Dieper Dinge Deeper Things

In 1950 Bob Pierce founded World Vision. Today it is one of the world’s largest relief and development agencies reaching more than fifty million people a year in 103 countries. He began small, by helping Korean orphans, but each project grew in size and scope as he worked with relentless energy and vision. A lot was written about his compassion and drive for lost souls. Unfortunately, Bob was not wise in the way he conducted his personal life. He ignored the needs of his immediate family, his own emotions, and the needs of his body.

He all but abandoned his family and by the end of his life he was completely alienated from his wife and children. Relationships with the board of World Vision were also strained and he eventually resigned from World Vision during a highly charged meeting. One biographer wrote that the temper that he had battled all his life got the upper hand more and more often and his behaviour became erratic. A lifetime of eighteen hour work days, unhealthy food and jet lag took its toll on his body and made him susceptible to many physical ailments. He died of leukaemia at age sixty-four.

A few years ago, Craig started a small church cell group that gathered together weekly for a meal, Bible study and prayer. In the beginning, it looked as if the group was functioning well and members were loving and supportive of one another. One day one of the members, Millie, told some other members about a suspected affair between two members of one of the other small groups in the church. The other members told their spouses, under the pretence of being legitimately concerned. By the time the rumour reached Craig, he was astonished that the gossip circulated while the group was studying James 3 on the power of the tongue for good and evil. Not long thereafter, Millie circulated a similar rumour about two of their own group members and soon the cell group disbanded, with many members feeling hurt and betrayed.

In the same church, Dana met Jane, a retired missionary, and was pleased to befriend someone that seemed wise, spiritual and involved in God’s work. After spending time with her she noticed that Jane talked only about other people and what she was doing to help them. She often talked about people in such a way that it put them in a negative light, under the pretence of caring about them and being concerned about their welfare. Jane also regularly gave inappropriate and unasked for advice, simply because she was so self-absorbed that she did not really listen to the person in front of her. One day Dana explained to Jane that, although she appreciated her friendship, this was not compatible with the way Christians are called to live and that she preferred not to hear any more gossip stories. Jane not only reacted in a hostile, sarcastic manner, but also avoided Dana thereafter.

What went wrong in Bob, Millie and Jane’s lives? They were emotionally and spiritually immature. The Bible truths they could recite by heart and teach other people did not reach or change their own hearts. If you listen to and observe the behaviour of many church members today, it is clear that they also have no idea how to live according to the Biblical principles that they talk about.

It seems that we have accepted that you can be a gifted speaker on the pulpit, but an unloving spouse at home; work as a full time missionary, but be unteachable, insecure and defensive; fast and pray regularly as a spiritual discipline, but be critical and judgemental of others. In other words, we do not require ourselves or our brothers and sisters to be spiritually or emotionally healthy and to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Scripture is clear that for followers of Christ, growing to emotional and spiritual maturity and bearing the fruit thereof in our lives are not optional. The children of God will be known by their fruit. Those who call themselves children of God and do not bear fruit will first be disciplined and if that does not result in fruit, they will be rejected. (Matthew 7:15-20; James 2:18; John 15:5-6).

One of the first steps in growing to maturity is being honest with ourselves and with God. Your Creator God is in relationship with all of who you are. God is interested in all the dimensions and aspects that make up who you are: your spirit, body, personality, emotions, mind, private life, social life, intellect and any other aspect that you can think of.

Christians often ignore their feelings through emotional denial, distortion, or disengagement. We turn a deaf ear to anything disturbing in a desperate attempt to control our inner world. We are frightened and ashamed of our feelings and suppress them lest anyone else see who we are under our neat exterior.

It is unrealistic to think that you can live the fruitful life of a follower of Christ while ignoring the needs of your body or denying your emotions and the effect they have on you. We have to be real and acknowledge all the different needs and voices that form part of who we are.

Many approaches and philosophies throughout history have subordinated the other aspects to the spirit of the person. Bodily needs and emotions, especially anger, are regarded as being opposed to the Holy Spirit. In this way, the repression of feelings has become regarded as a spiritual virtue. Denying depression, ignoring loneliness, suppressing anger and renouncing our sexuality have become an acceptable way of life in many Christian communities.

The different aspects and dimensions of a person are all important and necessary. They are inter-dependent and integrated to such an extent that it is not really possible to separate a person into clearly distinguishable parts. Acknowledging our body’s needs and our emotions does not mean that we are controlled by them. On the contrary, recognising these needs is a necessary first step in the development of self-discipline and spiritual growth. The only way to grow and change is by being brutally honest and completely vulnerable before God.

Churches run well-planned curriculums for Bible study, prayer, discipleship and evangelism, but seldom confront their members about immaturity and sin in their lives. The question arises whether there are enough mature members who are able to disciple others. You are invited to complete this quiz to evaluate your own emotional and spiritual maturity:
Test your emotional and spiritual maturity

Resources:

Scazzero P, Bird W, 2003. The Emotionally Healthy Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

“When we begin to feel in its fullness the love of God, we begin also to love our neighbour in the experience of the Spirit. That is the love of which the Scriptures speak. For friendship according to the flesh breaks down too easily on the slightest pretext. The reason is that it lacks the bond of the Spirit. Therefore even if a certain irritation takes hold of the soul on which God is acting, that does not break the bond of love. For if it has been set ablaze again by the fire of divine love, it seeks with great joy to love its neighbour, even if in return it has to undergo wrongs or insults. In fact, the bitterness of the quarrel is entirely consumed in the sweetness of God.”
Diadochus of Photike

I had a quarrel with a friend recently and both of our attitudes disappointed me so deeply, that I realised anew that we are mere babes in spiritual matters.

