St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 3 | June 2013

The Mission of Advocacy

A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION1
The Rev Dr J Bryson Arthur2

The Question:
Do we, Mission partners, who work in the Middle East Arab world have a role in advocating for the Church and God's people in the pressure and challenges they face with increasingly Islamised gov3 ernments? Our first thought is to understand the essence of this question of advocacy. Are we concerned with justice? If so our advocacy is essentially righteous anger; be angry but do not sin.4 However, in terms of our own person, we might argue that we are visitors in a foreign land. We are not citizens of this land and so we have no legal right to be angry. Further, those who are not citizens have no issue of justice when expelled. We have no ground for a polemic against the government. Indeed, in the foreign land we must also obey the civil authorities who are over us.5 That said, our issue is that of advocating for the Church. The members of the indigenous Church are citizens of the nation. They have civil rights, however defined. It would appear that for the Church it is a matter of Justice. The Church ought to be angry at injustice against its members and itself as an assembly of its members. Our question, however, concerns Mission Partners working

1 This article is a theological meditation only and not a technical paper involving research. It may serve as a prolegomena for the subject.

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3

The author works in theological education in the Middle East

The question was posed by Dr. Cathy Hine.

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Eph 4:26 Rom 13:1f

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within and for the Church. Do we have a role in advocating for the persecuted Church? If to advocate is to speak, plead, or argue in favour of, then ought mission partners to speak, plead and argue in favour of the indigenous Church?

1. We are not Foreigners in the Church but Citizens

We can argue that whilst we are foreigners in our country of service we are not foreigners in the universal Church. Indeed, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God whatever country we minister in. We find ourselves then in a dualistic situation. Insofar as we are in a foreign country we have no right of advocacy. Insofar as we are members of a local church, part of the universal Church, we do have the right of advocacy. The questions then are: to whom does this advocacy of Church members apply and how does it apply? I think the answers are: it applies within the parameters and membership of the Church as well as through it. The indigenous Church - the local churches which together make up the indigenous or national Church - has both the right to speak up against injustice and to plead the case of the victim in their own country. More than that, it is their Christian duty to do so. The Church must be the salt and the light. Being the light it must have a prophetic voice to the nation. As mission partners in cross cultural mission, serving the national Church may well be the prophetic voice. But they speak under the authority and with the approval of the local church they serve. In turn, as members of the local church they are entitled to the solidarity and the protection of the church insofar as the church has valid civil rights. This much appears to be clear but the concept and reality of advocacy reaches further.

2. The Advocacy of Jesus

1 John 2:1&2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John is writing to Christians, but we read in this text that Jesus died as a universal atonement for the sins of all men and women. In
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theology this is a much debated point6 but we must take these words not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world with great gravity. If Jesus is the advocate with the Father for Christians who are regenerate, yet He died for the sins of the whole world, then there is a real connection between those who have been reborn in Christ and those who dont accept Christ but, potentially at least, have their sins atoned for. The connection must be the truth which is the light. And the truth requires that those who are in the light must speak out to those who are not. This is the prophetic voice. Now a prophet has no honour in his own country and so the case for a prophetic voice from foreign shores is, I believe, well made. Jesus came from heaven to the far country.7 He came to do the Trinitarian will stated by Jesus as the will of His Father. His business was His Fathers business and not the business of the king of the Jews. He performed miracles mostly of healing. He taught, He atoned through His passion and death, and He revealed God. Jesus last words from the Cross were, It is finished.8 My question is: what is finished for Jesus? I think the answer is: His passion up to and including His death on the Cross. The atoning work was finished, but the work of advocacy began, and to this work there is no end. The work of advocacy is to eternally present the passion and the atonement to the Trinity. Our text states that Jesus is our advocate with the Father. This advocacy is the embodiment of Gods saving act for mankind. Not only is redeemed human nature taken up into the Trinity in a human body, but there is now the act of infinite advocacy taking place. In this infinite activity, the dynamic of being infinitely begotten takes on the character of infinite advocacy. This is the great cost of the incarnation and it is the revelation of infinite grace. We can say now that advocacy is a dynamic which takes place within the Trinity. It takes place in the Being of God Himself. And so it sums up our identity as new creatures born of the Spirit and finally raised physi-

