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A reader, Dan Glover, sent the following response to my hints about the Christian as "poem."
"Christ, the eternal Word, indwells his people and his people corporate. He is the Word which controls us with his words ('go, make disciples. . . baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. . . .'). And the body is formed by his words/language to us in, among other things, the sacraments. When the sacraments are faithfully observed and participated in, the living biblical language surrounding them (and its Author) in their respective contexts controls what is happening to and in the body gathered. God 'edits' his great poem, the church, through the washing of baptism and the participation, in Christ, of the supper, as well as in the teaching/preaching of the Word. Christ is the Author and 'Editor'/perfector/sanctifier of our faith, THE faith, the church, the poem of which we are all part. Other words by which we are 'edited' are the words of church discipline. These words edit immorality out of the church body either by being spoken and acted upon resulting in repentance or by being spoken and acted upon resulting in ex-communication. We were created for good works, but when God's workmanship refuses those good works and chooses instead the works of the flesh, the meter and rhyme of the poem gets all askew and Christ through his appointed and biblically qualified local overseers must use God's words in Scripture to edit the corporate poem, to return the poem to an obedient cadence, one that is in step with the Poet."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 10:01 AM
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1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
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From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
