The Story Behind the Story (I)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.", -John 1:1

"Galadriel! Galadriel! Clear is the water of your well; White is the star in your white hand; Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land In Dwimordene, in Lorien More fair than thoughts of mortal men." -JRR Tolkien

I shared this obscure poem from Lord of the Rings because Tolkien peppers his trilogy with references to an older, brighter, and higher world that lies behind the trials of Middle Earth. In fact, he later wrote a book called The Silmarillion, to tell the story behind the story.

The Bible does the same thing. Throughout its long story of redemption, there are glimpses of a reality that transcends history. Its first words, "In the beginning...", implies that there was something there before there was a beginning. There was, simply, God: infinite in glory, beauty, otherness, purity, justice, and above all things, love. Such love begets loveliness, or an object of love, a beloved, the eternal Son. Because the Father has always loved, there has always been the Son. Both God the Father and God the Son are mutually committed to one another, and the fulfillment of each is to see the other exalted. The love between the two is so intense that (according to St Augustine) love itself takes on personhood, and proceeds from both as the Holy Spirit. This is a transcendent mystery and can only be expressed symbolically.

Notice that God has never existed alone. He has always been a community. That means he did not create man or the universe out of need, but out of joy and exuberance. It also means that God intended man to live in community ("it is not good for the man to be alone..."). God hates heresy in the fallen world because it breaks the community of the church. He hates adultery because it breaks the community of marriage. He hates selfishness because it breaks the communities of men, and even breaks a man's unity with himself.

The Bible states that man was made in the image of God. There's much theological debate over what the image means: the capacity to reason, to feel emotion, to imagine, to be spiritual. I lean towards Paul's statement in Colossians that Jesus is the image of God (1:15). In other words, Jesus was the model that God used for man when he created him. Men and women were meant to be little reflections of the Son; through their gifts, through their creativity, through their service and sharing with their Elder Brother, the Son was to be shown off to the universe. And likewise, as they turned with the Son to the Father, His glory would be increased.

As the story behind the story progresses, the Tempter enters. There is some indication that Satan hated the Son, and wanted His role as King of heaven. Since he could not dethrone Him, he turned all his energy and malice on destroying the created image. Satan succeeded in convincing man that God had a hidden agenda and couldn't be trusted. As a result, man chose autonomy, set himself up as his own god, exalted disobedience as a noble thing, and in turning away from life, fell into the cycle of selfishness and death.

Next time, the beginning of the solution.