Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jonathon Neumann
BITH 374
5 May 2015
We are called as heirs to inherit the sufferings of Jesus Canon Andrew White
If the eternal character and being of the Triune God was expressed and revealed through
the cruciform love of the Sons incarnate life, death, and resurrection, then God must be a loving,
faithful, and self-giving Being of paradoxical wisdom and power, and if we as the Church are
called to imitate Christ and his sufferings, we collectively and individually live in love, faith and
hope in this revealed God and through what he has done for us.
This investigation is guided by the exegesis of the book Cruciformity: Pauls Narrative
Spirituality of the Cross written by Dr. Michael J. Gorman. In his exploration, Gorman supports
the possibility that Pauls spirituality and ministry have a focal point on the crucifixion of Jesus:
[Pauls] conformity [to the crucified Christ] is a dynamic correspondence in daily life to the
strange story of Christ crucified as the primary way of experiencing the love and grace of God
(Gorman 5). Through his study of Pauls epistles, Gorman uses his word cruciformity to
describe the resurrected Son of God we believe in, and worship, and seek to mimic.
Cruciform God
Gorman encourages the reader to see that throughout the epistles and gospels (i.e. John
3:16, Galatians 4:4; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 1:24, 2:2; and 2 Corinthians 5:19) the spiritual
focus and hermeneutical lens is on the cruciform God (Gorman 17) because we can know
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him no other way: Gods love is known in Christs love, specifically in Christs act of love in
Gorman believes that Gods love is ultimately displayed in the crucified Son, and he
concludes that love is the dynamic, creative endeavor of finding ways to pursue the welfare of
others rather than ones own interests (Gorman 160). Though God is not contained by this
definition, it is clear that the Son obeys the will of the Father through active love for God and us,
who were once his enemies who he has now redeemed by his blood (Ephesians 2:12-14).
Referencing the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11, Gorman argues that Christs cruciform love came at
a cost; it was a voluntary, self-rejecting, and self-humbling act of faithful obedience to the will
of the Father (Gorman 167). He sees the miracle of Jesus incarnation as well as his resurrection
In addition, Gorman explores a pattern in the epistles of cruciform love that the Father
and Spirit, though they were not crucified, have for us, and his investigation reveals things I have
not considered about the nature of the Trinity. The Father has cruciform love because he wills to
give his only begotten Son for us and accept us as his children at a great cost (Gorman 73), and
the Holy Spirit that lives within us is faithful to encourage Christians such as Paul to follow the
cruciform love of Christ: the past work of Gods Son, embodied on the cross, has become
the present work of the Spirit of Gods Son, embodied in the believer and in the community
(Gorman 58).
An intricate piece of this love is the mutual faithfulness of God. Christ faithfully and
obediently fulfilled the Fathers will to pour out himself for sinners (Galatians 1:4, Philippians
3:9). Jesus suffering life and death and powerful resurrection exemplify his faithfulness to the
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Father and Spirit as well as his self-denying faithfulness for us. Additionally throughout the
gospels the Holy Spirit is faithful to the Son in his birth (Matthew 1:18-20), baptism (Matthew
3:15-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-23, and John 1:31-33), temptation (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark
1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13), ministry (Luke 4:14,18), joy (Luke 10:24), and power (Matthew
12:28). Through Christs death and resurrection, the Spirit is faithful to us as our Advocate
who lives in us (John 14:26 NRSV), and the Father is faithful to we who are his children
(Romans 8).
The cross does not leave God powerless; in fact, though Jesus lived a cruciform life of
humiliation, self-denial, and suffering, Gorman believes Gods power and wisdom are found in
the weakness and folly of the cross (Gorman 16). He approaches Pauls letters to the
Corinthians for support. Throughout these two letters Paul emphasizes the power and wisdom of
the cross even though it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (1
Corinthians 1:23 NRSV). Such a paradox is exactly what is most powerful about Christ on the
cross: he turns the role and influence of power into a role of a willing servant. Gorman writes
that God is powerful enough to change the definition of what political power is: power-in-
weakness (Gorman 278). At the same time, Paul writes that the power of God is found in the
resurrection (1 Corinthians 6:14, 2 Corinthians 4:4a). Nevertheless Gorman regards the power of
the resurrection through what Christ did on the cross: The life-giving power of God is most
fully experienced by Paul in the cross of Christ and in the life of cruciform power that shares in
The Spirit also has power in weakness as he puts this power into believers such as Paul
who argues: whenever I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10 NRSV). The Holy
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Spirit brings power to the powerless and transforms the powerful into humble, self-giving,
children of the Father who seek to imitate the victorious Christ. The Spirit kills the desires of the
Jesus of Nazareth lived a life different than any other human before or after him: he lived
a life of true cruciformity. Jesus lived a story about who the infinitely qualitatively distinct God
is, and his story brings love, faith, power, and wisdom to the world. Gorman believes that the
cross is how we should understand the character of the Trinity. Using Pauls writings and
experiences he believes that the model of Christs life was the cross, and the transformation of
the Spirit enables believers to imitate Christ personally and communally in order to live a free
If God revealed not only who he truly is in the divine man Jesus of Nazareth but also
what humanity is meant to be, than humanity is meant to follow this cruciform life of Jesus, and
this involves imitating him through the power of the Holy Spirit with the instruction of Scripture
and the support of the historical, global, and communal Church. This cruciform life is a
As Gorman reads Pauls writings, he believes that the Spirit transforms Christians into
living stories of Christs cruciform love. Examining the human side of Christs obedience as an
important piece of the story, Gorman exegetes Philippians 2 often where Christ does not seek his
own interests but embodies a life that seeks the good of others. Paul admonishes believers to
together follow Christs example: make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the
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same love, being in full accord and of one mindLet the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus (Philippians 2:2, 5 NRSV). Paul himself throughout the epistles in places such as
Philemon follows the pattern of Christs cruciformity: Love does not make use of rightsbut
willingly forgoes their use for the welfareof others (Gorman 233). Gorman argues that Paul
with his apostolic authority could command Philemon to accept his runaway slave Onesimus as a
friend but instead Paul desires Philemon to welcome back Onesimus in love (Gorman 196-197).
