Glimpses of Grace: Jacob Blesses the Younger Son

(Click here for all previous "Glimpses of Grace" studies)

 The closing drama of the book of Genesis is the story of Jacob's blessing: in chapters 48-49, he offers prayers and prophecies over two of his grandsons and each of his twelve sons. These passages bring the long tale of Jacob's family to its denouement, a fitting end to a long and dramatic tale. Two of the episodes in these chapters are of particular interest to the Christian reader looking for foreshadowings of Jesus: the manner in which Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, his grandsons, and the prophecy he pronounces over his son Judah.

In the first instance, which concerns us in this week's post, the story takes an interesting turn. The aged Jacob, presented with Joseph's sons Manasseh and Ephraim for the first time, gives them a prayer of blessing before the end of his life. But instead of doing what is customary--placing his right hand on the older boy's head and his left on the younger's--Jacob crosses his arms and intentionally places his right hand on Ephraim's head, the younger. Joseph tries to correct his father and make him put his right hand on Manasseh's head. But Jacob resists, explaining that Ephraim receives the right-hand blessing because he will be greater than his brother and will become "a group of nations." This is an interesting prophecy, partly because it does not appear to have come true--not in a literal sense, anyway. Ephraim and Manasseh both go on to become members of the northern tribes of Israel; and while Ephraim certainly becomes very populous and prominent in the northern kingdom, both it and Manasseh end up suffering the same fate when Assyria conquers, deports, and assimilates them in the 8th century BC. Both number among the "lost tribes of Israel," and one simply could not make a historical argument that Ephraim becomes "a group of nations" while Manasseh does not, for the simple reason that both share exactly the same fate, and drop off the radar of traceable history. 

So what could be meant by Jacob's prophecy over Ephraim? Was he just reliving his own experience as the younger son who took the blessing intended for the firstborn? That may be part of it. But Christian tradition has always seen a very clear reason behind Jacob's act, though he himself could not have foreseen its fulfillment. In these two boys, as in the case of Jacob and Esau, the two sons represent the two covenants of God's people: the Old Covenant and the New. In fact, this story is repeated at least four times in the book of Genesis: Abel is favored over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Ephraim over Manasseh; another possible repetition is in Jacob's favoring of the younger wife, Rachel, over the older, Leah. The insistence and clarity of this repetitive pattern should point to the fact that there is some very important message at play here. If indeed this perpetual trope is a symbol of the coming of the New Covenant, then the pattern makes perfect sense (at least in the Christian interpretation). The younger son is favored over the older because the New Covenant fulfills and supersedes the Old; it represents God's full and final plan for humanity. This idea is foreshadowed over and over and over again throughout the book of Genesis. And the prophecy becomes true in a clear and startling sense: if Ephraim symbolically represents the New Covenant, then he does quite literally become "a group of nations"--the global, trans-national family of the church of Jesus Christ.

Before leaving this passage, we should also mark the fact that Jacob's prayer of blessing explicitly notes a pattern that we have seen throughout this book: that the mysterious character of "the Angel of the Lord" is in fact, in some way, God himself. In Gen. 48:15-16, Jacob directly identifies the Angel with the God of his fathers. This oddly plural identity for a monotheistic God is not odd if one is reading it in a Christian light: we have seen, over and over again in Genesis, how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is made manifest, and how the presence of Christ in the story of his Word has been apparent from the very beginning.

Photo of the Week

"All torturing questions find

Answer beneath those old grey olive trees...

Oh, there are things done in the world today

Would root up faith, but for Gethsemane."

- Amy Carmichael

Quote of the Week

"But my one unchanged obsession,
Wheresoe'er my feet have trod,
Is a keen, enormous, haunting,
Never-sated thirst for God."

- Gamaliel Bradford, from his poem "God"

(Painting: "Sunset at Sea," by Ivan Aivazovsky, 1864) 

Saturday Synaxis

O God, rouse your Church, lest we sleep and miss men's need of you and your yearning love for men.