The best test or indication of spiritual progress is our ability to love. It has to be unselfish love founded on respect, service and unbiased affection that asks nothing in return. A deep empathy that takes us out of ourselves to feel with and even ‘in’ the other person.

This love and empathy gives us the ability to discover in the other person an inward nature as mysterious and deep as our own, but also very different from our own. It enables us to accept and respect the other person and to embrace the differences as part of the variety in God’s perfect creation.

Such love makes it possible to handle the differences in opinion with love and respect, instead of ascribing differing views to lack of wisdom or stupidity. We have a strong and constant tendency to justify ourselves by condemning other people. We so easily fall into the trap of condemning others and gossiping about them under the pretext of ‘praying for them’ or of expressing ‘concern’.

For the person who wants to grow spiritually, the Gospel command not to judge is crucial. The spiritual fathers wrote that greed and vanity are passions that belong to those who are spiritual novices, but for the more advanced, failure always comes from judgement pronounced on others. Virtue consists in refusing to despise anyone.

In the spiritual realm, true humility and true love means knowing that we ourselves are guilty in everything and for everyone. The spiritual person hides the faults and failures of others, instead of rejoicing in it and proclaiming it to others, just as Christ washes our sins in his blood.

Maximus the Confessor listed some attitudes that may help us to overcome lack of love:

1) Realise that every refusal to forgive another person deprives you of Christ. We were taught to pray: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as (to the extent that) we forgive those who trespass against us.’ The gospel requires us to be reconciled with others before bringing our gift to the altar. We have to forgive, before daring to pray to God. Be reconciled with others before going to bed at night.

2) In arguments, avoid self-justification and the sort of psychological analysis that, on the pretext of objectivity or lucidity, reduces the mystery of the other person and becomes a subtle means of destroying them, a shrewd form of malice.

3) Do not avoid people that annoy or you, but try humbly and gently to clear up the misunderstanding. If that is not possible, pray for that person and refuse to speak evil of him or her. Accept excuses that others make for that person and defend him or her in conversations and your internal dialogue. Realise that you do not have love or spiritual freedom until you can close your eyes to the faults of a friend.

Let us remind ourselves regularly of this wisdom so that we can truly love one another as Christ loves us.

Resources:

Olivier Clèment 1993. The Roots of Christian Mysticism. Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary. London: New City Press.

At this time, after modernism, there is a loss of spirituality and a loss of sense in purpose and meaning, which may result in a general hopelessness. At the same time there is a decline in the institutional church, but a renewed interest in spirituality and mysticism.

The meaning of mysticism

The Greek word mysterion in the New Testament refers to the mystery of God ‘s love for us revealed in Christ. In Christian vocabulary the term mystical theology therefore means knowing God as revealed in Christ and belonging to the fellowship of the mystery. Believers are incorporated into the mystery through baptism and live this mystery through the sacramental life and growth in faith, hope and charity.

For the Church Fathers, understanding scripture was not merely an academic exercise. It was something for which one prepares by prayer, purification, humility and love, with the aim of engaging with God through scripture. Through this engagement one is conformed to the image of God.

The mystical meaning of the sacraments is the way in which the sacraments enable believers to participate in the mystery of Christ ‘s death and resurrection. For the individual, the mystical life is that life hidden with Christ in God. The new life is implanted in believers through their spiritual death and resurrection in baptism and bears fruit as the union with God shows signs of the risen life of Christ.

Bernard McGinn discusses the term mysticism under three headings: mysticism as an element of religion, as a way of life and as an attempt to express direct consciousness of the presence of God.

Mystics do not practice “mysticism.” They practice Christianity. Mysticism is a part of Christianity which may be more or less important for a specific believer and which can be experienced in varying degrees of intensity and development.

Everything that leads up to and flows from the encounter with God is part of mysticism. In this way, mysticism is a way of life for the believer.

One term that many mystics used to describe the experience of the presence God is union. Mysticism can therefore also be described as that part of the belief system and practices of a believer that concerns preparation for, experience of and reaction to immediate and direct contact with God.

Mysticism, in summary, is communion between the believer and God. In Christian mysticism, this union can only be achieved through Christ. The mystical initiative comes from God and is an act of grace.

The relevance of mysticism

“to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3)

A mystical reading aims to discover the deeper meaning of the text and brings to light the life contained and hidden in scripture. As such it may alleviate the “pastoral crisis of social displacement, the theological crisis of respeaking God, and the methodological crisis of how the read the texts of scripture.”(1) For example, some writers’ mystical reading of the beatitudes is interpreted to reveal that the blessed (happy) ones are totally dependent on God and have nothing of their own.

“A deep humility enables them to see that everything is a gift, and therefore pride has not place in them. As a result they are anxiety-free, since anxiety is a reflection of the ego’s fear and self-reliance “.(2)

This is in contrast to popular interpretation of the beatitudes that regards it merely as lists of rules or requirements in order to be blessed by God.

The text is now more readily acknowledged as a mediation of meaning which takes place as event in the reader and provides a ‘door’ as it were, between different dimensions of consciousness. Often the journey into new dimensions necessitates entering into the silence, the void, and the inexpressible. Such study of scripture takes the reader “beyond the clarity of understanding to the darkness of God, the mystery that is not a problem to be solved but the living flame of love ignited by the encounter with that love in Christ through the words of the Bible.” (3)

The experience of the presence of God brings with it a change of nature, a renewing of the mind and a transformation of the ego. This change not only affects the relationship of the believer with God, but also with fellow human beings. The community of believers is now at service to one another, with love as the aim.

The believer now no longer operates in the realm of the old nature (the flesh), but rather in the realm of the Spirit. The believer is indwelt and ruled by the Spirit. This transformation does not eliminate the individual personality. Instead, the believer becomes the best person he / she can be and achieves a higher level of living.

