Heavenly Mindedness (3)

 

Reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness”

Nevertheless, taking the two representations as a whole, [see previous posts] the distinctness of the point of view in each should not be neglected. It can be best appreciated by observing that, while in these other writings Christ is the object of faith, the One towards whom the sinner’s trust is directed, here the Savior is described as Himself exercising faith, in fact as the one perfect, ideal believer. The writer exhorts his readers: “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the leader and perfector of our faith.”

 

Faith in that other sense of specific trust, through which a guilty sinner becomes just in the sight of God, our Lord could not exercise, because He was sinless. But the faith that is an assurance of things hoped for and a proving of things not seen had a large place in his experience. By very reason of the contrast between the higher world to which He belonged and this dark lower world of suffering and death to which He had surrendered Himself it could not be otherwise than that faith, as a projection of his soul into the unseen and future, should have been the fundamental habit of the earthly life of his human nature, and should have developed in Him a degree of intensity not attained elsewhere.

 

But, although, for the reason stated, in the unique case of Jesus the two types of faith did not go together, they by no means exclude each other in the mind of the Christian. For, after all, justifying faith is but a special application in one particular direction of the frame of mind here described. Among all the realities of the invisible world, mediated to us by the disclosures and promises of God, and to which our faith responds, there is none that more strongly calls into action this faculty for grasping the unseen than the divine pronouncement through the Gospel, that, though sinners, we are righteous in the judgment of God. That is not only the invisible, it seems the impossible; it is the paradox of all paradoxes; it requires a unique energy of believing; it is the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things; it credits God with calling the things that are not as though they were; it penetrates more deeply into the deity of God than any other act of faith. G. Vos

 

The above, as with all of Vos’s message, bears reading and rereading. It is dense, and yet its density ought to be our way of life. Let’s, by God’s grace, touch on this denseness.

 

When speaking of the Divine, of the invisible, language is a problem, a limitation; and yet the limitation can be a blessing. Language, at least language given to the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, cannot fully express the mysteries and glories of the Divine, and so we must choose our words carefully and humbly. This is a blessing in that it should force us to slow down, ponder, pray, and proceed with caution and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

 

Vos speaks of “types” of faith and “aspects” of faith. Is “faith” one with many expressions, or do we have faith of one “nature” here and another “nature” there? I think Vos uses “type” and “aspect” interchangeably, and after all, in Hebrews faith is rooted in the Person of Christ and His Incarnational Nature – as Vos quotes, “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.” Vos wants us to take “the two representations [of faith] as a whole”. So we have “representations,” “types”, and “aspects” as synonyms.

 

Vos uses “frame of mind” to convey the idea of a way of life, a way of thinking; he will also speak of an “underlying frame of mind”. This is a way of being, and as we grow in Christ it becomes a supernaturally - natural way of being. A frame of mind is a state of mind that sees life within a certain framework. This is a particular challenge in a post-modern world in which there is no unifying vision, no concept of a universally united way of thinking about life. We compartmentalize our lives and our thinking – the idea of having a constant and consistent frame of mind, a way of living, it difficult for us to embrace. We are one person at home, another at work, another with neighbors, another regarding entertainment, another at church – our living is fragmented more often than not – sadly this often includes our theology and preaching.

 

Vos speaks of the faith of the Incarnational Christ, “"as a projection of his soul into the unseen and future,” terming it “the fundamental habit of the earthly life of his human nature”. If Jesus Christ is the Author and Perfector of our faith, then as His faith lives in us we ought to anticipate that this “fundamental habit” of Christ’s becomes our fundamental habit. It is not too much to suggest that as we grow in Christ that our fundamental habit of life and that of Jesus Christ’s become indistinguishable – after all, this will eventually be the case as we, individually and collectively, are fully transformed into His image; after all, He is the Head and we are His Body. Why not, in faith, embrace Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)?

 

Vos says, in speaking of faith apprehending our salvation, and perhaps in particular of apprehending our justification; “the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things; it credits God with calling the things that are not as though they were; it penetrates more deeply into the deity of God than any other act of faith.” What is our “frame of mind” regarding justification and salvation? (When I write of salvation, I refer to salvation holistically and comprehensively – I do not stop at Romans 5:11 – we have half a Gospel, at most, if we stop at Romans 5:11).

 

Are we living as those whom God has justified? That is, as those who have not only never sinned but who have always kept the Law? Are we living with consciences that are not plagued with sin and the remembrance of sin (Hebrews 10:22)? When Hebrews contrasts the Old and New covenants, one of the points of distinction is that in the Old we have the constant reminder of sin, in the New we are free from that mindset, that guilt,  that old conscience, that old identity – and now God’s Laws and Ways are written within us and we are living in the Holy of Holies. In the Old we live in the earthly Tabernacle, in the New we learn to live in the Heavenly Tabernacle.

 

Well, as Vos says, this is “the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things.”

 

One aspect of faith is when we trust in Christ. Another aspect of faith is when the faith of Jesus Christ lives in us, grows in us, and teaches us to see those things that are invisible – most especially the True and Living God. Is this becoming our frame of mind? Is this our way of life?