The
prehistory of mediation in Israel involves reconciliation as well as
revelation. According to Torrance (1996b:194), God chose Israel to be both the
medium of revelation and “the special sphere of his redemptive acts leading
throughout history to the fulfilment of his promise of salvation.” In keeping
with the unitary, holistic character of his theology, Torrance (1992:24) sees
the mediation of revelation and the mediation of reconciliation “intertwined”
in God’s interaction with Israel; that is, “revelation and reconciliation
belong together, so that we cannot think out the mediation of revelation apart
from the mediation of reconciliation”
God’s
election of Israel to be the mediator of reconciliation must be viewed against
the background of God’s eternal purpose in creating the universe. According to
Torrance, God created the universe in order to pour out his love upon humanity
and to enjoy communion with us. Notwithstanding the fall of Adam, God’s
resolute purpose to commune with humanity is undeterred by human sin. Torrance (1957a:190)
writes:
Behind
all that we hear in the Gospel lies the fact that in creating man God willed to
share His glory with man and willed man to have communion with Himself; it is
the fact of the overflowing love of God that refused, so to speak, to be pent
up within God, but insisted in creating a fellowship into which it could pour
itself out in unending grace. Far from being rebuffed by the disobedience and
rebellion of man, the will of God's love to seek and create fellowship with man
established the covenant of grace in which God promised to man in spite of his
sin to be His God, and insisted on binding man to Himself as His child and
partner in love. God remained true and faithful to His covenant. He established
it in the midst of the people of Israel, and all through their history God was
patiently at work, preparing a way for the Incarnation of His love at last in
Jesus Christ, that in and through Him He might bring His covenant to complete
fulfilment and gather man back into joyful communion with Himself.
In
this statement, notes Kruger (1989:23), Torrance looks back to creation and
eternity and then forward to Israel, and within Israel to the fulfilment of
God’s redemptive purpose for humanity in Jesus Christ. Embedded in this passage
are three essential points that are constitutive of Torrance’s doctrine of the
mediation of reconciliation (cf.
Kruger, 1989:23, 24): 1) Creation is an act of “overflowing love,” that is, an
act of grace, whereby God freely wills to include humanity in communion with
himself. 2) Redemption is not separate from God’s gracious, loving act of
creation. Despite human sin, God remains “true and faithful” to his purpose in
creating humanity for fellowship with himself. God is not “rebuffed” by human
sin; rather, after the fall of Adam, God’s creative purpose for humanity
becomes a redemptive purpose with an eschatological goal; God establishes a
covenant of grace whereby he binds himself to man as “his child and partner in
love.” In Kruger’s pithy words, “God is committed.” 3) Israel is chosen as the
corporate medium of redemption, in the midst of whom, God is “patiently at
work,” preparing the way for the incarnation of Jesus Christ, “that in and
through Him He might bring His covenant to complete fulfilment and gather man
back into joyful communion with Himself.” God’s resolute purpose in creating
humanity for communion with himself, unwavering even in the face of human sin,
is always in the background of Torrance’s discussion of Israel as the corporate
medium of reconciliation.
As
Kruger (1989:27) notes, grace, creation, and redemption are interrelated throughout
Torrance’s writings. For example, in an essay on baptism, Torrance (1960a:120,
121) writes:
When
God made His Covenant of grace with Abraham it was none other than the Covenant
of grace which He established with [the] creation of the world, and which took
on a redemptive purpose with the rebellion and fall of man. But with Abraham
that Covenant assumed a particular form within history and with one race
elected from among all the races of mankind in order that God might prepare a
way within humanity for the fulfilment of His Covenant Will for all men.
In
the light of human sin, God’s creative plan to pour out his love on all
humanity takes on a redemptive purpose with the calling of Abraham (Torrance,
1971:141). The covenant of grace God established with the creation of the world
begins to take definitive shape in human history in Israel, where God prepares the
way for the salvation of all humanity. Torrance follows Barth (1957d:22ff; 1957f:28-31; 42ff; 1959:52ff) in asserting a relationship between
creation and the covenant. According to Torrance (1959:lii):
As
Karl Barth has interpreted it, the Covenant is the inner ground and form of
creation and creation is the outer ground or form of the Covenant, and the very
centre of the Covenant is the will of God to be our Father and to have us as
His dear children. Creation is thus to be understood as the sphere in space and
time in which God wills to share His divine life and love with man who is
created for this very end.
In
the following posts, we will consider four important aspects of the “prehistory”
of the mediation of reconciliation in Israel: 1) Israel’s communal
transformation in relation to God’s holiness; 2) the covenanted way of response
provided for Israel by God; 3) Israel as the suffering servant, and 4) Israel’s
rejection of the Messiah.
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