There are many topics within the theological realm that are seen to be of a purely academic nature with little bearing on everyday Christian life. For the lay person, the distinctions between infra and supralapsarianism hold little meaning, and probably rightly so. But it might be that in simply passing over many theological topics as discussions for the impractical hermits of the ivory chapels or the bare halls of seminaries, many good-hearted Christians are depriving themselves of truths and glories of God and His creation that are of great benefit to their everyday, practical, earthy Christian life. The nature of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, specifically in personal choice or will, is almost definitely one of those doctrines that is widely neglected by evangelicals, likely because of the sometimes too (i.e. sinful) passionate disagreements or even bitterness between those of us waving the Calvinist, Arminian, or what-have-you flag. In light of this, it is our purpose to discuss the nature of man's choice (admittedly from a Reformed perspective), and then to see how an understanding of choice might benefit our daily Christian walk in the area of sanctification- or growing in Godliness.
When discussing matters of God's sovereignty and human responsibility, there are numerous opportunities for further questions, side issues, and winding trails of logical reasoning to creep in to the discourse. Much of our time could get lost in the details of how God might create a world that allows for evil, how man might be held responsible for sinful choices and how this could be possible if God foreknew and foreordained all that has happened or will happen, why God might draw some humans to Himself and not others, and other similar matters. However these are topics beyond our scope, and so for brevity's sake our theological focus will be relatively narrow. Our task is to establish only two truths; that we do what we are most inclined to do or what we see to be of the greatest good (or agreeable), and that God clearly has a direct hand in shaping the heart that determines our choices.
Actions and Inclinations
Just one example in Scripture of people choosing to do that which their heart has inclined them to do can be found in Exodus in the building of the tabernacle. This traveling dwelling place of God came with very specific blueprints, and thus Moses needed very skilled and willing servants and givers under his care if he was to lead in this building project. Fortunately for him the LORD provided the workers and funds necessary. In his address to the people- or his fundraising speech, so-to-speak- Moses appeals to the hearts of the Israelites in casting a vision for tabernacle construction; "Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution" (Ex. 35:5 ESV). It seems that Moses understood that if people were to give to the project, then their heart needed to lead them to do so. To put it another way, their inclination to give must have superseded any challenging inclinations to not give. The story of the tabernacle building continues using similar language. "And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the LORD's contribution..." (Ex. 35:21). "So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart..." (35:22). "All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goat's hair" (35:26). "All the men and women... whose heart moved them to bring anything... brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD" (35:29). "And Moses called... everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work" (36:2). It is clear from this section of Scripture that our actions and choices are derived from what is in our hearts; that is we choose and do what is in accord with our greatest desires and inclinations. To be sure, this is partly why Jesus says that our greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mk. 12:30). If we are to actively obey the teachings of God, our hearts must be inclined to Him and His teachings.
But does this mean that we necessarily do what is in accord with our greatest inclination? Jesus himself seems to answer in the affirmative. In Luke 6:43-45, Jesus explains that just as figs and grapes cannot be picked from thornbushes and brambles, so good works cannot come from a bad heart. A thornbush will always produce thorns, and a fig tree will always produce figs. In the same way, if our hearts are evil and we desire evil, then we will not and cannot produce good. But if our hearts are inclined to good, then we will do good. Our choices are determined by our hearts. Some hold that we have libertarian free will, which is to say that in any given choice we can choose A, B, C, D, or E and so on, and if we are given again the exact same circumstances (i.e. our inclinations are just the same as in the first case) we are free to choose either A, B, C, D, or E without any constraint. According to them we do not have to and will not always choose C, for example, if all things are equal. So according to them if we are at a restaurant we are free to pick any item off the menu; we might choose chicken strips, for example. And if we were to rewind the scene and play it again, this time we might choose the club sandwich. In each completely identical scene, the outcome might be different even though the contributing factors (motivations, inclinations) are identical. But this view completely neglects the factors that play into our choices, for if we can choose the chicken strips, the club sandwich, the salad, the burger, or anything under the sun, and if in each instance the circumstances are exactly identical, then there is no factor or set of factors that truly determined any specific choice because any choice could have occurred. This is saying that our choices have no true cause or motivation, which is to say that our choices are arbitrary and pointless. However, it seems in this text that Jesus is telling us that our choices and actions (i.e. the fruit we bear) are determined by the state of our hearts. So if we are at that same restaurant and our favorite food is chicken strips, then we will always choose chicken strips. On the other hand, if someone tells us that the club sandwich is especially good, that added factor might influence our desires and we might choose the club sandwich because that is now our greatest inclination. It is easy to see how complex our choices rapidly become when multiple factors are tabulated and assessed. In the same line of thought, if our hearts hate chicken strips or we are vegetarians, then we will never choose chicken strips because our hearts will not allow us to do so. Likewise we will not do evil if our hearts are not inclined toward evil. Through a familiar passage we learn a profound truth; that the nature and character of our heart determines what we produce, or what we do.
