Samson and Israel

The story of Samson in the book of Judges 13-16 has interesting parallels with the experience of the nation of Israel. The author/Author of Judges picked events in Samson's life that would have instructed the people of Israel of the folly of their idolatry and the wisdom of God's sovereignty. I have listed some of the parallels in the table below.

Samson/Israel Comparison
	Samson	Israel
Divine Calling	Judges 13:1-7	Exodus 19:6; Deut. 4:20; Hosea 11:1
Military Success through Divine Help	Judges 14:1; Judges 16:1	Exodus 15, Joshua 6; Joshua 6:20; 8:26; etc.
Disobedient to Calling through Adultery/Idolatry	Judges 14:1; Judges 16:1	Judges 2:11, 17: 1 Kings 9:9; Daniel 9:15
Failure due to Divine Judgment	Judges 16:20	Judges 4:1, 17: 1 Kings 9:9; Daniel 9:15
Water from Rock	Judges 15:18-19	Exodus 17:5-7; Numbers 20:11
God's purposes will be accomplished despite our faithlessness	Judges 16:28-31	Jeremiah 30:18-22; Zechariah 8:34

Divine Calling

Both Israel and Samson were called to fulfill a particular role. Samson was called to be a a "Nazirite" from birth and was destined to "begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:6)

Israel, based on covenant promises to its forbears, was called to be a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6).

Military Successes through Divine Help

The "Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson" 3 times before battle (Judges 14:5, 19; 15:14). Samson called upon the Lord for help (Judges 15:18; 16:29). God uses Samson's sinful desires to further God's own purposes (14:4)

God delivered Israel from Egypt and defeated Pharoah's army at the Red Sea (Exodus 15). Israel through God's help defeated the Amalekites (Exodus 17:12-14), conquered Jericho (Joshua 6), conquered AI (Joshua 8), and won the battle of the 5 kings at Gibeon (Joshua 10), etc.

Disobedient to Calling through Adultery/Idolatry

The book of Judges ties the concept of idolatry with infidelity in Judges 2:17, "Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them."

Samson committed many sins and was never fully devoted to any person but himself. His main obsession was Philistine woman, which was a sin (Judges 14:3). He desired to marry a daughter of the Philistines (Judges 14:1), he "went into a prostitute" (16:1), and lived in sin with Delilah who was a Philistine. (Judges 16).

Israel committed idolatry by serving Baal and other gods is mentioned over and over again (2:11, 17, 3:7, 8:33, etc).

Water from the Rock

Samson after a battle where he killed a 1,000 men with a jawbone of a donkey, called upon the Lord to allow him to quench his thirst. "And God split open the hollow place." (Judges 15:19).

Twice, Israel quarreled with Moses about being thirsty and God had Moses strike the rock and water came out. (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:11).

God's purposes will be accomplished despite our faithlessness

God humbled Samson through the Philistines. Because of Samson's hubris, the Philistines were able to capture him, gouge out his eyes, imprison and humiliate him. God allowed Samson to fulfill his office as a judge of Israel (Judges 15:20, 16:31) to get revenge in Samson's death and "So the dead whom he had killed at his death was more than those whom he had killed during his life." (Judges 16:30).

God promises throughout scripture that he will gather Israel and Judah to be His kingdom of priests. In Zechariah 8:22, that "Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord." The "Lord says" in Jeremiah 30:18-22 that he will restore Israel and make them prosper. He ends the prophesy with the promise, "And you shall be my people and I will be your God" (Jer. 30:22)

Observations

• The story of Samson is written for our benefit (Hebrews 11:32-34). The author/Author of Judges wanted Israel to take heed of Samson's life of folly. The people of Israel were guilty of many of the same sins of Samson. The narratives were selected from the life of Samson, I think, to emphasize these parallels. Our Christian life has many parallels with Samson as well. We need to take heed of Samson's experiences.
  
