Outside the Camp, or Renewing the Center?

Or, Does Jesus Excommunicate Churches?

The answer to these questions has to do with the feature of the emerging church movement noted by Scot McKnight that the ECM repudiates an "Excessive 'in' versus 'out' mentality," echoing sentiments by Stan Grenz in his book Renewing the Center (p. 330).  I'll begin by granting that our mentalities should not be excessive but Biblical, Christlike (which are one and the same thing for those who are evangelical).

The short answer to the subtitle: Yes he does. To explain, I’d like to string together three passages for our consideration:

1. You will seek me, but you will not find me. … What is this statement that he said, ‘You will seek me, but will not find me’? (John 7:34, 36).

2. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant will be also; if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him (John 12:26).

3. Therefore, let us go to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach (Heb 13:13).

Concerning #1, by reporting the question of the crowd, in which the words of Jesus are repeated, John signals to the reader that we should pause and think carefully about what is the correct answer to the question; what does Jesus mean? Where is he going? But you might say, the answer is obvious; Jesus of Nazareth is going to heaven, that’s why they won’t find him. But to their minds, Jesus of Nazareth will be dead, so why would they be looking for him?

Concerning #2, the same answer to the question "Where is Jesus going" doesn’t work, since he obviously isn’t telling the disciples that we serve him by following him to heaven; surely Jesus is talking about serving him in the world. So the answer to the question "Where are you going?" isn’t so obvious after all. I am going to argue that the answer is suggested by #3, what we find in Heb 13:13; Jesus is going "outside the camp," and he requires us to follow him outside the camp if we want to serve him.

Obscuring the answer to the question "Where is he going?" is that we tend to overlook the fact of the deity of Christ when we consider the words of Christ. When we consider the possibility that Jesus is speaking as the God of Israel, then there is a possible linking of the language of Jesus to OT language which talks about Israel seeking God, and finding (or not finding) him. For example, "Seek the Lord while he may be found" (Isa 55:6) suggests the possibility of seeking God but not finding him. Likewise Moses says that from exile Israel will seek the Lord and find him, with the condition that they seek him with a whole heart and soul (Deut 4:29). If you’re reading a translation of John 7:34 that says "You will look for me" etc. (due to the fact that the translator has not recognized the divine aspect of Jesus’ speech), you are much less likely to recognize this link to the OT.

NT scholars rightly emphasize the importance of understanding contemporary (to the first century) Judaism as a way of shedding light on the NT. In light of this I’ve been amazed at the comparative neglect of the Aramaic translations of the OT (Targums) that were read in the synagogue every Sabbath and on feast days. No one would think of relating John 7:34 to Song of Solomon 3:1; "I sought him, but did not find him," unless of course you knew the Jewish interpretation of that verse as preserved in the Targum. The Song Targum allegorizes the history of Israel, and this particular verse is related to the aftermath of the golden calf incident, when God withdrew his presence (his Shekinah) outside the camp. The verse is allegorized to mean that Israel went about seeking the divine presence but did not find him, until Moses went up to heaven and interceded. This latter belief is refuted by Jesus when speaking to Nicodemus: "No one has ascended into heaven, except he who descended, even the Son of Man."

The first place in the Bible where the language about seeking the Lord is used is in fact in the aftermath of the golden calf incident. Moses set up a tent outside the camp, and called it "the tent of meeting," and everyone who sought the Lord went outside the camp to the tent of meeting.

Now, the term "tent of meeting" was later used for the tabernacle, which had not yet been built. The tabernacle, of course, would be set up in the midst of the camp, not outside the camp. So why "outside the camp"? The interpretation evident in the Targum of Song 3:1 referred to above is that God had withdrawn his presence (Shekinah) from Israel in response to their idolatry. This interpretation is also found in the rabbinical work, Exodus Rabbah, where the point is made that God had departed the camp, thus excommunicating Israel, and Moses also went outside the camp because the disciple must regard as excommunicated those whom his master has excommunicated. Thus Moses the servant of the Lord was following the principle given in John 12:26; "Where I am, there my servant also will be."

Our three texts, then, come together as follows: The Jews, except for the believing remnant, will continue to seek the Lord through their synagogue and temple observances (as in Isa 58:2, for example), but they will not find him. That is, John 7:34 does not mean "You will seek me, a certain man called Jesus" but "You will seek me, the God of Israel." We must conclude from Deut 4:29 that the reason they will not find him is that they do not seek him with a whole heart. If they sought him with a whole heart they would find him. John 12:26 then says that in order to serve him (the God of Israel), they must go to where he is, namely, outside the camp, as in Exodus 33, following the example of Moses.

When we look at the Palestinian Targums of Exodus 33, and remember that John begins his Gospel by calling Jesus "the Word," this interpretation is reinforced. This is because these Targums say that "the Word" spoke to Moses at this place outside the camp. In the next chapter the glory of the divine Word is revealed to Moses, and Moses hears the divine self description "full of grace and truth" (John’s translation of "abounding in kindness and truth," Exod 34:6). "The Word" in these Targums is a way of speaking about God as he is involved in the world, interacting with his people. John tells us that this Word became flesh, a man called Jesus of Nazareth. So in John 12:26 Jesus is really saying to his disciples that they must do what Moses did 1500 years earlier; they must go outside the camp, regarding as excommunicated those whom their master has excommunicated, and Heb 13:13 says the same thing. Properly understood, then, in John 7:34 Jesus gives warning of his impending excommunication of Israel, as he again will be going outside the camp. The Talmud itself testifies that the Shekinah was withdrawn from Israel 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple.

But if we think this is a message just for the Jews, we are greatly mistaken. This brings us to the question asked above: "Does Jesus excommunicate churches?" Paul warns Gentile believers, "If God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you, either" (Rom 11:21). The history of Israel stands as a great warning to the church that would become largely Gentile. The message is NOT "Look how bad the Jews were" but rather it is a warning to those Gentiles who are "unnatural branches" – those who do not have the advantage of the Jews in being brought up with the revelation of the Scriptures. It would seem that the church at Ephesus, for example, is warned of excommunication in the following words: "I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent" (Rev 2:5), and Jesus says he will wage war against heretical teachers in the church, just as he waged war in Old Testament times against his own people (Rev 2:16, 23).

Elsewhere those involved in worship with idolators are warned "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord" (2 Cor 6:17).  A few verses earlier Paul says "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers," terminology likely taken from Num 25:3 which says that Israel was "yoked" to Baal of Peor through Moabite women, and the Lord commanded Israel at that time, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel" (v. 4).  I need to add something here that formerly I would assume is obvious: in the church age we do not respond to defection of leaders in the church by killing them.  The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us how to apply Numbers 25 in the church age when he tells the Corinthians to separate themselves from idolatrous worship.

So, while we grant that our "'in' versus 'out' mentality" should not be excessive, it is obvious that we are in fact required to have some sort of in versus out mentality if we are to follow the Lord's commands to depart from idolatrous worship, to follow Jesus outside the camp, which implies regarding as excommunicated those whom he has excommunicated.  If we do so, then there is the promise for us of honor from the Father (John 12:26).  BTS started outside the camp, and now it's on a trajectory back to where it separated from.  Perhaps nothing shows this more succinctly than John Franke's comments at the death of Stan Grenz:

Grenz "really was the pioneer" in bridging the evangelical-mainline gap, said John Franke, and that will be his enduring legacy. "It is vitally important in this moment to heal some of this division that has plagued American Christianity," Franke said. ( http://www.abpnews.com/233.article )