God is Both Willing and Able

Christian universalism
is the belief that God
is both willing and able,
that God can and will save
all in heaven and on earth,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ, God has shown both the willingness and the ability to save all in heaven and on earth. This does not require that God in any way ignore or override the will of anyone — that is contrary to the way of Love. But it does require that the human will be set free from ignorance, deceit, darkness, and bondage to sin — all of which render human will defective, and anything but free.

Freedom of will is the ability to live according to one’s true and inherent nature. The true and inherent nature of human being is to be like God, in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), in whom all the fullness of divinity of dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete (Colossians 2:9-10). 

By the Incarnation, Jesus Christ has become human being, the humanity of which we all now partake. He defines what it means to be human. It means that all who once were headed up in Adam are now headed up in Jesus Christ. It means that Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward all humankind, but he is also our faithfulness toward God. It means that we are inextricably united with the One who is the Image of God. Through this union, we become transformed, conformed to the image of God (Romans 8:29). And in Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). And so, whatever happens in the meantime, in the end, God will be “All in All” (1 Corinthians 15:28).

Salvation is an Ontological Reality

Salvation is not
a juridical determination
but an ontological reality,
through the faithfulness of
Christ in the Incarnation
and the Cross.

Salvation is not a proposition but a Person, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom and in whom we receive life, being and personhood. Faith is not a contractual agreement concerning propositions about Christ but a dynamic relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Eternal life is not only in Jesus Christ, but he himself is eternal life. And it is in him that we live and move and have our being, both by the Creation and the Incarnation. It cannot finally be lost because the Incarnation cannot finally be undone.

The Only God the Gospel Knows

The only God
the Gospel knows
is the One revealed
in the Incarnation,
the Cross and the Creation,
as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:9-10)

The Continuity of All Things

Though the world be in chaos, Jesus Christ is the continuity of all things. For in Him all things consist and hold together — in Him who is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is making all things new.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:5)

They Speak of Him

If we find something in the Scriptures but we do not find it in Jesus Christ, then we are not reading them correctly, for they speak of Him. Lord Jesus taught that the Scriptures are about him. If we read them as being about anything other than Christ, we are not reading them as Scripture.

One thing this means is that any interpretation of Scripture that is contrary to what Lord Jesus did and taught is an interpretation we should reject. Likewise, any interpretation of Scripture that portrays God in any way contradictory to how he is revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ is an interpretation we should reject. For Jesus Christ is the full and perfect revelation of God, the image of the invisible God.

Where We Encounter Christ

Christ is clothed with the Scriptures,
embodied in them and truly present in them,
that there we may encounter him.

So he said to them, “You foolish people – how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.”

So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:27-32)

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus encountered the Risen Lord not only by his physical presence with them but also as he opened up the Scriptures to them. Their hearts burned within them, though it was only later that they realized why, when the Lord opened their eyes and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. Notice that there was a double action of unveiling. 

First, there was the opening of all the Scriptures, of what Moses and all the Prophets said, revealing that they are about him and the things it was necessary for him to suffer as he entered into his glory. The Greek word for “opened” here is dianoigo and means to open up thoroughly. Christ opened up the Scriptures to them, thoroughly expounding and explaining their meaning — which is Christ himself, his suffering and his glory. This unveiling of Christ in the Scriptures was so stunning and unexpected, and yet so thoroughly coherent, the hearts of the two disciples were ignited by it.

Second, there was the opening of their own eyes. Again, the Greek word is dianoigo. It happened when Jesus took the bread, blessed the bread and broke the bread before their eyes. And suddenly they recognized Jesus in their midst.

When they recognized him, his physical form disappeared from before their physical eyes, for they had encountered him and learned to recognize him in the opening of the Scriptures and in the Breaking of the Bread. We in the Church today are no less advantaged than the Emmaus disciples, for Christ is always with us, and we always have the opportunity to encounter him in the Word and in the Sacrament.

The image above is Supper at Emmaus (1601) by Caravaggio.

Creation, Incarnation and Inclusion

Inclusion is not something we can create but something we can only discover. What we discover in the gospel is that all are included in Christ from the very beginning and to the very end.

We are included in Christ by the Creation. In Colossians 1:15-17, St. Paul tells us that all are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ, and in Christ all Creation consists and holds together.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

We are included in Christ through the Incarnation, in which Christ became human being. There are many human persons, but there is only one human being, of which we all partake. In the Incarnation, Christ became human being; he defines what it means to be human, and showed us at the Cross exactly what being human, and being divine, looks like — it looks like self-giving, other-centered love.