• Take comfort that good and bad leaders are under God's control. (Proverbs 21:1). Every decision Samson made was for his own self interest. However, God's purpose for Samson that "he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines" (13:5) was fulfilled. God accomplished His purpose through and in spite of Samson's selfishness. (Judges 16:30)
  
• Joy comes through sincere obedience to God's commands. Samson lived for himself and lived a very tragic life. He was betrayed several times. He lost his fiancee (Judges 15:1-2). He died as a prisoner with his eyes gouged out. Samson may have suffered just as much if he pursued God wholeheartedly, but he would have seen his suffering was bringing him closer to God (Romans 5:3; James 1:2);
• Do not murmur about our leaders: both spiritual and governmental (1 Cor. 10:6-11). We need to keep some truths in mind. First, how God works through our choices and circumstances is a mystery. Second, God's purposes will prevail no matter what decisions we make. Third, God raises up certain leaders and brings down others (Ps. 75:6; Dan. 2:21). How and why God does this is not revealed to us. Fourth, we are to honor our government leaders (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-15; 1 Peter 2:17). Therefore, when we grumble and murmur about leaders, we grumble and murmur against God.

Take every thought captive:

I have been meditating on the phrase "Take every thought captive" and how people use the phrase. The phrase is part of a verse in 2nd Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

I had a conversation with someone about this passage. He took the phrase "take every thought captive to obey Christ" to mean to not entertain negative thoughts but focus on positive thoughts. Other Christians use it to encourage themselves to combat temptation. When they become aware of an evil thought, they pray about it and confess it. This may be a good activity, but is this what Paul meant when he wrote this passage to the Corintian church? Years ago I read a biography of Martin Luther which gave me reason to question this interpretation of the verse.

Every Thought

Martin Luther's early life was not easy: he lived as a monk in a monastery. Luther was well aware of his sins and the holiness of God. To keep his sanity, he relied on the sacrament of confession. He would confess every sin and sinful thought to the priests until the priests were worn out. He would also confess his sins directly to God.

Roland Bainton
But Luther's question was not whether his sins were big or little, but whether they had been confessed. The great difficulty which he encountered was to be sure everything had been recalled. He learned from experience the cleverness of memory in protecting the ego, and he was frightened when after six hours of confessing he could still go out and think of something else which had eluded his most consceintious scrutiny. ^[1]

If we conscientously strived to take "every thought captive" as I described above, our Christian walk would be like Luther's experience: the more we focus on our inner life, the more we concentrate on sinful thoughts, the more sinful thoughts we would uncover. We have to ask ourselves, is this what Paul intended for us to do? Are we to continually focus inward instead of focusing upward toward God? This weight of sin is one of the burdens that Luther was set free from when he discovered that "salvation was by faith alone". Confessing our sin is good but our salvation is dependent on God's grace and not ourselves.

The Context

If "taking every thought captive" does not mean controlling one's inner thought life, what does it mean? To understand Paul's intention for the passage, we have to determine the context. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, obviously. However, in this section, Paul seems to be warning in verse 2 that he is planning to show boldness against some of the audience who "suspect us of walking according to the flesh." There are some believers, a subset at the Corinthians church, who question Paul's motives, methodology and apostleship.

Another question to help us to determine context  is "why did Paul switch from first person singular in verse 1 to first person plural in verse 2 (from "me" to "us")? In other words, who is the 'We' in "We destroy arguments..."? To answer that question, let us look at verses 3 and 4. In these verses 3-4, Paul uses an elaborate war metaphor to warn the Corinthians about certain aspects of his ministry: he is planning to visit Corinth and those who oppose him should be wary because of the weapons he [they] may use. Paul and his team use spiritual weapons and not weapons of the flesh.

Divine Powers

1. destroy strongholds
2. destroy arguments
3. destroy every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God
4. take every thought captive to obey Christ
5. being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete

First, the first question we need to ask, "Does every Christian have all these divine powers?" Does the "we" in these verses mean every Christian? I can twist the meaning of "take every thought captive" to be something I could do, but did God gift me to destroy strongholds, arguments, and every lofty opinion? I am an elder in a local church whose location is in a college town. I know I can't articulate good arguments against "every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God". Since Paul is talking to the first person, I am thinking the "we" his talking about is the apostles, or even more likely, his ministry team (i.e. Titus and Timothy).

More evidence is that Paul and his team are planning to go to war against this oppositional sect is found a little further on in the passage:

2nd Corinthians 10:8
For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed

Paul is coming on strong in verses 5 and 6 and he is stressing that his authority over them is given to him and his team ultimately to build them up and not just to punish them.

Therefore, since we have "us versus them" scenario, Paul is indicating that if the oppositional sect in the Corinthian church does not give up their questioning of his authority, Paul will come after them with every spiritual weapon in his arsenal. The power of "taking every thought captive" is one of them. It is not something Paul was doing in his own mind, but is going to do to the obstinate Corinthians.

