radah.
What We Show of God
==== section started: I realise I should summarise things about God that his people should show. Here are some. They are challenging.
- God is love - so we should give ourselves for 'the other'
- God is generous - so we should be generous to others
- God is wise - so we should exercise wisdom
- God is humble - so we should always be humble
- God is truth - so we should never dissemble
- God is just - so we should never be partial nor seek special interests
- God frees the poor - so we should give our lives to this object
- God cares for non-human creatures - out attitude should be exactly that
- God is patient with those who do wrong - so we should not try to prevent wrong by force
- God is engaged in this world.
and so on. This is living sustainably. Do I?
Even though we so often fail to show what God is like, though we live unsustainably, God is merciful, especially if our hearts are right. David sinned, but was still a "man after God's own heart". God still speaks to us in bits and pieces. But there is even greater liberty, joy, fulfilment, etc. for those who "lose their lives" for Christ and the gospel.
Dangers in Representing God
Is there a tendency to focus on showing and telling, rather than on inner reality? Is this the danger that some Pharisees of Jesus' time succumbed to?
I was talking with a neighbour, and did a lot of complaining about managers at work and people in an organisation to which I belong. As he left, I tried to joke "You must see a rather bitter person.
God is more concerned with the inner reality than with the appearance, even when the appearance seems, from our point of view, to dishonour Him. What really dishonours Him is the inner reality. What I should have done was come to the Father, confessing "I realise that I am still a bitter person. Please forgive me and work Your righteousness in me." And I should not have added the "
To represent God we need to be pure (in my case, non-bitter) inside, rather than just trying to show purity. Maybe this is why, for some years, I have tried to maintain a policy of being more rather than less holy than I seem.
There are different types of dangers of representing God, depending on which of the three dimensions of salvation we tend to focus on or value most:
In representing God, the people of God will find God is active with them. We can count on this, as we seek to bless the rest of creation, since this is God's cosmic plan and desire. We do not need to rely on our own strength, not even though indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, in our own strength we can do nothing, Jesus claimed (as recorded in John 15). Rather, Christ himself is to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; he himself is those things in us, and it is his responsibility to express his character in and through us. Do we feel impatient or aggrieved? As such we won't represent God very well. Do we try to suppress or conquer those? No! Look to Christ, who will be, in us, patience and love. See 'The All-Sufficient Christ'. This is God's plan and desire. So he will work with us if we are faithful.
If our hearts are right, God even weaves our plans into his plan.
This has a number of implications.
This is yet more evidence of God's love. An aloof monarch needs others to do work for him. God does not need us to do things for him (he is all-powerful and he also has much better workers that we would ever be in the angels). But because of his love, God allows us to be engaged in his own glorious work and plan of blessing the rest of creation, even though we so often mess it up and do less that he himself would have done.
Under this New View, to some extent the question dissolves. The answer is Yes and No at the same time.
Jesus was God representing himself in the world as a human being. They hated him, and killed him. Jesus promised his followers "As they hated me, so they will hate you. But do not be troubled about this: I have overcome the world." The earlier prophets found the same. The ones since Jesus have found the same. And yet they stand in God's Presence.
Those who represent God will be persecuted. Yet we are succoured by the Holy Spirit of God.
Our response should not be to defend ourselves, nor to hide the light, nor to compromise. Christians know that. What many don't know is that it is also wrong to cut oneself off from the world. Many do this, and cease their engagement with the world. They cease political action. They cease action in academic life. They pull out of the media. They feel called to "full time Christian work" in a country where there is less persecution - and of course, they follow that call "for the sake of my family - after all, my first duty is to my family, is it not?"
No! We should continue to bring light at all levels right where we are. We will be persecuted, and denied advancement in the world, but we will be sustained with strength and joy, and the close Presence of God, and more importantly, we will be contributing not to our project, but to God's Project, of redeeming the entire creation. What more meaningful and noble cause can there be than that?
