdom in calling for a period of read- teenth century Moravian model than justment and re-assessment. In 1972 the twentieth century faith missions the World Council of Churches called model. for a moratorium on missions. This inadvertently set forces in motion which caused a dramatic decline in IV Conclusion missionary commitment around the This essay has provided a broad his- world. I am not calling for a morato- torical framework for helping us to rium, but rather what I prefer to call a understand the nature of our time. It is ‘missions selah’. The word selah occurs clear that the church is undergoing throughout the Psalms. The precise 92 Timothy C. Tennent meaning of the word selah is unknown. time to pause and re-assess; a time to However, most believe that it signifies think about what we are doing in fresh some kind of musical pause or inter- ways. lude. This is precisely what I have in As a globally representative move- mind. ment, Lausanne is uniquely poised to Western Christians have been help during this transitional interlude. accustomed to playing the melody. We I am convinced that if we are attentive directed the orchestra, we decided to the refreshing winds of the Holy what pieces would be played and Spirit during this tumultuous and yet where, and the players were mostly thrilling time, we will have a missio- from the West. Now, the orchestra is logical re-birth where in partnership far more diverse and we are being with the global church, we will see a asked to play ‘harmony’ not ‘melody’. remarkable rebirth of the church’s life This requires a temporary interlude; a and faith like we have not known.

NEW FROM PATERNOSTER The Day is Yours Slow Spirituality for People on the Go Ian Stackhouse The Day is Yours is a protest against the culture of speed both in society at large, but also, more ominously, in the church itself. Rooted in the monastic liturgy of the hours, The Day is Yours argues that in order for Christians to act as a truly prophetic witness, in a time of cultural decadence, they must recover a more biblical rhythm in which work, rest, relationships, worship and prayer are held together in creative tension. Written by a pastor, the central thrust of The Day is Yours is that living one day at a time with gratitude and contentedness is vital, lest the church capitulates to the distractedness of modern life. ‘If you have lost the wonder of the next moment, can’t cope with your stress, feel guilty when you rest, or can’t do sustained concentration, then this refreshing book is for you. Ian Stackhouse teaches us how to live one day at a time,’ Viv Thomas, Director of Formationwww.formation.org.uk Ian Stackhouse is the Pastoral Leader of the Millmead Centre, home of Guildford Baptist Church, UK. He is author of The Gospel-Driven Church.

978-1-84227-600-6 / 216 x 140mm / 160pp / £9.99 Paternoster, 9 Holdom Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK1 1QR, UK ERT (2009) 33:1, 93-96 Case Study How will we know when the Holy Spirit comes? The question of discernment

Kirsteen Kim

KEYWORDS: mission, context, power, ularly to our understanding of God the ethics, liberation Holy Spirit. So I consider it doubly appropriate that here at our conference in Athens we pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit!’ When the Apostle Paul stood in front of My research into the Holy Spirit and the Areopagus, he began by connecting mission1 arises from my personal expe- with the spirituality of the ancient rience of different spiritual contexts: in Athenians, affirming their search for Britain, where I grew up; in South God and the spiritual awareness of Korea, my husband’s home country; in their poets. Paul attempted to use the the United States where we studied; Athenians’ spiritual language to tell and in India, where we taught for four about the Creator God and about Jesus years in a seminary. I found that, in and his resurrection. At the same time each country—and even in different he discerned a spirit of idolatry which Christian denominations—the spiri- prevented repentance and practical tual milieu and the cultural meaning of obedience to the Holy Spirit of God the word ‘spirit’ is different, and this (Acts 17:16-34). gives a different nuance to the biblical Trying to bridge the spiritualities of testimony to the Holy Spirit. I also the Jewish and Greek worlds in this came to believe that, in many cases, we way, Paul faced misunderstanding and may better communicate the good had limited immediate success in terms of new Christians—but from our standpoint two thousand years later, we can see this is a Christian city and 1 Kirteen Kim, Mission in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Indian Christian Theologies (Delhi: we know how the use of Greek thought ISPCK, 2003); The Holy Spirit in the World: A and language has contributed to the Global Conversation (Maryknoll, NY / London: formation of Christian theology, partic- SPCK, 2007).