However, a vegetarian might choose the chicken strips if that vegetarian is forced at gunpoint to do so; their will is bound by an outside factor and the choice is made for them. In this situation, they no longer have the freedom to choose according to their greatest desire of keeping a vegetarian diet. For humanity, our great constraint is sin. Because of the fall, we can only and always do evil unless God Himself intervenes, and in fact we have no desire to do good as we are slaves to sin (Rom. 3:9-12, 6:17-22). This is the doctrine of total depravity, and this is what wars against true human freedom. This is why Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 tell us that God will put a new heart and a new spirit in his people that they may walk in His statutes, and it is why Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again if he is to enter the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3-6). If we are to be given true freedom to choose good instead of only the freedom to do evil, we must come out from under the curse of sin. Our slavery to sin must be overcome by the coercion of God who puts in us a new heart and desire. In Christ we are set truly free, not to choose contrary to our hearts but rather we are given the freedom to choose according to our new and greatest inclination to glorify God, without the constraint and coercion of sin because Christ has conquered sin for us (Rom. 8:1-8).
God's Involvement in Choice
What is shocking in relation to our freedom to choose according to inclination is that the Bible portrays God as having a very direct hand in shaping our desires and actions. Scripture is consistent in teaching that while our choices are very much our own genuine choices, God long ago has ordained the factors that shape the choice, and is currently active in our lives affecting our will. God has exhaustive control over all factors that contribute to our choice, and our choices are genuine choices proceeding from our inclinations. There are many passages that relate this truth (Acts 2:23, 4:27-28, Gen. 50:19-20), but we will only focus on a select few.
Revelation 17 gives us a strange and gruesome picture of a great prostitute Babylon who at times is seated on many waters and at other times a scarlet beast. The text itself tells us that the waters are a multitude of peoples, while the prostitute is representative of Godless society and culture (i.e. Rome- Rev. 17:18), while the beast probably represents the antichrist. Ultimately, the interpretation of these images is not of paramount importance for our purposes. What is pertinent to this discussion is verses 16 and 17, which state that "they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose..." The text is astoundingly clear; God uses his enemies to crush another of his enemies, thus carrying out His plan by actively placing the desire to turn on the prostitute into their hearts. God directs their actions through their volition. In the end, they make a choice to rise against the prostitute, and it is clear that God was the architect behind their genuine decision to do so. This is not the first time Scripture speaks of God using His enemies to crush other enemies, as Isaiah 10:5-15 presents an even more explicit scene of God's control wherein He wields Assyria like a staff in order to do His bidding, in the end even finding them morally culpable for their actions. Both of these texts hold two compatible truths, that we make genuine choices and that God directs these choices.
Of course God wields His authority for the salvation of men as well, as indicated by another passage in Revelation. Chapter 19 depicts the marriage supper of the Lamb, in which the Bride, the universal people of God, is finally presented to the Messiah who saved her. And we know, as being part of this Bride, that we are not of pure heart and motive, and yet that is exactly how we will appear because God will someday complete His work of completely purifying His Church. This is indicated in verses 7 and 8, in which John writes that "his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure..." Two things are of note in this text. One is that the Bride has made herself ready, that is there is a work that she genuinely does of her own will. She is not an automaton with no will or volition, she takes an active part in preparing herself for the marriage supper. Second is that it was granted her to clothe herself. So who did the granting? This is what is called a divine passive, a text in which the recipient of an action is named but the active agent is unnamed and assumed as God Himself. So God gave the Bride the ability to clothe herself with purity. God directed the genuine choices of the Bride. Not only this, but it seems that God planned before creation for His people to be clothed with purity (Eph. 2:10).
Practical Considerations
Surely this whole discussion of choice and God's sovereignty is not cold-hearted intellectual speculation, as we have been dealing with matters of our hearts, and to miss this would be grave error. What all this means is that our actions spring from our hearts; we do what we most want to do. So when we sin repeatedly, when we knowingly and continually commit the same sinful act against God that is clearly taught against in Scriptures, when we keep saying the same hurtful things over and over again that we know will crush others and cause bitterness in ourselves, when we time and again think the same perverted or malicious thoughts involving other humans who are made in the image of God just as we are, when we do all these things which are precisely why the Son out of love came to die on a cross for us, in all these moments we are doing exactly what we most want to do. If we understand this then we can begin to comprehend how far we have fallen from grace, we can begin to comprehend our depravity. And once we are able to see how wicked our hearts are apart from God's grace, we can see just how desperately we need Him to work on our behalf if we are going to in any way please our gracious Creator. We can also see the wickedness of our sin and thank God that one day it will be ended. We can look forward to a time when sin is no more and therefore every inclination of our heart is pure and every action taken is right, good, life-giving, beneficial, and for the glory of God who is creating a new creation that will, with the death of sin and evil, function perfectly. We can only look to this glorious future with proper expectation when we accurately understand how sinful and broken our world and our hearts are now. With a deeper recognition of our sin we can more gratefully appreciate the unshakeable kingdom that we have received and can respond in worship and awe of God and His Son's sin-conquering work on the cross.
