The Fivefold Path of Reconciliation: A short review of the opening uses of allássō: From the engineered “change” of fallen man which works death to the obedience that gives life in death’s destruction

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Review

As our last word study on the root verb for reconciliation—allássō—was in 2023, we will briefly review what we discovered in our opening three installments in preparation for our fourth and final study.

The two-fold nature of “change”

The initial exploration centered on allássō’s first use in Acts 6 within the context of Stephen’s false accusation and eventual martyrdom. There we saw how change is manipulated by institutional religion to engineer a pre-determined outcome; yet in the pathway of such engineered change, two realities result:

First, in regard to fallen man, the pathway of control causes his own mind/heart/soul/nous to itself be changed. For in the very act of man’s triumphant manipulation of external events, his own personality is progressively given over to the inner working of Hell itself, becoming therein “foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (Rom 1:31).

Second—and at at the very same time—in the very midst of this engineered control of events, another level of operation becomes apparent. And as this operates, we see it working on a completely different, higher level, far beyond the sphere of human power and control:

“And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel” (6:15).

As such, when the saints, as Stephen, are dwelling in the inner stillness of intercession, they open Heaven itself such that the realities of the eternal Kingdom break down into this fallen realm of manipulated control, bringing a change far more powerful.

It is a paradox of paradoxes:

That which destroys the life of a saint becomes, at the very same time, the engine for his eternal, glorious transformation into the image of His Suffering Savior.

From man’s manipulated “change” to God’s triumphant transformation: The paradoxes of the Gospel

The next uses in the resurrection chanter of I Corinthians 15 reveal how this level operates, thereby opening believers up to this higher path. When man’s relation to allássō is one, not of control, but of obedience; one not of external religiosity, but of a hidden life of waiting upon God, the outcome is that which gives life even in the face of death.

The critical point here, however, is that it is not man that is working to produce the change; it is none other than God Himself.

Here, allássō operates on the level, not of the manipulative, fallen mind, but rather within the fourth dimensional level of the Kingdom of God, where it effects glorious transformation through and in Christ.

When the grace of God is working in the soul of man, the paradoxes of the Gospel begin to be worked out in our lives such that it can be declared,

“The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (I Cor 15:42-44).

In these great paradoxes that operate both on the physical and spiritual levels, both on the temporal and eternal planes, we are introduced to the reality that as we follow Christ in obedience, we will not control any change in ourselves or another;

But rather,

“we shall be changed (allássō)…and we shall be changed (allássō)” (I Cor 15:51-52).

From I Corinthians 15 to Hosea 13: Thánatos and Mâveth swallowed up in victory

This is the true way in which allássō operates, drawing us out of the sphere of man’s endless labor and manipulated control into the glorious transformation of the eternal Kingdom.

Yet this passageway can only be received.

It is given by God and received by man in the beautiful and powerful paradox of the God-man’s life-giving death.

“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory” (cf. Is 25:8).

O Death (thánatos-> mâveth), where is your sting?

O Death, where is your victory?” (cf. Hos 13:14)

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (15:54-57).

Death in the Ugaritic conception was personified as the god, Mot. In the Baal Cycles he was depicted as a powerful deity who ruled the underworld and opposed Baal, the “storm god,” who was associated with life and fertility.

Mot’s domain was the grave.

As such, these texts describe him as a devourer with an insatiable appetite, swallowing the living and the dead into his realm (cf. KTU 1.5 II).

And it is precisely this insatiable force of death that is confronted and overcome by JHWH.

He is, in short,

“swallowed up in victory.”

From Mot to Thánatos: A bee buzzing with no stinger

JHWH’s victory is not merely over Mot but extends into the later Greek mythological context where He “swallows up” Thánatos, the son of Nyx (night) and brother of Hypnos (sleep).

This dark force, who executed the inevitable fate of mortals and ushered their eternal souls into the underworld, is now rendered absolutely powerless.

His “sting” has been removed and all he can do, so to speak, is buzz around us with no power to effect any real change.

For in Christ Jesus, who has “given us the victory,” we have been

“changed (allássō).

And we shall be changed (allássō).”

This is the true change of allássō that undergirds true reconciliation.

And all we can say is,

Amen and so may it be!

In our next study, we will return to the final two uses of allássō in Galatians and Hebrews.