We are included in Christ at the Cross. For in the death of Christ, we all died. This is a necessary consequence of the Incarnation, by which Christ united divinity with humankind, joining himself with all humankind. Paul said, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

We are included in Christ in the Resurrection and the Ascension. In Ephesians 2, Paul says,

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

In the Resurrection, Human Being, which Christ has become and of which we all partake, was raised from the dead. And by that resurrection, human being has been born again. St. Peter said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

In the Ascension, Human Being, of which we all partake, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and so all humankind is seated there with Christ, in Christ, forever and ever.

The purpose of this inclusion is deliverance from death, from the power of the death (who held the power of death), from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14), and so from the power of sin. That we may live unto God (Romans 6:11). That, through Christ, we may become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and enjoy divine union with God, experiencing forever the relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit that Lord Jesus knows and experiences.

If, as the gospel shows, all are included in Christ, partaking of the one Human Being, who is Jesus Christ, then we cannot ignore anyone, for we are all part of each other. Apart from each other, we cannot finally know the fullness of our humanity, nor can we finally know the fullness of humanity’s union with God, which is revealed in Jesus Christ. 

The Good News of the Gospel is that
All are in Christ by the Creation and
Christ is in All by the Incarnation.

Deeply Connected With One Another

The Incarnation Means That
We are Deeply and Inextricably
Connected to One Another,
for Christ is Deeply and
Inextricably United with
All Humankind.

Though there are many human persons, there is only one human being, only one way of being human, of which we all partake. Christ, who is the Creator of all and from all derive their being, is being itself. By the Incarnation, he has united with all humankind by becoming Human Being.

This means that humankind, which was once defined by and headed up in Adam, is now defined by and headed up in Christ. And this is why St. Paul can speak so inclusively concerning Adam and Christ.

For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:17-18)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

This deep and inseparable connection of Christ with all humankind, and of all humans persons with each other, means that, if there are any who are not finally restored, then none of us will ever fully be restored. There will always be something missing. Humankind — Human Being — will be eternally diminished.

The Way of the World is Undone

The way
of the world
is violence. 

The way of Christ,
the way of the Cross,
is the undoing of violence.

If we do not understand
the solution, it is because
we have not sufficiently
understood the problem.

The Cross of Christ turns the way of the world on its head. Jesus of Nazareth, who by wicked hands was put to the violence of crucifixion, by that same Cross put death itself to death. Peter preached about this at Pentecost, in Acts 2.

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:22-24)

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”  (Acts 2:32-36)

In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks of this same upending of the way the world thinks, putting everything right side up. What is thought by the world to be foolishness turns out to be the very wisdom of God. The wisdom by which God created the heavens and the earth is the same wisdom by which God finally puts the world right, the wisdom of the Cross.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength ... It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 30)

The Fullness of Time

The coming of Christ into the world is the end of time. He is the fulfillment, the fullness of time. His Incarnation is the union of eternity with time in such a way that time is transfigured. Past, present and future become one in our Lord Jesus Christ.

But when the fullness [pleroma] of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV)

In Ephesians 1:9-10, Paul speaks of God’s eternal plan and pleasure: “He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment [pleroma] — to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” 

The pleroma or fullness of time is the completion of time, its purpose being fulfilled, or filled full. Christ Crucified and Risen is not only the fulfillment of time but he is also the completion of all things. He is at once both the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, who was and is and is to come (Revelation 1:8). In Christ, it is all one.
 

Paul’s Surprising Conclusion in Romans

Many evangelicals know how Paul begins his long argument in Romans 1. But I wonder how many know the surprising conclusion he comes to at the very end of his argument, one that we would not have expected by the way he begins. The argument stretches from chapter 1 all the way through chapter 11, after which Paul breaks into wondrous doxology.

Paul’s point in this long argument, even at the beginning, is not to establish blame, though there is certainly plenty of blame to be had. And, clearly, God’s interest was not in establishing blame but, quite the opposite, in revealing salvation.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:18-23)

What we see in Romans 1 is that the wicked had rejected God because their thinking was futile and their foolish hearts that were darkened. In verse 24-28, we see that God “gave them over” (Paul repeats this three times): to their sinful desires, their shameful lusts, their depraved minds.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. (Romans 1:24-28)

Had not their minds been depraved, and had not their hearts been foolish and darkened, perhaps the revelation of God in nature (which is created by Christ) might have been enough to keep them from wickedness, for the human will would then have been able to function properly. But the will was manifestly not free but in bondage to sin and darkness and depravity of mind, and so the will was defective, not able to function freely.

