[Ben]

This is very helpful @bopbop . I’m curious about the little “c”, big “C” distinction. Where does that come from? I think it’s a good way of explaining how we move from the origin and possibility of children of God into the realty of Children of God. Adam was created as the son of God (Luke 3:38), but the Fall moved humanity out of the reality in some way and into orphanhood. Jesus is the Son of God and makes us Children of God (by right and spirit, John 1:9-13, John 3) through grace.

We’ve been talking a lot about the horizontal and vertical idea. Many times in scripture, it’s talked about as spirit vs flesh. Here’s a passage that ties the Adam/Christ thing to the vertical horizontal as it talks about the resurrection:

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

The Resurrection Body

[35] But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36] You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37] And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. [38] But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. [39] For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. [40] There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. [41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

[42] So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. [43] It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. [44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. [45] Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

[50] I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [51] Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. [54] When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

[55] “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

This re-creation of our identity in Jesus is a resurrection reality.

It’s important to notice, however, that the flesh in this passage is not discarded or destroyed, but improved or evolved. “The perishable puts on the imperishable” like putting on better clothes suitable for a new environment. This is important to avoid the “Gnostic error” that separates rather than integrates the spirit and flesh, vertical and horizontal. The places where these are integrated is the soul, and a failure to integrate them leads to soul fracture — what many think of mental illness. A great example of this is PTSD which is, at least in part, the result of an embodied (horizontal) experience that is not properly integrated with the will and mission of the person (vertical).

I spoke with a friend on Sunday who is new to retirement. I could hear the struggle and loss of identity, I could see it in his eyes. It’s so easy to allow our usefulness to humans (horizontal) to define our God-given mission, destiny, and identity (vertical). Retirement is a huge transition often fraught with stress, depression, relationship problems which soon lead to physical and mental degradation. It’s like a mental health minefield, and yet we as a society offer almost no help navigating it.

Well, isn’t that an opportunity for the church?

[bopbop]

The little “c” and the Large “C” is a way that I came up with to help me think about our relationship with our Father. Mankind was created in the image of God; “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26. But after the fall of man, our relationship with our Father changed. That’s the little “c”. Jesus provided the way for us to be restored to the large “C” relationship with our Father.

The body and the mind work together to make us who we are. Without one, the other is not as whole or healthy. It’s the same with the horizontal and vertical. Both areas need to be healthy in order for us to be a whole and healthy person. At least part of the question has to do with where we spend the most time. A healthy body contributes to a healthier mind and a healthy mind contributes to a healthier body.