As a son of God, Adam was given a responsibility of covenant that would aid him in identifying a creative power beyond himself. The mark of his covenant was the commandment to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To do so would be to eat to his own peril, as death would be the result. In contrast, adhering to the commandment would be life for him, and he would presumably never feel the encroachment of death. Israel, as a son of God, was given a responsibility as well. Their mark of covenant was the law, and most specifically, the requirements of Sabbath, sanctuary, and the worship of the Lord God exclusively. Their adherence to these requirements would be life to them, causing the accrual of blessings untold to them, whereas violations would bring the requisite and promised curses, ultimately resulting in exile and death. The son of God that was Solomon received a warning related to idolatry, but was offered the promise of long life if he were to make proper use of the gifts bestowed upon him by God in service to God’s people and as God’s representative to the world.
Jesus, the unique Son of God as the physical embodiment of the Lord God of Israel, performed the work to which He had been tasked, and re-oriented the promises and blessings and cursings and life and death around Himself. He commissioned a renewed people of God with an old covenant task. The new mark of that old covenant task---the destruction of the works of the devil---would be the proclamation of the Gospel that Jesus was the crucified and resurrected Messiah and Lord of all. Adherence to this idea and this task would mean life---eternal life. However, it would not just mean eternal life for the one that embraced the belief and what it required, but it meant life would be communicated by the very act of proclaiming this Gospel message. Speaking forth the Gospel, along with manifesting the power of the Gospel in deed (which would mean service to the world because of the call of its King), would actually be activated by the power that raised up Jesus from the dead, while also activating that same power in the place where the Gospel was being preached (in word and deed). This, in itself, would effect transformation in minds and in lives, the destruction of evil, the defeat of death---the renewal of the creation along with the renewal of those that had been made in God’s image to steward God’s creation. This renewal is never complete, but rather, is the Holy Spirit’s working through those that are now called sons of God, to give us a glimpse of heaven come to earth, in advance of it finally being so.
The son of God for this world in which the kingdom of God has been inaugurated and in which Jesus is the resurrected King is the church. Just as God has placed numerous sons in this world, so too is this son placed in the world to shine the light of His glory, to carry on the mission of the Son, in and with the same Spirit, as was promised. As Paul writes in Romans, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God,” adding “The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)---if indeed we suffer with Him so we may also be glorified with Him” (8:14,16-17). It is from there that Paul goes on to write of the creation that eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God (8:19). The creation, and indeed, the beings that have been charged with the stewardship of that creation, await the revelation of the sons of God, so that they might suffer alongside as did Jesus, and so that they might destroy the works of the devil by which they are enslaved---even if they do not realize their enslavement.
So it is in this that we find love. It is “not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10b). It is here that we must not overly personalize this statement and think of our sins in the usual way of moral failings. We must think of our larger sin, which is that of idolatry---of not worshiping our Creator and of improperly bearing His image. Jesus addresses this for us in that He not only reveals God, but He perfectly bears the image of God, and therefore, shows us what God expected and expects of His human creation. His ultimate self-sacrifice, trusting in God’s power for resurrection and re-creation, shows us the way and the truth, along with that which is productive of eternal life. His giving over of the Spirit is the impartation of the power that brought about His Resurrection, and that imparted Spirit gives us the desire and the ability to enter into self-sacrifice, while trusting that all that we do in His name will remain because we also look towards the experience of a resurrection, just like Jesus. This self-sacrifice is rooted in the same love that God showed for the world in the repeated sending of His sons which culminated in the sending of the Son, so that He could, in turn, send a new son into the world to prepare for the return of the Son.
It is with these thoughts ringing in our ears that we consider our duty, as the church (as the son of God), to destroy the works of the devil. How do we do this? “Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another” (4:11). How do we love? We love by embodying the Gospel, and living as if we do have a living and reigning King who gave His life and His all, as we seek to follow His example and His voice (food, clothing, cups of cold water, visiting prisoners, etc…), while also giving voice to our allegiance so that we might be used in sending His power into the world, so that we never forget that it is not by our might or our power, but by His Spirit, that light overtakes darkness. Why embody the Gospel? Because “No one has seen God at any time” (4:12a), which is the unfortunate by-product of the fall. This is a distortion of what God intended. His son is to be the representative of His glory that will cause all to honor Him. Therefore, “If we love one another, God resides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (4:12b), and this will enable the world to see God. Yes, “He has given us of His Spirit” (4:13b) so that we might “testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (4:14b). Is the church of Christ, as the son of God in and for the world today, the Savior of the world? We say, “of course not,” but add a “well, yes and no.” We say “no” because we cannot be the Son that Jesus was. We say “yes” because we are the ambassadors of God’s love and purpose, as those that are supposed to turn men to God in Christ, compelling a saving allegiance to God through Christ, “because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world” (4:17b), loving the world by the Spirit “because He loved us first” (4:19b).
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