Philip Sampson reminded me that, in the film Amazing Grace, William Wilberforce takes a selection of the great and the good for a boat ride past a slave ship. His passengers do not welcome his commentary on the evils hidden from their eyes in the hold of that dreadful ship. Those who are comfortable do not like to be reminded of evils hidden beneath their noses. Philip draws attention to the evils in modern Western slaughterhouses, and finds himself getting nowhere. But God is with him, and evil will one day be removed. It is not for us to worry overmuch about the result of letting light shine to expose the evil; it is enough that we are faithful in doing this, as humble representatives of God.
Anthony Smith, when I recently showed the 'Five Rs', remarked that there is nothing of the Consummation, the Eschaton, the next-life, in them. The fifth 'R' being 'Representing God' was meant to indicate not just the present age but the age to come, after death and the end of the this age. But he was right: I had not expressed it well, and this challenged me to think it out more carefully.
One reason for this is that New View looks at the Cosmic Story and God's Cosmic Plan in a different way. The traditional 'Christian' way of understanding it is in terms Creation, Fall and Redemption (CFR) (where Redemption includes the next life or it might be added on as an extra) gives us various problems. These are outlined elsewhere.
The main two problems here is that CFR either combines Consummation with Redemption or implies that different things pertain in the different aeons of temporal history.
But under New View the New Earth and Heaven is no longer part of Repair, but is our ultimate destiny, for which we are being trained now. The first perfect state (Garden of Eden) was never meant to be the final state, and that this life - whether perfect or sin-infested - is only a kind of practice run. Under New View, the entire Story is one, and what we understand about now is of similar kind to what pertains in the New Earth (though the latter is far richer as a plant is richer than a seed [I Cor 3]).
In all aeons, representing God is a major theme. In the pre-Fall situation, humankind was to represent God. In the pre-Christ era, certain people were called to represent God. In the current era, Christ's people are called to represent God. In the New Earth and Heavens humanity is called to represent God. It is one and the same, all the way through, though it might take different forms in each.
In the Forever, the other four 'R's will still pertain, though in different forms, and they will all contribute to representing God. Reality will still rejoice, humankind will still shepherd the rest of creation, all reality will be interconnected so that justice and love are one, and Christ's rich redemption (the 3 dimensions of forgiveness, Holy Spirit and creation awaiting with eager longing) will be manifest everywhere. See CFR page for more detail on this.
However, in this current era, we have the church ...
Traditional Christianities today give priority to the church. But to this New View, church is not a major issue, but is a sub-issue of the main issue, which is Representing God.
The five parables or sections of Jesus' conversation in Matthew 24-25 are traditionally thought to apply to the End Times. Yet Tom Wright suggests that instead Jesus was speaking about God and Israel. For example, the parable of the sheep and goats refers to the extent to which people of Israel, and maybe the people as a whole, had an attitude of helping "the least". So does that imply that it does not apply to the End Times?
Not at all. It applies to both. There is a main message in each one is something that applies across all who represent God, even if details are specific for one or the other. I find the following messages (I split one into two).
In such ways, the theology of representing God allows us multiple interpretations that are not just subjective but actually apply properly, and especially allows us to translate or transfer what God says to one representer to others. Not only from Israel to Christians, but even perhaps in the reverse direction, to the benefit of both. What have Christians learned that might benefit the Jewish people today?
Note on Prophets. See short sermon on Relevance of the Prophets of Israel either as a Youtube ("https://youtu.be/gtNTjnKNK3g" or as its textual transcript.
In Isaiah 58 God challenges His people with:
Have you ever asked yourself "Why? Why is it true fasting and worship to do these things?" It is not just that this is the right thing to do, but it is doing life. It is because those who represent God share God's heart for the oppressed and will do these things even without thinking about it. Remember the sheep separate from the goats: they did these things, not because they were told to but because they shared the King's heart for the poor.
Note on Matthew 24:36-41. Traditional interpretation is that the righteous are taken away into heaven, leaving the wicket down on earth to be burned up later. But that goes against Jesus' clear comparison with Noah, in which the wicked were swept away. This is pointed out in Middleton & Walsh's brilliant work The Transforming Vision.
God's people should be at the cutting edge of this activity, because they (should) have a more healthy religious presuppositions. God's people should be lovingly critical of extant thought and theory and methods. See Engaging with Secular Thought for more.
