John H Armstrong

Growing Into the Mystery That Is God

The apostle John says, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). 

God’s people in the Old Testament age were like us in their deep desire to see and know God. In the book of Exodus, God forbade the making of images, not because God is remote from us, but rather because no words, no concepts, no images and no power of imagination can define or describe God. Images can only give an impression that you understand or comprehend the incomprehensible. That you can limit the limitless. Israel was not permitted to see the form of God thus God spoke from the fire or from the cloud. 

However, in the opening words of the Epistle to the Hebrews we read:

 ¹ In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

And Paul makes this truth even clearer in Colossians chapter one when he adds in verse 15, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” And he then adds, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy (1:16-18). 

Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper that whoever had seen him had seen the Father. Jesus is not the Father but rather the one sent by the Father. He is the human image of God, the logos, or the word of God. God has spoken in these last days and he has spoken openly by his Son. This truth is revealed in the gospel and is clear when we come to know God in Jesus Christ. But all knowledge of God must be grasped by the Spirit, which leads us right back to mystery. The gospel is mystery revealed but it is mystery concealed. If you find this difficult then you are likely thinking the right way. If you find it inviting them plunge into the ocean of God’s love and trust him to reveal to you the greatness of this eternal mystery. It helps when you stop trying to explain everything in formulas and philosophical fragments, or in simplistic solutions that are popular but unsatisfying. There is a place for honest philosophy but good theology is the consideration of this great mystery before it can be anything else. God is not remote. He is here but he is not here for us to create in our image. He is here, as God, to be known and this knowing is in the mystery of the Trinity. This ocean is deep enough to swallow your pride but shallow enough to allow you to take one small step at a time into the unfathomable depths of God’s being through the mystery of living and growing faith. Stop creating new formulas and promoting new fads and enter into the mystery that has gripped the heart of every faithful Christian, to one extent or another, from the beginning of this new age of the Spirit. As we move into Pentecost remember this one thing – God is God and you are not!

 

Speaking of God

We have always had a difficult time when we speak of the living God. Most people, including the most ardent believers, treat this as a non-problem. This reveals a profound lack of understanding biblically and historically. The ancient Jews did not even speak the "revealed" name of God. So how do we, living in the time of Christ who is still with us by the Spirit he poured out on us all, properly speak of God? 

I suggest that we should speak of God relationally. By this I mean that we should speak of God as the Source and energy/dynamic of relationality. In reading Genesis again during the first week of 2012 I was struck by this in the entire book. The Creator is a relational being who made us in his image. We were brought into being, that is into a relationship with God and creation, when the Source of all Being "breathed the breath of life into us" (Genesis 2:7). Trace this point throughout the entire Old Testament and you will see that it remains true. 

If God, who is the Source of all life and relationship, is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ then he embodies this relationality in his incarnation. He is embodied, divine/human relationality. Jesus is the human expression of God ("logos") enacted among us and accommodated to a particular time, culture and context. This is why we must come to know the human/divine Jesus if we are to know God in deep friendship/relationship/relationality. 

This kind of theology helps explain why Jesus said things like "the father and I are one" (John 10:30). In the words of Peter Traben Haas, in his amazing book which I discovered on New Year's Day, The God Who is Here (2011):

If Jesus Christ is the embodied demonstration of Divine relationality enacted among us in human form, then the Spirit is the non-embodied continuation of Christ's relationality to and within us for the purpose of reawakening us to our role in embodying the reality of the Divine relationality.

Peter Haas adds that if this is true the church is a community of embodied members of the household of God living in a relationship brought about by the Holy Spirit. Jesus' demonstration of love is the real key to understanding everything he taught and thus everything we need to know in order to live relationally; e.g. John 13;34-35. By the Spirit we participate in the Divine loving presence of the Triune God. In the Bible this life is called "union" with Christ (Romans 8:9-11) and "sharing in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). We make far too little of this when we teach Christian faith as propositions and constructs in our minds that do not actually transform us internally by the Spirit. Our propositions might be correct but we miss the point and thus name God by words that do not actually help us know God. 

By this understanding God, through Christ and by the Holy Spirit, is all in all. Amen.

"Lord, Have Mercy"

When Johann Sebastian Bach sought to give musical expression to what he believed was the greatest of Christian truths he turned to the Mass. The Mass in B Minor opens with the poignant cry of the whole chorus and orchestra, Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy. In the fugue which follows all the voices and instruments independently take up this one theme; there are no other words used but Kyrie Eleison! Over and over this one theme is developed masterfully. 

If you've ever heard this piece you cannot doubt that this universal cry for mercy leads us to the very threshold of true faith and knowledge. And this is not simply the preliminary introduction to something else. The sense of utter sinfulness that we innately feel is the foundation of all spiritual wisdom. This base is the sure foundation through which the mercy of God sounds into our soul. The subtle epitaph for a Christian in this Advent season is composed of only two words: "Jesu, mercy!" Sir Edwyn Hoskyns, a famous Cambridge minister, once said, "This is far more impressive, far more Christian, than a catalog of virtues, or of benevolent actions, or of intellectual achievements." How true. 