So, God handed them over to that darkness and depravity. But we must ask for what purpose? Was it so they would finally be destroyed? No! Quite the opposite — and that is the surprising thing. The dark hearts and confused minds of men call for retribution and revenge. But God is Love (1 John 4:8), so everything God does is a manifestation of who God is. Love is not retributive, nor does it seek revenge — that is simply not the way of God.

Paul’s long argument continues, ranging over hill and dale through eight chapters, with many insightful points along the way. Then in the final section, Romans 9-11, he takes up a completely hypothetical proposition and thoroughly examines it.

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:22-24)

The hypothetical here is the notion that some people are destined for destruction and others are destined for mercy. Paul works through this proposition in the balance of Romans 9-11. And what is his conclusion? That this is exactly what God is doing, with the destiny of some being destruction while others receive mercy? No, not at all! Quite the opposite, and many have not seen this coming. Paul concludes: 

For God has bound all over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on all. (Romans 11:32)

All are blameworthy, and God has handed all over to disobedience, not that they be finally destroyed but precisely in order to have mercy on all in the end. Who would have anticipated this from the way Paul opens his argument in Romans 1? But this is the good news of the gospel. Not that some are going to eternal damnation while others will be the object of God’s mercy but, rather, that God will have mercy on all.

So, evangelism is not about brokering some deal, getting people to complete some transaction, fulfill some condition, do some quid quo pro or “this” for “that” with God. The gospel is not a transaction but an announcement, a proclamation, that God is having mercy on all. That God is in Christ reconciling all the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Praise the Lord

Having begun in repentance, turning from the twisted ways of the world which do nothing but drain us dry, and deepening in remembrance and recognition of the Lord who has ever been with us from the beginning, revealing himself to us in unexpected ways, we come finally to that for which we have always been longing: The Holy City of God, the New Jerusalem, where Christ the Lamb is the Light, and whose gates are never shut. We have come home, our true home. It is joyful reunion, and we are glad.

Friends, the true journey we are on finally moves beyond our time bound experiences into dimensions that are eternal and limitless. Let not our thoughts remain constrained by the days and months and years. Let our eyes behold journey’s end, where all are gathered together from every time and place, saints and angels, joining the eternal song of praise, the Alleluia being sung by all creation. Blessed be God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and blessed be His kingdom, now and forever. Amen.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
lead us all into the eternal bliss
of Your divine fellowship.
Amen.

Praise the Lord
(Psalm 134)

Praise the Lord,
All you servants of the Lord
Who serve Him in the night
Lift your hands
In the house of the Lord
And praise with all your might

May the Lord
Maker of heaven
Maker of earth
Bless you from Zion
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes. 

Did the Events Described in the Old Testament Actually Happen?

For several years now, I have understood the Scriptures (what we know as the Old Testament) as being about Jesus Christ. I have done so because Lord Jesus himself taught us they are about him, and because that is how the New Testament authors understood them, and how the early Church Fathers understood them. 

Of course, when the Old Testament Scriptures are taken literally, they do not often show us Lord Jesus. Yet, they are nonetheless about Christ and about the things he would suffer before he entered into his glory (Luke 24:25-27). In other words, they are about the gospel. Inasmuch as Christ is not seen in literal readings of the Old Testament, the New Testament authors and the early Church Fathers read them in non-literal ways; as symbol, as allegory, as type, as figurative (these all mean pretty much the same thing).

Because I have been teaching and writing about this for several years now, someone recently asked me whether I though the events described in the Old Testament actually happened. Here is my answer:

Yes, the events described in the Old Testament did actually happen — but not necessarily as literally interpreted. There is a spiritual depth to them that is symbolically compressed in the language. Even the words themselves are, by the nature of words, symbolic.

Lord Jesus taught that the Scriptures are about him (see John 5 and Luke 24), and Paul teaches that it is only in Christ that the “veil is removed,” so that we can understand the Scriptures properly.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. (2 Corinthians 3:12-16)

The Scriptures being all about Christ, if we read them as being about anything other than Christ, then we are not reading them as Scripture, and they are veiled to us. It is only in Christ that the veil is taken away, and only then can we see Christ and encounter Christ in them. It is only then that we are reading them as Scripture.

Below is a helpful little video clip from an interview with Jonathan Pageau on this question.

“Jonathan Pageau Answers the “Literal” Question About the Bible”
(9 minutes)

Travel Together

Traveling together, we discover a unity that is deeper and more ancient than we can comprehend. It is eternal. The journey is bigger than us. It draws us together and encompasses us — not just those of us who are presently on the way, but all who have ever been on it and all who are yet to come. Everyone and everything. For God makes known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity, all summed up in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). In this unity and this journey is found great blessing, the glory of God.

