Sunday, June 24, 2018 Robert T. Walker, "Christian Dogmatics" https://tftorrance.org/firbush/ The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:17 24th June 2018, the topic is Christian Dogmatics, seeing Christ stereoscopically in Ephesians. 00:17-00:28 We read from the middle of Ephesians 1, from the second bit of Ephesians 3 and from the 00:28-00:33 middle of Ephesians 4. 00:33-00:47 Christian Dogmatics is a fantastic subject but the word is unfortunate in a sense nowadays 00:47-00:54 because we use the word 'dogmatic' to mean somebody who is opinionated and arrogant and 00:54-01:00 won't listen to anybody else, but 'dogmatics' is actually the opposite. 01:00-01:10 It's the name for the discipline which is open to Christ and is structured on him and 01:10-01:20 patterned on him and sees that he is the absolute centre of the Christian faith and tries to 01:20-01:27 order all our Christian thinking so that it's in line with Christ and points to him. 01:27-01:33 There are three fundamental points that Christian Dogmatic starts from. 01:33-01:43 The first is that the gospel is not about Christ, it is Christ himself, Christ in his 01:43-01:49 living person as God and man and that's fundamentally important. 01:49-01:56 It means that everything Christ gives us, whether it's forgiveness or resurrection or 01:56-02:08 life or whatever, these are not things that he gives us but that he is in himself and 02:08-02:16 therefore he gives us them not by handing them over to us but by joining us to himself 02:16-02:23 through the spirit so that in union with him all these things become ours. 02:23-02:25 That's fundamentally important. 02:25-02:28 The gospel is not about Christ, it is Christ. 02:28-02:31 He is the living gospel. 02:31-02:41 He himself contains everything in himself that is ours and is for us and that we need. 02:41-02:48 The second major point is that Calvin used to emphasise a lot that Christ always comes 02:48-02:51 clothed with his gospel. 02:51-02:56 In other words we never simply know Christ, we never know a naked Christ as it were. 02:56-03:01 We always know Christ only clothed with his gospel. 03:01-03:09 We know him through what he has done for us, through his work and so his work is part of 03:09-03:19 what he is, something that he has done but that he has done and he in the unity of his 03:19-03:25 person as God and man has done these things. 03:25-03:32 He is eternal as God, as risen man he is now also alive forevermore. 03:32-03:43 Everything that he has done he is still in himself and so he comes clothed with his gospel. 03:43-03:52 Obviously we can say the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins and that's true but we don't 03:52-03:59 simply believe that that is a true statement. 03:59-04:00 We shouldn't think of it simply as a statement. 04:00-04:04 It is something that is true that Christ is. 04:04-04:09 He is what these words are pointing to. 04:09-04:16 The third basic point is that the whole ministry of Christ is inseparable. 04:16-04:23 Actually that is true of the whole of the Bible. 04:23-04:32 God acts in time and in our view of time only the present is real. 04:32-04:37 The past is gone and it is no longer real and the future is not yet and so only the 04:37-04:40 present moment is real. 04:40-04:44 We are losing time all the time. 04:44-04:46 It is a running battle. 04:46-04:50 The past is slipping away from us but that is not the biblical way. 04:50-05:02 The biblical way is that when God acts in time then that in a sense stays real. 05:02-05:06 The whole history of salvation, the whole history of the Jews is an ongoing event in 05:06-05:07 time. 05:07-05:13 The same with our own lives. 05:13-05:20 The child that we were has not disappeared into the past but changed into what we are 05:20-05:21 now. 05:21-05:30 We are what we were and have become and what we will be in the future. 05:30-05:40 We need to think of time as an ongoing unity and that is true of the Bible as a whole. 05:40-05:46 We don't think of the Jews when they celebrate the Passover to this day. 05:46-05:51 They don't say "our fathers came out of Egypt" we say "we came out of Egypt". 05:51-05:52 It is their event. 05:52-05:55 It is the event that has made them what they are. 05:55-06:04 It is even more true of the ministry of Jesus that everything that he did from birth as 06:04-06:13 a tiny baby to growing up to learning the scriptures at his parents' knees to coming 06:13-06:19 as a boy to know God and believe God and trust God etc. 06:19-06:27 This whole ministry is one whole package. 06:27-06:33 If we miss out any part of it then it weakens all the rest of it. 06:33-06:38 Every part is a significant key to the jigsaw. 06:38-06:42 The more we can see Christ as a whole, the more we can see the Bible as a whole and the 06:42-06:56 more we can see the whole life of Christ as a whole, the more we can understand him. 06:56-07:00 We will look at various things in Ephesians. 07:00-07:03 Ephesians is an absolutely amazing book. 07:03-07:08 I am just going to pick up some key points. 07:08-07:13 The first point is at the beginning of chapter 1. 