Furthermore, if we understand that God is truly sovereign over all things, that He has exhaustive and complete control of all of the details and factors that shape our choices and even puts affections into our hearts, then we can rightly seek Him to change us and others. If God were powerless to shape and change the hearts of men, if He were to dutifully abstain from influencing the desires and affections and we were left to muster up our own will and good natured desires, then we would have no right to plead with Him in our time of need. We would have no right to ask God to save our neighbor, for He had already done what He could in the cross and creation, and now the onus would lie on us to chase after Him. But this standoffish God is absolutely not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is involved in our affairs, He breaks into creation and gives us a new heart, disciplines us, grows our mind, shapes our affections, and manipulates our circumstances. The God of the Bible is not an absentee Father. Therefore, we can get on our knees in humility and request that He take action, we can beg Him to change us that we may grow ever more in our love for Him and for others, and we can passionately plead with Him over the souls of men. The only way we can possibly have any hope in our prayers is if we understand that God is the one who saves and causes all good things, and that He is in the business of governing the world with great intimacy. And if we are to grow in our own sanctification and Godliness, then it is absolutely critical that we ask God to change our hearts to more and more reflect His own. Because we will always do what is in accord with our greatest inclination, and because God actively changes and affects the inclinations of humans, we can plead with Him that He change our desires so that our greatest inclination is toward righteousness leading to fruitful actions and choices.
Finally, we can ourselves actively work toward affecting our own hearts so that our actions are in accord with Godliness. Commonly known as the means of grace, these are the practices of the saints that shape our hearts and minds toward affection for God and His glory. So we spend time in the Scriptures so that it takes root in our being and changes the way we think. Especially in the Old Testament, we see the miracles of God and His faithfulness toward His people, and we grow in our trust of Him. We also see the grave consequences of great sin, and just as we incline our heart toward good, when we see despicable sin and its effects we disincline our heart toward evil. For similar purposes we read the biographies of past saints so that we see the glorious works God does through feeble vessels, and we see the sins that complicate and potentially ruin the lives of good men and women. We lift God up in song and praise not only because it pleases Him but also because it stirs our hearts toward Him. We meet as gathered saints on Sunday mornings and mid-week meetings to be mutually encouraged and supported in the body of Christ, and our affections are stirred in seeing the grace of God in and through others. We serve God and people so that we see redemption worked out in a fallen world. Those of us who stand at the pulpit and teach do so not to institute regulations and morality that have no lasting effect, rather by God's grace we ruthlessly engage the heart so that our hearers are perpetually lifted to God in His glory and goodness. Only when the affections are attacked will we ever see lasting change in the members of our churches. Even 'non-Christian' activities can become affection-shaping events; good drink, food, music, rest, entertainment, and company can all be used rightly to enjoy God and His creation, and thus change our affections toward Him. In all these things we seek to see the goodness of God and His Word and to see the horrible realities and effects of evil, so that we choose to act in accordance with Godliness and in repulsion of sin. We do not do all these things in order to mark boxes on a spiritual checklist, but rather we intentionally seek to shape our will so that it is in line with God and His Word, so what in our greatest inclination we perceive to be good is actually objectively good. Then, in the freedom of our inclination we choose good, and we do all that we do to the glory of God, because He has granted us to do so.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Father's Generous Authority
So it's been a while since I posted on this thing, and that's simply because I haven't felt like it. That's the beauty of this blog. It's more for me than it is for anyone else, and I am not at all trying to gain a following, so I can feel the liberty to neglect it for a while. But I will throw this up here, it's a paper I wrote for a theology class I recently took. ...
Any parent understands that children do not always submit to authority, that there is something in them that wants to buck the natural authoritarian structure of the parent-child relationship. Police officers assuredly are reminded constantly that their position of delegating the government's authority over the general populace brings with it a palpable disapproval from those they are called to protect and serve. Generally, civilians are not too fond of the government that polices them. This pattern continues down the line; employees often resent their bosses, athletes frequently regale against their coaches, and dogs sometimes even bite their owners. We who view the world through biblical lenses should be none too surprised; our first parents in the Garden started this trend when they disobediently ate of the forbidden fruit, in the act voicing their desire to crawl out from underneath the inherent authority of their God. From this initial rebellion spring all others, and unsurprisingly our sinful tendency is to eradicate all authority and for each of us to be our own self-determined and self-serving gods. Unfortunately evangelicalism has not been free from this trend, and seemingly now more than ever there is a push to do away with even biblical expressions of authority and submission. Maybe most notable is the effort to eliminate authority and submission within the marriage union of man and wife. Of course a key factor in this outcome is the curse of the fall itself, that woman's desire would be to rule over her husband (Gen. 3:16). Surely, this is also partly due to the male gender's overall sinful abuse of his inherent authority in the context of gender relationships. It is for this reason that we look to God Himself as our example in authority and submission. Specifically, in this discussion we will look to the Father's authority over the Son, and how the practice of this authority is not only anything but detrimental to the Son, but it is through this very authority and the Son's submission to the Father that Christ is made the center of worship, praise and honor to the glory of the Father. After this we will expand on how the lesson of the Father's beneficial, just, and Christ-exalting rule might be applied to earthly expressions of authority, namely in the church and home.
