Kingdom Ready Blog

I found another goldmine of information on this topic, so I get to resurrect it again. In Sylvia Keesmaat’s chapter, “In the Face of the Empire: Paul’s Use of Scripture in the Shorter Epistles” found in Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament, she gives a large treatment on this very topic. In her opening

In an empire celebrated for the bringing of a gospel (euangelion) of salvation through the Pax Romana, Paul proclaims another gospel, the gospel of God(1 Thess 2.2, 8, 9) and his Messiah (Phil 1.27, 1 Thess 3.2), a gospel that is growing and bearing fruit in the whole world (Col 1.6) and proclaimed to every creature under heaven (Col 1.23). This is a gospel with geographical scope equal to Caesar’s. It is a gospel that proclaims a different Saviour, the Messiah (Eph 5.23), to whom all things will be subjected (Phil 3.21), and through whom peace is brought to those both far and near, indeed to all of creation (Eph 2.14-17, 6.15, Col 1.20, 2Thess 3.16).

During this ancient time, there was no such thing as separation of church and state. The state was the church, and the church was the state – even, perhaps especially, when the state was pagan. Rome declared Caesar as Savior to the world, the one who brings peace. But how does Caesar bring peace? Through the sword. So how does Paul record Jesus the true Messiah and Saviour bringing peace?

In a world where allegiance to Rome was ultimate, Paul turns the categories on their head by describing a misplaced allegiance in terms of being aliens and strangers not to Rome, but to the politeias [translated as commonwealth] of Israel. However, whereas Rome severely judged those who were unfaithful to its politeias – and did so by subjecting them to death on a cross – Paul describes a Messiah who makes peace with those who are alien, and who does so by offering himself on such a cross.

This results in a subversion of any authority and rule that violently deal in death rather than building up a new body in peace

The crux of the Gospel message, in light of that Roman world, was – you are aliens from the promises of God. Yet rather than judge immediately, God has mercy, and sends his son to die so that there might be peace between you. Therefore, all the authority structures that enforce their rule through violence are torn down by one authority, God, who uses sacrifice to make peace. All are seen as lacking in light of God’s actions. When once gives allegiance to a God who defines himself by those actions – how can one give their same allegiance to any authority who rejects those actions?

These actions of Jesus also plainly make a statement to those in power in this evil age, and those who seek power in this age.

Rather, his Lordship is the result of subversively abandoning such status and rank in humble obedience. Jesus is the Lord who not only challenges all other claims to rule but also challenges other all other paths to lordship and rule

Therefore, once you have accepted Jesus as lord – our definitions of what makes a person ‘a lord’ to us different. We no longer see the actions of the leaders of this evil age as “wise” or “worthy of honor”, because we value much more highly the actions of our new lord.

One point of view that we don’t understand at all is something Israel understands very very well (at the time of the writing of the NT). Israel has long been a conquered people. We have never been a conquered people.

Throughout its history, Israel not only lived in the shadow of empire but also constantly grappled with the claims of empire to be the source of abundance, security, and fertility, whether those claims were made by Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Rome, or even Israel’s own rulers.

Israel had a unique perspective in that God was always their supplier. This was evident during their captivity as well. Such that they didn’t fall prey to the idea that their overlords were anything special at all. We as Americans are conditioned to believe that it is this country that makes us wealthy and prosperous. Moreso, our country’s brand of Christianity that makes us better. We should be equally on guard to realize the fallacy of these thoughts.

By using the language of fruitfulness, with all its overtones from the story of Israel and the preaching of Jesus, Paul in Colossians is proclaiming a different gospel that bears fruit fundamentally different from the fruit of the empire. This fruit is not rooted in military alliances and military might, but in the practice of justice and faithfulness, in the following of a Saviour who calls his followers to practice a loving and forgiving generosity that undermines the hoarding abundance touted by the empire.

By bearing this fruit, the community refuses to engage the empire on its own terms. It refuses to let enemies be enemies, to let debtors be debtors.

The radical ethics that the coming Kingdom demand are “Pray for your enemies” and, “Forgive as your Father has forgiven you”. These are two things that the empire refuses to do. It refused to do it when it was Rome, and it refuses to do it today. Obviously the worldly wisdom says that the empire cannot do these things. I would agree – the empires of this world were not established to do either of these things, but we Christians were. Therefore if we as Christians must do something that these empires of this evil age cannot do – we must question our perogatives and allegiances towards them.

I wanted to finish with one quote at length that was so incredibly moving I was itching in the chair as I read it

We look for peace and security in military might, rather than the God who proclaimed that swords should be pounded into tools for tending the garden (Is 2, Mic 4) and a Savior who broke down the dividing wall of hostility and brought peace through his death on the cross (Eph 2.11-21, Col 1.20). The only weapons we are called to bear are truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith and love, the hope of salvation, and the word of God (Eph 6.14,-17, 1 Thess 5.8).
Our own imperial context, then, falls under the judgment not only of the prophets but also of Jesus and of Paul. Can we learn strategies for responding to our own reality from this ancient text? At the most basic level, Paul shows us how our rootedness in the story of Israel and story of Jesus provides us with an alternative vision to that of the empire. Our story subverts the propaganda of our empire by telling the story of a Messiah who brings peace through suffering love rather that through military action. Our story subverts the idolatry of the empire by proclaiming Jesus as the image of what it is to be truly human, rather than the images of idolized beauty and corporate power that shape our culture. Our story, with its judgment on idolatrous economic and military practices, provides us with the language and symbolism for judging a military industrial complex that is so deeply bred in our bones that we find it hard to image that there may be another way of living in the world. Our story demonstrates that any alternative vision that proclaims God’s shalom for good life on this earth must begin with the shaping of conventional alternative economic and political communities here and now in our own local contexts. Our story demonstrates, in the recollection of the Jubilee year and Paul’s urging to free the slave Onesimus, that our covenantal communities should embody economic and political practices that proclaim freedom to the slave. And, most fundamentally, our story proclaims the reality that our God reigns – not corporations, nor military might, nor the siren call of a consumer culture. In acknowledging that rule, perhaps our lives will also be shaped by the truth, justice, faithfulness, peace, and salvation that form the clothing of the follower of Jesus (Eph 6.14-17)

I find something very compelling about us Gentiles being grafted in to Israel – both theologically (i.e. in the salvation plan of God), and socially (i.e. thinking in light of their history). We need to indentify with Israel and reflect on their experiences along with our contemporary experiences. We see the epistles do this all the time when they relate the Christian experience to the Israel experience, especially around the idea of Egypt, wilderness, and judgment.