Some would read the abasement-exaltation theme in Matthew
23.12 as in reference to this life. In other words the man who abases himself
will be (after patient interlude) reap the fruits of success in being exalted
in station, wealth or perhaps power in This Age. Similar arguments are made in
reference to money. We're told the love of money is the root of all evil and in
consequence I've heard preachers suggest that if one puts God and family first
and then seeks money... that's valid and to be commended.
A closer examination of Scripture, including the many verses
in Proverbs that are utilised by the modern advocates of Christian wealth and
power reveal that the treasures and indeed the exaltation are not for us in
this age but in the age to come.
The exaltation is eschatological and this has implications
for the Dominionist proclivity to seek power and influence in the now, in order
to transform culture. And make no mistake power and influence go hand in hand with
money. These ideas are bound together as Christ makes clear in his contrasting
messages (Service to God vs. Mammon) in the Sermon on the Mount and in the
parables, all themes echoed by Paul and the other apostles in the New Testament
epistles.
We are called to martyrdom and abasement. The Pharisees had
not only misunderstood and abused the Mosaic Law but their power-ethics and
aspirations were wholly out of bounds with regard to the prophesied Kingdom of
Heaven which Christ was in the process of inaugurating during his ministry.
They had misunderstood the spirit of the Law but also what it pointed to. The
Kingdom of Peace, Wisdom and Love... terms that only have their proper meaning
when rooted in Christ... is at odds with the world and its powers and even
those who would hijack these teachings. The powers of this world cannot be
sanctified and thus while citizens of heaven are compelled to live on the Earth
of This Age, they must necessarily eschew and reject such power and the
temptations and seeming delights it offers. We are not called to exaltation but
debasement and this salt and light pilgrim testimony is in no small part what
condemns the world. Our debasement, weakness and yet rejection of what they
have to offer testifies against them and contrasts the Kingdom of Christ with
the Lamech-Cainite-Babel dreams they produce – and the evils that result.
When Christians seek exaltation, they turn this imagery on
its head and corrupt the image and testimony of the Church. The theology of
glory and exaltation, the Dominionist ideology and ethos (of which there is a
spectrum) reads a New Testament full of troubling and 'problem' passages. And
so they must find ways to explain them away and re-cast them in terms
favourable to their theological system. Matthew 23.12 is a categorical
rejection of their understanding of how the Kingdom is to be built. They would
wed it to power and wield it with power. Christ condemns them and this verse
very poignantly reveals that the core ethos and intuition of Dominionism is one
with the Pharisees. It is a Judaizing heresy that seeks to actualise the
Kingdom of Heaven in the here and now in the fallen world that is under curse
and destined for fiery destruction.
But they will be abased as the kingdom they produce is no
Zion, but a pseudo-Zion or as I often put it, a Babel crowned with a cross of
gold. It is the Israel of Saul re-born, a Samaritan counterfeit, a tale
reminiscent of Solomon's fall from grace into idolatry and apostasy. Their
kingdom will come to naught they will perish with it.
The exaltation we find in obedience to Christ's commands is
not rewarded with power, wealth and might in this age but in the holy wisdom,
spiritual riches and eternal peace that comes with the defeat of sin and death
in the Age to Come.
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