Taken

Let me illustrate what Paul is doing in the passage with Liam Neeson's character, "Bryan Mills", in the movie, Taken. Mills is a a retired, highly trained intelligence officer with years of experience in international missions. His daughter is being kidnapped. Mills talks to one of the the kidnappers on Mills's daughter's phone during the kidnapping. Mills states matter of factly, "But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career." He is using the indicative mode: Mills is telling the kidnapper facts. Mills is alerting the kidnapper that he has skills that the kidnapper does not have. Mills implying he will be able to find and punish the kidnapper if he does not let his daughter go. Paul, likewise, is not telling the Corinthians that we as Christians all have these particular ministeries or powers. Paul is telling the Corinthians that he is coming to clean house theologically with a particular set of specialized skills. Those who oppose him will be vanquished and will face punishment

Vocabulary

The next step in determining the meaning of the passage is to take a closer look at some key words in the passage: "Take Captive", "Thought", and the phrase, "when your obedience is fulfulled".

Take Captive

"take captive" or "αἰχμαλωτίζοντες", according to my linguistic key, is a present, active, participle. The key defines it as "to take one captive w. a spear, to bring into captivity, to bring into subjection. The pres. tense points to the continual struggle and warfare."^[2] This participle is not a command, but a statement of fact. The mode of the participle supports my argument that Paul is doing what the Bryan Mills character did in Taken. Paul is making a statement about his team's ministry: he is trying to intimidate them into obedience and respect, but he is not commanding the Corinthians to do anything.

Thought -- νόημα

My linguistic key has the following: "νόημα thought, purpose, design (s. 2 Cor. 3:14).^[3]"

Paul Barnett comments on "every thought"
With this image Paul the victor takes "every thought" captive and brings it in obedience to Christ. The "capture" of "every thought" appears to be closely related to the "reckonings" (of his local detractors?) that he "pulls down."

This captive-taking stage of the siege metaphor is a striking image for the apostle-minister as a military general who takes fortified rebels captive and brings them into submissive obedience to Christ. This is a highly figurative way of saying, "We...preach Jesus Christ as Lord (4:5) as well as--and with no contradiction--"We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23), the other side of the paradox of Christ. In v. 1 Christ is "meek...gentle...[humble]"; here Christ is a conquering king to whom prisoners are brought.

Although this is capable of application to his ministry in general, Paul probably has in mind his prospective relationships with the Corinthians in particular. This emerges from the next verse, when the image of obedience is pursued but in a context referring to Paul's planned return to Corinth and the discipline that he hopes he will not have to exercise (v. 2; cf. 12:20-21).^[4]

... when your obedience is fulfilled.

The next key phrase about the context of this passage is determining what verse 10:6 means. Hodge points out the Paul is willing to dispense discipline on his next trip. Hodge gives verse 6 its context:

Charles Hodge on 10:6
What was the nature of punishment which he threatened, he does not intimate. It may be that he purposed nothing more than excommunication. The fact, however, that the apostles were armed with supernatural power, that they exercised that power for the punishment of offenders, 1 Cor. 5, 5. I Tim. 1, 20, and the whole tone of the passage are in favour of the assumption that Paul was determined to use all the means at his command to suppress the insolence, and to destroy the power of the corrupters of the truth in Corinth. He gives what he had said a special application by adding, when your obedience is fullfilled. That is, he would not resort to severity until all other means had failed, and until it had become fully manifest who among the Corinthians would submit to God, and who would persist in their disobedience.^[5]

Conclusion

First, I am not saying we should we should stop praying for forgiveness when we have sinful thoughts. However, I am asserting this passage is about apostolic authority over the Church members and not about our personal thought lives. The passage is about humility and submission to authority. There are other passages about how we ought to think (e.g. Phil. 4:8). Notice how the verse in Phillippians is God-centered and not sin centered. Since the 1st Corinthians passage is about Paul's apostolic authority, we can conclude that the passage is about how the Bible is authoritative in our lives. Paul was combating believers who thought they were super spiritual. They were listening to other (false) teachers (see 1 Cor. 4). They felt they could disregard Paul because of his appearance and lack of rhetorical skills. If the "we" means, apostles/pastors/teachers that God has gifted with authority over the local church to teach the church, then we need humbly to submit to their teaching.

