Approaching spirituality in Jonah
Chapter Two
Conversion and spirituality in Jonah and in biblical theology
Conversion in biblical theology and in Jonah
Just as what God has done in Jesus Christ is central to a biblical definition of mission, so too belief in that gospel is essential for human beings to be reconciled to God (Acts 4:12). The process by which sinners are made willing and able to receive the gospel is understandably complex given God’s central role in it, but our concentration on the book of Jonah allows us to focus on a few of its elements without denying their inseparability from others that for our purposes we can leave aside. All the same, the whole process that comes to fruit in an individual’s faith in God’s Word and repentance from sin, that is, in his or her conversion, should be in our minds as we prepare to look at the story of Jonah. A few prominent points in the OT’s presentations of conversion will help us to grasp the main issues.
Abram’s faith
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I will start with a rough definition of conversion and seek to add detail to it on the basis of Genesis 15. Biblical conversion, Finn (1997: 21, 23) reminds us, is ‘personal and ethical’, occurs at divine initiative, and is informed by the dual movements of ‘infidelity and reconciliation – turning away from God and turning back’. Longenecker similarly suggests that conversion is ‘a radical change of thought, outlook, commitments, and practice, which involves either an overt or a subconscious break with one’s past identity’.
Despite the presence of complicating factors such as the frequent ethnic definition of the people of God, the OT still emphasizes conversion as the primary element in one’s relationship with God. Probably the clearest example (though not without its own complexities) is the conversion of Abram, who was ‘justified’ in Genesis 15 as a result of his believing God. Abram had already exhibited significant faith in his response to God’s promise in Genesis 12 (cf. Heb. 11:8), but Paul’s argument in Romans 4 requires that Abram’s justification be connected with his believing reception of God’s promise that his descendants would be like the stars of heaven, a promise made some time later and recorded in Genesis 15. The faith to which Paul refers in Romans 4:11–12, 17–22 (esp. 4:18, which refers to Gen. 15:5) is that of Genesis 15, not Genesis 12, as the description of Abram’s faith as triumphing over his and Sarah’s physical inability to procreate shows (Rom. 4:19–21, with reference to Gen. 15:2–3).
In other words, Romans 4:10 locates the imputation of righteousness to Abram within the time frame of Genesis 15. Romans 4:5, moreover, demands that Abram be seen as ‘ungodly’ prior to his believing as described in Genesis 15. What then is going on in Genesis 12? In Genesis 12 Abram did indeed reckon God’s promise true, and consequently left behind Ur and all that had given his life stability; this is one of the kinds of faith or faithfulness that Hebrews 11 extols. In Genesis 15, however, we are presented with a new development: Abram’s trust in God’s ability to fulfil the promise despite otherwise insurmountable obstacles, especially the possibility of having a ‘seed’, which Genesis has already connected with the divine promise to restore fallen humanity’s relationship with God (Gen. 3:15; 4:25). Paul therefore summarizes the saving content of the promise in Romans 4:13 as being the ‘heir of the world’, drawing together the elements of land, seed and blessing that provide the contours of God’s commitment to reconcile the world to himself in Genesis. Paul carefully analyses the triumph of this faith over these obstacles in Romans 4:18–22 (Alexander 1993). We can therefore maintain our claim that Abram’s faith in God’s promises of salvation, and so his justification, can be tied down to the events of Genesis 15. This is hardly to say that none of those mentioned in Hebrews 11 had a faith that terminated in the saving promises of God and so saved them, but rather to say that not everyone in Hebrews 11 necessarily had that type of faith. The theme of Abraham’s faith continues from that point until it culminates in God’s oath to Abraham (Gen. 22:16–18), which echoes his promise in Genesis 12:1–3 and vindicates Abraham’s saving faith as shown in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac.
Abram’s repentance
With Abram’s faith came a change of his will that produced obedience. James’s comments on the link between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22 make this clear (Jas 2:14–24). James attacks the idea that faith and works can be separated (2:18a) by showing that Abraham was vindicated by his works (2:21); that is, his faith was shown to be the real faith that James argues is the only thing that merits the term. The act that more than any other vindicates Abraham is the offering of Isaac seven chapters after Abraham is justified forensically. On Mount Moriah Abraham’s faith was working together with his works, and it was ‘completed’ or ‘moved to maturity’ (teleioō) as a result of that obedience.
We should pause to consider how Abraham’s faith ‘vindicated’ him (Jas 2:21) when it came to full expression in the offering of Isaac (2:22). To avoid confusing Paul and James on justification (a word which they define differently), it is very important to note that James argues that in Genesis 15:6 God first ‘reckoned to’ Abraham righteousness, and that his justifying faith (which, to state the obvious, has already served to justify him) was later fulfilled by obedience. God explicitly says as much in Genesis 22:12 when he affirms that Abraham’s belief is now proven or made evident: ‘now I know that you revere God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me’. It is hard to imagine a closer connection between faith and its fruits that manages at the same time to preserve their distinctness.
