This is part V of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Our Wesleyan Anthropology, our story, should consist of:

Freedom from Addictions and Restoration of Families

People who are living witnesses of being set free from their addictions, of all kind. May families be released from the destruction of drugs and alcohol. May freedom from pornography help homes define the word “love” according to God’s holy lexicon. 

Healing Marriages and Ending Divorce

May people witness Marriages restored. May Divorce stop being the “go-to” option, both in and outside the Church. May covenant-keeping relationships of all kinds be the norm. May children of all ages, who come from broken homes, discover what covenant-keeping looks like as people are made new in Christ. May our marriages become sacred signs that declare the glory and mystery of God’s faithfulness to us. 

Honoring and Obeying God’s Word

May God’s word not merely be read but may it most profoundly be honored and obeyed; not out of necessity but out of our recognition that we are being cleansed (re-created) by His words of love. 

Embracing Forgiveness and Reconciliation

We need forgiveness of all kinds to rule the day. Especially forgiveness of Jesus’ chief mandate; forgiveness of our enemies. Our highest call is not “forgiveness of sin” but of reconciliation to those who have hurt you. This is a “hard word” indeed. But refusal to do so is indistinguishable from intentional disobedience. Of course, we are not called to do this on our own. But by Him participating “in us” and with us dwelling within the Triune Community. Listen to John 15; “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted.” So, what are you asking Jesus to do in your life? Mere forgiveness or utter transformation and reconciliation with an enemy?

Modeling the True Gospel

Friends, we have this compelling story that must be modeled for others to witness. So many people want this story to be true. They long for this story to be true. But they see such poor representation of this in our churches, because we preach an “easy” Gospel. “What is the least I need to do.” May we cease preaching easy believe-ism and a gospel of cheap grace. Why not declare “the transformation of lives and the restoration of God’s Good creation.”  It may sound “too good to be true.” But it is the embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus and the core of Paul’s teaching. 

Offering the True Gospel

I hear from evangelical pastors these days that society has become so secular that the Church has been marginalized. We are silenced from speaking into our fractured culture; except during Sunday mornings. May I give you a theological term to describe this concept; baloney. Society has not placed us where we are. Our irreverence for God through our theological and practical Church decisions have “created” us to be irrelevant to society. We are sitting precisely where our less-than-robust theology has placed us. In most cases, we are offering nothing that people cannot find anywhere else with secular social gatherings or a good mental health counselor. If “fire insurance from hell” is all our gospel ensures, I myself might wait to seek it until I really need it. 

Living Like Jesus

For us today, one helpful biblical metric of faithfulness can come out of John 13-17. In this last great teaching of Jesus, He is training His disciples (and us) this reality, “Will you live ‘just like me’ in the absence of my physical presence?” Remember, Jesus has just made this counter-intuitive statement, “It is good that I go away because if I go away, I will send you another comforter. AND greater things than these you will do when I go to be with the Father!” To be clear, the disciples are all thinking to themselves, “No Jesus. You stay right here. You lead the revolt over Caesar and when You are victorious, you will sit on the re-established throne of David. We will pay You honor as King Jesus. No, Jesus says, “I get to define the meaning and substance of “good.” And His Good is the most compelling story of all time. He will lay His life down for His friends. He will free them (and us) from our slavery to sin. He will rise from the dead and then ascend to reign with the Father on the throne in heaven. And in the absence of His physical presence on earth, His Gospel says, “We will do greater things than Him.” He NEEDS us to complete the story in His absence. Listen now to the closing of this story in John’s Gospel. Please, I urge you to allow Jesus and only Jesus to define what is “good.”

Being Good Stewards

John 21.

• Simon, son of John, “Do you love me?”
• Yes Lord. You know that I love you. You know all things. 
• Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.

If I was telling this story, I would have made it about reciprocal love. I love God and He loves me back. And the story would then end in a holy group-hug. But the Gospel story does not climax “my way.” Listen, I love God and He trusts me with His wayward children. He trusts us to care for His sheep in the same manner that He does. (See John 10) He fully trusts us to draw them into the Jesus story with an incarnational reality; “Christ in me, the Hope of Glory (Col 1:27). 

