BLOOD OF CHRIST: CLEANSING FROM “SIN”

 The author of 1 John, whichever John that is, thinks Christians should sin no more: “My children, these things I write to you in order that you not sin” (2:1a).  That is a well-known thesis of the letter, but I see it now from a different perspective.

As an OT scholar, I am aware of what were and were not the symbolic functions of blood in the Israelite sacrificial system – even whether it was applied or sprinkled had different functions.  I am also fairly convinced that Paul used the sacrificial language carefully, the precision of which is sometimes overlooked in NT interpretation and theology, particularly at a popular level.  (Some favorite hymns about blood are offtrack.  That bothers me, but I still sing with the congregation.)  1John 1:7 caught my attention: “… and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin [singular].”

Technical details:
Problem: In the Israelite sacrificial system, the blood of the purification/sin offering was not applied to people to cleanse them from sins.  Rather, it was applied to the altar to symbolically cleanse God’s dwelling from the contamination of sins.  That God allowed the blood to cleanse away this impediment in relationship with repentant Israelites was symbolic of God’s willingness to forgive.  So, I wondered if John did not know this technical feature of the sacrificial system.  (And, as a good NT scholar and friend pointed out, I might be expecting too much consistency within first-century Judaism.)

Observations: John uses the word for “sin” (harmartia) in the singular and the plural.  All of the plural forms use the term as a “product” of human behavior (1:9; 2:12; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10).  Moreover, all of the atonement concepts associated with the plural are appropriate to the sacrificial system (e.g. confessing, forgiving, “atoning offering,”*  taking up).  The singular forms may refer to a product (3:4 2x’s, 8, 9; 5:16 (1^st) or to a sinful state of being (1:8; 3:5).  (Some singular uses that are not clear by context also seem to refer to a state: 5:16 2^nd, 17.)  In our text, 1:7 in conjunction with verse 8, then appears to refer to a state of being.

Solution: John is thinking of the blood of Jesus as sanctifying people.  In the OT, after blood was applied to the altar to symbolically cleanse it of contamination sins, it was sprinkled with blood to re-sanctify it, to make it holy again.  In the dedication of the Israelite priesthood (Ex 29:16, 20 - 21, Lev 8:24, 30), after blood was applied to their extremities – the only time it is applied to people for the purpose of first purifying them# – it was then sprinkled on them to sanctify them, to set them apart as holy for the service of the priesthood.  Moreover, 1:9, which uses a different word for sin, “unrighteousness” (adikia) that also can communicate a state or a product, follows the same OT sequence of purifying and then consecrating: “If we confess our sins (plural), he is faithful and righteous in order to forgive us our sins (plural), AND cleanses us from all unrighteousness (singular).”  Therefore, it seems that John has extended the OT concept of blood for sanctification of the altar and the priests to those who profess Christ.  John in this letter appears to be saying two things: that sins are forgiven by Christ AND, given John's participatory theology (e.g. walking in the Light), that the believer’s character/heart has also been cleansed/sanctified by Christ's blood.

Application:  To me the extension John has made is beautiful and profound!  Having been forgiven through the process of Jesus' blood as a purification sacrifice, believers have also been sanctified by it to be holy.  That which has been made holy is not to become contaminated by sins again.

Lord, what I am offered in Christ is beyond wonder.  Having been forgiven and sanctified by Christ’s blood, I want to walk in the Light and sin no more.  Amen

*Sometimes translated as “propitiation.”
#In the covenant ratification ceremony of Ex 24:3 – 8, blood was sprinkled on people (or perhaps on the 12 pillars representing them), but this ritual was not for sins.  (The author of Hebrews does refer to this rite in 9:19 – 20 and probably 12:24, though, as one of three symbolic uses of the blood of Jesus that he mentions.

DEATH, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND TRINITARIAN PANENTHEISM

(Some rambling thoughts today.)
1.      I like the concept of panentheism.  That is, all that exists has its beingness within God, but with God still being distinct.  (This is different than pantheism in which all that exists is “God.”)

2.      I like the concept of the Trinity being like an eternal system, in which the “parts” exist only in relationship in the whole (systems theory).

a.      There are many analogies for trying to comprehend the incomprehensible relationship of the Trinity, but one I like most I find/infer in John 1:1 and Genesis 1.  (Background: in this oral culture, what one uttered was by one’s breath/spirit.  Therefore, words had a vitality to them such that they could bless or curse.)
The Father, is the one who utters the Word/Logos (Son) by his Spirit/Breath.
The Spirit is of the Father and expresses the Word/Son.
The Word, through the Spirit, is of the being of the Father and communicates the Father.

3.      Since God “speaks” by God’s Breath/Spirit all that exists into creation (Genesis 1), and through God’s Logos/Word all such things were made (John 1:3), a panentheistic way of looking at creation makes sense to me.  Moreover, that leads me to think about how creation as I know it seems to exist and develop in a similar “systems-theory” approach as the Trinity.

4.      It seems to me that consciousness of our being-ness and consciousness of God are aspects of our nature as emergent systems.  As I mentioned in a note in the previous post, an experience of the Presence of God could be a real neurological event initiated by God in whom we all exist (panentheism).

5.      This leads me to be comforted about the death of ones I love.  I believe I picked up in a writing by John Polkinghorne the idea that who we each were in our consciousness at death exists in the “memory” of God, awaiting to be restored at the resurrection of the dead.  I like that idea but would extend it to saying that who we are exists within the “memory” of God throughout our lives as well as after our physical deaths.  Thinking about how I and my loved ones exist in the “memory” of God, then, comforts me with the promise that I will continue to have relationship with them at the resurrection of the dead.

Application:  Thoughts like this fill me with wonder.

Praise you LORD!  I will extol you with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.  Great are your works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. (adaptation of Psalm 111:1 – 2).  Amen!

