The axiology of God

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The axiology of God

July 28, 2011 by westportexperiment

The Church frequently gets its axiology – its theory of value – dead wrong. To value is fundamentally human. It is instinctive and inescapable, a testament to the fact that man is the offspring of God. But when the Church fails to discern between the values of “the present evil world” and her Lord, it has just plain sold the farm. A Church that doesn’t defend its axiological borders (God’s rather) has in effect seceded to the enemy. And so she comes under Christ’s condemnation, “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).

Posted in Ministerial Fidelity, The Sacred Ministry, The Social Status of the Church, The Visible Church, Two Kingdoms Theology | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on July 21, 2016 at 5:29 am | Reply Ishmael Abraham

I loved your note especially the quote of Jesus peace be upon him. Quran 68:8-9 also says something similar that men of the world want the devout to compromise and lean towards them so that they may esteem them in return. so, God tells the true believers not to follow or obey the deniers of truth . Tafsir Jalalayn: They desire, they yearn, that you should be pliable, [that] you should yield to them, so that they may be pliable [towards you], [so that] they may yield to you . Tafsir Ibn Abbas They wish that you agree with them so that they agree with you and that you flatter them so that they would flatter you. Muhammad Asad: They would like thee to be soft [with them], so that they might be soft [with thee]. They would like thee to be conciliatory in the matter of ethical principles and moral valuations, whereupon they would reciprocate and desist from actively opposing thee. So,the idea of offspring of God is not Abrahamic but a pre-Abrahamic foreign and worldly idea, because Bible in Numbers says God is not a man. Bible in Acts calls Jesus peace be upon him the Servant of God ( Ebed in hebrew, Abdullah in Arabic)
- on July 21, 2016 at 2:57 pm | Reply westportexperiment
  
  Ishmael,
  
  Thank you for your kind response. Well, many things could be said. But let me confine myself to just one point. Indeed, God in the book of Numbers says, “He is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent [change His mind].” The essential nature of God, the Godhead, is wholly uncreated, divine, and has never become corrupted with what He has created. Not even the incarnation of the Word in Jesus Christ made the nature of God any less divine. But when the holy apostles declare that “God was manifest in the flesh,” what they meant was that God clothed Himself, as it were, with the humble garments of flesh. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Putting on clothes brings the man into intimate contact with his clothing; it does not in any way make him his clothing. Classic orthodox Christianity since the Council of Constantinople has declared that the God-man, Jesus, is one person with two distinct natures, without any mixing or blending of the two. So in Christ, God has not converted into human nature in any way. Rather, He has come into such intimate contact with human nature for our redemption. How close He has come to us for our salvation! He is “Immanuel, God with us.”
  
  I would love to carry on more discussion in person. If you are ever in Rhode Island or near it, drop me an e-mail – mjives dot refparish at gmail dot com. I would be happy to treat you to lunch – that is, if you can dine with a kafir like me!
  
  I’m not on Facebook myself, but I notice you’re an electrical engineer. My son wants to go into that line of work.
  
  Warm regards,
  
  Michael
  - on July 29, 2016 at 4:37 am Ishmael Abraham
    
    Codex Sinaiticus which contains the oldest complete copy of NT does not have the word ‘God’ in 1 Timothy 3:16, so unholy trinitarians used the ‘lying pen of scribes’ as bible puts it. Please read:16 And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in flesh, was justified in spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx?book=47&chapter=3&lid=en&side=r&verse=16&zoomSlider=0
  - on July 29, 2016 at 4:45 am Ishmael Abraham
    
    I live in Islamabad, Pakistan, but ,my family members live in Seattle.
  - on July 29, 2016 at 9:19 am Ishmael Abraham
    
    Kosher lunch with People of the Book is allowed according to Quran 5:5.
  - on August 7, 2016 at 3:42 pm westportexperiment
    
    Dear Ishmael, Sorry for the delay. I’ve been out of town over the last week.
    
    Well, you are clearly well-read. I am quite quite aware of the textual issues surrounding 1 Timothy 3:16. I realize that the majority of contemporary scholars side with the Alexandrian text type, but this has only been in vogue for the last century or more. I tend to side more with the Byzantine text type, or the majority reading. However, my conviction of the NT’s claim to the full divinity of Christ as the eternal and only-begotten Son doesn’t rest on one text alone. It is a cumulative case built from many, many texts. One of the clearest, as I see it, is Christ’s claim to be “I AM” before father Abraham was (John 8). The Jews then took up stones to stone him for what they judged was outright blasphemy, for He had taken to Himself the holy name of YHWH, I AM THAT I AM (Exodus 3). Such a text for me could not be more clear.
    
    Further, this I AM in the flesh has loved me, a poor unworthy sinner, so greatly that He suffered in my flesh and died vicariously for me, that He might reconcile me to His Father. And now I am embraced as an adopted child of God. On this conviction I rest my hope of eternal life, overwhelmed by a love that this world has never seen. For these reasons and many more I would (God helping me) join with all the holy martyrs who submitted to death without resistance.
    
    As an aside, this post is buried in obscurity; I doubt many if any are following. I would just assume e-mail back and forth off the grid, you might say. But if you prefer to continue this in an open forum, that’s fine with me. I also manage a blog that is geared more to apologetical issues – reformedparish.com. You could response to any number of posts there and I could respond. I’ll just follow your lead.
    
    Your kafir friend, Michael
on July 21, 2017 at 11:32 am | Reply A Rhode Island trinitarian invites me to lunch :) | Site Title

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