jeffersonvann

Foundational to the Christian message is that salvation is not something one earns, but is a free gift. It is based not on what we do for God but on what he has done for us through Jesus Christ. Anyone who has ever tried to get on God’s good side by following some code of conduct knows that all such attempts are doomed to failure. We are a condemned race, destined to disappoint our creator, with only one exception, and it is not me.

Grace in the bible is not a character trait or idea. Grace is a person, who “has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”[1] By his sinless life and sacrificial death for everyone, Jesus did what every other human being could not do. He tasted death for everyone.[2] Having paid that penalty for sin, he was able to offer us the gift of eternal life which God so wanted to give us – out of his heart of grace.[3]

Christ’s death redeemed us from the penalty of death that we owed, and made us right in God’s sight as well. Because of that redemption, we “are justified by his grace as a gift.”[4] From Christ’s fullness “we have all received, grace upon grace.”[5] We owe everything to him – the fact that we are not what we once were, and the fact that we will be something better still in eternity future.

Rules and regulations can never do what Christ did. They are a poor substitute for grace. Even the law of God in the Old Testament had become just a set of rules to live by for the Israelites in Christ’s day. The Gospels tell us that “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”[6] The apostle Paul had been a staunch supporter of this law to live by, until he met Christ on the Damascus road. Then things changed. He learned that the law was not God’s plan for the salvation of the world. He found that “if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”[7]

So his message changed. He taught that salvation “is no longer on the basis of works” (actually it had never been). “Otherwise”, (he reasoned) “grace would no longer be grace.”[8] This message of salvation through the completed work of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross was called the “gospel of the grace of God”[9] It was also called simply “the word of his grace.”[10]

It was a message of sacrifice – not that God wants us to sacrifice for him, but that he has willingly sacrificed for us. It reminded people of what God had done to freely offer deliverance from sin and death. People were encouraged to think about Christ’s sacrificial life and death. Paul told the Corinthians “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”[11]

This word of grace was not for Paul an excuse to sit back and rest. It was motivation for him to work harder than ever. He once proclaimed that he had worked harder than any of his opponents to get the gospel of grace out to the world that needs it. Ironically, he did so because it was the grace of God working with him.[12] For Paul, grace was not in conflict with hard work.

Yet there is a challenge we find in the New Testament that seems to conflict with this message of grace. These same apostles and evangelists that champion Christ as the grace of God revealed, also challenge their readers to live lives of holiness, righteousness and godliness.

Why? If Christ’s death is all the grace we will ever need (and it is) why are we encouraged to live godly lives as well? If our acts of righteousness are insufficient for our salvation – indeed are as filthy rags in God’s sight,[13] why should we waste our time trying live out impossible godly lives?

Yet, we cannot escape these challenges toward godliness for they are just as prevalent in the New Testament as the messages of grace. Paul tells Timothy to train himself for godliness, because “while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”[14] So, he encourages Timothy to pursue godliness.[15]

Peter encourages every Christian to seek godliness. In light of the evil nature of the last days in which we live, he says “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?”[16]

How we live as Christians is intended to reflect upon the holiness and godliness of the one we proclaim. That is why Paul instructed Timothy not to allow widows who were too young to become dependent upon the church for their support. Instead, they should go to live with their children or grandchildren. That would give the children or grandchildren a chance to “make some return to their parents.”[17] This would please God, and also be a good witness to the community that Christianity encourages family responsibility.

Paul also encouraged women in worship services not to dress with inordinate jewelry or immodest dress. Instead they should demonstrate “what is proper for women who profess godliness.”[18] Their husbands are encouraged to pray without anger – not to let their worship times be distracted by personal disputes or envy.[19] The reason is the same: godliness points people to Christ, ungodliness in Christians turns people away from Christ.

It is in this context that we read about what Paul calls “the mystery of godliness.”

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.[20]

At first glace, it seems strange that Paul should use such a title. He is not talking about godliness here, but about what he elsewhere calls grace. He is describing the willing sacrificial life of Christ on our behalf. The mystery of godliness is not about what we can do for God, but about what he has done for us. Godliness is what the incarnation was: truth manifested in the flesh.