The Authority of the Father
Our first priority is to establish that the Father does indeed exercise authority over the Son. It is perhaps no clearer in any book of Scripture than it is in the Gospel of John that the Son submits to the Father's authority. Even a cursory reading of the book brings this truth to mind, but only one verse need be highlighted to clearly see that Jesus marches to the orders of the Father. After Jesus' discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well, the disciples plead with him to eat, seeing that he needs food. Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson; the lesson that spiritual needs and realities supersede those of the physical realm. In John 4:34 Jesus states "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." Several important truths may be gleaned from this quotation.
First, we see that Jesus was sent by the Father, to whom the pronouns clearly refer. For Jesus to be sent by the Father clearly denotes an authority structure present in the relationship in the Father and the Son. There is a sender doing the sending and one who is being sent; there is an agent from whom the command to send originates and an agent obediently carrying out the command. It is important to note that the Son does not see His incarnation as in independent act, but rather as an act that had an origination outside of Himself, namely with the Father. The Son did not independently choose to come, but rather was sent by- on behalf of or at the request of- the Father. It is also interesting to note that this decision by the Father to send the Son must have been made before the actual incarnation itself, which implies that there is an authority and submission relationship between the Father and the Son outside of the incarnation, i.e. it implies the Son's eternal submission to the Father's authority. This is implication becomes more forceful when Eph. 1:3-6 is taken into account, which states that those in Christ were chosen ''before the foundation of the world'', meaning that this plan of the Father's that was carried out by the Son to come into the world and save sinners was formulated before the created order came into existence. The sending of the Son was planned eternally, which would seem to imply that the Father eternally exercises authority over the Son, though to belabor this point would lie outside of our scope. Suffice it to say that the Father exercises authority over the Son in the incarnation.
Second, the Son not only was obedient to the Father in being sent into the world, but we learn from John 4:34 that it was the very subsistence of the Son to do the will of the Father. By Jesus' own admission he lives to carry out the desire and decree of the Father. Of course this means that Jesus has a will that is wholly his own, and that the Father has His own will as well. This does not imply discord between the two, for we clearly see that Jesus does all that the Father commands, this only means that each has a will independent of the other, though they are always in accord as it is always Jesus' greatest desire to do his Father's will. This is evidenced not only by Jesus' sinless life but also by his own perfect admission in John 5:30; "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me." So each person of the Godhead has a will perfectly in accord with one another, and this opens the door for the possibility that one person of the Trinity may follow a command of another, which is exactly what we see in the life of the God-Man Jesus. For him, it is more important than food or drink that he do what the Father tells him to do, says what he is told to say, and walks where he is told to walk. Verses such as John 8:28, 10:19, and 12:49 all clearly state that Jesus willingly and necessarily lives all of his life under the authority of the Father.
Third, in John 4:34 Jesus states that it is his food to do the will of the Father and to accomplish his work. There are only two logical understandings of this phrase. One possibility is that everything Jesus did, so did the Father and by logical extension so did the Holy Spirit. This however is Modalism, a heresy rejected at the Council of Nicea that states the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply three different expressions of the same God, denying any ontological distinction between the three members of the Trinity. It follows then that for Jesus to accomplish the Father's work means that the Father has ownership of the work in that it originated from Him. All that Christ did in his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension was done at the request of the Father, and because it was by the Father's plan and decree that all these things take place it can rightly be said that Jesus accomplished his Father's work. All that Jesus faithfully accomplished and experienced, his joys and his great suffering, was ordained by the Architect who exercised perfect authority over the Son.
Of course this is only an examination of one verse in John, and already it is clear that Jesus lived in submission to the will of the Father. A brief survey of other key texts such as 1 Cor. 11:3, 15:28, John 6:38, 14:28, Phil. 2:5-8, or Heb. 1:1-3 and the evidence overwhelmingly states that the Son lived in submission to the Father at the very least in the incarnation, and there is very good reason to believe that the Father eternally exercises authority over the Son. There is perhaps no moment more indicative of this relationship than Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane ''not my will, but yours, be done'' (Lk. 22:42). And from Isaiah 53:10 we know that it was the desire of the LORD to crush him; so it was in perfect obedience to the Father's good and holy will that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world.
