Coram deo

What Does “Coram Deo” Mean?

2 Timothy 4 1-5

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.

The other day I was asked by a friend, what it meant for me to be a Christian, I thought good and hard about it, and couldn’t give him a succinct answer, later when reading a post from an old colleague I saw it as plain as day. The title of the post was simply, Coram Deo. Literally it means in the presence of God. In 2 Timothy Paul tells Timothy to preach the word and be ready for anything coming his way, but to do it in the presence of God and Jesus the judge.

I decided to look it up and called my friend back and gave him this Latin term. I said, “The big idea of the Christian life is Coram Deo. Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life.” He had been in latin class with me in school so knew what it literally meant. This phrase stuck with me so I thought I would share what God put on my heart about it. Bear with me, I may show a bit of passion about it.

This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live Coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze. With me so far?

To be aware of the presence of God is also to be terribly aware of His sovereignty. Our continuous experience is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign. When Saul was confronted by the brilliant glory of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, his immediate question was, “Who is it, Lord?” He wasn’t sure who was speaking to him, but he knew that whoever it was was certainly sovereign over him.

Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer authority that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honour to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude. As it says in 1 corinthians 10:31, So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

To live all of life Coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.

The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is for God or none of our life is for God. An example would be, the elephant, we don’t see an elephant trying to be an elephant; he just is an elephant as long as he breathes and eats and sleeps he is an elephant, we don’t see elephants trying to be a mouse. That would be just ridiculous, could you imagine the mouse traps?

This means that if a person fulfils his or her job as a builder, lawyer, or student Coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as set apart as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfils his job. It means that David was as set apart when he obeyed God’s call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as sanctified when He worked in His father’s carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Integrity is found where we live our lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not convenience; by humility before God, not cheek. It is a life lived under the instruction of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.

Coram Deo … before the face of God. That’s the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trivialities. So lets pray that we learn to give our all to God bringing everything before the face of God.

Just as Mother Theresa said, true holiness is doing Gods will with a smile….