There is no New Testament mandate directing the Christian
community to shape the moral values of a godless culture apart from the actions
of living and preaching the gospel visibly and flagrantly. Modern western Christianity
is predominantly a naturalistic, rationalistic, moralistic system utterly oblivious
of the supernatural basis that defined ancient biblical Christianity, and for
centuries, historic orthodox Christianity. The modern western religion that has
come to be known as Christianity is little more than naturalistic,
rationalistic deism. The most basic components for how Christians know divine
truth, specifically, biblical faith coupled with Spirit illumination, are
utterly foreign concepts to most people in modern culture who refer to
themselves as Christians. The biblical teaching that our basis for truly
knowing God is beyond the veil of human reason sounds strange to most
professing Christians in western culture, and I would suppose, to most other
cultures as well. This naturalistic, rationalistic orientation of the Christian
religion has instinctively led many professing churches to consider the mission
of the Christian church from more of a social, moral, and temporal emphasis.
Recently I heard a rant over the new trend to legalize
polygamy. Al Mohler rightly pointed out that those gay marriage proponents that
called the polygamy argument the product of extremists were dead wrong. That
being the case I want to bring you back what I believe is the appropriate
attitude regarding ungodly behavior and values in the culture.
First, in his prologue, John is very lucid in his
description of how an ungodly culture, living under the curse of God and
abiding in His wrath responds to true light: “The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (Jn. 1:5) It is thought that John is
alluding to Isa. 9:2, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those
who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.” Similarly, in the Dead
Sea Scrolls, the forces of light and darkness were engaged in mortal combat,
but light was predestined to triumph.[1]
Light and darkness are no equally matched duality, but in the titanic battle
between Jesus and Satan, Jesus, “the light,” emerges as the overwhelming
victor.[2]
There
is no question that darkness and light occupy the same culture in many of the
world’s cultures. Those in whom Christ dwells, the Christian community, are the
children of the light. The unbelievers that reject Christ are referred as
children of darkness.
The second point is that a little later in his gospel, John
informs us why ungodly cultures prefer the darkness rather than the light: “This
is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the
darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.[3]
The world not only loves the darkness, but they also are fearful that their
evil deeds will be exposed if they step into the light. Sinners love their sin.
If you thought gay marriage, and polygamy and abortion are human rights issues,
you could not be more mistaken. These are all sin issues, issues of a very
dark, godless culture that seeks to have things its own way. No amount of
social or political activism will change the darkness in our culture to light.
What then is the Christian to do? Are we to wrangle over sinners
living sinful lifestyles? Our response should not be one of simple outrage over
the attack on the family, or even on the lives of innocent unborn babies. Our
shock should be the utter contempt in which God is held. But that shock should
be an expected shock if you will pardon the oxymoron. Paul had an emotional
response to the idolatry he witnessed in Athens, but it was predictable. What
should we do? How should we think about this when we are alone and contemplating
the evil around us? What should we do about it? Should we talk about it? Should
we vote about it? Should we seek to force the godless culture to live by godly
values if at all possible? What exactly is the Christian community to do about the
godless cultures in which they find themselves?
Many modern politically active Christians claim that political
activism is the equivalent of letting our "light shine" and of being "the salt of
the earth." Others believe these good works are the outward behaviors of
righteous living. I am convinced by Jesus' reference to the Law that He was
alluding to righteous living. Jesus says we are the salt of the earth. Scholars
are not sure what Jesus was referring to specifically when He called us the
salt of the earth. He could have been alluding to rock formations that contain
sodium chloride. These were used to preserve meat. He could have been alluding
to the salt collected from the Dead Sea through the process of evaporation. He
could have had in mind the salt blocks used by Arab bakers to line the floor of
their ovens. “Jesus may be citing a well-known proverbial saying. When
rebuffing a trick question, Rabbi Joshua ben Haniniah (c. a.d. 90) apparently
alludes to a proverbial saying when he asks, “Can salt lose its flavor?” The
context of the saying implies that it is impossible for salt to lose its
flavor, because he parallels the saying by asking, “Does the mule (being
sterile) bear young?” (b. Bek. 8b).
Sterile mules can no more bear young than can salt lose its flavor.”[4]
In
other words, one cannot be light and darkness both at the same time and in the
same place. This would point to the fact that the disciples of Christ could not
possess the qualities of a disciple and not possess the qualities of a disciple at the same time. The
fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5 comes to mind.
Peter tells his audience to “Keep your behavior excellent
among the Gentiles.” (1 Peter 2:12) Paul emphasizes this sort of conduct in 2Cor.
8:21, “for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the
Lord, but also in the sight of men.”[5]
In a culture obsessed with shame and honor, Greco-Roman writers were quick to
emphasize that leaders and other beneficiaries of the public trust must be open
and of irreproachable moral credentials. Judaism also stressed that charity
collectors must act irreproachably to prevent even false accusations.[6]
Outward
moral reform was clearly not in view in the gospels, nor is it found anywhere
in the writings or rhetoric of the NT sermons. Paul tells us to “prove
ourselves blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of
an immoral generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.” (Phil.
2:15)
The biblical mandate for the Christian is to live a certain
lifestyle before the world, not necessarily to tell a godless culture that it
must comply with Christian principles or else. The Christian message is the
gospel of repentance. The “or else” has nothing to do with temporal punishment
and everything to do with the coming wrath of a Holy God. We will continue to
write about the wrong-headed thinking of so many Christians as it relates to
how we are to think about and interact with the respective godless cultures in
which we find ourselves. The goal of the Christian life is to honor God before
men. That means being the light and the salt He has called us to be and
unflinchingly proclaiming the gospel of Christ, making disciples everywhere we
go!
In summary then, Jesus and His apostles left us with clear
instructions to live a life that was above reproach, to let our light shine, to
hold to a standard of ethics that was of immeasurable worth. He commanded us to
proclaim that gospel without apology. He instructed us to walk in love toward
one another and those without, to be at peace with each other, and to walk in
unity. He even commanded us, as part of our living in this life, to be
continuously making disciples. But not one time did Jesus ever suggest, imply,
infer, or even hint that our aim, our goal as a community was to impact the
morality of the culture in which we find ourselves. The idea that Christianity
has a divine imperative to shape the moral values of a godless and immoral
culture in any way other than through godly living and preaching the gospel is
a modern impulse derived from a rationalistic and naturalistic view of the
Christian religion.
[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Jn 1:5.
[2] Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds
Commentary: John, Acts., vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 7.
[3] New
American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation,
1995), Jn 3:19.
[4] Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds
Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2002), 36.
[5] New
American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation,
1995), 2 Co 8:21.
[6] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 2 Co 8:20–21.
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