Authority of the Father to the Benefit of the Son
Surely the Father's authority over the Son, because of the atoning work of Christ, is invaluably beneficial to us as fallen humans. But maybe even more shocking to our commonly anti-authoritarian sensibilities is that the Father's authority brings much benefit to the perfectly submissive Son. Though he went through inestimable pain and suffering in his life and death, in his resurrection and ascension Jesus the God-Man has been exalted to a lofty state and become the center of worship, adoration, and honor for the New Covenant people of God. Throughout the Old Testament only shades of the multiple persons of the Godhead are seen; primarily God is revealed as one and there is relatively little (though substantial) evidence of the Trinity. However, the New Testament focus is clearly on Jesus, the incarnate Word, the second person of the Trinity, and it is upon his teaching and work that the Christian faith is based. The focus of the covenant people of YHWH largely moves from God the Father to the Son who glorifies the Father. Paul himself takes it as a matter of first importance, in all of God's revelation, that Christ died for sins (1 Cor. 15:3). It is Christ who is the cornerstone of the church (Eph. 2:20), and he is the one placed as head over all things (Eph. 1:22). Because of his submission to God's plan of incarnation, death, and resurrection, the Son is permanently exalted and glorified as the Savior of the world.
There are numerous passages in the New Testament that speak of the exaltation of Christ, (such as Phil. 2:9-11, Rev. 19:16, Col. 1:15-20, or Heb. 1) and one of the most dramatic is Revelation 5. This passage is also important in that it is indicative of an eternal state of affairs regarding the lifting up of Christ. In John's vision, God is seated on a throne in heaven with four living creatures and twenty-four elders around the throne, all falling down before God and worshiping Him. John then sees that a scroll is in the hand of Him seated on the throne, and no one (in fallen man or sinless heavenly being) is found worthy to open the scroll, save for one. Revelation 5:5 says that the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, is worthy to open the scroll because he has conquered. The question that may be asked is ''How and what did Jesus, the Lion of Judah, conquer that would make him so worthy?'' Verse 6 gives us our answer in which John looks to view this conquering Lion, and sees the Lamb who was slain. In Jesus' obedience to the authority of the Father he was crucified by sinful man, and in his resurrection conquered sin and death. The Christ's worthiness is expressed in his submission to the Father to the point of death, and because of this submission he is then lifted as conqueror. The rest of Revelation 5 is a scene of worship, as John then sees the Lamb take the scroll from God on the throne, after which amazingly the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders all fall before the Lamb and worship the Lamb the same way in which they honored the Father. Singing a new song, the beings heap on the Lamb all of the praises that were given to God on the throne, and do so because the Lamb was slain. "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" (Rev. 5:13). The Father does not use His authority over the Son to demean, but to ensure that the Son is lifted up to His own lofty and exalted state. Shockingly it is at the name of Jesus that every knee in all of creation will bow (Phil. 2:10).
Practical Considerations
So Scripture portrays that the exercise of proper and just authority benefits and is gain for the one who submits to that authority. Biblical authority serves and lifts up its subjects. This of course is not only seen in the relationship between Father and Son, but also in the leadership of Jesus with his disciples and over the church at large (Eph. 5:23). John 13 gives us the incredible picture of the Messiah washing his disciples feet. While fully acknowledging that he is their Lord (v.13), he uses that as a platform not to oppress but rather to show that the nature of true authority and leadership is service, leaving them with the charge that they are in the same way to serve one another. Because of this any person in authority and leadership is obligated to ask how it is they may serve or benefit those under their care.
For the elder or ministry leader, the opportunities for abuse of authority are endless. We have all seen tragic examples of men who have used their position of influence to garner more praise, honor, and power for themselves. This should not be so. If we who are in authority are to follow the example of the Father, then the same opportunities that others use to oppress we must use to lift up. We do not petition our congregations to serve in Christian ministry so that we might increase our numbers, grow our funds, enlarge our building, or broaden our power and influence. Rather, we plead with our members to serve the LORD that they too may have a hand in Kingdom work, that they may know the joy of seeing firsthand Christ bring redemption into this fallen world, and that they too may one day meet their God and hear Him say 'well done, good and faithful servant.' And we rejoice and encourage and give praise and honor when we see those under our authority responding to the Lord's call on their lives in faithful service and obedience. Also, when we preach and teach we do not do so to belittle and demean, to remind our pew-sitters of how small and insignificant they are in light of our own glorious stature. Rather, we seek to bring them face to face with the only worthy and righteous One, to bring them face to face with the living God who is deserving of all glory, honor, and praise. We preach and teach in order to, by God's grace, lift up our hearers into the very presence of God through His word. In all that we do as servant leaders, we seek first to please God and glorify Him, and then we pour out ourselves for the betterment of those in our care. This is the nature of biblical authority, and it is surely gain to submit to such authority.
