Procrastination
Whenever I start working on a paper, and studying the text, I'm wondering how I can write a paper on such a small topic. By the time I finish a paper, I'm thinking that there's so much more I could have studied, that there's so much depth I'm missing. Usually by this time it's either incredibly late on Tuesday night, or early (as today) on Wednesday morning, and I just regret not having started earlier or spending more time on it. Here's the papers from last week and this week. Both are pretty bad in my opinion, like I've just started into looking at the topic without any sense of completeness.

Sabbath (for Oct. 22 class)
The concept of the Sabbath rest dates back to the beginning of creation. In a way, it was the final creation, the thing that God introduced on the seventh day. Literally however, it was actually the act of not creating anything. It has also been an idea that has not been well understood for a long time. On multiple occasions (Matt 12, John 9) Jesus was criticized for breaking the Sabbath. Later on in Romans 14 Paul introduces the argument "One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind." If we are to observe the sabbath properly, or if we are to choose to not practice it without sinning, we must first understand it.

The idea of God's rest is introduced in Genesis 2:2 "And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." The structure and wording of these two verses strongly emphasises the element of rest. It is a specific type of rest. It was not the understated pause during the other days of creation when God took a step back to affirm that His work for that day was good. This is the more substantial rest after everything was completed. The act of resting was enough to identify this day as holy, enough so that this special rest "Shabbath" seems to be derived from the generic word for rest, "shabath", which is used repeatedly in the Old Testament, usually in describing a cessation of a previous action.

After its introduction in Genesis 2, this concept of rest does not become significant again until Exodus 16, where God feeds Israel with manna, which is provided for only six of seven days. Later on in Exodus 20, this rest is codified into the Law:

  “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 

  but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God;

  in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter,

  your male or your female servant or your cattle 

  or your sojourner who stays with you.  

  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, 

  the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; 

  therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” 

    Genesis 20:8-11

This particular commandment stands out from the rest because of its description. While most other commandments are simply stated, this one comes with an explanation of the founding principle, that the Sabbath is Holy because God blessed it after completing his work. In Exodus 31 it is again expanded:

  “For six days, work is to be done, 

  but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, 

  holy to the LORD . 

  Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.  

  The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, 

  celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.  

  It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, 

  for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, 

  and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” 

    Exodus 12:16-17

Later on in Leviticus, the Sabbath Year is introduced, again a period of rest, but in this case for the farmland.

Although these laws seem to call for man’s imitation of God’s rest, it becomes clear that it is not a matter of imitation. The Sabbath is not so much because God rested that we should rest, but rather that He made the day holy because of the completion of His work. The Sabbath law does not call for one to rest after the completion of one’s work to reflect on it, as God had done. Rather it called for rest at a specified time, the time that God had rested, to reflect on the work that He had done.

These laws are also not for the sake of rest, as it may seem. One can argue that rest is necessary for people to function at their peak. We may point at burnout in those who overwork. We can argue the sabbath for the land is necessary for sustainable farming. While this may all be true, and while it may be true that God intends for us to rest, it is not the reasoning given in the text.

The Sabbath law is about worship, it was a sign of the covenant renewed between God and the Israelites, in much the same way that God had renewed His covenant with each of the patriarchs. It was a call to honour the day that God declared holy, and hence worshipping God’s holiness, above all other daily priorities that we might have had.

As Christians under the new covenant we often see the signs of the old covenant, whether they be circumcision or the observance of the sabbath, as unnecessary for our salvation. A discussion of this theology is beyond the scope of this paper, but the position taken here is that in Christ we are no longer bound by the written Law presented in Exodus (Romans 7).

The question that then arises is whether this renders the Sabbath obsolete or and meaningless. If ones observation of the Sabbath is driven by the legal or cultural requirement to rest, it clearly carries little spiritual significance. Such an observance would be as the righteousness of the Pharisees. However, within the elements of worship we can still find relevance for our lives.

In the Old Testament, the observation of the Sabbath reflected the their knowledge of God as the Creator. The Sabbath was a time for worshipping God for what he had completed in creating the world and mankind. They knew of Christ only as a future Saviour. For us however, Christ has already became substance. On the cross, “When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit”. On top of knowing God as the Creator, we can see a second work that Christ has completed in salvation for sinners. Through Romans, Hebrews, and 1 John the theme of Christ’s death completing and fulfilling the Law is repeated.

Although we are not bound by the Law to worship in a particular manner, the Sabbath serves as a model of sorts in the manner in which we are to worship, in much the same way that the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 serves as a template for us to learn to pray. The idea of regularly and setting aside time for reflection upon what God has completed is a concept we can bring into practice in our own lives.

