Christ's Lordship and Christian Education
Patrick Henry College, for all the long years of its existence [Note: PHC was founded in 2000], and especially in recent months, has been at a point of institutional crisis—a crisis, you might say, of self-definition. What, we ask, is PHC supposed to be? What is its purpose, its role, and its goal as an educational institution? What does the “ideal” PHC student look like, and how do we go about producing him?
We can begin to formulate an answer to all of these questions, and some related questions that have not yet been raised, by thinking about what Wheaton College President Duane Litfin has called the challenge of the Christian college: to see more fully Whom we serve. If we begin to think together about what it means to be distinctively Christian, and just who this Christ whom we serve, it will put our thoughts about what PHC is and should be in the proper perspective. So, now, for a few minutes, let’s think first about who Christ is to us, and then apply those considerations to our experience here at PHC.
Consider the phrase “distinctively Christian education.” This shows up in the literature of scores or hundreds of self-defined Christian colleges, but what does it mean? What are we saying when we talk about a college or educational program being Christ-centered? I think this phrase has become something of a cliché, something we don’t really understand because we’re so familiar with it. When we say that an education is Christ-centered, do we really mean that it is focused upon the second person of the Trinity? Do we really just mean God-centered, or is there some real sense in which a Christian liberal arts education is specifically Son-centered?
It may surprise some of you to realize that this does actually mean what it says. The distinctively Christian education—as opposed to a merely theistic one—understands that Christ, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Godhead, is the unifying key to all that humans can know or understand, and that there is nothing that can be properly understood or thought through apart from Him. Christianity is unique among the world’s religions and philosophical systems because it posits a person, not a principle, a force, or an idea as the unifying and cohering element of all that exists. He is, to put it in Biblical terms, the Lord of all creation, the Lord of Glory.
Many evangelical Christians today don’t think of Jesus as anything more than their personal Lord and Savior. For each individual Christian, the confession Jesus is Lord of my Life is the ultimate issue, the final consideration that we all must face. But the lordship of Christ over our hearts and lives is not the only aspect of Christ’s lordship that we must consider, and it is not where we must begin. If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to Colossians 1, and we’ll read verses 15-23.
Martin Marty has called this passage “a fundamental charter for church-related higher education,” and we’ll see what this has to do with a Christian college in a moment. First, though, let’s look at what this passage has to say about the lordship of Christ.
First, Jesus is the Creator of all things. Now, I know what some of you are thinking—isn’t God the Father the Creator? This is what the great creeds of the church affirm—We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth, of all that is, visible and invisible. Yet Scripture also clearly teaches that it was the Son by Whom and through Whom all things were created. John 1 says, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Hebrews 1 says, “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
Second, Jesus is the Sustainer of all things. Look at verse 17 of Colossians 1 again: just as Jesus as Creator is “before all things,” so also “in Him all things hold together.” Hebrews 1:3 says “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” From the orbits of the largest heavenly bodies to the smallest biological processes, from the greatest worldwide political events to the most mundane everyday human interactions, everything that exists and everything that happens is as it is because God the Son has said it will be so and continues to make it so. The entire created order is contingent upon Him at every point and at every moment.
Third, Jesus is the Goal of all things. Look at verse 16. Not only were all things created by Him, they were created for him. All of creation is unto Him, toward Him. In Hebrews 1 again we see that the Father “appointed [Him] the heir of all things.” Christ Himself, His divine person and His glory are what all things exist to serve and fulfill. He is the hope of all things, the end of all things, the destination and destiny of all things, and all things find their fulfillment in Him.
Fourth, Jesus is the Redeemer of all things. In verse 20 here we see that God was pleased “through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” All of creation was affected by the Fall, and part of the glorious hope of the Cross is that not only has Christ redeemed His people, He has and will redeem everything, all of creation.
Fifth, Jesus is the Head of the Church. In this passage, we see Christ is before all things, and He is the goal of all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and the beginning and end of everything that is points directly to Him. Paul’s placement of the phrase “he is the head of the body, the church,” here in the central portion of the passage, between beginning and end, is important. In the present days, in the time between the Son’s creation of the world and the consummation of His redemption of the world, His lordship, His character, and His sustaining work are most clearly seen in His body, the Church. We’ll come back to this in a moment.
These are just a few of the things that the Scripture has to say about Christ’s lordship. He is also the King, he is our Prophet and Priest, he is the suffering servant, he is our teacher and reconciler, and we could go on and on. I hope that these few observations have helped you begin to better understand the amazing implications of the confession “Christ is Lord.” He is preeminent in the created order. He is “the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:9) He is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and no one can come to the Fat
her except through Him, because He is the unique interface, the central point where the universe and the Godhead meet. He is the Father’s appointed mediator for dealing with the world: its formation, its sustenance, its redemption, and its restoration.
