With a broad perspective of the biblical philosophy of history in view, we now turn to look more closely at human creation, what it was meant to be, what it has become, and what God did through Jesus to restore and reconcile it. From this set of concepts, too, much light is shed on our public discipleship.
Humanity, Image of God
At the climax of creation God made men and women in his image, a finite representative of his on earth, summoned to exercise dominion over it and to live by grace and in love before their creator. We are no mere object of history; we are also history’s subject and agent. History is the sphere of our responsibility.
Created male and female, we are not abstract, isolated individuals. We are social beings, living in association with others. Human fulfillment is found in our solidarity with one another, and we must always be concerned for a more just society where this occurs.
The fact of creation guarantees the sacredness of human life against all threats to it. This has profound implications for a host of ethical issues today, from abortion to nuclear weapons.
In that all people are made in God’s image, they possess a fundamental equality that is not to be violated by any form of racism, chauvinism, or extreme nationalism.
Because we are charged with ordering our affairs and managing the earth before God, we may detect the original purpose and origin of government in the creation of man and woman as social beings. The state is not to be seen solely as an emergency measure, devised after the fall, to ward off the effects of sin.
More specifically, as historical, social beings, we have the responsibility to order our communal life justly with due respect for the needs and aspirations of all. As part of this duty, we are called upon to evaluate the political and economic system, and ask whether it is humane and fair. For all the importance which we place upon the new community as a pilot project and sign of the kingdom of God on earth, it would be wrong not to press for systemic change if it seemed urgent and the way was open to do so. It is not a question of finding a perfect system. Such does not exist in a fallen world. It is a question of relative justice within the structures of the old age. If it is possible to make the old age more tolerable, more humane, we ought to do so. We ought realistically to recognize in this application of Christian discipleship, however, a real danger to the unity of believers. We will not agree about the depth of the present system’s deficiencies, or even what those weaknesses are, and it is almost inevitable that Christians will find themselves differing in political and economic analysis. What some will view as redemptive reform, others will deplore as simply shoring up a system of colossal inequality that needs rather to be removed than reformed. Therefore, although we ought to labor for those political changes we deem essential and urgent, we must respect the pluralism of opinion even among believers, so as not to alienate fellow Christians on convictions of purely human judgment.
The Fall
In the biblical view, human life is now morally twisted as a result of the misuse of creaturely freedom, and all of us attain personhood in a warped, fallen context. The doctrine of sin protects us, for example, from idealizing the proletariat, as Marx did, seeing in this class only the bearers of true human values. All people, whatever their class or station, can be treacherous and selfish, stupid and lazy, aggressive and destructive.
Because of the fall, we find ourselves inordinately attached to finite goals and objects, seeking and even worshiping power, pleasure, and wealth, or alternatively alienated and withdrawn from life, sunk in anxiety and despair.
This conviction about the human condition, so richly confirmed through historical experience, might drive us into despair concerning the possibility of healing the human hurt and of turning the historical process around. Indeed it would do so if we did not weigh with equal accuracy the transforming power of God’s grace.
Sin and Society
Sin does not only affect individual men or women. Sin pervades social existence as well, so that it too has become idolatrous and twisted. The Bible has reference to this corporate dimension when it speaks of the “world” and of “this age.” Individuals participate in a diseased social organism and walk in darkness.
We must, then, view acts of injustice not simply as the work of malicious individuals, but also to a degree the product of twisted social machinery. Perhaps injustice achieves greatest triumph when it is in such command of the situation that its agents are not even aware of their guilt or conscious of contributing to oppression. People must be seen not only as an agent of sin but also as its victim even in their acting.
So subtle is this “world” that Christians too can be conformed to its values and aligned to its aims without being aware of it, and so we constantly need to have the prophetic word of God addressed to us concerning the righteousness of the kingdom of God. Symptomatic of our problem is the way “worldliness” is understood in conservative churches, and the lack of intensive teaching about materialism, nonviolence, forgiving the brother, and so forth. Given this sober biblical teaching about sin and the world, it is astonishing to find many believers with an implicit trust in the essential goodwill of worldly institutions and powers: how, for example, we in the west will overlook the faults of “our side” and deceive ourselves in order to retain our cultural pride, instead of looking at all people squarely in the light of divine revelation.
When once we grasp the broader dimensions of sin and its relation to our social life and behavior, biblical concepts like repentance, conversion, and church take on fresh meaning for us. Repentance and conversion have reference not simply to interior guilt feelings and moral resolutions, but to the determination to change one’s life completely and to adopt a lifestyle consonant with the new age which is coming. Similarly, the importance of the church is more obvious when we consider it as the creation of a new social solidarity alongside the old one, intended to provide a redeemed context for the healing of the whole person, and called to reverse the flow of sinful history and to live as the servant to both God and the neighbor.