6 7 8

The doctrine of universal atonement vs particular or limited atonement Echoing Karl Barth Jn 19:30
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cally from the dead. Advocacy is the new ontological quality of the redeemed. It is the character of our being. If we are asked in heaven, Who are you? we cannot say with God, I am that I am, but our first answer is, We are those of the Spirit who have an advocate with the Father. We are the people of the advocacy of the Son. This is Gods answer to the prayer of the publican, who is every man and woman, Lord have mercy on me a sinner.9 Advocacy is the infinite and eternal meaning of soteriology. The eternal presentation of the atonement is a Trinitarian dynamic. That which happened in time becomes eternal in advocacy. They are the holes in hands and feet which we ourselves will behold. These symbols of advocacy, more than bread and wine, will themselves signal the depths of our new eternal being. We have in advocacy the continuing revelation of the love of God and so of the essence of Grace. Properly speaking we live in this advocacy as born of the Spirit and citizens of heaven. We are those who both enter and see the kingdom of God.10 This advocacy is our power to be. It is the greatest depth and height of the expression of the gospel. It is the eternal and infinite product from an apparently finite heilsgeschichte - history of salvation- concluding with the atonement.

3. The Advocacy of Abraham

The forefather, we might say, of Judaism, Christianity and Islam was Abraham. Abraham, called by God, left his own country of citizenship and took on the role of a foreigner in a foreign land. God covenants with Abraham, known in theology as the Old Covenant, and so Abraham is specially chosen. We might say he is an early type of Christ. In Gen 18:20-33 we see the advocacy of Abraham with God in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham was acceptable as an advocate with God because he was chosen by God to teach his children to do right (Old covenant). Abraham was the prophet of the promise. He would become a great nation which will bless all nations on earth.

Lk 18:13 Jn 3
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Gen 18: 17-19

17 Then

the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.

Abraham had special status. He believed against belief and it was counted to him as righteousness. And so he had access to God and was able to plead for the deliverance of Sodom and Gomorrah which God was about to destroy. The peoples of Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with corruption, perversion, almost total sin and evil. Sodom and Gomorrah had become the embodiment of sin. This advocacy failed but it is a revelation to us of the advocacy which did not fail. Similarly, there is the obedience of Abraham to Gods command to sacrifice Isaac. The sacrifice was not required beyond the test of faith, but it was a revelation of the sacrifice which was to come and which was required. Abraham is taken to be the Father of the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. All three religions believe that there is One God and the One God is the maker of heaven and the earth. This One God is the Lord who has absolute and universal authority over all nations.11 Then, in the name of God, all believers in Him in some sense have universal rights; certainly the right of Prophecy, the right of love, the right of justice and the right of life. They also, I contend, have the right of advocacy: advocacy with God and advocacy with the kings and governments of nations. Abraham plead for the salvation of sinful cities, who worshiped false gods We are reminded with Abraham that our essential advocacy as Christian mission partners is with God. And we have posed that the dynamic of ultimate advocacy takes place within the Trinity. As Abraham had done for Sodom and Gomorrah the Son does for the world. As God Himself pleads the case of sinners in the world with Himself, we also should plead the case within the loving Christian community. Yet the missio dei is to communicate the gospel to the

11

Cp. Ps 2
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world and so we are the worlds advocates. Our advocacy is in the world, with the Trinity for the world, and apologetically with the world itself. Advocacy with Islam or with Islamic authorities who control governments through an apologetic is a powerful way to reach out to the people of Islam. Such is or could be a key approach and means of mission.

4. Another Advocate
It should not seem a curious thing, although it is mysterious, that Jesus appears to pass His advocacy on to the Holy Spirit. On His ascension Jesus enters into full advocacy with the Father Yet He sends the Advocate (Gk Paracleteos) to be manifest with and among us that we would not suffer as orphans. The use of the term advocate appears four times in the gospel of John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7 Jn 14:16
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever

The words another advocate mean that advocacy is not Christs alone. With the concept of the paracletos we have the sense of help and comfort. This Trinitarian advocacy, as our new right to be, is our great comfort and help. This helper and comforter of eternal advocacy is our mission joy. It is the message of our mission and itself our raison detre and our power to be. This power is upheld for us in the wonderful Person of God the Holy Spirit. John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 15:26
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Fatherthe Spirit of truth who goes out from the Fatherhe will testify about me.

This other Advocate will lead us, teach us, and remind us of eveSt Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 8

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rything which Jesus has said. This remembrance is anamnesis12 which is to recall and relive in our own being everything which Jesus said. Everything which Jesus said is truth and light which sets sinners free. The Holy Spirit through and in believers, and especially mission partners, is the one testifying about Jesus: His absolute veracity, integrity, adequacy and profound compassion. I have to say again now, true mission is advocacy. True mission connects the testimony of the Holy Spirit with all unbelievers in Christ as God.

