Sabbatical Observation, day 31. What a day today. Ive crisscrossed Tucson twice today. Found myself at a used bookstore and picked up George Santayanas Harvard lectures on the aesthetics of Beauty given back in the 1890s. Now I am at the thinking place - Starbucks! I went back and skimmed NTWs version of Philippians in his Kingdom NT. I like how he renders 2.12-13, one of the most horribly abused texts in my Christian life. So in the spirit of K. C. Moser who wrote many articles under the heading Text & Context, I want to make a comment on this text in its context. The verse reads ... Your (plural) task is now to work at bringing about your (plural) own salvation; and naturally youll be taking this with utter seriousness. After all, God himself is the one whos at work among you, who provides both the will and the energy to enable you to do what pleases him. Growing up, and in a huge amount of Church of Christ literature this verse was taken way out of context. First, only v.12 was usually quoted and the emphasis was on ME and making sure that I was following some prescribed pattern and to do that with fear and trembling. The emphasis was INDIVIDUAL and PELAGIAN. That is on me personally, as if my salvation depended on my human effort to get things correct. Second, context is usually ignored in that v.13 gives the SOURCE of the power and strength to do whatever it is that Paul is urging. Somewhere in the 1990s, I figured out that v.12 and 13 go together and that it is not a works salvation verse. But even if we recognize the connection with v.13 we can still miss totally what Paul is talking about. The text in its context has nothing to do with my INDIVIDUAL salvation at all. Paul has been explicitly discussing COMMUNAL life since 2.1 (and probably before that). Pauls concern is life within the Body, in the church ... unity in the church. The sacrifice of Christ - the self-denial of one who had the form of God but gave that up in the interests of others (the Philippians!) - is presented as the model/pattern for Body, for the church, for the corporate existence of Gods people. The collective Body is transformed and does collectively what Jesus did. The Community seeks not its own benefit but that of each other. In 2.12 Paul uses therefore (hoste) to show that his instructions are explicitly rooted in the hymn that narrates the giving up done by Christ. Indeed 2.12 points us back to 2.5 where the Community is to have the mind of Christ. Paul uses plurals, not singulars! The working out your salvation is addressed to the GROUP. And v.13 is not talking about God working in ME but among US. Wright brings this out by rendering After all, God himself is the one whos at work AMONG YOU (second person plural). Paul speaks to the entire Gathered People calling it to pattern its self-sacrifice upon that of the Messiahs. Just as his self-denial results in his exaltation so will the self-denial of the church result in ITS exaltation on the day of Christ (cf. 1.6, 11). Philippians 2.12-13 address me as a part of the Body. It applies to me as part of the Gathered People. But the Text in its Context has nothing - at all - do with MY individual salvation, much less me working hard to make sure I got all my iotas perfect. It is the Body filled with the power of God that imitates Christ to be transformed into a place in this Age that demonstrates it really belongs to another Age. The Age of New Creation that is functioning in the present. A community that shows salvation by being sacrificial to the point of dying for others, of being of One Mind ... the Mind of Christ. It is God, in the words of Ephesians, empowering the Body thru his Holy Spirit that is that unbelievable power AMONG US that conforms US ... working out our salvation TOGETHER in love and peace where none of us seek our own good but only that of others. Well I could go on. Just some thoughts on this Sabbatical day ... I hope K. C. Moser is proud (he is alive with God you know waiting for the day of resurrection). Shalom.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:29:23 +0000
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