Households in Focus A Christology for Frontier Mission: A Missiological Study of Colossians by Brad Gill

Editor’s Note: This article was presented to the Asia Society for Frontier Mission, Bangkok, Thailand, October 2017.

would like to reaffirm our strategic cooperation in frontier mission by examining a rather uncommon portion of scripture for missiological reflec- tion. Cooperation emerges from the objects we love, those purposes and goals we share, and I believe that in the epistle to the Colossians the Apostle Paul I 1 offers us a christological vision that grounds our mission in a common love. Colossians as a Missiological Statement Recently I was plowing through a new book by John Flett entitled Apostolicity: The Ecumenical Question in World Christian Perspective.2 The author explained how the growing pluriformity of world Christianity should reorient our understanding of the apostolic continuity of the church. I don’t usually read books on ecumenical unity, but this one had come in the mail (since I’m an editor) and something in the review had caught my eye: that the rationale for ecumenical unity over the past century had placed limits on cross-cultural engagement and the appropriation of the gospel. Those words have missio- logical implication.

At one point towards the end of his book, in his chapter on Jesus Christ as the ground of our apostolic mission, he refers the reader to Colossians. If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Col. 3:1-4, NASB)

This particular portion of Colossians had never occurred to me as a basis for mission, and if it were not for the previous 320 pages of Flett’s book, those Brad Gill is Senior Editor of the International Journal of Frontier few verses would not have made any new impression on me. But it became the Missiology. After assisting in the genesis of my personal study of Colossians for some weeks, and I now see it founding years of the U. S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, now contains a fundamental orientation for the extension of God’s kingdom into Frontier Ventures, he served in North sensitive inter-religious frontiers. So, I would like to offer this article as a short Africa for 13 years. He is currently President of the International Society missiological reading of Colossians, one that respects both sound exegesis and for Frontier Missiology. a realistic grasp of the religious challenges we face in our modern world.

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The Colossian Predicament of philosophy and religious elements German church fell under the spell of Let me refresh your memory on this that Paul had confronted on other a Nazi ideology, or the way in which epistle. The entire letter has a typical occasions, such as the invitation to ad- 18th and 19th century American Pauline flow from initial theological dress a group of Epicurean and Stoic churches in the South built a seemingly statements to more practical guidance philosophers on that hill in Athens biblical rationale for chattel slavery. for the local believers, with a particular (Acts 17). Philosophical speculation Paul is addressing believers in Colossae, passage in 3:1–11 acting as a hinge and skepticism had created a religious but their context highlights a religious passage between Paul’s theology and vacuum in the Greek world, one not vulnerability common to us all. Paul’s pastoral injunctions. too different from our own modern pluralistic age. Oriental religions of all The Relevance to In chapter 1, Paul introduces an apologet- sorts were rolling in and generating Inter-Religious Contexts ic that includes one of the highest chris- new religious sects. Temples were on tological statements in all of scripture. every corner, and idolatry was norma- I was in China this year for the wed- And He is the image of the invisible tive. Paul’s concern was that this young ding of my second daughter, and in God, the first born of all creation. For Colossian fellowship of disciples preparation for that trip, I read widely in Him all things were created, both would be susceptible to false religious on developments in China. One in the heavens and on the earth, vis- orientations which could easily attach author, Ian Johnson in his book The ible and invisible, whether thrones or to their old and familiar worldview. Souls of China, surveyed what he calls dominions or rulers or authorities–all “The Return of Religion After Mao.”3 things have been created through Something false but resonant with Maybe those of you with ministries in Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold Asia have witnessed firsthand this rise together. He is the head of the body, of religious interest. I had been trying the church, and He is the beginning, to follow the growth of the Christian the first-born from the dead, so that movement in China, but this was my He Himself might come to have first first introduction to the way Buddhist, place in everything. For it was the They were being pulled Taoist and Confucian dogma and Father’s good pleasure for all the rituals were attracting a new gen- fullness to dwell in Him, and through into a new alchemy eration. On one occasion, I watched Him to reconcile all things to Him- young people streaming into the Lama self, having made peace through the of religiosity. Temple, the Yellow Hat Tibetan Bud- blood of His cross. (Col 1:15—20a) dhist temple in Beijing. The theory Paul establishes both the supremacy that religion is being inundated and and the fullness of Christ in response swallowed up by the flood of secularist to news that has arrived with Epaphras. ideology seemed completely inaccurate It’s apparent that certain alternative as I stood there watching hundreds religious notions are growing in Colos- their cultural ethos had a certain of Chinese young people earnestly sae and their propagation is “deluding” plausibility—“the appearance of participating in Buddhist rituals. On (2:4), “capturing” (2:8), and “defrauding” wisdom”—and they were being pulled the borders of churches across Asia, (2:18) the believers there. A cultural and towards a new alchemy of religiosity, Africa, and the Americas, are popula- religious blend of philosophy, tradition one with severe body rituals (2:23). tions where religious hunger is inten- sifying. Due to the modern diaspora of and stochia—those “elemental principles These stochia, these “ABC’s of world- peoples, we find new religious com- or spirits of the world”—have dimin- view,” were culturally specific to that munities on our doorsteps. The global ished the place of Christ (2:8, 20), and Hellenistic context, but every cultural religious landscape is changing and Paul is concerned for the discipline and world has them. It can be argued that requiring a fresh application of our stability of their faith (2:5). our modern Western world and its biblical hermeneutic. As you, therefore, have received Christ economic globalization represents a Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him, having more materialistic set of stochia. Our So, I want to examine this Colos- been firmly rooted and now being biblical hermeneutic should at the very built up in Him and established in your sian predicament through a lens faith, just as you were instructed, and least suggest to us that any and every more relevant to frontier ministry. overflowing with gratitude. (Col 2: 6,7) fellowship of believers is vulnerable to As you know, there are new incarna- the more familiar stochia of its own tional movements emerging within Colossae was a fairly typical cosmo- socio-religious world. Examples spring other religious worlds (e.g., Hindu, politan city, with a Hellenistic blend to mind: the way in which a mature Muslim, Buddhist). Like that young

