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Transcript - SF501 Discipleship in Community: © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.

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LESSON 16 of 24SF501

Historical Factors: Mystical Spirituality – Part IV

Discipleship in Community:

In the prior sessions, we’ve been discussing the development of the mystical strand in Christian spirituality. We’ve looked first at the theology of mystical spirituality and, in particular, those aspects that are relevant to spiritual formation. Then we’ve looked at the aspects of evangelical spirituality that would counter that. In the last session, we began discussing the mystical elements that are in biblical piety realizing that although we probably do not accept all of the tenets of mystical spiritualty as that has developed in the Eastern church, we do need to recognize that there are mystical elements in biblical spirituality. And we need to be on guard of lapsing into a stifling, rationalistic orthodoxy that is completely lifeless and powerless. In our prior discussion we discussed three elements thus far of biblical piety.

We talked first of all of our mystical participation in Christ, the fact that we are in Christ, that there is a communion between Christ and believers. Then we talked about the fact that in one sense, revelation is a mystery because it is dealing with a God whom we can never totally know. However, it’s not a pure mystery as the mystics would have us believe but indeed is a definite word concerning God’s will and purpose for man. Finally, in the prior session we talked about the fact that faith does involve experience. But unlike the classic mystical perspective where faith is derived from experience, we pointed out that our faith is mediated through experience but derived from the Word.

We want to continue in this session discussing those elements, the mystical elements in biblical piety and begin by talking about the fact that the Christian indeed is to walk by faith and not by sight. In a very real sense as Christians, we do not totally trust in our reason or our senses but more fundamentally in God’s promises as those promises have been revealed and declared in Scripture. Indeed, as we read Luther we see some comments in Luther that at least sound a bit like what we were reading in the mystics. Luther says the natural man sees, evaluates, and judges

John R. Lillis, Ph.D.Experience: Dean and Executive Officer

at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, CA.



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everything according to the old birth, according to what he sees or feels. While the Christian is not guided by what he sees or feels, he listens to Christ’s words and follows Him into the darkness. Now here we need to understand that the darkness that Luther is talking about does not correspond to the “dark night of faith” as described in St. John of the Cross and other mystics. Rather what Luther is saying that we would follow Christ into the darkness of the unknown, the darkness of the future even when we are not certain about what the future holds, even when we are not certain about what obedience to a particular command of God would entail. We follow Him nonetheless into that darkness of uncertainty not into the darkness of reason that is described in the mystical quest when we become so close to God in the mystic union that we transcend reason and we enter into the darkness of the trans-rational realm. That is not what we’re talking about here at all. It is the rational obedience, the obedience to God’s rational commands that we follow in spite of what our senses or in spite of what reason based upon worldly wisdom might tell us. It’s interesting as you read the mystics themselves, they also rightly warn against overdependence upon sense and reason.

They also are particularly distrustful of visions and other extraordinary experiences. There’s an error that has developed in our time of labeling anything that is subjective, anything that depends upon the extraordinary as mystical. I would trust that by now in our study of mysticism, you’ve come to realize that that’s not a fair labeling. Anything that is subjective is not mystical. Indeed there is much that goes under the subjective experiential label that mystics themselves would rebel against, would react against. I would encourage you to read some of the writings of Thomas Merton especially as he deals with this area of subjectivism and resists that and reacts against it quite strongly. So the idea that anything subjective is mystic is not true. The mystic, as I have indicated, rightly warns against dependence upon sense and reason in some perspectives. The mystic would say that we need to depend upon God knowledge. And we would agree with that statement. However, we would disagree as to how we would define that God knowledge. As you’ve seen in our study thus far, the mystic would define God knowledge in terms of that trans-rational immediate experience of ultimate reality obtained through the ascent to God through the mystical quest, going through the purgative stages in ordinary prayer and then into the illuminative stage and the various degrees of mystic union. We would define God knowledge in terms of that way that we know God through His Word, through His revelation that He has



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declared Himself to us, and declared Himself and revealed Himself into a way that we can understand through our reason.

A fifth mystical element of biblical piety would recognize that indeed salvation is more than a forensic experience. Salvation does involve more than just forgiveness. There is also a reconciliation and a reunion with God. Justification leads into and is fulfilled in sanctification. And I guess in a sense, we could rightly speak of the deification of man not referring to the submersion of man into God nor referring to the transformation ontically of our being into God’s being. Rather we would talk about the transfiguration into the image of Christ as that is described throughout the New Testament. We are given a new life, we who were dead become as Christ. We who were dead are reborn and obtain life, the life of the ages, eternal life, a life such as we had never experienced before, a life that we cannot experience apart from Christ, apart from the communion and the union that we have with Him through the salvation experience.