An individual ‘s spiritual development means growth towards a fuller union with God through prayer and a growing conformity to God ‘s will in life. This growth in oneness with God will tend to bring about a growth in good will toward one ‘s fellows and in personal integration.

When believers are conformed to God ‘s image in this manner, their behaviour changes, markedly with regards to their attitude towards fellow human beings. This is necessary for establishing the kind of Kingdom community that is part of God ‘s plan: believers full of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The characteristics and challenges of the 21st century

Modernism has resulted in the eclipse of the spiritual worldview and a loss of sense in purpose and meaning, which can result in the perception that there is no hope or purpose for the universe and our place in it.

We are living in a world full of alienation: a technological desert has been produced in which creativity is prostituted to consumerism, fertile land has been levelled and concreted, and air and water are poisoned by refuse and acid rain. We are also living in a spiritual desert in the midst of material prosperity. Existence is meaningless, empty, boring, because instant enjoyment is the order of the day. And when the instant is over, there is nothing left to enjoy. Denial of the God and heaven of our forebears leaves the future blank.

The 21st century is characterised by postmodern thought. Postmodernism is a reaction against modernism that denies the existence of any ultimate principles, and lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody – a characteristic of the so-called modern mind.

The processes of secularisation and post modernism have led to a breakdown in traditional patterns of belief, the disruption of family life, the growth of pluralism which renders all truth claims equal, changes in the social order, less hostility towards the spiritual, the growth of a ‘pick and mix’ style of faith and belief and a multiplicity of choices.

A survey of Australian youth conducted by the Australian Catholic Bishops a few years ago showed that in the hearts of young people today, fear is paramount. The threat of a future out of their control dominated by the possibility of global conflict and eco-devastation, the vast choices of a pluralistic society together with rapid change in communication, technology and science, lengthy unemployment, the ambiguity of widespread moral relativity, global corporate injustice, increase in reports of violence in society, marriage break-down and family dysfunction, drug abuse, suicide and mental illness, loss of credibility of traditional helping institutions including the church and material pre-occupation and religious apathy, all of these contribute to a sense of futility, alienation and even despair. Clearly, this fear needs to be replaced by trust and hope in the future, a future which embraces all of humankind. It requires good role models, but especially that experience of a power greater than ourselves, a sense of dependence on a creative, benevolent, guiding higher power which imparts confidence.

The meaning and relevance of mysticism for the 21st century

Within the context of Christianity, postmodernism may be described as a reaction against conventional wisdom in theology and the church and an assimilation of postmodern philosophy which questions objective truth and the nature of knowledge. It emphasizes the otherness and incomprehensibility of God. Paying close attention to the age-old philosophical question of the relationship of ‘faith’ and ‘reason’, postmodern Christianity usually thinks of the Christian faith as in some way transcending human reason, rather than being unreasonable, illogical, or absurd — on the one hand — or merely logical, on the other hand.

Postmodernism is therefore not only destructive, it is also constructive. The harsh values of modernism are being replaced by a new awareness that life can be lived poetically and mystically.

We learn from history that mysticism often starts blossoming in a culture that has reached a critical juncture where the people are alienated from themselves. Although the current age has been called ‘the dark night of the church’ there are some Christians who are willing to remain within the body of believers and help it to change for the sake of the Spirit, for community and in obedience to Christ.

This experience of union is a mystical, contemplative dimension of Christianity which in no way detracts from the strong ethical demands paramount in the Synoptic sayings and parables of Jesus, but rather presents the expression of the ideal as a self-giving love through the emphatic Christological statement of the Father’s self-giving epitomized in the image of the Son Jesus. This union in love is held out as a hope for all people and celebrates the inestimable value of humanity, for whom the utmost expression of this participation in the divinity is the communitarian life lived in loving service unto death. It involves union with the Word through faith in the Word, the Word which is ‘bread’ that nourishes, strengthens and satisfies, ‘bread’ which is at once the humanity of Jesus himself, his own body and blood, given for others. This unity is available through the Spirit, the Paraclete who leads to all truth.

Celia Kourie emphasises that the church needs to regain a mystical appreciation of scripture, as it will enable the church to:

* democratise church structures, which will result in greater co-operation between members;
* better understand the needs of a pluralistic society;
* more readily acknowledge the role of women, resulting in mutual supportive relationships within the church;
* develop a renewed ecological sensitivity as it becomes aware that each part of the whole is deserving or respect; and
* place more emphasis on the role of Christ as saviour and God and the way in which his followers become more like Him.

Conclusion

A mystical experience of God and a commitment to following Christ result in a change of the believer ‘s nature, which affects the relationship of the believer with God and with fellow human beings.

Postmodern Christian mysticism is an invitation to put union with God and experiencing the presence of God through Christ at the centre. A renewed understanding and a mystical reading of scripture can effect a renewal in the spiritual life of the believer and the church. In this way, mysticism is a gift for the church. Mysticism can lead to the revitalisation of the body of Christ and inspire the church to approach the 21st century with vitality, confidence and hope.

1. Kourie 1998: 441, Kourie 1993: 7
2. Kourie 1993: 17
3. Kourie 1993: 10

Bibliography

Borchert, B 1994. Mysticism. Its History and Challenge. Maine, York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc.

Dunnell, T, Twenty First Century Challenge Some dreams, thoughts and reflections. www.fyt.org.uk/pdf/21CC.pdf

Green, B, Can John 6:51 give us a spirituality suitable for the present day? http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/bet_green.htm

Jones, C, Wainwright, G & Yarnold, E (eds) 1986. The Study of Spirituality. London: SPCK.

Kourie, C 1992. Mysticism. A Survey of recent issues. JSR 4(2) 83-103.

Kourie, C 1993. Myth and Mysticism, in Clasquin, M, Ferreira-Ross, J, Marias, D & Sadowsky, R (eds) Myth and interdisciplinary Studies. Pretoria: Unisa.

Kourie, C 1998. Transformative Symbolism in the New Testament. Myth and Symbol 3,3-24.

Kourie, C 1998. Mysticism: Gift for the Church. Neotestamentica 32 (3) 433-457.

McGinn, B 1991. The Foundations of Mysticism. London: SCM.

Underhill, E 1993. Mysticism. The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.

Wakefield, G (ed) 1983. A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. London: SCM Press Ltd.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Matthew 5:3-12

What do you make of this? Does it mean that you have to strive to be poor in many respects? To be sad, shy, avoid conflict, keep quiet when you are abused and just endure being treated poorly? Is this a description of what you have to be like and how you have to behave before Jesus will bless you?

No. Remember, Jesus was speaking to a specific group of people in particular circumstances at a particular time in history. Before jumping to conclusions about what He meant when He said something, and what those words mean for you personally, you should first consider the historical context.

The crowd that followed Jesus around and to whom the words above are directed were mainly ordinary Jews, but there were usually also a few Pharisees who were listening. The ordinary Jews had two powerful forces to contend with:

First, their country was occupied by Roman troops. They were not free to govern themselves and were powerless against the Romans. Second, the religious leaders in the Jewish community (the Pharisees) had a lot of power. The synagogues were under their control and they have compiled a long list of rules that they regarded as just as important for the Jews as the written Torah (the Jewish Scripture).

The Pharisees thought a lot of themselves and their knowledge of God’s law. They saw themselves as God’s favourites. As a result, the message that the ordinary folk heard when they went to the synagogues to serve God was that they were not nearly good enough. They had to follow all the rules that the Pharisees have made up and make a lot of sacrificial offerings before God would bless them.

Jesus was in constant conflict with the Pharisees over this and they were ultimately the ones who brought the accusations against Him that led to his crucifixion. Jesus called them hypocrites, blind fools, full of greed and self-indulgence and whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (Matthew 23:15-27).

When talking to the ordinary people, Jesus said that what the religious leaders have taught them were not right. In the passage above, he said that it was not the learned, powerful Pharisees that were in God’s favour, it was the ordinary people who are and will be blessed by God. Those who were being oppressed, who had no voice, who do not have all this religious knowledge to brag about, who are not impressive or successful in the eyes of the world, are the ones who God looks upon with favour.

Jesus spoke these words to encourage the weak and poor who are listening to Him by assuring them that his gospel did not make only those happy that were important because of their gifts, graces, wealth, and usefulness. No, even the most unimportant person on earth, who had the right attitude towards God in his heart, enjoys the blessings and privileges of the kingdom of God.

Written by Kenneth Boa

• I am a child of God.
But to all who have received him–those who believe in his name–he has given the right to become God’s children … (John 1:12).

• I am a branch of the true vine, and a conduit of Christ’s life.
I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me–and I in him–bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing (John 15:1, 5).

• I am a friend of Jesus.
I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father (John 15:15).

• I have been justified and redeemed.
But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

• My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.
We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6).

• I will not be condemned by God.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

• I have been set free from the law of sin and death.
For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

• As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ.
And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)–if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17).

• I have been accepted by Christ.
Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory (Romans 15:7).

• I have been called to be a saint.
… To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2). (See also Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, and Colossians 1:2.)

• In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption … (1 Corinthians 1:30).

• My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 6:19)?

• I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with Him.
But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

• God leads me in the triumph and knowledge of Christ.
But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place (2 Corinthians 2:14).

• The hardening of my mind has been removed in Christ.
But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read./netbible2/index.php?header=&book=2co&chapter=3 It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14).

• I am a new creature in Christ.
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away–look, what is new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

• I have become the righteousness of God in Christ.
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

• I have been made one with all who are in Christ Jesus.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female–for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

• I am no longer a slave, but a child and an heir.
So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God (Galatians 4:7).

• I have been set free in Christ.
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

• I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.
For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love (Ephesians 1:4).

• I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7).

• I have been predestined by God to obtain an inheritance.
In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11).

• I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)–when you believed in Christ–you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

• Because of God’s mercy and love, I have been made alive with Christ.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you are saved (Ephesians 2:4-5)!

• I am seated in the heavenly places with Christ.
… And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus … (Ephesians 2:6).

• I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.
For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:10).

• I have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).

• I am a member of Christ’s body and a partaker of His promise.
… The Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6). (See also Ephesians 5:30.)

• I have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ.
… In whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness (Ephesians 3:12).

• My new self is righteous and holy.
… Put on the new man who has been created in God’s image–in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth (Ephesians 4:24).

• I was formerly darkness, but now I am light in the Lord.
… For you were at one time darkness, but now you are/netbible2/index.php?header=&book=eph&chapter=5 light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (Ephesians 5:8).

• I am a citizen of heaven.
But our citizenship is in heaven–and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ … (Philippians 3:20).

• The peace of God guards my heart and mind.
And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

• God supplies all my needs.
And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

• I have been made complete in Christ.
… You have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:10).

• I have been raised up with Christ.
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).

• My life is hidden with Christ in God.
… For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

• Christ is my life, and I will be revealed with Him in glory.
When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him (Colossians 3:4).

• I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience … (Colossians 3:12).

• God loves me and has chosen me.
We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you … (1 Thessalonians 1:4).

The more we embrace these truths from Scripture about who we have become in Christ, the more stable, grateful, and fully assured we will be in this world.

Many of us today live in joyless discipline. We spend long hours doing work we don’t enjoy in dreary offices where any form of play is sternly prohibited as unproductive. We have been influenced to see people as worthy only to the extent that they are useful and productive. Even our leisure activities are carefully planned and organised to achieve as much as possible. No wonder we are ill, depressed and burnt out.

We ask ourselves: for what purpose am I here? Am I useful? Can I make myself useful? If we see the meaning of life only in being useful, we come before a crisis when we encounter illness, loss and mourning. Everything, including ourselves, then seems useless.

We need to change the way we think about God, his creation and ourselves. God did not have to create us to complete Himself, or to perform a task that He needed us to do. He joyfully brought Creation into existence as an extension of Himself. Let’s call it a playful celebration, which we are invited to be a part of. We were created to live joyfully in Him; in being aware of Him; in constant communication with Him.

You are a part of the Creator God, you share in his nature and his glory and are free to enjoy his presence.

Read again what God said about you; about who you are.

Resources:

Jürgen Moltmann 1971. Theology and Joy. London: SCM Press Ltd.

Nicene Creed:

The Nicene Creed is the most widely accepted Christian statement of faith and was adopted by the Church in the year 325.
It was developed to help identify people who are Christians:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

尼西亞信經

1. 我信獨一上帝，全能的父，創造天地和有形無形萬物的主。
2. 我信獨一主耶穌基督，上帝的獨生子，在萬世以前為父所生，
出于神而為神，出于光而為光，出于真神而為真神，受生
而非被造，與父一體，萬物都是借著瓷造的；
3. 為要拯救我們世人，從天降臨，因著聖靈，並從童女馬利
亞成肉身，而為人；
4. 在本丟彼拉多手下，為我們釘于十字架上，受難，埋葬；
5. 照聖經第三天復活；
6. 並升天，坐在父的右邊；
7. 將來必有榮耀再降臨，審判活人死人；瓷的國度永無窮盡；
8. 我信聖靈，賜生命的主，從父和子出來，與父子同受敬拜，
同受尊榮，瓷曾借眾先知說話。
9. 我信獨一神聖大公使徒的教會；
10. 我認使罪得赦的獨一洗禮；
11. 我望死人復活；
12. 並來世生命。

Translated by Dr. Charles Chao D. D.
Copyright Reformation Translation Fellowship

John of the Cross wrote several spiritually inspired poems, of which Ascent of Mount Carmel is the most well-known. The letters he wrote to expand on these poems were mostly written addressed to a specific person who requested an explanation of the poems. John writes to people who want to grow deeper in a relationship with God, and attain a higher degree of mystical contemplation.

John metaphorically talks about the spiritual development of the person towards union with God as the “Ascent of Mount Carmel”, in which the “Dark night of the soul”is an essential part. The attributes of the different stages of this process are discussed in the following pages.

The natural man

For John it was self-evident that in human beings’ natural way of knowing and perceiving, the intellect can only grasp something through the senses and nothing that could be imagined or comprehended by humans can be a means to union with God. As supernatural knowledge is not available to us while we are in the body, faith takes the place of the intellect to lead us to God.

For the beginner in particular, intellectually imagined images may be helpful in meditation, but John’s intention is to train the person away from these images of the senses to complete destitution, resting in faith. This is in order to prevent the person from resting content with and clinging to sensual enjoyment of form, which does not have true value in communion with God. The believer should thus always seek to distinguish the Giver from the gift.

In books two and three of Ascent of Mount Carmel, John lists the insights and sources of pleasure that cheer a person, and then states that faith may require us to move beyond this. He believes that the definition of love is aligning our will perfectly with God’s. In practice this means not aligning it with anything else. The journey consists not in many new thoughts and procedures and feelings – though all this may in its own way be necessary early on – but only in denying yourself truly for Christ. The first reason for this is the underlying belief that God is pressing in, thirsting for union with the believer and that getting out of the way should be a priority. The Holy Spirit is therefore actively seeking out the believer and in order to hear his voice the main task of the believer is to get himself, his desires, preconceived ideas and prejudices out of the way.

A young believer often experiences emotions, excitement and supernatural visions. There is a danger in becoming dependent on these experiences, because they are not God.

Second, John lived in a culture that delighted in the extraordinary: “Visions, raptures, messages, saints, devils, angels, God – it was all there in one gloriously pious mix and one kink in people’s motivation could leave them hopelessly mixed up. “(Matthew 1995:100)

In response, John commented that people too easily imagined hearing from God and that the test whether it is really God they are hearing is whether the experience gives birth to humility, loves, dying to self, godly simplicity and silence. Although other experiences may be useful in stirring up faith and love, only faith, hope and love in Christ can be a direct means to God.

John believes that the soul of man is a blank slate at the point of creation. From then on information is taken in only via the senses. Without the senses the soul that is in a body would be as if in a prison without windows. The senses are the only windows of the soul to its surroundings and through them and by means of desire the soul is nourished and fed by the things in which it can take pleasure, according to its abilities.

John says that natural human desires cause evil in the soul by depriving the soul of the Spirit of God and by blinding, defiling and darkening the soul. As senses and desires stand in the way of the pursuit of spiritual development and are pure darkness in the eyes of God, the believer has to die to them. Darkness and light cannot coexist in the same person. John calls this process of dying to the senses and desires the night of the senses, the “dark night of the soul”.

Critique on the development of the person

In his introduction to the chapter on human fulfilment in the teaching of John of the Cross, Leonard Doohan states that the quest for development, fulfilment, and ongoing progress is a major characteristic of the time we live in. Doohan refers to Pope Paul VI’s speech on the development of the peoples in 1967, which encouraged Christians to foster this aspiration for self-actualisation as a means of solving the ravages of hunger, poverty, endemic disease world-wide:

“Endowed with intellect and free will, each man is responsible for his self-fulfillment even as he is for his salvation… he is the chief architect of his own success or failure… Self-development, however, is not left up to man’s option. Just as the whole of creation is ordered toward its Creator, so too the rational creature should of his own accord direct his life to God, the first truth and the highest good. Thus human self-fulfillment may be said to sum up our obligations… United with the life-giving Christ, man’s life is newly enhanced; it acquires a transcendent humanism which surpasses its nature and bestows new fullness of life. This is the highest goal of human self-fulfillment. The ultimate goal is a fullbodied humanism.”

Doohan states that although the believer first seeks union with God and experience personal fulfilment as a by-product, personal fulfilment is nevertheless an essential part of John of the Cross’ teaching:

The end of the journey is twofold: union with God and complete transformation and rediscovery of self. John’s life and system are not only examples of our awesome call to union with God, but also of humanity’s call to the genuine rediscovery of self and personal fulfilment.

The teaching of John and the message of Christ are barely recognisable in these statements. Rather, in line with the gospel, John taught that we are called to die to ourselves in order to become more like Christ. This is a night process through which the natural man dies to its senses and natural inclinations and is increasingly led by the Holy Spirit. In time man’s way of doing things becomes increasingly spiritual and irrational in the sense that it is motivated by obedience to God and not by what is rationally humanistic.

Yankelovich commented on the development of the current emphasis on self-expression and the psychology of affluence as follows:

“Up through the 1950s, all sacrifices for the family were regarded as morally valuable irrespective of whether they were necessary in practical economic terms. The cultural climate in the 1960′s raised the question of whether one needed to sacrifice one’s own self expressive needs if it was not economically necessary to do so. A ‘psychology of affluence’ – an attitude that self-sacrifice was no longer economically necessary – began to replace the Depression psychology of want and scarcity. It all added up to a radical extension of individualism – a psychological shift from giving priority to economic and physical security to giving priority to self expressiveness.”

This viewpoint has proved to be pervasive and insidious. Many people today think it is obvious that self-development and self-actualisation may and should be one of our main motivations. Anything that gets in the way of this progress is seen as unhealthy. There is also an increasing self-serving interest in spirituality and mysticism, but much less interest in discovering the self-sacrificing values that contributed to the spiritual growth of the believers whose lives are studied.

Transformation

The focus on progress, as it is applied in Doohan and Pope Paul VI’s comments above, may be self-defeating. It is possible that more will be achieved in uplifting the poor and downtrodden people of the world by fostering a loving, giving, self-sacrificing attitude among mankind, rather than by encouraging a self-serving attitude of self-actualisation.

Personal fulfilment, spiritual growth and human development in itself are pointless. What followers of Christ are called to is obedience to God. This obedience is only made possible by the love of and the love for God.

A young believer often experiences emotions, excitement and supernatural visions. There is a danger in becoming dependent on these experiences, because they are not God. In order to loosen the believer’s dependence on these feelings, visions and experiences, the Holy Spirit actively removes them from the believer.

“In John’s teaching the transformation of the person towards unity with God is punctuated by this dark night of the soul. The night is like a curve, which begins ascetically with an active renunciation of the world and progresses to the passive deprivation of delight in all things, even God himself. It then reaches the midnight of pure sightless faith and eventually reaches the dawn of substantial delight in God. The active and passive nights are, however, not successive phenomena. Rather, it impinges extensively on one another as aspects of the same process.” (Von Balthasar, H 1986)

The entire engagement of the faculties (memory, intellect, and will) in the things of the world, and the indulgence of the appetites in the pleasures of creatures are carnal activities that stand in the way of the new spiritual life. The believer is unable to live perfectly in this new life if the old self does not die completely. In this regard John quotes Paul the apostle: ‘Take off the old self and put on the new self who according to God is created in justice and holiness’ [Eph. 4:22-24].

In order to enter this process, the believer first has to have a habitual desire to imitate Christ in everything he does. To do this well, he or she must renounce every pleasure that presents itself to the senses for the love of Jesus Christ, who has no other pleasure than doing the will of God, which He called his food.

Union with God may be acquired in this life through the complete mortification of the old nature through the cross of Jesus Christ.

The night of the senses is a trial that has to be endured so that the sensory part of the soul is purified and strengthened, and the spiritual part is refined and purged, since impure souls cannot attain union with God. The purifying fire is experienced by some more intensely than by others, and by some for a longer time than on others, depending on the degree of union to which God wishes to raise them, and according to what they must be purged of. God wants all to be perfect, but He finds few vessels that will endure this dark process in which the person suffers great deprivation and feels heavy afflictions in the spirit.

It is clear, then, that for the soul to come to unite itself perfectly with God through love and will, it must first be free from all desire of the will, howsoever slight. That is, that it must not intentionally and knowingly consent with the will to imperfections, and it must have power and liberty to be able not so to consent intentionally.

Upon this road we must ever journey in order to attain our goal; which means that we must ever be mortifying our desires and not indulging them; and if they are not all completely mortified we shall not completely attain.

John’s friend, Teresa of Avila, did not agree with this approach. In reaction, she is quoted as saying: “God deliver us from spiritual people who are so spiritual that they want to turn everything into perfect contemplation, come what may. It would be a bad business for us if we could not seek God until we were dead to the world. Neither Magdalene, nor the woman of Samaria, nor the Canaanite woman was dead to the world when she found him.”

In a state of union with God, John describes the person’s animal life as being changed into spiritual life, its intellect informed by supernatural divine light, the will changed into divine love, the memory changed so as to have in its mind the eternal years mentioned by David [Ps. 77:5]. The natural appetite is now satisfied by delight of God and the soul is alive to God and moved by the Spirit of God [Rom. 8:14].

“The soul’s center is God. When it has reached God with all the capacity of its being and the strength of its operation and inclination, it will have attained its final and deepest center in God, it will know, love, and enjoy God with all its might. When it has not reached this point (as happens in this mortal life, in which the soul cannot reach God with all its strength, even though in its center – which is God through grace and his self-communication to it), it still has movement and strength for advancing further and is not satisfied. Although it is in its center, it is not yet in its deepest center, for it can go deeper in God. It is noteworthy, then, that love is the inclination, strength, and power for the soul in making its way to God, for love unites it with God. The more degrees of love it has, the more deeply it enters into God and centers itself in him. We can say that there are as many centers in God possible to the soul, each one deeper than the other, as there are degrees of love of God possible to it. A stronger love is a more unitive love, and we can understand in this manner the many mansions the Son of God declared were in his Father’s house [Jn. 14:2]. “(John of the Cross 1991: 645)

John compares this union with the relationship between a bride and bridegroom, stating that:
“True lovers are only content when they employ all they are in themselves, all they are worth, have, and receive, in the beloved; and the greater all this is, the more satisfaction they receive in giving it. The soul rejoices on this account because, from the splendors and love it receives, it can shine brightly in the presence of its Bridegroom and give him love.” (John of the Cross 1991: 673)

Conclusion

John’s mysticism and teaching on the person are not philosophical, but theological. All the words of the Bible are arranged concentrically around the annihilation of the Word of God on the cross. John’s teaching is therefore meant to be understood christologically, and only through Christ is it theocentric.

John had two visions of a person’s spiritual life. The one is innocent, consisting in a vision of God that can only be attained by natural death. The other is the perfect spiritual life, the possession of God through a union of love. This union may be acquired in this life through the complete mortification of the old nature through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Bibliography

Doohan, L 1995. The Contemporary Challenge of John of the Cross: an Introduction to his life and teaching. Washington, D.C. ICS Publications.

John of the Cross, Saint, 1542-1591 [Works, English. 1991] The collected works of John of the Cross. Washington D.C. ICS Publications.

Matthew, I 1995. The Impact of God: Soundings from St John of the Cross. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Pope Paul VI, 1967. Populorum Progressio. Available from: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.html. [Accessed 13 July 2006].

Von Balthasar, H 1986. St John of the Cross. Available from: http://www.carmelite.com/saints/john/b4.shtml. [Accessed 17 August 2006].

Wakefield, G (ed) 1983. A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. London: SCM Press Ltd.

Willard, D, 2002. New Age of Ancient Christian Spirituality. Available from: http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=95. [Accessed 13 July 2006].

Yankelovich, D, 1988. The Shifting Direction of America’s Cultural Values. Available from: www.danyankelovich.com/scan98.html. [Accessed 13 July 2006].)

Read the full article as published in Verbum et Ecclesia

Andrew Murray repeatedly and emphatically confessed his faith in divine healing and his belief that Christians can and should enjoy perfect health in this life. When he lost his voice for more than two years in 1879 he was forced to cease preaching and working and to seek a cure. He visited prominent doctors in London and, while there, met several faith healers that inspired the development of his own theology on faith healing. He subsequently published a book on the subject with the purpose of illustrating that “according to the Word of God, ‘the prayer of faith’ is the means appointed by God for the cure of the sick, that this truth is in perfect accord with Holy Scripture, and that the study of this truth is essential for everyone who would see the Lord manifest His power and His glory in the midst of His children”.

Andrew Murray’s view of the body

Murray’s view of the human body is discussed in several chapters in his book on divine healing. He believed that the human person has a twofold nature. He or she “is at the same time spirit and matter, heaven and earth, soul and body.” On the one hand, human beings are children of God and on the other they are doomed to destruction as a result of the Fall. Sin in people’s souls and sickness in their bodies testify to the right which death has over them. Christ, who took upon Him the soul and body of human, redeems both in equal measure from the consequences of sin. Some believers seek after holiness, but only for the soul and spirit. They forget that their bodies are the members of Christ.

Murray continued that the physical human body, governed by the spirit, is capable of being transformed by the power of the Spirit of God to manifest therein His power. The body, as God’s temple, can be set free from the domination of sickness, sin, and Satan. What has to happen first, however, is that the person must be fully subject to and crucified with Christ, renounce all self-will and independence and desire nothing other than being the Lord’s temple. It is in anticipation of that day when regenerated humanity, forming the body of Christ, shall be truly and visibly the temple of the living God, that the Lord attaches such a great importance to the indwelling and sanctification of our bodies, down here, by His Spirit. Murray then used the example of the healing of the paralysed man in the Gospels to support his theory:

The Lord Jesus begins by saying to him, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee,’ after which He adds, ‘Arise and walk.’ The pardon of sin and the healing of sickness complete one the other, for in the eyes of God, who sees our entire nature, sin and sickness are as closely united as the body and the soul.

Murray wrote that we tend to think that sin – justly condemned by God – belongs to the spiritual domain, while sickness is only a part of the present condition of our nature and have nothing to do with God’s condemnation. Christ warned the disciples of many sufferings to come and taught that every believer will have to bear his and her cross, but when He spoke of sickness, it was always as of an evil caused by sin and Satan, and from which we should be delivered. Sickness should be healed because it attacks the body, which is become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Christ “healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” and to make known the love of the Father. In His deeds, teaching and in the work of the apostles, pardon and healing were always found together. Either forgiveness or healing was at times more prominent. Sometimes it was healing which prepared the way for forgiveness, at other times forgiveness preceded the healing, which sealed the pardon.