Travel Together
(Psalm 133)

Travel together
This journey makes us one
And the oil of blessing flows down
Fresh as the dew upon the ground

When we learn to recognize
We are pilgrims on the road
Through the mountains of Zion
To the city of our God
Where is His glory found?

Isn’t this heaven
Aren’t we the people of God
Hasn’t the Father made us one
Blessed with the Spirit and the Son?

May we learn to recognize
We are pilgrims on the road
Through the mountains of Zion
To the city of our God
Where is His glory found?

Travel together
This journey makes us one
And the oil of blessing flows down
Fresh as the dew upon the ground
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

Falling Into the Hands of the Living God

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31 NKJV)

Yes, it can be a very terrifying thing to fall into the hands of God. That is not because of God’s disposition toward us but is purely a matter of our perception of and disposition toward God.

When Adam turned away from God in the Garden, pulling away from the very life God offered, his perception of God became distorted. So, when God came calling in the Garden in the cool of the day, Adam hid in fear. He perceived God as being against him instead of for him. He was hostile against God in his own mind (Romans 8:7).

God is love (1 John 4:8), and those who are properly oriented toward God perceive him properly, as love. But those who are not properly oriented toward God perceive him in terror and dread.

God is Love, and God loves as God is, so all God’s actions are always loving toward all, even the most wicked. When Adam disobeyed, God did not love him one bit less. God’s love toward us never wavers toward us, never gives up on us but perseveres for our sake. It is steadfast.

First John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear. Where we are properly oriented toward God and his love, there is no fear, for we know God and his love for what they are, and that leaves no room for fear. But those who turn away from God misperceive even the love of God, and it seems a torment to them and that it comes to do them harm.

We are not, as Jonathan Edwards wrongly supposed, sinners in the hands of an angry God. We are sinners in the hands of a loving God, the God who put himself in the hands of angry sinners in order to deliver us from ourselves and our wrong perceptions of God.

We Remember David

There is an ancient memory of the glory of the Lord, and that memory runs deep within us. Humility revives it, brings it to the fore. It is bracing, stabilizing. Drawing upon it helps us persevere, ever pressing on toward the Promise. King David remembered, and by humility saw the return of the Ark of the Covenant to the Holy City. And he rejoiced, dancing with wild abandon. Yet that was not enough. He longed for the Ark of the Glory to be fully established in the hearts and minds of his people — that the Lord might have his resting place forever among us. But as grand as David’s dream was, the Lord had something infinitely greater in mind. David wanted to build a house for God, but God would build a house for David, one that would endure forever. God would always be with us, in us, and our home would ever be in Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the promise fulfilled and our life is now hid with him in God (Colossians 3:3). And so we remember, and dance with David.

We Remember David
(Psalm 132)

David we remember yet
All the hardship he endure
His servant heart would not forget
But made a promise to the Lord
“I will not rest, I will not rest,
Nor will I find my peace
Until I make a place for Thee”

We have heard in Ephratah
And in the fields of Jaar
Of the glory of the Lord
And the blessing that was there
Let us worship at His feet,
Let us seek His face
May we find His dwelling place

We remember David
Made a promise to the Lord
He danced so hard,
He danced so high
So may the saints of God
Go singing in their joy
We remember David

David was your servant, Lord
And on the day he entered in
You heard the promise that he swore
You made a promise back to him
“If your children keep my ways,
I will be with them
They will have a king forever”

“You are the ones that I’ve desired
And the people of My choice
All your needs I’ll satisfy
And you will listen to my voice
When your enemies assail,
I will be with you
I’ll be the light upon your way”

Lord, remember David
Gained a promise from You, Lord
He danced so hard,
He danced so high
So may the saints of God
Go singing in their joy
We remember David
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

The Only Moment There Is

The Incarnation of Christ is not only the union of divinity with humanity, of God with humankind, it is also the union of eternity with time in such a way that time is transfigured. This is why Paul can speak of us as being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And why John the Beloved, in the book of Revelation, can speak of Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 

The Moment of the Creation
Is the Moment of the Fall,
The Moment of our participation
In its downward spiral
    By our own thoughts and deeds.

But it is also the Moment of
The Incarnation and the Cross,
And of the Resurrection.
It is the Moment of Christ drawing
All Creation to Himself.

The Moment of Christ
Transforming All Creation,
Making All Things New,
Conforming All to the Image
Of the Divine.

The End is in the Beginning
And the Beginning is in the End,
In the One Eternal Moment.

