One In Jesus

I know that I’ve left several very important questions unanswered. Before we get there, we need to consider one more of Nugent’s ideas: the significance of the powers to the modern church.

We’ve covered this topic here a couple of times, but it’s one that’s rarely preached or covered in Bible class, although it’s fairly prominent in the NT. For example,

(Eph. 6:11-12 ESV)  11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Paul plainly believes in spiritual rulers, authorities, powers, and forces that are opposed to the gospel. On the other hand,

(Col. 1:15-17 ESV)  15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.  17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

While the powers are opposed to the gospel, they are also creations made by Jesus “for him.” They were made to serve Jesus’ own purposes. Therefore, Christians should submit to these authorities — Continue reading →

The strongest case for charitable work to benefit non-Christians comes from the words of Jesus, but these are often not nearly as non-Christian oriented as we assume. For example, Jesus’ famous Judgment Day description in Matt 25 speaks to caring for the “least of these,” generally assumed to be a reference to the poor regardless of their faith. But the commentators uniformly reach a different conclusion.

(Matt. 25:34-40 ESV)  34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 

Notice that Jesus refers to those who should have been helped in v. 40 as “my brothers.” Fellow sons of God. The NET Bible translator notes state,

… Jesus is ultimately speaking of his “followers” (whether men or women, adults or children), but the familial connotation of “brothers and sisters” is also important to retain here.

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A few observations about the scriptures in support of Nugent’s position:

• As James W. Thompson argues in his The Church according to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ, there are surprisingly few admonitions in the NT urging church members to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors. It’s not that the idea is absent, but it’s not central. Rather, both Jesus and Paul spend far, far more of their teaching on how to live together in community as fellow Christians, and they make hardly any effort to urge personal evangelism.
• In fact, if you look at the passages that clearly stand out as central teachings, such as the Sermon on the Mount and 1 Cor 13, they are plainly about living in community with other believers, not how we deal with the surrounding lost world.
• Paul’s most theological epistles, Rom, Gal, and Eph, all deal with the relationships of Jews and Gentiles within the community of the saved.
• The NT’s most prominent work of prophecy, the Revelation, is about how the church endures against opposing forces. Evangelism and benevolence aimed at the lost world are minor themes at best. Faithfulness in community is the emphasis.
• In Acts, Luke frequently describes the internal life of the newly formed church. Evangelism is a major theme of Acts, as we see the apostles and other missionaries spreading the gospel through gospel proclamation and miracles. But we don’t see the apostles urging the members to invite friends and neighbors. However, it’s clear that they did.
• In Acts, we do see the early church developing works of internal benevolence: the care of widows, the support for the Jerusalem congregation by other congregations. But we don’t see acts of benevolence targeted to unbelievers, other than miracles performed by apostles and other church leaders to encourage belief in the gospel.
• In fact, it’s hard to find any NT example of charitable work done by the church for the benefit of unbelievers — other than miracles performed in the service of gospel preaching. The works of charity that are most prominent are internal — especially the care of Christian widows and support for the poor in the Jerusalem church.
• When the NT writers make lists of Christian virtues, they heavily emphasize the virtues that relate to getting along with each other in Christian community. These lists do not include the virtues of proclaiming the gospel to the lost or doing service for the lost. In fact, when Paul describes the requirements for widows to be supported by the church in 1 Tim 5, he expects widows who will be supported by the church to have washed the feet of the saints — to have done acts of charity for fellow Christians.
• Jesus’ seminal command for us to “love one another” speaks, of course, of internal care. In fact, Paul explicitly interprets “love your neighbor” to mean “love one another” in Rom 13:8-10. He certainly doesn’t deny that we should love the lost as well, but he plainly puts the emphasis on love for fellow Christians.

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John Nugent is professor of Old Testament at Great Lakes Christian College. I would consider him a neo-Anabaptist following in the footsteps of John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas.

His new book, Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World is Killing the Church argues for a view of the Kingdom similar to that taken by Scot McKnight in Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church and James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. 

It’s a an easy read and very persuasive. Nugent makes some arguments I made in the Mission of the Church series, but also adds some new ones — which I mostly agree with.  I think in a few places he over-argues his case, but his overall premise is sound. And it happens to be a question I’ve been wrestling with and looking for some additional guidance on, and I find Nugent very helpful, especially in his presentation of the purposes of the “powers” (which we’ll get to, Lord willing).

I’m not going to follow Nugent’s book very closely. But I do want to pass along his thinking, but I’m going to try to translate into Church of Christ terms. Continue reading →