A sixth element of biblical piety that is mystical in its perspective or is mystic is the fact that grace, although being the undeserved favor of God and not the divine power or energy that is somehow infused into man, grace does have a concrete effect in our lives. And in this sense, grace represents a creative, divine power within us. Now again, recall grace is the undeserved favor of God. Grace is not in and of itself some stuff, some power that is infused into us somehow. But it does represent as God performs gracious acts on our behalf as God through His Holy Spirit works within us, it does represent then creative, divine power within us that has concrete effects in our lives. God not only declares us righteous again forensically, but God makes us righteous by His Spirit. Again the book by David Needham, Birthright, that I’ve mentioned earlier in this series, points this out so well that we are new creatures in Christ as the result of God’s creative, divine power working within us. We have become righteous. We are new creatures. So in addition to the transforming grace of God, perhaps we do need to make reference to the elevating grace of God as the mystics do. We are not only restored to perfect humanity by grace, but we are being made like Christ. We are being lifted in a sense.

A seventh mystical element of biblical piety deals indeed with meditation and contemplation. As we look at the Scripture, there is a place for meditation and contemplation properly defined in the biblical models of spirituality. There are many biblical references, for example, to meditation in the first Psalm. The



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psalmist writes, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers.” That is, how blessed is the man who does not place himself in the way of the flesh, in the way of the world. But verse 2 says, “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Well the picture here and the word that is used has the idea of thinking, meditating upon the Word of God. Now not an empty, irrational experience in which one simply empties one’s mind and knows nothingness, nor is it indeed trans-rational. But here the meditation is upon the Word of God and thinking about that Word day and night. And we see similar exhortations in the New Testament as well. For example in Philippians 4: 8, “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” And again here, the picture is of our mind dwelling, meditation, thinking about these things that are honorable, these things that are right, these things that are pure, these things that are lovely. The picture is, I believe, letting our mind go and dwelling upon these and thinking about them, reflecting upon them, perhaps even reflecting upon them in the sense that Poulain talked about in “the second degree of ordinary prayer” in which he defined meditation as “unforced reflection.” But it is still a rational process using that which we have been given, using our minds, very important aspects of being created in the image of God. And then in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” We have a new life. We have a different life. And to fully enjoy the impact of that life, we need to set our mind upon things above.

Paul also, in that very familiar portion of Scripture—Romans 12 and the first two verses, exhorted us not to be conformed to the world “but be transformed.” And indeed, it’s interesting that the transformation that Paul describes here in Romans 12 is based upon the renewing of our mind. And as you go through that 12th chapter of Romans, that renewing of the mind is a very rational process and deals with concrete things that we live in our daily lives, decisions and choices, attitudes, behaviors that indeed involve the reason, involve the rational perspectives. We meditate, we think upon those things. It’s a contemplation of sorts but not the contemplation or the contemplative prayer that is described in the mystical literature in which we become increasingly passive and then transcend the realm of reason to



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enter into what St. John of the Cross describes as “the dark night of the (faith).”

I think the danger in meditation and contemplation is to regard it as some higher form of prayer as it is in the mystical spirituality. Meditation and contemplation is a spiritual discipline in its own right which indeed I believe can strengthen prayer and prepare the way for authentic prayer as we set our minds upon things above, as we reflect upon God’s Word day and night, as we think about those things that are honorable, that are right, that are pure and so forth. This can prepare our minds and prepare the way for authentic prayer, the wrestling with God, the praise and adoration and glory that we lift up to God from minds that are filled with His Word.

Another element or mystical aspect of biblical piety has to do with the orientation. The proper orientation of biblical piety is both inward and outward. Recall that the primary orientation of mystical spirituality is inward. Finding God is that divine spark within centering in our being, finding God as the center of our soul, going through the mystical ascent, the purgative and the illuminative prayer. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. That is Christ for us. While on the other hand, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Paul says in Colossians 1:27. We need to realize that Christ is both in us internally and for us outward. The Christ who is in me is also the Christ who is for me, an orientation in our spirituality that is both inward and outward. We indeed must hold to the historical Christ as well as the mystical, indwelling Christ. The mystical indwelling Christ also always leads us to the biblical story of the sacrifice on the cross. And the Bible, in turn, leads us to the risen Christ who indwells us by His Spirit. We need to remember, as I’ve mentioned however, that experientially, God is not to be identified with the depth of our soul but with His Spirit, His Spirit who is always apart from us even when He is within us. The Christ who is in me is also the Christ who is for me. A proper orientation in biblical spirituality is both outward, looking at that historical Christ who is for me as well as inward that resurrected Christ who indwells me through His Spirit.