My Heart is Not Proud

The journey has been long, and there is yet more to go. We have been to the bottom, cried out from the depths, learned humility, and there experienced the mercy of God. It does not answer all — or perhaps any — of our questions but it changes us. We have begun to realize that answers are not really what we are longing for. And now we are ready to move forward, not in pride of soul but in humility of heart. For in humility, there is hope.

My Heart Is Not Proud
(Psalm 131)

My heart is not proud
And neither my eyes
And I do not seek
To understand why
But I have stilled
And quieted my heart
And so have I placed
My hope in my God
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

Baptism is a True Participation in Salvation

Baptism is not a work by which we merit salvation. It is a work of God in us, by Water and the Holy Spirit, and manifests our salvation in a very tangible way. It is a participation in salvation, in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)

God really does something in baptism. We are really and truly baptized into the death of Christ. By baptism, we are really and truly buried with Christ. We are born again through the resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 1:3), and in baptism, we are really and truly united with Christ in his resurrection to walk in newness of life.

Baptism is symbol, but it is not empty symbol. A true symbol is a joining together; it is from the Greek symbolos, a compound of syn, together, and ballein, to cast or throw. Baptism truly casts us together with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Out of the Depths

Now we come to a turning point in the journey. We began from far away in a land with no peace, and awakened to the joyful prospect of coming again to our heart’s true home in God. We have remembered how the Lord has delivered us in the past, how He has protected and provided, how He surrounds us on our journey and gives us rest. We have rejoiced in the Lord, the Righteous One, for He has been faithful to us.

But as we draw ever closer, we become more and more aware of something that has been going on inside us from the beginning, a calling out from the depths of our being. It is a deepening awareness of our many faults and failures, in the light of God’s faithfulness. And we realize our helplessness in the face of it. We are like Isaiah who, in his vision of the unfathomable glory of the Lord, experienced the profound sense of his own “unclean lips,” his own lack of righteousness (see Isaiah 6). Yet the Lord was faithful to cleanse and heal him, and we cry out to God for that same cleansing and healing. It is Christ and the Cross that we need, and with that assurance we can move forward and meet our God in the Holy Place.

Out of the Depths
(Psalm 130)

Out of the depths I cry
To You, O Lord
Now let Your ears hear my voice

If you should count my faults
Lord, who could stand?
In awe, we find that You forgive

How my soul waits for You
I wait for You
More than the watchman waits for dawn

Now let us trust in His unfailing love
He will redeem us from our sins
Himself redeem us from our sins
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

Heal My Tangled Heart

Lord, you know everything
going on in my heart
better than I do.
I am a mix,
and I am a mess.

Come and heal my heart,
and put right everything
that is in me.
Amen.

How blessed it is when we come to our helplessness, for then we turn to the LORD, who loves us deeply and cares for us more than we can imagine, and He will gladly help and deliver us, even from the tangles or our heart. This is the judgment of God, the judgment of Love, for God is Love. It corrects us, sorts us out, and sets right the thoughts and intents of our heart. There is no hiding out from the Lord, and this, too, is blessedness, as the psalm writer understood very well:

You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
(Psalm 139:1-7, 23-24)

The Righteous Lord

They had been greatly oppressed, harnessed to the plow and run over time and again. But the Lord cut the straps that held them, the cords that bound them, and set them free. The testimony of Israel is that the Lord brought them up out of the land of bondage and into the Land of Promise. That is our testimony, too, for it is the same Lord Jesus who sets us free, and the same Cross by which we are redeemed. The Lord had been faithful to keep the covenant he made with their ancestors, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and would continue that faithfulness to them. That assurance enabled their perseverance so that they, too, would arrive safely at journey’s end.

The Righteous Lord
(Psalm 129)

From the days of my youth
All my enemies assailed
From the days of my youth
But they never did prevail
And the plowman plowed my back
And they made the furrows long
And the plowman plowed my back
And they made the furrows long

But the righteous Lord
Has cut me free
And the righteous Lord
Is keeping me moving on

They were grass on the roof
Where the grass will not grow
They were grass on the roof
Where the grass will not grow
And they turn from the Lord
He will turn them away
And they turn from the Lord
He will turn them away

But the righteous Lord
Has cut me free
And the righteous Lord
Is keeping me moving on
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

God Reconciling Us to Himself

What does “separation from God” mean? Inasmuch as all are created through Christ, by Christ, for Christ and in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17), it is therefore actually impossible to be separated from God, for Christ is God, and everything exists in him, or else does not exist at all.

God has never separated himself from us. Though we turned away from God, God did not turn away from us. When Paul speaks about the reconciliation brought about by Christ and the blood of the cross, it is not about God reconciling himself to us but about God reconciling us to himself (Colossians 1:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:19). 

