Paton: the relevance of flesh

Thursday, August 2, 2018
Meditation:
    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    A vocation to marriage is a vocation to glorify God in a particular state with its necessary rights and duties. It can only be combined with the vocation of a pioneer missionary of the classic type if matrimony is felt to be spiritually neutral, irrelevant to God’s calling. Marriage can be irrelevant only if we believe that the body, matter, is neutral, irrelevant, or evil. Man can not believe that and believe the Christian faith. God made matter, and was incarnate in it: the comparison of the relation of husband and wife to that between Christ and the Church naturally follows. But this conclusion is not always drawn, for orthodox Christians are often prone to speak and behave as if the Word... became not flesh but spirit.
    ... David M. Paton (1913-1992), Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, London: SCM Press, 1953, p. 45-46 (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Isa. 7:14; Rom. 9:5; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me contentment in the condition You created me for. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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