The state has not escaped the effects of the fall and now finds itself in a paradoxical position, charged with pacifying and humanizing the troubled human situation while being composed of leaders who are themselves fallen and, for the most part, unaware of the root problem and its remedy.
The Powers and the Old Age
There is a yet deeper dimension of fallenness in the reality of cosmic twistedness represented by the rebellious powers spoken of in the New Testament. Although demythologized by liberal theologians, and not taken in full seriousness even in traditional circles, the Bible understands the dominion of sin to extend beyond the individual and even beyond society, extending even into the invisible, heavenly realms.
Therefore the battle for justice turns out to require even more than the regeneration of individuals and more than the transformation of societal structures. It has the proportions of a spiritual battle of cosmic dimensions against spiritual powers which are seeking to enslave human life and hold us all in misery and bondage. Behind the human agents identified with the forces of wickedness, there is a demonic presence which must be confronted too. If this situation is correctly described by scripture, then it appears that Christians should be the most revolutionary of all people because everyone else advocates changing too little.
The biblical concept of the powers is a way of analyzing society and history, and therefore casts light on our Christian social theory. It implies that the forces which structure our world, though they perform valuable functions, are doubly affected by sin: first by the role which sinful people play in them, and second, by the effects of the invisible powers seeking to dominate them and enslave humanity. If this is so, we need to begin viewing the battle for social justice in quite different terms from the analysis and strategies of those of the old age and learn to confront problems in the power of the Spirit and with the blood of the Lamb.
Again we note with astonishment the curious way in which conservative Christians, who presumably believe all this, have found it possible to snuggle up to the powerful people in their countries. It is hardy true to say that they have been apolitical. In actual fact they have been solid backers of conservative policies and leaders. Perhaps we ought to envy, rather than to pity, believers who live in anti-Christian societies. At least they are seldom tempted to forget that they have been called to be strangers and pilgrims in the world and soldiers in a spiritual warfare now raging in every sphere of life. God’s people are not meant to be an ally of the world’s power, but rather to be a different sort of people altogether. Our faith is in this sense a religion quite uncivil.
Recognizing the reality of fallen powers makes us cautious about “Christ the transformer of culture” model in connection with our social concerns. Though Christ has won a mighty victory over them on the cross, and through the power of his grace and love can introduce significant changes into the patterns of life and society, we would do well to heed the biblical warning that these same powers are alive and will continue to hate and crucify the followers of Jesus until the end of the age until they have been put beneath his feet. When we talk too glibly about dominating the powers in this or that respect, we may well be underestimating the power of the enemy and end up being dominated ourselves by them.
The Powers That Be
Twice before we have found reason to refer to the state: viewed under the doctrine of creation, the state is a good ordinance for the ordering of human life and society; considered in relation to sin and the fall, the state is a restraining measure and is itself twisted, as are all human things. It is now necessary to add the significant point that the state too has fallen prey to the influences of the fallen cosmic powers. Satan’s offer of the kingdoms of the world to Jesus was not entirely rhetorical.
In view of this, the Christian response to government cannot be one of blind submission, but must be subordination of a different kind. Alongside our recognition that the state has an important role to play in the providence of God, there ought to be a critical moral distance, the recognition of a higher law than that of Caesar which may call for noncompliance with his demands.
In this light, our political action cannot be seen in the worldly terms of infiltration, trade-offs, and domination. There must be Christian components in it which can take account of the dark spiritual background: fervent prayer, gifts of the Spirit, and the vitality of the new community in which the rebellion of the powers has already been vanquished.
As for the vocational involvement of believers in the governing process, which is certainly a possibility for them, numerous ethical issues arise. Aside from the day to day dilemmas of compromise all of us face, there is the sword-wielding function of the state, the power of coercion and retribution which is its natural condition since the fall. The state is expected to act in the parameters of the old age, in a manner Christians are commanded to reject for themselves because of the new age. Therefore, it is not self-evident that any and all vocations in the service of government are open to believers, since they are called to live by the standards of the new age, rather than the old.
Salvation
The whole historical process has become corrupted and consequently corrupts whatever emerges within it. There is hope for human life, therefore, only if the power of love and reconciliation were to break into this sick history, healing it of its ills. Such a power could not arise inherently from the diseased and dying body itself. It would have to invade the historical order from beyond its bounds, from the God who created the entire world. Precisely this has taken place according to the gospel.
The free nature of God's action for us in Christ liberates us from the need to justify ourselves and breaks through the cords that bind us in idolatrous self-centeredness. He first gave himself up for us; we are enabled to give away our lives to others. We commit ourselves to the needy, not out of any necessity to secure our own position with God, but out of an identification with his heart and in joyous gratitude for his free favor.