Whatever sense of separation there may have been was only in our own minds, not in the mind of God. It is the enmity of the fleshly mind (not controlled by the Spirit/spirit) that Paul speaks about in Romans 8:7, “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.” The Cross did not change God’s mind about us but it changes our minds about God.

This enmity that was in our own minds was not any kind of punishment from God, nor does Scripture speak of it as such, but it is part of what we needed to be delivered from.

Inasmuch as “separation from God” is not any punishment imposed upon us by God, the Cross and the Atonement was not about Christ taking any such punishment upon himself in our place.

The Incarnation demonstrates that God did not separate himself from us. Quite the opposite, by the Incarnation, Christ, who is God, united himself with all humankind, joining God with all humanity.

It is simply not possible for Christ to be separated from God, because Christ is God. To speak of any separation within the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is to speak incoherently. Any theory of atonement that posits such a separation fails to understand the historic Christian faith and the doctrine of the Trinity.

So, the Cross was not about Christ being punished in our place. Nor was it about Christ being separated from God. It was not about reconciling God to us but about reconciling us to God. At the Cross, Christ was not drawing God to us but, rather, drawing all to himself (John 12:30-33; see The Cast Net).

When we make the Cross about Christ appeasing God, or changing God’s mind about us, or turning God back toward us, we have gotten the whole directionality of it exactly wrong. Penal theories of the atonement get it all backwards.

You Shall Be Happy

In the middle of the journey, the psalm writer speaks quite unabashedly about the blessing, the joy — the happiness — that attends those who honor the Lord and walk in His ways. Yes, there are dangers and difficulties encountered along the way, but there is also the protection and provision of God, the fellowship of friends and family, and the warmth of hearth and home. And in all things, the Lord reveals Himself to us in unexpected ways. Glory to God for all things.

You Shall Be Happy
(Psalm 128)

Blessed are you
Who worship the Lord
And all those who honor His name
Blessed are you
Who listen to His voice
And all those who walk in His ways
You shall be happy
It shall be well with you

Blessed be your household
It shall multiply
Many the ones at your table
Joy for your sorrow
Comfort for your tears
All that you need from your labors
You shall be happy
It shall be well with you

For so are the ones who are blessed by the Lord
So may the peace of the Lord be with you
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

When I Hide and When I Confess

When I hide
In shame or pride,
I crumble inside.

When I confess
My mess,
I come to my rest.

Pride and shame are but two sides of the same coin. Both sides are false, teaching us lies about who we are. They create distance between us and others, and lead us to hide behind our false self, in denial, lest anyone discover what frauds we are.

But Lord Jesus sets us free from all that. For he is neither proud nor ashamed. He is humble. Yet he carried our pride and shame to the crossed and was crucified by them. He teaches us humility — and that is where we find our rest and become our true self.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry. (Matthew 11:28-30)

The Lord’s Gonna Give You Rest

This pilgrim journey is one of giving up the vain notion that everything — or anything — depends upon us, and coming to the place of humility, realizing how great is our helplessness. It is a joyful realization, for it means that we can cast all our cares, all our distracting thoughts, over onto the Lord, who loves us deeply and will take care of us always. Lord Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Lord’s Gonna Give You Rest
(Psalm 127)

Build a house, build a wall, build a city
That’s a mighty fine work,
But ain’t it a pity
It’s all gonna fail the test
Take some time, take some thought, take a minute
Did you ever ask yourself
If the Lord was in it?
As humble men will confess
Only the Lord’s gonna give you rest

You get up early and you’re staying up late
And you work like a mule to put food on your plate
You know, you settle for less
You keep depending on what you can do
And you’re forgetting all the love He has for you
He wants to give your His best
Only the Lord’s gonna give you rest

You don’t have to be afraid to grow older
I know they told you but it’s just not true
You don’t have to take the world on your shoulders
Just be faithful to the way He works in you

The road we’re traveling is straight and its narrow
But He’ll direct you like the bow directs the arrow
And He will give you success
And if you doubt that the Lord is a giver
Just remember all the children in your quiver
Then you will know you’ve been blessed
Only the Lord’s gonna give you rest
Only the Lord’s gonna give you rest
Only the Lord’s gonna give you rest
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

The Cast Net

The gospel is not a transaction, or an offer. It is an announcement, and it is unconditional. It is not about what we must do but about what Christ has done, and is doing through the Holy Spirit.

Looking to the Cross, Lord Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself” (John 12:31-32).

