The One Foundation

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     It was a large tree and it was directly in the path of the new construction work. Obviously it had to be removed. We met with axes and mattocks to "grub it out by the roots" as the foreman phrased it. When we began digging about the base someone said that the roots reached out to form a circle in the earth of the same diameter as the branches in the air. Soon we had uncovered many of the roots and were chopping them in two, but the sturdy monarch stood unbowed, except for an occasional trembling of the giant frame. "We'll have to cut the taproot," said the foreman, "or it will never fall." He was right. The supporting roots had been severed all around, but when the anchor root was cut, the tree tottered for a minute like a stricken animal and then plunged crashing to the earth.

     I have long labored under the conviction that every system of religion and philosophy, true or false, has a taproot which is central to it and serves as its anchor in the soil of human hearts. As it lives and grows it develops a root system which sustains and supports it and which may be as great in scope under the surface as it appears visible above. One may lop off branches and sever secondary roots and thus weaken the system but not until the basic and fundamental principle is destroyed will the system topple. Thus the growth may be retarded and even halted temporarily, only to resume again when circumstances are favorable.

     What we have said is appropriate to the Christian system. It is founded upon a fact peculiar to itself which anchors it against every stormy wind that blows. There is a network of spiritual and moral values reaching out in every direction. An attack upon these at the base may weaken the influence and temporarily halt the spread, but until that which is exclusively central to the Christian system is destroyed that system will survive. It is in our interest to ascertain what principle is basic to Christianity and determine the chances for its survival.

     We can immediately eliminate certain aspects which some unthoughtedly would equate with Christianity. One of these is moral or ethical behavior. This offers support to the Christian concept, but is not centrally exclusive to it. Many philosophers have incorporated in their instructions to their disciples a high code of moral conduct and offered motives to encourage it. One is not a Christian simply because he lives a good moral life, but he lives a good moral life because he is a Christian.

     Again, we may eliminate the rational element as central to Christianity. We believe that it is a definite part of it and that Christianity satisfies the emotional need, the demand of conscience for cleansing from guilt consciousness, and the cry of will for a cause greater than self to which willing surrender can be made. It is designed to appeal to think-

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ing persons and God summons men who rebel against Him with the words, "Come, now, let us reason together," but there is a deeper anchor than man's power of rationalization, majestic as it is.

     Nor may we regard miracles as the taproot of the system. We expect to show in a future issue, God willing, the relationship of the miraculous to revelation from God, and when we do we will demonstrate that the term "miracle" is used because of our human limitations. Nothing can be supernatural with God, for he is not subject to limitations of time or space and cannot be restricted by the restraints of nature. Nothing can be "super" or above the ultimate. That which is over all can have nothing over it--or Him! Miracles may constitute a support to the claims of Christianity, and may confirm the mission of its proclaimers, but they are not basic to it. If they were there could be no Christianity without miracles, in which case miracles would cease to be supernatural at all and would become merely a natural demonstration in a Christian world.

     As a launching pad for our orbital survey we may begin with the statement that Christianity proceeds upon the premise that at a certain juncture in the unfolding drama of human existence, God revealed himself to man. This alone serves to set the Christian system apart from many of the philosophies which preceded the Event and were still popular when it occurred. The magnificent mentality of the Greek world, in many spheres of thought had been influenced by, and in some cases obsessed with the notion that the chasm between the divine and the human was so wide and so deep that no bridge could span it. Zeno, and his disciples, the Stoics, had done their work thoroughly. Deity was considered to be so far above the realm occupied by mankind that there was no interest in or concern for men. God had no feeling manward at all. If he could be affected by the needs or sufferings of men he then would be subject to men to the extent of concern, and to that extent, at least, could not be God. This provided a frightful fatalism which pervaded the whole area of life.

     But this initial premise involves much more than revelation of the thoughts and ways of God for a specific people at a specific time in the stream of human history. It was not simply a declaration of the will of God in words adapted to man's need, and this makes it distinct from even pure Judaism. We use the word "pure" to distinguish what God declared through Moses and the prophets, with the mass of interpretations and deductions which were added to make up the body of Judaism which resulted from the forced wedding of revelation and tradition. Judaism was a revelation to men through men, and comprised a book or code of laws.

     Christianity did not begin with a book but with a baby! It will be seen at once how this set it apart from many forms of Gnosticism, all of which were predicated on the thesis that all matter is inherently evil and corrupt. It could not, upon such a predication, be conceded that God could directly create the material universe, and gradually there evolved the idea that emanations from God, as Eons, proceeded farther and farther from the divine person and presence until one, as a demiurge, could be close enough to the ma-

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terial chaos to fashion the universe from it. There was no place in such a philosophy for a direct involvement with the universe of mankind upon the part of God.