God’s Trust in Us

Did I say it enough times to make the point? God TRUSTS you and me to be “carriers of the Gospel of Christ.” God TRUSTS humanity with housing the Holy Spirit (acting like temples) and then reflecting the Image of His Son to a broken and deeply divided world. 

For me, I have skepticism about the way Jesus chooses to bring the Kingdom into reality here on earth. We all know that Jesus can and does perform signs and wonders. That would be my method of choice. Jesus, you do what only you can do. People will be impressed with Your power and will be drawn to it and we will passively watch in the background. 

Yet, often, God chooses to reveal His power and His glory embodied within people just like you and me. Yes, the natural way, even supernatural way for God to reveal Himself to people is stated by the second century theologian Irenaeus. He words it this way, “The glory of God is man made fully alive.”

This is the Wesleyan story of the world. We are not principally offering people “heaven when they die.” Rather, first, we are offering them forgiveness of sin and its resulting shame. Next, Christ is offering freedom from the power of sin. This Spirit-filled life means we have the power “not to sin.” And this should become a “normal Christian life.” Not just for those whom we call “saints,” but for everyone. The story gets even better. Original sin which laid siege to our mortal bodies is stamped out beneath the crushing heal of the Son of God. In the end, our dys-functional relationships with God and with others can be gloriously restored as John puts so aptly;  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message (that’s you and me), that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 

This is the Wesleyan story. The “Imago ME” can once again be re-fashioned/re-created into the “Imago Dei.” 

Drawing Lessons from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring

The BEST book I have read this year gives us a good picture for us here.  It’s not really one but four; The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

Now, if you have only seen the movies, you will not be able to relate to any of this. And may I offer a spoiler-alert to those who have not read the books? (skip ahead three paragraphs for any still tarrying on enjoying this classic)

In the Return of the King, the ring is cast into the fires of Mordor by Frodo and Sam on page 270. There is still 30% of the book to go. Hollywood portrayed Smeagol/Gullum biting the ring off the finger of Frodo and falling into the fires of Mt Doom grasping the ring as the climax. But from a literary perspective, you cannot have a climax in the middle of the story!  

In fact, Tolkien paints a whole different story-world. All the sacrificial efforts of the characters in the trilogy thus far merely serve as the preparation of the story. The realization of the narrative unfolds with what Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin will do when they return home to the Shire and experience the evil that Saruman and his minion Wormtongue have inflicted upon the Shire. At Mount Doom, the power of the ring has been destroyed. But it is still personified in Saruman and all those who follow his abusive power. In the end, the climax of this story is the destruction of evil right where the Hobbits live and move and have their being, in the everyday affairs of life

in the Shire. 

Engaging with Contemporary Issues

Now, churches today find themselves embroiled in many conversations, dialogues, and fights on matters deeply important for our time (immigration, war, LGBTQIA+, etc.). Yes, developing white papers on how we might dialogue with folks that have experienced gender dysphoria can be a gift to the Church. Even how we express love and grace to people whom we see in an adversarial role to our home church. However, our role should never be so myopic that we diminish it to forming our “right position” as it stands against the other stories of culture. That would make us apologists not anthropologists. We could easily see ourselves missionally as writing pithy statements to win arguments…and miss the mark of us welcoming the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and love, so that in the end, ultimately, we win our personal battle against self-righteousness. May we long for nothing less than what will make the other people flourish and be wonderfully drawn into the holy community called the Church, with Christ as our head. Our thrust must be to preach and live the whole Gospel as detailed above. Otherwise, we have nothing to offer except opposing arguments which increase the height of the wall between us or the vastness of the chasm which separates us. 

The Challenge of Unity and Holiness

NT Wright says that the hardest part of the Gospel to integrate is Unity and Holiness. Unity without scriptural holiness is the ever-shrinking progressive church of today, running wild. Holiness without unity is the exclusive church of legalistic heritage often seen throughout history; rules without love and grace.

