God in Christ

[phareztamar]

GOD IN CHRIST

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.


Chapter one was about Emmanuel…God with us. Chapter two is about God in Christ. The two are very different. God with us is a nine month biological wonder. A human seed, fusing with a divine seed. Emmanuel, is the 300 trillion copies of that fusion, walking the shores of Galilee. Emmanuel, is the Word made flesh, and walking among us.
But God with us is not the same as God in Christ. God in Christ, does not begin in Bethlehem. Indeed, the term Christ itself suffices. Christ is a term of ministry and office. This robe was not yet donned by our Lord…neither at Bethlehem, nor for his first 30 years. Even beyond common sense, if God in Christ began in Bethlehem, then a very rich and beautiful hermeneutic of scripture is violated.
Consider, that the Mighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, wanted his chosen people to build him a tent. Not just any tent, but a very detailed tent. A tent of micro-managed design and specification. In fact when complete, it must match a heavenly tent, showed to Moses in the mount. Why a tent? Heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool. Why does the Father of eternity, desire that a tent be built? Simply this: that I may dwell among them. That I may tabernacle with them. That I may walk with them…talk with them…and lead them into a promised land. So Israel built this elaborate tent. But for all the smithy’s and their hearths…the weavers and their fabrics…the woodsmen and their axes…the handling of materials and labor that went on…exactly when, did the Mighty God take up residence in his tent? At the beginning? At the dyers vats, or the cutters mill? When it was dried-in? No…he would tarry until its inauguration. It must be complete…down to the last knop and flower.
This storied tent, built by nomadic Israel, grew to regal proportions in the days of King Solomon. A massive temple, where once stood a mobile tent. A structure for which Solomon spared no expense. Cedar and gold, silver and marble, linens and spices. Hundreds of thousands of man hours spent in its erection. But again, when did the Mighty God occupy this beautiful temple? When the cornerstone was laid? When the cedar was overlaid with gold, or the silver sockets cast? When the walls went up? Again, God would tarry until its completion. That grand ceremony; records Solomon’s magnificent prayer, his elaborate sacrifices in a single day, and the arrival of God, in his temple.
And yet a third time, the Spirit testifies: sacrifice and offering thou woulds’t not, but a body hast thou prepared me. And yet a third time, God’s arrival would tarry, until the temple is completed. And as with the temples before, preparation must be made for his arrival. He would tarry until: the way of the lord be prepared; every valley filled, every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked made straight, and the rough ways made smooth. His residency in this temple, must wait for the preparer of the way, to prepare the way: this is he, of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee. And Malachi was bolder still, saying: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple.
The Mighty God’s only, first begotten son, had been born of a virgin. The Word made flesh…on a microscopic cell level…developed for nine months, and then grew and matured for 30 years. It is a medical mystery never to be solved...the flesh and bone results, of a human seed fusing with a divine seed. How blessed the few, who got to see this miracle. Those who: have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. But God with us…an unspeakable marvel in its own right…is not to be confused with God in Christ. God in Christ stands alone…a distinct event, with a specific starting point.
Like all fathers, God’s intervention must be stayed during temple construction. His son must be tested and tempted…during the prime years of a young mans life…in all points like as we. He must experience the fears and the joys…the pain and the love…that all men feel in life. And so the Father of eternity, looks on at his only begotten son…nursing at his mothers paps…crying at his circumcision…marveling as a lad, at his Fathers beautiful handiwork, in the gardens and forests of Palestine. A hushed heaven, beholding a Fathers great restraint.
John the Baptist, having finished his ministry of preparation, arrives at the pinnacle of his calling. He meets the word made flesh at the Jordan River. Jesus’ preparation is now complete. The fullness of time has come. The finished temple is perfect in every way: tried and tested, holy and sinless. Actually, his 30 years of preparation, are a closed book to us. We know the zeal of his father’s house was eating him up. We know that, of a long time, he desired to be about his father’s business. Short of this, we really know nothing at all about his first 30 years. A full 90% of our lords life…obscured by the Holy Ghost.