O God, cleanse your Church and forgive our lack of zeal for your Kingdom.

O God, set your Church ablaze with the fire of your Spirit, that we may spend and be spent for your Gospel, your will, and your glory, all our days;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord;

Amen.

- George Appleton

No New "Quest for the King" Scene This Week

This has been a busy week, with little spare time for leisure writing. We're wrapping up the loose ends of a hectic summer schedule and getting ready for a big family transition when school starts again next week. Look for a new "Quest for the King" scene next Friday, and don't give up hope: there's more yet to be told about the ending of Scene 9.

Glimpses of Grace: Joseph's Story and Jesus' Passion

(Click here for all previous "Glimpses of Grace" studies)

Genesis 37-48 brings us to one of the broadest continuous story arcs in the Old Testament: the tale of Joseph, son of Jacob. The story is well known by many, who have heard it from both Sunday School lessons and popular culture (it was even turned into a wildly successful stage musical): Joseph is a favored son out of Jacob's twelve, having been born to Jacob's favorite wife Rachel. As a token of his affection he lavishes attention and gifts on Joseph, including a beautiful "coat of many colors." The other brothers are jealous of this attention (as well as resentful of Joseph's naive boasting), and they sell him into slavery while framing their act as a tragic accident in which Joseph was killed. Joseph, having been sold into exile in Egypt, begins his life there as a slave before rising to a position of prominence; then he is charged with a crime he didn't commit and is sent to prison, after which he rises to extraordinary prominence once again, this time reigning as Pharaoh's right-hand man. The story ends when the other brothers come to Egypt to buy grain, and after Joseph pranks them a couple times (because they don't yet recognize him), he reveals himself, the family is reconciled, and Jacob's clan relocates to Egypt where they can be safe from the famine. It's a fabulous story in its own right. But the early church long ago noticed that it has an added depth for Christians, because Joseph's tale of misadventure and triumph appears to anticipate and illustrate, in a cyclical fashion, the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Consider this: in at least three different instances, Joseph's story moves from betrayal and unjust punishment to exaltation. The first such episode is when Joseph's brothers plot to get rid of him. They do this by betraying and selling him for a price (as Judas did to Jesus), by tearing and bloodying his clothes (as happened to Jesus' at the crucifixion), and then by casting him down into a pit and raising him up again (as happened to Jesus in his burial and resurrection). 

This leads to the second cycle that mirrors Jesus' death and resurrection. Having been betrayed and sold, Joseph tastes the bitter reality of slavery in exile (just as Christ tasted the bitter reality of the slavery and exile of sin on the cross). Just as Joseph must begin this stage of his life as a servant, so Christ "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant" when he came for our salvation (Phil. 2:7). Nonetheless, within that household God exalted Joseph to the right hand of the master, just as God "raised Jesus...and exalted him to the right hand of God" (Acts 2:33). 

This dramatic story takes place yet one more time in the life of Joseph. Once again he is betrayed (this time by Potiphar's wife), and he is sentenced as a criminal for a crime of which he is not guilty (just as Jesus was also unjustly sentenced to punishment as a criminal). Joseph was sent down to the prison for three years or so (see Gen. 39:20-40:1, 41:1), paralleling Christ's three days in the tomb. Then, miraculously, Joseph was raised out of the prison and ascended to a position at the right hand of Pharaoh, from whence he dispensed justice and order over the whole nation. Remarkably, of course, this is exactly what happened to Jesus: raised out of the tomb and exalted "to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead."

These three parallel cycles of the life of Joseph all mirror the cycle of Jesus' passion. Joseph himself, then, and the entirety of his story, is a type, a foreshadowing of Jesus. As if to drive home the point, Genesis gives us some summary-statements about the life of Joseph that ought to send echoes of Jesus ringing through our minds. When his father Jacob finally sees Joseph alive again, after thinking him dead and gone, "his spirit revived" (Gen. 45:27), just as our spirits revive when we come to see the glorious truth of the risen Christ; later Jacob says, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are alive" (Gen. 46:30)--a sentiment that can be heartily echoed by every Christian in reference to Christ. But the clearest such Christocentric summary of Joseph's story comes in Genesis 50:20, when Joseph tells his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." This statement could just as easily have been said by the risen Christ, looking back at the pain of the cross, and every single word would still apply. What men meant for evil, God used for good, and the result is that many are saved.