The Greek word for “draw” literally means to drag, like a cast net. Christ has been lifted up from the earth and has cast his net, drawing all, gathering all, dragging all, to himself.

St. Paul said that it is the goodness of God the leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). And the grace of God has appeared, giving salvation to all and teaching us to live righteously and godly in this present age (Titus 2:11-12). And so Christ crucified, risen and ascended gathers all to himself.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Draw us all into the Eternal Bliss
Of Your Divine Fellowship.
Amen.

The Lord Will Redeem All Our Years

Our journey well under way, singing the goodness of the Lord, we are glad, full of joy. But all the while, we are mindful that there are others who are yet far away, and we hold them in our heart. For they are part of us, and we are not complete without them. So, as we travel this pilgrim way, we pray, sowing our tears in hope of joyful reunion at journey’s end.

The Lord Will Redeem All Our Years
(Psalm 126)

When the Lord brought us back to our homeland
We were like people who dream
We had begun to believe that
It was something we never would see
And our hearts were all filled up with laughter
And our laughter was filled up with joy
And the joy inside us was singing
Of the things that were done by the Lord
Things that were done by the Lord

As the rain swells the streams of the desert
And the water brings life to the land
May the Lord look upon us from heaven
To bring life to His people again
For we’ve sown many seeds in our sorrow
And we’ve sown many seeds in our tears
But we wait for the joy of the harvest
When the Lord will redeem all our years
And the Lord will redeem all our years
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

What Great Love the Father Has Lavished

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us.” Lavished! I love that word. It speaks of generosity, abundance, extravagance and grace. It reminds me of the extravagant love of the father in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son (see here and here). So, I like that the New International Version uses this word to translate didomi (in its perfect tense). The King James Version, too, renders the line very nicely: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” It is freely given to us.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)

What manner of love is this? How magnanimous and strange and unexpected it is. See what God has done in his great love for us: He has called us his children — children of God. He is not unapproachable deity, for he has come and revealed himself fully to us in Christ the Son, for Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

The Father has bestowed his love upon us, lavished it upon us without condition and without boundary. God, who is love, has given us what and who he is — divine love. He has given us himself in intimate relationship.

Children of God is not what we must aspire to and somehow accomplish. Children of God is what we are — right here and right now, fully and completely. We will never be more the children of God, more loved and accepted by God, than we are in this present moment.

We are children of God not because of anything we have done, not even by our faith, but because of what God has done for us in Christ. That is the gospel truth about every one of us. But the world does not recognize the truth of this; it does not recognize our identity — and their own identity — in Christ because it did not recognize Christ himself.

When John says that all who have this hope purify themselves, he does not mean that they go to work, do the do and clean themselves up. That would be to miss the point about our identity in Christ. It would fold being back into doing and collapse everything down into moralism and legalism. We do not become children of God by our own doing, nor do we purify ourselves by our own efforts. We will be like Christ not by what we have done but because “we shall see him as him as he is.”

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The Lord Surrounds His People

The world is a danger, but we do not travel alone — and never have. Lord Jesus has walked the road himself, on the journey he calls us to travel with him. He encircles us as the mountains encircle Jerusalem. He protects us and ensures our way. The Sons of Korah understood this very well:

Blessed are those whose strength is in You,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Weeping,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.
    (Psalm 84:5-7)

The wicked will not last. They will not withstand the Judgment of Christ and the Cross. He will not put up with them forever; the Consuming Fire of God’s Love will complete its work in them until each one appears before God in Zion, whose gates are never shut.

The Lord Surrounds His People
(Psalm 125)

The world is a danger, the timid overtaken
Cry out like children in the night when they awaken
Those trusting in the Lord will not be shaken
But we’ll be standing when the Lord surrounds His people

Wicked men come with evil infection
And try to lead us in the wrong direction
The Lord will keep us in His circle of protection
And none will harm us when the Lord surrounds His people

Some will slip away and think they’re being clever
And be surprised He won’t put up with them forever
But every true believer He will treasure
And we’ll continue as the Lord surrounds His people
© 2001 by Jeff Doles 

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

A Sacrament of Water and the Word

Baptism is not a statute to be observed but a sacrament to be received. It is not a work we perform but a work God does in us through means of Water and the Word. And by it, God accomplishes some very important things in us:

Do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)

Baptized into the death of Christ, we are buried with Christ through baptism, so that we may have new life, the life of Christ, through whom we are united through baptism. As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is what salvation looks like.

The idea suggested by some, that Paul is speaking here of a baptism of the Holy Spirit rather than a baptism of water, is of relatively recent vintage. It is absent from the early Church. We do not find it in the early Church Fathers, nor do we find it in the Reformers. It was not until the last century or so that this idea began to arise.

