A yawning chasm

Deterministic thinking eats away at the common reason: scientific thinking starts by scouring away superstitions and falsehoods, but then scientistic thinking, its appetite having grown after continual eating unrestrained by philosophical common sense, ends by devouring truths as well, leaving only the bones and orts of physical reality, with subject and object staring at each other across a yawning faithless chasm.—Michael Aeschliman, The Restitution of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Case against Scientism, 44

But what do you do with all that knowledge?

Second things suffer, as Lewis was fond of repeating, when put first. Science is a good servant but a bad master, a good method for investigating and manipulating the material world, but no method at all for deciding what to do with the knowledge and power acquired thereby.—Michael Aeschliman, The Restitution of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Case against Scientism, 33

The final post from Crucifixion

The greater part of the discussion in these pages has focused upon the communal, corporate, and cosmic significance of the cross of Jesus Christ. However, let no reader think that the apocalyptic and universal dimensions of the message leave no place for the faith and confidence of the individual believer. Several times in this book the reader has encountered an intimately personal testimony by the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia. For writer and readers alike, these words can be our heart’s comfort and joy, for now and for all the days to come, whatever befalls: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 611

<idle musing>
That's the final snippet from this book. Next up is a book I recently picked up at a thrift store: Michael Aeschliman, The Restitution of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Case against Scientism. It's out of print, so the link is to Worldcat, if you want to check it out of a library. That link also has a link to Google Books, in case you want to preview it.
</idle musing>

In the weakness of the cross

Unless God is the one who raises the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, there cannot be serious talk of forgiveness for the worst of the worst — the mass murders, tortures, and serial killings — or even for the least of the worst — the quotidian offenses against our common humanity that cause marriages to fail, friendships to end, enterprises to collapse, and silent misery to be the common lot of millions. “All for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.” This is what is happening on Golgotha. All the manifold biblical images with their richness, complexity, and depth come together as one to say this: the righteousness of God is revealed in the cross of Christ. The “precious blood” of the Son of God is the perfect sacrifice for sin; the ransom is paid to deliver the captives; the gates of hell are stormed; the Red Sea is crossed and the enemy drowned; God’s judgment has been executed upon Sin; the disobedience of Adam is recapitulated in the obedience of Christ; a new creation is coming into being; those who put their trust in Christ are incorporated into his life; the kingdoms of “the present evil age” are passing away and the promised kingdom of God is manifest not in triumphalist crusades but in the cruciform witness of the church. From within “Adam’s” (our) human flesh, the incarnate Son fought with and was victorious gver Satan —— on out behalf and in our place. Only this power, this transcendant victory won by the Son of God, is capable of reorienting the kosmos to its rightful Creator. This is what the righteousness of God has achieved through the cross and resurrection, is now accomplishing by the power of the Spirit, and will complete in the day of Christ Jesus.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 611

It ain't enough!

Forgiveness is not enough. Belief in redemption is not enough. Wishful thinking about the intrinsic goodness of every human being is not enough. Inclusion is not a sufficiently inclusive message, nor does it deliver real justice. There are some things — many things — that must be condemned and set right if we are to proclaim a God of both justice and mercy. Only a Power independent of this world order can overcome the grip of the Enemy of God’s purposes for his creation.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 610

Tozer for Tuesday

Churches today are built upon the premise of entertainment and fun. And in some places it would be rather difficult to gain an audience unless you supplied them ample entertainment and fun.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 205

creatio ex nihilo and the crucifixion

The God who is able to create out of nothing is able to create faith where there is no faith, righteousness where there is no righteousness, life where there is only the finality of death. By now the reader will readily see the connection between these affirmations and the crucifixion. On the cross, the disciples’ faith was destroyed. Perfect righteousness was consigned to nothingness by an unholy collusion of the “godly” (the religious establishment) and the “ungodly” (the imperial Gentile authorities). The Giver of eternal life was put to death and consigned to hell.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 599 (emphasis original)

Not by (human) might…

Human agents can administer justice, up to a point, and human forgiveness can certainly — and often does —— carry with it the power of God. But actual rectification — making right what has been wrong so that the wrong no longer exists —— is impossible for human beings. The coming of the Day of the Lord (Old Testament), the new creation (Second Isaiah and Paul), the kingdom of God (the Synoptic Gospels), eternal life (John), the new Jerusalem (Revelation) will not be accomplished through human means, but only through the working of God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 598 (emphasis original)

Enraged, but not surprised

That question sums up a good deal of the argument of this chapter, and it illustrates the willful blindness of all human beings — Gentiles and Jews alike — to the enormity and ubiquity of Sin. We should not be surprised that there is evil “in” any human being. We should not expect to see some great accession of righteousness to occur with the bar mitzvah or any other “call to the commandment.” We should not continue to be perpetually surprised that people “find so much evil” within themselves and others. We should never cease to be shocked, grieved, even enraged — but we should never be surprised, for “all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin” (Rom. 3:9).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 589