Finally, the ninth mystical element of biblical piety has to do with authority. And although we recognize that authority is not to be a religious experience, authority is not to be derived from our religious experience, nonetheless, the authority that we have in the Word of God does have an experiential aspect. Indeed we’re



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promised the inward witness of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God bearing witness to our spirit of the truth and validity of the Word, the Holy Spirit providing inward illumination as to the significance and the implication of the Word of God, so that authority is not to be derived from the experience. Nonetheless that authority does have an inward aspect. I’m reminded of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. Paul says,

You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

Now Paul has exhorted Timothy and then given him here three different examples, three different metaphors, and in verse 7 he says “Consider what I say.” Reflect upon this authoritative teaching. “For the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The inward testimony through the Spirit giving Timothy understanding as to the implications of the truth of that which Paul has taught him, the implications in terms of Timothy’s everyday life and ministry.

Well, as we have looked at mysticism and the development of mystical spirituality, we’ve pointed out those areas that indeed are in conflict to biblical piety. And we should have recognized the individualistic emphasis of mysticism. On the other hand, we do need to realize that indeed there are mystical elements of biblical piety. There are mystical elements of spiritual formation and spiritual development. This spiritual relationship that we have with the living God, indeed in many senses, is a mystical relationship in that we have a spiritual relationship, a spiritual communion with God through Jesus Christ.

Nonetheless, as we sum it up, perhaps a good summary would be to point out those areas of distinct tension between mystical piety and evangelical spirituality as we’ve come to understand it, as we’ve come to understand biblical piety. As Donald Bloesch points out in his book The Crisis of Piety, in the chapter dealing



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with mysticism, “Christian mysticism has diverged from biblical piety by making mystical experience the criterion and ground of Christian thinking. Mystical experience has become the source and norm of Christian faith rather than the medium, the fruit, and the sign of Christian faith.” Recall as we talked about that. Our faith is mediated through experience. Our faith is not to be derived from, nor to be evaluated by experience. Well, as we think about that, we need to realize that there are four basic points of tension in all that we’ve discussed in this comparison that we’ve made. There are four basic points of tension between what we might call mystical spirituality and evangelical spirituality.

The first and most foundational has to do with justification, the justification of the ungodly. The practical consequences, the out-workings of the mystical ascent unto God—and it is implicit and sometimes explicit in much of their writings—is that for the mystic, man becomes justified only as he becomes righteous and holy through this mystical ascent. And I hope that you will recall that that was a very individualistic process. Indeed, as you study church history and the development of this throughout the centuries, you find that many leading mystics were often in trouble with the church, in trouble with the Vatican, as I mentioned earlier in a prior session. And it basically had to do with that, for all practical purposes, they were doing an end run around the church. For all practical purposes, one’s justification, one’s holiness, one’s righteousness was obtained individually through this mystical quest. Justified not by what one has declared to be in Christ but rather what one might become through divine grace as divine grace is administered in this mystical ascent.

“Justification becomes the birth of God in the soul,” as Meister Eckhart maintained, “and not the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to those who are not deserving.” The justification that we have we have because of Jesus Christ, we have because of the imputation of His righteousness to us. We accept that by faith and then enter into the life that God has for us as a result of that justification. God is not born in our soul, but Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.

The second key point of tension has to do with the historical orientation, a historical versus an ahistorical orientation. Evangelical piety, evangelical spirituality is firmly founded in the historical incarnation of Jesus Christ. Recall earlier, at the very beginning of this course, in one of the earlier sessions as we discussed what spiritual means in terms of the relationship that



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the Christian has with God through Jesus Christ, that we discussed especially in Pauline theology that spirituality is founded very firmly upon the basis of the Christ event, the incarnation, the coming of Jesus Christ, His death, His burial, His resurrection. The Christ event, the cross is central. It is the focus. And Paul sees that very much not as some exemplary event in the terms of being illustrative but as being a historical event that is foundational. For the mystics, the birth of the Son in the soul is more important than the historical incarnation of Jesus. And again that teaching is both implicit and explicit throughout the mystical writings, beginning with the desert fathers and coming right through to the present. Some indeed will explicitly appeal to the historical events as being illustrative of universal truths rather than as the necessary foundation of our faith. Jesus, then becomes one who has simply gone before, one who through His teachings provides illustrations of universal truths that helps one to love more and helps one to hope more and helps one to exhibit the faith that is necessary in the dark night of the faith; again now, where love, hope, and faith are defined in entirely different ways than are typically understood. Love has to do with the feelings that one has towards God as one moves through the purgative and into the illuminative stages of the mystical quest. The hope has to do with the hope that one has, not a confident expectation by any means, but the hope that one has for some type of union with God as one presses blindly into this trans-rational region, into this illuminative stage and the higher degrees of the mystic union. And then, of course, the faith is what one is left to as one enters into the dark night of faith, into that dark night of the trans-rational experience.

