RethinkingOurStory

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The word “theology” comes from two Greek roots, theos and logos, “God” and “word.” We hear the Greek word logos at the end of all fields of study; biology, the study of bios, life, anthropology, the study of anthropos,human beings, sociology, the study of society. The Greek word logos means more than the English word, “word.” It means all the thought that can be constructed in words, all the ideas we can think about concepts, all the constructs we create to contain a thought, an idea, an understanding.

When we put the word for God, theos, with the word logos, we are saying something that cannot be said. Theology is the attempt to contain God in mental constructs, thoughts, and understandings. The very word “theology” sets up its own internal dissonance. God, is ineffable, beyond our ability to contain in thought or construct. Theology uses thoughts and constructs to contain God.That’s a succinct statement of the problem we’ve been grappling with for the duration of this project. Nowhere is this dilemma more troubling than the constructs we create to talk about Jesus saving us from our sin.

Recognizing that our quest for God exists in a realm that cannot be talked about, our Christian faith has a rich tradition of spirituality that functions beyond words, beyond ideas, beyond thoughts, apophatic spirituality, we’ve called it. In the Eastern Orthodox church we chant and gaze at icons. In the Western contemplative tradition, we practice lectio divina, a form of Christian meditation. In the Charismatic wing of the church, practice praying in tongues, a language of prayer.

Yes, we have a tradition of spirituality beyond words, beyond logos. But we also have a tradition of kataphatic theology, a spirituality rooted in words. This too, is a rich part of our spiritual heritage. Kataphatic spirituality pursues God by using word metaphors. We form thoughts; “God is kind of like this or kind of like that.”

We awaken ourselves to experience the Divine by thinking thoughts, and this is a very good, very helpful form of spirituality. But, if we take our metaphors too seriously, if we take our ideas or our thought constructions too seriously, we turn the constructs themselves, into our God. This, the ancients warn us, is idolatry. When we reduce God to something we can hold or touch or contain, this is the gravest of spiritual errors.

Many contemporary Christians forget that the most heinous sin in the eyes of Bible-writers was not atheism. No, the most heinous sin to them was idolatry. Doubting the existence of God received some attention in the scripture, but reducing God to something that human beings could contain, that was the most grievous of errors, the the thing they understood would most damage one’s soul.

In this post, I will suggest some mental constructs to help us understand and experience the words “Jesus saves us from sin.” Let us not err in believing that once we’ve fashioned these constructs, that they are reality. Let us not believe that we understand how forgiveness for sin works, what it means, or it’s full depth or breadth. Salvation from sin exists in the dimension of the Divine, and as such, exists in the realm of the ineffable. It is a transcendent truth, an uncontainable truth. And notwithstanding our Protestant history of fighting amongst one another over who got it right, these are only metaphors, nothing more.

So we begin.

Earlier in this section, we spent considerable time talking about the substitutionary atonement theory. This prominent historical metaphor for salvation, we said, has some glaring, usually unspoken, problems. Simply restated, Jesus’ death was a sacrifice in the vein of Hebrew Law, and as the Lamb of God, Jesus death assuaged God’s wrath against humanity for their sin through the shedding of innocent blood. We outlined the problems with this, in that it makes God unreliable, capricious, angry, and unjust.

I want to underscore that the substitutionary theory of the atonement can be very helpful. It is based on several ancient scripture texts, and it helps us embrace some important spiritual truths. For example, it tells us that while grace is free, it is not cheap, it is costly. This is very helpful. However, we must keep in mind that it is only a metaphor and metaphors break down when they are pressed too far.

This way of talking about sin and salvation works well to help us think through one set of questions, but when applied to another set of questions, doesn’t work at all. Recognizing this, through the centuries the church had developed a whole bevy of Stories to help us think about sin and salvation, to think about that which cannot be thought about.

1.  Ransom

The most ancient way of telling the story of sin and salvation is called the Ransom Theory of the Atonement. As we’ve discussed, in the aftermath of Jesus’ death and resurrection, people’s categories of reality were shattered. Death, it appeared, is an illusion, and life wins. Love, it appeared, is more powerful than hate. Grace, it appeared, is the defining nature of reality. Wow!  We didn’t know! Something profound happened to them as they experienced the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and they were casting about trying to explain it.