International Journal of Frontier Missiology Brad Gill 95 group of believers in Colossae, these movements must contend with the aul’s primary orient­ ation here is “above,” to “elemental principles” of their own that which is “beyond.” He wanted to ground traditional socio-religious worlds. And this young church in the risen Christ. herein lies the genesis of the suspicion P of these movements today. There is a fathers pulled out what was one of the hidden with Christ in God (3:3). “Set skepticism and a fear among certain initial handheld GPS sets being sold your mind on the things that are above, churchmen and missiologists that in the commercial sector. I had never not on the things that are on the earth” these new believers, who remain situ- seen one. As we stood there overlook- (3:2). It’s a transcendent orientation, ated in their old socio-religious worlds, ing the Los Angeles valley, he was a direction that a secular age finds ir- will be unable to withstand the pull looking at his instrument, and he said, relevant, but across the world there are of their original religious worldviews. “My car is parked 12.3 miles in that both old and new stirrings of religious They must get free of them. They must direction.” Wow! That was a new kind life that actually share this same tran- extract themselves out of that socio-re- of orientation for me! scendent orientation. That seemed to be ligious world and “convert” to another. the case in Colossae. The inter-religious In the same way, Paul was offering It appears dubious that a fellowship of mix of philosophy, tradition and stochia a new christological compass to a believers can remain in an old and fa- could confuse and delude. So, Paul young movement of believers that was miliar socio-religious world and follow prioritized a certain vital reciprocity for experiencing a kind of religious vertigo. Jesus as true disciples. Can they survive these believers—it was between them- He wanted them to know where they and maintain a vibrant faith? Won’t selves and the risen Christ. They were to stood, and that meant getting a clear they be as susceptible as those believers be grounded outside of themselves. That theological orientation. First, embed- in Colossae to false religious trends in was to be their primary orientation. their society? Don’t they need a clear ded in these verses is a sense of what is apostolic “outsider” like Paul to secure behind them and what is before them. Missiological Implications them in their faith? Paul responds by We do need to appreciate our past and applying his christological teaching to our future. In the previous chapters Understanding Paul’s christological this missiological predicament. Paul has reminded them that they’ve orientation is missiologically crucial for been “buried with Him in baptism” and us especially as we encounter inter- Grounded in the Risen Christ “raised up with Him in faith,” (2:12)— religious frontiers today. First, note that and, effectually, they should have resurrection is not extraction. We are In the first four verses of chapter three, “died with Christ to the elementary raised with Christ, and our life is hidden Paul offers these Colossian believers a principles of the world” (2:20). Now in with him, but there is no sense in which further supplement to the grand chris- 3:3 he again says, “you have died with Paul is telling these believers to separate tological vision in this epistle. He wants 4 Christ and your life is hidden with from their “place-world.” Yes, there is Christ as “the Head” (2:19) to lead 5 Christ in God.” A death and resur- a kind of spiritual disembedding from them amidst the judgment and pressure rection is behind them, but in front their socio-religious world, for their of their socio-religious world (2:16). of them is a coming revelation that citizenship is in heaven. There is a new If then you have been raised up should orient their faith: “When Christ, groundedness to their identity, and it is with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the who is our life, is revealed, then you also above, where Christ is seated. But there right hand of God. Set your mind on will be revealed with Him in glory” is no immediate implication of being the things above, not on the things (3:4). In contrast to the a-historical displaced, only of being reoriented to that are on earth. For you have died, quality of other religious worlds, Paul the risen Christ. This heretical religios- and your life is hidden with Christ in is establishing that temporal sense of ity had placed Christ somewhere in the God. When Christ, who is our life, is orientation: history is important. The ladder of spiritual beings, somewhat revealed, then you also will be re- believer has experienced a divine trans- analogous to the way Christ is situ- vealed with Him in glory. (Col. 3:1—4) action, a death, and a resurrection, and ated today as “just one of ” the prophets, yet he looks forward to a full revelation avatars, or spiritual beings; but Paul’s I was reminded of an experience of that glory in Christ. Christology, as exclusive as it is, does some years ago when my son was a not expect a total disembedding of the Boy Scout and his troop was learn- Yet, in these verses, Paul’s primary ori- believer from his socio-religious context. ing orienteering. Each of the boys entation here is “above,” to that which had his compass on our hike into the is “beyond.” He wanted to ground this Secondly, Paul is grounding the au- mountains, each trying to determine young church in the risen Christ. His thority of his own apostleship in the north, south, east and west. One of the life is their life (3:4), and that life is risen Christ. All of his injunctions for