This pattern of course extends into the home, where men are clearly called to play a leadership role (Eph. 5:23, 1 Pet. 3:1). As was stated earlier, this idea is not popular today, partially because of the curses of the fall, and partially because of the numerous and harmful instances of men abusing their power. It is reasonable to postulate that if husbands by and large exercised the kind of leadership that God exercises over the Son, then our culture might not have such a distinct aversion to the concept of male headship. Not that husbands send their wives out to suffer and die; there is only one Savior of the world. But husbands should do all they can to ensure that their wives are at least as recognized as they are, and to be safe should probably insist on passing off all esteem to their better half. The Godly husband should see to it that children honor, respect, and submit to the authority of the wife. We do not cling tightly to authority, seeking to undermine the leadership of the wife in the home in an effort to keep the power for ourselves. More important than the recognition of humans is the praise of the Father. As the authority and leader in the home, men are called to present the wives to God just as Christ will present the church to himself as his spotless bride (Eph. 5:27). In his relationship with his wife, the chief priority of man is not to rule over her callously but rather in all things to ensure her sanctification and benefit. He must encourage her, challenge her, rejoice in her, praise her, pray over her, and rebuke her when necessary, all so that through the washing of the Word she may grow in Christ and be presented to God in splendor. And in all this, it is benefit to the wife that she submit to the authority of her godly husband. The husband is called to exercise this authority by dying to himself in this process, making sure that in his mind her needs supersede his own, and in humility considering the other more significant than self (Phil. 2:3). We lead in the home by loving the wife.
Our fallen world has a twisted perception (and expression) of authority that equates to callous, self-serving, harsh, and crushing rule. God's Word and His own functions flip this notion on its head completely, teaching us throughout that true and just authority seeks the benefit and exaltation of those under its care, seeking to bring all in line with the greatest good- the glory of God. Just as God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman (1 Cor. 11:3), so God has exalted Christ and seated him at His right hand, and so Christ has saved the church that she may be presented as a spotless bride, and so must man seek to exercise his authority over his wife in a loving and sacrificial manner. This paradigm of just leadership extends to all expressions of authority. Whether it be in the contexts of husbands and wives, parents and children, or masters and slaves, may we all seek to exercise authority like our Father, seeking the good of the other and the glory of God.
Any parent understands that children do not always submit to authority, that there is something in them that wants to buck the natural authoritarian structure of the parent-child relationship. Police officers assuredly are reminded constantly that their position of delegating the government's authority over the general populace brings with it a palpable disapproval from those they are called to protect and serve. Generally, civilians are not too fond of the government that polices them. This pattern continues down the line; employees often resent their bosses, athletes frequently regale against their coaches, and dogs sometimes even bite their owners. We who view the world through biblical lenses should be none too surprised; our first parents in the Garden started this trend when they disobediently ate of the forbidden fruit, in the act voicing their desire to crawl out from underneath the inherent authority of their God. From this initial rebellion spring all others, and unsurprisingly our sinful tendency is to eradicate all authority and for each of us to be our own self-determined and self-serving gods. Unfortunately evangelicalism has not been free from this trend, and seemingly now more than ever there is a push to do away with even biblical expressions of authority and submission. Maybe most notable is the effort to eliminate authority and submission within the marriage union of man and wife. Of course a key factor in this outcome is the curse of the fall itself, that woman's desire would be to rule over her husband (Gen. 3:16). Surely, this is also partly due to the male gender's overall sinful abuse of his inherent authority in the context of gender relationships. It is for this reason that we look to God Himself as our example in authority and submission. Specifically, in this discussion we will look to the Father's authority over the Son, and how the practice of this authority is not only anything but detrimental to the Son, but it is through this very authority and the Son's submission to the Father that Christ is made the center of worship, praise and honor to the glory of the Father. After this we will expand on how the lesson of the Father's beneficial, just, and Christ-exalting rule might be applied to earthly expressions of authority, namely in the church and home.
The Authority of the Father
Our first priority is to establish that the Father does indeed exercise authority over the Son. It is perhaps no clearer in any book of Scripture than it is in the Gospel of John that the Son submits to the Father's authority. Even a cursory reading of the book brings this truth to mind, but only one verse need be highlighted to clearly see that Jesus marches to the orders of the Father. After Jesus' discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well, the disciples plead with him to eat, seeing that he needs food. Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson; the lesson that spiritual needs and realities supersede those of the physical realm. In John 4:34 Jesus states "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." Several important truths may be gleaned from this quotation.
First, we see that Jesus was sent by the Father, to whom the pronouns clearly refer. For Jesus to be sent by the Father clearly denotes an authority structure present in the relationship in the Father and the Son. There is a sender doing the sending and one who is being sent; there is an agent from whom the command to send originates and an agent obediently carrying out the command. It is important to note that the Son does not see His incarnation as in independent act, but rather as an act that had an origination outside of Himself, namely with the Father. The Son did not independently choose to come, but rather was sent by- on behalf of or at the request of- the Father. It is also interesting to note that this decision by the Father to send the Son must have been made before the actual incarnation itself, which implies that there is an authority and submission relationship between the Father and the Son outside of the incarnation, i.e. it implies the Son's eternal submission to the Father's authority. This is implication becomes more forceful when Eph. 1:3-6 is taken into account, which states that those in Christ were chosen ''before the foundation of the world'', meaning that this plan of the Father's that was carried out by the Son to come into the world and save sinners was formulated before the created order came into existence. The sending of the Son was planned eternally, which would seem to imply that the Father eternally exercises authority over the Son, though to belabor this point would lie outside of our scope. Suffice it to say that the Father exercises authority over the Son in the incarnation.