This is where the gospel of grace and the apostle’s encouragement toward godliness collide. This is the reason that Christians should live out the righteousness that was bought for us at Calvary, at the price of Jesus’ blood.

There have always been those who say that what one does “in the flesh” does not really matter. Many have fallen for the deception that was prominent in the movement later to become known as Gnosticism. They valued knowledge (Greek gnosis) above action. Indeed, for some, no action was significant at all. All that mattered was what one believed. Eventually, this deception paved the way for all kinds of immorality, because it was believed that the flesh did not matter because it was not eternal. They were taught that the soul was as immortal as God, so it was all that mattered.

Others went in the opposite direction, and warned that too much contamination with the world would defile that all-important immortal part within. These would forbid people to marry, or forbid eating meat, defining godliness as meaning what one does without.[21] Godliness was defined as keeping one’s immortal soul pure, not allowing this world of matter to contaminate it.

If Jesus is God’s definition of godliness, then his life blasted away that Gnostic definition. He did not keep his life separated from the world. He invested his life in the world. He did not come simply to convert people’s souls – he came to redeem and heal and resurrect their bodies. His goal was not eternity in a disembodied state, he took on flesh never to lose it again. For infinity he will be walking around in a glorified human body – without sin or shame.

So, after establishing that Christ – the mystery of godliness – came to manifest God’s truth in the flesh, Paul tells Timothy to do the same. He is to pursue righteousness not in order to be saved, but to point people to the Saviour.

He is to be a good man, not out of fear of judgment, but out of love for those who do not yet know Christ, the living manifestation of godliness. Godliness is truth manifested in the flesh. When Christians live godly lives in the midst of a fallen and reprobate world, it draws people to Christ.

This is where the Christian message of grace and the encouragement toward godliness should also meet. Our message of grace should never give people the mistaken assumption that since we are saved by grace it does not matter how we live “in the flesh.” It mattered how Christ lived in the flesh – it should matter for us. Our lives should manifest such integrity and lack of sin that people should assume that they are backed by supernatural power. Our connection to God should be so real and honest that others seek us out when they want to know him. That is what it means to manifest the truth in the flesh.

There is always a danger that those seeking to live out this definition of godliness might fall back into legalism and bondage. As a believer grows and experiences God’s grace, he might go through stages where he feels more “hands on” in his own sanctification. But there will also be times when the believer is overwhelmed with his own unworthiness and depravity, and must fall back to the “hands off” position. God is at work in the believer’s life no matter what his subjective feeling is about it. The God of grace is also a God who works within us to accomplish his will.[22]

God wants us to live lives that manifest his truth while our tongues continue to proclaim it. Godliness, then, should never take the place of Christ as our primary message. We are called to live godly lives so that people will listen to us when we proclaim freedom in Christ.

The Gnostics got it wrong, because they had adopted a false theology about human nature: that human souls are as immortal as God. People who followed the Gnostic teachings became more and more enslaved. People who followed the gospel message were set free to live lives of godliness. They could manifest the truth in the flesh.

It remains to see what this generation is going to choose. Will they leave Egypt or remain in bondage? Will they follow Christ – the mystery of godliness – or seek a godliness of their own making?

LORD, teach us how to celebrate your grace with our tongues, and manifest your truth with our hands.

[1] Titus 2:11.

[2] Hebrews 2:9.

[3] Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:7.

[4] Romans 3:24.

[5] John 1:16.

[6] John 1:17.

[7] Galatians 2:21.

[8] Romans 11:6.

[9] Acts 20:24.

[10] Acts 14:33; 20:32.

[11] 2 Corinthians 8:9.

[12] 1 Corinthians 15:10.

[13] Isaiah 64:6 KJV.

[14] 1 Timothy 4:8.

[15] 1 Timothy 6:11.

[16] 2 Peter 3:11-12.

[17] 1 Timothy 5:4.

[18] 1 Timothy 2:10.

[19] 1 Timothy 2:8.

[20] 1 Timothy 3:16.

[21] 1 Timothy 4:3.

[22] Philippians 2:13.

“Into your Hands I commit my spirit.”