07:13-07:25 The number of times that Paul uses the word "in" he speaks about the faithful "in" Christ. 07:25-07:30 Verse 3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in 07:30-07:31 Christ." 07:31-07:40 Verse 4 "Even as he chose us in him but before the foundation of the world." 07:40-07:48 Verse 6 "To the praise of his glorious grace which we freely bestowed on us in the beloved." 07:48-07:53 Verse 7 "In him we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness." 07:53-08:07 Then jumping to verse 9 "According to his purpose which is set forth in Christ, there 08:07-08:18 is a plan for the fullness of time to bring things all up again into a head in him." 08:18-08:21 I could go on. 08:21-08:24 In means inside. 08:24-08:28 All these things have happened inside Christ. 08:28-08:34 That is a fundamental point. 08:34-08:40 They have happened in his humanity. 08:40-08:44 We can also say that they have happened between his humanity and his divinity, in his innermost 08:44-08:45 person. 08:45-08:54 They have not just happened in him but they have happened for us in him. 08:54-09:19 For example, chapter 2, verse 6. 09:19-09:24 Paul's prayers for the church are very significant. 09:24-09:28 He prays chapter 1, verse 17. 09:28-09:33 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. 09:33-09:37 He mentions the word glory many, many times in Ephesians. 09:37-09:43 It's the magnificent glory of God and the magnificent nature of what he has done in 09:43-09:47 Christ. 09:47-09:55 He is writing to the whole church and he prays that the God of Jesus Christ may give us a 09:55-10:02 spirit of wisdom, not just a mind of wisdom, a spirit of wisdom. 10:02-10:06 That's important because it's the head and the heart together. 10:06-10:09 It's the whole way we think, our souls. 10:09-10:17 A spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him. 10:17-10:20 Bringing the eyes of our hearts enlightened. 10:20-10:25 Again, he's bringing together mind and heart. 10:25-10:31 He's not saying the eyes of your minds, the eyes of your hearts. 10:31-10:36 We think of the hearts as feelings but for Paul the heart of being enlightened. 10:36-10:41 There's no division between what we think and what we do in Christ. 10:41-10:44 That's above all true in God. 10:44-10:46 He is what he does. 10:46-10:51 He says let there be light and there is light. 10:51-10:52 God does what he is. 10:52-10:54 He is love. 10:54-10:56 Everything he does, he does in love. 10:56-10:57 He's righteousness. 10:57-11:01 Everything he does is righteous. 11:01-11:11 Paul's prayer is that the eyes of our hearts will be opened. 11:11-11:20 The spirit of our minds will be opened to know what is the unbelievable immensity of 11:20-11:26 what he has accomplished in Christ in the resurrection. 11:26-11:32 The rest of chapter one is superlatives all the way. 11:32-11:41 He's praying for understanding that we'll be given insight to see the mystery. 11:41-11:45 What has happened for us in Christ and inside him? 11:45-11:55 He goes on to say that what has happened, even when we were dead in our sins, before 11:55-12:03 we'd ever believed, chapter two verse four, when we were dead in our sins, God made us 12:03-12:12 alive together with Christ and raised us up with him, verse six, and made us sit with 12:12-12:18 him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 12:18-12:22 It's not just happened in him, it's happened for us in him. 12:22-12:31 It's actually happened for us in and with him so that what he has done is now ours. 12:31-12:35 Paul makes a lot of the fact that Christ is now in heaven. 12:35-12:41 He's not on earth anymore the way he was. 12:41-12:49 The one who was born two thousand years ago is now alive in heaven and we are there with 12:49-12:51 him. 12:51-12:59 We have been raised up and made to sit with him in the heavenly places. 12:59-13:10 I'm going on in chapter two because I want to speak about the unbelievable truth that 13:10-13:14 made Paul what he was. 13:14-13:19 That having been brought up as a Jew, he has now seen before all the other apostles, because 13:19-13:25 he was specially called to see this, that the Gentiles, those who did not believe, have 13:25-13:34 been called now to take part with the Jews, to inherit all the promises of the Jews. 13:34-13:41 So verse thirteen, chapter two, "Now in Christ Jesus," again the "in," "you who were once 13:41-13:47 far off," that's the Gentiles, "have been brought near in the blood of Christ. 13:47-13:48 He is our peace." 13:48-13:52 Not he gives us our peace, he is our peace. 13:52-13:55 He has made us both one. 13:55-13:58 How has he made us both one? 13:58-14:02 He's broken down the dividing wall of hostility. 14:02-14:09 It's a reference to the dividing wall or curtain in the temple that separated the court that 14:09-14:18 the Gentiles couldn't go beyond into the holy place where only Jews could go. 14:18-14:25 He's broken down that dividing wall so that the Gentiles can now go into the temple. 14:25-14:26 How is he broken down? 14:26-14:34 By abolishing in his flesh, in his single human flesh. 