The publication called The Hedgehog Review is an intellectual publication written by intellectuals for intellectuals. One article that particularly stood out began with this sentence:
“How do we foster the conditions conducive to a truly enduring moral and ethical order?“
There are highly intellectual people writing, trying to find this moral and ethical order for themselves. There are a couple of comments in the book section, one mentioning a graduate student in the Germanic Studies department at Indiana University. The department is analyzing a work from the Frankfort School of Critical Theory postulated by Theodore Adorno, one of the founding people to bring forward the Critical Theory into the school itself.
The article title that they are analyzing is “Glimpses of Light from Enlightenment’s Prison”. They’re talking about that philosophical era of the Enlightenment and referring to it as a prison. This is coming from Adorno’s perspective who wants to tear down and destroy western civilization. He’s looking at Enlightenment and at Modernity and referring to them as a prison. And in this country, we are emersed in that western civilization. And it is indeed a prison, a prison of the human mind.
And we, as God’s people, do need to examine our human mind. We need to examine our thoughts and actions against God’s. Are we in a prison of the human mind? We do need to confront certain aspects and emotions within ourselves. On one hand we have some very sobering things to think about and to address as we come into each Passover season: Christ’s death, the manner of His death and the personal application of that to us. We can’t consider that without some sobriety when considering what all that means.
The emotional roller coaster ride we go though in self-examination is because God’s plan is a plan of freedom and Satan’s world is a world of bondage. Both exist simultaneously for God’s people. However, God’s people do have freedom now, while most people on the face of this earth today do not: “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 31 “. . . If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 36, 31-32).
What is implied by these verses is the process of being called by the Father and engaging in the process of conversion to bring us into a relationship with Jesus Christ. When we are reconciled to God the Father, we receive the Holy Spirit, which Christ referred to as the Spirit of truth that will guide us into all truth. That truth will make us free. We become liberated. Christ depicted the human condition as either free or in bondage: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). “Stand fast” implies that liberty is not necessarily a permanent condition.
If we can appreciate what it means for the Son to make us free, it is incredibly motivational and will help us through the very difficult times ahead. We are seeing what is happening in the world. We do need to deeply appreciate this freedom that Christ gives to His people: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). That’s just a general statement that Paul makes about just living in this world.
Mankind has been brought into bondage by the sin of one man: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15: 22). This takes us back to the choices God gave: either the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam chose the way of sin, the way of death. Consequently, Adam’s sin cut humanity off from the Holy Spirit, the Tree of Life.
If that was where it stayed, then God’s eternal family would be negated right then and there. So the vital link to our lives, and going forward, is that “in Christ, all shall be made alive.” Sin came by the transgression of God’s directions, whether it was oral or written law. In order to establish true life, Christ must deal with the penalty for sin (John 1:29). God’s system of justice demands death as a penalty for sin. Sin cannot be a part of God’s family. In His mercy and grace, God canceled His demand upon individual repentance. When someone is called to repentance and their mind accepts the reality of their sin, they receive God’s Holy Spirit. They come into a new relationship with God.
In history, the redemption Ancient Israel identifies the source of our redemption, the rescue from bondage: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; …” (Deuteronomy 15:15). Egypt equates with the bondage of the world. And bondage refers to slavery when you have no control over your life. The thing that God is requiring has to do with the redemption of a slave. Redemption was built into the entire nation of Israel’s way of life. They experienced it in a number of practical ways but it always pointed toward this overall redemption so that we can understand the implication for the New Testament Church.
In the Book of Leviticus is an example of how redemption was built into the nation. The key ingredient here is the family member that is involved in the redemption (Leviticus 25:25-27, 48-49). It’s very family oriented. This is redemption of somebody that had to sell himself into servitude. It’s a kinsman redeeming a kin from difficulty or in danger. This aspect of kinsman is easily seen in the context of God’s family (Isaiah 43: 1-3). God is the family member, the Kinsman that is redeeming His family, calling His family together (Job 19: 25-26). Note that Job understands about the resurrection and he understands there is a Redeemer to purchase and to buy back (Job 14:13-17).
The most important freedom of all is that we are free from self. Self is defined as enmity against God and a refusal to be subject to His law. It’s the absolute bondage of mind. 1 Corinthians has a clear New Testament definition of redemption: “ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6: 20). This is a Kinsman redeeming His kin from difficulty or danger. The Self is no longer the self.
In practical terms, what are we free from in regard to self?
2 Timothy 3 describes what is happening in the world now: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
All of the traits above flow from men loving themselves. God’s people who have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them can overcome these destructive traits. Those traits don’t have to dominate our lifestyle, how we live. Christ is no longer just a historical figure that we read about in a book. He’s not someone who has been and is now gone. He is a living being that we can build a strong faith in.
It is clear, that as many came into the New Testament Church from a thoroughly paganized background, that the Apostle Paul worked hard to have them see Christ in His reality. Every time Paul is writing, he’s talking about the gospel and referring to Christ’s sacrifice more than anything else, trying to have them understand what it means to be “in Christ”. To do this he focused heavily on the resurrected Christ. More than just a Man, a Savior, a Messiah. The resurrected Christ is full of glory, conquest and power. And it is God the Father who resurrected Jesus Christ:
“and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:19-22).
So, when Paul used the term ‘in Christ’ this is what he is referencing, the power of Christ in our life. Christ is the resource that God the Father gives to those who willingly serve Him. God’s people enter into an everlasting covenant with God in which “Christ in us” works to perfect Their nature and character in us: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.” (Hebrews 13:20-21).
The covenant being referred to was the one struck with Abraham. God cut a covenant with Abraham and it used the blood of animals. But, the blood of Jesus Christ superseded the blood of animals. And the blood of the everlasting covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s called out ones are in that covenant relationship now. Our entire being – physical, mental, spiritual – are all tied to Jesus Christ as we live our lives today:
Colossians 2:6 “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,”
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
We are free to understand what the spiritual intent of law is. We are free to keep God’s commandments as He intended. We are free to know what grace is. We are free to know that we don’t earn our salvation through the keeping of the commandments. But we do know we’re free to know the mind of God through the knowledge of His law: “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandment. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are ‘in Him’. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 3-6).
Everything relative to who and what we are involves, “in Christ”. The Greek expression ‘en Christos’ simply means, through Christ, by means of Christ, through the agency of Christ. Christ is the enabling power. He, through the Holy Spirit, makes His power available to His called out ones. One huge advantage to ‘living our lives in Christ’ is that we can know good and evil from God’s perspective.
So, how do we foster the conditions conducive to a truly enduring moral and ethical order?
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that [It] may abide with you forever — 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).
We cannot receive the Helper unless Christ makes us free from sin and death. But once His sacrifice is applied to a human then that human is free to live in Christ, en Christos: ” … If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
God’s people need to concentrate on putting sin out of their lives so we can enhance that freedom to become more Christ-like in our walk and the way that we live. There is an ongoing need to be attentive to living our sin-free lives “in Christ”.
Brian Orchard