34:1—4 2017 96 A Christology for Frontier Mission: A Missiological Study of Colossians sorting out potentially deceptive or Conformed to the Image of growth in devotion. It will enable us injurious religious matters (chapter 2) Christ to also “put on a heart of compassion, were given a primary reference point kindness, humility, gentleness and I believe Paul is answering one of the patience” (3:12). in the risen Christ. Any inter-religious underlying questions in the minds encounter tends to generate a “situ- of those skeptical of any Christward The missiological priority of this trans- ational logic” that is competitive,6 and movements which continue to iden- formative reality in the lives of believ- in chapter 2 Paul has certainly ad- tify with their former socio-religious ers must not escape us. In what have dressed those false religious tendencies worlds, and that question is, “Has often been confrontational encounters in Colossae that violate the gospel. there been a real and genuine death with other religious worlds, our priority But he doesn’t get caught in a reflexive and resurrection in their lives?” In the has typically been dogmatic, proposi- logic that compares religious tradi- next verses (vv. 5–10) Paul gets specific tional formulations, but this personal tions. His orientation is not to impose with clear imperatives about what the death and transformation must be a religious paradigm that prescribes phrase “be put to death” should mean recognized as the greater apologetic. a new set of institutions and rituals in lives that are hidden in Christ: no in which they as believers need to be more immorality and impurity (v. 5), I recall the life of a Muslim head of a enculturated into; it’s more a matter of no more anger and slander (v. 8), and household, let’s call him Sam, who had orientation than imposition. no more lying (v. 9), to suggest just a turned to Christ after a long journey few. The term used here for “putting to of spiritual prompting and mission It’s a dynamic orientation that pro- death” (nekrosate) had a long history of witness. On a few occasions, I was able vides Paul the space to emphasize to witness his leadership in a small fresh themes that speak to this par- gathering of believers that began to ticular christological crisis. He brings join with him, those from his family a new emphasis on Christ being the and friends across the city. What was “head” of the church, and as such, over so interesting was that the structure all rule and authority (1:16,18; 2:19). What was so apparent of that fellowship was still typically His resurrection and seat “at the right Arab and patriarchal. In that world, hand of God” establishes his suprem- was the personal power always flows from someone acy over all the elemental principles transformation of the powerful at the center (whether that bind mankind and diminish the domestic, political, or religious). Sam rule of Christ. power he exercised. was the senior member and he ran that meeting. That believing network was Paul further develops a unique ego-centric, focused in and around one theme in Colossians on the “fullness” man’s decisions. Now, my colleagues in (pleroma) of Christ, and how that full- town were nervous about this form of ness is available to believers. religious meanings that were foreign leadership. It didn’t have the “elder- For it was the Father’s good pleasure to what Paul intended. Translation ship” they felt was required in a church for all the fullness to dwell in Him. (1:19) often demands we fill terms with new structure. He was acting more like a For in Him all the fullness of deity meaning, and that’s exactly what Paul “bishop.” That was true, but what was dwells in bodily form, and in Him you is doing. This “putting to death” was so apparent to all of us who knew Sam have been made complete (full). (2:9) not to be a self-inflicted bodily pain, or was the personal transformation of a gaining control of the body through the power he exercised. The humil- This supremacy and fullness of the abstinence, or a flagellation as prac- ity and gentleness of Sam’s manner, 8 risen Christ speaks to the spiritual ticed by ascetics. This type of morti- his capacity to foster interaction, and need that drives this false religiosity, fication and abstinence had become to defer to the council of others, was to Christ’s ability to free one from culturally and religiously plausible to obvious. There had been a death and the karma-like stranglehold of other believers in Colossae (2:23). But Paul resurrection in this man. Jesus was spiritual beings. This primary orienta- meant something very different, some- modifying and transforming his will, tion and groundedness in the resur- thing more akin to devotion, more like his whole attitude. There had been a rected Christ allows for a generative a “taking up your cross and follow- radical shifting of the center of his and creative relevance (what Dyrness ing Christ.” Again, our incorporation personality from self to Christ. Death has labeled a “hermeneutical space”)7 into the risen Christ means there is a to selfishness had taken place, and it in any encounter between a Christ and genuine dying, but in Christ there is pervaded the spirit of that small fel- other religious worlds. also a transforming power to assist our lowship. Freedom, joy, and many of the

