Is There A Mystical Encounter With The Lord Jesus Christ In The Sacrament Of The Holy Communion, Pt.
"Indeed, the believer, when he sees sacraments with
his own eyes, does not halt at the physical sight of
them, but by those steps (which I have indicated by
analogy) rises up in devout contemplation to those
lofty mysteries which lie hidden in sacraments." [1]
There is much in the corpus of that which is the Christian faith that is enveloped in mystery. To use the term mystery does not mean that we cannot understand a thing. It means that we must give thought to the thing in order comprehend its fullness. This leads to a process of what we call growth or maturation. This is, or should be, the goal of every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. This growth commences at the moment of the new birth, which unites the person to the Person of Christ.
Then, through growth and the various means of grace, we begin the journey. It is a journey of understanding, love and destination. It is a goal of this study to cause us to rise up “in devout contemplation to those lofty mysteries which lie hidden in the sacraments.” [2]
The Christian’s union with Christ is the act of regeneration.
It is a monergistic action (Ephesians 2. 1)
The Book of Ecclesiastes in the older testament states that (God) “has put eternity in their hearts,” (Ecc.3.1). In doing so, the Lord causes us to wonder at the meaning and purpose of our existence. Some of us do that more than others. Still others ignore the call of eternity completely in this life.
Yet it is God Himself Who must take that “call” and add substance to it. If the Lord does not move to do this, then men with the pull of eternity in their hearts turn to their own devices that leads them away from and not towards the Truth of the Living God. This is because natural men are dead in their sins and dead to the reality of the Lord.
"When we state the believer’s union with Christ is a monergistic action, we are saying that it is something that God and God alone must do. We can bring Him nothing. We can offer Him nothing in this regard. Monergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God through the Holy Spirit works to effectually bring about the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual. This is in contrast to synergism in which God and individuals cooperate for salvation." [3]
Ephesians 2. 1-2 states that, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (NKJV) (italics mine).
In these two verses, it is clear that Scriptures agree with the idea of a monergistic regeneration that God must perform supernaturally in the deadness of man’s inner being to bring him to life. If the Lord does not act, men will remain spiritually lifeless and die in their deadness, as God promised in the book of Genesis when mankind was cursed with the consequences of their sin (Genesis 2-3)
THIS BLOG WILL BE CONTINUED SOON! WATCH AND PRAY (FOR ME).
Footnotes
[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion John T. McNeill, ed.; Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (from the 1559 Latin Text edited by Peter Barth and Wilhelm Niesel [Ioannis Calvini, Opera Selecta Vol. III, IV, V. Munich: Chr. Kaiser, 1926-1952] including collations from the earlier editions of that text and versions of the Institutes). The Library of Christian Classics, Vols. 20 and 21 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960) 4. 14. 5, 1280.
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monergism