     As we proceed further we must remember that Christianity differs from Judaism in that it is a revelation of God while the latter is a revelation from God. One would need to be skeptical indeed to doubt the divine wisdom which is exhibited in the order of these revelations. If it was to be a part of the divine purpose to recapture fellowship with men by a break-through of the flesh curtain, our innate sense of the appropriate would seem to decree the advisability of preparing the world of mankind for the event. Surely, if in our own day, when a dignitary pays a visit to an area which he has not previously graced with his presence, a great deal of exchange of thought is essential to pave the way, we can see the wisdom involved in preparing a world tor the visit of its Creator. And just as we do not confuse the previous messages of protocol, nor what is said after the arrival, with the person of the dignitary himself, we must make the same sensible approach to the divine personage.

     Having come thus far it becomes apparent that the central truth of Christianity involves a person and our relationship to that person. It is not a system of abstract truths arrived at by the power of logic, or by inductive or deductive reasoning. Instead, it centers around the birth, life and death of a person, for these are the facts which span the earthly existence of a personality, and since this is a divine personage there must be added one more dimension, that of resurrection. Christianity relates to the proper identity of this person on the basis of these facts, and an acceptance freely of all the implications and responsibilities inherent in an acknowledgment of that identity, as one's own life and death are affected by them.

     We must be careful at this point lest we mistake the nature of the foundation. In our glib reply that it was upon the confession made by Peter, we must be certain that we understand what is involved. The foundation is not the act of confession. It is not the words or formula of the confession. It was important for Peter to make the statement and impossible for him to do it without means of communication, but neither a human action, nor the means employed to implement it constitute the foundation. It was not the voicing of his faith but the faith which he voiced that is basic to our study. It was the truth, the reality, embodied in

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the proposition which constitutes the foundation. This was a revealed truth and not the result of human deduction or expression. "You did not learn that from mortal man, it was revealed to you by my heavenly Father" (Matt. 16:17). The truth, or reality, was a person. That person was of God, and because he was the Son of God, it was God who laid the foundation. All that is built upon that foundation belongs to the foundation, and through that foundation, to God. This is made abundantly clear in the letter of Paul to the community of saints in Corinth. "There can be no other foundation beyond that which is already laid; I mean Jesus Christ himself" (I Cor. 3:11). "Surely you know that you are God's temple, where the Spirit of God dwells" (verse 16). "So never make mere men a cause for pride. For though everything belongs to you--Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, all of them belong to you--yet you belong to Christ, and Christ to God" (verses 21-23).

     Since Christianity is anchored in Christ the only way by which it can be uprooted is to first destroy Christ. That this is impossible will become evident to every person who solemnly contemplates that it was by an exercise of divine power that he was raised from the dead and given a name that is above every name, in all that is implied in that statement. Who can cut the taproot? The fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is a divine fact, divinely revealed and divinely sustained. All that is involved in Deity itself is invested in the fact of Christ. "For in him the complete being of God, by God's own choice, came to dwell" (Col. 1:19). "For it is in Christ that the complete being of the Godhead dwells embodied, and in him you have been brought to completion" (Col. 2:9,10).

     It is true, of course, that chopping away at these supporting roots may hinder the witness of the Christian community in a given era or period. The growth may be retarded for a time because of the confusion created but all of this is powerless to uproot what God has planted. A good example may be found in the criticism of what appears to moderns as a delinquency upon the part of the Christian ethic with regard to human slavery in the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. They appear not to have condemned it but simply to have regulated it. But the critical attitude stems from a lack of knowledge of both the nature of slaves and of Christianity.

     Because Jesus is a historical figure and Christianity is a historical fact, it was essential that entry into the human spectrum be made at a specific time. This had to be because history is the record of persons and events within the boundaries of time. But regardless of the time of such entry, conditions politically, economically, socially and morally, will be far from ideal. Christianity is revolutionary but it does not effect its goals by di-

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rect attack upon organizations or structures as such. To simply overthrow such structures would mean. their replacement by other structures subject to the same corruption. Christianity recognizes that conditions and environments not only shape men but are created by men. It reforms the men from within and reformed men alter conditions. "The kingdom of heaven does not come by observation (overt demonstration), the kingdom of God is within you."

     If Jesus had organized abolition rallies during his earthly sojourn, cities would have been sacked and burnt, a course which he rejected when it was suggested by two of his more fiery followers. "You know not what spirit you are of, for the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them." This would have resulted in some men dying for him in contravention of his design to die for all men. Even if he had been successful in striking the shackles at once from the millions of abject and nameless slaves in the Roman Empire, they would have been wholly unconditioned by previous servitude to create a stable government. If society would have survived the resultant holocaust, the annals of history would have branded Jesus as a benevolent, compassionate, but misguided zealot, instead of the Savior of the world.

