Kingdom Ready

Originally presented at Atlanta Bible College’s 2013 Theological Conference

According to the Hebrew prophets, one day the God of heaven will set up a kingdom on this world, restoring it back to its original glory. Instead of shucking off the body like a husk so the soul can ascend, the biblical teaching about humanity’s destiny is rather fleshy. God designed humans to live on earth in the beginning, and he will resurrect his people on the last day, healing them of all their ailments and imparting to them immortality. The picture is a beautiful one, with people living in peace, confidently planting and harvesting without fear of intruders. Rather than rampant economic injustice, one will wear out the work of his own hands. This grand age is to begin with a banquet at which the resurrected saints will enjoy fine wine and rich meat, celebrating the victory of God. Although this terrestrial hope coursed through the veins of Jews for centuries, it had reached a fever pitch by the time of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, he based his entire ministry on the proclamation and enactment of the coming of God’s kingdom.

Introduction

Tucked away at the end of the Gospel of Matthew is the great commission. It reads, “Therefore, go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit” (Mat 28.19). Oftentimes modalists and unitarians question the validity of this verse because of its trinitarian flavor. Typically, the questioner makes the point that we do not have manuscripts of Matthew 28.19 before a.d 325 when the church ratified the Trinitarian creed at Nicea and that they were all corrupted at that time. Furthermore, they refer to Eusebius, the famous church historian, because he quotes an alternative version of Matthew 28.19 (i.e. “Go and make disciples of all the nations in my name”) in his writings. Although it certainly wouldn’t ruin my day if Matthew 28.19 turned out to be spurious, I am wary of textual arguments motivated by theology. As a result, I want to lay out for you the reasons why every handwritten and printed Greek text contains the full version of Matthew 28.19.

As you probably know Santa Claus was based on the historical man, St. Nicholas of Myra, who lived from a.d. 270 to 343. He was the bishop of a church in Myra, not far from Nicea when the first council was held there in a.d. 325. Although we cannot be sure Bishop Nicholas attended the council, it certainly is likely. Several later accounts or legends report that Nicholas not only attended the council but at one moment flew into a rage and slapped Arius across his face. Here is a version that I found on the Lutheran Witness:

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In a.d. 313, Alexander (the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt) fired and excommunicated Arius (one of his presbyters) because he challenged Alexander’s claim that Jesus never had a beginning. If Arius had been an outsider, an impetuous youth, or a radical theologian, the decision of the powerful bishop may have stuck. However, Arius was none of those things; he was a tried and true churchman, a wise and disciplined elder, and a conservative thinker. As a result, the controversy Alexander initiated spread to other provinces as Arius and the other eighty-nine church members who left with him reached out for help from other bishops. Before long, other bishops held new councils that vindicated Arius and pressed Alexander to reverse his irascible decision. Alexander responded by writing a circular letter lambasting and slandering Arius for his divisive and debauched “heresy.” Christianity, at least in the eastern provinces, found itself heading towards a serious rift when Constantine, the emperor who ended the great persecution, intervened.

The following was inspired by Romans 12.11

τῇ σπουδῇ μὴ ὀκνηροί	not holding back in zeal
τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες	burning with the spirit

Just imagine visiting an old church
partly filled with pallid attendees
who would much rather do something else,
anything else, than linger on there.

Because of some invisible force,
a kind of inescapable pull,
they find themselves week after dull week
repeating the same dead exercise

None of them enjoys the tedium
nor do they have the courage to leave.
They are not sinners, nor are they saints.
They risk little, they suffer little.

We have just started up our Final Words: A Study of Revelation class again. Revelation contains much insight into the spiritual realm, living obediently, and the end times. However, it also includes a large cache of praise ammunition. From the magisterial vision of God’s throne room in chapter four to the description of New Jerusalem in the last two chapters, a variety of beings offer praise to God repeatedly. What follows is a compendium of these texts, slightly revised to enrich your own prayer life. (All references are from Revelation.)