 

A DEVOTIONAL TESTIMONY

[A daughter subscribed me to a story site that sends a prompt to write about each week.  This week’s prompt was, “Have you ever had a "supernatural" experience, or an experience you can't explain?”  Here is my reply.  I hope it serves my few readers.]

Yes.  My “conversion” experience happened when, out of a general religious interest, I attended a Christian tent-revival meeting as an observer.  (I was in California at the time, hitch-hiking around the country.  I had dropped out of college in Michigan and dropped in on my grandparents.)  At the end of the service, there was an “altar call” to which I wanted to respond but was too proud.  Still, I stayed for what they called an “afterglow” time of worship.  I did not want to leave the place; something was too attractive.  During that “afterglow,” someone spoke what I would later learn was called a word of prophecy in the name of God.  However, although it was a real person speaking, I felt/heard what was like being enveloped in 3D sound and I was being told very personally that I was loved.  I responded, “Jesus, I am giving my life to you for you to put it back together.  I cannot.”  I felt – true to the expression – like I was walking on air.  When I got back to my grandmother’s place, she looked at me, smiled, and said that now I knew Jesus.

Reflections:
If a skeptic would challenge my experience and say that a person spoke, but my auditory experience was merely neurologically aberrant, a momentary psychotic experience, I would agree that was possible.  I could have been fooled by a physiological anomaly.  However, this event was just the beginning of my faith story.  That experience prompted me to seek God in a new way.  I began praying, worshipping, reading the Bible, meeting with Christians for fellowship and accountability to be obedient to God – even went on to be a Bible scholar.  My sense of relationship with God in Jesus grew and has only kept deepening for decades now.  Of course, I would be lying to say that being in right relationship with God resulted in a utopian life.  All the chaos of normal life is still present.  What is different is that Jesus has walked with me through that chaos.  The qualification I would add is that obedience to God dramatically reduces self-afflicted chaos!

In retrospect, I believe that my “supernatural” encounter happened the way it did because of my stubbornness.  Although I was seeking God in my own way, I believed that I needed rationally to understand everything first.  Jesus encountering me penetrated that barrier of the limits of human reason.#  At the same time, as I think about my Christian worldview, I find that while it transcends the rational, it is still rational and not at all irrational.*  As I now rationally assess my spiritual worldview, I see it not only as reasonable, but aesthetically beautiful, emotionally joyful, psychologically fulfilling, and above all pragmatically successful – walking with Jesus has made my life go better.

Application:
A repeated theme in my devotional reflections has been both the OT and NT commands and invitations to seek God – that God is there to know.  When I have had the opportunity to address sixth-grade students in church confirmation classes, some of whom do not want to be there and pay little attention, I tell them this:  There is only one thing to remember from all of the sessions, something they should keep tucked in their hearts.  Whenever they come to realize that they cannot run their own lives successfully, they can seek God.  Jesus is knocking and waiting for them to answer.

Thank you, Lord, that you are always there, always knocking, always ready to respond.  Amen.

# Going back to the admission that my experience may have been a momentary psychotic event, there is another way to look at it reasonably: How could God penetrate a person’s experiential perceptions without the event being a neurological anomaly?
*I have written previously about how this limitation of human reason to “prove” the divine realm that, therefore, necessitates seeking God relationally, is what “Pascal’s Wager” is about.

EASTER: RESURRECTION FAITH VS CROSS FAITH

 “If Christ has not been raised, then … your faith is empty” (1Cor 15:14).

I once suggested using the above verse as the opening tagline for an Easter college newspaper “ad” on behalf the Christian faculty/staff at my university.  (The ad with our names was intended let students know who we were and that we were available to them.)  My suggestion was shot down as “too negative.”  Ironically though, Paul thought this statement was important.  Paul’s point in 1Cor 15:12 – 19 is that all of Christian faith hinges on Jesus’ Resurrection.  Without it “you are still in your sins” (v 17).

There has been a long-reigning (about 800 years) historical shift theologically, particularly in the West, that focuses too much on the death of Jesus.  Certainly, that Jesus gave his life for humanity has always been core to Christian faith, so I am not casting any doubt on that.  However, the whole Incarnation, earthly ministry, AND death of Jesus are inclusively acts of God’s grace to us.  Moreover, the Resurrection holds the work of Christ all together – and prepares the way for the Ascension and giving of the Holy Spirit.

The Resurrection validates everything about Jesus:  He did have (and continues to have) authority to forgive sins.  He is indeed the Messiah.  His Resurrection was the “first-fruits” of the coming resurrection of the people of God.  Jesus did usher in a new era of God’s Kingdom/Rule as he kept proclaiming and demonstrating.  As Paul puts it in Romans 5:12 – 6:14, Jesus defeated the reign of the realm of sin and death and issued in the reign of life and the Spirit for those in Christ.

Point:  My concern is that an exclusive focus on the death of Jesus for sinful humanity leaves us with a static gospel; that is, we are in the state of having been forgiven -- period.  However, a balanced focus on the significance of the Resurrection, puts our faith into a dynamic relationship with Jesus.  Our hope is not a future hope of one day “going to heaven.”  It is a present, realized hope.  The Resurrection tells me that today I do not have to live under the reign of sin.  Because I am alive in the Risen Christ, I am now eternally alive and can live my earthly life under the reign of the Spirit now.  (Again, see Romans 5:12 – 6:14.)  This is Easter faith, Resurrection faith.  It is so much more than "Cross faith."

Lord, your grace is beyond my comprehension.  Jesus’ offer of himself is beyond my comprehension.  Jesus’ Resurrection is beyond my comprehension.  Yet, I know the reality of it all within my experience of your Presence in my life.  Thank you.  Thank you.  All praise be to you!  Amen.