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with Abraham (Gen 15:7-21, 17:3-14), and on
Mount Sinai (Ex 19 – 24). There never was a better
covenantal partner than God Himself.
Faithfulness implies an inner attitude which
keeps us to our promises and duties. This fundamental
trustworthiness is closely connected with
truth and righteousness. The phrase “in good
faith” refers to an oral treaty which is regarded
as being just as binding as a written one. All
human faithfulness is based on and derives from
God’s good faith. Marriage as an institution of
God is founded on faithfulness. He expects us to
be true in our daily life and also to Him: “Be
faithful, even to the point of death, and I will
give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).
We are able to commune with God,
just as He communes with us
To have communion with somebody, means to
have a very close mutual relationship of give and
take. According to Colossians 1:16 we have been
created by and for Christ. This was the purpose of
creation and we have been made to have communion
with our Creator. But this relationship
was destroyed by man’s fall into sin, like a broken
marriage. In both cases the partners have lost
their original close communion, resulting in tears
and heartache.
Only by way of a thoroughgoing repentance and
conversion to Christ (see following chapter) can
communion with God and his Son be restored. In
the New Testament a short formula is used to
describe this restored relationship with our Creator,
namely being “in Christ”. This phrase is used
80 times, for example in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” This
new relationship is close and intimate, as
described by Paul in Galatians 2:20: “I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me”. The purpose of creation
has been restored. Whoever belongs to
Christ will also want to regularly fellowship with
other Christians.
Paul describes believers, with their various natural
and spiritual talents, as being members of one
body, and all together they are members of the
body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27). When partaking of
the Lord’s Supper, we celebrate our communion
with Christ. The apostle John describes the
restored communion in the following words: “so
that you also may have fellowship with us. And
our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).
The consequences of communion with Christ are
far-reaching:
– we share Christ’s life (Rom 6:8)
– we share His resurrection (Col 2:12)
– we are co-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17)
– we will be raised in His glory (Rom 8:17)
– we will reign with Him (2 Tim 2:12).
Further human characteristics
which distinguish us from the
animals
The above ten aspects are only true for human
beings, and clearly separate us from the animals.
We want to emphasise this here, since we are continually
bombarded, in many ways, with the idea
that we have descended from some line of animals.
A few further aspects of being human are:
– We are historical beings. We record past
events, retell them, contemplate them, and
sometimes we even learn from them.
– We yearn to know a cause for things, to have
an explanatory world and life view for all of
reality. Only human beings are concerned with
their origin, with the purpose of life, and with
where we are going.
– Only human beings contemplate death and
bury our dead. Eternity has been put in our
hearts (Eccl 3:11). One look at the pyramids of
Gizeh establishes this fact. The Egyptians knew
of life after death, and they tried to provide for
it according to their ideas.
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