The Incarnation Leads to Ministry
There are many "one anothers" in the Bible: "love one another," "forgive one another," "care for one another," "bear one another's burdens." All these point to the fact that when "the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us," when God took on our broken human nature, He restored the broken relationships, the exploitive ways we manipulate each other.
A serious problem developed in Old Testament Israel: the Lord had commanded them to never charge interest from a fellow Jew but they often broke that command, resulting in deep indebtedness and slavery. This form of exploitation was to be eliminated in the New Community, the Christian Church. And Christians should not borrow money: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8). How often do today's Christians break this command?
In the New Community, the Church, the Levitical priesthood was eliminated. In the Old Testament and in Christ's time on earth, the priesthood had become a way to exploit and control Jewish society. How often did Jesus excoriate the priests, scribes, and Pharisees! But in the Church we are all "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). When a believer is baptized and chrismated into the Church, that person is also tonsured as a priest.
Of course, there are different gifts: some are called to be bishops, evangelists, pastors, or teachers - "to equip the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature, perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13). The goal for all Christians - not just the clergy or a few saints - is to reflect the fullness of Christ's glory.
The Incarnation of Christ led Him to "empty Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8-9). Christ's servant-nature is an example for us: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (verse 5).
We have freedom in Christ, being freed from our selfish sinful nature, but freedom doesn't mean we can do whatever we want: "For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an excuse to gratify the flesh, but serve one another through love" (Galatians 5:13).
The Greek word for "ministry" in the New Testament is "diakonia" - it also means service or serving. A good expression of this is "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). This doesn't mean, however, that some people should just lean back and let others carry the load: "But let each man test his own work, and then he will take pride in himself and not in his neighbor. For each man will bear his own burden" (verses 4-5).
St. Paul wrote - "But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we charged you; that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing" (1 Thes. 4:10b-12).
Also, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: 'If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.' For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thes. 3:10-12). Those who refuse to work, St. Paul says, are rebelling against God's established order of things. If they needlessly rely on "charity" they are in effect stealing someone else's bread.
The classic passage some Christians quote against works is - "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). But from the context, it should be clear that St. Paul is referring to the ritual works of the Mosaic Law.
Some Christians, though, conveniently leave out the very next verse - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them" (verse 10). In the same letter, St. Paul goes on to write - "Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need" (Ephesians 4:28).
God is not an arbitrary tyrant, choosing some to be saved no matter what they do, and others to be damned in spite of their being good people. He is a loving God Who rewards good and punishes evil - "For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). If there is no free will to choose good or evil, then there is no moral responsibility for sin and no reward for being good. God Incarnate, Christ the Living Word, calls us to live responsibly, to love our fellow believers, and to serve one another in love.
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