With this more fully-orbed Christology, we see why Christ-centeredness is not only an appropriate characteristic for a seminary or Bible college education, but for all Christian education—that is, all education of and by Christians. To be distinctively Christian, in fact, is to be focused on Christ. PHC’s “Christian Philosophy of Education” says, “God is the source of all truth, be it spiritual, moral, philosophical, or scientific. For this reason, we seek to educate students in God's truth throughout the entire curriculum. Christian faith and genuine learning cannot be separated; neither is our Christian faith a mere addendum to the liberal learning process. Instead, our Christian faith precedes and informs all that we at Patrick Henry College study, teach, and learn.” This is good, but it doesn’t go far enough. Our faith is not simply in the god of a theistic Judeo-Christian tradition, it is in the person and work of the God-man, Jesus Christ. We don’t simply want to know God’s truth, we seek to know the Truth who is God, the divine Logos who is the Word of God and whose word creates and sustains all things. Our aim, ultimately, must not be to educate students “with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding,” but to flesh out and proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ himself.
The role of the Christian university is just this: to elaborate upon, investigate, and proclaim the universal lordship of Christ in all of the disciplines—in history, philosophy, politics, literature, languages, sciences, business, medicine, law, art, and all the rest. If PHC wants to be distinctively Christian, it will mean following this course and pursuing Christ in every discipline. Dr. Bonicelli, what does it mean that Jesus Christ is the key to understanding diplomacy and international relations? Dr. Gruenke, how are we to understand the fact that Christ is at the very center of the study of biology? Dr. Hake, how is Christ the most fundamental consideration in semiotics and linguistics? Dr. Sanders, how is Christ Himself essential to the study of history?
These are just a few of the questions that are raised when we pursue genuinely Christ-centered scholarship. Answering these questions is the responsibility of both students and professors, so as you continue to pursue your studies, take the initiative yourself to think through how whatever topic you’re studying points to Christ.
“This is all well and good for Christian colleges in general,” you say, “but Patrick Henry College is not just any old Christian college. We’re special. What does the lordship of Christ mean for us, considering our special mission to lead the nation and shape the culture?” I’m glad you asked, I’ll tell you what it has to do with it.
As Christians, we must remember that our allegiance is to Christ, and not to the things of this world. Furthermore, as those who bear His name and are His redeemed people, we must be careful to make sure that our goals are His goals, and, just as importantly, that His methods are our methods.
Jesus was faced with a culture war in his day. Israel was losing the culture war to paganism. The Greco-Roman culture of the first century was ascending, and Israel was oppressed and in chaos. All around Jesus were voices saying "Here's how to fight and win the culture war, so that Israel - not Rome, not the pagans- will be the winners."
The Pharisees had a program. Jesus rejected it. The Zealots had a program. Jesus rejected it as well. The Essenes had a program. Jesus rejected that. The Sadducees had a program, and Jesus rejected that. There were cynics who did nothing. Jesus didn't join them. What did he do? Read the Gospels, especially the early chapters, and take notes. Here's how Jesus fought the culture war of his time:
He established a Counter Culture: God's Kingdom available now, directly, in and through Jesus, lived out through discipleship and the church.
He proclaimed the Kingdom of God, now, present in power. The Kingdom was centered around Jesus, himself; not around a political program. He proclaimed and enacted that Kingdom in his ministry, never making any compromises on which was the Kingdom that demanded the most loyalty. While others had Kingdom schemes and Kingdom politics, Jesus said the Kingdom had arrived in himself.
Jesus saw this as a compelling vision of a culture within a world of cultures. The church was God's project, his field, his temple, his body. He saw the Kingdom of God in gatherings of two and three, not in marching armies. His attention to the last, least, lost, little and even the dead showed that the power of God's Kingdom was present in surprising new ways. His Kingdom was not of this world, yet it was in the world it was not of. It was not a Kingdom with worldly objectives or methods, but it was a Kingdom with wisdom even the wisest of the age couldn't understand. The greatest of Israel's teachers couldn't see it without being born again.*
This same rabbi whose entire life was a story of humiliation and service is the same Lord of Glory that Paul says is the firstborn of all creation. He has determined to glorify himself in creation by redeeming the world and establishing his Kingdom, and the way he has chosen to do it is through the work of the church—the spread of the gospel and the making of disciples.
