Leonard Goppelt wrote a gem of a commentary on 1 Peter. I’ve been studying it as I prepare to exhort on the amazingly redemptively-historical 1 Pet 1:10-12. Here is a typical quote from Goppelt on the text:
Prophecy enables the Church to understand the Christ-event preached to it as fulfillment, as eschatological salvation, and, therefore, to appropriate proclamation as gospel.
It makes the biblical-theological heart warm, doesn’t it?
I just invented a new Kline-esque term in “cross-transfer,” but I trust it gets at the point of what Vos is saying in The Pauline Eschatology on p. 48.
The cross is represented as effecting an absolute separation between two worlds, so as to have cut loose the Apostle from the world to which he at first belonged, and having transplanted him into another.
How seriously do we, as believers, take Paul’s language? I know that too often I consider myself a partaker of this present evil age. Surely I sin and the old man is daily being mortified through the Spirit’s work in me, but I don’t consciously think of having been transplanted into the age-to-come. But as Christians, we must also look forward to that reality – not simply as a future. We have been transferred to a new life at the cross and we must live upon the foundation of that truth.
Camden covers Meredith Kline and a few of his books during this episode of Theology on the Go.
In 1 John 1:7-11, the apostle John writes:
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
First, the commandment is an old commandment. It was commanded long ago: love your neighbor as yourself. This is nothing new. Yet while it is an old commandment, is it a new commandment? The solution to this conundrum lies in understanding John’s redemptive-historical grid.
John is employing a two-age schema just as Paul does throughout his epistles. We may speak of the present sinful order and the coming age of consummation. As a result, our current age is defined by two points: Christ’s death-resurrection and His coming and subsequent consummation. New Testament believers have a somewhat mixed experience. They have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, but have not yet experienced the bodily resurrection and therefore encounter the consequences of the Fall into sin. They rest on Christ’s finished work and have been renewed in the inner man, but continue to struggle with sin.
This age-overlap dynamic alters the way we understand God’s commandments. We are still bound to keep them, of course, but we are only free to keep them in Christ. Since all men born via ordinary generation are fallen in Adam, they are totally depraved and therefore unable to keep the law.
So when John writes “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” we can see how the two-age overlap is the proper interpretive grid. The age of the curse – the sinful era – is passing away and the true light in Jesus Christ is already shining – particularly in the hearts of those united to Him by faith.
Through the sanctifying power of the Spirit that comes through union with Christ, believers are able to “do” the law because their relationship to the law is defined through Christ rather than through Adam or themselves. As such they are justified on Christ’s account and because of their union with Him, the true lawkeeper, believers are able to “do” the law in freedom.
Therefore, the one who obeys the commandment demonstrates that he is united to Christ for “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light.” Obeying the commandment acts as proof because only those united to Christ are able to do it. But on the flip side, the one who does not love his brother betrays the fact that he is not united to Christ and belongs to the old order or darkness. “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
This brings us to the question: Is John speaking about a new commandment or an old commandment? Well, it depends on your perspective. If you are asking from the standpoint of the requirements of the commandment, then it is old. However, if you are asking about the believer’s understanding of the commandment and how it is to be kept [namely through whom] – then that is a redemptive-historical “new.”
In recent years it has become increasingly common for theologians to focus their attention on the sphere in which redemption occurs. The Temple motif from the Garden of Eden to the Heavenly City–New Jerusalem–is traced out in such noteworthy works as O. Palmer Robertson’s Christ of the Prophets, and Understanding the Land of the Bible; T. Desmond Alexander’s From Paradise to the Promised Land, and From Eden to the New Jerusalem; William J. Dumbrell’s Covenant and Creation; G.K. Beale’s The Temple and the Church’s Mission, John Fesko’s Last Things First, and Meredith Kline’s Kingdom Prologue. The question that now must be asked is whether or not the work of these men can be further developed and deepened for our benefit.
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We’re full into March and every baseball fan knows what time of year it is. Furthermore, this is an especially wonderful time of year for true Cub fans. We have especially elevated spirits and look forward to another potential championship year. And it’s been especially feverish for that last few. The 2003 season had a significant impact on the mind of those who frequent Wrigley Field. Now we have "real" hope. We have a front office willing to spend money to bring a championship to the North Side of Chicago for the first time since 1908. We have a fighting chance to reverse the curse. We’ve all heard that phrase with the 2004 Boston Red Sox and the 2005 Chicago White Sox (I’m getting sick) World Series wins. The Cubs have won the division two years in a row, and the delusional Wrigley Faithful are looking forward to another season.
As amazing as a Chicago Cubs "curse" reversal would be, what about the curse of the Fall? We all live under the curse of corruption and death due to the failure to be obedient under the covenant of works. What does the Bible say about reversing the curse? Actually, Scripture is very forthright in demonstrating how God will reverse the effects of the fall in the new heavens and new earth.
The blessing and curses of the covenant are spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. Interestingly, the picture of the new heavens and new earth in Isaiah 65 are very similar, though they show the reversal of the curses. This blessing to the people of God is rooted in Genesis 3:15 and later in Genesis 12 with the promise to Abraham. At the heart of the blessing of Abraham is the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Considered in terms of a prophetic perspective, we get a strong indication of the deep connection between Acts 2 and Genesis 12. What takes place in Genesis 12 is in redemptive response to the Babel confusion of Genesis 11. So what takes place in the day of Pentecost as the people hear others speaking an intelligible gospel in their own language is the eschatological initiation of the reversal of the confusion. We have an eschatological advance on God reversing the curse.
Matthew 11:11-13
11Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
11 Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν· οὐκ ἐγήγερται ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ· ὁ δὲ μικρότερος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. 12 ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ ἕως ἄρτι ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν βιάζεται καὶ βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν. 13 πάντες γὰρ οἱ προφῆται καὶ ὁ νόμος ἕως Ἰωάννου ἐπροφήτευσαν·
John the Baptist performed a very unique role in the history of redemption. He was the final prophet of the Old Testament era and ushered in the new redemptive age that came with the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the anticipated Messiah. With full indebtedness to Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. at Westminster Theological Seminary through the teaching of his course Acts & Paul, here are a few thoughts about this passage. Read the rest of this entry »
