Theology beacon dictionary of theology

Environment plays a powerful part, since most converts tend to take on the life-style of the re­ligious community to which they belong. Churches (and schools) are pedagogical agents, by example, atmosphere, preaching, instruction, and rules and regulations.

These many strands of influence bear pro­foundly on the kind of life-style a convert will adopt, how rapidly he or she will adopt it, and how thoroughly. Obviously, therefore, while the Holy Spirit, illuminating the Bible, is primary, the community also has a responsibility of a teaching nature, which it dare not refuse to exercise.

The problem of determining what is a proper holiness life-style is essentially a hermeneutical one. It is necessary, for one thing, to identify the unmistakable biblical standards. But beyond this, it is important to be discerning in applying bibli­cal principles to 20th-century social issues about which the Bible has no explicit word. Tobacco would be a case in point. But the most difficult hermeneutical task is handling wisely the biblical tension between affirmation and denial. The note of affirmation rests on the Creation motif, while the note of denial rests on the Fall. On the one hand this world is a delightful place, and life is rich with pleasures and options—all of which are gifts from the God who pronounced His cre­ation good (Gen. 1:31), and according to the apostle Paul, are to be received with thanks­giving (1 Tim. 4:3-5; 6:17; cf. Jas. 1:17).

Yet struggling with this celebration of life there is in the Bible a somber note of abstention and repudiation. This is seen in the motifs of sepa­ration, other-worldliness, and pilgrim mentality, which are unquestionably very pervasive. "Worldliness" is a phenomenon recognized con­sistently in the Bible and consistently forbidden to God's people. This mood of denial, of disap­proval and prohibition, stems from the fact that sin has polluted God's creation. Every good gift has become contaminated and distorted. Many things innocent in themselves have at different times and to different degrees been pronounced off limits because of the world's virtual monop­oly.

The history of the Christian Church has been a history of seesawing between these two poles. Space does not permit a tracing of this struggle. But the struggle is still with us, between the hu­manism spawned by the Renaissance and the puritanism of the Reformation (at least in some of its branches). Richard Niebuhr has delineated very ably the conflict, and its attempted resolu­tions, in his book Christ and Culture.

Much of the time the Church and the world have coexisted quite amicably. The latent hos­tility of the world has not been aroused because its evils have not been challenged. The Church has adopted the prevailing culture to the extent that the Church and the world have seemed more like brothers than aliens. But something happens when revival sweeps through the Church. Suddenly once again the lines become sharply drawn, and practices which have infil­trated the Church are now rejected, much to the discomfiture and disgust of the unconverted.

Revival always reminds the Church that it must not attempt to remove the tension between affirmation and denial, for the same apostle who says, "All things are yours" (1 Cor. 3:21), and re­minds us to enjoy God's gifts with thanksgiving, also affirms the incompatibility of the Church and the world, reiterates the biblical injunction to come out from among them, and exhorts us to cleanse ourselves from all contamination of flesh and spirit, "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

But while we cannot remove the tension—and dare not blunt the demand for separation—we can transcend the tension at the Cross. For Christ redeemed the natural order as well as the souls of men, and released a grace by which we may live normal lives while yet on earth—lives which are normal because holy. The gifts which have been twisted by sin, such as ownership, beauty, invention, and conjugal love, can be given back to us purified and ennobled—because we have been purified.

But this transcending of the tension through redemption presupposes the ongoing control of life by the Cross. This is to say, redemption mis­carries without the maintenance of sanctified priorities. The gifts of life are not to be given dominance; that would be a reversion to idolatry, the love of the creature. In practical terms, this means that a holiness life-style will not go over­board in its affirmation of life. Hobbies, recre­ation, possessions, food, sex (within marriage), sports (within limits), art, music, vacations, edu­cation, all may be rejoiced in as good gifts; but all will be disciplined, all will be kept on the altar, none will be allowed to dominate; and all, more­over, will be expendable if more important claims demand.

Holiness by its very nature is the secret of liv­ing fully and joyfully, yet equally by its very na­ture will tend to draw the lines conservatively. In



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this respect Wesleyans share an affinity with Pu­ritans and Pietists, or any groups which have been born in revival. Several impulses in heart holiness assure such a conservative tendency. One is the capacity for more penetrating ethical perception of potential peril. Another is a su­preme devotion to God and His glory, which means a dread of even the appearance of evil which might dishonor Him. Another is a passion for souls which creates a keen awareness of the importance of example and its influence. An­other trait endemic to holiness is goodwill—a spirit of cooperation, which is to say, a will­ingness to conform to the commitments of the group. A final quality is an emancipation from a carnal bondage to human opinion—or the "in" thing.

