nate's incoherent babble

2026-02-28

Christarchy forms Christlike Communities

In the words of the musical prophet Bob Dylan, we all "gotta serve somebody". It is not a question of whether we will serve, but who or what we serve. No one can truly live in "anarchy" (ruled by nothing and no one). And even if we think we live an "autarchy" (where we are ruled by self alone), we will find we are really ruled by our own compulsions, as we seek and serve power or profit, pleasure or praise. The only way out is to choose to serve the One who is truly Good because he alone is fully God: Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the One chosen to lead us into abundant life. Thus, Christarchy is our commitment to serve Christ as the Source, Ruler, and Goal of every dimension of life.

Over the last two decades I have developed a Prayermap as my primary way to implement Christarchy and practice Christ in my everyday life and community. The ultimate purpose of Christarchy is to form Christlike Communities of persons who embody Christ. As C.S. Lewis has said about our common life in Christ's Body: "The Church exists for nothing else but to draw [people] into Christ, to make them little christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose." This final goal of becoming "little christs" can be summed up in the ten points of C.H.R.I.S.T.L.I.K.E.:

CHRISTOCENTRIC: We immerse ourselves in the Story of Jesus so we can interpret Scripture and History with a Christward trajectory.
HEALING: We follow Christ in healing God's children, our communities, and all creation, so we all become healthy, fruitful, and creative.
RECONCILING: We restore right relationships with God, each other, and ourselves through Love, forgiveness, and community building.
INCARNATIONAL: We unite humanity and God in a panentheistic vision of creation by embodying Christ as members of his social body.
SACRAMENTAL: We focus Christ's Light, to magnify his Love, and experience his Life, here and now, in ritual and action.
TRINITARIAN: We model our communities on the God of Love who is unity and diversity in Godself as Father, Son, and Spirit.
LIBERATING: We protest unjust powers and overcome systemic evils that oppress God's children and destroy God's creation.
INSPIRED: We overflow with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in spiritual practice, mystical experience, and gifts for ministry.
KATHOLIC: We pursue Christ's mission to share all of God's grace with all people, in all of creation, until God is all in all in apokatastasis.
EMBRACING: We include all that is good and true and beautiful in Christ from all arts and sciences, cultures and religions.

Each of these concepts is deep and rich, inviting us into the Divine Life of Jesus Christ. Each concept could be— and has been— explored in their own essays and chapters and books written across Christian history. However, to orient ourselves to each of these concepts, we will provide a brief introduction and Scriptural basis to explore the meaning of these concepts below, so we can see how "Christarchy forms Christlike Communities". The perceptive reader will note that five of these concepts are mainly about our worldview and theology: Christocentric, Incarnational, Trinitarian, Katholic, and Embracing. The other five concepts are primarily about how we practice: Healing, Reconciling, Sacramental, Liberating, and Inspired. Together these outline a "faith and practice" which is effective in helping us embody Christ. So let's dive in:

Does God's Love serve Power, or Power serve Love?

Many of us who believe in God would list a similar set of attributes of what make God an Ultimate Reality worthy of the title "God". We may say God is eternal, non-material, all powerful, all knowing, and all good. God stands apart from all other beings as the Source of Being itself, the Creator of all things that are not Godself. All good and true. But is it possible for two people to hold all these views in common, and yet have diametrically opposed views of how God acts, and why God treats us the way God does?

Yes. How we order and prioritize God's attributes can result in a radically different vision of God. We don't tend to talk about this much, and we assume that all Christians or all Theists worship the same God. But could it be the case that, actually, we worship totally different images of the same God? Nothing brings out this divide better than the question: Does God's Love serve Power, or Power serve Love?

ATONEMENT: How Christ makes us at-one with God

This is a sample chapter from my Systematic Theology project "Theology for Thriving". 📎MORE TO THE STORY notes are not part of the main text of the book, but additional resources, charts, or other materials from Biblical Theology class resources.

Colossians 1.15-20 [15] Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; [16] for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. [17] He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

🗝️ Key Concept: Atonement

We have now mapped the great drama of the Incarnation: the breathtaking story of how God entered our world, becoming one of us to heal us from the inside out. This leads us to the central question of salvation: How exactly does this work? How does the life, death, and resurrection of a first-century Jewish peasant from Nazareth heal the deep alienation between God and humanity? The theological term for this great work of healing is Atonement.

