Introduction to “ ‘His Unspeakable Gift’ ”
Review of Previous Article
YHWH alone can fulfill the relationality of the covenant. He alone can irrevocably and unconditionally fulfill the created order and realize its ultimate and eternal purpose. He alone can creatively bind us to himself and to each other. Thus, YHWH is not our “re-ligion” – re- (again) ligion (to ligate, tie, bind) – to satisfy mankind’s age-long passion to repossess a lost god-consciousness. Rather, he is our “Ligion.” He does not intend to possess us as contractual property. Rather, he desires to relate to us as mutual persons. He has therefore bound up his personal life to us so that we can become relationally and personally bound to him and to each other.
Overview of This Article
From the Hebraic perspective God alone constitutes the covenant. In all his marvelous relationality as Spirit, Father and Son, he alone constitutes the covenantal partners. In other words, the biblical covenant is simply the fundamental metaphor or symbol for YHWH. In its emphasis on Being, Becoming and Effecting, the covenant unmistakably describes the One who, in a once-and-for-all act of self-creation as human, has irrevocably given himself to mankind as Jesus Christ. This is “His Unspeakable Gift.”
The implications of the biblical view of covenant challenge thousands of years of established belief and practice. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, all mankind has been deceived into thinking of itself as God’s covenantal partner. And since God alone constitutes the covenant, this confusion has led to a host of contentions that mankind somehow is God (pantheism), possesses God (Gnosticism, panentheism, charismatic movement, New Age movement), or is destined to become God (so-called “orthodoxy”). Tragically, all such attempts to take the place of God in the covenant are “anti- [in the place of] God” and thus “antichrist.” Furthermore, the painful truth is that this deception not only has corrupted mankind as individuals, but it also has corrupted the corporate political, religious, economic and socio-cultural power structures.