The hope of our holiness tradition is that Christ Himself NEEDS us to be Gospel carriers. Since He now reigns from heaven, His Holy Spirit would relish the opportunity to make His home in your heart and use you as a contagion to share the experience of heart holiness with a world looking in every direction for answers; except the Church and Jesus. More profoundly, not only does Jesus NEED you, but according to John 21, He TRUSTS you and me to be emissaries throughout the world. This begins in the very community in which you live, work, and worship. May your Shire become a holy habitation for a world that desperately wants our story to be true. AND IT IS. 

This is part IV of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I, Part II, and Part III) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Finally, to the chapter of our Worldview story that Wesleyans can make the most profound contribution, “What is the solution?” What is our Soteriology and Eschatology narrative?

Understanding Eschatology: A New Heaven and a New Earth

In Good biblical fashion, may I address the last question first? Eschatology. As you read the end of the Story; Rev 21-22, we discover that it’s a precise bookend to that of our orienting story in Genesis 1-2. It is a glorious reuniting of Heaven and Earth as ONE. The new heaven and the New Earth COME HERE. Doesn’t that just fly in the face of most evangelical theology, which is commonly dispensational at heart. They want to be raptured to heaven and then have the “evil-infested” earth burned. But listen to Revelation 21:1-4 and then 22:1-5:

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Full removal of the curse and restoration for us to rule in a place which re-connects heaven and earth. Yes, Eden-like but with one major difference: there is no longer an adversary. God’s good creation is now gloriously re-ordered; our role is re-established under the reign of God and with humanity as His co-regents. The end of our compelling story echoes its similar beginning. But now, God’s “good” has come in its fullness.

With God’s revelation of his full story, what is the full solution to the problem? What is the Good and the beautiful story of redemption? 

Moving Beyond Conversion: Embracing Discipleship

Regarding our salvation story, we MUST take the spiritual high ground. We cannot settle for the generic evangelical bumper sticker that reads; “I may not be perfect, but I am forgiven.”  Forgiveness of sins cannot be our primary metric! 

Otherwise, we functionally demote “holiness” to be mere optional equipment in a Christian’s life. We must declare to all who will listen; one cannot remain a mere “convert” as a Wesleyan and be satisfied. John Wesley says, “in describing our main doctrines, which are three; that of repentance, of faith, and holiness. The first of these we account as the porch of religion (repentance); the next the door (faith), the third is religion itself (holiness). We cannot permit the message we tell to settle for second best in the Kingdom. Otherwise, we offer “another Gospel” than what Jesus or Paul proclaimed. Remember Paul’s stern warning in Galatians 1:6:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – 7which is really no gospel at all.” 

Let’s protest when we hear someone reduce the gospel to this question, “What is the least I need to do to get to heaven?” 

Let’s stop answering people’s hunger-for-all-God-has-for-us with a less than nourishing story of the “Roman’s Road.” 

Let’s stop helping people “make decisions for Jesus” and instead come alongside the Holy Spirit as He wants nothing less than to “make disciples.” 

Let’s resist making “conversion” the mission of our Churches. And yes, our primary metric for success. For when we do this, we theologically and practically separate conversion from transformation; making Discipleship a spiritual add-on.

Let’s start using the language of “Initial sanctification” and “new birth” instead of mere conversion. For “Initial sanctification” and “new birth” both assume growth in the direction of completeness, maturity, wholeness, and full restoration. Moreover, both terms assume intentional spiritual parenting by a disciple-maker.  Let’s make sure that Salvation and Ecclesiology co-habit the same sacred place in a Wesleyan Story.

While we are at it; let’s abandon the “widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need him as Savior and we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord.” (AW Tozer, I Call It Heresy, p1.) This is often stated “I accept Jesus as my savior. I have just not made Him my Lord.” I humbly submit, that is heresy. For it starts from a completely unbiblical definition of repentance. Repentance explicitly has a turning towards the very voice of the One who created me and assumes my obedient re-alignment to His mind and His will. Genuine Repentance never assumes one can be saved today and put off obedience until tomorrow. 

