Asking new questions
The question, “have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?”, illustrates how the vision of Jesus have been reduced to a personal piety designed for individualistic consumption. I’m wondering if a more radical question wouldn’t be, “have you accepted Jesus as the world’s communal Lord and Savior?” or “how is your communal relationship with God growing?”
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Tom loves life and enjoys exploring as much of it as he can. He is sharing life with Lollie, Tayla and Liam as well as friends and family. He is passionate about the kingdom and how it takes expression in South Africa.
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Yes and no. On the one hand, there is the risk of a one-dimensional evangelicalism. On the other hand, my experience in ministry tells me that true surrender to Christ means a sacrifice of one's entire way of thinking and being. My metanarrative was sin, not just me.
Incidentally the New Testament itself has very little reference to community per se. Also, an emphasis or focus on community may tend to lead to conflict, i.e. may be counter-productive — one of the findings of my postgraduate research.
Interesting thoughts, why do you say that the New Testament have very little reference to community?
I am afraid that, the institutionalization of this relationship (through organized religion) does not have a great record. As such and, I believe that this is what Jesus wanted to say to us, that there is a place for a personal relationship with God.
I definitely believe in a personal relationship with Jesus, I just think that it can't stop there.
Obviously a communal relationship includes a personal relationship with God.
Word studies have been done on "community" and related words in the New Testament. Unfortunately it now slips my mind where. However, let's take perhaps the most familiar term: koinonia. Even this refers to "community" in the sense of a human community, only a few times. This raises a question of emphasis.
Hi Thomas,
I think if one looks at the majority of Paul's writings one has to conclude that community is an integral part of the New Testament.
I'm thinking of images like the body of Christ, the family metaphors and all the times when 'you' refers to the plural and not just the singular. There is also all the 'one another' passages ….
Jesus Himself framed the story of salvation in terms of love of God and love of neighbors, which John picks up in 1 John.
In terms of koinonia , the phrase is used 15 times in the NT and it actually refers to community in terms of relational terms quite often and in very pertinent ways; fellowship (koinonia) is used for giving to the poor for instance.
What my post is getting at is how we've changed the message of Jesus and the definition of salvation into a very individualistic affair ….
I'm not saying that we shouldn't accept Jesus as our personal Savior, I just think that we should move from that foundation towards a communal relationship with God (1 Corinthians 12) is a great example of this.
Thanks for the comments , would love to hear some further thoughts!
Shalom,
Tom.
I'm not sure I'm in a position to respond. In a world of theology, the terms are "loaded": "message of Jesus", "definition of salvation", "individualistic affair", and so on. The response re koinonia is essentially undifferentiated. I was seeking to convey what I remembered of studies. I accept what you say about New Testament teaching, yet can't discern your reasons for stating it.
A thorough study of Scripture and history demonstrates that one of the greatest gifts to the world given by the Judeo-Christian tradition is that of the value of the individual. The Old Testament, while seemingly cold in respect to our highly relational culture, shows a God who radically altered the norm of the day to connect and value individuals.
As Christians, we cannot under-value the importance and essential nature of our individual relationship with God. It is in Christ that individuals suddenly discover their identity.
However, in our culture we have lost this view for the shallow alternative of individualism. The fact is that the value of the individual given to us by God through history (as seen in Scripture) is always, ALWAYS in the context of a united community, but that the people of Israel or the Body of Christ. Individual "relationship to God" apart from the wider community of faith clearly moves away from what Scripture calls us to.
To suggest that a word study of "community" related phrases demonstrates that it is not an important emphasis in the New Testament not only relies on limited and flawed means of study, but also ignores the sweeping foundations of history and Scripture as a whole. Much of it not explicitly mentioned because it would have been redundant to do so in the context- faith apart from the community defied the relational nature of God & faith itself.
I do not think the author of this post is suggesting that individual faith and relationship are unimportant, but rather making the VERY necessary reminder that we bought into a dangerous individualism that ultimate hurts the individual in the long run.
Peace,
Jamie
Thomas,
Due to the ministry in which I'm involved, this is a very relevant topic for me. In a nutshell, I would say that the Biblical viewpoint is that we come into a personal relationship with Christ after which God makes us part of a new community (to use Bosch's phrase). I think it is unnecessary to see these two in conflict with each other.
Perhaps I should blog about this.
Thanks for the comment … Arnau's article can be read here: http://missionissues.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/personal-salvation-or-communal-salvation/