A third point of tension as we compare and contrast the mystical spirituality with the evangelical spirituality has to do with the personal character of God. Mysticism sees the God with whom they are linking up in this final, mystical union as being a God who is both beyond and outside the personal, a God who is more consistent with the neo-Platonic one—as Plotinus developed that, that ground of all being, that undifferentiated unity—than with the God of the Bible. This God is described in various ways. Tillich describes it as a God who transcends the divine, human encounter. Eckhart describes God as the “not” being who is the ground and source of all being. Bonaventure describes God as one whose center is everywhere, His circumference nowhere. God indeed is an uncreated being who indeed transcends all created being, yet He is a being who is holy and totally personal, not less than personal nor above the personal but a personal God who has



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chosen to reveal Himself to humanity, who has chosen to reveal Himself “in a host of ways,” as the writer of Hebrews indicates in Hebrews 1, in a myriad fashion but in these last days has revealed Himself to us through the person and work of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ interacting with humanity in a personal way, bringing us into a personal relationship, a personal God who wants to be known personally and has chosen to reveal Himself that way and has given no indication through His revelation that He is to be known in any other way than personal. Christ said we can call Him Abba, Father. We can have an intimate, personal relationship, an intimate, personal relationship that we can understand rationally.

Finally, as we consider the points of tension between mystical spirituality and evangelical spirituality, in addition to the personal aspect of God, we looked at the very nature of God and this emphasis, the difference in emphasis of God with respect to God as we see the spirituality worked out. Mysticism places emphasis on the eminence of God while evangelical spirituality emphasizes the radical transcendence of God. And here we’re speaking in a metaphysical, ontic sense. Now we recognize that the God of the Bible is both eminent and transcendent. First Kings 8:27 discusses the fact that God indeed is transcendent. Let’s begin in verse 26, “Now therefore O God of Israel, let Thy Word I pray Thee be confirmed which Thou has spoken to Thy servant my father, David (Solomon praying to God). But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee. How much less this house which I have built.” A representative passage that indicates the transcendence of God, that indeed God is above and beyond this universe that we inhabit, above and beyond the creation that He has made. On the other hand, we read in Ephesians 4, beginning at verse 4, “There is one body and one Spirit just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all,” the one who indeed is in and through all things. God is both eminent and transcendent. Yet we see throughout Scripture from Genesis through the end of Revelation that this same God who is in and through all things is still other than His creation.

Mystical positions, mystical spirituality as it has worked out, is one which tends more to what might be called panentheism rather than pantheism. You’re familiar, of course, that pantheism makes God equal with the universe. God and the universe are one. We worship God or God is worshipped by worshiping creation, by worshiping nature. Panentheism, however, says that the world is in



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God and God is in the world, but God is not the world, nor the self. Think back again to the neo-Platonic metaphysics that we talked about, the various levels of being, how each succeeding level emanated from the other and has that emanation in it, so that we begin with the undifferentiated unity, the one which is the ground of all being. And then from that emanates the mind principle. And the mind principle, now being differentiated because of thought, having both the knower and that which is known. And then from that level of being we have the world spirit being emanated still with a continuity, a metaphysical necessary continuity from the one God, the ground of all being, going to each level, to the world spirit. And then from the world spirit being nature, the world of matter, the world that humanity inhabits and again, you have this continuity of being, this ontic continuity between each level. So that when we get to man, man is a microcosm having within himself the mind, spirit, matter and then the spark within that goes all the way back so that there is a metaphysical necessity, if you would, between God the undifferentiated unity and then the level of matter.

The Bible, however, pictures God as bringing the world into being out of nothing. That which has been created is not the result of emanation from God’s being, but the world is brought into being ex-nihilo. The world is brought into being completely out of nothing. And God enters into that world out of love, not out of metaphysical necessity. You see the mystical view with this whole ascent, this whole means of entering into union with God by centering on one’s self, by going within and finding the divine spark within and then going through the mystical ascent, through the purgative stage and then through the various degrees of prayer in the illuminative stage, the mystical union until an individual becomes one with God. As Catherine of Genoa said, “I am one with God not just through a mere communion but my very being is God.” That whole picture tends to make God and the world mutually dependent. As you look at that whole worldview behind that, especially as I said, as you go back to the neo-Platonic worldview and those various levels of being, what you have there is a mutual, necessary dependence between God and the various levels of being that have emanated from Him including the natural world. Whereas the God of the Bible can exist quite apart from the world and from the self, from us; He is other. There is an infinite gulf fixed between in terms of metaphysical necessity. God is infinite. He is the Creator. He is holy. Man is finite. He is the created. And now, because of his fall, he is sinful. So there is an ethical gulf as well. And that gulf can only be bridged, and it is bridged through