In reality, the overwhelming recognition of human sin controls the entire Bible. "No understanding of our Lord's words and actions is possible," said Hoslyns, "if we persist in denying it." 

Kyrie Eleison! Lord, have mercy! May this cry fill your Advent with hope and peace. 

God’s Love Brings About Real Change

I was taught, like most, that God loved me if and when I changed. Simply put, if I repent then God will love me. But 1 John 4:8 and 16 says, “God is love.”

Love is the supreme revelation of the Christian faith. Divine love is the chief characteristic of living faith. Other religions know something about a God who is compassionate (to varying degrees) but no other religion has known the dynamism of divine love, a love that moves the entire creation toward the Creator. This God-Love is the most distinctive quality to be discovered in true Christianity. But listening to much of what I hear Christians say about God and faith you’d never know this to be the case.

Because God-Love is who God is we are loved. God loves you and me so that we can change. Richard Rohr says, “What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change. If the mystics say that one way, they say it a thousand ways. But because most of our common religion has not been at the mystical level, we’ve been given an inferior message—that God loves me when I change.”

Most of our religion is lived at the level of propositions and intellectual knowledge. This easily becomes a form of moralism. Believers of all the major Christian historical families are guilty of teaching moralism instead of love. (Note: Love will lead to true morality, not immorality! But we fear this is not the case until we know this love firsthand.) Moralism puts the motivation for deep change back on you. But you will never be holy enough, pure enough, refined enough, or loving enough. Never, no matter how long you try and how hard you work.

Richard Rohr is insightful when he concludes, “Whereas, when you fall into God’s mercy, when you fall into God’s great generosity, you find, seemingly from nowhere, this capacity to change. No one is more surprised than you are. You know it is a gift.”

The Apostle John links God-Love with our love for others. A true Christian, says John, begins by loving God through faith and faith is “believing in God’s love, that God is love (1 John 4:16). So faith and love are inseparably linked in biblical theology.

I can’t believe it took me decades to deeply grasp this truth since it is self-evident to all who read the Holy Scriptures with real faith.

When the great theologian Karl Barth was asked what was the most profound theological truth he had learned in his lifetime of deep biblical study he answered: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That says it as well as anything I’ve heard. Do you really believe that he loves you?

Mercy Imitates God

St. John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) says, “Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan.” That got me to pondering lately how much I really comprehend and believe in the mercy of God.

Mercy is defined as compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subjected to the power of another. Webster adds a second definition by saying mercy is “a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion.” It is clearly this latter idea Chrysostom had in mind.

Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-7:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

God is rich in mercy! This means that his mercy, as is his divine being, is infinite. God’s love for us assumes a very special character, one that is adapted to our nature as frail, weak creatures. Thus his love leads to his mercy. Mercy is love bending over misery to relieve it, to redeem it, to raise it up to itself. It seems as if God, in loving us, is attracted by our weakness not because it is lovable but because he is infinite goodness. (Read that again!) His compassion stoops to compensate for our weakness because of his mercy. He desires to heal all our impurities by his purity, all our weakness by his strength. The supreme and eternal good, God himself, wants to be the remedy for all our trials and ills. The Psalmist says, “For the knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 102:14).

What is our greatest evil? Sin, of course. In fact, sin is the only real evil. So what is the remedy for sin? Infinite mercy. God hates sin for sure but his mercy finds a way, through Jesus, to love us and forgive us. But what about those who presently refuse his son? Well he loves everyone as a creature and clearly longs for their good too. And he commands us to love as he loves. 

There is no limit to God’s mercy for the believer. God never rejects us because of our sins. He never grows weary because of our infidelities. He is always ready to restore us and forgive all our offenses. He will repay ingratitude with graces and never reproaches us for our offenses no matter how many times we’ve failed. That is mercy, pure mercy.

And we who know the mercy of God in our experience are called to show his mercy to everyone. Listen to our Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (6:32-36):

³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

We are clearly told: “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” How merciful is our Father? How far does his mercy go? Your answer to that question will actually determine whether or not you  will show mercy to those who forget you, offend you or even harm you.

God does not require us to be sinless in order to show us the fullness of his mercy. He requires us to show mercy to our neighbor, and moreover, to be humble in all ways. We must humbly acknowledge our sins and come to our Father with complete confidence that he will always show us mercy. If you do not believe this then you will not come to God but linger outside the house and refuse to go into the celebration of mercy.

St. Therese of Lisieux said, “What pleases God is to see me love my littleness and poverty; it is the blind hope I have in his mercy. This is my sole treasure.”

Is blind hope in God’s mercy your sole treasure? This treasure will supply all that you need. And with this treasure nothing can unsettle us from the love of God.