Bifocal Lives
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the deepest convictions that formed the narrative that framed the writings of Paul. What was the good news, as he understood it? Was it quite different from the kingdom message of the gospels? Or was it another way of describing that new empire that had come in Jesus Christ — especially in light of his resurrection?
Here is a rather dense sentence from Michael Gorman (Reading Paul
Paul preached, and then explained in various pastoral, community-forming letters, a narrative, apocalyptic, theopolitical gospel (1) in continuity with the story of israel and (2) in distinction to the imperial gospel of Rome (and analogous powers) that was centered on God’s crucified and exalted Messiah Jesus, whose incarnation, life, and death by crucifixion were validated and vindicated by God in his resurrection and exaltation as Lord, which inaugurated the new age or new creation in which all members of this diverse but consistently covenantally dysfunctional human race who respond in self-abandoning and self-committing faith thereby participate in Christ’s death and resurrection and are (1) justified, or restored to right covenant relations with God and with others; (2) incorporated into a particular manifestation of Christ the Lord’s body on earth, the church, which is an alternative community to the status-quo human communities committed to and governed by Caesar (and analogous rulers) and by values contrary to the gospel; and (3) infused both individually and corporately by the Spirit of God’s Son so that they may lead “bifocal” lives, focused both back on Christ’s first coming and ahead to his second, consisting of Christlike, cruciform (cross-shaped) (1) faith and (2) hope toward God and (3) love toward both neighbors and enemies (a love marked by peaceableness and inclusion), in joyful anticipation of (1) the return of Christ, (2) the resurrection of the dead to eternal life, and (3) the renewal of the entire creation.
Whew! Now, would someone please diagram that sentence for us?
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Ever wondered what makes one a great actor? Let Sir Ian (AKA: Galdalf) explain in this brilliant piece of British comedy.
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We did, indeed, Ski Ohio yesterday. Thanks to snow-making machines and the energy of a couple teenagers, it was a blast.
I think the question Paul asked the Galations, “Who bewitched you into leaving salvation by grace that saved you?” Is the same question Jesus might have been asking the teachers in the temple at 12 and certainly was asking the Pharisees by Matthew 23. “Why you bind burdens on others that none of us can bear?”
Gorman takes Paul’s “follow me as I follow Christ” admonishment to a whole new level by writing lengthy sentences that only the good apostle could match.
For family . . . .
I think Paul’s primary concern in writing his epistles is usually killing alligators, so he punctuates them frequently with reminders that Christ through us is trying to drain the swamp of sin – the message of the gospel.
In those reminders, he may be quoting messages that he has delivered to these various churches as reminders of that gospel, and we don’t have those messages, so we don’t get the full effect. It’s like trying to reconstruct a lost novel from the author’s surviving letters to others about writing it.
(Sorry; I was never good at diagramming sentences in school. It shows in my writing.)
The Paul stuff is too deep for me, but I do know a thing or two about cute little girls, & I think the first two pics of Reese oughta be on a cola ad for sure. Maybe with a caption of “Good to the last drop on the chin.”
1. I’ll double the Diet Pepsi order next time Reese comes.
2. For heaven’s sakes. Your mother was an editor. Twenty-five words, maybe thirty, would be the limit for a sentence. After that, you lose your readership. (This one lost me)
Oooh Mike, you might be in trouble. Don’t let her parents see this.
My daughter-in-law is a bright young woman. She knows what’s going on when we make our trips to the Jeep: a bit of soda, a little gum, and loud classic rock music.
“Train up a child in the way she should go . . . .”
I am somewhat disappointed with the training up of your granddaughter. You will regret not including Jimmy Buffett.
There’s probably something profound in that sentence but I could only make it through about 50 words. That sentence is a grammatical sin.