Previous Post – Thank You, John Stott

In a previous post, “Resisting the Anti-Identity”, the comment discussion has continued to produce some great conversation.  One comment was made that the idea of finding our identity “in Christ” can often be an abstraction that allows power abuses to go unchecked- a fair and accurate concern.  While this space is not nearly adequate to get into the full spectrum of idea concerning what it means to have our identity in Christ, I wanted to touch on it briefly.

So many of our most central identity markers are defined by our relationship to someone or something else- I am a husband and a father are central to me.  They correspond with the two most important people in my life.  Without getting into the complexities of nature/nurture (both of which are significant in identity formation), much of who we are is shaped by our relationship to those who are different than us- who not us.  In other words, it is in the otherness of the other that our own identities become most defined.

One of the greatest tragedies of sin is that it turned “otherness” into that which divided us.  Sin dis-integrates relationship- humanity with God; humanity with humanity; humanity with self; humanity with creation.  Yet God’s intention was quite the contrary.  In fact, our most fundamental otherness was a reflection of our shared reflection of the God in whose image we are created:

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)

It is something of a paradox that when God created us in His image, He did so by making us different.  In this light, the dis-integrative work of sin is seen destroying that which is most previous to God- the unity of relationship within the diversity of our otherness, reflecting His triune nature.  The work of Christ, then, is to overcome the brokenness of sin and restore otherness into the intended reflection of God’s image.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we share in this redemptive work, allowing our broken otherness to be restored to a diverse oneness in His Body, by His Holy Spirit:

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” 1 Cor. 12:12-14

Necessary to forgiveness and redemption, then, is becoming His Body through sharing in His resurrection.  Thus, our primary identity is in Christ- not just individually, but also (perhaps more so) collectively.  And yet, the beauty of this redemption, as seen in the text above, is that our uniqueness- our otherness- is not complete lost, but is transformed and redeemed, becoming an essential expression of our place in His Body.

This isn’t to say that, upon becoming Christians, that all that we are suddenly becomes a positive expression of our identity in Christ.  The work of the Cross is to put to death any sinful thing in us, resurrecting only that which glorifies God- and not everything makes “team resurrection”, so to speak.  God does not want our shared identity in Him to overwhelm or erase our individuality.  However, all too often we let our own personal identity become more important than our identity in Christ, including our shared identity as His Body, the Church.

Jesus reminds us in Luke 9:23-27:

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.””

Again, this space is inadequate to unpack the fuller meaning of this text, however, it does speak into the topic at hand rather significantly. Jesus’ call to self-denial was not a call to reject, deny or ignore our individuality- our otherness.  After all, He clearly promises that only in losing the self will we ultimately gain it back.  Just as Jesus didn’t abandon His body in the tomb, but was resurrected in it- transformed by God into a new creation- so to will the substance of who we are shape our resurrected, redeemed and transformed (transforming) identities in Christ.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, uniting us as His Body, our otherness is submitted under the loving Lordship of Christ to be transformed into a new creation, used for His glory and His kingdom.

Our identity in Christ is defined significantly by the intersection of our otherness.  Isn’t this what relationship is truly about?  What am I apart from others?  Even the genetic material that makes up so much of who I am is the result of the most beautiful and complex intersection of two others, co-creating with God to bring new life.  And how should these myriad of intersecting relationship be defined?

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40

This does not easily solve the complexities of culture, gender, age, etc. incredibly complicated further by generations of sin working against the redemptive work of God towards our Oneness in Christ.  It is all too easy, for example, for the dominate culture to claim it’s particularity as an expression of God’s intended Oneness.  I once had a pastor tell me that the racial and cultural identity of his First Nations members was not that important, saying that they focused, rather, on the “super-culture” that is Christianity.  And, of course, that looked an awful lot like his culture- white, male, western, English.  This is not what it means to be one in Christ.

This is why I am encouraged by ecclesial movements that embrace community hermeneutics and flattened leadership models.  While these aren’t going to “solve” everything, they are hopeful signs that Christians are beginning to understand that we find our identity not in primarily putting our otherness ahead of others, but in living in loving, mutually submitted relationship.  And like Christ, we must do so with the humility of a servant and a daily commitment to our selves on the cross.