Magyar Egyház, 1977 (56. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-08-01 / 8-9. szám
6 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH THE LESSON WE REFUSE TO LEARN He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:5 R.S.V. The search for identity goes on on all levels of life today. We are engaged in it as persons, as a church, as citizens of this country, and as members of the human family. The answers we give to the nearer problems await the outcome of this search for an answer to the ultimate one: Who are we, what is our purpose, how are we supposed to live in the light of that purpose? It is a matter of record that this search for identity began in the Christian Church at the very moment of her birth. Open the New Testament anywhere and we find a record of a portion of the first Christian's search for the purpose of the Christian fellowship. As a matter of fact, the New Testament is a reduction to writing of the Christian conviction as to the purpose of the Christian life, community, and witness. There is nothing modest, or even humble, about the way they exclaim over their discovery! To put it in a word: They knew the final purpose of God for mankind in general, and for themselves in particular. For them, the age-old search for identity was over. They had a full answer to it. They do not so much argue the point as they proclaim it with a shout of joy. And, let me say, if we are able to read anv page in the New Testament without hearing at least echoes of their shouts of joy, we ought to close the hook, lay it quietly to one side, and turn to something else—for we shall surely misread it. I feel this, and I think you do too. in the opening sentences of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He is reminding his readers of their joy in the newfound faith and then he gives this glorious reason for it: God "destined us in love to he his sons through Jesus Christ." How's that for a destiny and a duty! Better, a duty in which we find our destiny. Paul proceeds to amplify what he means in these stirring words: "For God I las made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which he set forth in Christ, (His) plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.” There we have it! The proclamation that in Jesus Christ we discover God’s purpose for the world, the true meaning of life. That purpose is to unite all things in Him. It is to see and to relate everything to God! In studying the several possible meanings of the Greek words used here, scholars offer a stimulating set of interpretations. God in “summing up all things in Jesus Christ”; he is “bringing all things into a clear focus in Him"; he is “uniting all things in Him”; he is “gathering up all things in one in Him.” Perhaps it is my preoccupaton with photography which draws me to one rather than another of these translations, hut 1 do like one interpretation on this point: "The best sense in the passage seems to be that all things are brought to a focus in Christ.” “He is the focal point to the universe, of all history, of all things, as they are brought into their true relation with Him, are also brought into their true relation to one-another and so into an all-embracing harmony.” I get the distinct impression that those early Christians meant business when they said they had found God in Christ and had been found by God in Christ. The one whom they called Lord was Lord in fact as well as in name, not alone of their life but of the entire universe. They were convinced that “The multiple strands of life, the entire manifold of nature and history, and all the particular blessings of God lead to one universal goal—a gigantic pattern of meaning, centered in Jesus Christ.” The very phrase "things in heaven and things in earth" is a picturesque way of describing the universality they had in mind. God’s purpose for all creatures and all creation is seen in Jesus Christ— such is the faith of Paul and the ones to whom he was writing these letters. It is a little easier to see why they were unafraid of the wisdom of the Greeks or the power of the Romans; the God whom they found in Jesus Christ was the whole of which the philosophers and the Caesars were hut parts. "All this," they cried, “all this is of God! We have been called by God to this glorious task! The church is of God, not of man. The church is the