This may take a traditional form in setting rules for ourselves in terms of weekly rest, especially if we are prone to the idolatry of work. For others, this time of worship might come in daily quiet time. Rest and recreation away from work in itself might be a good psychological practice, but to commune with God requires our worship.

The Image of God (for Oct. 15 class)
The concept of the image of God appears through our interpretation of Scripture not as a textually repeated theme, but rather as a perennial concept introduced in Genesis and referenced in the New Testament. It is an almost mystical sounding phrase, perhaps a mystery that merits curiosity because of its potential to explain who we are as humans in relation to God. The question "What is the image of God?" carries the same sense of enigma and import as "What is the character of God?". It s a question that we strive to answer in the process of building up our relationship with Him. How else are we to relate to a conceptual God if we do not know what He is like?

The word image used in Genesis 1:26-27 is used in reference to a physical likeness or conceptual form. However, only in Genesis, and only in reference to Man, is the concept of the image of the One True God used. It's most common usage in the Old Testament is a referencing the physical likenesses of other gods, that is idols used for worship. The word for God in these verses is Elohim, which, strangely enough, is plural. This plural form, however, is consistent with the use of the plural personal pronoun as God says "Let us make man in our image". Thus the most obvious interpretation is that we, as humans have been made in the physical likeness of God, in the same way that an image of a bull might have four legs and horns. So perhaps we are to believe that God is bipedal. This is in fact well supported in Scripture. God appears to both Abram (Genesis 18) and Jacob (Genesis 32). In both situations, it is clear that the patriarchs met with God. In both cases they are also described with meeting men, and not merely likenesses of men or ghosts. There is an element of this reflected in the person of Christ, being both in nature God and physically a man. However, there is a pedantic difference in John's account that the Word became flesh, implying that Christ in fact took on the image of man for the purpose of his salvation.

A second interesting point is the dual account of Genesis 1 and 2. The creation story is related in two rather different narratives. Where we see the image of God used in Genesis 1, the imagery in Genesis 2 is not the same at all. There is no indication that the man was formed to look like God. The new image introduced here however is that of God breathing life into the man. It is natural to connect these two concepts. The "image of God" and the "breath of life" are both elements that, in their respective narratives, are unique attributes in all of creation bestowed by God unto man. The use of the word breath in the Old Testament is used in a number of ways. In some cases it is used in the sense of respiration, as a sign of life (Deu 20:16). In other cases is translated in the sense of a spirit (Job 26:4, Pr 20:27). Furthermore, in many of the latter cases, there is an ambiguity in whether the spirit refers to a man's spirit, or God's spirit, almost as if it were indistinguishable. In the New Testament, the continuation of this theme is evident in the work Holy Spirit.

Because of the uniqueness of our endowment, it is often seen as a differentiating factor for man. No other creature in Creation had been blessed in this manner. We are the greatest element of creation because in us is displayed the image of God. At the same time this source of pride is a source of responsibility. Are we to believe that the sinful state we are in now truly reflects the glory of God? When we read the exhortation "Be Holy for I am Holy" (1 Pet 1:16), is it not a call for us to reflect the image in which we were made? The singularity of our being gifted with God's image makes it difficult to believe that it was something allotted to us randomly. Rather, was not the existence of the creation a reflection of the glory of the Creator? If so, then the highest element of creation should most closely reflect the glory of God. Instead, even secular culture often views man as the most negative element - the polluter and destroyer of the beauty of "Nature". How often do we look at ourselves and ask whether we reflect God's holiness in our place in creation, in our physical actions, and in our spiritual lives?

God makes an interesting proclamation in Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man." The image of God is called upon as a cause for judgment, perhaps in the sense that an action against the image of God holds a sense of immorality more than an action against the rest of creation. How often do we neglect to see the shame poured upon us for blaspheming God as we sin against another person? How often do we sin against other people because we forget that they are created in God's image? Jesus reminds us of this, saying "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent * that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'"(Matt 25:40).

If we interpret the image of God as a unique attribute that has been granted to Man above all creation, we can see it as either a physical or spiritual attribute (or both). Both attributes are carried through to the New Testament in the form of the Trinity. Man was made in the likeness of God in Genesis. Our physical likeness to God can be seen in Christ. Our spiritual likeness to God can be seen in the Holy Spirit. We can use God's image in us as a measure of the way we were created to be, unmarred by sin. We can see it as the governing principle in relating to others. The gospel of salvation and redemption, and the revelation of a new heaven and earth in the New Testament all points to a place where we can commune with God directly. Paul uses a similar phrase in his description of Christ, "And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" (Col 1:15). Christ was present as the plural God who said "Let us" in the beginning creation. Just as Christ's incarnation allowed Him to commune with people 2000 years ago, so being made in God's image allows us to not only worship and praise, but form a relationship with Him.