Unfinished Thoughts on the Soul - Part 2

 

What of our souls?

 

We know that when God formed man that He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man become a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). We also know that our souls were marred, disfigured, and warped when our fellowship with God was broken…however we may understand the particulars, the image of God within us was desecrated.

 

There was also a deep interior death that occurred when we partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – hence on the day we ate it we did indeed die. It follows that we need a new birth in Jesus Christ, it follows that Jesus brings a New Creation into existence, it follows that we who were once dead in trespasses and sins have now been made alive, raised from the dead, in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:1 – 10).

 

But I want to focus on the soul. I want to know if what we believe, if what we say, if what we do matters. Because if it does not matter, I will stop writing and I will stop speaking and I will enjoy tea and crumpets from now on and not care for the church or the people of the world…and I should think I might have a very good and peaceful time. It may take me a while to get over the habits of a lifetime, but I will try.

 

There has been a lot written and said and taught about spiritual formation the past few decades, and while I have used the term and will probably use it again, I have never been comfortable with it – for it lacks an object. It is like a license plate on a car that I know of that says “beleeve.” Of course it means “believe,” but what does it really mean? Do we believe simply to believe? What do we believe? What do we believe in? In thin air? In ourselves? In Mickey Mouse? (Many people do believe in Mickey Mouse and regularly go on pilgrimage.)

 

Jesus does not call us to a self-improvement project; He calls us to be transformed into His image. In fact, our calling is to be “conformed to the image of His [the Father’s] Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). The thing is, transformation does not occur as we look at ourselves, but as we behold Jesus (2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 John 3:1-3; Colossians 3:1-4), and herein is where I think much that passes for spiritual formation loses its focus, for it treats transformation as something that can be considered apart from intimacy with Jesus Christ and from the incarnational mission of Jesus Christ.

 

Now I am sure that good spiritual formation folks will say, “But of course we mean Jesus.” Then I will ask, “Well, why not explicitly say that we seek to be Biblically formed into the image of Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son?”

 

Let us return to the soul. Do our souls matter? Does the shape of our soul matter when we pass into eternity?

 

I think the Bible passages we considered above demonstrate that we, our souls, will be judged when we move into eternity. That our words and deeds matter; they matter in terms of the effect they have had on others, they matter in how we have treated others, they matter in how they have affected the beliefs of others – they matter in whether we have been Christ to others.

 

We ought not to be so foolish as to think that what we believe is somehow a card that trumps what we do, that glosses over our actions toward others and toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer wrote about “cheap grace.” Discipleship without cost, witness without cost, Christianity without cost.

 

I think while the above passages in 1 and 2 Corinthians speak of accountability, that they also, and perhaps more importantly, speak to us of intimacy, of knowing Jesus and being transformed into His image. After all, must not accountability have an object, a purpose? What is the point of being accountable just to be accountable? What is the goal of accountability? What is the point of obeying Jesus Christ?

 

Jesus says, in effect, “Be obedient to Me so that you will know Me.” Likewise, “As you know Me you will learn obedience to Me.”

 

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).

 

Paul writes about presenting every person complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28), or as one translation puts it, “Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” What of those who enter eternity immature? What of those who enter eternity having brought with them wood, hay, and stubble? What of those who have paid no real attention to discipleship, to living a cruciform life?

 

Do we really think the Bible teaches that we all will advance across the stage and graduate with honors?

 

Our Father and Lord Jesus desire relationship, they are not focused on moving us along from one grade to another whether or not we have learned from them, whether or not we have entered more deeply into koinonia with the Trinity.

 

It seems to me that if we took our souls seriously, that we would seriously want to grow into Christ and help one another grow up into Christ. It seems to me that if pastors took the souls of their people seriously that they would move beyond Sunday morning group therapy sessions, entertainment, and what Tozer termed “scribal Christianity,” a Christianity lacking a deepening encounter with God. We can emphasize correct doctrine but miss knowing Jesus Christ and miss being Christ to others.

 

These are my unfinished thoughts…how might you continue them?  

Unfinished Thoughts on the Soul - Part 1

 Good morning,

A few months ago, I began making notes on the soul. Do you think about the soul often?

When I was a child my mother taught me a prayer that many children learned in those days:

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

I remember wondering what the "soul" was. I never asked my Mom, and I'm sorry I didn't. I neglected to ask her many questions that I wish I had. When she died at almost 43 years old there was no longer an opportunity to ask her anything.

To my young mind, the soul seemed like something mysterious, weighty, and important. To my old mind it still seems that way.

As I reflect back on pastoring, I wonder why I didn't preach on the soul, why I didn't explore it with my congregations. This is akin to what I've been experiencing with my health in this season of life, it demonstrates my ignorance. 