Academic representation might be supported by the more recent discoveries in philosophy, concerning meaningfulness. Dooyeweerd suggested that "Meaning is the being of all that is created and the nature of our selfhood" and that "Meaning has the character of referring [beyond and ultimately to the Creator]" [NC, I, p.4]. That is, the very existence of things (whether pebble, pansy, poem, politics or person) is constituted as meaningfulness, which itself refers ultimately to God. God provided that all his creation is Meaningful in relation to himself (and meaningless otherwise). Philosophy before the twentieth century sidelined the issue of meaningfulness, because it wanted to try to carry out its functions without reference to God. However, twentieth century philosophy, especially that of the linguistic turn and postmodernism, has discovered the importance of meaning. Currently, on the assumption that we can (or the desire to) address this issue without reference to a Creator, thinkers have been looking to language (hence the Linguistic Turn in philosophy) to ground meaning, hence an widened interest in hermeneutics and the reading of texts. But Derrida, for example, found himself going further, and suggesting that all life is meaning that can be interpreted as meaningful. This intuition seems to be admitted by all philosophers who are willing, including Heidegger (even though he might use different terms).
What all this means is that as academics study the fabric of creation openly they discover meaningfulness and hence our referring to God. So all academic work may be seen as journeying to this discovery.
However, other ways we misrepresent God are hidden and perhaps are more serious. They lead to attitude and speech; they are what the Bible calls "heart", from which the mouth forms its words.
In all those ways do we not seriously misrepresent God and especially the Lord Jesus Christ? I seriously wonder whether the Covid-19 pandemic was allowed by God as a warning to God's people in the affluent nations?
Many of those who have turned against God seem to have done so because God's people misrepresented him. AA Milne, the author of Winnie the Pooh, hated the Old Testament - because we misinterpeted it from a perspective that misrepresents God.
I wonder whether things like atheism, communism, etc. were our fault.
Many Christians and Jews treat themselves as the only ones through whom God's plans operate, and the rest of the world 'goes to the devil'. That is what I mean by exclusivism. Many humanists and those Christians and Jews who are socially or theologically liberal react against that and operate as though there is no fundamental difference, and that all eventually 'get to God' (where "God" might take on a different meaning for humanists!). That is what I mean by inclusivism.
The idea of representing God gives us a picture in which both Christians, Jews and the rest of humanity all have a role, all hold responsibility, but differently. And how Jews and Christians are supposed, not to be cut off from the rest of humanity, but to lead humanity towards what God wants the whole to Creation (including humanity) to be like.
I have found myself operating with that in the back of my mind, in politics, environmental action, technology development, business, academic research, and so on, as well as in the church. I no longer see the church as a beleaguered congregation whose main role is to keep themselves pure, nor as a mere branch of social services, nor even as somehow coupling evangelism and social action together in the uneasy alliance we often find. No.
If you like, this view brings sacred and secular together, not just by forming a relationship between them as distinct entities, but by merging them together so there is really no difference. Christians have relevance to what we call secular life, even in ways that the secular mind might find valuable (once they abandon their anti-Christian prejudice) and seculars have relevance in God's plan, in a way that most Christians perhaps don't yet understand.
I'm still working out what I mean there, but the fact that I often find myself misunderstanding and being misumderstood by others in the church suggests it needs to be done. I keep working at it; this section was added later than most others.
"Everyone is invited to this joy and responsibility: to represent God in this world today such that we are a conduit of God's blessing into the world. Reader: do you want to face this challenge?"
"We are called to be 'like Christ'. "You shall be holy for I am holy." To make something holy requires purification, and often those who were willing to accept God's challenge to be holy were allowed to go through major difficulties and persecutions. Especially we have to forego any attitudes of bitterness."
What We Show of God? See the list. They are challenging.
In Isaiah 58 God challenges His people with:
And, these days, to promote Creation Care and climate and environmental responsibility - returning to humanity's mandate to represent ("image") God to the rest of Creation, shepherding it for its own sake, not our own.
Maybe Andrew Faraday's response below might help us.
Doing life, not just doing right, is what God does and is what those who represent God are called to do. See Learning from the People of Israel above.
This is a great secret for those who represent God. We cannot represent God by our own strength or righteousness - we are always weak and tend to sin - but he himself can represent himself in and through us if we let him.