International Journal of Frontier Missiology Brad Gill 97 gifts of the Spirit were present in that fellowship—all because of the authen- aul understands that we are being conformed tic transformation of power in Sam’s to an image, not a culture. This is an important leadership. This genuine experience of distinction in inter-religious contexts. Christ’s death and resurrection is fun- P damental to our missiological discern- cultivation of an ecclesial culture with A Compelling Ecumenical Vision ment in socio-religious contexts like all its external forms: liturgies, teaching, This formation of the image of Christ Colossae or in my case, North Africa. polity, architecture, music, etc. It’s the in our lives is given an ecumenical It will speak louder than any religious image of Christ to whom we conform perspective in v. 11, where Paul says, rhetoric or philosophical formulation. rather than some prior historic church . . . a renewal in which there is no Jew or Paul stretches the personal transforma- culture. It’s an image that causes us to Greek, circumcised and uncircumcised, tion he expects to see in believers to “put to death” certain things, and to barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, universal proportions in the next verses. “put on” other things. It’s primarily the for Christ is all and in all. (Col 3:11) He intimately links two commands transformation of life. No doubt the ex- together: “putting to death of the old perience and forms of a historic church As Paul looked across the Roman man” with a second, positive theological can operate as a splendid resource, but Empire, or what he considered the picture of “putting on the new man”: the Spirit of Christ must be allowed oikoumene (“inhabited world”) of . . . since you laid aside the old man with to impact each socio-religious context his day, he wanted to elaborate his its evil practices, and put on the new with the image of Christ. That image, christological vision with this short (self) who is being renewed to a true that new man, is actualized in the par- affirmation:Christ is all, and in all. In knowledge according to the image of ticular history of a unique people and one sentence, Paul summarized both the One who created him. (3:9, 10) they join the history of Jesus Christ— his theological and social anthropol- they become the people of God. ogy for that first century world, and, This picture has tremendous missio- This vision is not anti-structure. Just specifically, how Christ had overcome logical importance for inter-religious the common divisions of mankind: encounter, not only because of what like I witnessed in Sam’s life, the Jew, Greek, and barbarian (racial/ Paul says, but because of what he does formative structure of his fellowship ethnic/cultural); circumcision and not say. The picture here (of a new was naturally Arab, very patriarchal, non-circumcision (religious); slave and man being renewed) is a collective one, but there had been a death and resur- freeman (economic, social). and the term “man” or “humanity” is rection, a transformation, and the life preferred here to the term “self ” (which of Christ had affected the indigenous Commentators indicate that this little carries more of an individual connota- structure that emerged. There’s a natu- statement, Christ is all and in all, is most tion).9 This new humanity (or fellow- ral, self-organizing nature to the gospel likely a way to simply say, “Christ is all ship of believers) is being progressively as it works out the image of a new hu- that matters.”10 But notice it has two transformed into the image (eikon) manity. I believe Paul has given us an parts: the first (“Christ is all”) may refer “of the One who created him.” This important plumb-line with this use of again to Paul’s emphasis throughout is a reference to the original creation image, one that opens up cultural pos- this epistle on the “fullness” (plerouma) of Adam “in God’s own likeness,” but sibilities when it comes to the structure of deity found in Christ (1:19; 2:9), and commentators understand Paul to be of the church in new frontier regions. how this totality in Christ is so crucial referring to Christ, the new man, the This distinction of image or culture can when believers begin to succumb to image of God (see 1:15). It is the image be determinative in religious situations any cultural or religious influence that of Christ that renews our knowledge where conversion is so easily under- would diminish Christ; but, secondly, by the actualization of a new humanity stood as leaving one socio-religious the “and in all” indicates the destiny of that is conformed to his image. world and joining or assimilating to an- all believers to enter this wealth, this other. So many religious communities completeness, this fullness found in him. Image versus Culture today are intensifying their boundaries This isthe indwelling Christ, the very Paul understands that we are being with the symbols of their faith, espe- Spirit of Christ, crossing every conceiv- conformed to an image, not a culture. cially in antithesis to “Christian” (read able division or barrier and dwelling in This is an important distinction in Western) religious culture. It is a mis- us with his life. This is Paul’s ecumenical inter-religious contexts. Paul draws siological imperative that we rediscover vision: as an apostle he wants to cooper- a picture of a new humanity being Paul’s picture of the image of Christ ate with this incarnate Christ as he fills conformed by their knowledge of as a new humanity being actualized in believers from every social, cultural and the image of Christ, and it is not the modern inter-religious settings. religious segment of global societies.

