Colyer on Torrance: the error of dualism

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Elmer Colyer
In How to Read T.F. Torrance, Elmer Colyer addresses what theologian Tom Torrance says about two forms of dualism that, unfortunately, shape the theology of many Christians:
Torrance believes that the church has had to struggle repeatedly with the problem of dualism.... Dualism connotes the division of reality into two incompatible or independent domains. Torrance's repudiation of cosmological and epistemological dualism is decisive for grasping his understanding of the mediation of Christ...(pp57-8).

Cosmological dualism

This form of dualism asserts a disconnection between God and the world (cosmos) - an idea that arose in the early church out of Greco-Roman philosophy. It then emerged in the middle ages based on a Newtonian cosmology, yielding a deistic view of God. Sadly, this dualism remains common in our time (think of Bette Midler singing about the God who is "watching us from a distance"). Those holding this viewpoint tend to dismiss as merely symbolic those scriptures that speak of God as personally and actively involved in the world (p58).

In contrast, Tom Torrance had a "realist" cosmological perspective, understanding that God is directly and personally involved with his creation (while remaining distinct from it). According to Torrance, "revelation is the living God entering history, interacting with humanity and providing real and redemptive self-communication" (p59). Indeed, God is Emanuel (God- with-us). He decidedly is not "watching from a distance." There is no cosmological dualism when it comes to the relating of the triune God with his creation.

Epistemological dualism

This form of dualism asserts that the reality of God and of the cosmos cannot be known in themselves, but only in how they appear to us (the knower).
[Note: epistimology is the study of knowledge and has to do with understanding how knowledge is created and disseminated.]
In contrast, Torrance takes a "realist" epistemology, "in which reality discloses itself to human knowing in such a way that the human subject is capable of real understanding, both of the created world and of God" (p59). For Torrance, this real knowledge is available to us as we actively respond to "the self-presentation of reality in the appropriate manner" (p60).

When it comes to real knowledge of God, it is the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is God's appropriate, accessible and very real self-presentation. In this revelation of God to humanity, there is no hiddeness--no epistemological dualism of any sort. Torrance famously put it this way: "There is no other God hidden behind the back of Jesus." God really is like Jesus, as Jesus himself attested: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

The mediation of Christ

Torrance's rejection of these dualisms is bound up with his understanding that Jesus Christ, the unique God-man, serves as the one mediator. As divine, he mediates from God to humanity; as human, he mediates from humanity to God. Colyer (who quotes Torrance), comments:
God has interacted with humanity in history, within the creaturely conditions of the created world of space and time. God has revealed himself to humanity in Israel and in Jesus Christ. Yet, "If we are to know [God] and speak about him in a way that is appropriate to him, we need to have fitting modes of thought and speech, adequate conceptual forms and structures, and indeed reverent and worthy habits of worship and behavior governing our approach to him" [quoted from Torrance's The Mediation of Christ, p6]. This means that for human beings to know God, they require not only a self-revelation from God but also suitable forms of thought and speech, an active and appropriate human response, a communal reciprocity where God's reconciling self-revelation is actualized and mediated within the conditions of our creaturely existence (p60).

Reality in Christ

As Torrance asserts elsewhere, God has indeed revealed himself, and Jesus is both the "ground and grammar" of that revelation. This revelation is not merely a word sent from God at a distance (from "on high"), but God-with-us, revealing himself to us as he actually is in the person and work of his incarnate Son--the Word of God made flesh--our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

In the light of the person and work of Christ, these dualisms are exposed as nothing more than mythologies arising from the darkness of our fallen imaginations. The reality--the truth--is that in Christ, God is seen for who he really is; and we are seen for who we really are.

To know Christ is to know that humanity has been reconciled to God--included in his triune love and life. In and through Jesus, God is with us, for us and knowable by us. Any theology that posits otherwise is false--it has lost sight of the reality of Jesus Christ.

Comments

  1. Thanks, Ted. Allowing the Holy Spirit to sweep these dualisms out our our minds and hearts allows us to better fix our eyes on Jesus, who is really with us!

    ReplyDelete

  2. Thanks for your comment Jerome. It's so easy for us to project onto God the false, dualistic views that arise from out of our own, fallen imaginations.

    Thank God that he does not leave us captive to these self-created mythologies, but comes to us in the person of Jesus in order to reveal himself to us as he *really* is. Only God knows God, and therefore only God can reveal his God-self to us. And that he has done!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7/06/2013

    Romans 1:18-20 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

    In response to your last paragraph regarding reconciliation:
    "The doctrine of ultimate reconciliation or universalism may be appealing to human sensibilities, but it is simply wrong and unbiblical. Scripture teaches that beyond this life, there are no second chances. Instead, the Bible declares, “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Love does indeed win for those who turn by faith to Christ in this life and embrace Him as Savior. Those who don’t and dismiss the concept of hell will find out eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. As writer Os Guinness puts it, “For some, hell is simply a truth realized too late.”

    Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/ultimate-reconciliation.html#ixzz2YHqNFTVJ

    In addition, unless I have misunderstood you, nowhere does the Bible teach that "all of humanity" is reconciled to God by your definition of inclusivism and salvation -- a proper interpretation is borrowed from Sam Storm's commentary on Colossians 1:20 -- "What this suggests is that the "reconciliation" Paul has in mind includes the notion of subjugation and the bringing to nought of God's enemies. God's reconciliation of all things includes the triumph and victory over those who are and ever will be his enemies. Some have wondered how this constitutes a "victory" for God. Does not the perpetual presence in hell of unbelievers signify his failure, perhaps even his defeat? No. It would only be failure if they were to escape the punishment their sin merits. Divine justice prevails and holy wrath is revealed, all to the glory of God." - See more at: http://www.samstorms.com/all-articles/post/will-everyone-be-saved-part-ii--1:20-#sthash.IwEDtR8r.dpuf

    Any other "theology" would be universalism and therefore false.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7/06/2013

    Let me re-state my earlier comments just so we aren't misunderstanding each other.

    If you are saying that "humanity" is included you mean that Jesus' atonement is sufficient for the sins of the world and that a universal call is going out to believe in Him, and those that have put their faith in Jesus are now included in His triune love and life, then I'm in agreement with your last paragraph. If, however, you mean that "humanity" has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (believer and unbeliever alike), then I vehemently disagree with you because you are preaching a false gospel.

    ReplyDelete

  5. Dear anonymous. I appreciate your concerns. That all of humanity has been, in Christ, reconciled to God is, as you note a statement about the universal scope of the atonement. But to say that God has reconciled all humanity to himself, is not to say that all individual people have received that reconciliation. It is for that reason that Paul notes in 2Cor 5.19 that all are reconciled to God, but then in v20 that individuals need to be reconciled. The point here is that what has been universally given must be personally received for it to become personally effective. Here we find the objective (universal) and subjective (personal) aspects of reconciliation/salvation/redemption that all forms of Christian theology, be it Arminianism, Calvinism or Trinitarianism have accounted for in one way or another. This blog upholds the later, finding that it gives what seems to me to be a more Christ-centered explanation of what can seem to us to be a paradox. In the person of Christ who is the *vicarious human* (the one who stands in for and represents us all), the apparent paradox is resolved. If you will review past posts on this blog, you will find this issue examined in great detail. I hope you'll find these posts to be helpful in your studies.

    ReplyDelete

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