Once again, our metrics may be an underlying factor in the problem. We are a people who fully embrace evangelism. It’s the air we breathe. Therefore, in the excitement of someone sincerely seeking Jesus, we may declare them forgiven when in actuality, we may witness them encountering the “prevenient grace” of God; not His “saving grace.” Rather than guiding them to full repentance and re-orient their lives to fully count the cost; we instead take the “shorter way” and hastily declare them forgiven. Our evangelistic fervor of leaning into the “shorter way” of Salvation may arise from the revivalist-camp meeting strain in our Wesleyan DNA. Let’s call this “Phoebe Palmer made new.” 

May I suggest; the Holy Spirit makes a disciple rather than a “person makes a decision.” This shorter way to Jesus may not always have lasting results. For we also have clear metrics to see how wide open our churches back doors really are. People are looking for life change and the possibility of being made “whole” as their hope in this world. Yet in our rush to spiritual judgment, we offer them “sins forgiven and heaven as their home in the next world.” Surprisingly, in Wesley’s journal, we find that people attending his class meetings take an average 2.3 years being nurtured in the faith “before repenting and becoming Christ followers.” (Hal Knight, John Wesley: Optimist of Grace, p. 53).

The Importance of Commitment in Wesleyan Societies

I know many of you are aware that wherever John Wesley rode as he was discipling his lay-preachers and Societies (let’s say he was serving as a surrogate DS), his Societies became smaller. He asked people to leave who did not take their commitment to their societies seriously. People who did not attend Class meeting with strict regularity were not admitted to Society Meetings. To put this in modern terms, Wesley believed that folks who are not part of the full solution are part of the future problem. Our today has become that prophetic reality. 

Story of Transformation

A transformed life and freedom from sin and shame is the most compelling story ever told. Let’s tell THAT story. Let’s LIVE that story. Let’s reflect the Imago Dei and our hope and hunger for holiness to family, friends, even to those who are watching our spiritual walk that we are unaware of. 

Let’s make certain that HIS story of the world is far and away the most compelling of all. Others may live, for the time being, by another narrative. But they really want our story to be the REAL one. 

So, is there any real downside if we lower the bar on our soteriological story and make it generically evangelical? 

Let’s confess that one of the reasons for the “rise of the nones” over the last 40 years is that we fail to offer them a radically transformed life as the Christian norm. Our culture has so many people who are desperate to have their lives redeemed from the trauma of this present age and to experience new Creation. Yet, as we continue to embrace our attractional church model, we want them to feel “comfortable in church.” We place no real expectations on them to change. Low lights, anonymity, and no commitment. People who come to Church for true spiritual help and personal healing are leaving in droves. Why? We are offering them “half a gospel.”

I am hard pressed to find a biblical model of Sunday morning “comfort gatherings” Biblically, the Church is to be a Kingdom of priests who stand between a Holy God and the people for whom He seeks. Practically, no one should feel comfortable in a holy place. Reverent? Yes. Awe and wonder. Most assuredly. We are to be a temple of the Lord who connects heaven and earth. Sunday morning should be a sacred place where no one enters without first seeking God’s means to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). Our churches should be filled with Spirit-enabled worship, word-centered teaching, sacramental grace, and an expectation that God and God alone can make us “as Christ.” Most of all, may this never be limited by squeezing this into a 90-minute window on a Sunday morning. May every minute of every day be us serving as living compasses pointing others towards the New-Life giving Jesus.

This is part III of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I and Part II) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

What is our Hamartiology?

Bill Arnold’s third question to establish a “world view story” has to do with “What has gone wrong? What is our Hamartiology?” (As a review, Harmartiology means our understanding of sin, or what’s gone wrong).

We flow immediately from our “orienting story” in Genesis 1-2 to a “dys-orienting” one in Genesis Chapter 3. Yes, this can be seen as Eve’s mis-trust (dys-trust) in Word and voice of God. But the serpent is even more sly as he asks Eve if she would like to employ her God-given authority to add one more tree to the list of “good?” This would be her first recorded act of ruling. She would re-define God’s “no” as a “yes”.

Redefining Good and Evil

Doesn’t this sound like our modern culture today? This “fill in the blank _______” is pleasant to my eyes…this feels good…I am meant for this…This is my truth and God created me for this. Good is now defined as what I desire and even deserve. Evil is defined as what restricts or hinders my personal trinity of un-holy wants, needs, desires. At least as I define it! 