Representing God then becomes a double joy: not only the joy of being and doing something of ultimate Meaning, but also the joy that comes from experiencing the Living God active and dwelling within us. The greatest joy a creature can experience. He not only gives us the strength to represent him, but he also gives the will to do so, not just a general grand wish to represent him but a gritty change in our wills here and now so that we genuinely want what he wants. Are we angry because someone took advantage of us, and want to be angry? Well, he can remove our will to anger, as well as the anger itself, and replace it with love. This is supernatural! This is phenomenal!
I have myself discovered something of this, via that wonder little verse Philippians 2:13, "For God is at work in you to will and to work his good pleasure." See that part of my spiritual journey.
I thought of three ways of possible working:-
1) Try to change the hearts of the majority of people so they 'do the right things' as regards climate change. We (the church) have to show by example how to live - and make sacrifices- and encourage others. Will it work? It may not or be far too slow.
2) We could work for government action to force people 'to do the right thing' for the common good. We have the example of rationing and restrictions during WW2. [Also in response to the Covid-19 pandemic!] But would people today accept this. I think the government would likely backdown for fear of electoral unpopularity.
3) Do we carry on quietly under the radar 'doing the right thing' ourselves? We might just hope that after a long time we could eventually start to change things. I am thinking of the example of how the church changed the Roman government under Constantine. But that wasn't all unalloyed good. The Roman empire still collapsed and we had the Dark Ages. Christian political government was better but far from perfect.
No wonder the future looks difficult to predict. But we have a God of surprises!
You alluded to the fact it could be difficult to get all Christians on board. Many do not seem to regard climate change as important (or other things are much more important). It struck me as a bit like the Abraham dilemma. Common goodness says we must do something about it (like Sodom and Gamora) but God has told us to do 'better things', like sacrificing Isaac. Is that how they are thinking? Do they not realise that climate change is not a natural catastrophe? I was thinking that there are very few natural catastrophes where God allows people to suffer without intervening. Why do people live close to the shore and suffer tsunamis or on the slopes of volcanos? Because they are poor and forced to live there by the rich (us?) because we have bagged all the safest land. And it is the same with climate change, the poor will suffer most but it is up to the rich to mitigate it and they can."
Note: Or Representatives? Chris Gousmett points out that we are not a representation of God, in the sense that a symbol represents something, but that we are representatives of God. we are, as Paul said, ambassadors. For more, see Chris' Two Sermons, What God is Doing ....
This page, URL= "http://abxn.org/nv/representation.html",
is part of the on-going work in developing a 'New View' in theology and practice that is appropriate to the days that are coming upon us. Comments, queries welcome by emailing
Compiled by Andrew Basden as part of his reflections from a Christian perspective. Copyright (c) Andrew Basden to latest date below, but you may use this material for almost any purpose, but subject to certain conditions.
Written on the Amiga with Protext in the style of classic HTML.
Created:
Last updated:
Created: 31 October 2008.
