ommunitDiscipleship in C y: Discipleship in …...He is a personal being. He is Father. In fact,...

Discipleship in Community:

Transcript - SF501 Discipleship in Community: © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.

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LESSON 15 of 24SF501

Historical Factors: Mystical Spirituality – Part III

Discipleship in Community:

We’ve been considering the role of mystical spirituality in the development of the church’s ideas and views of spirituality and spiritual formation. And in the last two sessions, we’ve looked specifically at the theology of mysticism as it’s been developed within the context of the church, beginning in about the third century with the rise of Neo-Platonism as a worldview—as a way of looking at reality and the influence and the impact that Neo-Platonism as well as some of the other mystery religions had on biblical interpretation and the development of a Christian mysticism. In this session we want to consider those aspects of evangelical spirituality, those theological aspects that will provide for us a counter-picture to the picture of theology, to the scheme and the framework of theology that we construct it with respect to mysticism in order for us to understand ourselves, as well as to understand fully that which is being said in mystical theology.

We need to begin with a couple of general comments concerning the distinction in basic emphasis of evangelical spirituality and mystical spirituality. And one key area has to do with the difference in emphasis with respect to God in the evangelical perspective from that of mystical theology. Mysticism accents or emphasizes the eminence of God. Now we are not saying here as we distinguish the two that one or the other holds this exclusively. But it has to do with the practical outworkings of the theology in the view of spirituality and spiritual formation. As we study mystics and mystical theology, the focus with respect to God is on His eminence; whereas in evangelical theology in terms of spiritual formation and spirituality, the emphasis, the accent seems to be on the transcendence and majesty of God. Now that might appear contrary to what we’ve said in the prior two sessions as we have talked about the mystical quest and as the mystic enters into an immediate experience with God, he enters into a realm of the trans-rational. Well the idea here has to do more with the “ontic” nature of God, the being of God in its very nature. As mystical theology, mystical spirituality approaches God, the very nature of

John R. Lillis, Ph.D.Experience: Dean and Executive Officer

at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, CA.



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the mystical quest is focusing on the eminence of God, the fact that God is present in a sense within, that we find God through interior prayer, that we find God by going within. Whereas as we look at evangelical theology, evangelical spirituality, the emphasis is on the fact that God is other. Although God is personal and involves Himself and engages in a personal relationship with the Christian, nonetheless the “otherness” of God, the transcendence and the majesty of God are emphasized. Now again that’s not to say that mystical theologians do not recognize the transcendence and majesty of God nor that evangelical theologians ignore the eminence of God. We’re talking here about the relative emphasis.

A second general comment that we need to make as we distinguish evangelical piety or spirituality from that of mystical spirituality has to do with the metaphysics, the view of reality. Mystics in practice and in their writings tend towards a more monistic understanding of reality, whereas the evangelical view is more dualistic in orientation. As we’ve indicated, this has basically to do with the difference between God and man. From the evangelical perspective, there is an infinite qualitative difference between God and man. God is the heavenly, infinite, holy Creator while man is the finite creation, the sinful creation. And so there is in one very real ontic sense, an infinite metaphysical gulf between God and man. God is holy, infinite, Creator. Man is finite, sinful, the creature. So we need to keep those two general comments in the back of our minds as we begin a more detailed discussion of those points of the theology of evangelical spirituality that enable us to see and understand mystical spirituality better; these points that will provide for us a counter-picture, if you would, of mystical spirituality.

First of all, as we consider the being of God, God is viewed within the theology of evangelical spirituality as a personal being. Remember that as Emil Brunner talked about evangelical spirituality versus mystical spirituality, he talked about the personal aspect of it in contrast to the non-personal aspect of the mystical quest. God is viewed as a personal being and not an impersonal ground of being as we see in the Christian mystical applications of the Neo-Platonic worldview of the third through sixth century. He is more than just the infinite being who is the ground and source of all being. He is a personal being. He is Father. In fact, Christ has said that we can call him “Abba,” Father. And the whole point of that was an intimate, personal relationship with the living God, an intimate, personal, understandable, rational, relationship with the living God.



