Relationship and Responsibility, the indicative and imperative, are the two steel marbles suspended on strings hanging from the coffee table wooden tri-pod, which, when one is pulled back and let go, swings down to smack the other one; they sway side to side in continual motion—now one, then the next.

Two steel marbles, continual motion

Does not the doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ, which expresses the indicative (what is declared), speak of the foundation out of which the imperative (God’s commands), flows?

John Calvin speaks of the foundation and flow this way (Institutes 3:11:1): “…unless you understand first of all what your position is before God, and what the judgment which he passes upon you, you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid, or on which piety towards God can be reared.”

This foundation is union in our Savior. Piety and responsibility in godliness flow from it.

The indicative: statements in Scripture about who our God is and what He has done in Christ.

The imperative: statements in Scripture about the day to day will of God, His exhortations for obedience.

Relationship and Responsibility, the indicative and imperative, are the two steel marbles suspended on strings hanging from the coffee table wooden tri-pod, which, when one is pulled back and let go, swings down to smack the other one; they sway side to side in continual motion—now one, then the next. The biblical text is never stagnant, there’s the interplay of indicative instruction, then imperative exhortation; person, then work; relationship, then responsibility.

John 13 serves as an example.

John 13:1-13
Our union with Christ: He loved His own, He washed, He cleansed…
Our relationship in Him

John 13:14-17
Our communion with Christ: “you also ought to wash one another’s feet…”
Our responsibility in Him

INDICATIVE (relationship) IMPERATIVE (responsibility)
Genesis 1-2 Genesis 2: 8-9, 15, 17-24
Genesis 3:1-5, 11 Genesis 3:6-10, 12-19
Genesis 3:20-4:2 Genesis 4:3-24

As we read the Bible, we give attention to the ebb and flow of these two interpretive points. They bounce off of one another. They are distinguishable, yet they have an inter-play.

G. Mark Sumpter is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and is serving as pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. This article first appeared in his blog, River City Pastor http://rivercitypastor.blogspot.com/, and is used with his permission