By Martin Morrison
The word paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory proposition which, when investigated, proves to be true. The Christian faith is full of paradoxes.if it is anything, is a distinctively Christian concept. What on earth do I mean? According to Dale Ahlquist, there are two definitions to the word paradox and both are important. Firstly, a paradox is something strange, uncommon, the opposite of what we would expect. Secondly, it is two statements, both of which are true, but which absolutely contradict each other.
G.K. Chesterton the prince of paradox, made the following statements, which all seem so strange at first, but on reflection are absolutely so true:
- The self is more distant than any star
- Nature worship inevitably produces things that are against nature
- Charity to the deserving is not charity
- A man in peril can only save his life by risking it
- The book, “Beauty and the Beast” is the embodiment of the unreasonable maxim which says to every mother with a child, you must love the thing first and make it lovable afterwards
The Christian view of human nature is in fact rooted in paradox. Whilst animals are only body, man is both body and spirit at the same time. Our body comes from the dust of the earth and our spirit comes from the breath of God. What an extraordinary paradox before the fall! After the fall, we are still both body and spirit, but now an additional paradox has been added. We are both very great and very wretched at the same time:. Very great, in that we are still made in the image of God, however flawed. Very wretched, in that we have rejected our Creator and thereby rejected any lasting purpose in creation.
This is of course another paradox! When you reject the authority of the Creator and his Word, you don’t get freedom and fresh air. On the contrary, you become enslaved to your own little ego and its vanities. The very oxygen of life is sucked out of you. What’s the point?
I recollect that it was Pascal who said, that no philosophy or religion except Christianity has taught that man is born wretched. Which means that none has told the truth. It is only the truth that will set you free. It is only the truth that can find a way out of the darkness and thin air. As we’ll see, it is Christ alone who can lead us from wretchedness to happiness. It is Christ alone and the worship of Christ alone.
Truth is paradoxical. It is strange. It is improbable. It is the opposite of what we expect. Truth is always stranger than fiction, because we have made fiction to suit ourselves. We have not devised made the truth and the truth is always wilder than we can conceive. Always paradoxical.
Once again Dale Ahlquist helps us. Think about it. The paradox at the heart of truth. The ultimate paradox. The absolute paradox. Jesus Christ. That God should come to earth as a humble servant is quite contrary to expectation. That he should suffer and die is not how we would have written the script. That he should rise from the dead is beyond wonderful. But there’s more. He is both eternal and temporal. Both infinite and finite. Both visible and invisible. Both the Creator and the creature. Both spirit and flesh. Here we encounter the God-man, the King who is a servant, the Spirit who is a Rock, the Lion who is a Lamb. Jesus Christ.
To meet all our needs, to fulfil our deepest desires, to answer all our questions, Christ had to be a paradox. It must be man and God combined in one person. We would accept nothing less. And nothing less would be able to accept us.
The cross and Christ is always the absolute ultimate in paradox. The vertical contradicted by the horizontal. Time contradicted by eternity. Wrath contradicted by love. Sin contradicted by forgiveness. Death contradicted by life.
What is left for us to do? Bow down and worship. Like Thomas we cry, My Lord and my God!. (John 20:28).
.
For further reading: Pascal’s Pensees; Common Sense 101 by Dale Ahlquist. Both available at Amazon Kindle.