In the first century, Jewish Christians from Jerusalem spread false doctrine among the Gentile churches and “unsettled the souls” of faithful brethren there (Acts 15:24). Two millenia later, another generation of self-important teachers unsettle the souls of brethren outside of their own region by correcting what they perceive to be the errors of pastors and teachers in other congregations. Of course, these men are certain they are not like the Judaizing teachers who needed to be corrected in Acts 15. They imagine themselves to be on the side of the apostles and elders who get to do the correcting. That is why they write letters, make social media posts, and send warnings to brethren they have never met about brothers they did not trouble themselves to talk to directly. They think they are battling a new Judaizing error, but in fact, they are perpetrating a very old and equally wicked error by sowing division.
Human beings always cast themselves as heroes in the story of their lives, and if not heroes, then as a tragic, misunderstood, and pitiable character, a victim to awaken sympathy. Either way, we are sure that when we are on-stage, ladies will alternately coo, swoon, and weep while the men admire, applaud, and are moved in an appropriately masculine way. Pastors are prone to this as well, imagining they are some combination of John Calvin and Jack Reacher when in reality most are closer to Mr. Collins and Dwight from The Office. We think that we are dashing, but most of us are dweebs. We might do well to meditate on James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” as a penitential text rather than reenacting it behind a keyboard.
The fact is there is real evil and danger in this world. Orcs are amassing outside the Church’s gates, and we may feel somewhat restless and a little desperate as we look for the White Rider in vain. Our government is sanctioning the vivisection of children in the name of gender care. Television commercials glorify sodomy and normalize relationships that are no more marriages than dogs and cats are substitutes for children. The media is hellbent on demonizing Christian nationalism and characterizes any approach to politics that is consistent with biblical norms as white supremacy. And while all of this is being done, important Reformed leaders warn us of the grave danger of being involved in “culture wars.” The absurdity is not in imagining that there is important work to be done. The absurdity is picking a fight with the brother on your right while an Uruk-hai climbs over the wall. Even Gimli and Legolas knew when it was time to put aside their ethnic rivalry and pick up battle-ax and bow and begin cleaving skulls.
The solution to our cultural calamity is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our only hope is simple repentance and trust in the Lord of all. We will never have social justice until we become committed to biblical justice. We have appealed to the better instincts of goblins and sought to find common ground with them on natural law in vain. We must preach the truth, all of it, without apology, embarrassment, or reserve. We must not only preach the Bible, we must tell the world what it means. Apollyon is standing in the path. We are doing Christian no favors by telling him simply to rest in his justification.
We can and should labor, reason, and, when necessary, fight for the truth of the gospel. We should be careful to articulate it as plainly and purely as humanly possible. The Westminster Confession is a good start and carries us a long way as a faithful summary of biblical religion. But we should beware that our enthusiasm for fidelity in theology does not become a justification for infidelity in ecclesiology. Questions about doctrine are good and can be helpful. Gossip about brothers is neither. We should aspire to be thorough and accurate in our theology, but we should remember that we are not thereby justified. We may appreciate the precision of Elven archery without denying the value of the somewhat messier methods of Dwarven ax and mace.
The gospel is not that we can be saved by our theology. We are saved by the righteousness of the Author of it—and I don’t mean a Westminster treasury of the accumulated merits of that assembly. The gospel is the message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He is the ascended and enthroned Lord of glory. He rules over all creation, and every knee will bow. Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification. His righteousness atones for our lust and laziness, our compromise and cowardice, our doctrinal mistakes and our self-righteous divisiveness. The gospel subdues and redeems it all. We are not saved because we articulated the gospel properly; we are saved because the gospel is true, and Jesus is Lord and Savior. –JME