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As we move from God to man, a primary difference has to do with the image of God. You recall that for, again, all practical purposes in mystical theology, the image of God is wrapped up in the divine spark that is within man. And man can find God and can know God and can move to the upper levels of being by finding that divine spark, by centering in himself, by going to the center of his being and having the mystic union with the divine spark. The image of God in evangelical spirituality is primarily defined in terms of a relationship between God and man, that is, in the ability to have relationship. Now various theologians describe that ability in various ways. And I’m not sure how you define it. We don’t want to go into the details. But I think essentially we can talk about the image of God in man in terms of the ability to have a relationship and all that goes into that, perfectly exemplified of course in the Lord Jesus Christ. No part of man’s being is divine. There is no ontic continuity of the divine and the human in the sense that is implied in the Neo-Platonic worldview and that is implicit also in the Christian mysticism. Man is completely creature. There is an infinite, ontic gulf between God and man. And that gulf is further broadened, if you would, or deepened by man’s sin so that there is an ethical aspect now to that gulf which separates man from God. And as we’re going to see, only God can bridge that gulf. And God has bridged that gulf through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

That brings us to another aspect, the third aspect; and that is Jesus. Now we didn’t discuss Jesus very much in the mystic theology, and there’s a reason for that. Jesus in mystic theology is basically a representative, or an example, of one who has gone before in the mystic quest. It’s very interesting as one reads the writings of the mystics and becomes involved in mysticism—Jesus is the incarnate Son of God who has provided a substitutionary atonement is not central. In fact, as you look at the mystic ascent and the stages of prayer, there’s very little place given to the necessity of the atonement, to the necessity of the Christ event. Recall back at the beginning of the course when we were talking about biblical spirituality in terms of the relationship that man can have with the living God, that that spirituality, that relationship is built firmly upon the Christ event. It rests necessarily upon what Christ has done in the crucifixion and the resurrection; that emphasis, that idea, is conspicuously absent in mystic theology and especially in its Christology. Often Jesus becomes just an example, one who has lived the mystic quest, one whose teachings give insight into the nature of the mystic quest.



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Faith, another important aspect in the evangelical perspective represents primarily a divine, human encounter, man being confronted by a living Savior, not just man being touched by mystery as we saw when we looked at mystical theology. It’s not a transcendence of reason but rather the conversion and transformation of reason. The rational powers are very much involved in faith. Faith involves conviction, faith involves commitment. Faith involves cognitive powers, processes. And it’s not just being touched by mystery. It’s not just entering into that illuminative stage, into a dark night where we move beyond reason. But faith involves reason and not reason alone as I’ve indicated. It also involves commitment, dedication, and loyalty to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as well.

A fifth aspect that is helpful to us in understanding fully what is going on in mystical theology has to do with revelation. Revelation from the evangelical perspective represents a divine incursion into human history and is the primary source of authority. Revelation is not a moment of conscious insight. We do not find God by looking into ourselves. God is not revealed to us through that divine spark within that we find, somehow, through a mystical experience. God’s revelation is in Jesus Christ as Hebrews 1 makes so clear. And that revelation is attested in the written Word. Donald Bloesch has pointed out in his book Crisis of Piety, in the chapter dealing with the contrast between mystical theology and evangelical theology, that self-knowledge does not lead to God-knowledge as we see in the mystical theology. Know thyself, go within and find the god that is within. Self-knowledge does not lead to God-knowledge. But God-knowledge leads to self-knowledge. We know ourselves by knowing God and knowing God as He has revealed Himself objectively in the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and through the written Word that we have in Scripture (inaudible) . Because of this, the orientation of evangelical piety is outward not inward. The orientation is with respect to what the Bible says not what the spirit says within. Now we do have indeed the inward testimony of the Spirit. But that inward testimony functions to lead us to the Christ who is without.

The sixth aspect of evangelical theology in contrast to the mystical theology has to do with sin. Within the evangelical theology as that has developed throughout the history of church, sin signifies a wicked corruption, a revolt of man against the will of God. On the other hand, following the Neo-Platonic worldview that looks at evil and sin as basically a privation, mysticism sees sin as an



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absence, as developed for example in Meister Eckhart’s work, a privation or estrangement from God. For the mystic, the basic antithesis is not between a holy God and sinful man. But the basic antithesis, again as it is in Neo-Platonism, is between the realm of spirit and the realm of nature. Recall again that view of reality where we start with the one and then from the one emanates the realm of mind. And then from that emanates the realm of the world spirit which forms the mediation between mind and then that which follows nature and the realm of matter. And so the antithesis there becomes matter and spirit, nature and spirit. And so the goal of the mystic quest, whether we’re talking about intellectual mysticism of Plotinus or the Christian mysticism of the desert fathers and others, the goal becomes to transcend the realm of nature and enter into the realm of spirit. So the basic antithesis is between spirit and nature.