Like many older folks I have a cardiologist, a hematologist, I've seen a neurologist, I have a rheumatologist, and one or two other "ologists." I have wondered how I got to be so old and know so little about my own body, I've lived in this tent for over 75 years and have only just started to really learn about how it works (or not!) and how fearfully and wonderfully made I really am. How could I have been so ignorant for most of my life?

Below are some of my thoughts on the soul, some of my questions and ponderings.    

What thoughts do you have?

Much love,

Bob

 

The Soul – Does It Matter?

 

Have you wondered why it matters?

 

Why does what we believe matter? Why does what we do matter?

 

Is it a matter of reward and punishment beyond this life?

 

Is it a matter of ultimate salvation beyond this life?

 

Can we envision a God who says to one person, “Because you have believed this creed you are rewarded,” and to another person, “Because you have not believed this creed you are judged”?

 

Suppose the first person hated people as a way of life, and the second person loved and served people as a way of life?

 

For those who believe that salvation is a transactional matter that can be signed, sealed, and delivered in a moment of time without further experience, why does what we believe beyond that matter? Why does what we do beyond that matter?

 

Why contend for the faith within the faith community if, when we die and enter eternity, what we have believed has no eternal and ongoing significance?

 

A fair reading of Scripture indicates that, as Christians, what we believe and what we do matters, it matters to the point that Paul suffered much so that Christians would believe and do the “right” things; not “right” in the eyes of man, including religious man, but “right” in the eyes of God – “right” in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Most of the letters of the New Testament, including Revelation, deal to some degree with correcting false belief and false living.

 

Religious falsity was more of a threat in the New Testament than the sin of the world, the flesh, and the devil; after all, we often can’t see that which is the closest to us. How we forget that the Pharisees and Sadducees crucified Jesus. As Paul points out in Galatians, those who are born of the flesh are ever persecuting those born of the spirit and promise (Galatians 4:29).

 

At this point, before I move on to the matter of the soul, I want to suggest that there are mysteries beyond the grave that we ought to acknowledge. I’ll likely return to these, but I want to raise an awareness of two of them right now. The first is found in 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10, and the second is in 1 Corinthians 15:35 – 49.

 

In the first two passages we see that there is an accountability beyond the grave, and in the second passage I believe we can infer that this accountability results in dimensions of participation in the glory of God, “one star differs from another in glory.” Now this raises its own questions, and I can think of no better exploration of them than Dante’s Paradise, so I will leave the questions alone for now. (A wonderful survey with thoughtful commentary is Hans Boersma’s, Seeing God - The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition.)

 

But is “accountability” the best word to use? While it may be a word to use, is it the only word to use? I’ll return to this question.

 

Regarding the first two passages, contrary to the thinking of many American Christians, 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us that we will be held accountable for the “deeds done in the body…whether good or bad.” Forgiveness for sins is one thing, accountability is another. Whether we understand the dynamics of this or not, we ought to acknowledge the Bible’s teaching. What we do matters, our actions matter.

 

In Revelation 19:8 we read, “It was given to her [the Bride] to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

 

I imagine many of us would like to gloss over this verse, for we want it to read, “The fine linen is the blood of Jesus,” or “The fine linen is the righteousness of Christ,” but the verse doesn’t say that, it says that the fine linen is our righteous acts.

 

Now for sure all righteous acting and living flows from the Vine, the One who was made sin on our behalf so that we would be made the very righteousness of God in Him (John 15:1ff; 1 Corinthians 5:21). But let us not dismiss Revelation 19:8, for it is in the context of eternity.

 

Our actions matter. We will all appear before Christ’s judgment seat – we cannot hide in the crowd.

 

When we come to 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15, we come to a passage that many Protestants gloss over lest we begin asking uncomfortable questions, for this passage surely portrays a process, an experience that indicates more than a brief “moment,” however we might think about time within eternity. There is a revealing by fire to come, one which we will all experience, just as we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

 

Here again we see that our works matter very much. We may build with “gold, silver, and precious stones,” or with “wood, hay, and straw.” Building material matters. The quality of our lives matters. They matter to the point where Paul writes, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

 

Does not our dear Lord Jesus command us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20)?

 

Just as I have pointed to Dante’s Paradise in considering 1 Corinthians 15, so I will point to Dante’s Purgatory in considering 1 Corinthians 3, as well as, once again, Boersma’s fine work. Dante’s Purgatory is a journey in spiritual formation, and I suspect it is better to experience it now rather than putting it off until after we die. Read what Dante says, not what your possible prejudices think he says. (I recommend the Sayers translation with its excellent notes).