Transcendence
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God,
who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(Rev 1:8)
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Defining transcendence as immaterial, supernatural, and/or holy allows us to begin exploring the nature of divinity in the Bible. It is hard to discuss a topic when the words employed are unclear or ill-defined. It is even harder to believe something that is far removed from our normal experience, vocabulary, or purview.
Transcendence as a Reflection of Life
It is sometimes said that the ancient Egyptians helped define our understanding of divinity and life everlasting because daily life was so miserable. Life expectancy was short because food supplies were unreliable, diseases mostly incurable, and common problems like intestinal parasites (e.g. Acts 12:23) were extremely painful. Infant mortality was so bad that children were not even named until they were a couple years old. Daily life was so miserable—even for the most wealthy—the argument goes, that the ancient Egyptians obsessed about the after-life.
A contrast can be drawn here to postmoderns for whom food is ever-available, many formerly-common diseases can be mitigated, and life expectancy is about double that of ancient times. Daily life for most people is at least tolerable and the wealthy seem to have it easy. In this new context, many people have forgotten about God and only joke about the after-life, displaying little fear of divine judgment. For the world’s poor who have trouble participating in the wealth and prosperity of our age, however, the reality of God remains real and much sought after.
What do you do when a pandemic arises and you have no access to vaccines and modern medicine? The answer today is the same as in ancient times. You pray to God.
The Apostle’s Creed
The most of recorded history, people have naturally accepted the transcendence of God and many transcendental truths. Consider the Apostle’s Creed written in Greek circa AD 341 and still memorized by many Christians today:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended to hell. The third day He rose again from the dead.
Ħe ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.1
While eight of the sixteen statements here focus on Jesus and his life story, even more—all but three (6, 7, and 12)—of these statements require a form of transcendence. The five fundamentals of faith—biblical inerrancy, the divinity of Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, resurrection of Christ, and his return—required for ordination in the Presbyterian church in 1910 and struck from requirement in 1925 (Longfield 1991, 161) come essentially from the Apostle’s Creed. The exception is the inerrancy of scripture (literally true as written) that was believed to be infallible (no errors with respect to faith) until the nineteenth century dispute over evolution and creation.
The point of raising these issues is not to revisit the arguments, but to observe that the transcendence problem that we now face is relatively new—a product of Enlightenment thinking since the nineteenth century.
Forgiveness of Sins
The problem of sin arose in the Garden of Eden when God put only one requirement on Adam:
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:16-17)
Death was the curse for this original sin. A divine penalty attached to a divine stipulation. Sin was a rebellion against God himself—only God himself could reverse the curse and forgive sins (e.g. Mark 2:7).
The idea that Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from sin is well-attested in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Thess 1:9-10; 1 Cor 15:3)—a doctrine that is often referred to as the atonement. The Apostle Paul explained the atonement as a reversal of Adam’s sin. Adam was sinless until he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden; Jesus was sinless, but obeyed God even to the point of death on a cross. The resurrection credentialed Jesus as divine making his sacrifice sufficient to reserve the curse brought about by the first Adam and prophesied in Isaiah 53:12 (Lindsey 1985, 4-6).
This is why Paul could then observe: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor 15:17) This syllogism bears repeating—No resurrection; no divinity, no atonement. You are unforgiven and still under law, not Gospel. Claiming the name of a dead merely human martyr cannot reverse the divine penalty for sin.
Transcendence is a critical insight into the Gospel presented in the New Testament and it is reflected in the Apostle’s Creed adopted by the early church. Today’s transcendence problem is not a trivial matter—it lies at the heart of the Gospel as plainly stated by the Apostle Paul.
References
Faith Alive Christian Resources (FACR). 2013. The Heidelberg Catechism. Cited: 30 August, 2013. Online: https://www.rca.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=372.
Lindsey, E. Duane. 1985. The Servant Songs: A Study in Isaiah. Chicago: Moody Press.
Longfield, Bradley J. 1991. The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates. New York: Oxford University Press.
Footnotes
1 The references in this chapter to the Apostle’s Creed are all taken from FACR (2013, Q/A 23). Another translation is found in (PCUSA 1999, 2.1—2.3).
Transcendence
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
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