A seventh aspect of evangelical theology that provides useful insight for us has to do with salvation. Salvation from the evangelical perspective involves forgiveness. It begins with forgiveness resulting in acceptance by a merciful Father. Salvation is not a reunion with the ground of being, nor the enlightenment that comes through that reunion, through that immediate experience of ultimate reality through the mystical ascent. Salvation involves forgiveness and acceptance by a merciful Father, a relationship with the living God based upon that forgiveness. Salvation involves a life, eternal life, a quality of life, entering into a life of relationship with the living God. Indeed it is a liberation, not a liberation from the mortal body, not a liberation from the confines of nature and matter, but a liberation from self-will and the powers of darkness associated with sin, a liberation from the world, the flesh and the devil, if you would, in the sense that that’s discussed in Scripture.

An eighth point that is important has to do with grace. You remember that as we talked about grace with respect to the mystic theology, that grace was a power that was infused into an individual by which that individual can become divine, can become transformed. Grace from the evangelical perspective refers to the favor of God not to stuff which is infused, not to some power which is injected into man, but the favor of God bringing about man’s conversion, bringing about man’s new birth. Grace indeed does have concrete effects so that we are empowered to live a holy life. But we are not permeated by grace so that we become like God. Grace is not something that is infused within us, that we put ourselves into the position to receive in a substantive way



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through purgative types of activities. The emphasis is not on a transforming union with God in the mystical sense but on a new life that we have in Jesus Christ. There’s a strong ethical note missing in much of the mystical writings. Mysticism tends to subordinate ethical obedience to the pursuit of purely spiritual goals. There’s a noticeable lack of ethical exhortation in the spirituality-oriented writings of mystical theology. We need to remember that the primary means of grace is not through purgative practices, not through mortification of the flesh but the primary means of grace is through proclamation. We do not seek to give birth to God as Meister Eckhart maintained but we seek to give testimony to God. Evangelism, proclamation of the gospel is the heart of grace.

You’ll recall also as we talked about mysticism, there were the stages of the ascent to God often described as the stages of the Christian life—the purgative, the illuminative, and then the final unitive stage. Well the stages of the new life in Christ from an evangelical perspective, and I use the word stages broadly and maybe we should again italicize that or put it in parentheses. But the stages of the new life in Christ from the evangelical perspective involve justification, sanctification, and glorification. And indeed those are the acts of God in our life, the acts of God through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ made possible by what He has done, made possible by His life and death on our behalf not through some mystical ascent that we go through.

Finally, prayer from an evangelical perspective consists primarily of supplication, supplication with adoration and thanksgiving seen as elements of prayer. Prayer from an evangelical perspective is often viewed as wrestling with God, not meditating upon God. And indeed as we look at the biblical examples of prayer, those illustrations that we have both in the Old and the New Testament, those stories of prayer in both testaments, they were not primarily meditative or contemplative in nature but rather petitionary and intercessory. As we look at the prayers of Jesus in those times in which His prayers were explicitly articulated and we are taught to pray by Jesus, Jesus taught His disciples to pray in a manner that was primarily supplication, supplication with adoration and thanksgiving. As we go through the epistles of the New Testament and Paul and other writers talk about praying, they talk about praying “for” their brothers and sisters in Christ. They talk about praying “for” the various churches throughout the civilized world at that time. And they pray “for” them in a supplication, and they also mention adoration and thanksgiving. In fact, as Paul describes prayer and as he talks about anxiety



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and worry, he says don’t be anxious. Don’t worry, but let your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. So prayer is not primarily described in Scripture at least from a meditative and contemplative perspective. And prayer, as it has developed in evangelical spirituality, has this perspective to it, this perspective of supplication with adoration and thanksgiving. Perhaps we could describe the evangelical perspective of prayer, primarily, as involving the first degree of ordinary prayer as Poulain described it, what he called vocal prayer including the meditation, as he described it, reflecting upon the Word. Although I think we’re going to want to say that meditation is a discipline in its own right and perhaps including then the affective prayer, the prayer of emotion.

Well as we look at those 10 points, we’ve developed them in contrast to mystical theology. However, we need to be aware that there are genuine mystical elements of biblical faith. And we need to be careful that we do not fall into the trap of saying that biblical faith is completely devoid of a mystical element, that in our reaction to those aspects of mystical theology which are contrary to our understanding of Scripture, we completely reject all mystical aspects and degenerate into a rational, cold, and dead orthodoxy. Reality does involve more than we can understand through sensory perception. And the reality of the relationship that we have with God involves more than we can understand through sensory perception. There is a spiritual aspect of reality. Indeed, we have been brought into a spiritual relationship with the living God. And this God is self-described as a Spirit. He has described Himself as being a being who is Spirit. There is a sense indeed in which we do have an immediate experience of God. However, I think we want to describe those terms, define those terms immediate experience of God, differently than they have been defined within the context of mystical theology, within the confines and the context of the mystical quest and mystical union.

