Holiness and Uncleanness

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Posted by sam on June 27, 2008 at 2:13pm

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I am preparing for my two lectures at Don Preston's conference (which is gonna be a doozy) - see the link on the main page. Hope to see some of you there.

Anyhoo, while preparing, I am reading a great deal of material. One of the best books I have read in awhile is From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch by T.D. Alexander (he co-edited the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology - sell your bed and by this book!). My lectures are a survey of the OT themes for resurrection of the dead. Resurrection in the Pentateuch, you ask? Oh, yes! Our view of the resurrection of the dead is not limited to Daniel 12 and some obscure verse in Job or Isaiah!

Off the subject, though, Alexander writes, "....holiness and uncleanness are totally incompatible. Not only was it impossible for anyone or anything to be holy and unclean at the same time, but, more importantly, no object or person was normally permitted to come into contact with anything unclean" (212). Alexander is dealing with the complexity of the leviticus code.

This has major ramifications for NT theology. In Christ we are made "clean". In the Law nothing could clean and unclean at the same time. You are either clean or unclean, pure and simple. By having a proper understanding of the Law, and letting that be the background for NT theology (rather than, say, Hellenistic church "fathers") one can see that we are either clean or unclean. You can't be both. Stop, though. In traditional orthocraziness, we are both....See, we still have to shed this "unclean" body to get a "glorified" body so that we can enter into the New Jerusalem. John has Leviticus (Torah) in mind when the Spirit showed him that "no UNCLEAN person shall enter into it."

question: How can Christ the Clean One be "in us" if, in fact, we are still unclean? How can a Holy and Clean Spirit dwell in us and with us if, in fact, we are still "tainted by" our sins? How can a Holy God, a CLEAN God dwell in an unclean Body - the Church? Look to Leviticus....He can't. It is IMPOSSIBLE. Conclusion, we must be, then ENTIRELY CLEAN...good news, brothers and sisters.....good news indeed (not so great news for traditional theology, but GREAT NEWS for those who look in the Bible for definitions rather than man made formulations that are old and outdated).

It's a wonderful day! Be of good cheer! Christ is IN YOU!

Sam

Comment by Jean-Pierre on June 27, 2008 at 3:58pm: ENTIRELY CLEAN............well GLOOOOORRYYYYY!!!!!

Comment by Jean-Pierre on June 27, 2008 at 3:58pm: I'm so saved!

Comment by Jean-Pierre on June 27, 2008 at 4:02pm: I'm suffering from accute triumphalism Sorry!

Comment by Sharon Nichols on June 27, 2008 at 4:49pm: accute triumphalism LOL Jean-Pierre! And AMEN to that!

Sam, I'm really looking forward to the conference. I expect it will be a doozy. :o))

Comment by Michael Bennett on June 27, 2008 at 5:09pm: Definitely want to get my hands on the CDs. Be a great listen while driving places. Love Audio Books etc.

Comment by Alexander Rodriguez on June 29, 2008 at 3:08am: Amazing point, Sam. This is another powerful way to discredit the smelly doctrine of "now, but not yet" (I can't stand that phrase, it makes no sense logically nor Biblically, as you've shown).

Comment by Chuck on June 29, 2008 at 1:14pm: Great thoughts. Still somewhat confused. So in what context do we view our propensity to sin since we are still weighed down with this "sin nature"? I can understand a positional cleanness/righteousness but in reality how do our ongoing struggles with acts of unrighteousness fit into this puzzle? And isn't this "already but not yet" that Alexander abhors, a condition of the transition period that no longer exists today?

Comment by sam on June 29, 2008 at 3:33pm: Great questions, Chuck.

I believe that in the Transition Period they were looking forward to being made perfect. The fullness of the Godhead had "not yet" dwelled with the Body - it's where the Body was heading (see Revelation 21.1-ff "see NOW the dwelling of God is with man", etc.) No UNCLEAN thing can enter. The ENTRANCE into the kingdom of God was what was "at hand". The Spirit guided (a DEPOSIT guaranteeing that which was to come) the Body to completion.

As illustrations, they can always be pressed to hard, even biblical ones. But, the distinction between "clean" and "unclean" and the impossibilty for a thing to be both at the same time is what is meant.

In the Law we see a complexity of laws that made one clean or unclean. All the sacrifices, etc., were made for these occassions - to set the "unclean" person "clean" before God. It was a daily affair. Now, when you do something against the Law that makes a person unclean, are you unclean, or do you remain clean? That is, do you need to be made clean again...and again....and again....you get the point (the author of Hebrews makes this point). If you don't, then your "sins" cannot ever make you unclean.

Now, notice, I still call them "sins". We still live "in the world." God made Adam and Eve to live on earth, and in the Garden, "the knowledge of good and evil" was there. As long as God has people on earth, good and evil will be there. It was there from the beginning.

Question: Adam blew one commandment and was imeediately booted out. Is that how God deals with his people, today? One strike and you are out! What, then, is the difference if I fall, occassionally, to the knowledge of evil (remember James) instead of "doing what is good"? Adam fell ONCE and was exiled. Charles has fallen....how many times now, Chuck? Haha. Ever exiled? Cut off from the Tree of Life? Cursed by God Himself? What's the difference? I think you know the answer....The Last Adam

Comment by Chuck on June 29, 2008 at 3:53pm: Charles is the sinner. Chuck is saved by his matchless grace whose sin God remembers no more! :) Never to be cut off again. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Sam, I think I get where you're coming from and may be dealing with semantics. We clearly aren't "clean" experientially since in the salvation process God has not eliminated our nature to sin...but the way I comprehend what you are saying is that positional perfection is not equal to experiential perfection. Seems like more of a judicial issue. Just because someone has been pardoned does not mean that they didn't do the crime or won't do it again in the future. However, they are never held accountable for it.

I guess I've just never thought about my situation in this clean/unclean Levitical scenario. Makes great sense that God cannot dwell with the unclean and it brings home to a greater degree the fact that by faith we are declared forever clean. Thanks, Sam.