Second, the Son not only was obedient to the Father in being sent into the world, but we learn from John 4:34 that it was the very subsistence of the Son to do the will of the Father. By Jesus' own admission he lives to carry out the desire and decree of the Father. Of course this means that Jesus has a will that is wholly his own, and that the Father has His own will as well. This does not imply discord between the two, for we clearly see that Jesus does all that the Father commands, this only means that each has a will independent of the other, though they are always in accord as it is always Jesus' greatest desire to do his Father's will. This is evidenced not only by Jesus' sinless life but also by his own perfect admission in John 5:30; "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me." So each person of the Godhead has a will perfectly in accord with one another, and this opens the door for the possibility that one person of the Trinity may follow a command of another, which is exactly what we see in the life of the God-Man Jesus. For him, it is more important than food or drink that he do what the Father tells him to do, says what he is told to say, and walks where he is told to walk. Verses such as John 8:28, 10:19, and 12:49 all clearly state that Jesus willingly and necessarily lives all of his life under the authority of the Father.
Third, in John 4:34 Jesus states that it is his food to do the will of the Father and to accomplish his work. There are only two logical understandings of this phrase. One possibility is that everything Jesus did, so did the Father and by logical extension so did the Holy Spirit. This however is Modalism, a heresy rejected at the Council of Nicea that states the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply three different expressions of the same God, denying any ontological distinction between the three members of the Trinity. It follows then that for Jesus to accomplish the Father's work means that the Father has ownership of the work in that it originated from Him. All that Christ did in his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension was done at the request of the Father, and because it was by the Father's plan and decree that all these things take place it can rightly be said that Jesus accomplished his Father's work. All that Jesus faithfully accomplished and experienced, his joys and his great suffering, was ordained by the Architect who exercised perfect authority over the Son.
Of course this is only an examination of one verse in John, and already it is clear that Jesus lived in submission to the will of the Father. A brief survey of other key texts such as 1 Cor. 11:3, 15:28, John 6:38, 14:28, Phil. 2:5-8, or Heb. 1:1-3 and the evidence overwhelmingly states that the Son lived in submission to the Father at the very least in the incarnation, and there is very good reason to believe that the Father eternally exercises authority over the Son. There is perhaps no moment more indicative of this relationship than Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane ''not my will, but yours, be done'' (Lk. 22:42). And from Isaiah 53:10 we know that it was the desire of the LORD to crush him; so it was in perfect obedience to the Father's good and holy will that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world.
Authority of the Father to the Benefit of the Son
Surely the Father's authority over the Son, because of the atoning work of Christ, is invaluably beneficial to us as fallen humans. But maybe even more shocking to our commonly anti-authoritarian sensibilities is that the Father's authority brings much benefit to the perfectly submissive Son. Though he went through inestimable pain and suffering in his life and death, in his resurrection and ascension Jesus the God-Man has been exalted to a lofty state and become the center of worship, adoration, and honor for the New Covenant people of God. Throughout the Old Testament only shades of the multiple persons of the Godhead are seen; primarily God is revealed as one and there is relatively little (though substantial) evidence of the Trinity. However, the New Testament focus is clearly on Jesus, the incarnate Word, the second person of the Trinity, and it is upon his teaching and work that the Christian faith is based. The focus of the covenant people of YHWH largely moves from God the Father to the Son who glorifies the Father. Paul himself takes it as a matter of first importance, in all of God's revelation, that Christ died for sins (1 Cor. 15:3). It is Christ who is the cornerstone of the church (Eph. 2:20), and he is the one placed as head over all things (Eph. 1:22). Because of his submission to God's plan of incarnation, death, and resurrection, the Son is permanently exalted and glorified as the Savior of the world.
There are numerous passages in the New Testament that speak of the exaltation of Christ, (such as Phil. 2:9-11, Rev. 19:16, Col. 1:15-20, or Heb. 1) and one of the most dramatic is Revelation 5. This passage is also important in that it is indicative of an eternal state of affairs regarding the lifting up of Christ. In John's vision, God is seated on a throne in heaven with four living creatures and twenty-four elders around the throne, all falling down before God and worshiping Him. John then sees that a scroll is in the hand of Him seated on the throne, and no one (in fallen man or sinless heavenly being) is found worthy to open the scroll, save for one. Revelation 5:5 says that the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, is worthy to open the scroll because he has conquered. The question that may be asked is ''How and what did Jesus, the Lion of Judah, conquer that would make him so worthy?'' Verse 6 gives us our answer in which John looks to view this conquering Lion, and sees the Lamb who was slain. In Jesus' obedience to the authority of the Father he was crucified by sinful man, and in his resurrection conquered sin and death. The Christ's worthiness is expressed in his submission to the Father to the point of death, and because of this submission he is then lifted as conqueror. The rest of Revelation 5 is a scene of worship, as John then sees the Lamb take the scroll from God on the throne, after which amazingly the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders all fall before the Lamb and worship the Lamb the same way in which they honored the Father. Singing a new song, the beings heap on the Lamb all of the praises that were given to God on the throne, and do so because the Lamb was slain. "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" (Rev. 5:13). The Father does not use His authority over the Son to demean, but to ensure that the Son is lifted up to His own lofty and exalted state. Shockingly it is at the name of Jesus that every knee in all of creation will bow (Phil. 2:10).