5. Advocacy as Grace
In both the advocacy of Jesus and the advocacy of Abraham we see grace. In Abrahams pleading with God for the deliverance of great sinners from the judgment and condemnation of God, and the infinitely higher passion and death of Jesus which is the font of all advocacy with God, we see the revelation of grace, infinite and eternal, for all of mankind. We are proposing then that advocacy is itself grace. That is its nature. We want to say here that the missio dei can wholistically be stated as the dispensing of grace. The gospel is the communication of the grace of God in the means and plan of redemption for mankind. Insofar as we consider the eternal aspect we are concerned with advocacy. I want to define advocacy more fully as the eternal presence of the atonement in the Trinitarian Council. It is what counts for us eternally. This presence is in the human embodiment, the eternal corporeality of Christ. Thus, because God first loved us and forgave us our sins unconditionally, we must love and forgive others unconditionally. Similarly He is Himself, in Christ, our advocate and so we must be the unconditional advocate of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are the Church. This must include advocacy with God, with ourselves and with the worldly authorities. Going further, our God given right of advocacy as a universal priesthood must extend to the poor in spirit, to the marginalized and helpless, to those who are hungry and

12 Greek for remembrance but remembrance in the Platonic sense of recalling into our own being that which we already know. This is also the function of the Lords supper.

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thirsty, to those who need clothes to wear and a place to lay their head: in short, to our neighbours, those with whom we share life space; those we come upon in our daily lives.13 I am saying then, explicitly, that mission, in its most mature form, is advocacy: advocacy with worldly authorities, governments and kings, on behalf of the brethren arising from our advocacy with God, on the ground of Christs eternal advocacy. Advocacy is love in action and its costs may include physical death.14

6. Association with Christ; the crime we commit against Islam

The problem with the Church in non Christian nations is that its association with Christ attacks the myth of other religions. It points, in the name of Christ as God, to the corruption of religious authorities and to the corruption of governments influenced by them. Those who are associated with Christ are the living antithesis of other religions and ideologies. Those who shout God has no Son fly in the face of this antithesis. In other words, Christianity, truly lived and proclaimed by Christians renders religious authorities of other religions invalid and inauthentic. We are now at the root of the persecution of Christians. Quoting at length from my Paper on Persecution concerning Association with Christ
Jesus predicted that the disciples would suffer persecution. And in this period, the least association with Jesus brought persecution. Persecution was a direct result of association. Peter and John were speaking in the Temple very definitely in the name of Jesus (Acts 3). To speak and teach in Jesus name had the effect of not only undermining the policy and teaching of the religious authorities but rendering them impotent (and of course corrupt). As they spoke they were approached by the priests and captain of the temple and the Sadducees (Acts 4). This teaching was causing annoyance and so they were arrested. The teaching was preceded by the healing of a lame man and possibly because of the healing about 5000 persons believed the teaching. Further, they gave their as-

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Cp the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It has for countless mission workers in the past.
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sent to the Apostles which the authorities were aware of. This occasion brought together the high priest Annas, Caiaphas, John and Alexander and all of the high priestly family. Peter and John were questioned by this court and the question in Acts 4:7 By what power or by what name did you do this? is very salient. The answer of course was Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the addition whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead (Acts 9:10ff). This confession of Christ, which was made in the power of the Holy Spirit was clearly an attack on the high Priestly family and it was extremely courageous. It was a strong proclamation of the truth made in the lions den as it were. However, the results of the miracle and the teaching about Jesus were too great for the high priest to act against them and they were released with the key command not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. If they ceased speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus, therefore, no persecution would follow. The implication is clear; deny Christ and you will be safe. These are the simple parameters of the persecution of the Apostles and early disciples. Associate with Christ and you will be fiercely persecuted. Deny Christ and you will 15 not.

To the Jews, Christ is a total anathema, but to the Muslims he is a prophet. Indeed, to be associated with the Jesus of Islam is a virtue but to be associated with Jesus as the Son of God, Himself God, and the second Person of the Trinity is blasphemy. To Muslims Mohammed is not God and neither is Jesus. The problem is that the Church proclaims Jesus as God. The Church is associated with and teaches that Jesus is God. This is not the problem for the Church however, before God, as this association in all of its fullness and veracity is the very integrity of the Church. Persecution is normal for a living Church and particularly persecution from its antithetical adversary. If Christianity is true then Islam is false. This is of course, as we have already alluded, a life or death reality.

15 My article which was one of three articles written for an Interserve conference in Australia, entitled Out on a Limb, was also delivered in an IS Scottish conference. Published in Marys Well occasional papers - Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary.

