zaterdag 21 augustus 2010
Een andere kijk op oude en nieuwe mens
In his study Paul, Herman Ridderbos offers an interpretation similar to Murray's. When Paul speaks about the old man and the new man, writes Ridderbos, he is not concerned primarily with the change which takes place in the life of an individual Christian after conversion, but with what took place once and for all in Christ (pp. 63-64). Christ, as the second Adam, died on the cross and arose from the grave for His people. Since Christ's people are one with Him in corporate unity, what happened to Christ has therefore also happened to His people. By His death on the cross Christ dealt a death-blow to sin as the power which had been enslaving His people; by His resurrection He opened up a new way of living for His people: the way of living associated with God's new creation.
The "old man" and the "new man," Ridderbos claims, ought to be understood in this salvation-history setting. They designate the great transition from spiritual death to spiritual life which came into existence through the death and resurrection of Christ, and which is now to be appropriated by faith. In other words, we may think of these concepts in both an objective and a subjective way. Objectively, "old" and "new" man mean that in Christ's death and resurrection the old, sinful way of living has once for all been done away with, having lost its power over Christ's people, whereas the new way of living associated with God's new creation has once for all been inaugurated. Subjectively, "old" and "new" man mean that believers enter into this new way of living as the appropriate by faith - not only initially but continually - what happened in the death and resurrection of Christ. Another way of putting this is to say that "old" man refers to the old age in which man as incorporated in Adam is a slave to sin, whereas "new" man designates the new age in which man as a member of the body of Christ is now liberated from the slavery of sin and is free to live to the praise of God.'
Anthony A. Hoekema, The Christian Looks At Himself (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), pp.43-44.
Hoe werkt morele verandering?
Wanneer nu onder invloed van het geloof het hart van de mens verandert, hoe gebeurt dat dan precies? Doen wij dat zelf, of doet God het in ons? We hebben al gezien dat de Dordtse Leerregels het dilemma dat met die laatste vraag gesuggereerd wordt, als oneigenlijk van de hand wijzen. Zij stellen immers, dat de vernieuwde menselijke wil - en de term 'wil' heeft hier ongetwijfeld dezelfde diepte en breedte als het bijbelse 'hart' - enerzijds door God gedreven en bewogen wordt, maar anderzijds ook zelf ten goede gaat werken. Inderdaad heerst er in de theologie een vrij brede overeenstemming ten aanzien van de overtuiging dat God en mens op de een of andere manier beiden in dit proces van morele verandering betrokken zijn. Zowel aan de pelagiaanse opvatting dat de mens geheel en al zélf zijn heiliging ter hand moet nemen, als aan de deterministische visie dat de mens zelfs in de heiliging niet meer is dan 'een stok en een blok', en dat God daarin alle psychische functies van de mens eenvoudig overneemt, gaan we hier dan ook zonder verdere argumentatie voorbij. Beide posities staan immers op gespannen voet met de Schrift, met de hoofdstroom van de christelijke traditie en ook met de gelovige ervaring."
Gijsbert van den Brink, 'De geestelijke groei van de nieuwe mens. Op het snijvlak van theologie en psychologie.' in: Henri Veldhuis (red.), Onrustig is ons hart... Mens-zijn in christelijk perspectief (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 1994) pp. 88-109. Dit citaat komt van pp.96-97.
dinsdag 3 augustus 2010
Heil - een groot woord
‘I hope all of us are clear in our minds that salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins. Salvation and forgiveness are not convertible or interchangeable terms. Salvation is bigger than forgiveness. It includes, for example, holiness. So that in verse 9 we are told that ‘God, who saved us’ also, and simultaneously ‘called us with a holy calling.’ So the ‘holy calling’ is an integral part of the plan of salvation. So is the immortality which Paul comes to in the next verse: ‘Christ Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.’ So we may say that forgiveness and holiness and immortality are all aspects of our salvation.
Salvation is a good word; it denotes that comprehensive purpose of God by which He justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies His people: first pardoning their offences and accepting them as righteous in His sight; then progressively transforming them by His Spirit into the image of Christ, until finally they become like Christ in heaven, when they see Him as He is, and their bodies are raised incorruptible like Christ’s body of glory. I long to rescue salvation from the narrow concepts to which even Evangelical Christians sometimes reduce it. Let us not minimise the greatness of so great a salvation.’
John Stott in zijn bijbellezing over 2 Timotheüs 1, tijdens de Keswick Convention van 1969.
Fragment komt uit: John Stott, John Stott at Keswick. A Lifetime of Preaching, Authentic Media (2008), p.99-100.