Practical Considerations
So Scripture portrays that the exercise of proper and just authority benefits and is gain for the one who submits to that authority. Biblical authority serves and lifts up its subjects. This of course is not only seen in the relationship between Father and Son, but also in the leadership of Jesus with his disciples and over the church at large (Eph. 5:23). John 13 gives us the incredible picture of the Messiah washing his disciples feet. While fully acknowledging that he is their Lord (v.13), he uses that as a platform not to oppress but rather to show that the nature of true authority and leadership is service, leaving them with the charge that they are in the same way to serve one another. Because of this any person in authority and leadership is obligated to ask how it is they may serve or benefit those under their care.
For the elder or ministry leader, the opportunities for abuse of authority are endless. We have all seen tragic examples of men who have used their position of influence to garner more praise, honor, and power for themselves. This should not be so. If we who are in authority are to follow the example of the Father, then the same opportunities that others use to oppress we must use to lift up. We do not petition our congregations to serve in Christian ministry so that we might increase our numbers, grow our funds, enlarge our building, or broaden our power and influence. Rather, we plead with our members to serve the LORD that they too may have a hand in Kingdom work, that they may know the joy of seeing firsthand Christ bring redemption into this fallen world, and that they too may one day meet their God and hear Him say 'well done, good and faithful servant.' And we rejoice and encourage and give praise and honor when we see those under our authority responding to the Lord's call on their lives in faithful service and obedience. Also, when we preach and teach we do not do so to belittle and demean, to remind our pew-sitters of how small and insignificant they are in light of our own glorious stature. Rather, we seek to bring them face to face with the only worthy and righteous One, to bring them face to face with the living God who is deserving of all glory, honor, and praise. We preach and teach in order to, by God's grace, lift up our hearers into the very presence of God through His word. In all that we do as servant leaders, we seek first to please God and glorify Him, and then we pour out ourselves for the betterment of those in our care. This is the nature of biblical authority, and it is surely gain to submit to such authority.
This pattern of course extends into the home, where men are clearly called to play a leadership role (Eph. 5:23, 1 Pet. 3:1). As was stated earlier, this idea is not popular today, partially because of the curses of the fall, and partially because of the numerous and harmful instances of men abusing their power. It is reasonable to postulate that if husbands by and large exercised the kind of leadership that God exercises over the Son, then our culture might not have such a distinct aversion to the concept of male headship. Not that husbands send their wives out to suffer and die; there is only one Savior of the world. But husbands should do all they can to ensure that their wives are at least as recognized as they are, and to be safe should probably insist on passing off all esteem to their better half. The Godly husband should see to it that children honor, respect, and submit to the authority of the wife. We do not cling tightly to authority, seeking to undermine the leadership of the wife in the home in an effort to keep the power for ourselves. More important than the recognition of humans is the praise of the Father. As the authority and leader in the home, men are called to present the wives to God just as Christ will present the church to himself as his spotless bride (Eph. 5:27). In his relationship with his wife, the chief priority of man is not to rule over her callously but rather in all things to ensure her sanctification and benefit. He must encourage her, challenge her, rejoice in her, praise her, pray over her, and rebuke her when necessary, all so that through the washing of the Word she may grow in Christ and be presented to God in splendor. And in all this, it is benefit to the wife that she submit to the authority of her godly husband. The husband is called to exercise this authority by dying to himself in this process, making sure that in his mind her needs supersede his own, and in humility considering the other more significant than self (Phil. 2:3). We lead in the home by loving the wife.
Our fallen world has a twisted perception (and expression) of authority that equates to callous, self-serving, harsh, and crushing rule. God's Word and His own functions flip this notion on its head completely, teaching us throughout that true and just authority seeks the benefit and exaltation of those under its care, seeking to bring all in line with the greatest good- the glory of God. Just as God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman (1 Cor. 11:3), so God has exalted Christ and seated him at His right hand, and so Christ has saved the church that she may be presented as a spotless bride, and so must man seek to exercise his authority over his wife in a loving and sacrificial manner. This paradigm of just leadership extends to all expressions of authority. Whether it be in the contexts of husbands and wives, parents and children, or masters and slaves, may we all seek to exercise authority like our Father, seeking the good of the other and the glory of God.
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