To understand how the idea of “ransom”  was helpful to the ancients, we need to understand a bit about their world. At that time, ransom had a different context than it does today. Today, kidnapping is a crime, and the primary motivation to commit it is to gain a financial payout in the end. In ancient times, however, things weren’t quite so refined. Kidnapping was less a crime, and more a business transaction. Kidnapping was for the purpose of building up a flagging labor pool. “We need slaves to take care of business around here, let’s go to war.” “We need women to bear and raise children, to cook, clean, let’s go off to war!”

Once an enemy group kidnapped a loved one, the family found themselves smack in the middle of a business transaction. If the price was too costly, they could either forgo the loved one and let them live their lives serving as slaves, or they could gather the buy-back funds, and try and get them back. The slave-holder had a considerable investment in risk and future returns for his endeavor, and was in no hurry to send loved ones back. Of course, money talks, and a payment could always be made. “Want your son, daughter, father, mother back? All it takes is the right price.”

This kind of transaction was not an uncommon, and was understood by all. In that context, the new Christians embraced this social norm as a metaphor to talk about what was happening to them. “It’s like I was enslaved to sin,” they said, “enslaved to my lesser nature, enslaved to my false self, enslaved to a conquering foe. And now, it’s like Jesus has paid a ransom to free me. Jesus’ act of selfless love and sacrifice delivered me from my captivity to the lesser demons that have driven my life, driven my soul. I’m free!  I’m free!  I’m free.”

You can see how this would be a powerful metaphor, a powerful way of talking about, and deepening one’s experience of God’s redemption. But again, any metaphor breaks down. If this story was the Story, we’d have to ask to whom is ransom is paid. To evil?  To the devil? And if so, how is it that God, from whom comes all heaven and earth, could ever “owe” a ransom to anybody? But again we must keep in mind, only a metaphor.

2.  Christus Victor

The second Story that helped the ancients talk about their experience is called the Christus Victor theory of the atonement. Even though the penal substitution theory has been the dominant story since 1895 and the Niagara Bible Conference, the Ransom Story has been the most common Story through all of Christian history.

In it, the enemy isn’t sin, it’s death. Of course, sin is still in the mix.  Sin’s wages are, after all, death. The Garden story tells us that sin and death are so intimately related that if death is conquered, sin is conquered along with it.

By going to the cross and dying, this Story goes, by going to the grave and then rising from the dead, Jesus conquered death, one time, for all to come. In doing so, he demonstrated to us, the true nature of things. He demonstrated to us the redemptive power of God. He demonstrated to us the order of things that is to come. He demonstrated to us our ultimate destiny. Paul asks death, “Where is your victory?  Where is your sting?”

Christ defeated death for all humanity, becoming the firstborn from death, and demonstrating the future before all of us, to be reborn from the dead. All of us, like Jesus, will conquer death, and by implication, ultimately conquer the sin nature, the false self, the lesser nature. Again, you can see how this way of telling the Story, was also compelling. It speaks to the ultimate victory over that which crushes the human experience. Death does not win. Sin does not win. Evil does not win. Instead, God’s Spirit within us, God’s Spirit in all the universe, wins.

Today we may weep in sorrow over the pains of sin and death, but tomorrow joy comes. Tomorrow our tears are wiped away. Tomorrow our enemy will be vanquished, our enemy will be destroyed. We saw it in Jesus, and we await it in our own experience.

3.  Perfect Penitent

The Perfect Penitent Story of the atonement starts with the question, “If God wants to forgive us, why doesn’t he just forgive us?” What’s the need for death, blood, the cross, the whole ransom-paid, sacrifice-made thing? Why not just say “your sins are forgiven?” That’s what Jesus and the apostles did. Why doesn’t God do it that simply?

This way of telling the Story responds to that question and tells us that the sin-salvation package is not just about being forgiven by God. It’s about being transformed to the very depth of our souls. It’s not about being forgiven by God for the bad thing we did, it’s about being changed so that badness isn’t so woven into our nature, into our daily lives.

