In the course of my Christian walk I have become increasingly aware of what I call "Christianisms". A "Christianism" is a saying or way of thinking that is prevalent among believers, but which has no biblical basis. Sometimes it may even be antithetical to biblical teaching! We often pick up these sayings/ideas from our culture and then pass them on to one another without even realizing what we're doing. One of the reasons I am so dedicated to studying the Bible is that as I am exposed to God's Truth, I find areas where I need to change not only my own thinking, but also how I communicate God's Truth to others.
I am also thankful to the authors I read. They often point out "Christianisms" I had not previously thought about. Right now I'm reading Graeme Goldsworthy's "Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture". I don't necessarily agree with all of his views, particularly concerning prophecy, but he does an excellent job breaking down many conclusions I do share.
In explaining how Existential Philosophy has had an impact upon Christian thought, he writes about how the issue of the historicity of the biblical account became secondary to the question of how the "story" aided SELF-understanding. Rudolph Bultman typified this when he wrote, "the meaning of history lies always in the present, and when the present is conceived as the eschatalogical present by Christian faith the meaning in history is realized." It doesn't matter whether the Bible is Truth or Myth, what matters is how it helps me understand ME.
Goldsworthy goes on to write, "Thus, 'Jesus in my heart' theology not only distorts the Trinitarian perspective of the New Testament, it comes very close to the internalized gospel of medieval Catholicism [i.e. grace redefined as a spiritual influence in the heart of the individual believer]. The doctrine of the new birth is often thought of as an evangelical distinctive, but when 'you must be born again' is made to be the gospel, the real objective and historical nature of the biblical gospel is compromised."
Wow! Is 'Jesus in my heart' a true representation of biblical truth? In looking at what the Bible has to say about salvation I find it involving things like repentance of sin/rebellion against God, turning from idols to the living God, that salvation results in a believer no longer serving sin, but serving God, that an individual becomes united with Christ and becomes a member of a corporate body serving as His ministers on earth. I don't see 'inviting Jesus into my heart' anywhere. While it's true that the believer is sealed with the HS until the day of his ultimate redemption, it's equally true that the Trinity embodies BOTH unity AND distinction. Members of the Trinity are not interchangeable!
Let's not be sloppy with our terminology. Let's not get our theology from songs and "Christianisms". Let's keep reading and studying the Truth and let's be careful how we represent it to others. Let's make God's Truth our blueprint for reality.
6 comments:
Debi,
Well said and well thought out. I despise Christianisms, perhaps because I wasn't raised in the church. I sometimes call it Christian Sillyisms. Since I was in a Fundamental Baptist church for years, I saw (and sadly developed) many of them.
Regardind the notion that it is an improper understanding of the Trinity to say that Christ lives in us, I'm not sure I agree.
Colossians 1:27 says, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you" (Colossians 1:27, emphasis mine).
Romans 8:10 begins, "And if Christ be in you" (Romans 8:10, emphasis mine.)
1 John 4:12 says, "God dwelleth in us."
So I am not convinced it is an improper understanding of the Triune nature of God to say that Christ lives in our hearts. The Scriptures, in different places, teach that the Holy Spirit indwells Christians, that Jesus indwells Christians, and that God indwells Christians. If anything, this demonstrates the Triune nature of God when we do what the Jehovah's Witnesses never want us to do: compare Scripture with Scripture and develop a Biblical Theology by harmonizing the text.
With that said, PLEASE BELIEVE ME when I say that I am NOT advocating the "invite Christ into your heart" phenomenon. Our heart is deceitfully wicked! We are totally depraved. Why would Christ want to dwell there!?!
It is only after Christ cleans a heart of stone and makes it flesh that He dwells there.
We are not to invite Jesus into our heart, as if we'd do the Son of God a favor by inviting Him in. He comes in when He choses.
I think the Biblical term is to "receive Christ" (John 1:12) which is passive on our part and active on His. Praise God for that!
Oooh...these are good verses, Mark. Let me spend a little time looking into them.
We know that Jesus has a glorified body and is currently sitting in the heavens at the right hand of God. He is physical. Therefore, Col.1:27 and Rom.8:10 cannot be referring to a physical indwelling, such as is true with God, the HS. The members of the Godhead are distinct individuals and are not interchangeable. Therefore, these verses must mean something other than physical presence, such as is true with the HS.
It would also be important to recall that in Hebrew the "heart" was figuratively representative of the seat of the intellect, the mind.
I'll look into it a little more and get back to you. I suspect that those verses are more figurative than literal.
Col.1:27 refers to "you" plural (as also in Rom.8:10), and in the context is referring to the mystery of Gentiles being included in salvation. The Greek preposition "en" could also be translated "among", "Christ among you". As you know, Greek prepositions have so much more meaning to them than English ones do.
The Romans 8 passage is primarily about the Holy Spirit. In 8:9 the HS is described as related to both God the Father and Jesus. "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." The HS is called "the Spirit of God [the Father] and "the Spirit of Christ". In v.11 the HS is described as "the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you." The HS is linked to the Trinity, but the passage is not suggesting that He is in any way interchangeable with the other members of the Trinity. Each is an individual person within the Godhead, but together they are one God. In this Romans 8 passage the HS is the obvious focus. It is HE who dwells in believers.
The 1 John verse "God dwells in you" doesn't seem to be a problem. The HS IS God! The word translated "dwells" is "meno", which means to abide, to dwell. It seems to me that this is tied into the New Covenant promise mentioned in Jer.31:31. The actual PERSON of the Godhead who does the abiding is the HS. [Btw, a plural "you" is also used here.]
There's a similar verse you didn't mention: Eph.3:17 "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love..." A completely DIFFERENT word is used for "dwell" here - katoikeō, to make settle into the household, so to speak. Thayer says in his definition of katoikeō, "God is said to dwell in the temple, i.e. to be always present for worshippers".
I guess my conclusion would be that absolutely the HS, who is part of the Trinity and referred to as "the Spirit of God" and "the Spirit of Christ", is the person of the Godhead who indwells believers. The person of God the Son does not literally dwell there, the HS does. God the Son is at a particular point in space and time - at the right hand of the Father until He returns.
I like the way the Bible looks at it when it says that WE are "IN Christ" - we are spiritually united with Him, and thus also, to each other.
Eph 2:22 "in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
Here's an interesting tidbit. In studying out something in Philippians, I came across this in the Expositor's Bible Commentary, concerning Phil.1:19 -
"...By referring to the Spirit as 'the Spirit of Jesus Christ', Paul reflects the fact that the Holy Spirit has been bestowed on men by Christ as well as by the Father [Jn.15:26 "But when the Counselor/ Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth, who proceeds from the Father, that One will testify concerning Me.]"
of course this would be popular with Mark "way of the master" Sohmer. right up his alley.
In fairness to Mark, when I asked him if he had gotten back to read my comment he said he had and that now he has to change some elements in his witnessing in order to conform to biblical truth.
Being open to God's truth should always be a characteristic of the believer. It should also make us progressively discerning. To me that's a sign of growth.
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