And so we want to talk a bit now about the genuine mystical elements in biblical piety, realizing again that we don’t want to turn our backs completely upon the mystical aspects of our faith, realizing that our faith is not just a stifling, rationalistic orthodoxy that is completely lifeless and powerless, that there indeed is that mystical aspect. So let’s turn our attention now for a few moments to the mystical elements in biblical piety. We’ll begin by talking about the participation that we have in Christ. In our faith relationship with God through Jesus Christ we need to realize that faith consists not only in a personal relationship



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of trust and confidence in Christ but that faith also involves a mystical participation in Christ, literally an unmediated link to the absolute.

Now this mystical participation is described in a variety of ways throughout Scripture. We can start in the Gospels, for example in the gospel of John in which this mystical participation is described. In John 17, beginning at verse 20, Jesus in His prayer on behalf of those who were His disciples and who would follow describes this relation. Beginning at verse 20 of John 17, Jesus says, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone but for those also who believe in Me through their word that they may all be one even as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou has given Me I have given to them that they may be one just as We are one. I in them and Thou in Me that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst sent Me and didst love them even as Thou didst love Me.”

As Jesus is in the Father, He says, so we are in Him. It’s an intimate and deep relationship, a mystical relationship if you would, that is being described here. Now notice, however, in contrast to the individualistic emphasis that we saw in mystical piety and the individual’s mystic union with God that the purpose here of this unity focuses around the corporate nature of our spirituality. Go back to verse 23. Christ says “I in them and Thou in Me that they may be perfected in unity.” And that’s not a mystic unity in terms of one individual and the ground of all being. It’s talking in a corporate sense. Jesus has made that very clear throughout the context of this upper room discourse as He has developed throughout chapters 13 through the end of 17 the importance of prayer and the relationship that we are to have one with another. He says, “That they may be perfected in unity.” And then notice “that the world may know that Thou didst send Me.” Now if you’re familiar with the theology of the gospel of John, you know that one of the things that John is attempting here to assert is that Jesus is the sent One. Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent from God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the One sent. And here in His high priestly prayer, Jesus says, “as we are perfected in unity.” And we are perfected in that unity by His mystical indwelling of us as we are perfected in that unity, then that will be an evangelistic testimony to the world that Christ was the sent One. It is our unity which gives testimony that indeed Jesus is the Messiah. And so here even as we see this mystical union described, it’s described in a corporate sense; and that corporate sense has as its



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goal evangelistic testimony, that the world might know that He is the Messiah. Turn with me over to John 15 in the first six verses, a familiar portion. Jesus says,

I am the True Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, He is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire. And they are burned.

Now here in these six verses we see that indeed there is a mystical, and I believe ontological, communion between Christ and believers. We are with Him. He is in us, and we are in Him; and that union makes possible that which we do for Him. That union makes possible the ministry that we can have one with another. Now I think it’s no accident that as you go on into this passage as you come down to verse 9, Jesus moves right to the whole idea of love. Let’s go up to verse 7 and get the whole thing.

But if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. But by this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends.

Even in the context here of this mystic union that we indeed do have with Christ, He describes the love that we are to have with one another. He moves right from that union into the love, into keeping His commands, into this ethical emphasis. And yet the ethical emphasis focuses on love. You can’t get away from that. Love is the key. Love is the essence of the Christian experience.



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And love is practiced in the corporate context, as we pointed out earlier in the course.

Peter in 2 Peter 1 also talks about the union that we have with Christ in a very unique way as he describes being partakers of the divine nature. Second Peter 1:4 we read, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” Partakers of the divine nature because of the indwelling Spirit—again there is a mystical element to our faith. There is a mystical participation in Jesus Christ. Paul’s usage throughout his writings of the metaphor “in Christ,” we are justified in Christ. Adolph Deissmann in his work says that Paul’s usage of the metaphor “in Christ,” “sanctifies the most intimate communion of Christians with the resurrected Jesus.” However, as Deissmann describes this, he describes Paul as a mystic. And he says Paul is a reacting mystic, not an acting mystic. Rather than the union that involves a loss of personality, the mystic union as described by the mystics historically, and Deissmann would call them acting mystics, he says, “Paul’s focus is not on the union but on communion, the communion that we have with God in Jesus Christ by grace. “So every real Christian,” Deissmann maintains, “is a mystic in the Pauline sense.” That is, we are in communion with Christ. We are in Christ by God’s grace, not a loss of our personality, not a transformation of our being so that we become one with the undifferentiated ground of all being, but rather a communion with the living Christ that enables us to share Christ’s attitude to sin and to have by God’s grace the power to overcome sin. Paul, even as he develops that whole idea of being in Christ however, also talks about the Christ who is for us. You see this in Galatians 2:20 as well as other passages. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”