Kirsteen Kim (PhD, Birmingham) has lived and worked in Korea and in India, where she taught mission studies at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune. Dr Kim is an Honorary Lecturer in the University of Birmingham, and the author of The Holy Spirit in the World A Global Conversation (Orbis/SPCK) This is a slightly revised version of a presentation to the conference on world mission and evangelism of the World Council of Churches held in Athens on 9-16 May 2005. 94 Kirsteen Kim news of Jesus Christ by beginning with of the whole creation (Rom. 8:19-23). the language of the Spirit. Due to the resurrection of Jesus Christ The Father sends the Spirit into the from the dead, the church is given the world and, as followers of Christ, we Spirit as a foretaste of the liberation are privileged to participate in that and new life which God desires for all mission (Rom. 8:14-17). In this case, (2 Cor. 1.22; 5.5; Eph. 1.13-14; Rom. the first act of mission is discernment.2 8.23). However, the Spirit of God is not To join with the Spirit in mission, we the possession of any community but need to ask how the Spirit comes and as wind moves in the whole creation how we recognise the Spirit. (Jn. 3:8; Ps. 139:7) and as living water In the Bible there are three main is freely given (Jn. 7:37-38).5 events in which the Spirit comes. At People look for the Spirit in differ- Pentecost the Spirit gives birth to the ent places—above, below, outside, church (Acts 2:41-42) and Christian within, beyond, among—and have dif- mission (1:8). But this is possible only ferent criteria for spiritual discern- because of a prior event: Jesus Christ ment according to their faith or convic- our Saviour was conceived in the Spirit tion. For the Christian, by definition, (Lu. 1:35) and the Spirit of God shone discerning the Spirit will relate to and shines forth from him3 (2 Cor. 4:6;) Jesus Christ. However, no group can so that Christians refer to the Holy prove its spiritual vision before the end Spirit as the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit so, in the meantime, if we are to live of Christ (Jn. 7:39).4 Nevertheless, the together in our common home—the Spirit was also known in a much earlier earth, we need to share our resources event, long before even the coming of for discernment. The Indian theologian Jesus Christ, as the agent of creation of dialogue, Stanley Samartha, once and author of life (Gen. 1:2; 2:7; cf. wrote that the claim that the Spirit is 6.17), who continues to be creatively with us is not ours to make; it is for our present and active everywhere in the neighbours to recognise6 (cf. 1 Cor. world (Ps. 104:30; Job 33:4). 14:20-25). These three ways in which the Spirit Discernment is a matter for ecu- came—and comes—are inter-related menical debate as well as individual because the new community begun at conscience. It requires wide hori- Pentecost is significant for the future zons—in view of the breadth of the Spirit’s mission, openness—because of the unpredictability of the Spirit’s 2 James D.G Dunn, The Christ and the Spirit: Collected Essays Vol. 2: Pneumatology (Edin- burgh: T & T Clark, 1998), 72. 5 I am indebted to the work of Vandana for 3 Stephen B. Bevans, ‘God Inside Out: her stimulating reflections on water as a sym- Toward a Missionary Theology of the Holy bol of the Spirit in John’s Gospel: Sister Van- Spirit’, IBMR 1998: 22/3 (July), 102-105; dana, Waters of Fire 3rd edn (Bangalore: ATC; ‘Jesus, Face of the Spirit: Reply to Dale New York: Amity House, 1988; first published, Bruner’, IBMR 22/3 (July), 108-109. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1981). 4 Samuel Rayan, Come, Holy Spirit (Delhi: 6 S.J. Samartha, ‘Milk and Honey—Without Media House, 1998; originally published the Lord?’, (Indian) National Council of 1978), 37. Churches Review 101/12 (Dec 1981), 670. Case Study: How will we know when the Holy Spirit Comes? 95 movements, and humility—since the The third criterion is charismatic: Spirit is the Spirit of Almighty God. the practice of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Many questions of discernment are not Cor. 12:4-11).8 Where there is empow- around criteria but about power: about erment to prophecy, ministry, teach- who has the authority to discern the ing, exhortation, giving, leading, com- Spirit for others. We are not obliged to passion (Rom. 12:6-8), we have good accept someone else’s identification of reason to believe God is at work (by the what is good or spiritual, however Spirit). However, exercise of a spiritual strong their tradition, however gift is not a sign of the Spirit’s presence weighty their theology, or however if it lacks love (1 Cor.13:1-3). much power they wield, if their exer- The final criterion is liberational: cise of that authority is incompatible being on the side of the poor.9 The with the Spirit of Christ (Mk. 3:29; Mt. effect of the Spirit’s anointing on Jesus 12:31-32). Christ was that he announced good I find four biblical criteria for dis- news to the poor (Lu. 4:18), and this cernment, though none alone is proof must be a touchstone for all spiritual of the Spirit’s presence. The first is claims. ecclesial: the confession of Jesus as When discerning the Spirit in any Lord, which is made possible by the activity, we need to ask whose inter- Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Jn. 4:2). We ests are being served; who is benefiting hope and expect to find the Spirit in the from this? But the criterion of libera- Christian community, where Jesus tion also needs to be qualified. The lib- Christ is proclaimed and worshipped. eration struggle must be waged in a However, it is the Spirit that defines way that is loving to our enemies (Mt. the church not the other way round. 