14:34-14:41 The law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new man. 14:41-14:48 So he is the one new man, the one who believes God, who knows God, who is the fulfillment 14:48-14:53 of Israel, who unites Jew and Gentile. 14:53-14:59 He's reckoned us both to God in his one body through the cross. 14:59-15:04 Through him we have access in one spirit to the Father. 15:04-15:08 The Gentiles are the inheritors of everything that was Israel's. 15:08-15:16 So they've come to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, just like 15:16-15:19 the Jews. 15:19-15:24 They're part of the new structure of humanity which is growing together in a holy temple 15:24-15:26 in the Lord. 15:26-15:40 Paul goes on to speak about the mystery of Christ, the astonishing mystery hidden for 15:40-15:54 ages that God's plan is to unite all peoples together in the knowledge of him and of what 15:54-15:59 he's done for us in Christ. 15:59-16:05 Mystery doesn't mean riddle or something that can't be understood. 16:05-16:12 It's something that is so unbelievably great and rich and deep that while we can definitely 16:12-16:27 understand it or see what it's about, we can never fully comprehend it and we have to just 16:27-16:31 enjoy it and wonder at it. 16:31-16:37 It's unsearchable riches in its mystery. 16:37-16:46 Verse 8 in chapter 3, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the plan of the mystery hidden 16:46-17:01 for ages, the many-sided wisdom of God. 17:01-17:10 He prays that they'll be able to begin to understand how great this mystery is that 17:10-17:19 he's been given to understand and that they too will come to understand it through the 17:19-17:24 Spirit in the inner man, in the inner being. 17:24-17:33 Verse 14 chapter 3, he prays, he bows his knees before the Father that he may grant 17:33-17:42 you to be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man, the inner human 17:42-17:44 being. 17:44-17:51 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that grounded in love you may have 17:51-17:57 power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height 17:57-18:00 of the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge. 18:00-18:05 So again the great emphasis on understanding and on the greatness of what has happened 18:05-18:08 for us in Christ. 18:08-18:15 He says that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that's extremely important 18:15-18:22 because how does Christ live in us? 18:22-18:29 He doesn't leave heaven, he is in heaven. 18:29-18:36 He lives in our hearts through faith and how does he do that? 18:36-18:46 By sending his Spirit to open us up, to know him, to unite us to him so that we are now 18:46-18:56 really united to Christ, that we on earth are united to him through faith and in union 18:56-19:03 with him we begin to share in all the knowledge that he has. 19:03-19:14 So this is not kind of spooky Christ that comes to live in us literally but he most 19:14-19:21 definitely does dwell in our hearts through faith and we are united to him. 19:21-19:27 Then he goes on in chapter 4 to speak about all the gifts of Christ and we've looked at 19:27-19:35 this passage before and they are all for building up the body of Christ, chapter 4 verse 13, 19:35-19:41 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to 19:41-19:46 mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 19:46-19:52 We are all destined to share in Christ's mature manhood, in the maturity of his knowledge, 19:52-19:57 his faith, his understanding, his love. 19:57-20:00 We measure the stature of the fullness of Christ. 20:00-20:04 That's unbelievable. 20:04-20:10 The fact that Paul holds out that as the goal is just crazy. 20:10-20:15 But it's of a peace with all the rest of it. 20:15-20:21 Our minds are being opened up to understand the riches of Christ. 20:21-20:23 We grow up into him who is the head. 20:23-20:33 The whole body joined in it together grows. 20:33-20:42 When each part of the body is working properly the body builds itself in love. 20:42-20:51 He goes on to point out that because there is no separation between thought and doing, 20:51-21:00 our heart and mind, we have to live out what we know of Christ. 21:00-21:06 We have to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, chapter 4 verse 23. 21:06-21:13 Not just be renewed in our minds but be renewed in the spirit of our minds. 21:13-21:21 The whole way we think has to be renewed. 21:21-21:30 So we have to understand what Christ is and come to a much deeper understanding of him. 21:30-21:33 But how do we understand Christ? 21:33-21:44 If we look for a minute at chapter 5 where he speaks about the parallel between marriage 21:44-21:55 and Christ. 21:55-22:05 Verse 31 says that men and women in marriage love each other. 22:05-22:09 Verse 31 says that a man should believe his father and his mother and be joined to his 22:09-22:14 wife and there shall become one flesh. 22:14-22:20 This is a great mystery and I take it to mean Christ and the church. 22:20-22:25 In marriage there is a profound union between man and woman. 22:25-22:34 What Paul is saying is that the union between Christ and us is even more profound than the 22:34-22:42 profound physical union of man and woman in marriage. 