The word itself is a beautiful roadmap. It’s a term coined by the English Bible translator William Tyndale, who needed a word to describe the work of reconciliation. He simply smashed three words together: at-one-ment. The work of Christ is to make God and humanity “at one.” It is the ultimate act of reconciliation, bridging the chasm of sin that separates us from our Source.

Atonement is our salvation, our healing from the sickness of Sin. It is our liberation from the powers of death and evil that hold us captive. Ultimately, it is the path to theosis: Our journey into full participation in the divine life. Jesus is the living bridge between God and humanity, and atonement is the process of walking across that bridge into a healed and whole relationship with God, ourselves, and all of creation.

Different theologies try to focus on just one aspect of Jesus Christ as what made "at-one-ment" possible. Some focus on his life as a moral example, and say that he made atonement primarily by showing us a new way to live. Others focus on his death and say he made atonement primarily by dying on the cross for our sins. Still others focus on his resurrection and say atonement is mainly about his victory over the grave. There is truth in all of these images and perspectives. Rather than adopting an "either/or" view of atonement, we will do what we have been doing across most of this book and adopt a "both-and" approach. Atonement is NOT found "either his life or his death", but rather found in "both his life and his death".

GRACE: The unmerited gift of Love to make us lovable

Ephesians 2.1-10 [1] You were dead through the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. [3] All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. [4] But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us [5] even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— [9] not the result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

🗝️ Key Concept: Grace

We have now mapped the great drama of God’s rescue mission: A world infected with Sin, and a loving God who enters into our suffering through the Incarnation to bring about our At-one-ment. This brings us to the final piece of the Soteriology puzzle: How is this healing actually applied to our lives? The answer is a single, beautiful, and often misunderstood word: Grace.

Grace is the free, undeserved, and often unsought gift of God’s own life and love. It’s the power that makes salvation a reality for us. A common acronym for it is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. While this rightly points out that grace is a gift that flows from Christ, the word “expense” can be problematic if it suggests a transaction with an angry God. A better way to frame it, more in line with the God we’ve come to know, might be God Reconciles As Christ Embodied, or even God's Restoring And Creative Energy.

Implied here is that Grace works in two interconnected ways. First, grace is a declaration: God speaks a new reality into being for us. Through grace, God declares us forgiven, adopted as children, and justified— made right— in His sight. Second, grace is an energy: it is the active work of the Holy Spirit within us, transforming us from the inside out to become the very people God has declared us to be.

Some have argued that for grace to be truly gracious, it must be limited, offered only to a select few. But this is to map God’s reality with a human-sized pencil. An infinitely abundant God is an infinitely gracious God. Grace does not need to be stingy to be special. Thus, grace is for all people, because all people are beloved. We could even use another acronym to express this: God's Grace is for every Gender, Religion, Ability, Culture, and Economic status.

THEOSIS: Partaking in the Divine Dance of Life

2 Peter 1.3-8 [3] His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godlikeness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. [5] For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godlikeness, [7] and godlikeness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. [8] For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

🗝️ Key Concept: Theosis

What is the ultimate goal of salvation? Is it simply a ticket to heaven, an escape from punishment, or a legal declaration of forgiveness? The Christian tradition, especially in its early and Eastern forms, offers a far more breathtaking and transformative vision. The goal is not just to be saved from something, but to be saved for something: To be so filled with the life of God that we ourselves become godlike. This is the shocking and beautiful doctrine of Theosis.

The word Theosis (also known as deification or divinization) comes from the Greek word theos, meaning "God." It is the process of becoming, by grace, what Christ is by nature. This was not a fringe idea but was the assumed understanding of salvation for nearly all major Christian thinkers in the first centuries. As St. Athanasius famously declared, “God became human that humans might become divine.” This doesn't mean we usurp God or become individual deities. Rather, it means we are invited to become participants in the divine nature, to be so fully integrated into the life of the Trinity that we radiate God’s own love and glory.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, this is understood through the distinction between God’s unknowable essence and God’s knowable energies. We can never become God in His transcendent essence, but we can fully participate in His immanent, life-giving energies. Think of an iron rod plunged into a fire. The rod never becomes the fire itself, but it takes on the properties of the fire, glowing white-hot with its light and heat. In the same way, through Theosis, our human nature is permeated by the divine life, yet we remain distinctly ourselves. This is the ultimate expression of a panentheistic vision where God is in all things, inviting all things to share more fully in the divine life. It is our destiny to be caught up in the divine dance of the Trinity, sharing in the love that flows eternally between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

FAITH(FULNESS): Actively receiving God’s Grace

Hebrews 11.1-3, 6-10 [1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. [3] By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible... [6] And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. [7] By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. [8] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. [9] By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

🗝️ Key Concept: Faith(fulness)

If Theosis is the ultimate destination on our spiritual map— the journey of participating in God’s own life— then how do we take the first step? How do we actively receive the grace that makes this journey possible? The answer is found in our key concept: Faith(fulness).

