Humanity, God, & Sin

There have been several conversations among the members of our church concerning humanity and sin.  While some sinful people are excused as “only human,” others are dismissed as “pure evil.”  These statements are theological in that they are very real statements about God’s creation, the purpose of humanity, and the nature of sin and salvation.  Our theology on these matters is important because it is related to how we understand salvation and ultimately related to our own salvation.    

We see from the very beginning of the creation story and creation stories throughout the scripture that God created all things (John 1:3) and everything that comes from God is good (Genesis 1).  Therefore, all of creation is created good.  God did not create evil, nor did God create humanity to be anything less than “ very good” (Genesis 1:31).  God is pure goodness and humanity is good in association and relationship with the Creator.  Because there is nothing in the world that God did not create (thus nothing in the world was created bad), there is nothing in the world that is pure evil.  If everything is good, nothingness is evil.  It is impossible for creatures to be so consumed by evil that they diminish into nothingness.   To say that something is “pure evil” is simply untrue.  This is not to say, however, that there is no evil in the world.  Sin causes evil, but sin was not created by God because God created all things - especially humanity - as good.  The goodness of creation and the goodness of humanity is innately related to the purpose of humanity.       

We see from the Genesis story that God created humanity to be in full communion with divinity.  Before the Fall, God was in such full communion that God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8).  Creation was created by God as an act of outpouring love so that creation might be in relationship with one another and with God.  It is impossible to deny the fact that God created humanity to be relational with the divine.  The very Trinitarian nature of God is relational.  The truly human are the ones who are caught up in the Trinitarian relationship with the divine.  The theologian Augustine said that “our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”  It was through the Fall that relationships were corrupted and divided.  The Fall, original sin, and evil were not supposed to happen.  God did not create humanity to be separated and constantly longing for God.  Fundamentally social, we were created to be in communion with God, the rest of creation, and other human beings.  In fact, we see that the only thing “not good” about the creation story was that the first human being was without a companion (Genesis 2:8).  We know that through sin and death, there is separation from God that is not natural and not indicative of our created human nature.   

So the question remains: where does evil come from if it was not a part of creation?  Sin and the Fall are a complete surd.  There is no explanation for why the first human beings would turn away from God and toward themselves.  God created everything for humanity and offered everything, including full communion, to humanity, and humanity turned away.  The Fall put humanity in bondage to sin.  The entire world is enslaved by sin and we cannot change this enslavement by simply trying to become better.  We have fallen and it is impossible for us to be redeemed and turn back to God without God’s redeeming power.  But God, being so merciful and completely loving, longs for humanity to be in communion with God.  In the same way, creation continues “its groaning, and its longing to be renewed and perfected.”  Thus God became incarnate in the person of Christ Jesus in order to redeem creation to its original intent.

It is only through Christ that humanity and all of creation might become reconciled to God’s self once again.  Church doctrine claims that Jesus is the perfect human being.  If sin were a natural part of humanity, then Jesus would have to be a sinner in order to be the perfect human being.  On the contrary, Jesus does not sin.  Through this doctrinal statement, we realize that to be perfectly human is to be perfectly in communion with God.  To be perfectly human is to be without evil and without the sin that separates us from our Creator.  Jesus is “God’s proclamation, revealing who we are not and who God created us to be.”  What we think of creation and sin is directly related to how we understand salvation.      

Salvation is to “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).  Our salvation is not the abandonment of our humanity, but the chance for us to become truly human by participating in communion with God through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, all of creation has been released from the bondage of sin.  Salvation is the chance for us to be exactly as God created us to be: in full communion with the divine.  Humanity is now completely free to turn toward God.  Theologians such as Athanasius described salvation as God becoming “human that humanity might become divine.”  It is our humanity that longs to be in communion with God.  As the Westminster Confession states, the “chief end of humanity is to worship and enjoy God forever.”  