5:43-48), and does not aim to crush Calling ‘Lord, Lord’ is not necessarily them, but to live in peace with them10 a guarantee of a spirit of obedience (Rom. 12:18). (Mt. 7:21-22). ‘Discernment of spirits’ is listed as The second criterion is ethical: the a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:10). evidence of the fruit of the Spirit: love, The use of the plural ‘spirits’ here joy, peace, and so on (Gal. 5:22). The raises a question: Are we seeking to Spirit changes our lives, producing Christ-likeness. But good works alone are not a sign of the life of the Spirit— 8 This suggestion from the Pentecostal- they may be the result of unregenerate charismatic movement has been made by legalism (Rom. 7:6)—the whole char- Amos Yong, Discerning the Spirit(s): A Pente- acter is important.7 costal-Charismatic Contribution to Christian Theology of Religions. JPT Supplement Series 20 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 7 These first two criteria were recognised in 2000). the reports of the Canberra Assembly of the 9 This is suggested by the work of liberation WCC in 1991, ‘Come, Holy Spirit, renew the theologian Samuel Rayan, Come, Holy Spirit, whole creation’ (see Michael Kinnamon (ed.), 132. Signs of the Spirit. Official Report of the Sev- 10 Donal Dorr, Mission in Today’s World enth Assembly of the WCC, Canberra, 1991 (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: The Columba Press, (Geneva: WCC, 1991), 256. 2000), 128. 96 Kirsteen Kim discern one Spirit or to distinguish knowing it (Heb. 1:14; 13:2). There are between many different spirits? In good as well as bad forces at work. A large measure my research suggests mission theology of the Holy Spirit that this depends on world view or cos- should allow us to appreciate creativity mology. Whether we talk about spirit and love wherever it is found and affirm (singular) or spirits (plural) may also whatever is true, honourable, just, indicate the difference between a philo- pure, pleasing, and commendable sophical approach and popular reli- (Philp. 4:8). gion. Furthermore, the language of The focus for the conference in ‘spirits’ may be used with widely dif- Athens was on the Spirit’s role as fering reference. However, it may be healer and reconciler. Both these min- useful to think that, in the course of istries encourage a comprehensive mission, we encounter many diverse understanding of the Holy Spirit. For spirits and powers in the world, many ‘spiritual’ has to do with medita- whether we regard these as supernat- tion, contemplation, and other reli- ural entities or natural forces, or sim- gious practices and techniques. For ply use this language as a metaphor for others, the Spirit primarily drives socio-economic powers. action for social transformation and We need the Holy Spirit to discern development. In Christian healing, we learn to hold both these aspects of the these spirits.11 We need the Spirit of Spirit’s work—presence and activ- wisdom to distinguish good from evil, ity—together. Moreover, in reconcilia- and to know with whom to work and tion work, we balance truth-telling what to fight against. We can have con- with listening, justice with peace fidence that, however powerful and because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth threatening they may be, all ‘thrones’, (Jn. 16:12-13) and also the Spirit of ‘dominions’, ‘rulers’, and ‘powers’ are love (Rom 5:5). In practice, healing only creatures of God and, at the end, and reconciliation each link the cre- will be reconciled in Christ (Col. 1:15- ative and redemptive roles of the Spirit 20). On the other hand, it may be that together12 as we see God at work by the those who are not against us are for us Spirit to bring well-being and joy in our (Mk. 9:40). At the very least, we may hearts, in the church, and in the world need to give them the benefit of the (Acts 14.17). doubt, and perhaps even cooperate So, together in the Spirit and dis- with them for specific purposes. In cerning the spirits by the criterion of showing hospitality to strangers, we Jesus Christ, we look for the coming of may be entertaining angels without the Spirit that we may catch onto—and be caught by—the Spirit’s movement in the world, which is God’s mission. 11 Justin S. Ukpong ‘Pluralism and the Prob- lem of the Discernment of Spirits’ in Emilio Castro (comp.), To the Wind of God’s Spirit: 12 John V. Taylor, The Go-Between God: The Reflections on the Canberra Theme (Geneva: Holy Spirit and the Christian Mission (London: WCC, 1991), 81. SCM Press, 1972), 25-41.