22:42-22:47 For him the mystery of marriage is a pointer to the even greater union between Christ and 22:47-22:48 us. 22:48-22:53 Through the spirit we are united to Christ. 22:53-22:58 He is like our husband or partner. 22:58-23:04 It is a profound union. 23:04-23:15 How do we understand somebody to whom we are joined that closely? 23:15-23:19 We all try to understand our friends. 23:19-23:21 In one we don't try to understand them, we just live with them. 23:21-23:29 At the same time we try to become aware of the way they think and everything. 23:29-23:35 With God it is different, with Christ it is different because this is the Word of God, 23:35-23:42 the logic of God, the deep wisdom of God who has done all these things for us. 23:42-23:51 Paul says we have to understand what he is and that is Christian dogmatics. 23:51-23:59 It is a kind of understanding where we are one with Christ and yet we are separate from 23:59-24:01 him. 24:01-24:04 His person is different from our person. 24:04-24:16 We are called on with our minds and our hearts to understand the logic that is in him in 24:16-24:26 its fullness as word and act, as love and deed, as one whole. 24:26-24:36 As we penetrate into that we ourselves begin to share in it and we begin to think, to share 24:36-24:41 the mind of Christ and to share the actions of Christ. 24:41-24:52 The key thing is that when you cook something, and if you are a good cook and often you don't 24:52-24:59 use a recipe, you just know by experience that you add a bit of that and a bit of that 24:59-25:04 and you taste it and then you keep adding stuff until you have got it right. 25:04-25:12 When you are painting a scene you use your trained instinct to see if this needs a touch 25:12-25:18 here and a touch there, a slight colour until it matches. 25:18-25:27 It is a bit like that, everything we do we should be thinking out, looking for understanding, 25:27-25:45 trying to see the Bible as a whole, the life of Christ as a whole, what he is in his person. 25:45-25:53 See for example that he is God and he is man, that he has come to us as God but he has become 25:53-25:54 man. 25:54-26:00 So the very structure is that he is God coming to us but he is also man acting for us in 26:00-26:02 our place and lifting us up to God. 26:02-26:06 That is part of the basic structure of what he is. 26:06-26:15 He is one person, what we call the hypostatic union, the union in one person of God and 26:15-26:16 man. 26:16-26:22 He is the living union of God and man and therefore he is our salvation, he is the living 26:22-26:23 bridge. 26:23-26:34 He is God's love, righteousness, truth, love personified, become real in human flesh and 26:34-26:40 he has done it for us and therefore in him this is what we are. 26:40-26:49 He is in heaven not on earth so that our whole focus has to be up the way and feeding on 26:49-26:50 his word. 26:50-26:57 It is very hard to put it into words what it means but it is Christian nomatics, it 26:57-27:07 is a continual trying to think out all the time in our understanding in our daily lives, 27:07-27:12 to understand Christ, the whole of Christ and little by little to bring all that we 27:12-27:20 think and all that we do, our lives, our conversations into line with God step by step. 27:20-27:34 It is a perpetual work and it is in progress but it is a wonderfully deepening, intelligizing 27:34-27:46 process in which in the profoundest way our minds actually get hold of God, not that we 27:46-27:52 can do it but that we do it through the Spirit and that we are thinking God. 27:52-27:55 We are not just thinking about God. 27:55-28:00 Thiif used to say that we think things, we don't think about things, we think things 28:00-28:03 through statements. 28:03-28:11 Obviously the danger is that what we are thinking is Christ but the statements we make about 28:11-28:19 Christ can't be separated from Christ and far too much theology has become just making 28:19-28:23 statements about God and about Christ. 28:23-28:34 It is no longer living thinking Christ himself, it is thinking as though God is distant. 28:34-28:42 If God is distant then we turn into ourselves to try and find our own spirituality or whatever 28:42-28:43 it is. 28:43-28:49 But it is the whole focus of Paul is out the way, up the way to Christ in heaven. 28:49-28:52 But heaven is not distant. 28:52-28:54 We can't have a spatial view of God. 28:54-28:59 There is no spatial distance between us and God. 28:59-29:01 That is a wrong understanding of space. 29:01-29:04 God is infinite, he is present to us. 29:04-29:07 He is in heaven but he is present to us. 29:07-29:11 That is enough for one night. 29:11-29:12 Let's pray. 29:12-29:23 We pray, O God, the light of your Spirit to open up the meaning of faith in Christ, of 29:23-29:30 Christian dogmatics, of what it means to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened and the 29:30-29:33 spirit of our minds renewed. 29:33-29:40 We thank you that you have called us to this task and that we learn it together. 29:40-29:42 In Jesus' name, Amen.