On the banks of the muddy Jordan, Jesus is now ready to don the mantle of Christ. Temple construction is complete, down to the tongs and snuffdishes. The Father is well pleased. Only one thing remains, to fulfill all righteousness. And so, the preparer of the way, baptizes Jesus. As He rises from that watery grave, Jesus is filled with the Holy Ghost. It is at this moment, that bold Malachi’s prophecy comes true: and the lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. This is the start, of God in Christ. What now walks in Jesus’ sandaled feet…heals with his carpenter hands…weeps with eyes of compassion…is no less than: God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Here is the inauguration, of Moses tent in the wilderness. Here is God’s arrival, at Solomon’s temple feast. Now is God manifest in the flesh. Not at Bethlehem, but 30 years later at Jordan. Now does the fullness of the Godhead dwell in him bodily. The restrained father, is no longer with his son…but in him. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
To separate God with us from God in Christ by 30 years, does not minimize the miracle, that God has fathered His only begotten son. What part of this marvelous gospel is less marvelous, that God would tarry 30 years, before taking up residence? How does His tarrying…until the temple is complete…alter the miracle of Emmanuel? It does not. How else might He be made in all points like as we, yet save creation with the only sinless blood ever produced? How else might He establish His royal lineage from David, and yet take on the form of a servant? His tarrying had nothing to do with the Word made flesh, and dwelling among us. But this is a different mystery than God in Christ. This is a mystery of divine fertilization. Emmanuel…God with us…had a beginning, nine months before Bethlehem. He endured an ongoing process of growth, development, and maturing. He had a starting point, and 33 years later, a tragic ending. But during that time of the Word made flesh…30 years into his short life…God in Christ occurs. And when the lord suddenly comes to this prepared temple, we embark upon the whole purpose of Bethlehem…reconciliation.
And what of the temple Himself? What of the 30 year old man Jesus?
Here is the most beautiful irony of the gospel story. The crowning trait, of the most famous man in human history, is in fact, His anonymity. The Son of God that nobody knows. This too, is the single trait, that He hopes his followers might achieve. It is the greatest…albeit most difficult… achievement, that any apostolic life can pursue. That is, simply, to die…to lose our life. For anonymity is the very meat of maturity. Such was the testimony of our brother Paul:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
And in another place:
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Here is that elusive, pinnacle achievement sought by every apostolic who loves Him. To die daily…to remain crucified with Christ…to lose our life, that we may find it. And where do we think the apostle learned so radical a theology? At the feet of Gamaliel? I think not. After all, the way of death, and the way of all humanity, are polar opposites. The scripture testifies, that Paul learned this way of death, from the example set by his Lord. Jesus showed Paul…Jesus showed all men…this new concept of dying daily. Jesus lived it, long before Paul adopted the practice. For I dare say, that the Master practiced what He preached. And fully two years, before the world knew how He would die, Jesus did preach:
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
From His inauguration at Jordan, until His cruel death at Calvary, my Lord lived a crucified life. Every day of His short ministry, Jesus willingly crawled up on that cross, dying to Himself. Had He not, we should all be the poorer; hearing only the words of the Son of God, rather than the words of God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. This, Paul understood better than most. He saw that the successful reconciliation, of humanity to God, would require the Son of God to hide His own life in His Father.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
For His first 30 years on earth, Jesus’ life was obscured by the Holy Ghost. Then came Jordan. Here, He willingly died and was buried. Here, He begins a 3 ½ year regimen, of dying on a cross every day. What of Jesus? His life was truly and completely, hidden in God. So hidden, that even today, no man can possibly know who the Son is. And wasn’t that His very testimony?
All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him.
This is, in fact, the manifest beauty of the Son of God. For in that He gave His life; He gave it first at Jordan…and then ultimately, at Calvary. No man knoweth who the Son is, including us…simply because no man has ever seen him. We have a record of His birth, a visit to the temple at 12, His brief encounter with John at 30, and His prayers to His Father. We all take our lives with us, as we leave the burial waters of baptism. Then we embark on a gradual, life-long process, of allowing the Holy Ghost to crucify us. But not so with my Lord. In one fell swoop at Jordan…He laid down His life in the burial waters of baptism, for you and for me. When He was buried by John, that was the last the world would ever see of the man Jesus. His 30 years of preparation are complete. The temple is ready. The fullness of time had come. From this day forward:
The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
In the form of Noah’s dove, the Lord, whom ye seek, has suddenly come to his temple. After 2,000 years of wander, the dove has at last found a suitable place, to rest the soles of its feet. This is God in Christ. No man knoweth who the son is, but the Father.