Paul prayed that the Philippians would have a love that abounded more and more in knowl­edge and judgment, in order to discern things "that are excellent," or literally, things that make a difference (Phil. 1:9-10). Some things make a big difference. Others make a little difference, but not enough to divide over. Still others make no difference at all. The strength of the holiness movement will depend not only on pure motives but enough sound judgment to know which is which. It takes sense as well as piety to know where to draw the line between affirmation and denial. Yet it must be reiterated that spiritual depth will be conducive to greater caution than nominalism, and holiness people will always tend to see evil where carnal Christians see no evil at all.

See holiness, ethics, ethical relativism, human­ism, christian humanism, world (worldliness), imitation of christ, spiritual warfare, sinning re­ligion.

For Further Reading: Shoemaker, Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Men; Lindsell, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil; Taylor, Return to Christian Culture; The Disciplined Life; Niebuhr, Christ and Culture.

Richard S. Taylor

LIGHT. This is a basic descriptive image of God as revealed in Christ. The scriptural word means brightness either as substance, reflection, or as revelation. God is light (1 John 1:5) who came among us as Jesus Christ (John 1:9); and in Him all men may see light (Ps. 36:9). Christ, as Deity in the flesh, is the embodiment of light.

Creation took place as light was introduced in­to the world (Gen. 1:3). Being is light. Nonbeing is darkness. The initial dispelling of darkness was prophetic of the continuing drama which looks to the ultimate triumph and destruction of dark­ness by Christ the Light. The word imagery of light illuminates the old covenant, e.g., the Ex­odus light (Exod. 13:21), the Tabernacle light (1 Sam. 3:3), the central place of lampstands in Temple worship (2 Chron. 4:7), and the promise of God to illuminate His people (Isa. 60:19-20). Prophetically the Psalmist sought the light of God's face, and Zechariah looked to the day when God's abiding Spirit would dwell as illu­mination in the cleansed hearts of the redeemed (Zech. 4:6 ff).

The light breaks through in clarity in the per­son of God the Son (Matt. 5:14-16; John 1:1-18; Heb. 2:6-7). Jesus is the incarnation of God in the present world, and He is announced as the Lamb who is the Light of the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:22-26).

Light was a religious symbol in ancient non-biblical traditions, e.g., Babylonian. Some pre-Socratic Greek philosophers expressed light as a presupposition of all understanding. The writ­ings of the Christian saints commonly use the imagery of "radiance" and 'light" in their efforts to express a manifestation of God.

Light is a fundamental concept theologically since it is descriptive of the nature of God and is definitive of the mission of Christ. It guides the soul responding to the prevenient and saving grace of God and is part of the new atmosphere in which the regenerate person lives (John 8:12). The soul of man was created to be an earthly lamp of God. It may be proper, therefore, to de­fine light as the spiritual understanding which a person receives as he accepts the revelatory Word of God. His continued acceptance (walking in the light) is his salvation.

Since Christ alone is the Light of life, to be in­dwelt by Christ is to have light, and not to be indwelt by Christ is to live in darkness (John 1:12; 3:19-21). The unconverted sense spiritual light as blind men sense the light of the sun but do not see. In one respect the fire of hell is the residue of refused light.

The one who receives the gift of life in Christ (1 John 5:12) may live and walk in light (1:7) and be a "child" of light (Luke 16:8) and a bearer of light (Matt. 6:22). The redeemed person begins to take on more of a radiance of His light (Eph. 5:8) and to become light in the world (Phil. 2:15).

See darkness, knowledge, revelation (natu­ral, special).

First-century Jewish worship, both in Temple and synagogue (apart from the former's sacri­ficial ceremonies), consisted chiefly of Scripture reading, prayers, an optional exhortation, psalm singing (often recitation), the antiphonal declara­tion of the Shema (consisting of Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21; and Num. 15:37-41) and the bene­dictions. The Apostolic Church modelled its wor­ship on the Jewish pattern, and it consisted of praise, prayer, Scripture reading, exposition, and the Lord's Supper (see 1 Tim. 3:16; 2:1-2; 4:13; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. ll:20ff; etc.).

