Another great book by Jon Zens entitled We Are Christ on Earth. Jon’s books are easy to read and understand and are great gifts for friends and family who might be interested in relational gatherings. The excerpt below talks about the forgotten horizontal dimension of the cross. To check out Jon’s books go to jonzens.com.
Traditional systematic theologies have dealt with Christ’s cross-work primarily in terms of its vertical dimension-that He died to heal the alienation between the Creator and humanity. This aspect of Golgotha is indeed vital and foundational. But the New Testament goes further to reveal the multidimensional realities of the Cross. The cosmic dimension is found in Col. 2, the charismatic dimension is found in Eph. 4, and the communal (horizontal) dimension is revealed in places like Eph. 2 and 1 Cor. 12:13.
Francis Schaeffer called this horizontal dimension the “sociological healing” that flows out of Gospel salvation. In other words, as each individual is baptized by the Spirit into Christ, they also come into His body, where there is no Jew or Greek, bond or free, or male and female (1 Cor. 12:13).
This ekklesia setting, then, becomes the “display case” of God’s multi-faceted grace and wisdom (Eph. 3:10). Thus, in the New Testament, salvation is not individualistic (people saved alone), but rather corporate (people in relationship with others). In Ephesians 2, Paul pointed out that the Law required that Jew and Gentile be kept apart. Jesus came, honored and fulfilled the Law, then took away the barrier of the Law so that the two would be one in a “new humanity.”
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father (NASB).
From this context, we can see that it is crucial to affirm both that Jesus died to atone for our sins (vertically, toward God), and that He died to create a “new person” (horizontally in relationships), which was the culmination of His eternal purpose in Christ.
Tragically, and for a number of reasons, the centrality of this horizontal fabric of the believer’s life has been virtually forgotten. Consider, for example, the content of most gospel tracts. The focus is on “getting saved,” but nothing is said about the fact that in this new life they are to function in His body by the Spirit.
A book that years ago opened up my awareness of the horizontal dimension of the cross was John Driver’s Understanding the Atonement for the Mission of the Church (Herald Press, 1986). This work deserves your attention if you wish to explore further this dimension of Jesus’ work.
What are some implications of the horizontal/communal dimension of the Cross for our practice of ekklesia? It seems to me that one of the key implications would be that in our living and in our presentation of the Gospel we consciously connect new life in Christ with life in His ekklesia.
In other words, we are not just asking people to say a prayer and invite Jesus into their heart. Instead, we are inviting them to a full-orbed life of following Christ-a life of knowing Christ and functioning with the brothers and sisters in His body. This organic reality entails a whole lot more than just “going to church.”
Another implication would be that Jesus-communities should be displaying the Lord’s goal of “the two being made one” fellowships where Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, rich and poor, educated and uneducated can all follow Jesus together in fervent love.
That is why Paul had to correct Peter publicly: his removing of himself from table fellowship with believing Gentiles when certain friends of James came, contradicted the “sociological healing” that a watching world should see in the New Humanity.
Realizing that horizontal realities are embedded in Christ’s cross opens up new vistas for understanding issues the early church faced. For example, in post-apostolic times the Lord’s supper became an individualistic ritual where believers examined themselves regarding sin in their life. But when Paul told each of the Corinthians to “examine themselves,” the context indicates that he had in view one’s relationship to others in the body. The way they were coming together reflected schism, not bondedness. They were not eating together as a unit. The poor were thereby being humiliated. The giving nature of Christ was not reflected in the way they shared food with one another. In such circumstances, the Supper could only be done “unworthily” because the way they were acting was a denial of all that it signified. If we miss the social dimensions of the cross–the New Humanity—the New Testament will always be a veiled book to us in crucial ways.
The movement in post-apostolic times from vibrant body-life to dependence on leaders, from Spirit-led ministry to institutionalized forms, and from free-flowing relationships to political backing and intrigue all combined to eliminate any consciousness of the horizontal/relational purposes the Lord had in Jesus’ cross-work. The horizontal healing accomplished by Jesus’ cross was largely buried and forgotten.
We should, therefore, be encouraged by the emergence of sensitivity to, and concern for, the body dimension of the believer’s life in Christ, as evidenced by the books, talks and articles on the subject. May the Lord give us grace to make intentional efforts to see this vital aspect of Christ’s work become rooted in the life of His ekklesias.
Check out Jon Zens website at searchingtogether.org.