Photo of the Week

God is love: His mercy brightens

All the path in which we rove;

Bliss He wakes, and woe He lightens:

God is wisdom, God is love.

- Verse 1 of the hymn "God Is Love," by John Bowring

Quote of the Week

"Don't blame God for evil. It would make more sense to blame the sun for darkness."

- William Law, from his book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

Saturday Synaxis

Eternal God, you live in impenetrable light. No one has ever seen you nor is able to see you, who are the everlasting source of eternal blessing. It is you, Lord of Creation, who protect us who have put our hope in you, being filled with your wondrous divine grace. For yours is the greatness, the majesty, the power, and the glory: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever, to the ages of ages. Amen.

- from Praying with the Orthodox Tradition

Glimpses of Grace: Jacob Wrestles with Jesus

(Click here for all previous "Glimpses of Grace" studies)

In Genesis 32, we come across yet another exceptionally odd story. In the middle of Jacob's fearful return to his homeland, we find the strange interjection of an episode that defies any normal expectations for such a narrative. Jacob was waiting on the banks of the river Jabbok, having just sent all of his family and possessions over onto the other side. It was nighttime, and he was terrified of what might happen in the coming hours--he was anticipating a reunion with his estranged brother Esau, whom he hadn't seen since stealing his birthright many years before, and at that time Esau had responded with such murderous threats that it forced Jacob to flee into exile.

But as he waits, someone meets him on the banks of the river. Only, it isn't Esau. Stranger still, we're not sure who it is at first. All that we're told is that while Jacob was alone, "a man wrestled with him till daybreak." Weird, right? It's a plot twist that comes unexpectedly and which, at least at first, makes little to no sense at all. We're filled with lots of questions that the Bible doesn't seem interested in answering, like "What on earth is going on here?!" Even in ancient Near Eastern cultures, having a night-long wrestling match with a total stranger that you met alone in the wilderness wasn't really a thing that people did. So what's this all about?

There are a few clues about this man that drive home the point that something very out-of-the-ordinary is taking place. First, although the man is strong enough to wrestle Jacob all night long, the story tells us that he recognizes that he cannot overpower Jacob. Nonetheless, he does have an otherworldly power to throw Jacob's hip out of socket with just a simple touch. But even a bad hip couldn't slow Jacob down: he apparently held on long enough that the man had to ask to be released, and the reason he gives is that "it is daybreak." What sort of sense can we read into that? Is this man on a strict schedule of only wrestling in the darkness, but never in daylight? Does he have an important meeting to get to at dawn, and needs to wrap things up with Jacob? Or is he a vampire, who cannot survive the touch of the sun's rays?

At this point the story indicates that Jacob knows there's something special about his opponent, because he refuses to let the man go unless the man blesses him first. This is a request only asked of someone greater than oneself, or someone with some form of recognizable spiritual authority (as in the case of Abraham and Melchizedek, cited in an earlier study in this series). The man consents and blesses Jacob, but only after a peculiar interchange in which he requests Jacob's name, then changes it to Israel (which apparently means "he struggles with God"), and then cryptically avoids telling Jacob his own name in return. (The renaming of Jacob as "Israel" will be repeated in Gen. 35, in a scene in which God once again seems to appear physically and then to ascend from Jacob's presence; yet another story whose startling physicality in regard to God prepares us for the even more startling reality of the Incarnation.)