David’s statement of trust in the midst of trial was so spiritually significant that the Lord Jesus himself quoted it on the cross. Later, Stephen quoted the same text at the moment of his own death by martyrdom. What does it mean to commit one’s spirit into God’s hands. Does this affirm the immortality of the soul?

John Calvin thought so. He was convinced that “man consists of a body and a soul; meaning by soul an immortal though created essence, which is the nobler part.”[1] He concluded that “Christ, in commending his spirit to the Father, and Stephen his to Christ, simply mean that when the soul is freed from the prison-house of the body, God becomes its perpetual keeper.”[2]

Calvin did not come to that conclusion by reading Psalm 31. He rightly commented on David’s statement by saying “Whoever commits himself into God’s hand and to his guardianship, not only constitutes him the arbiter of life and death to him, but also calmly depends on him for protection amidst all his dangers.”[3] David was asserting his trust in God to deliver him, not his confidence in possessing an indestructible spirit.

Yet Calvin could not resist taking David’s words out of their context, and teaching that Christ and Stephen asserted something not about theology but about anthropology. His belief in Plato’s doctrine of the immortality of the soul was so strong that it led Calvin to forget his rules of exegesis.

Christ quoted from Psalm 31:5 while dying on the cross. He said “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”[4] In doing so, he was expressing the exact same sentiment that David had expressed when he had used those words. He was not saying that his body was going to die, but that the real him was going to fly to heaven to be safe in his Father’s hands. He was saying that he trusted his Father to rescue him.

His Father did rescue him. He was raised from the dead three days later. His spirit had not gone to heaven to be with his Father at death. He told Mary “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”[5] Christ went to the grave. He had committed his spirit – that is, his life – into the hands of the one person who could redeem it.

Stephen’s quote of Psalm 31:5 was also true to its context. Stephen knew that he was going to die. The prison-house was not his alive body, but death itself. But he also had confidence that his death would not be the end. God would rescue him from the prison-house of death in the same way that he had rescued Jesus – by a resurrection. Luke records, “as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.””[6] I heard a preacher at a funeral of a friend of mine say that Stephen did not sleep in the grave because God received his spirit. The preacher had quoted this verse. Later, I had to remind my students (who also heard this sermon) that the preacher forgot about the next verse! Luke continued “And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”[7] Stephen’s committing his spirit to Christ was not a rejection of the reality of death. It was an expression of confidence that death would not be permanent.

Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 31 also quoted Paul’s reflection on death. He says “What David here declares concerning his temporal life, Paul transfers to eternal salvation.”[8] He was referring to where Paul says “I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”[9] What Calvin did not point out is that Paul’s words in 2 Timothy are not words of someone who denies death. Paul’s words imply that his death would come, but he has entrusted himself to God who can rescue him from that death. Paul’s trust was not in his possessing an immortal soul, but in his possessing a resurrecting God.

That is the sentiment expressed in Psalm 31:5 by David, and reflected in the words of Jesus on the cross, and those of Stephen at his death. It is not that God has made a part of our being that will never die. It is that God has promised to restore his own by a complete resurrection. It is not about something inherent within us. It is about the faithfulness of God.

[1] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. (Forgotten Books), 190.

[2] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. (Forgotten Books), 190.

[3] John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Psalms, Part I. (Forgotten Books), 429.

[4] Luke 23:46 ESV.

[5] John 20:17 ESV (emphasis mine).

[6] Acts 7:59 ESV.

[7] Acts 7:60 ESV (emphasis mine).

[8] John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Psalms, Part I. (Forgotten Books), 431.

[9] 2 Timothy 1:12 NIV.

Perhaps the earliest clear reference to the coming resurrection in the Bible is found in the book of Job. When contemplating the fact that he is mortal, he places all his hope in a coming Redeemer:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God.”[1]

The meaning seems obvious, but perhaps I am reading too much Christian teaching into this text. Wharton insists that “the traditional Christian conception of Christ as the ‘Redeemer’ of Job 19:25 simply won’t do.”[2] He feels that assuming Job anticipates Christ’s redemption reads too much later theology into Job’s words. Instead, he argues that Job looks forward to being vindicated.