Subapostolic writings such as First Clement (a.d. 95), the Letters of Ignatius (a.d. 107), and the Didache (approx. a.d. 130) all contain liturgical forms and allusions. The Didache is basically a manual of liturgical directives. Justin Martyr, writing about a.d. 151, gives the fullest account of contemporary Christian worship: lections, ser­mon, common prayers, the kiss of peace, praise, prayer, and the Lord's Supper (see Apology, chaps. 65—67).

All branches of the Christian Church have had, and have, their own distinguishing liturgical forms, ranging from the ornate ceremonialism of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal churches to the more simple worship patterns of the small groups in evangelical Protestantism. Prominent among those congregations with least liturgical forms are the Quakers and the Salva­tion Army, neither of which celebrates baptism or the Lord's Supper. (An excellent summary of worship in the Early Church and through the centuries in Catholic, Reformed, and Episcopal churches is found in W. D. Maxwell's An Outline of Christian Worship.)

The many liturgical forms found in Christian worship are not only inevitable but desirable, ministering, as they do, to a wide diversity of hu­man feeling, religious aspiration, and tem­peramental differences. All liturgical acts, whether in words only, or in words and actions (i.e., ceremonial proper), are intended to have a twofold function. Towards God the liturgical act is an expression of the attitude and aspirations of the worshipper; towards man it is an attempt to unite the congregation in and through that par­ticular form of worship.

As far as an ideal liturgical form can be spoken of, it should combine objectivity—the contem­plation, adoration, and praise of the Holy Trinity; and subjectivity—the experience of the grace, forgiveness, and blessing of God mediated by the Holy Spirit. A liturgical form that over-stresses the institutional tends to suppress God-given individual expression, while worship that merely gives free rein to individualistic subjec­tivity tends to eccentricity and an exclusion of in­stitutional devotion. While no one form of liturgical practice will satisfy all worshippers, each form must have both the corporate and the individualistic elements. Ideally, the Spirit should be able to work through the form, not have to go around it. Worship forms should con­duct the Spirit's ministrations, not impede them. Yet there is always danger that the best of forms, because of habit and familiarity, can become a sedative instead of a stimulant. Whether a ser­vice is formal or informal, it cannot create a spirit of worship when such a spirit is absent from the heart of the worshipper.

For Further Reading: Maxwell, An Outline of Christian

The NT emphasis on the spoken, written, and living Word is rooted in the OT. The Hebrew davar, "speak," refers to the substance of revela­tion and is translated by logos in the Septuagint. The Ten Commandments, then, are the Ten Words. And the "word of the Lord" is God's com­munication. Davar (logos) is quite distinct from words that emphasize form or method of saying. It is even taken as identical with the power of God, as in creation (Ps. 33:6; cf. John 1:3). In a similar way, wisdom (memra), especially in Prov­erbs, is personified and related to God. Inter-Testament Jews carried the idea farther (Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon).

Some try to trace the NT logos (especially in John 1:1-14) to Philo's attempt to unite Hebrew prophecy and Greek philosophy. Though simi­larities of terms are seen and though Philo pred­icates certain attributes of Christ to his Logos, the subject is not the same. The Son of God is miss­ing. Philo has no adequate Mediator (Cremer, 395). The Logos of John's Gospel and of the NT in general leads to the OT for its source and mean­ing.

NT usage of logos is different from and op­posed to the pagan and semipagan concepts. The truth of God corrects the false ideas and half-truths of the philosophers, of the Philonians, of the Gnostics, and of modern unbelief. The logos is God's truth proclaimed (Mark 4:14), whether by Jesus himself or by others (Acts 4:4; 1 Thess. 2:13). It is handed down orally and in writing (2 Thess. 2:15). The eternal Logos is also a living person, now incarnated (John 1:1-14). The NT gives consistent witness implicitly and explicitly to the logos as the spoken, written, and living Word of God.

See christ, bible, revelation (special), kerygma. For Further Reading: Turner, "Logos," ZPEB, 3:953-58; Cremer, "Logos, lego, etc.," Biblico-Theological

Lexicon of New Testament Creek, 390-96; Girdlestone,
"Word, Law, Covenant," Synonyms of the Old Testament,
204-14. Wilber T. Dayton