By this point in the story, though, the inference is becoming clear: Jacob has just spent all night struggling with this guy, and then is given a name meaning "he struggles with God." As in all the other weird stories of strange supernatural figures popping up in Genesis, we see again the pattern of a character who started out as "a man" ultimately being revealed as God himself. This is confirmed at the end of the story, where Jacob gives exactly this reading to the man's identity: "I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

So the man is God. Okay, we've gotten that far. But what's with all the strange little details we noticed along the way?  First of all, the common repetition of this particular narrative sequence (a man shows up and is later revealed to be, in some sense, God himself) mirrors the actual historical revelation of God in Jesus Christ. He is fully man and fully God, and the people that he met during his Gospel ministry encountered him first as simply "a man" before gradually becoming aware of his divinity, which was clearly revealed at the end by his resurrection and ascension. 

Although the wrestler in this story has access to divine powers, he nonetheless cannot prevail against Jacob--this is perhaps a hint toward the doctrine of Christ's kenosis: his "emptying" of the prerogatives of divine power in order to assume a nature like ours. 

His odd request that Jacob release him before daybreak calls to mind a similarly odd command that Jesus gives to Mary Magdalene at dawn on resurrection Sunday: "Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" (Jn. 20:17). Perhaps in Jacob's story, as in the resurrection narrative, there is a hint of "there's still more to come." The wrestler was telling Jacob that this life of struggling with God through the darkness--a pattern that would characterize the entire experience of Old Testament Israel--was not the whole story. There was something else coming: daybreak, when the wrestling would cease and the blessing would be given. That hinted promise is fulfilled in the coming of Christ himself. 

A final piece of evidence comes from Jacob's act of naming the place of that occurrence. He calls it "Face-of-God" (Peniel), or, in the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, "Form of God." This is the same kind of terminology that the New Testament uses to describe Christ. He is the image of God, the form, the visible representation of the unknowable God. Jacob's closing declaration about his night of wrestling also carries echoes of the Christian Gospel. It's usually rendered as "I saw God face to face, and my life was spared," but in the ancient Greek version, an equally strong rendering would be: "I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved." That, in a single line, is the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

(Painting: "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel," by Rembrandt, 1659)

Photo of the Week

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found;

Surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble

And surround me with songs of deliverance.

- Psalm 32:6-7

Quote of the Week

(A little advice on how to listen to a bad sermon:)

God calleth preaching folly: do not grudge
To pick out treasures from an earthen pot.
The worst speak something good; if all want 
          sense,
God takes a text, and preacheth patience.

- George Herbert, 17th-cent. English poet and priest

(Painting: "The Sermon," by Eduard Lebiedzki, 19th cent.)

Saturday Synaxis

O God, stay with me; let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your thoughts, no deed ever be done or entertained by me that is not your deed.

- Malcolm Muggeridge

Better than Eden: Union with God as a Motivation for Evangelism

(Note: "The Quest for the King" will resume on Friday, August 17)

What was it that God made us for? What were we intended to be? Scripture tells us that we were made in the image of God (Gen. 1), created for his glory, to live in relationship with him and with our fellow humans. Included in the idea of the “image of God” is probably the way our rational, emotional, moral, relational, and creative powers reflect his character, as well as the fact that we were made to be his representatives and stewards toward the rest of creation. The relational aspect of this original intent should not be overlooked—one of the most clearly present themes in Gen. 2 is Adam’s need for companionship, as well as God’s relationship with both Adam and Eve. Our relationality, then, properly extends both to God and to others. (One other note must be added, though: because of what the New Testament tells us about our life in Christ, it is worth speculating that the situation in the Garden of Eden might not have been God’s ultimate intention for humanity. The early church fathers—especially the Eastern fathers, along with Irenaeus from the West—wholeheartedly believed that God’s purpose for humanity transcended even the beauty and communion of the Edenic state. In short, the belief is that God intended humanity for union with himself, a goal toward which even Adam and Eve, had they not fallen into sin, would still have had to ascend. Therefore, I think we might be selling ourselves short if we describe God’s original intention for humanity merely in terms of the first two chapters of Genesis.)