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This ecumenical vision of Paul has now expressed in the continuity of mission.” ritual, liturgy, teaching, and theology). been stretched across twenty centuries Western Christianity has understood Paul knew this interpretive lens was and includes peoples and societies Paul its apostolic continuity through an in- happening with Jewish believers as could not have imagined. There are a terpretive lens on the New Testament; they encountered the Gentile response lot of studies on the present plurality of but herein lies a problem, according to to Christ, and again, on the part of the world Christianity, but the global eth- John Flett (whose work I referred to in sophisticated Greek believers when nology of God’s people was conveyed my introduction). Our understanding they related to the barbarians. We face twenty centuries ago in Paul’s apostolic of unity through a faithfulness to New this same phenomenon when we speak vision. The image of Christ, reflected in Testament origins “sets the parameters of a Western Christendom. A received that new man, would even be actu- of Christian identity.” Flett speaks to orthodoxy can prevail, an orthodoxy alized in the life of the “Scythian,” the way a global church has ignored the that governs according to its historical transforming fellowships of believers present pluriformity of world Chris- church culture.14 It grounds one in a in that savage society situated around tianity in constructing true Christian single historical narrative that follows the Black Sea on the far frontier of identity. He suggests that an underlying the contours of a supposed center of the Roman empire. Paul believed that perspective on apostolicity will always Christian power and the controls of form Christ would indwell them just as he favor historical continuity, and in doing and interpretation managed by such.15 had the Jew and the Greek. so it places an evaluative measure and When apostolicity is defined by structural limits on any new community Paul’s vision of a “new Adam” does naming the range of practices and of faith that wishes to be received as a not deny difference, but simply that institutions that belong to an apostolic an orientation to the risen Christ tradition, it places limits on the way allows us to transcend these divisions the gospel can be legitimately appro- without necessarily compromising priated in new contexts. human identities. He’s not affirming some kind of cultural homogeneity, This concern for limits, this illegiti- nor an ecclesial homogeneity. To af- mate constriction on Christ’s presence firm oneness is not to affirm sameness. To affirm oneness and working, is where Flett’s observa- The oneness is a spiritual unity that is is not to affirm tions of world Christianity converge grounded in the risen Christ and his with our concerns for releasing min- being. We know that elsewhere Paul sameness. istry in new frontier mission con- recognized cultural distinctions—for texts. There a wonderful convergence “the Jews demanded signs, and the happening between these lessons of world Christianity and the challenges Greek demands wisdom.” These 16 pervasive social, cultural and religious of frontier mission. We’re rediscov- divisions were to be spiritually tran- ering how to be grounded differently, scended in Christ who is all and in all. not in one particular church tradition, member of Christ’s body. Flett believes but in the risen Christ. Flett says it so Cooperating with the Indwelling this unrecognized emphasis on apostol- eloquently and succinctly: ic continuity will continue to limit how The church finds this identity in the Christ we understand cross-cultural mission history of Jesus Christ. This is the pos- We would do well to reflect on the im- and the appropriation of the gospel in sibility of historical continuity, for it is 13 plications of Paul’s statement, “Christ frontier contexts. the continuity of the resurrected Je- in all. ” We may need to admit that sus Christ and his abundance through Flett has pointed out this hermeneuti- 17 the present vision of global Christian- which every history is redeemed. cal bias in the Western church, and ity11 can minimize the significance of I believe many in frontier situations This is the continuity of an indwell- Christ’s indwelling in receptor popula- today have felt this interpretive glare. ing Christ who enters the particular tions in frontier settings.12 It lodges a heavy and precipitous ac- history of each people and incorporates Paul’s vision assumes a unity in the cusation of syncretism. Flett is brilliant those histories into the history of Jesus body of Christ (3:11), and anticipates in his description of an ecclesiology Christ. This a perspective for the final a certain continuity through history that prioritizes its historical continu- frontiers. It’s a christological orienta- until that day when he is revealed (3:4). ity, that reduces its imagination to a tion that grounds every young ecclesial The English term used today to refer single trajectory in church history, movement beyond itself. They’re not to this historical continuity is the word with all its associated institutional to be primarily oriented towards an apostolicity—“a faithfulness to origins methods or forms (read architecture, historic church, but to the supremacy

International Journal of Frontier Missiology Brad Gill 99 and fullness of the risen Christ (chapter 1). It is this grounding that will buttress aul’s sensibility here is to focus intentionally and them against the ideological pull of entirely on a redeemed associational life that is their socio-religious world (chapter 2). a very clear embodiment of the risen Christ. This important text in chapter 3:1–11 P calls the apostolic worker and the examine these conditions any further, What’s interesting is that these verses indigenous local fellowship to ask three whether it be the social impact of don’t seem to reference or prioritize primary questions: globalization, the crisis and opportu- a congregational form. Ralph Martin 1. Are we grounded in the risen nity of modern diaspora, or the deep suggests in his commentary on v. 17, Christ? fear of displacement that results from where Paul says, “Do everything in the unfortunate legacy of Western the name of the Lord Jesus,” that the 2. Are we being conformed to the civilization (read Christendom). This believer is “placing the totality of his image of Christ? global kaleidoscope of change leads life under Christ’s Lordship.” 3. Are we cooperating with the to religious struggle and reaction that The reference should not be confined indwelling Christ? then affects the interpretive exercise simply to acts of worship performed These are the questions around which of any young and emerging ekklesia. in a church service but embraces we can cooperate as widely divergent Each of you may be able to confirm the whole of life. However, there is ministries on the frontiers. And I this from your own contexts. a sense in which every phase of life believe these questions can free us to is an act of worship and all our ac- explore together the vital forms Christ tivities, even the most mundane and The Redemptive Transformation routine, can be offered up as part of is affirming and establishing in dif- of Relations the “living sacrifice” we are called ficult socio-religious contexts. 20 In 3:12 and following, Paul translates upon to make (Rom. 12:1). his Christology into ecclesiology—and Ekklesia and Socio-Religious I should note that in v. 15 Paul does it’s an ecclesiology that is vital, es- make reference to the “body,” yet this Reality sential and appropriate for Christward is a reference to a broader Oneness, Throughout this study my assumption movements that remain in their own and quite a minimal statement when is that Paul faced a religious predica- socio-religious worlds. He begins with compared to the sister letter to the ment in Colossae that shaped his entire their identity as “chosen of God, holy Ephesians. There the “body of Christ” epistle. Although somewhat akin to Je- and beloved.” (v. 12) These are deep is given a fuller description of gifts and sus’ situation when encountering a Sa- and rich Old Testament terms that organic reality (Eph. 4); but, here in maritan population ( John 4), or Paul’s identify this Colossian fellowship with these verses of chapter three, Paul does situation when facing Greek philoso- God’s covenantal community through- not take the opportunity to expand on phers (Acts 17), Paul’s apologetic here out history.18 Again, they have a clear this organic metaphor. Neither does he is more ecclesiological. He is helping compass on their past legacy, and the recommend an institutional structure the ekklesia in Colossae deal with their spiritual resources available to them in of leadership as he does in his pastoral pluralistic religious context, which first that spiritual lineage. epistles to Timothy and Titus. While of all, required a good Christology But, then, Paul prioritizes the ecclesial I may be faulted for arguing from si- (chapter 1–3). But, then, in 3:12–4:1, experience for situations that have lence, Paul’s sensibility here is to focus Paul begins to clarify his priorities for heightened inter-religious encoun- intentionally and entirely on a re- a believing fellowship in this type of ters; that is, to “put on” Christ—to be deemed associational life that is a very religious tension. Paul knows that these clothed in Christ. He first describes clear embodiment of the risen Christ. Colossians are still in a process where the redemptive transformation of rela- It does not require an articulation they must figure out their identity in tions 19 that should take place among in all its institutional form. We can Christ amidst the reality of their socio- these chosen ones: a heart of compas- assume that some formal structure is religious world. Any sense of ekklesia sion, kindness, humility, gentleness, already in place; but, I would make the will emerge out of that process. patience, forgiveness, love, peace, case that Paul believes this redemptive Again, let me emphasize, that I believe singing, and teaching. These should transformation of relations actu- modern religious conditions require characterize relationships in this re- ally takes place first and foremost in that we find places in scripture like deemed association (vv. 12–17). This is grassroots ekklesia. He is calling them Colossians that can help emerging the risen Christ, the image of the new to actualize the new man, the image of movements foster an appropriate man, that should be embodied among Christ, in their relations, and in doing ekklesia. Time does not permit us to Colossian believers. so to express a corporate Christology,