The Biblical concepts of salvation and the kingdom of God relate not only to individuals, but also to the complete renovation and restoration of the universe. In expounding salvation we should not forget what the Old Testament has to teach us. It strongly emphasizes that the Lord delivers his people from bondage and injustice, and it longs for the day when all of God’s demands for justice will get written on the heart. We eagerly await a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Reconciliation through Christ has meaning for society and for the universe because salvation is holistic and cosmic.
The word-group for “justification” in Paul means more than the legal establishment of our right standing with God; it also has many ethical implications. Paul and James both make it clear that individual salvation presupposes changed social attitudes. Salvation must be evidenced ethically.
Salvation has been made available through the work of Jesus Christ and is relevant to our sin and need in all its facets. It is useful to distinguish three dimensions of this work.
The Cross
It is widely recognized that the cross has meaning within several different contexts and that we depreciate its full significance if we ignore any of them. Two contexts relating to our theme which are often forgotten are the political and the ethical.
At the cross Jesus came into direct conflict with the human and spiritual powers that rule the old age. Refusing to submit to them, he accepted the penalty they prescribed for those who dare to place their loyalty elsewhere. By a surprise move of powerlessness, he was able to disarm and unmask them, breaking their sovereignty over lost humanity. At the cross, God challenged the powers, penetrated their territory, and has shown that he is stronger than they. Therefore the powers have lost their grip upon us who believe and cannot separate us from the love of Christ. We have been freed to live independently of their authority and rules and to demonstrate by our lives that their rebellion has begun to be vanquished.
The cross is at the same time the normative pattern and ethical paradigm for Christian conduct. By an act of “original righteousness,” Jesus, the last Adam, accepted the will of the Father for himself, and thus established a beachhead of the kingdom of God on earth. In the cross of Jesus, the nature, will, and mode of God’s reconciling action have been revealed, and thus the criterion and standard for a Christian stance in the world laid down. Christian action in the world is now defined in terms of self-giving love and neighbor-oriented service, performed according to the model of God’s own act in Christ.
The Resurrection
God vindicated Jesus in raising him from the dead. Because of the resurrection we are enabled to accept the cross and what it signifies. Without this event we should not be able to hope. But in the light of it we see that Jesus is Lord and King, and confess that his final victory over the powers is inevitable. Therefore, we walk in newness of life and allow Jesus to define reality for us.
Beyond that, the resurrection is also a pre-actualizing of the end. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, and in him we shall all be made alive. No wonder Paul ends his chapter on resurrection in these words: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” The resurrection whets our appetite for more newness, not only for ourselves, but for all of God’s groaning creation, and it inspires us to throw all our energies into the divine work of healing and renewal.
Pentecost
Following the resurrection, the Spirit was poured out and the work of Christ began to become effective with the appearance in history of a new community of love and freedom. This Spirit-filled community is a foretaste of the genuine fulfillment of human life which is possible through Jesus, and an instrument through which God can advance his purposes. With the Spirit upon them it became possible for believers in Jesus to live the new life after the manner of the new definition of reality displayed by Jesus himself. Thus, at Pentecost the flow of history toward destruction and death began to turn around and work in the direction of community, love, and freedom.
REDEEMED EXISTENCE
The Church
There came into existence at Pentecost a new community filled with the Spirit and intended to serve as an agency through which God could overcome our bondage to the powers which enslaved us, enabling us to become what God originally intended. The church is the primary agent of God’s social strategy. He has chosen to accomplish his redemptive purposes in history through a covenant people rather than in some other way.
Some Christians suppose that social change will come about when individuals are converted and have their attitudes changed. Then, they argue, problems in the social structures will take care of themselves. Others, seeing the weakness of this approach, advocate Christian political action aiming at systemic change through democratic procedures or even revolutionary means and that we ought to seek to gain power and use it Christianly. While there is truth in both these proposals, the Bible points us to a third strategy which sees change coming about through the presence in history of the people of God, a “city set on a hill,” a microcosm of what human life can be under the rule of God. This community serves to present outsiders, including the powers themselves, with a preview of the new age, so that they may come to hope in God and embrace the gospel. Change comes from the bottom up as the seeds of the new order are planted within the world.
The mission of the church in the world is related to what it is to be as well as what it has to say. God’s people are meant to be a distinct community with its own set of values. A new quality of life and action should be visible in its midst. Only then can God use it to display his wisdom and salvation to the larger humanity. Not that we can expect the church to be flawless and wholly consistent in its obedience, but we can and do expect Christians to see that the quality of discipleship is crucial for our mission in the world.
