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Posted: 12/26/2015 at 1:24pm
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A Personal Word
Dear Friends
What a joy to write to
you as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Christ the Lord!
And to
thank the handful (both known and anonymous) who identify with us and this
ministry to the body of Christ. Without your generosity and faithfulness in
financial partnership we would not be able to serve as we do. Thank you for
releasing us with a message into the nations!
For those who are prompted
to do likewise these links will facilitate either a one-off
or regular
donation.
The teaching below I trust will bring a
needed correction to an increasing trend in some evangelical circles to minimise
the revelation of God given uniquely to Paul for the universal church.
I
have shown how the angelic and prophetic voices that surrounded the birth of
Christ all echo the majesty and dominion of God, without which the promised
worldwide shalom (peace) will not come.
Christ’s dominion over
Satan, as the Son of Man, has won the victory and therefore the
peace.
The revelation of God to Paul along this line, and others, are
instrumental for the kingdom to fully come to the nations.
This teaching
is pointing us to the true apostolic foundation of the faith.
This is a
long piece and will need to be digested. I suggest you print it off and take
some time with it.
Always pleased to dialogue with those who have genuine
questions in the search for truth. Feel free to write.
Thank you for
allowing us to serve you.
Sincerely
__________________________________________________________
THE GOD OF PEACE
And He Shall Soon
Crush Satan Under Your Feet
At the birth of our Saviour, Christ the Lord, an angel
appeared to the shepherds nearby, declaring the good news for all people.
And suddenly, in reply, the heavenly host appeared
proclaiming in chorus:
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among
men with whom He is pleased.
Luke 2:14
NAS
Christ’s birth heralds
the promised worldwide shalom (peace) foretold by the Law and the Prophets;
shalom as a Hebrew word
meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and
tranquillity. As a biblical concept it carries the import of God, mankind and
all creation living in peace and harmony under the beneficent ways and law-word
of God—in fact, a universal flourishing, wholeness and delight, the way things
ought to be.
Isaiah foretells this fullness of God’s reign on earth
and in history in powerful prophetic symbol:
2
Now it will come about that
In the last
days
The mountain of the house
of the LORD
Will be established as the
chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above
the hills;
And all the nations will
stream to it.
3 And many peoples will
come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of
Jacob;
That He may teach us
concerning His ways
And that we may walk in His
paths.”
For the law will go forth
from Zion
And the word of the LORD
from Jerusalem.
4 And He will judge between
the nations,
And will render decisions
for many peoples;
And they will hammer their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up
sword against nation,
And never again will they
learn war.
Isa 2:2–4
NAS
But how is this earthly paradisiacal state ushered in?
Clearly through the coming of Christ, but is it the second coming or the first?
No doubt I’m going to fuss now with your dearly held end-time schemes and
scenarios. And so, please bear with me and hear me
out.
I believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of
Christ and that he will ultimately return in like manner (Acts 1:9-11). We can
put that to bed; I am not denying the second coming. But what I am denying, is
the second coming (or the “Rapture”) as a divine rescue mission because of the
church’s failure in history, because of its spiritual and cultural impotence as
Christ’s body – the new corporate Adam, a redeemed humanity – to fulfil the
creation mandate (Gen 1:28), exercising dominion as God’s vice-regents in the
earth (Ps 8; Heb 2:6-8; Eph 1:22-23).
What I advocate is the complete realisation of
Christ’s first coming and its significance for this historical space-time
world—that is, for now. Our doctrine of Christ (Christology) must inform our
doctrine of end things (eschatology). Christ’s person and work is, in fact, the
culmination and climax of all redemptive history—the completion of all that was
anticipated by the Patriarchs and the Prophets (Heb 1:1-3; Lk 24:44-47). The
incarnate Christ is the eschaton—the end. The question
that must be asked is whether Christ conquered sin and Satan in history—that is,
in real-time, in the reign of Caesars Augustus and Tiberius. If
that is the case, it must then also be asked, how can his church – against whom
the gates of hell cannot stand (Mtt 16:18) – be defeated by the same (sin and
Satan) in real-time history?
When Christ was born as
the babe in Bethlehem the eternal Word – all the majesty and wisdom of God – was
enfolded in human form. And so, through his incarnation, Christ became the
God-man and a new order of cosmic consequence was
cast.
The collage of sights
and sounds – of angelic and prophetic voices – that surrounded Christ’s first
coming as the “Son of Man” (Hebrew, Adam) all testify to the reality that shalom is related to the majesty and dominion of
God:
32 “He will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the
throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no
end.”