In our modern world, "faith" has often been reduced to a purely intellectual exercise. For many, it simply means believing a list of correct ideas about God, an assent to a set of facts. While what we believe certainly matters, this definition is a pale shadow of the rich, dynamic, and life-altering reality the Bible describes. To grasp the biblical concept, we have to see faith not just as a noun, but as a verb; not just as a belief, but as a way of being.

The Old Testament builds its understanding of faith on God’s own character. The Hebrew words for faith, emet and emunah, are rooted in the idea of firmness, reliability, and trustworthiness. Before the people of Israel are ever asked to have faith in God, the story first demonstrates that God is faithful to them. The LORD is the one who keeps promises, who shows steadfast love to a stubborn and unfaithful people. The prophets’ primary job was to call Israel back to a life of faithfulness that mirrored God’s own. The great hero Abraham is the prime example. His “faith” was counted as righteousness not because he passed a theology exam, but because his inner trust in God issued forth in the outward action of leaving his home and journeying into an unknown future, guided only by God’s promise.

The New Testament builds on this foundation. The Greek word for faith, pistis, carries this same dual meaning of trust and loyalty. Following the work of scholars like N.T. Wright, we can see that the gospel is not primarily about our faith in Jesus, but about the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s own covenant faithfulness, the perfectly loyal Israelite who succeeds where all others failed. It is His faithfulness that saves us and restores our broken relationship with God. Our response, then, is to participate in His faithfulness with our own.

This is why the key concept for this chapter is the dual word "faith(fulness)": Because Jesus' faithfulness calls us to not only have faith in him, but practice faithfulness to him. This rich, biblical faith(fulness) has at least three interconnected dimensions:

Cognitive: It includes our beliefs, the "what" of our faith. It is the intellectual assent to the good news that God, in Christ, has acted to save the world.
Affective: It involves our hearts, the "who" of our faith. It is a radical trust in God’s goodness, a confident reliance on His presence and providential care in our lives.
Volitional: It engages our will, the "how" of our faith. It is active loyalty, an obedient journeying with God as we seek to co-write our chapter of His redemptive story.

RIGHTEOUSNESS: Being made right with God

Galatians 2.15-16, 3.26-29, 4.4-6 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law... [26] For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. [27] As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise... [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [5] in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. [6] And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

🗝️ Key Concept: Righteousness

What does it mean to be a “good person”? For most of us, the question revolves around our actions. Do we tell the truth? Do we help others? Do we follow the rules? These are important questions, but they only scratch the surface of a much deeper, more transformative idea: Righteousness. This may feel like an irrelevant "churchy" word, but it is actually a key to unlocking the kind of thriving, abundant life we were all created for.

Righteousness is not simply a list of moral behaviors; it is the state of being in a right relationship with God, with other people, and with ourselves. This restored relationship, which is a gift from God, becomes the foundation for justice, which is the work of doing what is right for others. In short, we are Made Right (Righteousness) so that we may Do Right (Justice).

This concept is rooted in the Hebrew word for righteousness tzedakah. It includes ideas of fairness and charity, but its core meaning is relational. It describes fulfilling the obligations of a covenant, a sacred partnership. A righteous person was someone who was faithful to their commitments to God and their community. Similarly, the key Greek word in the New Testament is dikaiosune. In the ancient world, this word meant behaving in a way that was respectable, upright, and just. Early Christians used this word to mean being restored to a right relationship with God through Jesus.

This is where the idea of justification comes in. To be "justified" is to be made righteous. It’s a legal term that means to be declared “not guilty,” but its theological meaning is far richer. It’s about more than just a clean slate; it’s about being welcomed back into the family. A helpful way to remember it is that to be justified is to be treated by God "just as if" I had never sinned.

The crucial point is this: We are not made right so we can stay the same. The moment of justification— when we are put in a right relationship with God— is the starting point for a lifelong process of sanctification, of growing in justice and becoming more like Christ. God makes us right with him so that, empowered by his Spirit, we can begin the work of making things right in the world.