Did Jesus have a beginning or has he always existed? This simple question was at the heart of the controversy that broke out between Christians in Egypt in the early fourth century. Alexander, the powerful bishop of Alexandria, began teaching Jesus was eternal like the Father while a number of his clergy strongly disagreed with him, arguing that the Son was begotten, and thus had a beginning. Before long, the dispute in Egypt spilled over into the surrounding regions of the eastern half of the Roman Empire and continued to escalate until the Roman government officially endorsed one perspective while outlawing all others in A.D. 381. Although most informed Christians are taught that it was Arius that caused all the trouble, in fact, the historical record reveals a quite different perspective. To better understand what happened back then, we need to acquaint ourselves with Arius and the early years of the struggle, before the emperors started getting involved.

Humble Beginnings

Unlike many of the most influential heroes of history, Jesus was not born to wealthy parents with a silver spoon in his mouth. He wasn’t born in a hospital or even at home, but in an indoor barn or cave. In fact, the best Joseph and Mary could do for a cradle was a feeding trough (Luke 2:7). When the time came to offer the firstborn sacrifice at the temple, they could not afford the standard lamb but instead had to offer the alternative poor man’s sacrifice of two turtle doves (Luke 2:24; Lev 12:8). It is one thing for someone who has every advantage—an expensive education, access to power, and every comfort—to succeed in life, but for someone born to an obscure couple, from an obscure hamlet, in an obscure province without any of the advantages money and status could provide to change the world in a mere thirty years of life—now that is impressive! Jesus’ life is so significant that thousands of years later we count dates from him forward (A.D.) and from him backward (B.C.). He is the hinge, the one at whom the calendar resets, the one who changed everything.

The stereotype of pious, respectful theologians working together to understand and articulate the doctrine of the Trinity looms large in the collective imagination of countless Christians. However, the truth is that defenders of the Trinity doctrine in the fourth and fifth centuries were guilty of hypocrisy, embezzlement, slander, hatred, beatings, kidnappings, and even murder in their herculean effort to force others, content with simpler ideas about God, to believe that Jesus really was on the same level as the almighty, supreme God and that he really was both divine and human at the same time. In the course of this series of articles, we will see bishops and priests act like children, vying for the attention of their emperor in an effort to use their privileged position as their patron’s favorite to undermine, discredit, and exile their theological opponents. As we journey through the historical record, we will look on as myth after myth evaporate like mirages on a desert trek that are convincing illusions when viewed from a distance, but suddenly disappear when one draws near. We will discover why many church history textbooks omit the juicy stories of chicanery, politicking, and megalomania in an effort to cloak this formative period in a conspiracy of silence rather than tell the whole story, warts and all.

We will begin our investigation in the early days of the conflict between Alexander and Arius in A.D. 318 at Alexandria, and end in A.D. 451 when the dual-natures’ doctrine was set in stone at Chalcedon. Along the way, I will not be able to cover every important person engaging in the various issues that arose during the time, but will instead focus my attention on the players who most flagrantly flouted Christ’s command to love their enemies in an effort to bolster and impose their own belief on others. I intend to restore some balance to the current, one-sided version of the events students of church history are typically spoon fed. I contend much of what is out there represents only the most digestible chunk of a very fatty piece of meat, which is often pre-chewed and partially digested. So, rather than focusing on the good, what follows will expose the bad and the ugly so that truth-seekers may find themselves better equipped to make informed decisions about the Trinity idea.

From a biblical perspective, the notion that God will one day establish His kingdom on earth is extremely well-attested, enjoying support from both Old and New Testaments, from both historical books and the prophets, from Paul’s epistles and the Gospels, and especially from the Bible’s last book. God’s plan is to make everything wrong with the world right, to restore creation back to its original Edenic glory, to defeat evil and death once and for all, and to usher in an eternal age of peace and joy on earth. Rather than exploding, nuking, or dissolving the earth, God wants to fix it up—like an antique car—until it shines with its original glory.