Last updated: 31 May 2009 church congregations. 22 June 2009 phil 2:13 'all.suff'. 30 April 2011 more visible link to RepGod; keywords. 6 November 2011 start of 'Forever', and some rewrite. 20 November 2011 clearer on New Earth, and link to cfr. 21 November 2011 more on Forever and links to cfr, romans8. 11 December 2011 filled in the 'to be written' bits about Church, then moved these to church.html, and composed a summary here; added other types of representation incl academic, cultural, political, and revival; corrected link and font. 18 March 2012 four aspects of representing God. 2 August 2012 meaningfulness, Derrida. 3 September 2012 Better headings, with some new topics to be expanded. 15 November 2012 persecution. 25 December 2012 I came to see this page as discussing the theme of representing God in general, while the one in rrrr.html is for developing the theme within the theology of the New View, so I have begun to move stuff from there to here and vice versa. Rep in everyday work. 26 December 2012 completed it. 27 December 2012 Image, Contents and a few corrections, and better intro. 3 February 2013 link to salt.light. 25 October 2013 God's wrath v his people r.t. nations. 19 January 2014 minor correction. 22 January 2014 box about Amos. 23 January 2014 dangers of reprsentation, link to scripture#surprises. 1 February 2014 who.law: extra with link to Jonah. 3 February 2014 more emphasis on six duties of representing. 28 April 2014 WhatIsGodDoing in discu. 28 August 2015 Heb 9:14, serving God. 27 September 2015 HTML error corrected ('name' s/b 'href'!); added re blessing spreading out; higher and lower roads. 25 November 2018 learning.from.israel. 12 April 2019 God's plan includes ours; God's mercy. 3 April 2020 new intro about Jesus' perspective; added links to Prophets sermon, and 'Jewish Scriptures' rather than 'OT'. 11 April 2020 Towards an Integrated View? 4 May 2020 missionary and green movements as representation; Christ's arms and hands. 10 August 2020 bgcolor; better intro; added on responsibility of those who represent God; wrote Misrepresenting God. 29 November 2020 Why true fasting is justice? 6 December 2020 Partnering with God. 20 February 2021 Matt Jesus' attitude, new .end,.nav. 18 May 2021 I Pet 2:9. 23 May 2021 new short intro; Challenges at end; response from AF; contents. 14 September 2021 See.Also; CG's Two sermons. 18 September 2021 Jonathan Sacks' Ethics of Responsibility; Chris Gousmett. 19 September 2021 a bit more of CG. 6 February 2022 some rw intro; section answering the questions. 19 June 2022 II Cor 5:17-20. 5 January 2023 God wk through us. 1 April 2023 NTWright acts. 16 July 2023 new intro. 9 January 2024 unity of Gen 1:26.
Working with God
As mentioned above, the Apostle Paul talks about "workers together with God", which is not the same as merely "workers for God". No! God also works. God is not some aloof monarch who merely orders his army or civil servants to do things for him. The true Living God is one who work within his creation and especially with his people. Generations of those who have taken God seriously have found little, and sometimes, large 'miracles' happening that facilitate God's work that they are engaged upon. Read the life of Hudson Taylor, for example. See also the page on miracles.
For example, climate change seems an impossible problem to us.
Such action by God is often completely unexpected and 'illogical', something we could or would never have thought of. His wisdom and knowledge is greater than ours.
But we cannot presume on God doing so.
And we must always remember that we are representing God and engaged in his plan, rather than enlisting him in our plans.
To Whom Has God's Law Been Revealed?
God's law through Moses was revealed to his people Israel. To whom did that law apply, and during which eras? To what extent, and in what way, does the Mosaic Law apply today to Gentiles, whether Christian, Humanist or people of other religions? Should we Christians attempt to bring God's law into the legal codes in our societies? Some say Yes, others, No. Some say the Sabbath Law is for all humankind, others that it is a sign only for God's people (and specifically Israel).
Persecution
Those who represent God bring light - to guide, to enliven, to show, to beautify, but also to expose, to show clearly the way things are, and the deep things of people's hearts. But the world is dark, and darkness hates the light. So those who represent God will be persecuted.
Representing Then, Now and Forever
The Church
The purpose of the Church is to represent God, or rather to facilitate God's people representing him. 'Church' has several meanings, each of which facilitates a different aspect of representing God. And each of which holds its own danger. For a fuller discussion of this, see the page on The Church - A New View.
Learning from the People of Israel
"These things are written for our learning" wrote Paul, referring to the Torah, Prophets and Writings of the Jewish Scriptures. But in what way? It has been traditionally thought among Christians that much is allegory, with perhaps a history leading up to Jesus. But Paul's writings and also the letter to the Hebrews suggests more. The latter warns "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ,,," [Hebrews 3:12]. This is the kind of thing that applies equally among all who represent God, things like pride, stubbornness, blessing, joy, God with us, trust, etc.
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the chains of the yoke
to set the opressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter ..."
Representing God in our Everyday Work and Life
Tim Keller published a book in which he speaks of 'secular' work as part of God's Plan. Our work and life is not just something that God blesses because he loves us, nor is the Church to do its own thing and trust God to bless it; rather, we have the privilege of being significant and involved in God's Plan. That is what representing God is all about.