To experience this kind of transformation, requires we experience another spiritual keystone; repentance. To be truly transformed, we sinners must repent, we must turn from the path we are walking, and we must walk a new one.

But that’s the rub. Repenting, changing the path one travels; we’re not very good at it. We’re not really able to turn and walk a new way of life, because deep down, some part of us is quite content with sin. Hatred may feel bad, but part of it feels good. Mistreating others feels bad, but part of it feels good. Exploiting other people feels bad, but a little bit of it feels very good. And so, turning away from a lesser-self path, and walking a true-self path is very difficult, indeed impossible over a lifetime.

In this Story, Jesus willingly accepted death when he could easily have escaped it. He did so to help the whole human race do what they couldn’t do, repent. Wen he did, he became a repent-er on behalf of all of humanity. He willingly submitting himself to unjust condemnation and punishment, acting out perfect repentance on our behalf. “This is how one changes paths, this how one repents,” he was demonstrating. “I have done it for you, now you continue along in this vein.”

4. Powerful Weakness

Finally, many Christians have understood Jesus saving them from sin through the Powerful Weakness Story. This Story keys in on the truth that vulnerability is strength.

By making himself vulnerable on the cross, by accepting suffering at the hands of Rome and Israel alike, by not reacting with violence as his disciples suggested, by not rallying the people to revolution as the religious leaders feared, Jesus’ vulnerability demonstrated God’s loving heart.

A key passage in this telling of the Story, was uttered by Jesus on the cross. “Lord, forgive them. They don’t understand what they’re doing.” By making himself vulnerable, and willingly suffering instead of fighting back, Jesus demonstrated God’s goodness and forgiveness, and in the end, this powerful weakness wins.By willingly accepting suffering, Jesus awakens humanity to reconciliation with God’s Truth, God’s ways.

The Roman centurion at the foot of the cross watched Jesus die. He understood the rebellions led by other Jewish messiahs, he understood that Jesus willingly went another way. He saw in that moment, the corruption of the Jewish and Roman power structures alike, and articulated the Powerful Weakness Story clearly. “This is the Son of God. This is the heart of God. This is way of God. Love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, these are the Divine.” And his heart is transformed, and he is saved.

Violence, vengeance, retaliation, domination, control, manipulation, and corruption are all revealed for the impotence and feebleness that they are. Like a puffer-fish, they expand themselves to look daunting but in the end, they are all show, no substance. In making himself vulnerable, and sacrificing himself in weakness, Jesus becomes powerful, transformative, and potent.In the weakness of the cross, Jesus is revealed to be strong, and love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness are revealed for their potency, their strength, and their staying power.

Conventional thinking would call this way of telling the Story nonsense. Conventional thinking gets stuff done by coercion and force. But Jesus reveals these paper tigers to be self-defeating in the end. In the end, Love wins, mercy wins, sacrifice wins. What appears weakness is actually strength. What appears foolish, Paul tells us, turns out to be wisdom in the end. The cross demonstrates this clearly.

The salvation of the cross is a call to Christians to live the same principle in their own lives. Human power, arrogance, and pride (especially religious pride) are empty promises with no legs to go the distance. Our shared illusion is that we can build our lives, even build God’s Kingdom our own way, on our own timetable, with clever techniques again and again, just screws things up. On the cross, Jesus calls his followers to the wisdom of the ancient Truths, to the power resident in the apparent weakness of Love, grace, mercy and Truth. Weakness wins. Love wins. Grace wins. Forgiveness wins.

So, there are four metaphors for helping us experience Jesus saving from sin.

• Ransom Story
• Christus Victor Story
• Perfect Penitent Story
• Powerful Weakness Story

None of them carry the negative implications of the penal substitution Story, but again, they are metaphors only, and consequently, if pushed to far, will break down themselves. Next week we’ll conclude this section. I’ll introduce one more way of telling the Story of sin and salvation, and I’ll tell you which metaphor I find most helpful when I think about Jesus saving me from my sin.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 2:10 pm and is filed under 6-What Happened?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.