At least most of us have heard the expression thinking outside the box, but what does it mean and how does it occur? I believe the box is a symbol of the world in which we live. It represents our cultural norm and our present worldview. To think outside **that** box requires something extraordinary to occur to us. It cannot simply be done on command or through the force of one’s own willpower. It would be like trying to imagine a color that isn’t based upon the colors: red, blue and yellow. All the colors of the rainbow, which we are able to see, are derived from a combination of two or all three of these colors and in varying degrees. So, imagine a color that is **not** based upon a combination of two or more of these colors? Put another way, think of an original thought that no one has ever thought before (Ecclesiastes 1:9; cp. 1Corinthians 2:9). None of these things can be done on command or through the strength of one’s own willpower. Changing one’s worldview or thinking a new thought occurs only when a person is brought through just the right circumstance that forces him to challenge the truth he knows, in order to embrace a new and greater truth to replace it.
Paul reminds his readers that, through faith, Abraham offered up Isaac (Hebrews 11:17), meaning he was ready to slay him as a sacrifice to God. But, how was Paul able to claim this idea or purpose was an act of faith? It would be a mistake for us to try to read what the Mosaic Law forbids into Abraham’s understanding (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:31). Abraham came out of a culture that practiced human sacrifice.[1] Both he and the rest of his family practiced idolatry with all those around them (Joshua 24:2). In his heart and mind Abraham had already done the deed (Hebrews 11:17-18). In other words, he was willing to do as the Lord had asked (Genesis 22:1-2), because that same Lord had taught him through the miraculous birth of Isaac that there was nothing he was unable to do, even if that meant resurrecting Isaac from the burnt ashes upon the altar Abraham was yet to build (Hebrews 11:19).
If no one was ever raised from the dead, Abraham had no context from which he might derive the thought of a resurrection. Therefore, the Lord had to bring about a circumstance that would cause Abraham to consider the very weakness of his then present understanding of God, which was probably merely a greater extension or a more powerful version of the deities of Ur. Thus, in order for God to clearly show that he doesn’t require human sacrifice, he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in a context familiar to Abraham.
Once the Lord stopped Abraham in the act of slaying his son, Isaac, but before the deed was done, two things were firmly established in Abraham’s heart. First, the Lord showed Abraham that his God didn’t require human sacrifice as other deities did within Abraham’s social norm, and this was done in a manner in which it would be remembered forever, not only as long a Abraham lived, but would also become the understanding of Abraham’s descendants. Secondly, in the process of fixing this new idea in Abraham’s worldview, the Lord tried Abraham’s trust in his new God in a manner that would not only be remembered, but would also enlarge Abraham’s then present worldview. In other words, it forced Abraham to think outside the context of his worldview. Only by questioning his worldview could Abraham make sense of the Lord’s promise to bless the world through Isaac (Genesis 18:18; 21:12) in light of what the Lord asked him to do with Isaac (Genesis 22:1-2).
We need to keep in mind at this point that Abraham began to worship the everlasting (H5769) God or the God of the ages—past, present and future (Genesis 21:33). It was here that Abraham saw a vision of Jesus’ day (John 8:56), and he trusted that Jesus would come through Isaac, Abraham’s beloved son. It is this truth that God tested in Abraham, and it is this truth that Abraham embraced to the point that he would not let it go. He perceived it, believed it, embraced it, and rejoiced in it.
The believing community in Paul’s day was asked to believe something contrary to the worldview embraced by the Jewish community in the first century AD. All Jews were taught that, when the Messiah arrived on the scene, he would destroy the Roman yoke that had been placed upon the necks of all Jews of that day, (cp. John 12:31-34). In other words they believed in everything physical. They would have a physical kingdom, in which a physical king would sit upon a physical throne in physical Jerusalem and save physical Jews from physical slavery to another physical nation. Yet, the Gospel that was preached by Jesus’ disciples was such that the Kingdom of God was a spiritual matter within their hearts (Luke 17:21). So, if the Kingdom of God is something spiritual within a man’s heart, how is anything about it physical? The very city is a spiritual city (Revelation 21:2, 2Corinthians 11:2; Hebrews 12:22-23), with its Temple of worship also being spiritual (1Corinthians 3:16-17). Its King is a Spirit (John 4:24) who rules from heaven, as was done in the original Theocracy, from which both Adam and his children rebelled (Genesis 3:1-8; 1Samuel 8:4-7)
If, therefore, this is the context in which the Gospel was preached in the first century AD, then to believe the Gospel would have been to depart from the then present worldview of the Jewish community. Believers in Jesus would be accounted traitors and unbelievers. Just as Abraham, was a pilgrim in the land, so too, would the believing community in the first century AD have been strangers, even among friends and relatives, but he who would endure to the end would be saved (cp. Mark 13:9-13). So just as Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus’ day (John 8:56), so the believers in Paul’s day needed to rejoice in the Gospel preached to them and not abdicate the promise of redemption.
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[1] In modern Iraq, archeologists have uncovered what is believed to have been an ancient burial ground for the rulers of the ancient city of Ur. Called the “Great Death Pit” the site contains the bodies of 68 women and 6 men, many of whom appear to have been sacrificed to a god.
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