The Hamartiological story continues past the exile out of the garden (Genesis 3) into the life and death struggle between the brothers Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). As they are offering up sacrifices to YHWH, Cain offers grain and Abel offers the first fruits of his flock. God looks with favor upon Abel’s offering (implying it is “Good”) and does not show favor on the grain offering of Cain. The older brother literally takes matters into his own hands as he wants to re-define “his grain as good” in direct opposition to the will of God. Cain violently “cancels” his competition. The text does not explain the divine rationale for this decision. It simply asks Cain to trust God’s judgment. The point is that God and God alone defines the parameters of “good.” He does not need to defend His choices to us. 

When we create a human lexicon of goodness and redefine righteousness, we have usurped the Throne of God and supplanted it with our own rule and reign. We are creating idols. John Calvin declares that the heart and mind of man is a perpetual factory of idols. As we fashion these idols; we discover it is a self-portrait. Thus, when we employ a definition of “Good” that is not in agreement with God, we fall short of His glory and become shaped into the image of the false one whom we now follow and obey. Simply, we become and reflect that whom we worship. 

Let’s move to a NT example of people redefining God’s definition of good: Peter’s Confession of Jesus (Mark 8:27-33). Let’s make sure to read it in context or else we will miss its profound revelation of the human condition. 

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

The Father – with Jesus’ full approval – has stated that the suffering, rejection and death of the Messiah = Good. In direct contrast, Peter and the other 11 disciples reject (literally: rebuke) Jesus’ plan because they “have in mind” a new human definition of the Messiah and His salvation. Immediately, we overhear Jesus’ counter-rebuke to Peter with these frightening words; “Get behind me Satan.” Jesus’ Gospel story hyperlinks us back to Eden and we discover that the disciples are dys-ordering God’s plan for New Creation and fashioning evil as its new replacement. In summary, we don’t simply make bad choices. We defy God’s good and speak evil into existence.

Why is it so important for us to grasp this dys-orienting story? Well, it’s because others are telling another version of the story which contains their preferred definition of “good.” Rather than employing biblical revelation, they equate “good” with how they personally “experience” life and how they “feel” about themselves. (see Nancy Pearcey, Love Thy Body) This new slant on an ancient story can go one step farther as their story tells them they are “made this way.” You are just as God intended you to be. Without an awareness of the dys-orienting story, their story unknowingly gives life to evil. 

Responding with Love and Grace

What is our “godly” response to their story?  Moreover, why is it important for us to graciously respond with God’s story God’s way? Simple answer: a biblical witness and the larger Wesleyan story is shaped by love. It does not label people unsympathetically as “sinners in need of repentance.” They are, as we were; characters in a story who are “lost and need to be found.” Christian finger-pointing only cements our opposing stories into an “us versus them” narrative. Moreover, we must remember our own not-so-distant past. We embodied their story. It was our story (Col 3:7). But now, we share in the Resurrection life of Jesus. Let me state it this way; it is less than helpful to confront them on the need to be forgiven until they witness new life lived out in us. They are not an evangelism project to be implemented or a broken person to be worked on. 

The role of human-fixer is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, we model for everyone what a life “in Christ” can do to change a human being (Ezekiel 36:22-38, Jeremiah 31:31-34). We must be living-breathing-models of people who have encountered the Living God and made-new. Yes, we must reflect the Imago Dei and radiate what New Creation promises, all the while welcoming others into a new story. The Message translation of 1 Peter 3:15 says this well:

Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. 

Let’s both show and tell the story of hope, as Jesus welcomes all to eat at His table; saints and sinners. During the closing hours of Jesus’ life, the “theologians in us” long for Him to provide a solid theory of the Atonement to explain how His death on the cross takes care of the human sin problem. But instead, He graciously hosted a meal and then told a story of the re-enactment of the Passover. Yes, table fellowship with an ancient story; a story that He gets all of us into! 

