ArcanumIt was in Huntemann's book that I first heard the word, "arcanum." Arcanum is "the secret place." It is that place where the uninitiated are not allowed and in some cases, are even ignorant of its existence. For the church, the arcanum is that place where the world is not welcome. It is a private place where devotion to the apostles' teaching and bread-breaking and prayer take place free from the World's scrutiny. Quiet. Peaceful. Secret. Holy. Arcanum.
In today's world the worship center has "Visitors Welcome" posted above the door and the concept of the arcanum is foreign to us. There are few "secret" places. There are few arenas or realms in church life where the visitor is not welcome. Most are public, open and certainly "an opportunity for evangelism."
As Nehemiah begins his reforms, the first priority was "ethnic cleansing." This cleansing was not just the removal of different races and nations, but separation from cultures and religions and ideologies. Nehemiah was removing external influence and distraction. He was creating an environment for confession and repentance and support and devotion and prayer and unhindered reflection on the Law. The arcanum was a place where trust was established and maintained. Where confession was promoted, expected and done. But it didn't happen while the world looked on with knitted brows and crossed arms. Nehemiah separated himself from the world. Even if only for a day or two.
The expectation of confession can hardly be maintained on "Bring a Friend Sunday." And the implications of tough apostolic teaching need to be worked through sometimes just with friends and brothers. Intimacy is best in private. So is confrontation. And from my point of view...so is repentance.*
Marriage
Wanna let your daughter mess around with a worldly Beau? Or your son date a slut? I have a while before this test comes to my house, but after reading Nehemiah, if my son wanted to get busy with Suzy Q Whore, I might just have to take him down and grab a handful of hair and make him swear an oath. If that doesn't work, maybe the girl will leave him since he'd have those numerous bald spots.
Promoting Purity
Its hard to keep the Sabbath, when you have salesmen right outside the gate. "Fish! Bread! Vegetables! Fruit! 25% off....Today!" Nehemiah did what was needed: he removed temptation. We learn from Joseph and Jesus and Nehemiah and others that sometimes purity takes place only when the temptation is removed. Sometimes we face the temptation and other times we pray "lead us not into temptation" - meaning "I don't want to face temptation." It is right and good to remove things, situations, people - any sources of temptation - if that is what is necessary for purity. So Nehemiah did not just call people to repentance, but he did everything in his power to make repentance possible.
Boasting
More than once, Nehemiah prayed and said, "God, remember me and this good thing I did." Part of me cringes at the very idea of saying to the Creator, "Hey! Look at what I did and remember it" but Nehemiah felt comfortable. Who knows whether we'll be rewarded for each good thing we do but...I suspect so. At any rate, it is impossible to conceive of Nehemiah believing that his good things outweighed his bad or that he saw them as part and parcel to his justification before God. But maybe he just set his heart to one thing: not boasting.
When we do something good for another person or maybe we even accomplish the amazing, our first fleshly tendency is to report it to the first person who will listen. So maybe Nehemiah thought, "If I am going to keep from boasting before men, then maybe I need to point out my good things to God."
To keep from complaining before men, I'll make my needs known to God.
To keep from boasting before men, I'll make my deeds known to God.
Just some thoughts.
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* I believe repentance is a public posture. Repentance only done while in private might not even be repentance. However, many of the events leading to repentance and the commitment and initialization of repentance need not be the world's business. In fact, it is none of their business.
7 comments:
Why, that one feller's plumb got "Lesser Quotes" a'comin' out his nostril. Needs 'im one o' them ex-treme makeovers.
Some good thoughts though. i'm partway through a post on separating from sin m'self, except i'm basically for getting rid of it by justifying it all, and generally advocate taking foreign wives for the sake of expanding one's World View.
i do really like the thought of enforcing purity through physical deformation. my aquiline schnozz and grotesque eating habits kept me out of all kinds of sin as a youngster.
;-)
If repentance is a public posture, to what degree is it a public posture? i mean, if the stuff leading to repentance isn't the world's bi'ness, then to what degree is the repentance itself theirs? What world? What public? Dig: i thoroughly agree with the idea of the arcanum. There're sure some things i'd love to divest me of, some things i really would like to be held accountable for, be called on the carpet for, as opposed to just being dealt the "Go To Hell" card and getting the silent treatment. But having faced the Inquisitors, how much more public than that needs repentance get? Maybe the public extends at least so far as comprising the one(s) against whom you've sinned (in addition to God).