Now, what is our goal here at Patrick Henry College? Yes, it is to “lead the nation and shape the culture,” but to what end? Why is it that we want to lead, and what are we trying to shape the culture into? Do we seek power and influence for their own sake? Are we just trying to keep the fires of sin and evil in check until we’re all Raptured out of here and don’t have to worry about it anymore? Or do we embrace a vision of a more powerful, long-lasting cultural change? Is our desire to “reclaim American for Christ” part of a more Biblical desire to see the Kingdom of God more fully realized here on earth, awaiting the glorious day of its completion when our Lord Christ returns in glory?
Because we follow Christ and confess him as Lord, we must conform our plans, schemes, and strategies to His. Christ proclaimed himself, not a political agenda, as the coming of the Kingdom of God, and we in turn must seek cultural renewal through him and his Body. While it is good and right for us to be faithful citizens and even to participate as Christians in the political process, we must never put our hope for a Godly culture in any political solution. The Kingdom that knows no compromise will never be achieved with the methods of a kingdom that is all about compromise. I have focused my application on politics, because that often seems to be PHC’s focus, but I encourage you to consider how these thoughts apply to your own studies, if you are not a government major.
Just as we must enlarge our vision of how we should seek cultural change, we must enlarge our vision of whom this change will come to. The Kingdom of God is our greatest hope for renewing the culture of America, but this Kingdom is no respecter of national boundaries. One of the reasons Christ’s message was so controversial for his Jewish hearers was that when they expected a solution for Israel’s problems, he responded with a solution that was for the cultural ills of the whole world. We follow the Son of God, and we must shift our thinking around the idea that just as his Kingdom is far larger than America, so must our aims be too. With this perspective, we cannot fail. Christ has promised to build his Church and consummate his Kingdom. Even if America becomes utterly secular (God forbid), we will be successful in our aims because our eyes are on the Savior.
Well, we should conclude. As Christians, the lordship of Jesus Christ is the primary claim on our lives, and the basis for all that we know and do. As an educational institution, our primary focus is at the same time far simpler and far greater than producing successful leaders. It is to cultivate a distinctively Christian scholarship that is dedicated to seeking out and proclaiming Christ’s lordship in every discipline. It is to build a community of people dedicated to Christ who are devoted to his Body, the Church. Our aim, as Christian scholars, is that the world and all that is in it submit to the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Creator, Sustainer, Goal, Redeemer, and Lord of all things.
*From an essay by Michael Spencer
The thoughts that went into this message are based partially on Duane Litfin's book, Conceiving the Christian College.
We can begin to formulate an answer to all of these questions, and some related questions that have not yet been raised, by thinking about what Wheaton College President Duane Litfin has called the challenge of the Christian college: to see more fully Whom we serve. If we begin to think together about what it means to be distinctively Christian, and just who this Christ whom we serve, it will put our thoughts about what PHC is and should be in the proper perspective. So, now, for a few minutes, let’s think first about who Christ is to us, and then apply those considerations to our experience here at PHC.
Consider the phrase “distinctively Christian education.” This shows up in the literature of scores or hundreds of self-defined Christian colleges, but what does it mean? What are we saying when we talk about a college or educational program being Christ-centered? I think this phrase has become something of a cliché, something we don’t really understand because we’re so familiar with it. When we say that an education is Christ-centered, do we really mean that it is focused upon the second person of the Trinity? Do we really just mean God-centered, or is there some real sense in which a Christian liberal arts education is specifically Son-centered?
It may surprise some of you to realize that this does actually mean what it says. The distinctively Christian education—as opposed to a merely theistic one—understands that Christ, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Godhead, is the unifying key to all that humans can know or understand, and that there is nothing that can be properly understood or thought through apart from Him. Christianity is unique among the world’s religions and philosophical systems because it posits a person, not a principle, a force, or an idea as the unifying and cohering element of all that exists. He is, to put it in Biblical terms, the Lord of all creation, the Lord of Glory.
Many evangelical Christians today don’t think of Jesus as anything more than their personal Lord and Savior. For each individual Christian, the confession Jesus is Lord of my Life is the ultimate issue, the final consideration that we all must face. But the lordship of Christ over our hearts and lives is not the only aspect of Christ’s lordship that we must consider, and it is not where we must begin. If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to Colossians 1, and we’ll read verses 15-23.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[g] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Martin Marty has called this passage “a fundamental charter for church-related higher education,” and we’ll see what this has to do with a Christian college in a moment. First, though, let’s look at what this passage has to say about the lordship of Christ.
