Greg Boyd is working on a new book entitled Jesus Versus Jehovah. It is his attempt to reconcile the violent God of the Old Testament with the crucified God of the New.
These are questions that every thinking Christian must wrestle with and, in the age of information, these are the questions atheists and agnostics are increasingly asking the Church. For example, why would a loving God rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and then immediately command them to completely destroy all the Canaanite clans who were living in the land - every man, woman, and child (Deut. 7.1-2; 20.16-18)?
The other day Boyd laid out the six “core principles” of the book, and while I think he may be venturing into some murky theological territory with his second and third principles, I was struck by his fourth - The Principle of Punitive Withdrawal.
“When Jesus was crucified, God delivered Jesus up to wicked humans and “the powers.” Moreover, by entering into solidarity with us in our spiritually oppressed and fallen condition, Jesus experienced God-forsakenness. Since all of our understanding about God must be centered on Christ, Jesus’ abandonment and God-forsakenness should form the center of our understanding of how God punishes sin. He does so by withdrawing his protective presence and turning people over to experience the consequences of their decisions — a truth that is confirmed throughout the Old Testament. God’s “wrath” is his withdrawal.”
How much do you struggle with the question of God’s wrath? What do you think about Boyd’s principle of punitive withdrawal? Is the ‘vengeance of the Lord’ simply His abandonment or is it more active than that? How much should we let Jesus' experience on the cross shape our perceptions of God’s punishment? What does Boyd’s view of God’s wrath do to our traditional understandings of hell?
Holy Spirit strikes again, you posted this in perfect timing.
Posted by: Jason | November 18, 2009 at 09:59 PM