     Yet human slavery was effectively doomed from the very day that the slaves of envy and passion nailed Jesus to the cross. The sharp nails driven into his body were to become the hypodermic needles of the world injecting a new life into the hearts of men, and transforming them from within. The blood flowing from the riven side made both slaves and masters free, for human bondage victimizes both, the buyer and the bought. The same price paid to redeem both proved that both were of equal value. The galling fetters of heart and conscience may be more cruel than chains on arms and feet. "Christ set us free to be free men" (Gal. 5:1).

     The critics of the moral approach of Jesus are always betrayed by their own fears occasioned by recognition of the brevity of life and certainty of death. Most reformers, worthy as their motives may be, undo all that is noble in their approach by the fierce sense of urgency to see the fruits of their efforts during their own lifetime. They trust themselves but not their successors. They forget that "the mills of God grind slowly." Christianity is designed to be universal and timeless. Each area and each era is considered only as it relates to the whole.

     Attacks made upon the miracles of Jesus can, in no sense, destroy the fact of Jesus. There is a difference between a fact and the credentials presented by one who testifies to that fact. Although the Son of God demonstrated his power by miraculous works, he was the Son of God before them. Christianity is not based or founded upon miracles but upon the identity of the person who performed them. Miracles are signs and signs point to something--or Someone! We must never confuse the sign with the substance!

     Let us first understand the meaning of the term "Christ." John declares it is the equivalent of "Messiah." "We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ" (1:41). Messiah from the Hebrew, and Christ from the Greek, are one and the same, and they mean "anointed." Unfortunately, the translators did not always faithfully render the original, and the average reader soon forgets that the definite article belongs before the word "Christ." Indeed it appears that some actually think of "Christ" as a sort of second name for Jesus.

     The word is not another name at all.

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     It is the special office or function of Jesus. Dr. George Campbell, the noted scholar of Aberdeen, says in his Dissertations on the Gospels, "Our translators have contributed greatly to this mistake, by very seldom prefixing the article before Christ, though it is rarely wanting in the original. The word Christ was at first as much an appellative as the word baptist was, and the one was as regularly accompanied with the article as the other. Yet our translators, who always say the baptist, have, one would think, studiously avoided saying the christ. This may appear to superficial readers an inconsiderable difference, but the addition of the article will be found, when attended to, of real consequence for conveying the meaning in English, with the same perspicuity and propriety with which it is conveyed in Greek."

     The expression, "Jesus the anointed," is expressive of a particular person occupying a specific office. But in what sense is the word "anointed" used in this connection? Why is it reserved for Jesus exclusively? In order to understand we must make reference to God's method of educating mankind to that point where a divine communication could be grasped and understood. Before a child can converse with mature persons he must develop an adequate vocabulary. For this reason children are first sent to primary and elementary schools. What is true of each individual is also true of society as a whole. So God sent his children to the primary school from Adam to Moses, and when they developed into adolescence, he sent them to the secondary school with greater discipline, from Moses to the coming of the Messiah. One purpose of revelation during these ages was to provide man with a vocabulary which could be used in conveying a message to those upon whom the end of the ages has come. Scarcely a word is used in the new covenant scriptures which is not found in the old, and the spiritual meaning can be deduced from the more primitive usage.

     From the old covenant scriptures we learn that there were three offices or functions for which individuals were anointed by direction of God--those of prophet, priest and king. It was the responsibility of the prophet to make known the will of God. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). "Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me. Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth" (Jeremiah 1:9). "Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth: for the Lord hath spoken" (Isaiah 1:2).

     The priest was to accomplish the service of God (Hebrews 9:6), to offer gifts and sacrifices (Hebrews 8:3), and to make atonement for the sins of the people. The prophet performed a work which was God to manward; the priest performed a work which was man to Godward. The first offered the gift of God to man; the second the gifts of men to God. These were distinct functions and while a priest might prophesy, he did not do so because he was a priest.

     The duty of the king was to govern and command, to exercise leadership and control. It was his duty to stop the foe and with proper direction to conquer and bring forth judgment and victory. He was to command his subjects and gain their respect, acting in benevolence and not in despotism.

     These three offices represent all that is essential to reclaim and save us from our lost condition. All that is necessary to reconcile man unto God is invested in them. As Alexander Campbell once said, "We are ignorant, guilty and enslaved. To remove ignorance is the office of a prophet; to remove guilt, the office of a priest; and to emancipate and lead to victory, to defend and protect, the office of king."