First, Jesus is the Creator of all things. Now, I know what some of you are thinking—isn’t God the Father the Creator? This is what the great creeds of the church affirm—We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth, of all that is, visible and invisible. Yet Scripture also clearly teaches that it was the Son by Whom and through Whom all things were created. John 1 says, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Hebrews 1 says, “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
Second, Jesus is the Sustainer of all things. Look at verse 17 of Colossians 1 again: just as Jesus as Creator is “before all things,” so also “in Him all things hold together.” Hebrews 1:3 says “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” From the orbits of the largest heavenly bodies to the smallest biological processes, from the greatest worldwide political events to the most mundane everyday human interactions, everything that exists and everything that happens is as it is because God the Son has said it will be so and continues to make it so. The entire created order is contingent upon Him at every point and at every moment.
Third, Jesus is the Goal of all things. Look at verse 16. Not only were all things created by Him, they were created for him. All of creation is unto Him, toward Him. In Hebrews 1 again we see that the Father “appointed [Him] the heir of all things.” Christ Himself, His divine person and His glory are what all things exist to serve and fulfill. He is the hope of all things, the end of all things, the destination and destiny of all things, and all things find their fulfillment in Him.
Fourth, Jesus is the Redeemer of all things. In verse 20 here we see that God was pleased “through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” All of creation was affected by the Fall, and part of the glorious hope of the Cross is that not only has Christ redeemed His people, He has and will redeem everything, all of creation.
Fifth, Jesus is the Head of the Church. In this passage, we see Christ is before all things, and He is the goal of all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and the beginning and end of everything that is points directly to Him. Paul’s placement of the phrase “he is the head of the body, the church,” here in the central portion of the passage, between beginning and end, is important. In the present days, in the time between the Son’s creation of the world and the consummation of His redemption of the world, His lordship, His character, and His sustaining work are most clearly seen in His body, the Church. We’ll come back to this in a moment.
These are just a few of the things that the Scripture has to say about Christ’s lordship. He is also the King, he is our Prophet and Priest, he is the suffering servant, he is our teacher and reconciler, and we could go on and on. I hope that these few observations have helped you begin to better understand the amazing implications of the confession “Christ is Lord.” He is preeminent in the created order. He is “the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:9) He is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and no one can come to the Fat
her except through Him, because He is the unique interface, the central point where the universe and the Godhead meet. He is the Father’s appointed mediator for dealing with the world: its formation, its sustenance, its redemption, and its restoration.
With this more fully-orbed Christology, we see why Christ-centeredness is not only an appropriate characteristic for a seminary or Bible college education, but for all Christian education—that is, all education of and by Christians. To be distinctively Christian, in fact, is to be focused on Christ. PHC’s “Christian Philosophy of Education” says, “God is the source of all truth, be it spiritual, moral, philosophical, or scientific. For this reason, we seek to educate students in God's truth throughout the entire curriculum. Christian faith and genuine learning cannot be separated; neither is our Christian faith a mere addendum to the liberal learning process. Instead, our Christian faith precedes and informs all that we at Patrick Henry College study, teach, and learn.” This is good, but it doesn’t go far enough. Our faith is not simply in the god of a theistic Judeo-Christian tradition, it is in the person and work of the God-man, Jesus Christ. We don’t simply want to know God’s truth, we seek to know the Truth who is God, the divine Logos who is the Word of God and whose word creates and sustains all things. Our aim, ultimately, must not be to educate students “with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding,” but to flesh out and proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ himself.
The role of the Christian university is just this: to elaborate upon, investigate, and proclaim the universal lordship of Christ in all of the disciplines—in history, philosophy, politics, literature, languages, sciences, business, medicine, law, art, and all the rest. If PHC wants to be distinctively Christian, it will mean following this course and pursuing Christ in every discipline. Dr. Bonicelli, what does it mean that Jesus Christ is the key to understanding diplomacy and international relations? Dr. Gruenke, how are we to understand the fact that Christ is at the very center of the study of biology? Dr. Hake, how is Christ the most fundamental consideration in semiotics and linguistics? Dr. Sanders, how is Christ Himself essential to the study of history?
These are just a few of the questions that are raised when we pursue genuinely Christ-centered scholarship. Answering these questions is the responsibility of both students and professors, so as you continue to pursue your studies, take the initiative yourself to think through how whatever topic you’re studying points to Christ.
“This is all well and good for Christian colleges in general,” you say, “but Patrick Henry College is not just any old Christian college. We’re special. What does the lordship of Christ mean for us, considering our special mission to lead the nation and shape the culture?” I’m glad you asked, I’ll tell you what it has to do with it.
As Christians, we must remember that our allegiance is to Christ, and not to the things of this world. Furthermore, as those who bear His name and are His redeemed people, we must be careful to make sure that our goals are His goals, and, just as importantly, that His methods are our methods.
