The Old Testament accents common grace: the New Testament divine grace. Common grace is managed by law as indicated in the code proposed by Moses to Israel, and from the model of Israel and the clarity of Scripture to the world. Through model (life experience) and language (human communication) God reveals himself in his divine nature and reveals mankind in mortal/spiritual nature. Scripture makes clear that God will not, indeed cannot, accept to his kingdom any life that violates his standard of holiness. From a truncated story of the initial creative years related to animal life, and human life in particular, the information proceeds to declare that to the animal (mankind) he gave a special added factor noted as his image. That added factor included self-consciousness; intellectual control (competence) and knowledge (learning) to progress, control and change related to nature that included management of lesser animals so revealing the uniqueness of the human experience; spirituality revealed in morality (values) and conscience (awareness) given specificity from Scripture; and, if in obedience to God’s offer in Christ, the hope (as biblically defined) of immortality with him. There it is in one long sentence – to be communicated.
All this was not done in a corner (away from the attention of the people) and is not really exotic but straightforward, accepted by many millions of men and women during the course of centuries and followed with obedient faith through life to death’s transition. The Gospel of Jesus Christ accents the affirmative, in both the Old Testament Law (guiding human belief and conduct, acknowledged to God by ceremonies including blood sacrifice), and in the New Testament (guiding human belief and conduct, acknowledged to God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the actual offering from the life of God to the redemption of those accepting that offering. The offerings of the Old Testament were given value in the offering of Christ. It is similar to the belief that money is represented by value found somewhere in the vault of the nation issuing the paper/coins of value. Christ’s offering from the vault of God gave value to the offerings of the Old Testament – when they were rightly offered. Christ made legal tender the offerings of the Old Testament.
A study of the word corner in Scripture yields special meanings of the word as the biblical writers used it. Jeremiah (51:26) noted that the negatives of Babylon were such that God would not take from her mountain, a stone for either a foundation for beginning or a cornerstone of completion. From her beginning Babylon, in her negatives (like pillage and warfare to enrich itself), was not designed for the affirmations of life given of God leading to the blessing of finishing (success). Without the right foundation that kingdom would never see a finish with a capstone. That stone is the last act that closes the arch, the emblem of success. The foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the cap (key) stone must each come from the quality source and complete the planning from the beginning to the end, all planned by the architect and completed according to the plan. In this, and more, the Christian is expected to mature his or her life in the context of devotion, service (duty), faith, prayer and their subdivisions so to form ultimately the living temple of God – and more (I Peter 2:1-10). The Apostle also notes that negatives are to be managed by laying them aside. Effective lives are formed by the accent on the affirmatives, and so to permit the creative life to appeal as model planning. The negative attitude interprets the affirmations differently (toward losing) – the affirmative attitude (toward winning). Affirmations form winners, negatives form losers. It is interesting how well winning athletes learn this process. They talk often of attitudes that make the difference between winning and losing a game. Coaches take as one of their major responsibilities to inculcate a winning attitude in their athletes. The concept itself comes from God. Christians accepting the death of martyrdom knew they were winners. Christians are sometimes caught in the defensive mode. They are called to declaration and modeling (demonstrating). Our education is to meet the context of God in affirmation, leaving it to gifted Christians to explain affirmations in the intellectual contexts about the life and truths of God. When practiced in common grace the attitude is termed optimism. With divine grace it is life joy. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020