Conversion elsewhere in the Old Testament
Abram’s conversion is almost paradigmatic in the OT, which itself speaks of conversion with a variety of terms and concepts (šûb [turn, return, repent] is only one). In a classic study of the topic authored a century ago, B. B. Warfield began by arguing that the devastating anthropological effects of sin are evident in all of humanity. Humanity’s nature post-Fall is such that ‘the only hope of an amendment of the life, lies accordingly in a change of heart; and this change of heart is the desire of God for his people (Deut. v. 29) and the passionate longing of the saints for themselves (Ps. li. 10)’ (Warfield 1911: 244). While recognizing the emphasis that the OT puts on forgiveness and other objective features, Warfield was equally insistent that the OT recognizes the need for, and reality of, internal renewal (again with reference to Ps. 51) (Warfield 1911: 245–246).
Covering much the same ground some fifty years later, John Murray also presumed the unity of both Testaments in diagnosing the basic human problem of sin and its remedy in divinely given renewal, seeing the OT as containing in ‘latent’ form what is ‘patent’ in the NT. He drew more attention, interestingly, to the OT’s prediction of eschatological spiritual renewal than to its historical texts that recount or inculcate it. The sole text in the former category is Deuteronomy 10:16, which itself is a command, not a record of obedience to it. Murray focused instead on Deuteronomy 30:6 (which foretells circumcision of the heart), Jeremiah 31:33, and cf. 24:7, 32:39 (which promise a new heart or the law written on it), and Ezekiel 36:25–27 (which foresees a new heart and the divine Spirit given). Murray concluded by recognizing the different redemptive-historical settings of the texts cited, and simultaneously contended that ‘the difference [between the OT and its fulfilment in the new covenant] is not absolute but relative’ and affirmed that ‘regenerating or forgiving grace’ existed in the OT (Murray 1977c: 173).
Approaching conversion in Jonah
This brief survey of a fraction of the OT data demonstrates some of the challenges facing those who attempt to deal with conversion in the OT, especially the danger of reading into the OT the concepts or clarity that NT conversion accounts or teaching regarding salvation typically possess. In particular, the role and presence of the Holy Spirit track very closely God’s accomplishment of redemption, and special care must be taken in articulating his role in a biblical theology of conversion. In addition to this and other redemptive-historical nuances, the book of Jonah is almost completely silent on the details of God’s involvement in the spiritual transformation of its various characters.
The human side of the reality, on the other hand, what we are calling ‘conversion’, is not invisible thanks to the accounts we have of the responses of the sailors and the Ninevites. It is largely on this basis that I will analyse the responses of these two groups to the proclamation of God’s character and will. In accord with the biblical witness, I will assume that divine agency precedes and underlies human responses to God (Rom. 5:6; 1 John 4:19). My working definition of conversion therefore presumes God’s transformation of the heart and includes initial faith in God’s self-revelation, an abandoning of other gods and an attachment to him alone, and a genuine repentance or turning from sin. It is distinct from (though inseparably connected to) the lifelong belief and progressive sanctification that follow it, something we will explore in the next section.
Spirituality in biblical theology and in Jonah
Belief of the gospel, whether in its elementary form prior to the incarnation or in its full glory from that point on, is not only central to conversion but inevitably produces a lifestyle characterized by increasing obedience to God’s will and conformity to his character. This new life is often termed (progressive) sanctification, but the term ‘spirituality’ has come increasingly into vogue as a way to speak of this process, however varied its other uses might be. To clear the field a bit, we can jettison all forms of secular spirituality (even if clothed in biblical language), understood here as practices that ‘are concerned to pursue and protect a process of self-discovery and self-realization in some fashion, and are anthropocentric in a way that Christians must categorize as idolatrous’. One way to avoid such errors is to ensure that the Christian life has ‘a theocentric rather than an anthropocentric focus and a passion for the hallowing and glorifying of God’s name as the constant driving force’ (Packer 1994: 2). A definition of spirituality along these lines will thus take God’s character and will as the uniquely normative pattern for spiritual formation, and his glory as its deepest motive.
What might a biblical definition of spirituality look like in the light of the amazing variety of spiritual experience that comes to expression in God-revering biblical characters? We must again approach such questions while trying to keep the full span of biblical material in mind so that we can recognize both its unity and diversity. My goal is not to present a systematic treatment of spirituality, but simply to sketch its main lines in sufficient detail to be able to grasp what is presented in Jonah and to make sense of it as Christians.