Saying that a person is “just human” is to say that she or he is longing to be in communion with God.  To say that a person is “purely human” would mean that the person is in full communion with God, the way God intended she or he to be from the beginning of creation.  Statements such as these are indicative of our core beliefs about creation, humanity, and the nature of salvation.  Thus, it is important that we understand and portray such theology adequately.

Sources: 

Dr. Daniel Bell, “Creator, Creation, and Communion” lecture, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University, September 29, 2014.

Dr. Daniel Bell, “Sin, Death, and the Devil” lecture, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University, October 6, 2014.

Daniel L. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publihsing Co., 2004). 

Jann E. Boyd Fullenwieder, “Proclamation: Mercy for the World,” in Inside Out: Worship in an Age of Mission, ed. Thomas H. Schattenauer (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999).

Jesus brings shalom

Mark 5:21-43 Teaches Me That Jesus Brings Shalom into a Broken World

Wholeness or shalom is at the heart of Jesus’ healing in this passage.  Jesus heals the physical infirmities of two women and welcomes them back into society.  In Mark’s narrative Jesus’ ministry is centralized around bringing shalom into a world that has been possessed and corrupted by satan.  The brokenness of the world is continually being brought to wholeness through Jesus‘ teaching, healing, and associating with the marginalized.  This passage proves that no matter a person’s wealth or status in society, Jesus is indiscriminately bringing shalom into the entire world.      

The evangelist introduces a woman who has been suffering physically, socially, and financially for twelve years (Mark 5:25).  Her physical infirmity is what the author describes as a continual bleeding (interpreted as a hemorrhage).  This bleeding was also likely to have kept her from having children.  The very essence of being a woman in the first century was cut off from this woman during these twelve years.  The intercalation with the story of the young girl puts an emphasis on this point.  This woman’s brokenness extends further than her physical infirmity.  It also states that the woman is poor, using all of her money seeing physicians who only made her condition worse (5:26).  Despite her poverty, Jesus does not hesitate to speak to her endearingly after she had been healed.  Jesus associates and heals people of all levels of society and wealth.    

The woman’s condition was not only physically injurious, but it likely cut the woman off from society.  The text introduces the woman alone.  Although scholars vary on how much the Jewish purification laws would have influenced the woman’s life, it would have at least kept her from the majority of society and visiting the temple in order to cleanse herself of her impurity.  Throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus associates with the socially marginalized.  Whether this woman has been completely or partially cut off from society is irrelevant.  She is solitary and desperate enough that she must have the faith to intercede on her own behalf.  The climax of the first healing is a prime example of Jesus’ mercy and power.  Instead of rebuking the woman for touching his garment, Jesus turns in the midst of his journey and tell the woman her faith has healed her.  In one sentence, Jesus praises the woman and welcomes her back into society.  By calling the woman “daughter,” he has brought her into his family and thus back into Jewish society (5:34).  Thus in one episode, the woman is healed and brought back into communion with her peers.  

The healing passage of the hemorrhaging woman falls within the story of Jairus and his dying daughter.  In the first half of Jairus‘ story, the reader learns that Jairus‘ young daughter is ill and close to death (5:23).  Jairus is a wealthy leader of the synagogue who humbles himself before Jesus.  On Jesus‘ way to Jairus‘ house, the characters learn that the young girl has died.  Jesus tells Jairus to have faith and continues to the house anyway in order to raise the young girl from death.  It is at this point in the story that the reader is told that the child is twelve years old, which is old enough to be married and bear children.  By healing the child, Jesus is also giving the girl a chance to bring new life into the world.  When the child is healed, Jesus welcomes her back into communion by instructing her family to give her something to eat (5:43).  As well as proving that the girl is not a phantom, eating together is a common thread that brings people into communion in the miracle stories of the gospels.