Applications

The passage is about authority and submission within the church. We must seek to be humble both in following our leaders and in our leading as leadership.

1. Humbly Study the Word. We need to do more than just do a daily reading. We need to find ways to understand the arguments and historical context of the epistles like 1st and 2nd Corinthians.To tear down strongholds, we need to understand how God instructed Paul to do it in the first century. We must humbly seek to apply our whole minds to the study of Scripture and humbly submit our thoughts to its teaching.
2. Humbly Submit to Church Leadership. Some of the members of the Corinthian Church listened to false teachers rather than Paul. In our day we have podcasts, TV shows, books and innumerable forms of media that spread false teaching. We need to submit to the leadership of the local church. Our leaders are not apostles and we can question them like the Bereans questioned Paul in Acts 17; however, we must question them humbly. If you are in a Church, you should follow the leadership without grumbling or mumbling. There is good teaching in printed and online media, but it needs to be used cautiously.
3. Humbly Lead and Teach. As leaders of a church, we really don't have a moral authority. The Word does. In counseling, we can advise and encourage using our life experience, but our advice, our exhortation, and our encouragements need to be grounded in the Word. We need to use the Word from the pulpit and in training young leaders. If a member of the flock questions us about a sermon or teaching, we must accept the questions and criticisms humbly. 
4. Argue humbly. If you think someone must have a certain political position then they are not a Christian, please reconsider. If you have used the argument that the Holy Spirit has given you special insight, you are being super spiritual like the Corinthians. Please go home, lock yourself into your figurative prayer closet, and pray for forgiveness. 
5. Confess humbly. I want to reiterate 1 John 1:9 is a command. I fully support confessing one's sin. The apostle John was battling "super christians" as well, but they thought they were without sin. Your confession should turn your focus back to God.

^[1]Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 55 (Go Back)

^[2]Fritz Rienecker, Translated by Cleon L. Rodgers, Jr., A Linguistic Key to the New Testament: Volume 2, p. 140 (Go Back)

^[3]ibid (Go Back)

^[4]Paul Barnett, The New International Commentary on the Second Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 466 (Go Back)

^[5]Charles Hodge, A Commentary on 1st and 2nd Corinthians, p. 613 (Go Back)

C. S. Lewis and Total Depravity

I have a very narrow focus for this blog: it is to show how C. S. Lewis describes "Total Depravity" in his writings does not match how Calvinists (Reformed Theologians) define "Total Depravity". This blog's purpose is not to argue whether C. S. Lewis is an Arminian or a Calvinist. I am not claiming anything about whether C. S. Lewis is saved or not. I am not trying to persuade the reader whether his idea of "Human Wickedness" as defined in the The Problem of Pain is actually close to the Reformed definition of "Total Depravity." I am just trying to show how Lewis understood "Total Depravity" is different from the Calvinists' definition.

Lewis wrote much about "Total Depravity." In all his arguments concerning "Reason", he touches on "Total Depravity" tangentially. In order to keep the blog short, I focused on the statements where he specified the doctrine by name. I used an index of his works and these are the quotes I could find.

The Problem of Pain

The doctrine of Total Depravity--when the consequence is drawn that, since we are totally depraved, our idea of good is worth simply nothing--may thus turn Christianity into a form of devil worship. (p. 29)

This chapter [Human Wickedness] will have been misunderstood if anyone describes it as a reinstatement of the doctrine of Total Depravity. I disbelieve that doctrine, partly on the logical ground that if our depravity were total we should not know ourselves to be depraved, and partly because expereince shows us much goodness in human nature.(p. 61) [brackets mine]

God in the Dock

C. S. Lewis commenting on the danger of cruelty being the result of self-loathing:

Even Christians, if they accept in certain forms the doctrine of total depravity, are not always free from the danger. (p. 194, "Two Ways With the Self")

Christian Reflections

C. S Lewis to the Editor of Theology, (It was a response to Mr Bethell's Letter to the Editor):

(2) That my position 'logically implies...total depravity' I deny simply. How any logician could derive the proposition 'Human nature is totally depraved' from the proposition 'Cultural activities do not in themselves improve our spiritual condition', I cannot undertstand. Even if I had said (which I did not), 'Man's aesthetic nature is totally depraved,' no one could infer 'Man's whole nature is totally depraved' without a glaring transference from secundum quid to simplicitir. I put it to Mr Bethell that he has used 'logically implies' to mean 'may without gross uncharity rouse the suspicion of'--and that he ought not to use words that way. (Christian Reflections, pp. 25-26)