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7. The Case of Overseas Mission Partners

Let us return now to the question with which we began. We have argued that mission partners coming from other countries and cultures, even as foreigners, have the right before God and even the reasonable duty to be advocates for the Christian body whom they serve and with whom they are partnered. The issue now is that of being as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.16 The major fear is that of being expelled from the country. To be an advocate may mean to lose ones visa. I have already posed that to engage in an apologetic defence of the Christian faith and the Church is entirely appropriate. Such an apologetic, in terms of Islam, would lay the way open for discussion and even peace between the Church and the Mosque. The reality of the continuing existence of the Church cannot be denied nor can it be stopped. It has to live alongside the Mosque so to speak, and so it makes sense to seek a way of peace between us. There is no such thing as a pure ethnicity, neither national nor religious. Moves to ethnic purity just dont work. Hitler tried to purify the mythical superior ethnicity of the master Arian race with disastrous consequences for Germany and the world. It should be apparent to Islamic countries that they cannot have a pure theocracy. Also like it or not they have to deal with the West. Western technology and mass media are increasingly a reality. The part Facebook had to play in the Arab Spring is a poignant example of this force. Every nation, of any magnitude, is again, like it or not, a member of the global village. My question is now, what can we give back to Islam which we now hold? This is a shocking question for evangelicals. But strangely enough, it is Biblical. Consider the parable of the shrewd manager: Mat 16:1-9
Jesus told his disciples: There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer. 3 The manager said to himself, What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. Im not strong enough to dig, and Im ashamed to beg 4 I know what Ill do so

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Mat 10: 16
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that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. 5 So he called in each one of his masters debtors. He asked the first, How much do you owe my master?6 Nine hundred gallons of olive oil, he replied. The manager told him, Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.7 Then he asked the second, And how much do you owe? A thousand bushels[b] of wheat, he replied. He told him, Take your bill and make it eight hundred.8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

This parable is about being as wise as a serpent. We see here a tale of shrewdness. The failing manager gave back a high percent to the debtors, and he was commended. Indeed it is at least implicit that this manager retained his position. He also rose up in standing with his masters debtors. My question remains what can missionaries give back to Islam?

8. What can we give back to Islam?

Association with Christ must be explicit and we must not keep the Holy Spirit of God hidden. How dare we, for diplomatic expediency, seek to hide God. We see from the above that Peter and John were explicit in the lions den. They even condemned the religious leaders of the Jews. They did this shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus and so they were in mortal danger. But they did not seek to restrain the Spirit of truth. We are not talking of compromise here. We are talking about the love of our neighbour! David fought Goliath and later wrote the words though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil17 Mission partners are not called to slay Goliath but to reason with him and win him for Christ. We can agree where the teaching of Islam (our modern Goliath) does not offend the gospel. The question for us is where is Islam teaching truth? What part or aspect of their teaching could we assent to as true? It will not help us to demonise them as if they have no truth and their motives are absolutely evil all

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Ps 23:4a
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of the time. We can ask them for the terms of a discussion between us. Where can we reduce our force of opposition against them? The real question is, how can we connect the Spirit of truth to them, in order that they can chose to accept or reject? There were two thieves on a cross, one on each side of Jesus, both alien, yet one accepted Christ as the Son of God and one rejected him. Not all thieves reject Christ. The beginnings of a new apologetic to Islam with respect to its relationship with, and view of the Church, sounds a tall order for missionaries who are perhaps minimally trained in theology. But this must be an apologetic of the Spirit. The Spirit will lead us in all truth.

9. Finally
True Christians18 are those who now live in the advocacy of Christ and His Spirit. The incarnation and the cross were both historical occasions which have happened. The birth of Jesus, His life on earth, His death, resurrection and ascension were the joining of heilsgeschichte with world history. These historical events changed the world. But the events of incarnation to ascension happened in the history of the world once and for all. They happened in Time; even time with a capital T and, as with all time, this time too has passed. Our task now, which we do at the Lords table, is to remember that history. The effect of this history, however, is eternal in the Being of God Himself. In the Trinitarian presence there is no remembrance; rather there is advocacy. Advocacy is the means of Gods remembrance as the Lords Supper is the means of the remembrance (anamnesis) of the Church. Our peace arising from our eternal security, bought by the shed blood and broken body of Christ in history, is sure and certain in and through his eternal advocacy with the Father. The Holy Spirit of God is the heavenly access for, and the applier of, this advocacy for the citizens of heaven who are still on earth.

18 Those born of the Spirit of God, who have entry to the kingdom of god and who can see it.

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