Howdy C & S,
Just a quickie.
You see the public nature of repentance in comments like "let your light so shine before men," "let the elder be above reproach," "do things keeping with the fruit of repentance," "faith without works is dead."
It should be apparent to the body that repentance has taken place and in some cases, this will also be apparent to those on the outside.
Some of the process of coming to repentance actually is part of our testimony, right? I was an evil man...I did...the Lord opened my heart...then I heard the gospel...I repented...etc. This testimony also is public.
P.S. Sean, did you read the post before this one with all the bad language? :) It deals with the serious business of holiness.
Sean Katinga said...
Nehemiah 13 says to me that God is serious about holiness. The reason he did not want Israel to intermarry with other races, or to do business on the Sabbath or the reason he cleansed the temple has to do with his holiness. To one unfamiliar with OT rituals/laws, Nehemiah's concerns with these matters seem legalistic and perhaps contrary to the character of God. The greater issue in this passage is spiritual separation (a transformation of the heart which is at the center of being the people of God) and not ritual separation (keeping law). The keeping of the law is simply evidence that the heart has been transformed.
Jesus said it this way, "If you love me, you will do what I say." In other words, obedience is the test of love.
As usually, maybe I've missed the point of the post again. If so, forgive chalk it up as "bless that little African's heart"
I hope, however, that some of what I've written will be helpful to some.
Can't wait to sit in your living room and engage in face to face spiritual fellowship around God's Word.
To all the brothers out there, if you are interested in visiting Jason this summer, please email me or call.
Love to all, especially my best friend Jason.
Maybe my article falls under the category of Grunge Christianity but I hope not.
Sorry JDT to offend your sensibilities. I could think of no more appropriate phrase to describe it. At least I wasn't talking about donkey semen like Ezekiel.
That is a good article. It's funny that my first reaction was about the same as when i read AJR's link on the evils of Christian rock music. i've been to a church thingy in a building maybe twice in the last year or more, so i don't know about the messages from the pulpit. But i do see the same principle at work in myself. In the absence of a strong spiritual family, i find myself trying hard to make the world around me o.k. and fit in with them. i don't exactly give 'em the thumbs-up, but i find myself trying to keep a poker face when they try to justify and make natural their selfishness and Godlessness. i know there are wrongs in my own life, and that i can't throw the first stone, so i sometimes just try to get in sync with them. That's not right; it doesn't work.
For my own part i can say that it seems like trying to be appealing to the world isn't a direction that the church chooses. It's an act of desperation for the lack of the church. Maybe JT's right and this is off the subject, but here is arcanum; what doth hinder me from being baptized?
On using naughty words.
As I read Nehemiah, I sat back and I envisioned the scenes on those days: the not-so-veiled threats, the house-cleaning, the furniture throwing, the punches, the hair-pulling and the oaths. And with those scenes I imagined the people: angry, screaming, grunting, grinding teeth, murmuring, swearing, promising and crying. I thought of the seriousness of Nehemiah's attack on worldliness and I could think of no better way of describing it.
For a long time, I have not been one to use curse words arbitrarily. Nor do I think they ought to be. But nothing grabs my attention like a well-placed cuss word. In today's world, bad language is commonplace. I sometimes wonder if people know any adjectives other than [4 letter]-ing. I tune out that stuff. But when a man, who normally does not cuss, let's loose with an expletive - I immediately understand that the situation is unique and warrants my attention. When I was a kid, children often said to one another, "I am going to beat you up." But when a kid said, "I am going to whoop your @$$," we all took notice. He was mad!
So was Nehemiah.
What we see in this chapter is not a methodology for maintaining holiness but a posture. (I can think of few situations in today's world where physical violence would work to enforce holiness and obedience.) We see in Nehemiah a deep desire for a holy life, a holy people and a holy nation. He said in his heart "I will do whatever is necessary." I want this in my own life. I want to have this desire for my family's purity and holiness and I want to see this love for the body in pastors and teachers.
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