If we are to take a radical approach to ethics, we need to understand what Christians mean by conversion. Let us start with the story of Nicodemus at John chapter 3:1. The most significant thing about Nicodemus is that he comes by night.
He is a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews and so it is likely he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He is a great man. So why does he come by night? The only conceivable answer is that he does not want to be seen with Jesus.
We never find out why he came to see Jesus because Jesus interrupts him before he can ask. It is possible he came to find out for himself as much as he could about Jesus. He starts by flattering Jesus, and so Jesus interrupts Nicodemus and tells him, he must be 'born from above' (v3)
Nicodemus does not understand and so Jesus explains some more. What is born of flesh is flesh, what is born of the spirit is spirit. This is a second birth. Jesus knows he is a learned man, a man who knows the law and the prophets. He knows what God has promised to the people of Israel. And yet he has found the more he knows of these texts, he is still far from the demands God makes through the law and prophets. Jesus is telling him, he needs to start over again, and find a radical change of perspective.
Verse 8, makes a point many Christians who believe conversion is about belief, overlook. Jesus says, 'The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is of everyone who is born of the spirit.' (NRSV) Wind and spirit are virtually the same word; Jesus' point is about the nature of faith. Nicodemus is a student of the law and the prophets and so is constrained by them to fall short of them. Only a radical act of freedom will help him to live according to the rule of God.
Nicodemus is puzzled and Jesus asks him how it is that he, a teacher of Israel, does not understand these things? Here is a wealthy and powerful man who does not want to lose face in public. He comes to Jesus by night because he is not free of the constraints his wealth and power lay upon him. Only being born again, a complete reorientation will free him from his wealth and power.
In terms of Paul's passage from Romans, Nicodemus knows of God's righteousness but needs to be justified. Jesus in John's passage hints at his own death, and that it is through him being lifted up (traces of his death and resurrection here) that Nicodemus and all people can be justified.
And just imagine, Jesus (or John) goes on to say in vv 16 and 17, if all people let go of wealth and power, the world will be saved through belief in Jesus. Nicodemus as a scholar knows of God's law and finds himself unable to follow the law. What Jesus tells him is that he must leave behind everything that makes him great and follow Jesus instead.
It is not possible to separate the Christian faith from a radical critique of how wealth and power are used in society. Personal salvation is possible but it results in a reorientation away from self to the interests of all people and the whole of creation.
Comments