But I'm not like them…

The Jewish community has every right to be protective of its ingrained, God-given concern for ethics and compassion. The problem among Jews and Gentiles alike, however, is the tendency for those who observe and comment upon wrongdoing to separate themselves from the category of ungodly perpetrator. This is the universal human way. It is our means of shoring up our dearly held conviction that we, the godly, are in a different position from the ungodly. This self-protective stance is enshrined in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men,” contrasted with the tax collector who cried out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” It is the tax collector who “went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:9—14). The thrust of Luke’s parable of justification is extended ad infinitum by Pau1’s cosmic conception of what the dikaiosyne of God can accomplish.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 588

A prophetic word

Gross quotes the philosopher Eric Voegelin, who writes that evil regimes are able to recruit “the simple man who is a decent man as long as the society as a whole is in order but who then goes wild, without knowing what he is doing, when disorder arises somewhere and the society is no longer holding together” (Gross, 156–57, emphasis added [by Rutledge]).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 582n21

Regime change!

The term “regime change” emerged from an unsavory political context, but as an approximation of what the righteousness of God is able to do, we can capture it for the service of the apocalyptic drama. The old regime, in which the Powers of Sin and Death rule over the human race, will be definitively vanquished and “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay” (Rom. 8:21). This means that there is a new future in which those things that are possible only with God will become the only ultimate reality.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 580

Creatio ex nihilo

Abraham — an elderly man with a barren wife — has no human potential. Paul emphasizes that Abraham was chosen before he was circumcised (Rom. 4:10-11), which is Paul’s way of saying that Abraham brought nothing to the bargain; his election by God was ex nihilo (out of nothing). This startling announcement lies at the heart of the biblical picture of God. This is the foundation of all that Paul says about justification; it buttresses what Paul means when he says “there is no distinction” (Rom. 3:22-23).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 576 (emphasis original)

Are we hearing the gospel?

We are able to participate in the working of God only because of his self-immolation on our behalf and in our place. It is not our spiritual journey that lies at the center of our faith; it is “the way of the Son of God into the far country,” as Barth calls it, claiming the language of Jesus’ parable in Luke 15:13. It is the journey of the incarnate One to us that enables our participation in the redemptive working of God. If this story is not told every time the people of God are enjoined to get busy, then we are no longer hearing the gospel.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 569

A particular way of life

Those who according to Paul are “in Christ” are called to a particular way of life that shows forth the power of his name, the boundless riches of his love, the merits of his death, and the sure and certain hope we have in his resurrection. This way of life is cruciform — that is to say, it bears the marks of Christ’s crucifixion (“Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” — Gal. 6:17).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 566

Over my dead body!

Christ’s recapitulation of the human story does not simply invite us into the divine life. There is an objective reality about it; it has happened over our dead bodies, so to speak.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 565 (emphasis original)

There is a joy in the journey!

Whether they acknowledge it or not, everyone has habits, but only a few carefully craft their habits in order to enhance their spiritual growth and development. How few of God’s people really enjoy the fullness of their salvation! Many are satisfied with their destination, but they neglect the journey. The day-by-day experience of God’s presence is something totally foreign to many Christians.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 204

But its not a pilgrimage

The Christian life of obedience is, therefore, not a pilgrimage toward a goal, as is commonly supposed. It is a witness or signpost to that telos (end, goal) that has already been achieved by Christ the Kurios and will be consummated in the last day by the action of God (the parousia, or second coming). The righteous, justifying action of God and the faith that is engendered by its powerful activity are the two effective agents that call forth the obedience.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 555

Twice! And in one verse, too!

[In Rom 8:11] Paul puts all three persons of the Trinity into one verse not once but twice, saying in essence that the Spirit of the Father who raised the Son from the dead now indwells the baptized believer and “will also quicken your mortal bodies by [the same] Spirit” (KJV). In a cursory reading, it is easy to miss the repetition with which Paul intends to convey the mighty action of God, who, in Christ, by the Spirit, has brought into being a new Adam, a new humanity. This is the great set of events that bestows upon us nothing less than the righteousness of God for the living of our lives.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 554 (emphasis original)

How is that possible?

The righteous requirements of the Law have been met in him in order that the righteous requirements of the Law might be met fully in us. This declaration by Paul is breathtaking in its precise correspondence with the idea of recapitulation and its outcome. But there is more. We have emphasized that Paul’s gospel is not about human potential or human possibility but about the power of God. Here in Romans 8:4 is a clear illustration. Our own “recapitulation,” the new life in Christ, is only possible through the power of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 553 (emphasis original)