The Ascension and the Pledge
Filed Under (Sharon Nichols, book excerpts) by Sharon Nichols on 15-07-2012
Tagged Under : Authors-Gerritt Scott Dawson, Christology-Ascension, Christology-Body of Flesh, Christology-Continued Incarnation, Christology-Incarnation, Christology-Last Adam, Christology-Mediator, Church History-Chrysostom, Church History-Tertullian, Verses-1 Peter 1:4-5, Verses-Acts 2:32
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Below is an except from the book “Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation” by Author Gerritt Scott Dawson. I found this to be quite edifying and thought provoking.
“One nuance from the church fathers on the ascension and the person of Christ deserves attention. The passage quoted in Chapter 2 from Tertullian’s “On the Resurrection of the Flesh” continues:
the last Adam, yet the primary Word – flesh and blood, yet purer than ours -… ‘shall descend in like matter as He ascended into heaven’ the same both in substance and form, as the angels affirmed, so as even to be recognized by those who pierced Him. Designated, as He is, ‘the Mediator between God and man,’ He keeps in His own self the deposit of flesh which has been committed to Him by both parties – the pledge and security of its entire perfection. For as ‘He has given to us the earnest of the Spirit,’ so has He received from us the earnest of the flesh, and has carried it with Him into heaven as a pledge of that complete entirety which is one day to be restored to it. Be not disquieted, O flesh and blood, with any care; in Christ you have acquired both heaven and the kingdom of God.
The ascension inaugurates a double pledge of our future in the person of Jesus. The first we recognize easily as the deposit in our flesh of the Holy Spirit, who was received from the Father by the ascended Son and then poured out on his disciples (Acts 2:32). But Tertullian discerns that as Jesus went up still wearing our flesh, he now holds in himself the pledge of the resurrection bodies and eternal life in which we will partake. Ascending in the glorified skin and bones of our nature, Jesus guarantees in his very person what we will become, having secured ‘an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of that salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:4,5). Not only does Christ send the Spirit as a pledge in our hearts, he bears in himself the guarantee of what we will become in union with Christ.
Two centuries later, in still another sermon by an unknown author, yet so close in thought to Chrysostom as to be assigned to him, we hear an echo of Tertullian’s formulation:
Above His body, below His Spirit for us… On account of the flesh which He took up, we are His kinsmen; we therefore have this pledge above, i.e. the body, which He took from us, and below the Holy Spirit with us. And behold the wonder! I do not say that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and is no longer in heaven, and that having changed places the body is in heaven and the Spirit on earth, but that the Spirit is with us and everywhere and above… Heaven has the holy body and earth received the Holy Spirit: Christ came and brought the Holy Spirit; He went up and took our body… We have therefore the pledge of our life in heaven; Christ Jesus went up in our body of flesh, bringing the pledge of our future into heaven. The ascension narrative is the very drama of our assurance. How do we know what our future is in Christ? Because the witnesses saw him go, still in our skin, back to his Father, just as he promised. Moreover, we are not left here as orphans, but bear now in our bodies the Holy Spirit, because Christ has fitted flesh to be a receptacle for him, and in his days among us, as Irenaeus said, accustomed the Spirit to dwell within the human heart. So the ascension inaugurates the double pledge through the person of Jesus.It is the occasion for the taking of flesh to heaven and of the sending of the Spirit to earth. We now have the “arrabon”, the first payment guaranteeing full payment (Ephesians 1:14-15), of all we will receive in union with Christ.By the Spirit of Jesus, we are ‘being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God’, just as he did on our behalf in his flesh.”
page 87ff
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Robertson’s Word Pictures states:
Christ died on the cross PHYSICALLY (God cannot die so it must be speaking of Jesus’ physical death), yet in this vision to John, Jesus Christ is “living”. Present active indicative – He IS alive.
Because of the context of the physical death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His current state of “living” in heaven, this proves that Jesus Christ is alive in the same bodily nature that he died on the cross with – a human body (albeit glorified after his resurrection).
IOW, He WAS dead, but NOW He is living. How? In a human body; just as he died in a human body, he now lives in a human body “forevermore”. Since God already lives “forevermore” then it makes no sense to state that Jesus will live “forevermore” UNLESS it is speaking of Jesus’ human body.
Great point, Sharon! This revelation is what saved me from all the silliness of FP. FP’s Christology is a total mess and embarrassment. It most certainly paints a different Christ than the one in the NT; and shamefully so. Fortunately, I know many FPs who are basically ignorant of what FP does to their Christology. I have big dreams of showing them how it attacks this fundamentally beautiful doctrine of ascension and eternal carnation of Jesus, and watching them second guess their FP-ism.
I could never go back to the porridge (FP) I once sold my inheritance for.
Thanks Sis!
Something I just noticed Greg is this:
“I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one”
The “first and the last” should be understood as God. But it goes on to say “AND the Living one.” This seems to be refering to Jesus Christ, not only as part of the Trinity, but as the firstfruits of the resurrection. Again, it shows Jesus’ nature post ascension.
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Exactly who the Nicolaitans were, and what they believed, is disputed but I found something very interesting while reading Barnes notes. He writes:
love the book…..great work, Sharon
Speaking of Mr. Carson, Mike “Bonehead” Sullivan writes, ” feel the guys pain/conflict over Matthew 24-25/NT eschatology and would love to contact him and bring some exegetical peace of mind, and unlike the ignorantly arrogant Talbot-Frost, I will not call or imply that Mr. Carson is a “moron” etc…”
1. I never called Carson a moron. Mike still can’t comprehend that point, bringing it up in every post he writes.
2. The arrogance of Mike in thinking that he can set Carson straight…….ROFL……
Wow Sharon, those are some great quotes.