A second question then presents itself: “Why have we failed to fulfill this original intent for humanity?” The answer, of course, is sin. We in the Western Christian tradition tend to think of sin as a series of crimes against God. And sin certainly is that, but that’s not all it is—together with Satan and death (the anti-Trinity often highlighted by classical Christian thinkers), it forms an invasive, ineluctable force of evil that binds us against fulfilling God’s ultimate intention for us. In Rom. 5, the main source of the doctrine of “original sin,” Paul describes sin almost as a genetic disease—passed on from generation to generation, binding them all to condemnation. This original sin is ratified in each individual soul’s rebellion against the rule of God. Sin touches every area of life (“total depravity”), defacing (but not erasing) every aspect of the image of God in us. Because sin causes one to be inherently self-centered, we have lost our ability to live the kind of other-focused and God-centered life that we were made for. We have been sidetracked away from the road toward union with God.

And the solution, of course, is Christ himself. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, our forgiveness from sins has been won, and we have been reconciled to God. We still have traces of the disease of sin in our system, but we also have the antidote now, constantly doing its work to redeem us from the power of sin, Satan, and death. And Christ’s death did more than just atone for sins and pay the debt of God’s wrath; it also crushed the powers of evil and triumphed over them, giving us freedom from their usurped authority (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14-15). In Christ, we have the reversal of total depravity—now it is God’s holiness that touches every area of our lives. We have been given back the capacity to relate to God and to others in a selfless, loving way. But, as I mentioned above, this isn’t merely a return to the Edenic state—it goes much farther than that. Now we have the opportunity to “share in God’s holiness” (Heb. 12:10), to “participate in the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), and to be “transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Now we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and we are united to Christ in the church (the Body of Christ) and in the fact of the Incarnation—humanity is, now and forever, united to the very life of God, and individuals can enter that “new humanity” by believing and following Christ. That is more than merely a return to Eden; it is the goal for which God designed humanity from the beginning—to be so embraced and caught up by his love that we become enveloped in the life of God himself.

What's the Deal with Hell? (Part 4 of 4)

Note: This piece is the final part of a theology paper discussing various views of the nature of hell in the orthodox and evangelical Christian traditions. This article offers some general conclusions on the evangelical theology of hell. The previous weeks' pieces assessed the universalist, annihilationist, and traditionalist positions. Next week the ongoing series on foreshadowings of Christ in the Old Testament will resume.

(Painting: "The Last Judgment," by Raphael Coxie, 1589)

Conclusion

Universalism is usually rejected as an element of Christian dogma (that is, as a doctrine foundational enough and well-established enough to be taught as "Gospel truth") because it does not appear to do justice to either the full scope of Scriptural teaching or the force of church tradition. (There are some exceptions to this, however: for instance, universalism is a much more mainstream idea within the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and has been so ever since the patristic period.) Nonetheless, its logical and emotional arguments are compelling and profound. While it would be improper for the church to teach it as a doctrine (at least without giving the context of other interpretive options), honest Christians cannot help but hope that perhaps, in the mystery of God’s will, some of the bright optimism of universalism might in fact be true. This practice of holding out tentative hope is, I think, understandable and honorable (as even the staunch traditionalist J. I. Packer agrees). The error of universalism is not that it holds out hope, as all of us who have unbelieving friends and relatives probably do, but rather that it appears to “turn a dream into a doctrine.”[1] But one is still permitted to dream.

Annihilationism is taken to be more acceptable as a doctrine in most evangelical circles, since it deals so seriously and forthrightly with the full scope of biblical evidence. Clearly, one must accept the annihilationists’ argument that “destruction” is one of the major biblical themes in regard to hell. The further question, however, still remains: does reference to such destruction necessarily imply a cessation of existence, particularly in light of passages that are usually taken to imply otherwise? This is a debate that remains ongoing in biblical interpretation circles, and one which is worth following.