Blasé Pascal, in his Pensées, writes that humans are depicted as a broken and desolate creation. But they are nevertheless not left hopeless; for they can be radically transformed through faith in God’s grace to serve the world set before them.  Here are his words of cure for the human condition: 

Men despise religion, they hate it and are afraid it might be true. To cure that, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason. That it is worthy of veneration and should be given respect. Next it should be made lovable making the good [men] wish it were true. Then show that it is indeed true. (Pascal’s Pensées)

What is my summary of Pascal? Well, really what about Jesus’ summary from John 13, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:33-34)

This is part II of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I here) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

What is our cosmology?

When my son Joshua was very young and I would put him to bed at night, he would say this, “Daddy, tell me a story. BUT make sure to get me into it.” 

We are indeed people of story. But first and foremost, we need an orienting story. A compelling story from which to stand and gaze upon the beautiful world. 

Genesis 1-2 is just such a story, a revelation, told by the One who was there from the beginning. Let’s summarize this Creation event with the foundational orienting principles for our story.

A Temple Text: The Creation of Heaven and Earth

Any person from the Ancient Near East would recognize that this narrative is not merely about God creating material things. It was not seen as an argument of science (evolution) versus Faith until recent days. No! Genesis 1 is a text about the creation of a temple (see John Walton, George Beale, Sandra Richter). This is the story of God creating the Heaven and the Earth as His domain in which He will rule. On the 7th Day, God (Elohim) sits down on His throne to rule. Let’s be clear, He is not tired from Creating. Rather, He now “rests” from the work He has done. The word “rest” has royal implications. He rules from heaven and the earth is His footstool (Ps 2, Ps 110). Heaven and earth are to be seen as wonderfully interweaving and overlapping. They are to be seen as One just as we and the Creator God are to be One. Unity is part of creation and new creation. And of course, the last thing done with the creation of a temple in the ANE is to place an Image of the God in the Temple. That would be Adam and Eve, that would be you and me. First orienting truth: Genesis 1 is a Temple Text; and we are His “Icons” in the middle of this orienting story.

Humans as Divine Image-Bearers

Humans are created to reflect the Image and Likeness of the King. The text of Gen 1:26-28 tells us three times; humanity (we) are created to rule-to subdue-to rule. Genesis 2, utilizing the covenant name YHWH Elohim, reports to us that in the Garden, we are to “work it” and to “take care of it.” Profoundly, this is the same job description given to the priests as they served/worshiped in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Our vocation (or if you prefer the designation “our calling”) to be rulers can be best defined as this: to reflect the Imago Dei into the world as we care for our Eden. May people see God in us as we live in the “Eden” where God has placed us. In John Chapters 1-12, 3x’s Jesus says, “I only do what I have seen the Father do. Equally, 3x’s he says, “I only say what I have heard the Father say.” This is the model for Adam-Eve as they rule, and for us as well. Paul calls this being “Christ-like.” The second orienting truth: We are to rule-care for Creation in the precise manner that God reigns from Heaven. 

Defining Good and Evil

God declares His creative acts as “Good” six times. With the creation of humans, He ups the critique, calling us “very good.” Take note that in Genesis 2:9, we are told that out of the ground, God causes to grow “fruit bearing trees that are pleasant for sight and good for food.” It is God who defines what trees are good and what are evil. This is not Adam or Eve’s role. Nor is it ours. God’s orienting story defines “good” this way, “it functions and operates according to God’s intention.” Conversely, when we push back against God’s definition of “Good”, we are not merely naughty children; we are literally un-creating God’s good order. May I humbly interject, this has everything to do with how a small yet vocal part of our society is re-writing time-honored definitions of “goodness.” Let’s not interpret this as humanity growing and progressing. Rather, we are regressing into rebellion once more, causing dysfunction to reign. The orienting story of Gen 1-2 is not primarily about God “making material things.” Rather, The Lord is speaking and ordering things according to His revelation of “Good.” Our third orienting truth: We are entrusted to rule “our Eden-like place” but God gets the final say on what is good and what is evil. 

What is Our Anthropology?

The second question upon which our story is created is this: Who are we? What is our anthropology?

Allow me to briefly interject a few Wesleyan moorings upon this theological question. 