34:1—4 2017 100 A Christology for Frontier Mission: A Missiological Study of Colossians the embodied Christ, in the socio- Ekklesia and the Hindu Context each other. But when structure becomes the center of focus and not people, then religious reality of Colossae. This kind of ecclesial experience of “as- all kinds of problems come one by one. sociational life centered on the supremacy What we started in spirit will end up in “Hermeneutical Space” and of Christ” was addressed a couple of flesh. This is inevitable in any man-made Ekklesia weeks ago at the ISFM meetings by Paul structure, as structure needs rule and Pennington, who has had recent interac- regulations for smooth functioning.24 We do have a certain tendency as tion with Dyanand Bharati, an indig- Christians in the West when it comes enous leader among Jesus-centered fami- Bharati and others are working out to understanding the term “body.” We lies in Hindu India. Some may know this ekklesia in what Bill Dyrness has don’t think of this as a broader reality wonderful brother as the author of Living called a “hermeneutical space.” These of redeemed and transformed relation- Water and Indian Bowl. Paul interviewed spaces are where believers attend ships. Instead, it immediately suggests Bharati on the matter of ekklesia and fel- . . . to the emergent interaction be- a formal incorporation into a bounded lowship, since his kind of loose non-insti- tween the qualities of the gospel and religious membership with an historic tutional association can be understood as the (religious) communities’ inherited 22 dispositions, allows a new, generative Christian legacy—we might call it a “churchless” Christianity. Building off space to come into view . . . In this a “congregation.” And this ecclesial of Bharati’s original work on this leaven- new hermeneutical space a new form structure emerged in the socio-religious ing of Christ in India,23 this paper dispels context of the Roman world. But, again, of Christian (I would prefer “Christ- the notion that Bharati is promoting ward”) discipleship becomes possible, let’s look at the text: the incorporation, and along the way new insight into the baptism that Paul is emphasizing in both the work of Christ and the value this epistle, is an incorporation above, of Hindu and Sikh practices emerges.25 into the risen Christ.21 His body, the embodiment of Christ, is here primarily Like Paul they are placing a premium expressed in the redemptive transfor- In this on personal devotion that leads to a mation of relationships. It’s a fellow- total transformation of life and rela- ship centered on Christ, expressing “hermeneutical space” tionships. But they need some space to his resurrected life, and not primarily a new form determine just what its structure will be. a reference to some kind of bounded organizational life. There is certainly of discipleship Ekklesia and Korea a sense of collective identity (note becomes possible. Pennington makes the interesting 4:12–16), but its primary expression is a comment that “the West’s propensity life of redeemed relationships. for structure, organization and external Again, contextually we need to appre- conformity is itself partially a prod- ciate Paul’s inter-religious sensibility a more private and individualized life uct of its culture.” The long history of here. I believe he’s offering a way to among believers in Jesus. A fellowship of the congregational form as a neces- realize “church” that transcends socio- redemptive association is encouraged and sary bounded expression of voluntary religious tension. The religious conflict expected. Yes, there can be an emphasis Christian association is so embedded in in Colossae was what Paul was focused on more individualized devotion (bhakti) our civic American culture that we are on missiologically, and that mission among followers of Yesu, but Bharati unable to treat it objectively. Mark Noll, purpose shaped the essential aspects of reinforces the priority of the redemptive the distinguished evangelical historian, ekklesia. Rather than focusing on the transformation of relations which we see has hypothesized that a certain set of body in its more corporate and formal Paul encouraging in Colossae. conditions in 19th century America led to a certain type of church structure—a structure, he chose to emphasize Bharati is quite explicit in resisting a voluntary organizational “template”— Christ as the “head” of the church and congregational experience which he and where those same conditions supreme over all authority and power: calls “meeting-based spirituality.” What are present in today’s non-Western He is also head of the body, the he sees happening in congregational (majority world) contexts, the structure church. (1:18) life in the more traditional churches of of the church mimics that American The head, from whom the entire body, India is not the ecclesial life he wants template.26 Noll spends a whole chapter being supplied and held together by to press for in their association. addressing the similarity of conditions the joints and ligaments, grows with a I, too, recognize the initial need of some in which American and Korean church growth which is from God. (2:19) kind of structure or form to link with movements developed.27