Those who accept an evangelical hermeneutic of Scripture usually tend to assign the upper hand to the traditionalist position, partly because of the respect it gives to the study of biblical arguments without flinching away from implications that might seem distasteful. However, traditionalists too often defend their position in an aggressive and dogmatic manner. While the question of hell is not inconsequential and thus ought to be debated and defended, traditionalists could learn something valuable about the emotional force of the question from universalists and annihilationists. Too often, traditionalists criticize the conditionalist positions as arising from sentimentality. Even if that were true (and most conditionalists would undoubtedly reply that it was the evidence, not sentimentality, that brought them to their position), that particular prejudice appears to assume rather blithely that one ought to be able to accept the everlasting torture of human beings as a fine and proper thing. The fact of the matter is that if one does not show some sentiment of horror and lament over the idea of hell, it betrays a lack of emotional understanding and calls into question that person’s experience of the love of God for all people. In the words of the Lausanne Covenant, “It is only with tears that hell is contemplated by those who reach out daily in love for sinners.”[2]

Of the variant positions within the traditionalist view, the idea of exclusion from the presence of God is clearly an element which ought to be central to our understanding of hell, as it echoes a clearly biblical refrain. And as a moderating position, the idea of gradations of punishment might do a decent job of upholding both the force of Scripture and a very real concern for justice and mercy. The idea does have some biblical foundation, and it parallels well with the commonly-accepted idea of gradations of reward in heaven. However, the evidence for this position is not conclusive, and so it must be held tentatively.

Finally, I see two main applications for ministry. First is the point just touched upon—hell is such a difficult question that it ought to be handled carefully and with great empathy. Despite all the teaching about hell in Scripture, there is a great deal that we simply don’t understand about it. The traditionalist position appears to have the strongest argument, but it often comes across as repulsive and extreme. It may be the case that our perspective here on earth is limited, and that in the age to come we will be able to see and understand hell in a way that dissolves all our objections. Until then, I think the advice of John Stott holds true: “We may, and I think we should, preserve a certain reverent and humble agnosticism about the precise nature of hell, as about the precise nature of heaven. Both are beyond our understanding.”[3]

Second, while we can retain some agnosticism about the exact nature of hell, we must be clear about the reality of hell. Jesus did not teach so extensively on the subject for nothing. Sinners must be told that there is a judgment coming and that eternal punishment will not be pleasant or tolerable in the least. While we ought not to abuse the doctrine by trying to scare sinners into repentance, we must hold fast to our responsibility to warn them. The Gospel is good news for those who believe, but there is also an element of warning that needs to be told. We must remember that the Gospel will always be an offense to sinful human sensibilities, but that does not mean that it ought not to be proclaimed.

-----------------------------------------

[1] Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, 2nd edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 86.

[2] Quoted in Oden, 450.

[3] John Stott, Authentic Christianity (Downers Grove: IVP, 1995), 394-395.

Photo of the Week

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

My hope comes from Him.

- Psalm 62:5

Quote of the Week

"Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings."

- John Chrysostom, early church father

(Painting: "Young Man at Prayer," by Hans Memling, c.1475)

Saturday Synaxis

O Father in heaven... [I beseech] Thee to drown my transgressions 

          in the sea of Thine own infinite love:

My failure to be true even to my own accepted standards;

My self-deception in the face of temptation;

My choosing of the worse when I know the better:

                    O Lord, forgive.

My failure to apply to myself the standards of conduct I demand of others:

My blindness to the sufferings of others and my slowness to be taught by my own:

My complacence towards wrongs that do not touch my own case 

          and my over-sensitiveness to those that do:

My slowness to see the good in my fellows and to see the evil in myself;

My hardness of heart towards my neighbors' faults 

          and my readiness to make allowance for my own;

My unwillingness to believe that Thou hast called me to a small work 

          and my brother to a great one:

                    O Lord, forgive.

- John Baillie, from his Diary of Private Prayer

Devotional Reminders for Meditation: The Truth about Us

(Note: "The Quest for the King" will resume on Friday, August 17)

Most of us struggle against lies about ourselves—lies that come from the world around us, from Satan, or from our own doubts. Once again, the best way to counteract this is to remind ourselves of who we really are, and to do that we need to soak ourselves in the truth of Scripture. The Bible is absolutely full of life-changing truths about who we are in Christ. Below are just a few pages of selections on this theme—read them through, meditate on them, and spend some time thanking God in prayer for what he has done for us.