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the incarnation. Jesus bridged that gulf. The God man, He became human that we might be reconciled to God and enter, not into a union of being, but into communion with God through Jesus Christ. Not losing our being in His being, maintaining our distinction, maintaining a relationship—a rational, personal relationship, an intimate relationship, a relationship that can be described as communion with all of the intimacy that word implies. But God is not metaphysically connected with His creation out of necessity. He has entered it out of love.

So as we look at the points of tension, we realize that there is a point of tension in terms of justification, the historical versus the ahistorical orientation, then the nature of God. Two points: the Bible pictures a personal God and that God is both eminent and transcendent, yet God is other. God is other than His creation and is not metaphysically linked to that creation in any way.

Well in conclusion, what we need is a rediscovery of the mystical elements already in the Bible rather than some synthesis of biblical faith with neo-Platonic idealism or a synthesis of biblical faith with the pantheism of Spinoza, as Schleiermacher has done, or a synthesis of biblical faith with oriental mysticism, as is occurring with contemporary writers. We don’t need any of those. We don’t need to synthesize our biblical spirituality with other worldviews or practices of mysticism. Basically, often, in order to have a deeper existential realization of this relationship that we have with God so that it feels more spiritual. No, we need to recover the mystical elements that are already in the Bible, those elements that at least are illustrated by the nine points that we made earlier. The Christian, in his or her relationship with the living God does not encounter the mystical void or the “wayless abyss” or the nothingness of existentialism. But the Christian has communion with the living Savior Jesus Christ.

Now I realize that we’ve spent a good amount of time talking about mysticism. And one might ask, “Why do we do this in a course of spiritual formation that is focusing on the corporate dimensions of spirituality?” Well, there are two basic reasons for this that you need to be aware of as we draw this discussion to a close. First of all, it has to do with the historical influence in Christian spirituality that mystical piety, mystical devotion has played throughout the centuries. First of all, in this category is the individualistic emphasis that we have seen. Recall that we are discussing a corporate model of spirituality. The fact that spiritual development, spiritual formation, spiritual maturity, spiritual



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growth, in the New Testament model, has as its ultimate end the fact that we are growing up together, the body of Christ growing together as each individual part does its work. We as individual members exist for the body, not the body for us. We need to see the quest, if you would, the growth process as being a corporate quest, a corporate process. And we need to understand what those influences have been historically that have created those individualistic biases and presuppositions.

Another aspect of this historical influence has to do with what I see as the indiscriminate borrowing from the classic mystics, going all the way back to the desert fathers, by Christians of all walks of life without fully understanding the theology underlying mysticism. There is much that, as you read the words, sounds very appealing. It sounds very pious. It sounds very godly. But what we need to realize as we’re reading the mystical fathers, the mystical masters is that the terms are redefined. The terms are defined differently than an evangelical theology would define those terms, than a biblical theology would define those terms. Often they represent more of a Hellenistic worldview than they do indeed a biblical theology.

And there is not only the classic influence, but the contemporary influence by mystics such as Thomas Merton. If you will do as I’ve asked throughout the course and maybe read some of Thomas Merton’s works, you’ll find them very appealing, very attractive. But you need to read them with an understanding of mystic theology. You need to read them and understand them, as they have been developed by Merton within his theological framework. So we need to understand mysticism, first of all, because of these factors that are related to the historical influence that has permeated Christian evangelical spirituality. That’s the influence that they have had within.

There is also an influence that they have had from without. And that is the contemporary influence that we are all facing now through secular spirituality which is greatly influenced itself by the New Age movement and New Age mysticism. As I indicated when we first began discussing mysticism, there is much that will be in common between mystical practices of all types. Because in all mysticism there is some attempt for an immediate experience with ultimate reality. And that indeed is what is going on in New Age mysticism. And now New Age thought is coming into the church. As people are converted and won to Christ out of that background, they’re going to bring those mystical perspectives


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into their understanding of Christian spirituality. So we have a new worldview impacting us. And we need to understand that as well, as we engage Christian spiritual formation.

Well, that wraps up our discussion on mysticism. We’ll begin in the next session discussing the spiritual disciplines.

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