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Thursday, June 14, 2018

Spiritual Formation


Old & New Testament Spiritual Transformation

At the heart of spiritual formation is transformation into Christ-likeness or as the Apostle Paul coined it “becoming mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13b). This process is not to be achieved by human effort, rather it is “what God does to and for us, along with all he makes available to make this transformation possible”[1]. Using New Testament language, spiritual formation is defined as “an inside job”[2]. The result of the Holy Spirit empowerment is a people transformed to live out “God-honoring lives within the context of community and healthy relationships”[3]. The above-mentioned statements describe the reality of a New Testament model of achieving transformation. But what of the Old Testament?

I believe that before the world ever existed, God had in mind what I will call “the experiment of spiritual transformation” (Titus 1:2). This experiment needed a test group (a nation), a community if you will, that would be the standard against all other groups (nations). God desired a people who loved Him and to whom He could show His love, and it was important that they choose (willingly) to love and obey Him. In other words, He desired to be glorified. The plan was enacted in creation of the world and of mankind and would be executed in two phases – An Old Testament Community and a New Testament Community. Many would choose to serve, others would reject Him, but at the center of the plan is His Son, Jesus the Christ (Hebrews 2:10).
After the Fall of Man (Genesis 3), God unfolds His plan through a series of covenants[4] – Noahic (Genesis 9), Abrahamic (Genesis 12), Mosaic (Exodus 19-24), Davidic (2 Samuel 7), and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31). This last covenant in Jeremiah 31, is a prophetic declaration of the next stage of the experiment which involved the Incarnation and the Church. The focus group of the experiment were the Israelites, the patriarch of this group was Abraham. But the execution of Old Testament Community and spiritual transformation rested upon an identity in God as the only hope. As every nation needs a constitution, so too would this people of God. This kingdom government and plan was enacted in the Mosaic covenant:
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” – Exodus 19:5-6

Old Testament spiritual formation rested upon obedience to God’s law, and over time became a series of laws, rituals and ceremonies. Admittedly, mankind added to their own burdens with excessive and unnecessary laws within community, but nevertheless, between “Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22, the people of the world would experience formation through redeemed communities”[5]. In the Old Testament “God transformed the descendants of Abraham into a covenant community to be characterized first and foremost by moral righteousness. The community was to center around the presence of the holy God, expressing moral holiness in response to God’s divine presence”[6].
This people of God who were now appointed “priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6), were to have a two-fold job, according to Christopher Wright[7] - (1) Bring God to the people and (2) Bring the people to God. Through the Old Testament community of believers, the people of God would make God known to the nations around them and God redemptively would draw the nations to Himself through their witness. But at the center of transformation within this Old Testament community was obedience to God’s law.

Contrasting the New Testament community, God unfolds part two of His grand experiment with the coming of Messiah and the enacting of the New Covenant. This would unfold in a community called “The Church”, where the primary focus would be heart transformation from within, only achieved with the indwelling Holy Spirit. This time, God’s inside job of Holy Spirit governing would create a community of priests through whom the world would know of Him and come to worship Him (2 Timothy 1:8-9; 1 Peter 2:9). In the Old Testament community, identity with Christ was adherence to laws and rituals, rites and ceremonies. In the New Testament community, God writes His laws upon men’s hearts and in their minds, forgives their sins through Spirit and water baptism and “emphasizes that the basis for community is the common salvic work if Christ in the life of all believers”[8] (Hebrews 10:11-24).

Bibliography


[1] Darrell, L. Bock, “New Testament Community And Spiritual Formation,” in Foundations of Spiritual Formation, ed. Paul Petit, {Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2008), 105.
[2]  Ibid., 106.
[3] Ibid., 108.
[4] Clayton Kraby, “5 Covenants of The Old Testament,” accessed June 14, 2018,  https://reasonabletheology.org/5covenants/
[5] Ibid., 75.
[6] Ibid., 76.
[7] Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God’s People, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 120-121.
[8]  Darrell, L. Bock, “New Testament Community And Spiritual Formation,” 77.
Written by Kevin A. Hall    (06.14.18)

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