Luke 1:32–33
NAS
67 And his father Zacharias
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 68 “Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel,
For He has visited us and
accomplished redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn
of salvation for us
In the house of David His
servant —
70 As He spoke by the mouth
of His holy prophets from of old — 71 Salvation FROM OUR
ENEMIES,
And FROM THE HAND OF ALL
WHO HATE US;
72 To show mercy toward our
fathers,
And to remember His holy
covenant,
73 The oath which He swore
to Abraham our father, 74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our
enemies,
Might serve Him without
fear,
75 In holiness and
righteousness before Him all our days.
Luke 1:67–75
NAS
10 But the angel said to
them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which
will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been
born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:10–11
NAS
God’s dominion in Christ
is first foreshadowed in the Book of Genesis. As the book of origins and the
seedbed of the Bible, Genesis contains the seed of every major New Testament
revelation. Augustine’s famous maxim still stands: “The New Testament is in the
Old concealed and the Old is in the New revealed”. Revelation is progressive throughout redemptive
history, beginning in Genesis and culminating in Christ and the apostles in the
New Testament.
And so, when our first
parents rebelled against the revelation of God mankind was not left
destitute—all was not lost. God not only came to them in a pronouncement of
judgment (Gen 3:14-15a, 16-19) but more significantly of promise and blessing.
The first foreshadowing of the gospel (the protoevangelium) is declared in v
15b:
And I will put
enmity
Between you [the serpent]
and the woman,
And between your seed and
her seed;
He shall bruise you
on the head,
And you shall
bruise him on the heel.
Gen 3:15
NAS
While historically there is much variation within the
theme amongst orthodox commentators regarding this text, there is general
agreement that it is a prophecy of Christ and/or his work, albeit with much
detail to be filled in by its eventual fulfillment.
In the New Testament, John the revelator picks up the
theme of Genesis 3:15 in Revelation 12 showing us a woman giving birth and
contending with a dragon. John identifies her male-child – the seed of the woman
– as Messiah who ascends to heaven as ruler of the nations (12:5; Ps 2) and the
serpent as “the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver
of the whole world” (12:9). But the dragon is defeated and as it is thrown down
to earth a loud voice in heaven declares:
Now the salvation, and the
power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for
the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our
God day and night.
Rev 12:10
NAS
As a prophecy to the seven churches of Asia, John is
showing them that in the face of the bestial onslaught of apostate Judaism and
the messianic Roman state Satan has been definitively conquered—that the head of
the serpent has been crushed.
While, as the seed of the woman (Gal 3:16), Christ’s
heel has been bruised (Hebrew, shuf meaning crushed) in his death, Satan’s
head is fatally
bruised/crushed in Christ’s resurrection. Satan is hung on his own gallows. The
very machinations of his Satanic majesty to destroy the seed of the woman – the
death of the cross – under the predestined plan of God becomes the means of his
own utter destruction. The death of death itself is accomplished:
Therefore, since the
children share in flesh and blood, He Himself [Christ] likewise also partook of
the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of
death, that is, the devil
Heb 2:14
NAS
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the
works of the devil.
1 Jn 3:8b
Having
crushed the serpent’s head, Christ as the last Adam and the second man (1 Cor 15:21, 22; Rom 5:12-20) –
the terminal point of the old Adamic humanity (in his death) but also the
progenitor of a new humanity (in his resurrection) – is now restoring the Edenic
paradise once lost by the first Adam (Rom 5:12-20; ch 6-8).
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, lays the foundation
of the gospel not only for them but also, as the apostle to the Gentiles, for
the church universally and for posterity. After progressively laying out the
building blocks of his unique revelation of the gospel he interrupts his closing
personal greetings with a solemn warning:
17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who
cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and
turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of
their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the
hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached to
all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is
good and innocent in what is evil.
Rom 16:17–19 NAS
Paul is urging them not
to be unaware of the contrary elements that blow against the apostolic teaching
of the gospel. This in Paul’s experience, and that of all history, comes from
two quarters, either: antinomianism (i.e. anti-law hedonism /
hyper-grace—Corinthian error) or legalism (i.e. gnostic-Judaism /
hyper-law—Galatian & Colossian errors).
Nonetheless, Paul
remains assured of their obedience
to the teaching that they had received (v 19). In fact, the grace of Paul’s
apostleship and what he could call “my gospel” was given for the purpose of
bringing about the “obedience of faith” among the Gentiles (Rom 1:5; 16:25-27).