[Esaias]

Did Paul mean "God was in Christ, and he was reconciling..." etc? Or was he saying God was reconciling the world to himself via Christ?

[phareztamar]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Did Paul mean "God was in Christ, and he was reconciling..." etc? Or was he saying God was reconciling the world to himself via Christ?

Elder Esaias,

I believe Paul meant just what he said...that "God was in Christ...", as my thread indicates.

[phareztamar]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Did Paul mean "God was in Christ, and he was reconciling..." etc? Or was he saying God was reconciling the world to himself via Christ?

What do you think Paul meant?

[deacon blues]

That God was in Christ.

[Esaias]

Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Corinthians 5:19. Confirmatory elucidation of the previous ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ καταλλάξαντος … καταλλαγῆς. “I have reason for saying, from God, who has reconciled us, etc., because, indeed, God in Christ reconciled the world with Himself,” etc. The recurrence of the same leading expressions, which were used in 2 Corinthians 5:18, gives to this elucidation a solemn emphasis. The θεός emphatically prefixed, however, looking back to ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ in 2 Corinthians 5:18, shows that the point is not a description of the καταλλαγή (Camerarius, Wolf, Estius, Billroth, and others), or of the διακονία τῆς καταλλαγῆς (Grotius, Rückert), but the divine self-activity in Christ’s reconciling work and in the bestowal of the office of reconciliation. The two participial clauses, μὴ λογιζόμενος κ.τ.λ. and καὶ θέμενος κ.τ.λ., stand related to θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χ. κόσμ. καταλλ. ἑαυτ. argumentatively, so that the words καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν κ.τ.λ., which serve to elucidate καὶ δόντος ἡμῖν κ.τ.λ., 2 Corinthians 5:18, are not co-ordinated to the καταλλάσσων (as one might expect from 2 Corinthians 5:18), but are subordinated to it,—a change in the form of connecting the conceptions, which cannot surprise us in the case of Paul when we consider his free and lively variety in the mode of linking together his thought.

ὡς ὅτι θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χ. κόσμ. καταλλ. ἑαυτῷ] because, indeed, God in Christ was reconciling the world with Himself. On ὡς ὅτι,[238] utpote quod (to be analyzed: as it is the case, because), see Winer, p. 574 [E. T. 771]. The ἦν καταλλάσσων should go together (see already Chrysostom), and is more emphatic than the simple imperfect. Paul wishes, namely, to affirm of God, not simply what He did (κατήλλασσε), but in what activity He was; in the person and work of Christ (ἐν Χριστῷ) God was in world-reconciling activity. The imperfect receives from the context the definite temporal reference: when Christ died the death of reconciliation, with which took place that very καταλλάξαντος, 2 Corinthians 5:18. See, especially, Romans 3:24 f., 2 Corinthians 5:10. Ambrosiaster, Pelagius, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Calovius, Bengel, and many others, including Rückert, Osiander, Neander, connect ἮΝ ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ together: God was in Christ, while reconciling the world with Himself. This would only be possible in the event of the two following participial clauses expressing the mode of reconciliation, which, however, on account of the second clause (καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν κ.τ.λ.), cannot be the case; they must, on the contrary, contain the confirmation of θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χ. κόσμ. καταλλ. ἑαυτῷ. According to their contents, however, they do not at all confirm the fact that God was in Christ, but the fact that God was in Christ reconciling the world; hence it is at variance with the context to make the connection ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ. Theodoret was right in denying expressly this connection.

[Esaias]

Vincent's Word Studies
God
Emphatic. It was God, as in 2 Corinthians 5:18.

Was - reconciling (ἦν καταλλάσσων)

These words are to be construed together; the participle with the finite verb marking the process of reconciliation. The emphasis is on the fact that God was reconciling, not on the fact that God was in Christ. God was all through and behind the process of reconciliation. The primary reference of the statement is, no doubt, to God's reconciling manifestation in the incarnation and death of Christ; yet, as a fact, it includes much more. God was engaged in reconciling the world from the very beginning, and that in Christ. See on John 1:4, John 1:5, John 1:9, John 1:10.

[thephnxman]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Vincent's Word Studies
God
Emphatic. It was God, as in 2 Corinthians 5:18.
Was - reconciling (ἦν καταλλάσσων)
These words are to be construed together; the participle with the finite verb marking the process of reconciliation. The emphasis is on the fact that God was reconciling, not on the fact that God was in Christ. God was all through and behind the process of reconciliation. The primary reference of the statement is, no doubt, to God's reconciling manifestation in the incarnation and death of Christ; yet, as a fact, it includes much more. God was engaged in reconciling the world from the very beginning, and that in Christ. See on John 1:4, John 1:5, John 1:9, John 1:10.

Very well put, Beloved.

[phareztamar]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Vincent's Word Studies
God
Emphatic. It was God, as in 2 Corinthians 5:18.

Was - reconciling (ἦν καταλλάσσων)

These words are to be construed together; the participle with the finite verb marking the process of reconciliation. The emphasis is on the fact that God was reconciling, not on the fact that God was in Christ. God was all through and behind the process of reconciliation. The primary reference of the statement is, no doubt, to God's reconciling manifestation in the incarnation and death of Christ; yet, as a fact, it includes much more. God was engaged in reconciling the world from the very beginning, and that in Christ. See on John 1:4, John 1:5, John 1:9, John 1:10.

Elder Esaias,
Thank you for your response. While I appreciate the didactic enlightenment put forward, you're preaching to the choir here. I have long believed that God was engaged in reconciling the world from the very beginning. Hence the statement "That Rock was Christ". In fact, if you read my post, its all about that reconciliation. That being said, you never did answer whether or not you think Paul's statement "God was in Christ" means that God was in Christ.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by phareztamar

Elder Esaias,
Thank you for your response. While I appreciate the didactic enlightenment put forward, you're preaching to the choir here. I have long believed that God was engaged in reconciling the world from the very beginning. Hence the statement "That Rock was Christ". In fact, if you read my post, its all about that reconciliation. That being said, you never did answer whether or not you think Paul's statement "God was in Christ" means that God was in Christ.

I believe the grammar requires us to understand Paul was saying that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ.