For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-18)
What is the divide?
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the dividing wall of hostility... the barrier.
ReplyDeleteHostility that was put to death by his humility? His sacrifice?
Did he kill hostility by giving in to it? Not resisting it?
The Law was abolished- which was at least the keystone of the barrier. By abolishing the Law, the barrier was destroyed.
Much like the Dune quotes- the given Law prevents man from becoming whole. Creativity is inhibited by the following of a rule as your duty. Is creativity the truest reflection of God in ourselves?
This may not be what you were thinking- but now I see a dynamic tension between Man's development and the instruction that God "gave". "The law that was intended to bring life, brought death." -is that even a quote?
Why did you focus on "the divide"? (which I assumed as object oriented.)It seems here that "dividing" is the action or process which occurred... (this could be exactly the least important part of what you wanted to bring up.)
Another rabbit trail- Why would a law have to be abolished? Any law?
1. outdated or irrelevant?
2. found to be unjust (people are selectively abused by it)
3. found to be destructive? or antithetical to the original intent?
More? (please add... or ignore- it was a rabbit trail!)
He preached peace to those who were far and near... What exactly is peace now?
All that yammering...
ReplyDeleteWhat is Hostility?
That is a great question I think. Is hostility the feeling we have towards someone who butters our toast the wrong way, or is it the manner in which we operate with the person? Is hostility the action or the feelings / thoughts? I think you know where I would stand on this one.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I want to know is even when we figure out what hostility is, what in the world does the cross actually have to do with abolishing that hostility? How exactly does Jesus abolish in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations? What does that really mean for us? How is peace made by Jesus creating in himself one new man out of the two? We can see so clearly we are not operating as one new man, for we experience so little peace in the world. How is it that in this one body he reconciled both of them to God through the cross? How is the hostility put to death through the cross? What does it mean?? Beyond the fancy words we can use for doctrinal statements and all sort of rules we're supposed to recite..WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Why does the Bible speak of realities that don't seem to be real? Why does it say he abolished the law with its commandments and regulations when we still have and use the law with its commandments and regulations?
I think I just answered many questions for myself as I wrote this, but I'll just leave it like it is for now.
I think that separating what we think/feel about about someone from our actions towards them may be our only hope of discovering the absence of the power of hostility. Be angry and do not sin.
ReplyDeleteI am confused about our so called "thought life" that I have heard of... Would that mean we beat our thoughts into submission, or we simply(LOL) take our actions and their consequences as "real"... take ownership- understand how our actions impact the person next to us?
Mic- You list out a set of good questions that point to the single question; How can we get meaning out of these biblical ideas? Maybe none of these questions can be answered specifically, but each one does seem to betray an importance finding some meaning... (Is that part of Tim's idea?)
Maybe it won't be helpful to ask for evidence of biblical realities so they seem real to us. What if these realities can't be experienced until we step into them. (I am reminded of your idea about what something foreign might feel like...)
I have been thinking of this hostility idea for awhile now and trying to "convince" myself not to practice condemnation against people- well, it's not working! I struggle because I yearn for community and connected relationship, and in it's void, I am not sad- I am angry. (Which I now believe is a defensive/self-protective emotion.)
No one seems to practice the "reality" that everything one does effects another- I notice
people hiding from their problems, (hiding is not a productive solution, but many people use it as such) not communicating truthfully about the feelings and thoughts stored up inside themselves, and not recognizing they create their own enmity... Maybe the hostility between people really is gone- but we don't believe nor practice the ways in which would demonstrate Jesus' solution. Are these answers? They are an attempt to be satisfied with the process I now find myself in and ask others to join us in this same process.
QUOTE:
ReplyDeleteI notice people hiding from their problems, (hiding is not a productive solution, but many people use it as such) not communicating truthfully about the feelings and thoughts stored up inside themselves, and not recognizing they create their own enmity.
YES!! I think this is the space from where many of the problems we experience in relationships / community emerge. It's the reason I think I talk so much about our identity encompassing more than our emotions. If we never think about how we equate our momentary emotional states with who we actually are as a person, we will never "communicate truthfully about the feelings and thoughts stored up inside." It's not that the feelings and thoughts need to change, though it might be beneficial to capture some of those thoughts and really grapple with the possible truth / love that does or does not exist in them. It's just that unless they're voiced as we learn to love one another beyond those thoughts and feelings, those thoughts and feelings will never change. There needs to be understanding before there can be change. There needs to be articulation in order for there to be understanding. There needs to be transparency and honesty before any of that can happen. As long as our feelings equal who we are, there will never be transparency and honesty. This is the bottleneck I speak of so frequently. (BTW, that little "process" I just wrote out is not an attempt to create a rigidly linear approach to understanding and articulation that leads to change).
When we are nothing more than our feelings, the shame is just too much to bear when we feel a certain way about any situation we find ourselves experiencing. For some, the superiority is just too great, which usually leads to just as much rigidity as in those who run away and hide. It's the opposite side of the same coin. I think the problem lies in how we define ourselves.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
It's incredible to me that there is so much about this identity issue at the very beginning of the bible, and I do know this feeling I have has everything to do with assumptions I bring into my reading of the bible =) That passage is Gen 1:26-27. Right after a few statements regarding creating the universe and the earth, the author states that we are made in god's image. Nothing else has been written in the bible except that god has created everything. That's it. All we know about god before the author mentions humanity being created is that god creates. There is nothing about love, nothing about jealousy, nothing about redemption, nothing but creation. And we are made in his image.
I think that if we could understand (see above for what i mean by understand =) that we are a creator amidst a bunch of creators, it would be difficult to hold things inside, to run and hide. We would be so intrigued by the possibilities of the now and the future that we would just simply talk about all the things preventing and promoting that future we were creating. There would be no such thing as blame and shame because there would be no point in it; it would make no sense. We feel shame and we only blame for past "transgressions." Whatever transgressions might take place, we would simply talk about them so that our potential future would not be blocked in some way.
All of that to say, "humility is the key." The enmity, the dividing wall, the hostility has been abolished. We are one...but will we choose to live in it and demonstrate this reality? I think the choice has always been ours to make, even before Jesus' incarnation.