First thought, “Does your anthropology begin at Genesis 3 or does it take seriously the orienting story of Genesis 1 and 2? Is “being human” defined by what he/she does or how God originally created them as Image Bearers and godly rulers? Many of our Reformed brothers and sisters see “humans-as-sinners” in word, thought, and deed; every minute of every day. Moreover, their approach to this sin problem will not be taken care of until we are “glorified.” This theological position reveals our vast anthropological differences. Here are three examples which should be fleshed out to fully grasp the Wesleyan story. 

Imputed vs. Imparted Righteousness

Imputed vs Imparted Righteousness. Yes, this is both a mouthful and a mind-full. In short, imputed righteousness states that a believer would only “appear” righteous as he/she stands before God; not fully made new. The narrative should be told with the full restoration of the Imago Dei in view. Imputed Righteousness has justification at the core; think “positional holiness”. Imparted righteousness points to the work that sanctification accomplishes; think “personal or actual holiness” (see 2 Cor 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”) 

Freedom from Sin: Now or Later?

In this lifetime, only freedom from the guilt of sin but not from the power of sin. The curse will not be reversed until the eschaton and not in the here and now. Our position is that in Jesus, New Creation has already begun; thus, the curse is being reversed. There are huge ramifications to this reality. Let’s look at one key aspect with reference to our story; our egalitarian position vs the generic evangelical view of a complementarian. The undergirding theological difference is this, “Has the life, suffering, death, Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus, plus the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost reversed the curse?” If not, we must ask, “What is lacking in the work of Jesus that the reign of the fall remains intact between men and women?” Nothing is lacking! We must live in the “It is Finished-ness” of Christ’s redeeming work. The reality that all humans have once again been declared equal (see, Galatians 3:28).  This is a significant element in our story and the tradition of the Wesleys. Our position on this issue reveals so much of our stand on the completeness of salvation and our renewed ecclesiology based upon Pentecost as the climax of Christ’s work and not just Easter (Acts 2: Holy Spirit coming upon men AND women). 

The Danger of De-Humanized Anthropology

Second thought is that we have often unknowingly bought into a de-humanized anthropology. We graciously excuse sinful behavior with the sarcastic remark, “Sorry. I was just being human.” May that never come from our mouths. Our anthropology must be based upon the revelation of who Jesus is as a model human being. Anything else “falls short of the glory of God.” And glory is, in part, what we are to reflect through the Imago Dei. Read Psalm 8:

1Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory  in the heavens.
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels (gods?) and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: (see Ps 2)

9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Reflecting God’s Glory

In Jesus’ priestly prayer of John 17, the exchange of “glory” is one of the primary topics. The prayer begins, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.” (17:1) Jesus continues, “I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (17:4-5). The Father and the Son mutually exchange glory.

Now begins the plot twist which makes this our most compelling part of the story, “All I have is Yours, and all You have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. (17:10). People. Humans. The disciples bring glory to Jesus. 

The Trinitarian Wesleyan Anthropology

Finally, the John 17 prayer transitions from Jesus praying for His 12 Disciples to His intercession for “all those who will believe in Jesus because of the message of the disciples” (aka, that would certainly include you and me). Shockingly, Jesus prays, “I have given them the glory that You gave to Me – that they may be One as We are One – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” This is the new creation plan of the Father and the Son; for us. This is a Trinitarian Wesleyan Anthropology. 

Our Role in God’s Grand Story

But the prayer does not climax there. Jesus explicitly reveals the purpose for us reflecting the Glory of God, “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Yes, the World will be transformed by seeing God’s Glory in us. You may say Jesus’ understanding of the human mission is too hopeful. Is too good. Maybe our anthropology is simply too small. 

Embracing Our Divine Narrative

There are many stories in the world, both ancient and modern, that discuss what it means to be a human being. Anything that falls short of Jesus and His glory, is not compelling enough. Let’s listen carefully as the world tells their stories based upon human brokenness and disorder. Then let’s proclaim clearly, graciously and a little salty the Biblical story.  Jesus gets His opportunity to tell His Story, through us. Yes, (1) through His Word, (2) the convicting Holy Spirit and (3) by us as His Image Bearers. We will glorify Him. Anything that falls short of this is inadequate to explain a proper anthropology.