Murray contended that it was more difficult for the Jews at that time of Christ to believe in the pardon of their sins than in divine healing, while now it is the other way around. The Christian Church has heard so much of the preaching of forgiveness that it easily receives this message of, but divine healing is rarely spoken of and not many believers have experienced it. Healing is no longer given today in the way that Christ healed the multitudes without any previous conversion. Now it is necessary to begin by confession of sin and the purpose to live a holy life and that is why people find it difficulty to believe in healing. “Good health is too often for them only a matter of personal comfort and enjoyment which they may dispose of at their will, but God cannot thus minister to their selfishness.” Christ is Saviour both of the soul and of the body granting pardon and healing so that believers may serve Him and be used by Him. We have been made partakers of Christ’s redemption in order to make us holy. Healing accompanies the sanctification by the Spirit to either lead the sick one to be converted and to believe or to constrains believers to renounce sin and to consecrate themselves to God.

Murray states that sickness is a consequence of and a visible sign of God’s judgment. God permits sickness because of sin, to show us our faults, to chasten us, and purify us. In James 5:15, 16, for example, the pardon of sins and the healing of sickness are closely united. Sins that have not been repented from present an obstacle to the prayer of faith and the sickness may soon reappear. The first letter to the Corinthians indicates that their inappropriate behaviour at the Lord’s Supper is a reason why many of them are weak and sick. God has a distinct purpose in permitting the chastisement and “makes use of Satan as a wise government makes use of a jailer” – as soon as they confess and forsake their sins and consecrate themselves to the Lord, the chastisement will no longer be needed and they can share in the redemption of Christ who has conquered Satan and removed us from Satan’s domination by bearing our sins and our sicknesses.

What the Bible teaches

In contrast to the teachings of Murray, Boardman and other Higher Life teachers, it is written in Romans 8:22-25 that, together with the whole of creation, we wait patiently for the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies have not yet been made perfect and will not be made perfect until the return of Christ. Sickness is not inextricably linked to the sin of any individual person or group of people and not every sickness could be prayed or believed away. Paul himself recommended that Timothy should drink wine for his digestive problems, instead of offering or instructing him to pray for healing. The full redemption of our bodies, which would include total health and healing, is part of our eschatological hope. Linking all sickness with personal sin will mean that one would always play the role of Job’s comforters.

Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that it is always the sin of that individual believer that resulted in the illness, nor that God necessarily wants everyone healed. In humility we should resist the temptation to simplify the matter by providing conclusive answers as such answers will be at least partially untrue. Sickness and suffering is a mystery. Reconciling evil in the world with the will of a compassionate God lies beyond human understanding.

The instructions in James 5:14-16 and Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30, neither of which aims to provide a complete theology on healing, form the main Scriptural reference for the theology of faith healing. Other passages in the Bible are conveniently ignored. Matthew 14:14, for example, clearly states that Jesus healed the sick in the crowd that followed Him, because he had compassion on them. In Matthew 25:36 those who will inherit the kingdom will be those who visited, not healed, the sick during their life on earth. In Paul’s letters we read about his fellow workers Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:26) and Erastus (2 Timothy 4:20) who were ill while with him.

Faith as a requirement for healing

As a further condition for healing, Murray stated that without faith no one can be healed. He argues that as we increasingly experience personal sanctification by faith, we will also increasingly experience healing by faith as these two doctrines go hand in hand, to testify to the world what it means to be redeemed. The more the Holy Spirit lives and acts in believers, the more miracles will multiply in the body. Although he recognises that medicine also comes from God, Murray asks his readers whether they will “follow the way of natural law” with the unbelievers and those whose faith too weak to abandon themselves to God, or will they choose “the way of faith” and receiving healing from God. He wrote that it is one of the principal laws of the kingdom of heaven that God can only bless us to the extent that we yield to His divine working, in proportion to the faith that we have.

Murray’s statement that God can only bless us to the extent that we yield to His divine working and in proportion to the faith that we have sounds like the familiar teaching of Pelagianism that Christ is dependent in His action on our pleasure and that He works and can work only when we release Him for working. If it is true that if we don’t believe He can do nothing, then it is not Christ who regulates our activities and thereby sanctifies or heals us, but we who regulate His activities and so secure our own sanctification or healing. The initiative and decisive action is therefore in our hands.

Murray also exhorts his readers that they must not only surrender to Christ, they must also abide in Him, because “if you are not willing to sacrifice time to get alone with Him, and give Him time every day to work in you, and to keep up the link of connection between you and Himself, He cannot give you that blessing of His unbroken fellowship” and “close, personal, actual communion with Christ is an absolute necessity for daily life”. In other words, not only is God helpless to work on and in us unless we place ourselves in his hands, He is equally helpless to keep up in His hands when He has undertaken the work.

Conclusion

It seems that some Pentecostal influences with an anti-intellectual bias have tended to preach universal healing without balance, but with great effect, while more established churches, proud of their intellectual tradition, have either neglected to preach on healing or have done so with great caution but little power. We need preachers that are courageous in faith, responsible in their interpretation of Scripture and true to reality to serve the sick in our churches.

It is not difficult to imagine how much guilt, pain, fear and alienation a theology such as Murray’s have caused countless believers. As C.S. Lewis commented in ‘A Grief Observed’, after his wife died of cancer, “we are tempted to see God as a sadist if we think that he is the one willing the sickness.” Such a distorted view of God is on contrast to the image of a loving Father that Jesus presents: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11) What mother or father would choose cancer as a way to discipline their child? Inevitably the sick person would ask: what kind of God, what kind of love is it that would want to see me suffer like this? He or she will experience God as punishing and distant, unable to trust such a relationship.

For many adherents of “Higher Life” ideas, being sick may be merely an interruption of their enjoyment of life, but in large parts of the world disease is due to circumstances beyond their control. Clean water, adequate nutrition, healthy relationships and safe living conditions are usually requirements for people to be healthy. To pray for their healing would often mean praying that unjust economic situations and corrupt political regimes be changed. We should therefore not stop praying for the sick, but should realise that the struggle against sickness will continue as long as we have to pray, “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.”