spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

The function of metaphors in the theological discipline is to help us structure theological
constructs in non-abstract language. That is why metaphors are indispensable in theology: they
are “the means by which we are able to make sense of our experience” (Lakoff & Johnson
1999:129). The difficulty with religious metaphors is, of course, the lack of comprehension of
the divine reality. While non-religious metaphors create a link between two domains of which
we have a fairly precise idea, religious metaphors are used to shed light on the region of faith
(Stiver 1996:130, who recaps Jüngel 1974:112-114). Soskice (1985:x) expresses the hope that
the use of metaphor “as a conceptual vehicle will support the Christian in his seemingly
paradoxical conviction that, despite his utter inability to comprehend God, he is justified in
speaking of God and that metaphor is the principal means by which he does so”.
The metaphor of transformation/adoption refers to the God-related change in the believer, which
cannot be expressed directly, but which clearly influences the whole existence of the believer —
just as an adopted child still remains the same person, yet simultaneously has received a different
identity. The metaphor helps in understanding the meaning of the change, which is initiated with
the union/adoption: the believer becomes the one who he or she is meant to be through the new
identity. The change means being given a new identity and a new family to belong to. This is the
truth claim of the metaphor: that a person’s whole existence can be transformed through the
experience of God’s grace. In his extensive study of the Pauline metaphor of adoption, Trevor
Burke (2006:26) refers to the comprehensiveness of this transformation when he emphasizes that
the adoption is the pinnacle of redemptive grace and privilege. The new identity encourages the
believer to perceive oneself, other people and the environment in a different way now; the
believer gains new experiences in terms of well-being, possibilities and moral implications. The
metaphor of adoption, thus, shows what transformation entails: a new identity in God.
Literal transformation
In Reformed thought, metaphorical language is used to refer to a fundamental change in human
existence that cannot be fully grasped. The experience of grace and the sense of being made
righteous before God are expressed in metaphorical terms (‘adoption’ or ‘becoming God’s
own’), but the nature of this fundamental change remains elusive and difficult to get hold of.
This intangibility of the transformation has to do with the forensic dimension of justification and
adoption. But is that all that can be said about transformation? Can the theological motif of
transformation only be expressed metaphorically? Can it only be perceived as a spiritual
transformation? To what extent do Reformed pneumatological perceptions of transformation
provide space for literal transformation, that is the transformation of the physical and material
existence?
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