If Christ has experienced his trials and temptations and overcome them, then what of the disciples of Jesus? The disciples are not spared further peirasmos; on the contrary, temptation and trial come at them with a renewed force if anything. Thlipsis is to be expected as normal; they are not to be surprised by the coming of the ‘fiery trial’ (1 Peter 4:12). The allusion to Jesus was offered in Hebrews to comfort believers who were in the midst trials. The disciple is thrown back on the human question of the flesh, faith and allegiance to God. Can he himself now overcome the peirasmos, perhaps because he looks with new eyes on the old problem?
That would mean that Jesus merely exemplified the right response to peirasmos. The testimony of the NT is otherwise: Jesus supremely and uniquely passed through this test and tempation. The disciple, who in affliction may even become a martyr, does not witness to his own overcoming of peirasmos but to the victory of Christ in the flesh, in faith and in allegiance to God. That he is tested and remains steadfast even to the death is a witness to Christ’s decisive defeat of the Devil – not to a fresh victory, but only to a sharing in the same original victory that belongs to him.
I just want you to know it is hurting!
6 comments:
Not wanting to add any nails to the coffin or anything, but did you want to know you missed a word out there? 'Of' between 'midst trials' in the first paragraph.
Otherwise, I reckon that was great!
Glory to Jesus alone, indeed.
Yet does not our suffering complete his?
Yes, that's a brilliant observation which means I can extend the thought I think. .. Thogh of course: in what sense do we complete his sufferings? I guess in that they, our sufferings, are HIS sufferings...
1 Peter 4 continues:
But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.
The nature of the martyr's sufferings are that they are, wondrously, a participation in Christ's.
The verse Grodo is alluding to is Col 1:24 - I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.
It's is a very interesting passage all up (and limited atonement proponents ought to take better note of it IMHO). What could possibly have been lacking in Christ's afflictions? Can we allow Paul a hyperbole here - an ironic overstatement? i.e. 'I am supplying what is lacking in Christ's sufferings (not really meaning that something was, but I am suffering in participation with the sufferings of Christ etc)'
I believe you've hit the nail on the head, so to speak. You're probably much more theologically informed than I am, but I believe to suffer FOR Christ is to suffer WITH Christ. To fill up what's lacking in his sufferings does not mean that he didn't suffer enough to save us, nor that his sufferings were somehow less than they could or should have been. It means that his work in our generation won't be completed without some of his people suffering severely...to the death. The person who suffers for Christ does not thereby help atone for the sins of others. He is a witness (martyr) to what Jesus has already done. Even his suffering is a witness to Jesus' victory.
I just want you to know it is hurting!
Jesus has won the victory over your thesis. May you share in his victory. :-)
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