Yet Job’s words seem to say so much more here. He argues not that he is going to be vindicated in this life, but that he is going to see God in the next life. He expresses a hope not in survival after death, but in a complete restoration to bodily life. In short, he is predicting a resurrection. If that sounds too Christian to be acceptable, perhaps commentators need to come to grips with the fact that the Christian gospel is God’s plan for humanity from the beginning.

P. S. Johnston argues that Job may be referring to “vindication in the non-material world.”[3] But, again, all one has to do is look at the text to see that Job’s hope was in a real resurrection, not some shadowy existence in a bodiless afterlife.

The text of Job 19:25-26 affirms three things:

1. Job knew his redeemer was alive.

The word he used for redeemer was go’el. This word is the same used for a kinsman redeemer. In Ruth, it referred to a person living who had the answer to Ruth’s problem. Boaz was the one who made all the difference for Ruth and Naomi. If it were not for Boaz, Ruth’s story would have ended quite differently. Without rescue, there would have been no David, and no Jesus.

But that does not mean that Job assumed that his redeemer was a human being like him. His trust was in God. His hope was that from his flesh he would see God. The real person who would make a real difference for Job is God himself.

What Job affirms is that his own ability to stay alive is not the critical issue. What matters is that the Redeemer lives. Job had graduated from being like his miserable comforters. They were the “hands on” kind of people. They insisted that if there was a problem, there had to be something they could do about it. Job was learning that sometimes you have to take your hands off the situation and trust God. His confidence was not in his own ability to fix things, but in someone other than himself. He knew that he had a Redeemer, and it was not himself. Lahaye says that “regardless of the fate that would befall Job in the near future, he possessed confidence that God remained alive and well, and in perfect control of all creation.”[4]

2. Job Knew that God would take action in the future.

His confidence that the Redeemer would take his stand on the earth at the last was an eschatological belief. He was able to look beyond his present personal struggles and see that God had a plan. He knew that God was going to personally work out his plan for planet earth by visiting the planet.

The idea that God would take his stand is consistent with the concept of incarnation, but goes beyond it. It suggests not just Christ’s first coming, but also his second. The Psalms often use the term in prayers to God to arise and save his people.[5] The psalmists were not primarily thinking soteriology (salvation from sin) but eschatology (ultimate deliverance from evil. Job’s hope was in a God who delivers both spiritually and ultimately.

3. Job knew that he would be alive to see that ultimate restoration.

Job did not doubt the reality of death, he doubted its permanence. He knew that he was mortal. He knew that should the Redeemer delay his return to earth, it would mean his death. It would mean that his skin and flesh would decompose and return to the dust. He entertained no delusion that death was a gateway to a better life. Death was death – the destruction of the flesh, and total unconsciousness.

Instead of deluding himself with fanciful notions that he could live forever, Job aligned himself with his inevitable demise. But he was able to look beyond that dark time of unconsciousness to a time of new resurrected life. His confidence was that not only is God going to take his stand in the future, but that he (Job) would be standing right there observing it. His confidence was in a resurrection.

Notice how specifically Job describes his hope. He says “from my flesh I shall see God.” He does not say “as a spiritual entity I shall see God”. He anticipates his own, newly resurrected eyes will see God restore his creation. He even goes on to emphasize this hope by saying “whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”[6] His confidence is not in life for someone else, but in restored life for himself.

If I had no other text in the Bible to affirm my confidence in the resurrection, Job 19:25 would suffice. In this text, I see the reality that no matter what happens to me today, my Redeemer will be alive. I may not survive the troubles of this day, but my Redeemer will. My hope is in him. My confidence is not in something I can do, but in something he will do. My God is going to arise, and save his people ultimately. And when he does, I will be there witnessing it with my own resurrected eyes. Job and I will be standing there, with our eyes and mouths wide open, in awe of what our God is doing. This is our hope.

[1] Romans 19:25-26 NASB.

[2] James A Wharton, Job (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), 89.

[3] P.S. Johnston, “Afterlife” in Dictionary of the Old Testament. (Nottingham, England: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 6.

[4] Tim Lahaye, Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis to Revelation: Clarifying the Meaning (Eugene Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2011), 101.

[5] Psalm 3:8; 7:7; 9:20; 10:12; 17:3, etc.

[6] Job 19:27 ESV.