Transformation in Christ

Jesus not only teaches us the Christian life.  He creates it in our souls by the action of His Spirit.. Our life in Him is not a matter of mere ethical goodwill.  It is not a mere moral perfection.  It is an entirely new spiritual reality, an inner transformation  (Thomas Merton: The New Man).

"He who is infinitely above us is also within us."

Without accepting both of the first two chapters of Genesis, mankind holds a partial and incomplete knowledge of God.  The book of Wisdom, chapter 15, says, To know You well is complete righteousness, and Jesus said, This is eternal life, that they might know You, eternal Father, and Him whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ (Jn. 17).  

Our image of God determines our righteousness.  To know Him only in part is to distort His Image and His work in us.  The first chapter of Genesis depicts Elohim, the all-powerful and eternal One who creates by His Word and His breath, ordering all things according to His will.  To fully grasp the implications of this chapter, it is important to know the background against which it was formed-- the Babylonian creation myths.  The Jews spent 40 years in captivity to Babylon, where they were exposed to pagan worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as well as to the stories of their gods.  The earth was formed out of vicious battles among the gods, with one god slaying another and splitting the body open to form earth and heaven.  Man was created to serve the gods, as a slave and a thrall.  He was to live in fear of offending the gods, and his worship was sacrifice.

Upon return to Jerusalem, the priests and scribes began to assemble the sacred literature, archives, and court documents.  Having lost their temple, the Word became even more important.  Possibly the first two chapters of Genesis were written at that time, in response to their exposure to the Babylonian culture.  In Genesis 1, we see in place of a warring tribune of gods, a supreme Elohim, the plural form of El -- the almighty God.  Creation takes place not in warfare and bloody conquest, but by the Ruah and the Word -- the mighty wind upon the waters and the spoken Word: Light! Be!

Against this background, man and woman are created as the crown of creation, not as slave to the Almighty, but in His image and likeness, to rule over the works of His hands.  

The second chapter of Genesis may have been the older version of creation.  In this version, we see not the almighty El, but the immanent Yahweh, the personal God, bending down to shape out of the dust of the earth his "adam," his "human," his "man."  (El is a title, like "president or king"; Yahweh is a name, like "Abraham Lincoln."  In this version, Yahweh breathes His own life and spirit into His creation, "and man becomes a living being."

If our God is only El, the Almighty, He commands and we obey.  If we disobey, we fear His power and His wrath.  We quake before His Word.  If our God is only Yahweh, we do not fear (reverence) Him at all, but treat Him as one of us.  To know Him as both El and Yahweh is to know that His power is at the service of His Love for us.  He is with us, and His power works on our behalf, to deliver us from the bondage of sin.  We no longer fear Him in servitude, but only in reverence.  Jesus said, I no longer call you servants, but friends.  Friends influence one another by their lives and spirits, not commanding us, but loving us.

In the same way, Jesus not only asks that we keep His commandments, but His Spirit in us continually works inside us to shape and form us into His image and likeness.  He literally breathes in us to eliminate spiritual poisons and to inhale fresh (spiritual) air to cleanse and purify us.  In Christ, we 'grow up" to a new kind of maturity, a "unity of spirit"  which truly makes us children of God.

If we see Jesus Christ only as Teacher and Moral Commander, we miss His continual and Divine Work in us.  We see ourselves only as falling way short of His Command-- "love one another as I have loved you."  There is no power in us to do what He did, lay down our lives for one another.  If we see Him also as the personal Yahweh, embracing our weakness and bringing it to His own perfection, we are able to obey His commands, not by our own power at work, but by His Spirit working in us as the intimate center of our own personal being.