Re: [TruthTalk] community and the Kingdom of God

[knpraise]

 

 

Thinking Out Loud (again).  Some of these thoughts and  wording comes from From Cells to Souls  --  a section in that  book written by Alan Torrance.   The following is a combination of AT?s thinking and my understanding of the importance of his presentations.  

 

In search of a truly heuristic consequence,  many have involved themselves in the recovery of the gospel story as realized in the triune God and the Sonship of Christ.

?Christians acknowledge that the complexity of the world is irreducible to anything other than the simplest explanation of all   ---   the God who has created persons in his image for personal communion with himself, with each other and, indeed,  with all the other sentient beings which contribute o to the richness of the world we know. ?  (p222).   And there you have it  --  ?the simplest explanation of all,?   that mankind has been created in His very image.   If there is another explanation for that image, certainly it must in clude the idea of ?community.?     

 

God loves the Son,  the Son loves the Father and the Holy Spirit is the _expression_ of each in this world and in the lives of those who are a part of His creation after The Reconciliation  (Col 1:17ff).

 

That being true,  the personal behavior of man is incomplete until expressed in the company of others  (p210).   Man was created for the expressed purpose of the expansion of community  (ye shall be fruitful and multiply) ?.. God?s covenant with Abraham had everything to do with the blessing of an increasing community of persons.  Israel was God manifest in national function.   His Christ was all about the reconciliation of all things  < /SPAN> --  a tearing down of the barriers erected in the garden, allowing the bridging of the divide created by man?s decision to chart his own course, to go his own way, to misappropriate the revealed word of the day  [?ye shall not surely die ]    His church is His bride, bearing the offspring of all that reveals His power and presence   --   a community of believers that live to reveal God to a lost and confused world.   He is the Father, we are his adoptive children.   Community is written on every page and thought of God?s dealings with man.   ?The relational dimens ion of human nature? is at the centre of our very being.  It is such because and only because we have been created in that image and for that purpose.   Community is not only the image of creative endeavor, it is the very purpose for our existence.   Our identity as persons,  our true identity is manifest in freedom  (the perfect law of liberty), in presence  (ye who are spiritual help those who are weak;   pour yourselves out for the hunger, give yourselves to the afflicted and see your light shine as the noonday sun), in  love  (the whole law is fulfilled in this, love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself),  and in communion (the fellowship of the saints and the indwelling of God, Himself, in our lives).  

 

The grand truth of the Christian faith is our participation in His personal existence as opposed to His nature   ?.   For it God at work in us to will and accomplish.   If we understand that intrinsic to His existence is this thing we call community,  we, then, understand just how important it is to be a beneficial part of the larger community.  John says it this wise:   No one has seen God at anytime but if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us   ???.   He has given us His Spirit.

Perhaps this is where the "kingdom" comes into play.   If we understand that the kingdom of God is the sovereign rule and authority of God,  then Christ?s words  ?the kingdom is within,?  and  ?my kingdom is not of this world?  can have real and precise meaning.   If ?kingdom? in the New Covenant age is the reality and rule of God, Himself,   on any level given vision, whether ?thy kingdom come,?  ?you are near to the kingdom, ?  ?my father has granted me kingdom  [not ?a? kingdom],  the kingdom is not eating and drinking,?  ?heirs of the kingdom of promise,?  then, perhaps we are on our way to  understanding  ?kingdom rule.?  

 

Kingdom is tied irrevocably to the communion of God in man;  that is what I have come to believe.   When we speak of  sovereign rule and authority, we do the idea great injustice if we separate that rule from its inward throne   ---   the heart and soul of man.    Kingdom rule, at whatever level, always includes His ?subjects?   That is the illusion  --   kingdom = a king and His people.   And that is His kingdom.   His influence in the people of God.< SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">    Paul says it this way:   The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

 

Reject the notion of community and you cannot understand the Godhead, the fellowship of the saints, the purpose of creation,  the nature of God, the effect of the cross,  the vitality and importance of the church,   the indwelling spirit and kingdom rule.   The heuristic circumstance that  best pictures all these things is the consideration of community as the image of God.   All of the above and more is explained in this concept.   It is the model that best speaks to all aspects of the biblical account. 

 

JD