No Separation

“The god of this world has blinded [darkened] the minds [consciousness] of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God [the Father].”
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NASB)

Although somewhat obvious yet often overlooked, it’s important to understand that the human dilemma wasn’t necessarily our actions—it was our minds. We were blind and could not rightly perceive who we were in the Father. As a result, we believed we were separated from God, and thus pulled away. However, God never pulled away from us. Perhaps this is why Isaiah 59:2 (a passage that seems to support the lie of separation) says: “Your iniquities have separated you from your God...” First of all, this passage does not say our iniquities separated God from us, but that they separated us from God. Again, we pulled away, God didn’t. Secondly, the root word for iniquity (ava) is translated as “guilt,” meaning “to be bent, twisted, perverted” (from blueletterbible.org). It speaks of twisting and perverting an original image or intention, and in the context of the mind, denotes having a warped perspective and consciousness concerning our origin.

Allow me to sum this up: under the weight of unresolved guilt and shame, Adam and Eve (an archetype of humanity) were deceived into believing a lie about the Father’s good nature. As a result, our minds became twisted and distorted concerning life and, most especially, ourselves. This is what the scriptures refer to as “iniquity.” For this, the fabric of relational trust was forfeited, and we separated ourselves from God. We ran and rebelled. Sadly, this massive deception perpetuated into following generations (Adam and Eve represent all of humanity), whereby we became lost, thus perishing in our way.

Although we ran and rebelled from the original, unchanging plan of fellowship and communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit, They refused to return the favor. They did not separate or pull away from us, but, throughout each and every generation—just as in the narrative of Adam and Eve—the Triune God continued to pursue our hearts time and time again (see Genesis 3:9). In unrelenting love and passion, They said NO to our perishing. For this, the Father—in the Person of Jesus—would descend into our darkness, releasing his most glorious and wondrous Life into the earth. In other-centered love, the Father “gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish [be lost], but have eternal life” (John 3:16 nasb). As Thomas F. Torrance says:

“That is to say, the Incarnation is to be understood as the coming of God to take upon himself our fallen human nature, our actual human existence laden with sin and guilt, our humanity diseased in mind and soul in its estrangement or alienation from the Creator. This is a doctrine found everywhere in the early church in the first five centuries, expressed again and again in the terms that the whole man had to be assumed by Christ if the whole man was to be saved, that the un-assumed is unhealed, or that what God has not taken up in Christ is not saved. The sharp point of these formulations of this truth lay in the fact that it is the alienated mind of man that God had laid hold of in Jesus Christ in order to redeem it and effect reconciliation deep within the rational core of human being.”

Separation from God has never been (nor will ever be) the truth or the plan of God’s heart—it is a mere illusion instigated and perpetuated by the father of lies. It’s a veiled mindset originating with the evil one. In the words of Richard Rohr, “I have never been separated from God, nor can I be, except in my mind.”

If “the god of this world had blinded the minds of the unbelieving,” it begs the question: Who is the “god of this world?” Well, we can confidently say it’s not the Abba revealed in Jesus, for the Father doesn’t do blindness, nor does he hide behind (man-made) veils. Beloved, he rips them in half. Therefore, we can rest assured that “In him there is no darkness or shadow of turning” (see 1 John 1:5). Although he will continually meet us in our own darkness and delusions (for he’s already there), he will never, ever put blindness on us. Instead, he seeks to heal it and extinguish it with the light of his presence—all from the inside-out.

This is an excerpt from my book, “Fascinated: Living in Awe of the Father.”

To order your copy and read more, CLICK HERE