The Music of Two Worlds

Paul says that we exist in two worlds simultaneously. We live in the Old Reality where Sin and Death reign and human beings are emotionally and spiritually disabled and broken. Yet we also exist in the coming New Reality (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Douglas Campbell has some interesting things to say about this in Paul: An Apostle's Journey and also in Pauline Dogmatics.

He talks about how we have a difficult time believing in these simultaneous worlds because, for one thing, we are so visually oriented. We feel like we have to visualize something to understand it. But consider 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Campbell says:

For our momentary, light affliction

is producing for us an eternal weight of glory

far beyond all comparison,

while we look not at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are not seen;

for the things which are seen are temporal,

but the things which are not seen are eternal.

--2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NASB

So, Campbell says, let's use a concept from music and see if that helps us grasp things better.

For starters, how is it that we experience the New Reality in our current condition? We are not resurrected yet. We are not transformed completely into the image of Jesus Christ yet. Our old anxieties, addictions, grudges, feuds, conceits, and failures are still with us (the Flesh). And Death still seems to reign over us.

The answer is, we are half-resurrected. Our minds have already entered the New Reality to some degree. We have access to the Mind of Christ. This is a subtle thing. It is not that we can flip a switch and think Jesus's thoughts. What it means is that the Spirit is changing our thoughts and feelings and we can, in a hidden, mysterious manner, sense the mind of Christ. It is more than conscience, but is related to the conscience.

But you say, "I don't hear Christ's thoughts or feel his feelings!"

Campbell has a great analogy from music. He brings two audio devices into a classroom and on one he plays Heavy Metal, representing the Flesh and the Old Reality (because, you know, it's Heavy Metal). On the other he plays some lyrical classical music.

He starts with the Heavy Metal turned loud and the lyrical classical soft. You can't really hear the lyrical music. The speed chords and syncopated rhythms drown out the oboes and violins.

But as he turns the Heavy Metal down and the classical up, there is a change. The mood lightens. Strings and woodwinds and brass can be heard.

This is a picture of our dual reality, living in the world of Sin and Death while having our minds already introduced to the coming world where there is no Death or Evil.

We focus on what is not seen. On what we can barely hear. We tune out the noise. We reject the thoughts of Sin and Death and keep our mental ears perked for thoughts of beauty, joy, and love and feelings of compassion and yearning. That is the mind of Christ. That is how we focus on what is not seen.