The possibility of a unified biblical spirituality
The relationship between God and a renewed human being as presented by the Bible includes a number of elements that, though described various ways in the OT and NT, are all facets of one essential reality. The unchanging human problem from Genesis 3 onward has been our estrangement from God due to sin, including an inability to obey him and a disinclination to reconciliation with him as our sovereign creator. The human predicament stems from God’s just commitment to punish such sin. God’s gracious work of redemption and renewal thus focuses on this double problem; and the unchangeableness of the divine character, God’s holiness in particular, means that the redeemed in either Testament relate to God on the basis of a common renewed relationship. At the same time, because redemption is accomplished and applied over time, we can speak of significant development within that renewed relationship.
The goal of God’s plan of salvation has its origin prior to the Fall, in God’s creation of the first human couple. Adam and Eve were created in God’s image to serve as his vice-regents, representing him and enacting his will on earth. Further, as the Lord’s testing of them in the Garden shows, they were to conform themselves to his will by obeying him. Had things gone well, so to speak, Adam and Eve would have demonstrated their submission and fidelity to God and come to enjoy, without the need for redemption, the rest that God held out to them in the seventh day. Alas, this was not to be (at least, not via the first Adam), and so apart from God’s merciful intervention humanity remains exposed to the condemnation that God justly pronounces on sinners. It is precisely at this darkest point that the light of the gospel appears in all its splendour: ‘while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly’ (Rom. 5:6). The outcome of this ‘joyful exchange’ is that those who receive him become conformed to his image (Rom. 8:29), reversing the effects of the Fall and finally attaining the destiny intended for humanity from the beginning.
Biblical patterns of spirituality
As noted above, our understanding of spirituality presumes that it describes the whole spiritual life of a human being whom God has already renewed; this is an absolute prerequisite (Prov. 15:8, 29; John 3:3, 5, 8; Rom. 8:7–8). But spiritual renewal did not become possible only after the central acts of redemption in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, since OT believers were also on the ‘path’ (a favourite OT metaphor for sanctification) toward conformity to God’s character and will (Lev. 11:44–45; 19:2; Pss 111 and 112 taken together). And because of the Spirit’s necessary involvement in renewing the individual sinner, his activity is a plausible working hypothesis for exploring the source of sanctification in the OT, including the book of Jonah.
While the Bible traces the results of conversion in various ways (e.g. the fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5; the virtue lists that occur at various places in the NT; love of God and neighbour in both Testaments), not all of these are equally useful for approaching a brief narrative like Jonah. The pattern we choose must be capable of being adapted to the material that appears in the book itself, and must not be so indebted to aspects of sanctification that are unique to the NT (e.g. union with Christ; fellowship with the three Persons of the Godhead as such) that it becomes impossible to use in the OT.
Approaching spirituality in Jonah
Of the several patterns that fit this bill, one that is particularly useful by virtue of its adaptability to different redemptive-historical settings is character ethics, which summarizes human behaviour in terms of an individual’s virtues, perceptions and intentions. Each of these categories can be defined in terms of the book of Jonah itself, thus allowing us to situate our understanding of spirituality there in the flow of God’s progressive revelation. Character ethics must also be closely and inseparably connected with imitation of God’s perfect character. This literally divine pattern for sanctification was in place at Israel’s beginning (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8) and remained prominent in the later prophets (Jer. 9:24; 22:3; Hos. 4:1) and other writings (e.g. the mirror images in Pss 111; 112). We will also note the overlapping concept of fearing God, which appears in Jonah 1 and is a very comprehensive biblical idea that expresses ‘a living relationship of obedience and trust [in God]’. Finally, because biblical spirituality grows out of one’s conversion to the true God, the categories of faith and repentance used above to describe conversion will also help structure our description of spirituality in Jonah.
The dynamics of redemptive history will nonetheless complicate our discussion of spirituality in Jonah. For one thing, spirituality in the book of Jonah is almost exclusively restricted to individual human beings’ relationships with the God who created them and from whom they have estranged themselves, so a prominent component of OT and NT spirituality, namely its corporate dimension, does not appear in the book apart from a few oblique aspects. Furthermore, being written before the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, the object of genuine faith in Jonah will be correspondingly less evident, as we have seen in Abraham’s case. However, the relationships between the sailors and God on the one hand (based on complete trust and surrender, and followed by holistic obedience) and between Jonah and Yahweh on the other (almost precisely the opposite) show that a saving, transforming belief in and knowledge of the God of Israel was a reality prior to the NT. Whether the same can be said of the relationship between God and the Ninevites remains to be seen.