Précis by Stephen McCutchan
In Ephesians, the author (referred to as Paul) speaks of “this grace (that was) given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things;…”[i] It is the contention of this paper that God’s plan of salvation for the world was in the mind of God from the beginning. What was revealed in Christ was not a new plan of salvation or a desperate attempt to rescue a failed creation, but a definitive revelation of God’s plan of salvation that had been true from the beginning of creation.
I speak of it as “mud theology” in order to emphasize two significant features of this theory of atonement. First, it had its beginning when, to use the image of Genesis 2:7, God first knelt down in the mud of earth and formed the human being. Second, if one is going to discern the work of God’s saving power in our current circumstances, one must “get down and dirty.” God’s work of salvation does not take place in some pristine palace of purity but rather in the ambiguous, concrete, ordinary events of human life.
In contrast to the picture presented by what R. Kendall Soulen identifies as the standard model of canon,[ii] which suggests that the Hebrew Scriptures point forward to what is fulfilled in Christ, I am suggesting that Jesus acts as a midrash in interpreting what God is doing in God’s plan of creation. As the early Christians did, we can look back through the lens of Christ to now understand the mystery that was hidden from the ages.[iii] This prevents us from falling into the supersessionist trap of seeing the Hebrew Scriptures as “merely” preparation for Christ coming but no longer necessary now that Christ has come. The uniqueness of Christ is that he is a window through which we can clearly and definitively see the will of God being worked out in God’s creation. In the words of Colossians, “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” [iv]
This is not to suggest that Jesus was merely an interpreter of God’s plan of salvation. What happened in Jesus Christ was decisive in the saving work of God. With the cross, there was an objective change in history. God demonstrated the holy character of God to transform evil into a saving possibility. There was also a subjective change for believers in the cross. Because of the cross, humans can trust God. “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us[v]
This compassionate side of God is particularly evident in the life of Israel’s greatest hero, David. Among many examples, perhaps the clearest is in the events surrounding his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Murder, adultery, coveting, false witness, stealing, David broke most of the commandments and clearly dishonored God in whose name he had been anointed. How patient can God be with a person or a people who continue to dishonor him and refuse to recognize their grateful dependence on God?
We also begin to see another aspect of this drama of God’s relationship with humanity. When David is confronted with his sin by God’s prophet, Nathan,[vi] David doesn’t live in denial but confesses his sin before God. For narrative purposes, the cannon saw Psalm 51 as an expression of David’s confession before God. While humanity suffers for their sins and the sins of others, as seen in the death of Bathsheba’s child and will be later seen in the disintegration of David’s family, God can transform even sin into a redeeming possibility. David and Bathsheba have another son, Solomon. This son will provide the family line from which Christ will be born. Matthew emphasized this aspect of God’s redeeming work in the genealogy with which he began his gospel, which in contrast to most genealogies not only includes women but made a point of including women of questionable qualities.[vii]
What happened in the resurrection was a decisive revelation of not only God’s refusal to be defeated by the rebellion of humanity against the goodness of God but also God’s power to take the very symbol of that evil, the cross, and transform it into the means of redemption of humanity.
Now we begin to see the basic outline of the saving nature of God that is decisively revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
First, it acknowledges the sinful nature of humanity and does not place its hope in a progressive faith in human progress.
Second, it takes seriously the moral nature of humanity and the necessity of the human response to the grace of God.
Third, it affirms the omniscience of God who from the beginning took into account the good and evil present in creation.
Fourth, affirms the omnipotence of God who is not defeated by evil.
Fifth, it recognizes that the holiness of God of justice cannot accept evil but is also not subject to some higher standard that transcends the creative power of God.
Finally, it reveals the creative side of God who is able to take even the worst of evils and transform them into redemptive possibilities.
[i]Ephesians 3:7-8
[ii] YHWH the Triune God by R. Kendall Soulen; Modern Theology, January 1999, Volume 15, #1; Blackwell Publishing.
[iii] (Ephesians 3:9).
[iv] (Colossians 1:17).
[v] .” (Romans 5:8)
[vi] (2 Samuel 12:7),
[vii] Matthew 1:1-17