[even further thoughts from the July 9, 2008 Dead Theologian Society discussion on Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality]
[This group discussion really got me thinking.]

Schaeffer’s emphasis on linking the internal (thought life, relationship to God and ourselves) to the external (obedience, relationship to others) is demonstrated in the structure and content of the New Testament in the New Testament

The ethical imperatives of Romans 12, like those of Paul’s other writings, mirror those of the Old Testament prophets, but especially those of the New Testament Prophet, Jesus, in His teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. Paul’s letters exhibit a somewhat different ordering than we find in the gospels. This relates to where Jesus and Paul stood chronologically with respect to the event of the cross.

Jesus elaborates on and applies God’s ethical imperatives on man to show that only he has fulfilled them. By showing us our lack of obedience and our impure motives, he points us to our need for His redemptive work on the cross.

Paul, as a post-resurrection missionary to blind Gentiles like us, first proclaims Christ’s identity and the significance of His work of redemption (the indicative, the diagnosis, and the cure). He then moves to the imperative of obedience. The gospel imperative that we find in Paul is not, however mechanical, impersonal duty. It is obedience flowing out of gratitude for God’s gracious redemption through Christ. (The content and ordering of the Heidelberg Catechism demonstrates this beautifully.)

Paul’s agenda also includes presenting gospel truth within the framework of human history. (The book of Hebrews and the gospel of John also intent on doing this.) History is ultimately the revelation of God’s unfolding plan for our salvation, centered in Christ.

To begin seeing ourselves as the King Jesus’ subjects, we need to see
• the dignity of our being created in God’s image with a divine mission to steward His creation
• the downward-spiraling, tragic plot of our sin and brokenness
• the hopeful foreshadowing of a restored, rebuilt kingdom, and
• the deep, far-reaching implications of the King’s victory.

We can then see Jesus as our Kinsman Redeemer, our Incarnate Hope, our True Mediator (our brotherly adoption agent for the Father?).

The explanatory power of this narrative, this understanding of history offers enormous potential for help us (both the redeemed and the unredeemed) understand the significance of our lives and of the world. All the despair, the hope, the failures and the triumphs only make sense by referring them to our personal reference point: Christ and His cross. It is there that the conflict is resolved and we are made whole.