I am so sick of hearing people talk about the Theology of the Cross in a way that shows that that phrase has long since left its biblical borders. Lutherans seems to have decided that if you have an awful life, or at least a part of it that is awful, you call that your cross to bear.
The Theology of the Cross is quite simple. Follow Jesus and the unbelieveing world will hate you. That is the Cross we bear as his children, persecution for the sake of the Christ.
I do not say that God does not work good out of the struggles of our life. But all too often, people that love to throw around the term “Theology of the Cross” eventually actually end up sort of glorying in the worst parts of their life as if God’s love is shown primarily in afflicting His children. That is simply not biblical. I recognize there are exceptions, but the clear basic teaching of the bible is this: Follow God and be blessed by him (and yes, Lutherans, even in material ways) and at the same tome be hated by the world aligned against him (theology of the cross).
Life with God is to be good, not awful. Only the scorn of the enemy is to lessen the enjoyment of this life.
The only reason God sends trouble is to discipline. And that is why I suggest a new term for those ways in which God uses discomfort to achieve our sanctification: Theology of the Thorn. Yes, an obvious reference to Paul’s thorn, the only real place where it is clearly taught that God uses difficulty to keep the old man drowned and the new man walking around. Yes, God does use difficulty to quench pride and sharpen each man or woman, but it is not the normal Christian life as described in the bible. And it is not the theology of the cross.
If you are persecuted for your life with Christ, talk about the Theology of the Cross. But if your mental condition or physical ailment is something God is using to make you holy, talk about the Theology of the Thorn. To do otherwise cheapens the truth of the Theology of the Cross.
The Cross also transforms us and casts off our sinful nature so that we may live as true sons of God in holiness. The symbol of the Cross identifies us as His own and thus we are hated, but it also imparts deification.
Right, the more we look like Jesus, the more the enemy is disgusted by our appearance and wars against us. Perhaps that is why we are so often free of persecution.
As far as deification goes, I will be like God. I will never be God.
Deification is often misunderstood to be “becoming God.” We’re not Mormons, Phil. We believe that we will become partakers of the nature of God, which means we can only partake of His energies such as His love, mercy, compassion, good will, long suffering etc.