The letter to Philemon follows the model of Philippians 2:6-8 as it includes both Pauls imitation
of Christ as well as his belief that the Church should too because he hopes Philemon will freely
renounce his rights and seek the good of Onesimus. Additionally, Gorman believes that Pauls
own life of cruciform adaptability (Gorman 188) consists of molding himself into his
it requires embodiment of servitude in order to win more of them (1 Corinthians 9:19). This is
who we are called to imitate (1 Corinthians 11:1): a man who continually renounced his rights
and privileges and instead chose the option of weakness (as his culture saw it) and love as the
We do not naturally embody cruciform love because of our fallen nature, and in order to
we must kill our sinful desires and be raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit in order to
truly live (Romans 8:13). Cruciform life is about rejecting our own interests and letting the Spirit
use us to love others with cruciform love. We must know God and commune with him daily and
ask him to help us in our journey for this transformation through the Spirit to really happen, and
Gorman reminds his readers that this involves discipline and concrete practice because it is
easy for this to simply be words without action (Gorman 391). This practice is not something
simple but can be explored in what it means in the context of, for example, the use of spiritual
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gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 or hospitality in Romans 12. This place of cruciform action is where the
community comes in because the individual Christian life is impossible and a lie.
Gorman claims that the Church lives Spirit filled lives of ongoing death as people live
lives of joy in the midst of suffering; the Church lives in this communal faith and hope cemented
in what was done in the past on the cross, was is going on now through the cruciform Spirit, and
what will happen in the future when Christ returns. (Gorman 320). Gorman reasons that we
together live this life as we echo Pauls bold statement in Philippians 3:10 (NRSV): I want to
know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings becoming like
him in his death. Paul also deliberately instructs believers: rejoice in hope, be patient in
suffering, persevere in prayerBless those who persecute youRejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep (Romans 12:14a, 15 NRSV). Therefore, embodying cruciform love
involves joyful communal hope and faith in the midst of suffering. Gorman himself admits:
Cruciform loveis difficult to embody alone (Gorman 391), but this beautiful command to
weep with the sorrowful and to rejoice with the overjoyed is simple enough for me to remember
in my ministry.
Christs faith and hope are why we explore this dark world with the light of God as we
walk without despairing; we carry hope in Gods promises as we identify with the suffering
people and groaning creation around us, and our cruciform faith is a present daily communal
experience (Gorman 338). As we are called to live this life of pain, we are more than
conquerors through him who love us according to Paul (Romans 8:38 NRSV). Truly, I need to
have others support me if I am able to love even my enemies, and I find that something
Christians tend to forget as we work so hard to help others is that humility is also about letting
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others help us. Others can weep with us when we need to weep. I sometimes weep because I long
to be in heaven with my Father and I also weep because I long for others to see how good the
Lord is.
I trust in the Lord with cruciform faith and have cruciform hope that makes me a fool to
the world just as Christs powerful wisdom was foolishness to the world. It is communal
cruciform faith that we have because we believe in something unseen, something mysterious that
we cannot comprehend, yet when I examine the cruciform life of Jesus Christ I see that in the
midst of all this confusion and emptiness that God, who created us, actually identifies and meets
us where we are in powerful cruciform love. Life is not possible and suffering is pointless if God
is not the God who reveals himself on the cross, and we cannot live if we do not imitate him.
Gormans Exegesis
Gormans exegesis presents a compelling and true argument that cruciformity is the
center of the Christian life. It is a suffering and self-renouncing life that Paul about writes in 2
Corinthians 4:8-12 (NRSV): We arealways carrying the body the death of Jesus, so that the
life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. Gorman believes that Paul, who was
because he believes this present time is fleeting and the resurrection and the life is his hope
(Gorman 343). At the same time, Christians must remember suffering is [not] inherently good,
butit can be a means of good to another because imposing cruciformity on someone else is
like pointing out the speck in his or her eye when we have a log in ours (Gorman 378). Christians
did not read about allowing others to care for us or allowing us to care for ourselves (Gorman
349). Part of the freedom that Christ has given us is these two virtues, and Wheaton College
students easily burn themselves out doing the work they must do without letting others minister
to them. To be clearer, I think that cruciformity is not only about rejecting my own interests but
also allowing others to bear my burdens and help me. It is true that Gorman does address the
truth that we are freed from violence that enslaves us because God does not desire people to
endure violence that they can escape such as domestic violence (Gorman 378) but I am not sure
if this enough. Gorman does deny individualism but he does not dig deep enough into what
mutual concern means (Gorman 362). We need to be present and rest in the presence of God as
Jesus said: The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath
Besides this small problem in Gormans exegesis I find his theological exploration of
Christ crucified as the primary way of experiencing the love and grace of God comforting
(Gorman 5). Gorman tells us to cast away our false images of God and to imagine the powerful
God who, though infinitely qualitatively distinct, decides to identify with us and gives us the
privilege of carrying out his narrative to the world. This is not an easy task but with the
faithfulness and love of God that we see in his work on the cross we need not fear his lack of
Works Cited
Gorman, Michael J. Cruciformity: Paul's Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI: