Christ - The Initiative of Responsible Grace - 7-8pm on ...
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Wesley Bible Study - Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 7-8pm on ZOOM
Christ - The Initiative of Responsible Grace
The Three Offices of Christ
Opening Prayer
Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and help my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart with the flame of love.
Come, my king, sit upon the throne of my heart and reign there,
For thou alone art my King and my Lord. Amen.
~Dimitri of Rostov, Russia, 17th Century, UMH #466
Incarnation: God’s act of taking flesh in Jesus Christ. The incarnation is a central tenet of the
Christian faith, and one of the main points distinguishing it from other monotheistic religions.
God is present in a very special way in Jesus.
Assurance: The complete and absolute knowledge of one’s salvation. Wesley held that the
internal witness of the Spirit, and a holy life, assure the believer of his or her own state of
salvation.
Wesley’s Christology emphasized the Atonement (last week)
But, Wesley does not consider the work of Christ to be completed in the Atonement
Wesley wanted preachers to proclaim: “Christ dying for us” and “Christ reigning in us”
Christ’s Atonement was not the totality of Christ’s work, it was the foundation of Christ’s
present work
When Wesley talks about Christ’s present work he used the standard western church formula,
the three offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, King
Wesley continually reminded Methodist preachers that the most effective way to preach Christ
and only Christ was to preach Christ in all three offices
The triadic formula becomes dogmatic shorthand for Wesley’s complex ideas about Jesus
Maddox presents the offices in a slightly different order: Priest, Prophet, King - it better
represents Wesley’s emphasis and thinking
Maddox believes that Wesley is not interested in present a historical organization of the offices
(life, death, resurrection)
Maddox believes Wesley uses the offices as a way of coordinating an understanding of
Christ’s present work in us
Jesus/Christ - Jesus = name - Christ (Messiah) = title
Christ as Priest
• Wesley views Christ’s role as Priest as the presupposition of all Christ’s work in our lives
• This says more than Christ’s death is the basis for forgiveness - Christ’s work as Priest
involves more than simply an act of Atonement
• The forgiveness possible as the Risen Jesus overcomes both Death and Sin must be
presently mediated in our individual lives
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• Christ is now making intercession to God for sinners
• But, Wesley is concerned to avoid any thought that God must be repeatedly persuaded to
forgive and accept us
• Wesley believes that Christ’s present work as Priest was not aimed at changing God’s
mind about us - it is about changing our mind about God
• Jesus as Priest is destroying our pride and self-will while renewing our faith so that we
guilty outcasts can be restored to God’s favor, pardon, and peace
• Christian never outgrow the need for Christ in this office (Christian Perfection)
• Christians never reach a point where we surpass the need for Divine mercy
• Those who have experienced the greatest transformation (conversion) of their lives are
precisely the ones who are the most conscious of their continuing need for Christ as Priest
- Why? - Because they become ever more aware of their remaining defects (continuous
conversion)
• Also they are convinced that whatever measure of Christ-Likeness they might have
attained was possible only in and through Christ’s continuing mediation (Priest)
• Wesley emphasized that it is through Christ that we are each assured of the pardon of our
sin - that pardon initiates our restored relationship with God - it also maintains that
relationship
Read Hebrews 8:1-13
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
Here is the citadel of all my desiring,
where my hopes are born
and all my deep resolutions of my spirit take wings.
In this center, my fears are nourished,
and all my hates nurtured.
Here my loves are cherished,
and all the deep hungers of my spirit are honored
without quivering and without shock.
In my heart, above all else,
let love and integrity envelop me
until my love is perfected and the last vestige
of my desiring is no longer in conflict with thy Spirit.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. Amen. ~ UMH #401 (Howard Thurman)
Christ as Prophet
• Wesley always points out that Christ offers pardon for sin (but wait that’s not all!) while at
the same time delivering human beings from the power of sin (the Risen Jesus defeats
both Death and Sin)
• This understanding leads to Jesus as Prophet
• As Prophet, Jesus graciously restores our knowledge of God’s will for human life (lost in
The Fall)
• The paradigmatic expression of this work is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5:1-7:29) giving us an Image of God that human beings are created in and can emulate -
Wesley says this Image is drawn by God’s own hand (Creator God)
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• “For John Wesley, the Sermon on the Mount was to be a backdrop for the social
ethic of the New Creation, and he used it to support the Christian’s involvement in
building the kingdom of God on earth as well as in heaven.” ~Wesley Study Bible
• This is why Jesus follows and embodies God’s law (law of love) - it is the Prophet that
shows the way - purpose of incarnation
• Wesley rejects the substitutionary imputation of following God’s will in the law
• Wesley sees Jesus’ exemplary life of service (law of love) as a means of gracious
instruction to us as fallen humanity
• The Prophetic office reveals God’s law of love
• Christ’s work as Priest (restoring our relationship with God) is a presupposition of Christ’s
work as Prophet - Because of God’s gracious presence in our lives working for our good
(prevenient grace) is the only reason we have any ability to emulate God’s law of love
(therefore there is no works-righteousness, which, Wesley was often accused of
promoting) - this work of God combined with our response is evidence of the breaking of
the power of sin
• Wesley never polarizes God’s grace and the law (dualism) - God’s law (of love) is in itself
an expression of God’s grace; which Christ came to establish, illustrate, and explain (not
destroy)
• It is through the law that we become graciously aware of our need for pardon (initially and
ongoing in the Christian walk of faith) - it is the law Prophetically illustrated that provides
our right-orientation (pattern - OrthoPraxis) as we continually respond to God’s pardoning
presence in our lives
• Christ as Prophet is the source of our restored awareness of God’s law (of love)
• Through this awareness we are awakened to our sin, directed to Christ as Priest for
pardoning assurance, and guided in the renewal of our nature into Christ-Likeness
Read Luke 4:16-30
Read Matthew 5:1-7:29
Govern all by thy wisdom, O Lord,
so that my soul may always be serving thee
as thou dost will,
and not as I may choose.
Do not punish me, I beseech thee,
by granting that which I wish or ask,
if it offend thy love, which would always live in me.
Let me die to myself, that I may serve thee;
let me live to thee, who in thyself art the true life. Amen
~UMH #403 (Teresa of Avila, Spain, 16th century)
Christ as King/Physician
• The actual process of human being’s renewal in Christ-Likeness falls within the office of
Christ as King (Physician)
• According to Wesley - Christ’s Kingship involves:
1. giving laws to all those he has bought with his blood
2. restoring those to the moral image of God whom he had first reinstated in his favor
3. reigning in all believing hearts until he has subdued all things to himself
• “The overlap or integration of the offices of Christ are again evident in this
description. Christ as King is the sanction of the law which Christ as Prophet rivals,
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and Christ as Priest ushers us into the renewing realm of Christ’s regal work.
Wesley’s assumption of the ultimate cosmological and eschatological scope of
Christ’s work is also apparent.”
• John Wesley’s appeal to Christ as King can be seen most easily in the 1780 collection of
Hymns (Charles Wesley) [UMH #181 - Ye Servants of God; #715 - Rejoice, the Lord Is
King; #718 - Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending]
• Maddox believes that this is because the weekly worship of the believing community is
such a practical-theological context for reinforcing the central point of Christ’s Kingship - it
is only through Christ’s strength that we are able to live as Jesus-People
• It is in the context of Christ as King that Wesley sees Christ as Physician
• Wesley wants us to conceive of Christ as the physician of our souls who is seeking to heal
our wounds and make us partners of his holiness
• This image of Christ is mostly eastern and not common in the western church (Homilies of
Macarius)
• This is also a favorite image (Christ as Physician) of Charles Wesley - found frequently in
the 1780 Hymns
• However, when Wesley gives detailed attention to the actual process of our spiritual
healing it is the person (Trinity) of the Holy Spirit that is the focus - the image of Holy Spirit
as Physician complements that of Christ as Physician
• As King, Christ is the one who guides Christians in their process of renewal - delivering
them from the power of sin
• Christ as King will eventually deliver the whole of creation from the very presence of sin,
returning it to God/Father/Creator
Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Read Matthew 28:16-20
Read Mark 12:28-34
Almighty and everlasting God,
it is your will to restore all things t Christ,
whom you have anointed priest for ever and ruler of creation.
Grant that all the people of the earth,
now divided by the power of sin,
may be united under the glorious and gentle rule of Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. ~UMH #721 (after The Book of Common Prayer)
“Preaching Christ In All His Offices”
• “…the doctrine of the Three Offices served for Wesley as a ‘grammar’ for norming
practical-theological activities aimed at forming the beliefs, affections, and practices of his
people.”
• This is not about a set of ideas - it is about the ministry of the people called Methodist living
out the pattern of Christ’s work (be like Jesus)
• The pattern should:
1. maintain the connection between Christ’s gracious provision of pardon for our sin
and christ’s expectation of the renewal of our nature
2. avoid and legalistic preaching of Christ as Prophet without Christ as Priest
3. avoid preaching Christ as Priest without Christ as King (antinomian)
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4. be a methodological expression of orienting concern
5. insure that God’s grace known in Christ as Priest is never separated from the
response of discipleship that Christ modeled as Prophet and calls as King for his
followers to also adhere to
• This is not about fancy titles - you can do this without mentioning the titles at all
• This holds God’s law (of love) and the gospel of Jesus in creative interrelationship
• This avoids any antithesis between justification and sanctification
• This highlights Wesley’s integration of the western juridical and eastern therapeutic
dimensions of Christian truth
• Any activity (not just preaching) that contributes to shaping Christian character should
follow this charge of Wesley - a balance of the total Christ (Jesus)
Next Week: The Nature of Christ
Closing Prayer
Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and help my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart with the flame of love.
Come, my king, sit upon the throne of my heart and reign there,
For thou alone art my King and my Lord. Amen.
~Dimitri of Rostov, Russia, 17th Century, UMH #466
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Homework
(You need a cheap notebook or scratch pad to keep notes and writings in. This is just for you.)
Wednesday: Read and Pray Psalm 10 - what does God reveal to
you through this song/poem? What does it say about God? What
does it say about human beings? What does it say about the
(grace) relationship between God and human beings?
Thursday: Read the Scriptures under the heading Christ as
Priest. Why do you think this office is important to keep in mind as
you follow Jesus daily? Pray the prayer under this section
allowing a time of silence afterward. What is God saying to you?
Friday: Read the Scriptures under the heading Christ as Prophet.
Why do you think this office is important to keep in mind as you
follow Jesus daily? Pray the prayer under this section allowing a
time of silence afterward. What is God saying to you?
Saturday: Read the Scriptures under the heading Christ as King/
Physician. Why do you think this office is important to keep in
mind as you follow Jesus daily? Pray the prayer under this section
allowing a time of silence afterward. What is God saying to you?
Sunday: Sabbath - go to Sunday school, go to worship, share a
meal, unplug, be thankful, relax
Monday: Go back over each section of this handout. Make notes
on your thoughts. Why is Jesus/Christ important to you? Why is
the work of Jesus/Christ important for you?
Tuesday: Class on ZOOM 7-8pm (Last class until January 12, 2021)
*All quotes lacking attribution are from: Maddox, Responsible Grace
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