The presence of the church in the world can be represented in a negative and a positive aspect. Negatively, as aliens and pilgrims, members of the new community are to be a countersign to the world’s values. The fellowship should energetically resist being conformed to this world and reject all alliances with its institutions which would muffle her prophetic voice of judgment and correction. The church has always had to face a pagan world. The tragedy is that so often there has only been a pagan church facing it.
Positively, the church is called to be an outcropping of the new order, the social manifestation of the ultimately triumphant work of God, an extension of God’s incarnate love in the world. As such the church exists not to serve itself but to bless the world by mediating Christ’s servanthood in the midst. Almost never will a social class act against its own interests. Therefore the church has an extraordinary calling to act against its own interests and to be a community of love, forgiveness, and service. We should not be surprised when it does not always work out ideally, because the church is not yet the community it is meant to be. But this is the direction in which it is to be moving, and this is what it will become when by God’s grace it will have been perfected.
As for social strategy, Christians often feel locked into a dilemma: in rejecting the way of violent revolution for social change, they feel shut up to submission and surrender with little hope of change. But Jesus suggests another approach which can be highly effective without being violent, a different sort of struggle where evil is overcome by good. The church has hardly begun to test the possibilities of a struggle in which, by the withdrawing of consent and by prophetic actions, a local body of God’s people witness powerfully to the truth.
The church today needs to be renewed and reminded of its divine calling. Most congregations today bear little resemblance to Paul’s strong metaphor of the church as a physical body. The church has become a voluntary society of autonomous individuals in which the really serious questions of Christian discipleship seldom even come up. Therefore little real guidance and help is given to believers seeking to walk by the way of the cross in the world. We need to become far more interdependent and deeply involved in each other’s lives than at present. Until we do, a great deal of what the Bible has to say about the church will remain quite theoretical.
The Disciple
Individual believers are meant to function in the context of a loving and supportive community. Here they can submit their struggles and decisions; here their lives are bound up together on the path of discipleship, which is not a purely private matter, but a concern of the whole community.
The disciple, like the church, is also meant to be a countersign to the old order and a representative of the new order, whatever the cost. At the heart of this calling is working out arduously what is involved in bearing Christ’s cross in the world.
We must expand our understanding of Christian holiness, which is concerned not only with the change of personal attitudes and practices, but also with a spirituality of liberation in which we commit ourselves to the struggle of those who are oppressed. It is a way of living before God, by faith and in the power of the Spirit, which takes seriously his passion for justice and always searches for ways to bring it to concrete expression. Our conversion to Christ involves a conversion to the needy neighbor, to the hated enemy, to the despised race. This dimension of holiness, of all its aspects, may well be the most difficult and challenging.
CONCLUSION
When we come to the Bible with questions about public discipleship it clearly has themes to offer which are dramatically relevant to social and political issues. If the church has been socially irrelevant, we should not blame the Bible. It can only be that its message has been forgotten and overlaid, and it is our responsibility to bring it to light again and to tap its enormous potential. I have not found it necessary in pursuing this theme to renounce any scriptural themes or to become less “conservative” in theology. Quite the contrary, the more I have let the Bible speak to me about these matters, the more concerned and radical I have had to become in my desire to implement the biblical faith. The entire project has served to answer Marx’s searching criticism that religion is the opiate of the people. I have not found biblical religion to be so.
This “evangelical theology of human liberation” is the old message of salvation with its ethical dimension developed. Scripture keeps theology and ethics closely together. The gospel relates to all of our behavior: public and private, personal and social. Evangelical Christians tend to be doctrinally strict, even on minute points, while at the same time being lax and permissive in respect to ethical opinions. Scripture is strong in both areas, and we need to correct the imbalance. Doctrinal orthodoxy and ethical orthodoxy are both critically important.
When these ideas are presented, why do we so often meet with deep resistance, defensiveness, and even hostility? One reason is that people are not accustomed to look for guidance on political and social matters in the Bible, despite the fact that whole sections of scripture are given over to them. Another possible reason is the economic situation of many of us reading the Bible in America. Whereas the early church community tended to be poor and needy, our evangelical communities are not. Therefore, the biblical teachings that warn against injustice and inequality catch us off guard. We do not allow them to so register on us as to make us critical of the system which has made us comfortable.
Jeremiah was called to a most difficult task: to take a stand “against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.” For this purpose God made him “a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls” and assured him that, although they would fight against him, “I am with you to deliver you.” Are we prepared to go beyond an academic analysis of these things and to identify with the hungry and the oppressed of the world? We are embarking on a passionate and dangerous course. When once it is known that we hunger and thirst after justice, standing with those who are downtrodden and opposing those who oppress, we will find ourselves facing powerful foes, some even from within the church and possibly the circle of our friends. At such a time we will need to be certain of the call of God and stand fast in his armor.
When this article appeared, Clark Pinnock was a contributing editor to Sojourners and professor at Regent College.
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