Two Exchanges: The Swap and the Cross

The news is shocking. One Army sergeant apparently walks away from his post; 6 soldiers were apparently killed trying to find him; 5 hardened terrorist leaders were released for him; and one US President may have violated a law for him. Twelve lives affected--this is indeed a high price for one man's freedom. I pray this one man understands how grateful he should be for all those who have paid and may yet pay a price for his fleshly freedom.

More than that, I pray he perceives that the Creator of the universe paid an even higher price to offer him free redemption. When the Son of God, entirely divine, became a man, He emptied Himself. When the Son of God, supremely holy, took our sin upon Himself and received our death, He humbled Himself even further.

Is Bowe Bergdahl unworthy of the lives lost and the law broken and the future lives endangered to win his release? That is ultimately for others to decide. However, more poignantly personal, are each of us as sinful human beings unworthy of the sacrifice made by a sovereign, holy God on our behalf? Yes, we are more unworthy of that perfect sacrifice, which works our spiritual freedom, than Bergdahl is of these high human sacrifices, which have worked his fleshly freedom.

And this God, this man, this one we know as Jesus Christ, He made this perfect sacrifice for all of us unworthy human beings. Would that we were more indignant, not about the question of Bergdahl's freedom and worthiness, but about the eternal crisis regarding our freedom and unworthiness--for none of us are worthy of God's love and yet love us He did. This is the most pertinent question facing us today.

Even as we rejoice at one man's freedom yet mourn at the apparently terrible price, let us rejoice more about the freedom offered to all human beings at the greatest ontological cost of that perfect God-man's life. Let this be an opportunity for us to exalt the crucified God, who is also the risen Savior. This should cause us to tremble at how great a love God has for us--the Father sent His Son to become our brother that He might give His life for our lives.

From the perspective of what it cost God, the cross is the greatest injustice;
from the perspective of His character, this is the greatest justice;
from the perspective of our unworthiness, this is the greatest love;
from the perspective of our attitude, the cross ought to invoke wonder and worship for the God who embodies love and justice in perfection.

"Noah" and Gnosticism

The recent film “Noah” has garnered attention and criticism. I have especially followed with interest the secondary conversation between the promoters and critics of the movie. For instance, in a recent movie review, Dr. Brian Mattson describes “Noah” as a Gnostic recasting of the biblical story. This follows in the line of what some have seen as Hollywood’s trend of pushing Gnostic ideology (e.g., “The Da Vinci Code”), as well as the current scholarly focus on the Gnostic Gospels.

I would like to provide some commentary on a revival of Gnosticism in the broader culture and among scholars. In particular, I want to focus upon the appeals of Gnosticism, recognizing the movie “Noah” as both an obstacle and an opportunity.

Gnosticism has been around since the period in which the New Testament was written. It was a movement that mixed Eastern forms of mysticism with other religions, such as Christianity. Gnosticism as a Christian-related heresy included the teachings of such heresiarchs as Valentinus, who offered a special gnosis, knowledge, which purportedly allowed one to make his or her way to the divine fullness. This gnosis is reserved only for the truly “spiritual.” Marcion, who truncated the Bible in order to excise the God of wrath from it, was also often considered a Gnostic.

THE GNOSTIC REVIVAL

While Gnosticism as a particular religion is today small in size, there is little doubt that Gnosticism as an attitude, a way of theological reflection, is making something of a comeback in the West. There are at least three sources for this trend.

• First, the Gnostic-like outlook appeals to the vague spirituality that has ballooned recently in Western culture, especially among those that have been identified as “spiritual, but not religious.” According to Robert Fuller, a substantial minority of Americans are “associated with higher levels of interest in mysticism, experimentation with unorthodox beliefs and practices, and negative feelings toward both clergy and churches” (OUP, 2001). The director and actors themselves have displayed some of these attitudes in their promotions of the movie.
• Second, there are other scholars, such as Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman, who have made a whole industry out of introducing and examining the Gnostic Gospels. Ehrman, a former evangelical, has become of late a sort of analyst-evangelist for early Gnosticism as an alternative to biblical orthodoxy. Early Gnosticism, which certain New Testament texts seem to have been written to refute directly, was a secretive form of syncretism (religious mixing) between Eastern Mysticism and Christianity.
• Third, these scholarly trends have symbiotically recognized and encouraged the large number of people who want to have some knowledge about God or things ethereal without committing to any particular belief system. The movie “Noah” as a marketing strategy may be intentionally crafted to appeal to “spirituals” and to others interested in a character recognized the world over in one form or another.