Certainly it is the Holy Spirit who baptizes us, and what God accomplishes in us by baptism, God does through the Holy Spirit — but also through the substance of water. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us through the substance of human flesh, and of wood and nails, so also God ministers grace to us through such means as water, oil, bread and wine. As someone has well said, matter matters. God works through material means as well as through spiritual.

That is the nature of sign and sacrament. The sign participates in the reality of the thing it portrays. The early Church held no Nominalist views, where the only significance of a thing or act was merely whatever name or meaning we assign to it in our own minds. Nominalism did not arise until around the Enlightenment era. Rather, the Church was Realist, understanding that a thing or act participates in the reality, the ontology, the very being of whatever it portrays and presents (or re-presents) to us.

In Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul tells us that there is but one Body and one Spirit and one Baptism. That one baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it is through the material of water, baptizing us into the One Body. For baptism is the initiatory rite into the Church, the Body of Christ.

Baptism is not a statute to which we submit, or a work we do to earn something. It is a gift we receive, a gift of God’s grace, given to us by means of water and the Word.

If The Lord Was Not With Us

Sometimes it is the anger and pride of others who would entangle us in their arrogance, foolishness and deceit. Sometimes it is our own anger and pride that would trip us up and enslave us to the passions we have so easily learned to accommodate. But the Lord is faithful, and with us to deliver us, and so we learn to abide, even amid all the dangers and snares we may encounter on our journey.

If The Lord Was Not With Us
(Psalm 124)

Now when men rose against us
In their fury and pride
We would surely be swallowed alive
If the Lord was not with us
Standing right by our side
In the name of the Maker
Of heaven and earth we’ll abide

O their anger was rising
Rising up on that day
And the raging flood would have washed us away
If the Lord was not with us
Standing right by our side
In the name of the Maker
Of heaven and earth we’ll abide

And the fowler was waiting
And preparing his snare
Thanks be given to God, Who was there
For the trap has been broken
It held us in vain
In the name of the Maker
Of heaven and earth we’ll remain
© 2001 by Jeff Doles

The Pilgrim Psalms project is now streaming at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you enjoy music. It is also available for download at Amazon and iTunes.

The Gospel of Recapitulation

Adam blew it. Christ renewed it. Recapitulation. 

Recapitulation as atonement is a very biblical idea. Paul speaks of it expressly as the plan and purpose of God. It is the saving work of Christ, through the Incarnation and the Cross:

God did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ – the things in heaven and the things on earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10 NET)

The Greek word for “to head up” is anakephalaioo, meaning to gather up into one, to sum up — quite literally, it means to head up. It is recapitulation, or as we would say in today’s jargon, “recap.” Paul tells us that all in heaven and on earth are summed up, headed up, “recapped” and brought to unity, to oneness, in Christ. St. Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 130-202), picking up on Paul, here and elsewhere, speaks specifically of recapitulation as the saving work of Christ:

Wherefore also He passed through every stage of life, restoring to all communion with God ... For it behoved Him who was to destroy sin, and redeem man under the power of death, that He should Himself be made that very same thing which he was, that is, man; who had been drawn by sin into bondage, but was held by death, so that sin should be destroyed by man, and man should go forth from death. For as by the disobedience of the one man who was originally moulded from virgin soil, the many were made sinners, and forfeited life; so was it necessary that, by the obedience of one man, who was originally born from a virgin, many should be justified and receive salvation. St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.18

For the Lord, taking dust from the earth, moulded man; and it was upon his behalf that all the dispensation of the Lord's advent took place. He had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father, seeking out that thing which had perished. — St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.14

That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects] also of that deception being done away with. — St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.19

These things, therefore, He recapitulated in Himself: by uniting man to the Spirit, and causing the Spirit to dwell in man, He is Himself made the head of the Spirit, and gives the Spirit to be the head of man: for through Him (the Spirit) we see, and hear, and speak. — St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.20

He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as you can perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for your head, and you on the watch for His heel. — St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.21

The words of St. Irenaeus echo the author of Hebrews:

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18)

Recapitulation means that what Adam got wrong, Christ put right. And humankind, which was once headed up in Adam, is now headed up in Christ.

Consequently, just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22) 

Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:9-10 that all in heaven and on earth are summed up, headed up, “recapped,” brought to unity, to oneness, in Christ. If Christ is the head, then humankind is the body. St. Gregory of Nyssa understood this very well: “Now the body of Christ, as I have often said, is the whole of humanity.”

This is Recapitulation.
This is Atonement.
This is the Gospel.