The Reformed Doctrine of Total Depravity

Charles Ryrie
Negatively, the concept of total depravity does not mean a) that every person has exhibited his depravity as thoroughly as he or she could; (b) that sinners do not have a conscience or a "native induction" concerning God' (c) that sinners will indulge in every form of sin; or (d) that depraved people do not perform actions that are good in the sight of others and even in the sight of God.

Positively, total depravity means (a) that corruption extends to every facet of man's nature and faculties; and (b) that there is is nothing in anyone that commend him to a righteous God.

Total depravity must always be measured against God's holiness. Relative goodness exists in people. They can do good works, which are appreciated by others. But nothing that anyone can do will gain salvational merit or favor in the sight of a holy God. (p. 253, Basic Theology)

J. I. Packer
The phrase total depravity is commonly used to make explicit the implications of original sin. It signifies a corruption of our moral and spiritual nature that is total not in degree (for no one is as bad as he or she might be) but in extent. It declares that no part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God's eyes. We cannot earn God's favor, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are lost.

Total depravity entails total inability, that is, the state of not having it in oneself to respond to God and his Word in a sincere and wholehearted way (John 6:44; Rom. 8:7-8). Paul calls this unresponsiveness of the fallen heart a state of death (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13), and the Westminster Confession says: "Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto" (Concise Theology, IX. 3).

Conclusion

"Total Depravity" is a misnomer in a certain sense. Total depravity does not mean we all are bad and corrupted as we could be. It asserts we have consciences, although tainted by sin, that still recognize moral choices. Our consciences still convict us concerning our sin. Our reason, according to total depravity, is tainted by sin, but still exists in some form. Some people realize how corrupt they are. People still do incredible acts of love and kindness for one another. Men and women still build culture and the arts.

Packer and Lewis do agree in other areas. Lewis wrote in his response to Mr. Bethell, "Cultural activities do not in themselves improve our spiritual condition". Only repenting of our sin and placing our trust in Christ's work on the cross puts us in fellowship with God.

C. S. Lewis, Allegory, and the Church

C. S. Lewis

"The difference between the two [allegorist and symbolist] can hardly be exaggerated. The allegorist leaves the given--his own passions--to talk of that which is confessedly less real, which is a fiction. The symbolist leaves the given to find that which is more real. To put the difference in another way, for the symbolist it is we who are the allegory. We are the 'frigid personifications'; the heavens above us are the 'shadowy abstractions'; the world which we mistake for reality is the flat outline of what that which elsewhere veritably is in all the round of its unimaginable dimensions."

(The Allegory of Love, p.45)

This Lewis quote started me thinking about allegory and symbolism and how we are the allegory. First, let us flesh out the quote with an example of a symbol and an allegory. The American flag is a symbol. Each color and pattern on the flag represents something else. For example, the fifty stars represent all fifty states and the 13 rows of stripes represent the original 13 colonies. The people who created the flag were symbolists. When we look upon the flag, we leave the less real to think about the reality of the United States. Some people think about the sacrifices that they themselves and their kin suffered for freedom. Others think about how far we have to go in order to fulfill the dream of the United States for all her citizens. These things are real. The actual representations using stars and stripes expressed through cloth are less real.

An allegory goes in the opposite direction. John Bunyan, a master allegorist, took his real experiences, temptations, and feelings as a Christian and turned them into a fictional story, Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan's protoganist, Christian, encounters companions like "Faithful" and "Evangelist". He faces enemies like Apollyon and the giant Despair. The story is designed to be an encouragement to the everyday Christian. The story and characters are less real than Bunyan's experiences.

When we look in the Bible we see glimmers how God used historical practices to represent something more real: the Old Testament Law and Practices are a down payment for the promises of the New Testament. The following verses show how the New Testament writers used the metaphor of "shadow" to explain how the Old Testament practices pointed to a deeper reality of Christ's ministry: His life, the Church, His offices (priest, prophet, king).