IS GNOSTICISM A CURRENT PROBLEM FACING CHRISTIANS?

Yes, Gnosticism as a religion or as a religious attitude makes two distinct problematic appeals: it has a Syncretistic appeal and a Secretive appeal.

ADDRESSING THE SYNCRETISTIC APPEAL

With regard to the Syncretistic appeal, I would encourage Christians to exercise both evangelism and discernment. We must evangelize the lost, and they will have questions about Noah and the God behind Noah. Use the opportunity of the movie to tell them about God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, but do so while exercising discernment. Be sure to correct misconceptions about Noah, and especially misconceptions about God. Use the opportunity of the movie, but use it wisely.

ADDRESSING THE SECRETIVE APPEAL

With regard to the Secretive appeal of Gnosticism, I would argue that any group—whether it be based in an academy, or a conference, or a movie studio—that claims it has knowledge about God or spiritual things must be treated with skepticism. Any claim for knowledge about God that goes beyond the texts of the canon of Scripture taps into the Secretive urge of the Gnostic outlook. In response, we note that God the Holy Spirit inspired and preserved for us a publicly available text, which we call the Holy Bible, and it has included therein all that we need to know about God, much less Noah. Yet again, the critical issue is about Scripture and about how we really need to know and speak God’s Word. We must again and again go back to the Bible.

Reflections on Teaching On-Line: "The Christological Content of the Christian Faith"

At Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, it is a privilege to be part of an innovative faculty that has taken upon itself the responsibility for instructing a large and growing set of courses through an on-line format. Many people, students here and at other institutions as well as faculty members at other institutions alongside a number of interested laypeople, have often asked for, and continue to request, access to my lecture notes as well as any video or audio recordings of my class lectures. Perhaps now their requests may be answered more fully.

Our seminary students have always had access to the lecture notes and to many of my other writings, but now they also have a growing body of video/audio records of the lectures. However, it is always a struggle to know exactly how much of these lectures to make public and how much of the primary content should be reserved exclusively for our matriculated students. Here, I will make at least one of those lectures publicly available. (If you would like access to more such videos and are absolutely unable to attend seminary, please do consider enrolling in one of our on-line courses.)

This semester, I am teaching Systematic Theology II in both on-campus and on-line venues. In an interesting shift toward the on-line format, last semester I taught 85 students on-campus and 70 students on-line, while this semester the numbers are 75 students on-campus and 85 students on-line.

Now, for some reflections about how we try to make the best of teaching on-line courses, thereby helping bring theological education that much closer to the local churches. In the on-line format, we follow a similar format to the on-campus course, but with modifications to pull the students into required interaction with the professor and with one another. Here is how one session of an on-line Systematic Theology course might appear:

First, we require the student to read carefully a chapter or an article on the subject matter for that session and often to write a critical reflection. For instance, before the first session on Christology, the students are required to read Daniel Akin's chapter on the Person of Jesus Christ in A Theology for the Church.

Second, we require the students to view the videos of the on-campus lectures. Here is a link to the lecture that the students were required to view. It is entitled, "The Christological Content of the Christian Faith." (The lecture's purpose is to help the students see that Christianity has both a propositional content and personal encounter at its center--Jesus Christ the Lord, the second person of the divine Trinity. This is the first of a number of detailed Christology lectures. You will notice that my teaching style borders between preaching from the pulpit and teaching from the lectern.)

Third, subsequent to the lecture, we ask the students to interact with a thought-provoking discussion question. For instance, "How would you summarize the content of the Christian faith in a summary format? And how would you validate that summary from Scripture?" The student must write 3 paragraphs answering that question and then respond to at least one other student's answer to the question with at least a further full paragraph. The discussion format is helpful in bringing the student to interact with the material.

Finally, the students in the on-line course take written tests and submit in writing some combination of critical book reviews and papers in almost exactly the same format as our on-campus students.

As you can see, in the on-line course, I have tried to mitigate the lack of an incarnational presence as much as possible through electronic means--reading, video, written discussions, and full testing and writing responsibilities. It will take time and feedback to see how well on-line courses do in comparison to on-campus courses, but some of the concerns that I myself had about electronic pedagogy have been somewhat allayed as I have actually taught courses on-line.

If you are called to Christian ministry, please consider enrolling on-campus at Southwestern Seminary. There is really nothing better than living in a community dedicated to academic and applied theological preparation. If you cannot possibly move here, but you are still interested in taking an on-line course, I hope you will also consider Southwestern Seminary. We have an excellent faculty and a vibrant student body. We are committed to raising up witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ. Come, listen, then go, witness.