• John 1:12 - I am God's child.
  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
• John 15:15 - As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
• Romans 5:1 - I have been justified.
  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 6:17 – I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
  But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
• 1 Corinthians 12:27 – I am a member of Christ’s body.
  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
• Ephesians 1:3-8 – I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
• Colossians 1:13-14 – I have been redeemed and forgive of all my sins.
  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• Colossians 2:9-10 – I am complete in Christ.
  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
• Hebrews 4:14-16 – I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

• Romans 8:1 – I am free from condemnation.
  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 8:28 – I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
• Romans 8:31-39 – I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughter." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 – I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
  Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
• Colossians 3:1-4 – I am hidden with Christ in God.
  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
• Philippians 1:6 – I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 3:20 – I am a citizen of heaven.
  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 1 John 5:18 – I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
  We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.

• John 15:5 – I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
• John 15:16 – I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
• 1 Corinthians 3:16 – I am God’s temple.
  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 – I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• Ephesians 2:6 – I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
• Ephesians 2:10 – I am God’s workmanship.
  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
• Ephesians 3:12 – I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
  In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

What's the Deal with Hell? (Part 3 of 4): The Traditionalist Position

Note: This piece is the third part of a theology paper discussing various views of the nature of hell in the orthodox and evangelical Christian traditions. This article provides an overview of the traditionalist position, together with variations on that position. The previous two weeks' pieces focused on the views of universalists and annihilationists. The final week will offer some general conclusions on the evangelical theology of hell. After that, the ongoing series on foreshadowings of Christ in the Old Testament will resume.

(Painting: "Hell," by Luca Signorelli, c.1500)

3.) Hell as Eternal Conscious Punishment

At this point the structure of this paper will shift slightly, and under this heading we will consider the traditionalist position first, and then three variations which allow for eternal, conscious punishment while still attempting to mitigate the harshness of the message.

Traditionalism: Given the exhaustive reference to the traditionalist position in the sections above, we need not rehearse again the full argument for this system of thought. The traditional scheme breaks down into a few basic elements: (1) the torments of hell stand in response to the crime of human sin; (2) this punishment is eternal; (3) it is conscious and terrible; and (4) it allows no possibility of future repentance.

The traditionalist interpretation grounds itself in a straightforward reading of Scripture (however, it should be acknowledged that what is commonly accepted as the "straightforward" reading of Scripture is itself a perception that has been partly shaped by the prominence of the traditionalist position). It acknowledges that while the NT does at times use the terminology of “all men” being saved and of the “destruction” of the wicked, these data must be interpreted in light of the more explicit passages (such as Jesus' frequent and graphic teachings on hell). And in those passages, the meaning appears to be clear: the fate of unbelievers is the punishment of everlasting torment. There is a clear division of the righteous and the unrighteous as well as an apparent eternality in regard to the wicked’s fate.

The Case Against Traditionalism: In addition to the arguments of universalism and annihilationism (see the blog articles from the past two Thursday posts), one further critique can be made. The traditionalist perspective relies almost wholly on a narrow view of salvation as a legal process, of sin as crime, and of hell as punishment. These elements are certainly prominent in biblical doctrine, but they are not the sum of Scripture’s teaching on the matter. In both the Bible and the history of theology, sin has alternatively been conceived of as a disease (Is. 53:4; Rom. 5:12) and as a captor/slavemaster (often coupled with the power of Satan—see Heb. 2:14-15; Col. 1:13, 2:15; 1 John 3:8). A legal perspective on sin accords well with the traditionalist perspective on hell, because in that light the sinner is clearly a criminal. From the other viewpoints, however, the picture is less clear, because there the sinner is represented as a victim (either as a sick person or a captive). Because the legal metaphor is so prominent in biblical soteriology, this critique cannot stand alone as a rebuttal of the traditional perspective, but it does point us toward the necessity of rethinking and broadening the traditionalist doctrine.