     To believe that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed, is more than to say he is a prophet. At the very time when Peter confessed "Thou art the Christ," he did so in contrast to the popular view that Jesus was "Jeremias, Elias, or one of the prophets." The Jews, instructed by Moses to look for a prophet whom God would raise up like himself, and whose words must be heard under penalty of banish-

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ment by God, were awaiting the coming of such an eminent personage. Accordingly when John appeared proclaiming in the wilderness, they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, who asked him, "Art thou Elias?" When he answered in the negative, they quickly asked, "Art thou that prophet?" They distinguished between "the prophets" and the prophet.

     As "the anointed" of God, in his role of prophet, Jesus is the superlative revelation of God. "When in the former times God spoke to our forefathers, he spoke in fragmentary and varied fashion through the prophets. But in this, the final age, he has spoken to us in the Son whom he has made the heir of the whole universe" (Hebrews 1:1,2). To accept Jesus as the Christ cannot possibly mean to regard him as one of a long line of men given special insights into the outworking of God in the universe. He was not simply another of the prophets but the goal of all of them. "'How dull you are!'he answered. 'How slow to believe all that the prophets said!'...Then he began with Moses and all of the prophets, and explained to them the passages which referred to himself in every part of the scriptures."

     One does not accept Jesus as the Christ at all, by conceding that he was a majestic moralist, a profound philosopher, or a powerful prophet. His uniqueness consists not in his life, his wisdom, his insights--great as these may be--but in his person, that is, in his identity. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God.

     By the same token, he is not simply one of a special order of men chosen as priests. In the relationship of priesthood, he is also the Christ, the anointed one. For this reason he is referred to as "the great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Hebrews 4:14). He is unique in that he is both priest and sacrifice. "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer" (8:3). "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (9:28).

     Jesus is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. His authority, bestowed by the Father, is absolute with the exception of the Father himself who is the source of all authority. "Every other power and authority in the whole universe is subject to him as Head" (Col. 2:10). Jesus is more than a ruler among men. He is the divinely commissioned One of whom it is said, "He is the image of the invisible God; his is the primacy over all created things."

     This much we have said about Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, foretold by all of the prophets of God. But the taproot of the Christian system involves more than this. "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." No doubt it will appear difficult to see how one could accept one of these without acknowledging the other. The Messiah of the prophets is the Son of God, yet these are two divergent propositions pointing to the same purpose. One indicates the office, the other the divine relationship. One relates to that which brings us into citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, the other to that which brings us into kinship with God.

     Belief of this proposition in its fulness and without reservation must work a profound change in the life of a man. So tremendous is the alteration produced that it is spoken of as a regeneration, the new birth, or the new creation. The entire attitude toward God and man, and death, is completely Love for one another in a sense is produced in the hearts of all believers. It can be envisioned why the community of the saved ones can be built upon no other foundation.

     That foundation was laid by God to endure for all ages. He acknowledged Jesus as His Son when he arose from the waters of Jordan after having been immersed by John "to conform in this way with all that God requires" (Matthew 3:15). He confirmed it at the brow of the mount where Jesus was transfigured in the presence of his disciples who fell on their faces in terror when they heard the voice from heaven. When Peter made the confession of identity fundamental to the

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planting of the community, Jesus declared, "You did not learn that from mortal man; it was revealed to you by my heavenly Father." It was God who laid Jesus as the cornerstone and other foundation can no man lay. A divine structure requires both a divine architect and a divine foundation.

     For this reason there can be no system of religion, worship or ritual in the category of the Christian system. It is not this, or something else as a hope of salvation--it is this, or nothing else. That which undermines faith in the Messiahship or Sonship of Jesus sweeps away man's only hope. Every doubt cast upon either, regardless of motivation, intent or purpose, is a betrayal of man's best interest. It is destructive of his eternal welfare. It blights and eclipses his only hope. Whether such skepticism is fostered by the darkness of ignorance, or by the gleam of intellectualism, it should be resisted by every exercise of the will. "Keep safe that which has been handed to you as a sacred trust. Turn a deaf ear to empty and worldly chatter, and the contradictions of so-called 'knowledge' for many who claim to have it have shot far wide of the faith" (1 Timothy 6:20, 21).

     (This is the second in a series of articles being presented under the heading "Deep Roots." There will be one each month during 1966 and these will all be gathered into a clothbound book under the same title, which will be ready for delivery on March 1, 1967. Because of its importance advance orders are being taken for delivery at that time, at the special price of $2.49 per copy, payable on delivery. If you wish to reserve copies for yourself and friends you may do so by writing to MISSION MESSENGER, 139 Signal Hill Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63121.)