The stories of both woman help the church understand that the Kingdom of God, as brought into this world by Jesus Christ, operates by bringing shalom.  The work of the kingdom is not dependent on social status, purity laws, or gender.  God and God’s work is responsive to every need in every situation.  Jesus, through God, has power over earthly powers and cannot be conquered, even by death.   

(Mark thesis from Gospels class, 2014)

   

Healing a Daughter of Abraham

In the spirit of International Women's Day, March 8, 2016

Luke 13:10-17 teaches me that Jesus’ ministry restores creation to its divine intent.

Jesus’ actions in this passage are centered on reconciliation, compassion, and shalom.  Through healing the “daughter of Abraham,” (vs. 16) and interpreting Torah for shalom in a debate with the synagogue leader, Jesus restores part of creation to its divine intent.  

The appearance of the crippled woman is depicted as sudden by the exclamation “behold,” suggesting that the woman was socially invisible until Jesus began teaching in the synagogue.  The woman introduced is obviously physically impaired as she is described as “bent over and quite unable to stand up straight” (vs 11).  This impairment could be a representation of her status in society or, as Gench suggests, it could be a real result of her status in society.  If this woman had been a peasant for most of her life or done back-breaking work for many years, a crippled and bent back is likely to be the natural result of that work.  

The woman was also impaired by a “spirit of weakness” (vs 11).  This description has many implications.  It could be a result of her crippled back or vice versa.  It could also be completely unrelated to her crippled back and could depict a mental or emotional weakness in the woman.  Gench outlines several possibilities for the meaning of her “spirit of weakness” such as self-esteem issues, depression, or self-worth depravity.  Jesus interprets one or both of these infirmities as the woman being bound by satan.  The last interesting characterization of the woman is that no male counterpart is mentioned.  This woman could have been a widow, putting her even further on the fringes of society.  

When Jesus notices the woman in the narrative, he calls her over to, presumably, the middle of the synagogue where he is teaching.  This is his first act of compassion and restores the woman from the edges of the worshipping community to the center.  He heals her in two stages: first he declares her free from her ailment, then lays his hands on her.  One interpretation explains that Jesus heals the “spirit of weakness” with his words and secondly heals her crippled back with his hands.  With both of these healings, whether they are separate or simultaneous allow the woman to become a fuller part of society.  She responds to this healing by glorifying God, demonstrating her restoration to divine intent.  There is an inseparability of healing physical infirmities and the liberation of the spirit that is obvious in this passage.  It is only when she was fully healed that she was able to fully worship God.  

In the second part of the passage, Jesus engages in a debate with the synagogue leader.  In doing this, Jesus demonstrates more compassion by interpreting Torah for shalom.  The narrator emphasizes that Jesus’ actions were done on the sabbath in a synagogue.  Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 emphasize that no work is to be done on the sabbath day because God rested on the sabbath and it is the day to commemorate Israel’s freedom from Egypt.  According to Jesus, there is no better day to free this woman from bondage than the day that remembers God’s mercy on Israel.  By twisting the synagogue leader’s use of the Greek word “dei,” Jesus claims that “it is necessary” or God’s divine will to heal the crippled woman.  Jesus also welcomes the woman back into the Jewish community by calling her a “daughter of Abraham” (vs 16).  This demonstrates the restoration of this woman to God’s divine community and the covenant that God has with the people of Israel.   

Jesus’ treatment of Jewish laws during the episode with the crippled woman is an example that should be followed by the church today.  Despite laws prohibiting Jesus from healing on the sabbath, Jesus treated the woman with compassion and interpreted the law for shalom.  Everything that the church does, and all of the rules and boundaries that are set in place, should promote reconciliation, compassion, and shalom.  Oftentimes the church is so focused on tradition and following the status quo that we forget that the church is the continuation and response to Jesus’ earthly ministry and his restoration of creation to its divine intent. 

(Luke thesis from Gospels class, 2015)

References from Frances Taylor Gench's Back to the Well: Jesus' Encounter with Women in the Gospels.