Colossians 2:16,17
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Hebrews 8:5
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 10:1
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The following passage in Ephesians expresses something about the purpose of the Church in the present age. We see this same pattern in the New Testament that God used in the Old Testament: God is using the Church to express the deeper realities about His manifold Wisdom.

Ephesians 3:7-10
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places

Notice the italicized passage. The universal church, the believers throughout the ages, is supposed to "make known" the "manifold wisdom of God." Look again to Lewis's explanation of the allegorist: "one leaves the given". The given in this case is the "manifold of wisdom of God." The second part is "to talk of that which is less real." The church and the believers who are the church are less real than God's Wisdom. God the allegorist is using the Church as an allegory to express the foundational reality of His maniford wisom to the rulers and authorities. We are the "shadowy abstractions" and "the frigid personifications" pointing to the ultimate and deeper realities of God.

Application

First, humankind is not the center of the universe. Life is not about us. God is the center. The chief end of men and women, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is to worship God and enjoy him forever. God uses his Church to manifest his Wisdom. We are the allegory that expresses the deeper realities of God to the authorities and powers. The more we serve and love God through the Church, the more we fulfill the purpose God has for us.

Second, the Church is the expression of the manifold Wisdom of God. It is not individual believers. The whole of Ephesians is about the unity, structure, and purpose of the Church. God never intended individual believers to function properly without being involved in the local church. How the local churches look and function may look different from age to age and culture to culture, but "Lone Ranger" believers is not how God is working in this age.

Third, our present lives are not our ultimate reality. They are just a shadow of our future life with God. "The sufferings of this present time," as Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, "are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed." Purified from our sin, we will become who we were intended to be. The church will become the bride of Christ. The glimpses of God's love in this present age through fellowship, through worship, through prayer, through serving, through our obedience, and through His Word are just the slightest glimmer of our life with God in eternity. As Lewis puts it elsewhere, these are but the shadowlands.

The Last Battle
"There was a real railway accident," sad Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

First Thessalonians 3:11-13: A Prayer to Increase and Abound in Love

First Thessalonians 3:11-13

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Introduction

This prayer in First Thessalonians caught my attention last week when I heard a sermon preached on it. The prayer is interesting in how it tied "increase and abound in love" to "establishing (strengthening) our hearts" to "blameless in holiness" to the "coming of our Lord Jesus." From my commentaries, I was hoping some scholar would trace the connections between love, holiness, strengthening, and the parousia. The search was encouraging. Here are some notes I gathered some from some commentaries.

On “clear the way” or “direct your way”

The fact that Jesus is God is further highlighted by Paul’s use of singular verb (trans. “clear”) with a plural subject: “may He clear the way, even the Father and Jesus,” and “may They clear the way.”” One can hardly conceive of a stronger way for Paul to indicate his unquestioning acceptance of the lordship of Jesus and His oneness with the Father” (D. Emond Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 154) (Thomas L. Constable, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 699)

On “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love”

The Thessalonians were already noted for their love, but Paul prayed that it might abound—increase (pleonasai) and overflow (perisseusai)—even more. “Genuine Christian love … is the one thing in the Christian life which cannot be carried to excess” (Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 155). The image of love overflowing its container suggests that Christian love is something that wells up from within a person naturally. (Thomas L. Constable, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 700)

On “establish your hearts” or “strengthen your hearts”

The abounding for which he prays is in order that the Thessalonians may be unshaken even at the second coming … The prayer here is that God will so supply the needed buttress that the Thessalonians will remain firm and unmoved whatever the future may hold … Paul longs to see his converts delivered from all such instability. He prays that they may have such a sure basis in love that they will be delivered from all this sort of thing. If God gives them this good gift, he will establish their whole personality.
(Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 110)

On “blameless in holiness”

But the thought is not exclusively ethical. The apostle goes on to bring in the notion of holiness, in which the basic idea is that of being set apart for God. Paul’s word is one that signifies the state rather than the process. In the Greek Old Testament it is used only of God himself, and in the New Testament it is applied to people in only one other passage (2. Cor. 7:1). Paul leaves no doubt as the wholeheartedness with which the Christian is given over to his Lord. The most usual designation of Christians in the New Testament is simply “the holy ones,” or, as we usually translate it, “the saints,” the word being from this same root. Believers do simply live uprightly; they belong to God and thus are set apart entirely for God’s services. Paul’s pray is that this may be fully realized among the Thessalonians.
(Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 110)