Academic Representation
Humanity has been given the mandate to bless the rest of creation and part of this is to build a body of knowledge about the way creation works that can shared and relied upon, and applied to any future situations. The whole of humanity is active in this project, and most afford it respect. It works by building theories, which process is governed by the paradigms within which thinkers work, which are themselves constrained by research programmes, and all are governed by ground-motives (religious presuppositions of the nature of reality that act as a spiritual driving force to the outworking of the mandate).
Cultural Representation
Human life occurs within a culture, and itself forms that culture. Culture consists of a "body of customary beliefs, social forms and material traits" [Webster]. Culture affects the way we live, and hence the extent to which humanity fulfils its mandate. Much in every culture is rotten, and diverts us from the mandate. God's people have the privilege and responsibility of bringing health back into the culture within which they live. This is by loving, critical exposure of the distortions and work to remove them, with the power of Christ. That part of culture which is the arts is particularly important here, so it is good that Christians have been active in the arts more than they were.
Political Representation
Political representation is concerned with the structures of society, especially policies, laws and societal infrastructure. This affects (hinders or helps) humanity in its mandate [I Timothy 2:2]. God's people are called to be active in representing God in the political arena. We should normally uphold and heal the political order [Romans 13:1] but should also know when and how to oppose it strongly - and be courageous enough to stand out against the political order. Whereas secular revolutionaries focus on one aspect, God's people should focus on what is underneath.
Misrepresenting God
We have seen that God takes seriously the responsibility we have of representing God, and that misrepresentation is a very serious problem. In what ways might we misrepresent God today?
Overall Solution - Revival
Ultimately, when all the above are rotten, the only real and effecive solution is revival instituted by the Holy Spirit of God though his people. In revival, God's people not only show what God is like, but are God's key instrument in bringing health back into society. But, to be God's instrument, we must be pure and holy, not seeking our own convenience and comforts and agendas in life, but 'losing' our lives for Christ's sake, utterly dedicated to him. May I be so, and may nothing get in the way. Amen!
Towards an Integrated View?
Does the idea of representing God help us overcome the false, fragmented views of both exclusivism and inclusivism?
Answers to the Conundrum Questions
At the start I said this idea of representing God helps me answer several conundrum questions. Here are the answers from above, in summary.
CHALLENGES
From above:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the chains of the yoke
to set the opressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter ..."
EXCERPTS
Do Life, not just Do Right
Nee To Sheng (Watchman Nee) gives the following story: Two men, who had become disciples of Jesus Christ, owned a rice paddy. The neighbour below them broke down the wall and syphoned off their water to water his own paddy. The two men, following Christ's injunction to "turn the other cheek", rebuilt their wall. This happened seven times. The two men sought advice from their pastor, who suggested that they should get up earlier in the morning and first irrigate their neighbour's paddy, and then irrigate their own. More than turning the other cheek: going the extra mile. The men did this, and while doing so experienced great joy. After three days of their doing this, the neighbour came to them, astounded by their attitude. "Please tell me about this God you worship," he asked them. Nee To Sheng summed it up by saying these men did not just do right; they did life.
The All-Sufficient Christ
Too often, however, we are not willing to take such an attitude or action. We might struggle to do this out of a sense of 'ought' (especially having heard the above story), force ourselves to follow their example, but then get no joy out of it, nor any results. Hannah Whitall Smith had struggled for years to curb her inner anger, impatience, rebellion, etc. and be a 'good Christian', then one day she made the discovery that Christ's salvation is for the here and now as well as for the future, is for saving to sanctification now not only justification in the future. When she needed patience, she discovered, she no longer needed to store it up by lots of prayer, but rather she could let Christ be patience within her.
SOME RESPONSES
From Andrew Faraday, 19th May 2021
"A lot of Christian focus, may be especially now, is on individual action and responsibility. It is as if the aim is to make a few more nicer people. But if we want to make really big changes, like solve climate change etc., we have to act at a political level. This is where it become tricky.
See Also
References and Notes
Dooyeweerd, H. (1955/1984) A New Critique of Theoretical Thought. Paidaiea Press, Presbyterian Publishing House.
Smith, Alec. (1984) Now I call him brother. Basingstoke, UK: Marshall, Morgan and Scott.