International Journal of Frontier Missiology Brad Gill 101

John Kim, in a masterful effort to re-examine the original incarnational aul’s ecclesiological apologetic for an inter-religious dynamics of the Korean movement to context contains a sensibility that focuses on oikos Christ, unconsciously confirms Noll’s as the strategic institution. thesis when he says P . . . dependency on the West has church (ekklesia) that is in her house ancestors can relate to our historic creed- become very common in almost all (oikon).” The oikos appears to be the al understanding of “the communion of forms of Korean Christianity includ- default institution where grassroots Jesus saints.” Chan is calling all theologians to ing theology, doctrinal faith confes- movements experience the redemptive a radical accountability, and appealing sions, worship forms, Christian life- transformation of relations. for a new “hermeneutical space” in the styles, and even gospel songs and emergence of ekklesia in Asia. hymns. Many Korean Christians are Oikos at the Grassroots of now merely recipients and consumers I offer you this missiological reading of those Western forms of Christian- Movements of Colossians in the hope that it will ity in a passive way.28 In 3:18–4:1, Paul focuses on this initiate a broader “group hermeneutic” between Majority World and West- But now, Kim recognizes that this Ko- primary social institution: oikos (Grk., ern world ministers of the gospel. I rean church is confronting newer condi- household, family, home). Rather than believe our ability to biblically interpret tions in the 21st century. Simultaneously, the congregation, Paul gives more im- together is fundamental to our coop- he and a cohort of Korean scholars are mediate priority to God’s action in the eration in reaching into sensitive socio- taking a look at their history in an ef- family. The redemptive transformation in religious contexts. And here, in Colos- fort to find a fresh and original way to ecclesial life should both affirm and re- sians, it is Christ—his resurrection, his re-contextualize their church for what contextualize family relations, and a new image and his indwelling—who is our currently appears to be a more hardened redemptive reciprocity is to be witnessed theological and missiological compass population. Kim, like Bharati, wants to between husband and wife, between among frontier peoples. IJFM open up what Dyrness calls a herme- parents and children, and between slave neutical space, to allow a “new generative and master. Obligations were not just for space” where a “new form of Christian children, wives and slaves, but for mas- Endnotes ters, husbands and parents as well. But 1 discipleship becomes possible” in reach- I refer here to Oliver O’Donovan’s that’s the subject of a different article. ing the remaining secular-Buddhist insightful reflections in his first chapter of Suffice it to say, Paul’s christological and population. Kim discovers, like Noll, a Common Objects of Love (Grand Rapids: ecclesiological apologetic for an inter- Eerdmans, 2002), which were the publica- broader range of ecclesial dynamics in religious context like Colossae contains tion of his 2001 Stab Lectures. the late nineteenth century genesis of the 2 a sensibility that focuses on oikos as the John Flett, Apostolicity: The Ecumeni- Korean church. Those hidden compo- strategic institution. And it appears to be cal Question in World Christian Perspective nents are missed in the more conven- at the frontline of God’s kingdom across (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016). tional explanations that emphasize John 3 religious frontiers today. Ian Johnson, The Souls of China: The Nevius’ Three-Self Method. But unlike Return of Religion After Mao (New York: Noll, Kim finds a structural distinctive I will add just one point of emphasis Pantheon Books, 2017). 4 in that early movement among Bud- from Asia. Simon Chan, a systematic The idea of “place-world” is bor- dhists that he believes could reinvigorate theologian from Singapore, in his new rowed from Willie James Jennings in his mission today. In what appears more like book Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking book, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, where he uses the Bharati’s leavening movement in India, 29 the Faith from the Ground Up, notes terminology to describe the consequences of Kim observes “oikos movements,” i.e., how the household codes in Pauline displacement, or a person’s loss of rooted- home-based Jesus movements led by Ko- epistles resonate with Confucian prin- ness in a particular land, (New Haven: Yale rean laity, who had that cultural-insider ciples of family relations. He suggests University, 2010), 24–59. quality. Noll’s American template seems that family/home/oikos should be the 5 This idea of disembedding is taken to apply more to the Korean churches of key organizing principle in Asian theol- from Anthony Giddens in Modernity and the post-war period in the 20th century, ogy, and that it should guide witness and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late but Kim’s analysis of the earliest period mission to the remaining unreached of Modern Age (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1991), 17–20. He uses this term in his treat- of Korean church history brings us Asia. He sees oikos as the primal reality ment of modernization and “the lifting-out back to the origins of a movement, and that should frame a grassroots theology of social relations from local contexts.” I am this emphasis on oikos resonates with that would even include a new Asian suggesting that the trust of expert systems what we see here in Colossians. In Col. appreciation of the Trinity, and a new which can disembed us socially from our 4:15, Paul says, “Greet Nympha and the appreciation for how the honoring of local ties is analogous to the way our trust in

