NOTE TO ALL: Now that Bob3 is back, I have to be away for a few days myself in order (a) to do justice to my 50th wedding anniversary, which is Friday, the 28th of March, and (b) to make sure I get my income taxes taken care of on time! But as General Douglas MacArthur famously said when forced to retreat from the Philippines, “I shall return.” I know, that quotation dates me terribly!
Before signing off for a few days, however, I do want to respond quickly to one item in Chrisguy’s latest and very insightful post. He wrote:
That’s a good question, Chris, and the answer may depend upon how one understands the Incarnation. But one thing seems clear. The Greek word peirasmos that our English Bibles typically translate with the English word “tempted” literally means to try, prove, or put to the test, and this word need not carry the same implication of possible moral failure that I was assuming when I used the term “temptation.” The NRSV therefore translates Hebrews 4:15b, correctly I suspect, as follows: “we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” Interestingly enough, the same verb is also used of God, the Father, in Hebrews 3:9: Just as Satan is elsewhere said to have put Jesus to the test, so the Hebrew ancestors are here said to have put God himself to the test. In any event, there can be no real temptation in my sense unless genuine moral failure is possible, and genuine moral failure is possible only when one’s nature is unperfected and in that sense “fallen.” I use scare quotes here because, as I see it, a fallen nature is simply an unperfected nature and carries no implication of moral guilt at all. So I tend to agree with Niebuhr’s view that God created Adam (or humankind) in a fallen condition (i.e., with an unperfected nature), which explains why sin (“missing the mark”) was a genuine possibility and in my opinion virtually inevitable. But that’s another story.
Anyway, I’m truly grateful that you and Bob3 have prepared the way so nicely for some things I want to say later. Also, I need to thank you, Kate, for your exceptionally kind comments. If something I have written has been helpful to you (or to anyone else), this is the best kind of news that any author could ever receive. But it is a curious thing. Given the course that my life has taken and the support I have always received from family and friends, it takes no bravery or courage at all–not even in the slightest–to express my deepest convictions about the nature of God and the world. In particular, nothing I have said or written about my evolving convictions over the years has ever posed the slightest threat to my life, my livelihood, or my personal friendships.
My thanks to all who have contributed so much to our discussion here so far.
-Tom