Infinity: God’s Radical Freedom

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

Infinity – n. Unbounded space, time, or quantity.
[immutability. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infinity (accessed: March 02, 2009).]

Being a Fully Devoted Follower of a Radically Free God

In his book, Living Jesus, Luke Timothy Johnson discusses a proposition of great consequence: Jesus is alive rather than dead and this determines what it means to follow him.
Being the disciple of a dead person is fairly straight forward: you read their ideas and their history and you model your life after theirs. It may take a while and it will require work, but the goal is static and the expectations are stable.

Being the disciple of a living person is radically different, for just when you think you understand him, he moves: he is not where you thought he was or he wants you to do something that is outside your box.

Being a fully devoted follower of Christ is being the follower of a living person. Because of this, we must not and cannot stop at mere conformity to our current understanding of Jesus, for as a living person, he keeps moving.

As a living person, Jesus is dynamic; as a divine person, he is radically so. As we saw in the article on Aseity, God is self-existent. Unlike every other being, he is radically free: he has the ability to do whatever he wills. The only restraints upon God are self-imposed; nothing else and no one else can apply any restraint.

These past weeks, Pastor Charlie has been teaching from the account of Jesus walking on the water. There is no way in all of the disciples' knowledge and experience that they would have ever thought he would come walking the water. Yet, when he revealed himself, Peter's response shows that even with his tiny trust, he understood that Jesus is radically free: if Jesus decides that Peter should walk on the water, then Peter could walk on the water. And he did.

Just when you think you know where he is and what he is going to do, he moves. This is why following Jesus requires more than careful bible study and regular church attendance. It also requires walking with your brothers and sisters, hearing their perspective. It requires reading Christian writings from other eras and traditions, hearing what they have to say, evaluating it by the gospel, and accepting what passes muster--even if it clashes with what you believe. It requires silencing your heart long enough to hear what the Spirit is saying now.

Because Jesus is a living person, our individual understanding of him is necessarily partial. Our understanding becomes increasingly complete in a community where each and all are in hard pursuit of the God who is radically free and who leads us in ways we never thought possible or even likely.

Immutability: God’s Unchangeableness

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

Immutability – adj. Not subject or susceptible to change.
[immutability. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/immutability (accessed: February 02, 2009).]

God does not change in his being, attributes, purposes, or understandings. This does not mean he is rigid and unemotional, for a quick read through the stories of the Old Testament shows that God is responsive and moved by emotion. So, what does this mean?

While God sometimes changes his short term acts (Exodus 32:11-14; Jonah 3:10), he always keeps his promises (Numbers 23:19) and his intentions stand forever (Psalm 33:11). Though creation changes and decays, God does not change; he remains forever (Psalm 102:26-27). Because God keeps his promise to bless and keep his people, they are not cast aside when they sin (Malachi 3:6). He reassures his people by basing his unchangeable promises on his unchangeable self (Hebrews 6:13-18). God's unchangeable goodness is the source of all goodness (James 1:17).

Those who have trusted Christ can be assured of God's unchanging, steadfast love. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true: those who have not trusted, have no assurance and no hope apart from Christ. In this, God is also unchangeable (John 14:6).

Who are you trusting?

Glory--God's Splendor and Radiance

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

Key Ideas from

"Glory of God"
Kregel Dictionary of the Bible and Theology
by Henry W. Holloman
(C) 2005 Kregel Publications

• God's glory is the splendor and radiance of all he is and all he does. His glory is the only true glory; all else is derivative.
• We reflect God's glory back to him in our praise and thanks. To refuse or neglect to do so is sin. To reflect his glory in honor of another is idolatry.
• Everything in existence naturally reflects God's glory. Persons who willfully refuse to do so are judged.
• God's glory is reflected in all he has done, said, and made.
• God revealed his glory through his people Israel and, for the sake of his glory revealed in them, he keeps his covenant with them.
• God's glory is most clearly revealed in the life, death, resurrection, enthronement, and return of Jesus, the Son of God.
• God's people bring him glory through words and actions of praise, honor, and worship.
• Humans were created to give God glory.
  

Aseity: God’s Independence

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

Aseity –noun Metaphysics. existence originating from and having no source other than itself.
[aseity. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aseity (accessed: January 02, 2009).]

God is self-existent; he depends on nothing and no one for his existence. This is what Jesus meant when he said that the Father has life in himself (John 5:26). God also made this claim when he told Moses his name: I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14).

God's decisions and actions are his alone; no other being can influence or change them apart from God's own choice (Psalm 115:3). Nothing and no one can be compared to God, for he is the only self-existent one. There is none like him (Isaiah 40:13). In a speech given after God chastised his arrogance, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed that God alone can do whatever he wills and that no one can question him (Daniel 4:35).

At the end of the theological section in his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul proclaims God's ways as wholly independent, basing this proclamation on the utter dependence on him of everything in existence (Romans 11:33-36). Paul spoke similarly in his speech to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens (Acts 17:25). In his record of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apostle John writes down the song of the elders, proclaiming God's independence and our utter dependence.

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."

(Revelation 4:11 ESV)

Some will respond to God's aseity with rebellious posturing, while others will respond with humility and passionate worship.

How will you respond?

With Unveiled Faces

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

“As we continually reflect the glory of the Lord, we are continually being transformed into the image of the one whose glory we are reflecting.”

Anthony A. Hoekema
Created in God's Image
Eerdmans, (C) 1986
p.24

Learning to “continually reflect the glory of the Lord” starts with our convictions. Convictions are often difficult to uncover, yet they are quite powerful.

• Convictions reside in the core of our person—our heart. Whether revealed or hidden, convictions determine our actions and attitudes.
• Convictions can be hidden from our consciousness, with hints and clues revealed in our unguarded moments. We can tease out their nature by looking at the thinking, feeling, and doing that coincide with our knee-jerk reactions.
• Convictions cannot be changed by direct action. We cannot awake one day and decide to hold a different conviction.
• Convictions are integrally connected to our habits of mind-body-emotion. We have trained ourselves to behave according to our convictions and their related actions and attitudes.
• Convictions are resistant to change; disciplined practice is required.

Developing new truth-conformed habits is a powerful way to change our convictions and bring them into conformity with the truth. Habits train us to behold the glory of the Lord.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

Resources

Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard
The Lost Virtue of Happiness, J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler

Greater Than We Can Imagine

by Laura Springer, M.Div., Th.M.

Let us suppose a particular gathering of professing Christians has a corporate illness. The diagnosis, received and agreed upon is this: as a community, they do not love God and do not obey him. What might be the prescription for this illness?

Since the knowledge of God is knowing-in-relationship, then knowing God person-to-person is a necessary element of the prescription. Further, this knowledge of God would need to be the sort that shakes persons out of their assumptions and corrects their thinking, feeling, and behaving.

TFB Academy 2009 will consider this issue by investigating four characteristics of God.

• Glory—God’s Splendor and Radiance (February)
• Justice—God’s Fairness and Righteousness (May)
• Grace—God’s Compassion and Favor (August)
• Love—God’s Decided and Demonstrated Affection (November)

It is our prayer that our knowing-in-relationship will shake us out of our assumptions and correct our thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Our God is greater than we can imagine. Let us know him together.