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Jesus Christ can spiritually disembed us from 17 Flett, Apostolicity, 328. Bharati, Dyanand local ties. Conversion should be recognized 18 Moule, Colossians and Philemon, 122, 2004 Living Water and Indian Bowl. Pas- as a spiritual disembedding, a lifting out and Ralph P. Martin, Colossians and Philemon, adena, CA: William Carey Library. of either an individual or group from one’s The New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Chan, Simon immediate relations by an identification with Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1973), 109–110. 2014 Grassroots Asian Theology: Think- 19 ing the Faith from the Ground Up. Christ and his body. I have lifted this phrase from 6 Downers, Grove, IL: IVP Academic. The idea of“situational logic” is treated Alistair McFadyen’s excellent work, A Call Dyrness, William A. extensively by Margaret Archer, Culture and to Personhood: A Christian Theory of the in- 2016 Insider Jesus: Theological Reflections Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory dividual in Social Relationships (Cambridge (Cambridge University Press, 1988), and on New Christian Movements. University Press, 1990), 113–150. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. offers an insightful analysis of the structural 20 Martin, Colossians and Philemon, 117. and social implications of inter-religious Flett, John G. 21 Moule suggests a “daring leap” in Paul’s contexts which display the same level of 2016 Apostolicity: The Ecumenical Ques- conception of “body” in writing Colossians: tion in World Christian Perspective. contradiction we see here in Colossians. “What is important is the daring conception of Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. 7 William Dyrness, in Insider Jesus: the Body of Christ as his limbs. Whatever may Giddens, Anthony Theological Reflections on New Christian have been the pre-Christian uses of the term 1991 Modernity and Self-Identity: Self Movements (Downers Grove, IL: IVP ‘body’ and ‘limbs’ as metaphors for a collective and Society in the Late Modern Academic, 2016), introduces the term “her- Age. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. meneutical space” as essentially the latitude whole with integrated parts, here is something Jennings, Willie James necessary for a process of discernment in new and different: Christians are not ‘the body 2010 The Christian Imagination: Theol- inter-religious encounter. of Christians,’ nor merely limbs of one another 8 (though they are that), but the body and limbs ogy and the Origins of Race. New C. F. D. Moule, The Epistles to the Haven: Yale University. Colossians and Philemon, The Cambridge of Christ.” Colossians and Philemon, 6. 22 Johnson, Ian Greek Testament Commentary (Cambridge Paul Pennington, “Mandali and Sat- sang: Dyanand Bharati on Expressions of 2017 The Souls of China:The Return of University Press, 1958), 114. Religion After Mao. New York: 9 Ekklesia, Fellowship and Community,” an Moule, 119. Pantheon Books. unpublished paper presented at ISFM 2017, 10 Moule, 121. Kim, John September 16, 2017, Dallas, TX, USA. 11 Flett cites Lamin Sanneh who 2016 “A Reflection on Insider Movements 23 Dyanand Bharati, Living Water and makes the distinction between “global in Korean Church History.” IJFM Indian Bowl (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Christianity” and “world Christianity,” the 33:4, (Winter 2016): 167–173. Library, 2004). Martin, Ralph P. former being a concern “for the faithful 24 replication of Christian forms and patterns Pennington, “Mandali and Satsang,” 5. 1973 Colossians and Philemon, The 25 developed in Europe.” Apostolicity, 140. Dyrness, Insider Jesus, 90. New Century Bible Commentary. 26 Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 12 Scott Sunquist gives his perspective on For a review of Mark Noll’s perspec- McFadyen, Alistair I. the indwelling Spirit of God as the person of tive see chapter seven of his book, The New 1990 The Call to Personhood: A Chris- the Trinity who initially works on the religious Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith(Downers tian Theory of the individual in frontier. Understanding Christian Mission: Social Relationships. Cambridge Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 109–125. Participation in Suffering and Glory (Grand University Press. He suggests conditions of individual self-fash- Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 259–268. Moule, C. F. D. 13 ioning; comfortable employment of commerce; Flett, Apostolicity, 15–16. 1957 The Epistles to the Colossians and 14 voluntary associations; personal appropriation Flett treats extensively this prevalent Philemon, The Cambridge Greek of sacred writings; a more plastic, utilitarian at- idea that “the church is a culture” in his Testament Commentary. Cam- titude to identity; a readiness to mingle ethnic chapter 3, “Culture as the Nature of Apos- bridge University Press. groups; innovation over tradition. Noll, Mark A. tolic Continuity,” in Apostolicity, 103–137. 27 15 Flett, 320. Noll, Chapter 9, “What Korean Be- 2009 The New Shape of World Christi- lievers Can Learn from American Evangeli- 16 I want to commend the works of anity: How American Experience cal History,” American Experience, 151–168. Reflects Global Faith. Downers two Africans, Lamin Sanneh and Kwame 28 Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Bediako, and two African mission historians, John Kim, “A Reflection on Insider Pennington, J. Paul Harold Turner and Andrew Walls, whose Movements in Korean Church History,” 2017 Christian Barriers to Jesus: Con- insights into Christward movements in IJFM 33:4, (Winter 2016): 171. 29 Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theol- versations and Questions from the Africa are so compelling for us who are on Indian Context. (Pasadena, CA: ogy: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up new frontiers today. They re-examine older William Carey Library. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), frontiers from the past two centuries and Sunquist, Scott 76–81, 188–197. advocate voices which were initially devalued 2013 Understanding Christian Mission: and ignored. They eloquently call us to hear References Participation in Suffering and Glory. and respect the indwelling Christ who was Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. speaking to these African populations. Their Archer, Margaret observations from an emerging world Chris- 1988 Culture and Agency: The Place of tianity can buttress our ventures into difficult Culture in Social Theory. Cam- and uncharted religious territory. bridge University Press.

International Journal of Frontier Missiology