Accordingly, the whole letter to the Romans – including the whole Pauline corpus
– is the foundational and
universal teaching for Christianity. Just as John wrote to the seven churches of
Asia, Paul also brought teaching and correction to seven churches—seven being
the number of completion and perfection: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the Thessalonians. Paul’s letters
contain the complete doctrinal foundations and necessary corrections for the
church universally. They provide the foundations for: revelation (epistemology),
covenant theology (relationship between OT & NT), justification by faith,
law and grace, ethics, the true identity of Israel, covenant community,
charismatic conduct, new covenant liberty, the heavenly/earthly calling of the
ecclesia, Christ’s body, apostolic unity, and kingdom growth leading to final
global spiritual/cultural transformation. This is “the faith once for all
delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Jesus had “many things”
still to say that the other apostles were not able to bear. And these things
were held in reserve until he who would guide them into all truth – the Spirit
of truth – was outpoured (Jn 16:12-15). And so, as the first post-ascension
apostle, Paul was the chosen
vessel to receive a unique revelation of the gospel – the “many things” that
Christ had previously withheld – and carry it to the nations (Acts 9:15;
26:16-18; Gal 1:15-16; 2:2, 6-8; Eph 3:1-12). As Paul explained, the other
apostles “added nothing to him”. Revelation is always progressive, its fullness
arriving in Paul. This explains why Paul’s writings are historically and
universally contended. As Peter admitted there are “some things” in Paul’s
letters “hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own
destruction” (2 Pet 3:15-16) whether they are professional theologians or not.
Let me say parenthetically, theological degrees and pedigrees, while they can be
helpful, are no guarantee against being “ignorant and unstable”; as one of my
early Bible teachers used to exclaim, “God
deliver us from overeducated nincompoops!” It is tragically possible
to be a theological pedant but a spiritual cretin. Nonetheless, despite the
energy surrounding them, Peter receives Paul’s writings as “Scripture” (v 16).
Therefore to minimize Paul, to re-interpret him, or pitch Jesus and he against
each other – as some do (e.g. neo-orthodoxy) – is a “destructive” folly.
Accordingly, the Gospels are not superior to Paul’s Epistles and vice versa—they
are all equally God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16), fulfilling their unique functions in
the cannon; nonetheless, the Epistles – in the progression of revelation – are a
more complete unfolding of God’s purposes. To lift Christ’s earthly ministry and
the Gospels above that of the Apostles and the Epistles is thus a practical
denial of biblical inspiration. This is not a theoretical possibility. These are
trends currently popular in various evangelical circles. In light of Paul’s
writings, we are to be warned.
My argument is this:
the victory of Christ in history and in the
nations, is contingent upon our obedience to the revelation given to Paul—and
thus, to the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
While it sounds spiritually superior to “rediscover the Jesus of the Gospels”,
to stop at the Gospels is to abbreviate God’s counsel, and thus fall short of
the mark. This same Jesus, under a unique administration of the Spirit, revealed
the fullness of his purpose for the nations to Paul.
Thus, following on the
heals of Paul’s expression of confidence in the Roman’s obedience to his gospel,
calling on Genesis 3:15, he proclaims that:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your
feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with
you.
Rom 16:20 NAS
A salient lesson of
history is that to win the peace
we must first win the victory.
Obedience to God in Christ through Paul’s gospel and unique revelation will
release the God of peace in his full majesty and dominion to “soon” crush Satan
under our feet—that is, now in
history, in this space-time world. We are not waiting for another order,
millennium, or epoch. Christ is
the eschaton (the end). His birth
in Bethlehem as the God-man, followed by a sinless life, death and resurrection,
and ascension to the Father, is the divide of history and the inauguration of
the new order of God’s kingdom on earth—the new creation under a new humanity;
Christ and his body, the ecclesia, have now been given dominion over sin and
Satan:
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet,
and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all
in all.
Eph 1:22–23
NAS
Nonetheless, while Jesus
has already fatally crushed Satan’s head under his own feet (Gen 3:15), succeeding where the
first Adam failed, he now awaits our obedience so as to crush him under
ours (Rom 16:20). It is one thing
to have the promise, but another
to have the provision. Israel only
ever entered the Promised Land through the “obedience of
faith”.
God and history await the corporate obedience of
Christ’s body to its one true head and to his whole counsel entrusted to his servant Paul.
This will win the victory and so the peace. When this occurs all heaven and
earth will resound as it did on the day Jesus was born in
Bethlehem:
“Glory to God in the
highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is
pleased.”
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Topic: THE GOD OF PEACE - David Orton
