Bonhoeffer's Discipleship Part II - Reflections (8)

 

 

“The incarnate Son of God was thus both an individual self and the new humanity. Whatever he did was at the same time also done on behalf of the new humanity which he bore in his body” (page 195).

 

Let us work our way through this chapter and its strange (to most of us) perspectives and see where our journey takes us.

 

On the bottom of page 195 Bonhoeffer points us to Romans Chapter 5 and 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 (which I’ve previously asked us to ponder). In Romans Chapter 5 we see the juxtaposition of Adam and Christ.

 

In 5:12, through one man (Adam) “sin entered the world, and death through sin.”

 

In 5:14 we note that Adam “is a type (foreshadowing) of Him who was to come,” our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In 5:15 we see that while many died by Adam’s transgression, that the grace of God and the “gift by grace” abundantly come to many through one Man, Jesus Christ.

 

In 5:17 we see the importance of receiving God’s abundant grace and gift of righteousness.

 

We have a summing up in 5:18 – 19: “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [Jesus Christ] the many will be made righteous.”

 

If we keep in mind that Adam was a “type of Him who was to come,” meaning an image of Christ, it will remind us that what we see in Adam we can expect to see fully in Christ. We were born in Adam, as Adam’s descendant’s, the question is whether we will continue to live in Adam or come to live in Christ. Adam has transmitted death to us, Christ has transmitted life to us – will we “receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness…and reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (5:17)?

 

There are now two humanities on earth, Adam and Christ.

 

This is why the next section of Romans (Chapter 6) deals with our baptism into Christ, “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (6:4). 

In baptism we come out of Adam and into Christ, perhaps we could say baptism actualizes our reception of “the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.” I mean this in a conceptual sense, not in a rigid sense – after all, we live by the Holy Spirit and in the freedom of grace; so while I don’t want folks to make more of this than what I am saying, I most certainly want us to make a great deal over the glory of our salvation in Jesus – in Him and His death we come out of Adam and into Him – we leave a dead humanity and come into the life-giving Body of Jesus Christ. We are raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ.

 

Bonhoeffer also takes us to 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 47.

 

“The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

 

“The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.”

 

Can we see the parallel between this passage and Romans 5? While the emphasis may be different between Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, the framework of Adam – Christ is the same. In both passages we have what we might term two humanities.

 

“For Adam too was both an individual self and at the same time the whole of humanity…In him all of humanity has fallen…Christ is the second human being (1 Cor. 15:47) in whom the new humanity is created. He is the “new human being” (page 195, italics mine).

 

Have you ever thought about there being two humanities on earth? Have you ever thought of yourself, as a Christian, as belonging to the New Humanity of Jesus Christ?

 

Do you realize that in Christ you are no longer a member of Adam’s humanity, of his fallen race?

 

While this is an integral element of the Gospel (for example Romans 5:11 – 8:39 and beyond), it is seldom taught. This is basic, it has to do with our core identity, and yet we seldom approach it.

 

“The incarnate Son of God who took on human flesh does need a community of followers who not only participate in his teaching but also in his body. It is thus in the body of Christ that the disciples have community” (page 196, italics mine).

 

In the ensuing pages Bonhoeffer will explore how we participate in His Body, for it is indeed an organic Body, a living Body - this is not a metaphor, it is an eternal reality. For now, let’s ponder what Jesus says to Paul on the road to Damascus.

 

“As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting”” (Acts 9:3 - 5).

 

What is Jesus saying to Paul?

 

Yes, of course, Jesus is asking a question, but what is Jesus saying in the question He is asking? The answer to this question is, we might say, the key to understanding not only what Bonhoeffer is writing, but it is the cornerstone of Paul’s ministry.

 

Let’s note what Jesus is not saying, He is not asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting My people?” While this is what we might expect Jesus to ask, He does not ask this question, for the question Jesus asks, He asks as the Head of His Body.

 

As the Head of His Body Jesus asks, “Why do you persecute Me?” In asking this question Jesus is saying that He is One with His Body, that the Head and the Body are an organic whole, they cannot be separated. To touch the Body of Christ is to touch Jesus Christ, the Head. To persecute the Body of Christ is to persecute Jesus. To inflict pain and suffering on the Body of Christ is to inflict pain on Jesus.

 

(“If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). How foolish we are when we inflict pain on members of the Body of Christ, whether in our congregations or outside them. How foolish we are to withhold good from others when we can make a difference in their lives. Matthew 25:31 – 46 is an indictment of the professing church in America. The least of our brethren is Jesus.)

 

As Bonhoeffer writes, we participate in His body, and in His body we have community. His body becomes His Body. “Christ is the second human being.”

 

When Jesus spoke to Paul, He sowed the seed of Paul’s ministry, for Paul not only preached Jesus Christ, but he preached Jesus Christ as the Head of the Body, the Bridegroom, the cornerstone of the Living Temple, and so much more. Paul “saw” the Divine organic unity of Jesus Christ and His Body and could write, “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12). Paul was stating an organic reality, a realty which Jesus revealed to him on the road to Damascus.

 

Bonhoeffer writes of this organic reality, we participate in the body of Christ, we become the Body of Christ, we have community with Jesus and with one another in this Body. This is our core identity…or it should be.

 

Is it?