New Family of God
I have been reading a book called, “Jesus and Community,” by a guy Gerhard Lohfink; it is really good. The following is the recaps of a few of the chapters, that are under his part of the book about new testament communities. The recaps are brief but I wanted to just throw them just to get some activity going on the blog. Also, I was wondering just how we should react when we study theology and see concepts and things that are so significant for the new testament church, and are not even thought or known about for the church today? The most striking example for me was the apparently inherently accepted idea that upon receiving the holy spirit one was more a part of the family of God than even their own family. This notion apparently shaped a lot of the way that the church’s social order and behavior toward one another was formed.
III. The Elimination of Social Barriers
This elimination of social barriers in the new people of God, formed post-easter, is possible only in light of the fulfillment of prophecies such as Joel 3.1-5 and Ezekial 36.26,27 (among others). Lohfink emphasizes that all of the passages which mention that there is neither Jew nor Greek, rich nor poor, male nor female, slave nor free etc. these are always accompanied by the idea that we are one in Christ (Gal 3.25-27), or by One spirit we are one body (1 Cor. 12.12,13) also, in the new nature there Christ is all in all (Col 3.10,11). In regards to slave and free and the charge that some have made against Paul’s apparent lack of opposition to the culture slave system, Lohflink emphasized that though the whole world will eventually be transformed, there first must be a people of God whom have in action the eschatological reign of God. I thought the most notable point is the idea that it is the presence of the spirit which enabled the elimination of social barriers. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and they shall all prophecy.
IV. The Praxis of “Togetherness”
The chapters purpose was to examine how Jesus’ response to the reign of God was continued by the early church. Right in line with the idea of a community that has no social barriers, and has been reconciled in the spirit, is the idea of being “built up.” The word allelon is the word that is translated “one another,” this is obviously a very prominent phrase in the exhortations laid out in the new testament. Lohfink focuses on the idea of “building up” one another, saying that the concept of edification is particularly relevant to these ends. Jeremiah was called by God to build up, Paul evidently carried this same call (2 Cor. 10.7-9, 13.10). While edification is mostly taken to mean the building up of individuals in the body, Lohfink emphasizes that it is most likely more along the lines of the way that Jesus gathered together the people of God. Edification is the building up of God’s people, and participating in Jesus work of gathering Israel together is the purpose of edification. This is a responsibility that all members share, not only chosen individuals.
Lohfink also expressed that in many liturgies now produce “being next to one another” and not “togetherness.” He references 1 Cor. 14.26. We have forgotten that God’s focus was never on creating a collection of pious individuals but a people in fellowship with Him and one another. The emphasis in the New Testament on “one another” is for this sake, all of the exhortations regarding one another are for the building up (or, gathering) of God’s people, edification was a foundational method which Paul employed to these ends.
V. Brotherly Love
This chapter has to do with the concept that with the pouring out of the spirit and the realization that with the “experience of the spirit comes the experience of being a child of God,” all adds up to the creation of the new family. Mark 3.35 and 10.29,30. In the New Testament Church this establishment of the new family was expressed most prominently in the early house churches which operated as the hub of the open family. In every city there were one or more houses which were offered up for the community and visitors. It was in this setting the brotherly love was practiced. Lohfink goes on to explain that there is a distinct difference between brotherly love (or, agape), or love for one another and universal love. He emphasizes that when love of neighbor is mentioned it is an exhortation to practice brotherly love for the members of the new family more so that it is a charge to practice good deeds upon all people. “When the New Testament speaks of interpersonal love it means almost exclusively fraternal love within the communities.”
In regards to enemy love, the New Testament Church was not cheapening or ignoring this concept, but this love is surely not the same “mutual love” spoken of elsewhere; enemy love includes giving food to the hungary, blessing those who persecute, giving to anyone who begs. The significant point here is not that “love your neighbor” refers only to love of brethren, but rather, because neighbor is most likely referring to the members of the new family we ought to see neighborly love properly exemplified in the body. Those outside of the brethren are not to be ignored, after all the Family of God is ever inclusive and open.
October 23, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Good stuff. I’ll have to check this one out when you’re through with it.
I read something by Stanley Hauerwas about the family one time. It was along similar lines, but it was in the context of marriage and singleness. He was talking about how singleness, for the early church, was a huge marker for the ethic of the community. When having a family, especially for the Jewish community, was the most important thing a person could do. This community gave that up, knowing that they had a family that came through the blood of Christ, not the blood lines of fathers and mothers.
It’s a challenging thought, that the brothers and sisters in Christ are actually brothers and sisters and that they should be treated and lived with as if that’s the reality.
I’ll try to find that Hauerwas article.