Hell as Exclusion from the Presence of God: One of the variants of the traditionalist view is that while hell may indeed be eternal conscious punishment, the references to physical pain implied in the images of fire and undying worm are merely metaphorical. So instead of unending physical torture, hell should be understood primarily as exclusion from the presence of God, which would presumably still leave room for great emotional and psychological anguish.

Such a view is not without historical precedent. It seems to have been the primary understanding of hell by the great reformers of the 16th century. Luther clearly outlined his own view of hell in terms of exclusion from God’s presence: “Hell is not hell because punishment is there, but because praise of God is not there.” He describes its tortures in terms of mental torments like “fear, terror, horror, the desire to flee, and despair.” John Calvin interpreted references to unending fire as “figurative expressions” intended to portray sinners’ severance “from all fellowship with God.” [1]

The idea of hell as banishment from God’s presence is particularly strong in the teachings of Jesus. Hell is a place outside of the Kingdom of God, a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (see Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 25:10-12, 30). Paul clearly couples the idea of banishment with destruction when he writes, "They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power" (2 Thess. 1:9). There is a strong thread of biblical evidence which interprets the sufferings of hell as deprivation—hell represents the loss of the greatest good of all, God, and thus it becomes the greatest tragedy of human experience.[2]

Two things should be noted with regard to this variant of the traditionalist position. First, although it is probable that the biblical language of fire and the undying worm ought to be interpreted metaphorically, there is no clear biblical evidence that would rule out the presence of physical torment in hell. Thus, while the view of hell as banishment is a possible alternative to hell as physical torture, it is not a conclusive argument against the physical element. Second, although the common assumption is that banishment makes for a pleasanter hell than physical torture does, that may not be the case. If we conceive of hell as exclusion from the presence of God, then we must recognize that God is the sustainer of all life and that all good things proceed from him. In the absence of that presence, hell would be an unimaginable horror even if physical torment were not involved.

Gradations of Punishment: A second major variant of the traditionalist view of hell, while acknowledging hell as eternal conscious punishment, allows for differing gradations of punishment. So, for instance, if both Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi were consigned to hell, Hitler would be sent to a more painful sort of hell than Gandhi. The impetus behind this position is largely philosophical: it accords better with our understanding of justice than does the traditional view (which generally holds the same awful punishment for everyone, regardless of the magnitude of their sins).

There is also a fair biblical argument to be made for this position. Jesus seems to imply that there will be different gradations of punishment when he proclaims woe over Chorazin and Bethsaida: “I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you” (Matt. 11:24). Paul also hints at this possibility in Romans 2 when he declares that “God will give to each person according to what he has done.” This view is also supported by the fact that it parallels a widely-held view of heaven, in which differing gradations of rewards are given to the saints.[3]

The underlying premise is that those who are not under grace will be judged according to their works. And since one person’s works quite obviously differ from another’s in quality and morality, it is a logical assumption that a judgment based on those works would also display some differentiation. One major weakness of this position, however, is that it is absent from the passages which teach most explicitly about the nature of hell.

An “Open” Hell: This final view of hell is considered here as something of an appendix to the preceding discussions. This model may allow the possibility of eternal conscious punishment for some people, but it also works just as well in universalist systems. In short, a belief in an open hell is the suggestion that, whatever the nature of hell, human beings still have their free choice and can therefore choose to repent. C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce presents a picture of just such a hell, where the damned can opt to leave and go explore heaven if they so desire. The problems with this position have already been enumerated in response to universalism: namely, there is no indication in the Bible of a second chance after death, and if hell precludes the active presence of the Holy Spirit, it would presumably be impossible for sinners to come to repentance.

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[1]David Hilborn, et al, The Nature of Hell: A Report by the Evangelical Alliance’s Commission on Unity and Truth among Evangelicals (London: Acute, 2000), 58.

[2] Christopher W. Morgan, “Biblical Theology: Three Pictures of Hell,” in Hell Under Fire, 147.

[3] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985), 1240.