You see, the Christ who is in me is also the Christ who is for me. Maintaining that distinction, the mystical participation that I have with Christ is a communion, an involvement in the deepest sense, yet an involvement which maintains a distinction in our persons. I am in Christ. Christ is in me. Christ is in me, but Christ is also for me. God’s otherness must always be upheld even in the intimate union of faith. As we looked at the mystic union, radical mysticism seeks to destroy and to dissolve the otherness of that relationship. It’s why we made the general comments



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at the beginning of this session. We talked about the monistic view of reality that is implicit within mystical writings. They are seeking to dissolve that ontic gulf that exists between God and man. So that man can know God by going within, by linking with the divine spark that is within. What is overcome by faith is not the ontic separation. We are not transformed so that we become God. Rather what is overcome by faith is the radical apartness, the alienation, the separation between God and man. And the separation is not dissolved. It is bridged. It is bridged by the Christ event. It is bridged by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as He became incarnate on our behalf, as He became the God man and bridged that gulf between God and man, a gulf which is not only ontic but which was ethical, moral; and man sinned, separating and alienating us from God. It has been bridged, not dissolved, bridged in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God does enter in Christ into an intimate, personal communion with the believer, a communion that does not involve the dissolution of our personality but a communion that involves losing ourselves and then finding ourselves again in God, finding ourselves as we are meant to be. Bonhoeffer says, “The Christian person achieves his true nature when God does not just confront him as thou but indeed enters into him as I, so that God is no longer just an object in faith but a subject who enters into personal communion with the believer.” As we talk about this mystical participation, as we talk about our faith and the mystical elements of our faith, we need to realize there are other aspects of this as well, in addition to this mystical communion.

A second aspect has to do with that of revelation. And indeed there is a sense in which revelation does remain a mystery as the mystics claim, even to the believer. Karl Barth has illustrated it well in his Church Dogmatics when he says, “It is not God who stands before us if He does not just stand before us in such a way that He is and remains a mystery to us. Mystery means that He is and remains the One whom we know only because He gives Himself to be known.” And we mentioned this several times as we were working through mystical theology that indeed the God that we worship, the God with whom we enter into relationship, into a relationship of communion, is a God who is completely other and indeed is a God who is beyond our total knowing. However, that mystery is not a pure mystery as the mystics would have us believe. But that mystery is a definite word concerning God’s will and purpose for man, that when the Scripture talks about mystery as Paul does throughout his writings, it is talking about a definite word which was hidden but now which has been made known and


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which has been revealed through Christ. And indeed that which God would have us to know He reveals to us, and He reveals it to us in a way that we can know and understand rationally through the powers of our reason. He has created us in a way that we can know Him and understand Him. Mystics are right in saying that the meaning of God’s truth is veiled by mystery, but it is a mystery that is illumined by meaning. “Created in the image of God” means that we can grasp the revelation that God would have us grasp, that we can know God rationally in the way that He has chosen to be known by those whom He has created.

Well in addition to the mystical participation in Christ and the revelation and mystery aspect of the mystical dimensions of biblical piety, there is a mystical aspect of our experience of faith. The Christian life does indeed involve more than just an intellectual assent to the creeds. When we talk about faith, we are indeed talking about more than just a cognitive, rational assent to a specific set of facts. The Christian life, this relationship that we’ve entered into, includes the experience of faith as well. Luther said for example, “It is not enough that you say that Luther, Peter, Paul have said so. But you must experience Christ Himself in your own conscience and feel that it is unquestionably God’s Word though all the world oppose it.” There he’s talking about the existential aspect of our faith, the experience of our faith. Calvin, “It is not sufficient,” he said, “to know Christ as crucified and raised up from the dead unless you experience also the fruit of this. Christ, therefore, is rightly known when we feel how powerful His death and resurrection are and how efficacious they are in us.” So indeed there is that experiential aspect of our faith not just cold, dead assent to rational orthodoxy but the experience of this faith relationship. We need to realize, however, that contrary to the mystics, our faith is mediated through experience derived from the Word. Our faith is not derived from experience. That’s the key difference for the mystic. The faith itself is derived from experience. For us our faith is mediated through experience derived from the Word.

Well, in the next session we’ll continue our discussion of the mystical elements of biblical piety, and then also discuss the key areas of tension between evangelical theology and mystical theology with respect to spiritual formation.

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