Jesus was faced with a culture war in his day. Israel was losing the culture war to paganism. The Greco-Roman culture of the first century was ascending, and Israel was oppressed and in chaos. All around Jesus were voices saying "Here's how to fight and win the culture war, so that Israel - not Rome, not the pagans- will be the winners."
The Pharisees had a program. Jesus rejected it. The Zealots had a program. Jesus rejected it as well. The Essenes had a program. Jesus rejected that. The Sadducees had a program, and Jesus rejected that. There were cynics who did nothing. Jesus didn't join them. What did he do? Read the Gospels, especially the early chapters, and take notes. Here's how Jesus fought the culture war of his time:
He established a Counter Culture: God's Kingdom available now, directly, in and through Jesus, lived out through discipleship and the church.
He proclaimed the Kingdom of God, now, present in power. The Kingdom was centered around Jesus, himself; not around a political program. He proclaimed and enacted that Kingdom in his ministry, never making any compromises on which was the Kingdom that demanded the most loyalty. While others had Kingdom schemes and Kingdom politics, Jesus said the Kingdom had arrived in himself.
Jesus saw this as a compelling vision of a culture within a world of cultures. The church was God's project, his field, his temple, his body. He saw the Kingdom of God in gatherings of two and three, not in marching armies. His attention to the last, least, lost, little and even the dead showed that the power of God's Kingdom was present in surprising new ways. His Kingdom was not of this world, yet it was in the world it was not of. It was not a Kingdom with worldly objectives or methods, but it was a Kingdom with wisdom even the wisest of the age couldn't understand. The greatest of Israel's teachers couldn't see it without being born again.*
This same rabbi whose entire life was a story of humiliation and service is the same Lord of Glory that Paul says is the firstborn of all creation. He has determined to glorify himself in creation by redeeming the world and establishing his Kingdom, and the way he has chosen to do it is through the work of the church—the spread of the gospel and the making of disciples.
Now, what is our goal here at Patrick Henry College? Yes, it is to “lead the nation and shape the culture,” but to what end? Why is it that we want to lead, and what are we trying to shape the culture into? Do we seek power and influence for their own sake? Are we just trying to keep the fires of sin and evil in check until we’re all Raptured out of here and don’t have to worry about it anymore? Or do we embrace a vision of a more powerful, long-lasting cultural change? Is our desire to “reclaim American for Christ” part of a more Biblical desire to see the Kingdom of God more fully realized here on earth, awaiting the glorious day of its completion when our Lord Christ returns in glory?
Because we follow Christ and confess him as Lord, we must conform our plans, schemes, and strategies to His. Christ proclaimed himself, not a political agenda, as the coming of the Kingdom of God, and we in turn must seek cultural renewal through him and his Body. While it is good and right for us to be faithful citizens and even to participate as Christians in the political process, we must never put our hope for a Godly culture in any political solution. The Kingdom that knows no compromise will never be achieved with the methods of a kingdom that is all about compromise. I have focused my application on politics, because that often seems to be PHC’s focus, but I encourage you to consider how these thoughts apply to your own studies, if you are not a government major.
Just as we must enlarge our vision of how we should seek cultural change, we must enlarge our vision of whom this change will come to. The Kingdom of God is our greatest hope for renewing the culture of America, but this Kingdom is no respecter of national boundaries. One of the reasons Christ’s message was so controversial for his Jewish hearers was that when they expected a solution for Israel’s problems, he responded with a solution that was for the cultural ills of the whole world. We follow the Son of God, and we must shift our thinking around the idea that just as his Kingdom is far larger than America, so must our aims be too. With this perspective, we cannot fail. Christ has promised to build his Church and consummate his Kingdom. Even if America becomes utterly secular (God forbid), we will be successful in our aims because our eyes are on the Savior.
Well, we should conclude. As Christians, the lordship of Jesus Christ is the primary claim on our lives, and the basis for all that we know and do. As an educational institution, our primary focus is at the same time far simpler and far greater than producing successful leaders. It is to cultivate a distinctively Christian scholarship that is dedicated to seeking out and proclaiming Christ’s lordship in every discipline. It is to build a community of people dedicated to Christ who are devoted to his Body, the Church. Our aim, as Christian scholars, is that the world and all that is in it submit to the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Creator, Sustainer, Goal, Redeemer, and Lord of all things.
*From an essay by Michael Spencer
The thoughts that went into this message are based partially on Duane Litfin's book, Conceiving the Christian College.
posted by Jeff at 8:08 AM