This is part I of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview. Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Being retired from Indiana Wesleyan University means I no longer need to prepare 12 lectures a week or to lead faculty meetings or solve student issues as an administrator. Now, I have time to read for leisure. 

The second-best book that I have read this year was Boys in the Boat.

A Riveting Read: Boys in the Boat

Boys in the boat. It’s the story of a world class rowing team (crew) at University of Washington in the early 1930’s, climaxing in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Now, if you only saw the movie, none of what I will say makes sense. For Hollywood made an amazingly complex story into a mere sporting competition. Life is much more complicated that running (rowing) a race. 

Boys in the Boat is an intricate study of the interweaving of multiple social forces at work.

1. The North American-European geo-political interactions with pre-WWII Nazi Germany. These tensions are magnificently intermingled throughout the book; until they rise to a crescendo at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 
2. It also a complex economic study of America, especially in the American Northwest during the first half of the Great Depression.
3. The book delves into the science of weather patterns in the State of Washington, which consequently lead to the horrific Dust Bowl years of 1930-36. 
4. The book was also about the amazing art form of boat building from cedar, oak, and other native wood from virgin forests of the northwest. All trees were harvested, transported, and handmade by artisans who have developed these skills over generations.  
5. This a book about a sport that most, if not all of you have never seen in person, unless you did your PhD in England, where this still reigns alongside “football”, cricket, rugby. From an American perspective, you might be shocked to learn that “8-man crewing” in the 1930’s drew national attention on the radio and newspapers, on par with baseball and American football. 
6. Boys in the Boat also includes the psychology of human persons, the intricate mastery of the mechanics of the sport. The book goes into detail of practice after practice to perfect its time-tested techniques and strategy. It’s not to be seen as pure power but glorious team unity as a boat is not rowed “through” the water.  But rather, if done perfectly, they ride “upon” the water with harmony and symmetry.

Boys in the Boat is not a “sporting book” but a carefully researched and beautifully written anthropological study of how social, economic, cultural, and scientific forces all come together into a complex matrix. In life, every-single-thing is impacted by EVERYTHING. That is anthropology. It’s the most complex academic discipline of all, because you must be aware of all the outside forces and inner pressures which alter human decisions and shape culture.

Integrating Anthropology with Theology

Now, in our conversation today, we will make anthropology even more complex by integrating it with the metaphysical world, thus creating Theological Anthropology. And just to add to the level of complexity, “EVERYTHING” is theological. 

What does it mean that the Lord Himself is engaged in the creation and his on-going conversation with humans? Aaron Perry, in a recent email defined it this way for us, [Theological Anthropology is] “considering human beings (that is the Anthropology part) in light of the Word, work, and will of God (that is the theological part).” 

A Biblical Worldview Through Crucial Questions

For me, the best way to begin defining this God-Man conversation in Wesleyan terms is to portray it through the lens of a biblical worldview. Bill Arnold, beloved professor of Old Testament at Asbury, has created a simple model based upon our answers to 4 crucial questions:

1. 1. Where have we come from? What is our cosmology?
   2. Who are we? What is our anthropology?
   3. What has gone wrong? What is our Hamartiology?
   4. What is the solution? What is our Soteriology and Eschatology?

May I say, a helpful world view is not found in a systems theory or a philosophical argument but in a story. And our story of the world must be truly compelling. Our biblical worldview must captivate all those watching us.  Yes. In Christ, we have become a made-new person and the way we live in allegiance with this revealed worldview is the best tool for discipleship ever devised. It’s not another program – Four Spiritual Laws or Evangelism Explosion. To know the world this way is not merely an intellectual or cognitive act. It’s a full commitment to embracing the person of Jesus and His revealed truth. David DeSliva, in his book Transformation: The Heart of Paul’s Gospel says “Paul’s mission was not essentially about ‘winning souls’ . . . It was primarily about working with people to surrender themselves to the work of God, to deep and fundamental transformation whereby their lives cease to be what they were, and begin to be an extension of Christ’s own willing, being, and doing,”

So, what precisely is our compelling worldview story? First, we need to address, “Where have we come from?”