“Is Christ divided?” Paul asks the rhetorical question to the church in Corinth.
The answer of course is, “no.” However, the undercurrent of the church in Corinth was that even though Christ is not divided, the Christians were.
We must concede and confess that in the almost 2,000 years since Paul’s scribe penned those words on his behalf, we have been unsuccessful at eliminating the divisions that run countercurrent to the very nature of Christ.
Jeff Howard
Our divisions go by names other than Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but Christians remain as (or more) divided than ever.
Christianity and national identity
Interestingly, in American Christendom we seem incapable of disconnecting our Christianity from our national identity. It is easy for progressives to point the finger at conservatives who claim, “to be American is to be Christian” and insist America is a “Christian nation.” If this is your belief, please take the time to read the history of how America came into being for the purpose of having religious freedom or at the very least read the Constitution.
Further, are we such poor students of history that we cannot see the church always has been the one to suffer when married to the government? Are we blind to see the government, when coupled to the church, never was transformed to become more Christian in nature? In fact, the church always has been the one violated and spoiled. Are we so special to think we could possibly be the exception of history?
I fear what recent policy reversals that condone, or embolden, church leaders to endorse political candidates from the pulpit could mean for the church. Can you imagine Jesus pausing his reading from the scroll of Isaiah to encourage his Jewish brethren to, “Hail Caesar”?
Equally, I lament progressives bemoaning the government for not acting in Christian ways, when again, our nation is not a Christian nation, nor was it ever designed to be. This mindset reflects the same energy as conservatives express when expecting someone who never has been a Christian to suddenly be able to act (completely) like a Christian upon their conversion.
“Both groups are guilty of distorting Jesus.”
At present, both conservative Christians and progressive Christians are focused on the government. Conservatives see the MAGA movement as a “divine reset,” while progressives lament the current administration is further marginalizing the already poor and oppressed. To borrow a phrase, the inconvenient truth is that both groups are focused on the government instead of Jesus and, therefore, both groups are guilty of distorting Jesus.
The Jesus experience
Jesus did not have the luxury of living in a Christianized country; he lived under Roman oppression, law and governance. Never once did Jesus try to change the government, although I believe if he wanted to, he could have. In the last week of his life, he rode into Jerusalem, attempting to better the church (not the government) into becoming a better reflection of God.
I grow weary of progressives claiming Jesus was political because he cared for and ministered to the poor, ostracized and marginalized. Progressives must realize it is unfair to overlay a 21st-century understanding of politics onto Jesus of Nazareth and proclaim him to be political.
“Following the example of Jesus is not political, it is godly.”
Jesus, without doubt, ministered to the “least of these” as well as preached against those who would abuse or use their power to exploit the least of these. So should any who claim themselves to be Christ’s followers go and do likewise. Following the example of Jesus is not political, it is godly. Jesus never acted from political motivations; Jesus acted on love. Love was Jesus’ sole motivation.
As Christians, our efforts, either conservative or progressive, to change or hope to change the government to be more “Christ-like” are misplaced. Those efforts distort our view of Jesus because they take our focus from Jesus and place that focus on an entity that cannot pass from this existence to the next.
When did we prioritize being American to such high degree that we removed the power of salvation from Jesus and handed it over to the government? This reality marks how distorted our view of Jesus has become when we focus our attention on the government, either looking at it as already being or looking at it to become the kingdom of God. Salvation is God’s alone. But who would know that truth? Jesus is no longer the first love for Christians.
We like certainty
The next inconvenient truth is this: We do not focus on Jesus because we do not like the ambiguity of Jesus. We want the certainty of Paul or the black-and-white, right-or-wrongness of the 613 commandments of the Hebrew Testament. We want legalized, justified limits for restrained Christianity, not Jesus’ Good Samaritan.
“We do not focus on Jesus because we do not like the ambiguity of Jesus.”
I grow weary of the hypocrisy of quoting Scripture merely to justify already held convictions, without any desire for dialogue. I grow weary of conservatives quoting Romans 13 concerning submitting to governing authorities, compartmentalizing the fact that Paul himself consistently went against the governing authorities when it conflicted with his faith. (Dare I even mention that Jesus broke the law to heal the sick and cure those in need.)
Further, conservatives misconstrue Romans 13, without acknowledging that if that same rhetoric was used toward them with a Democrat sitting as president, they would have a holy hissy fit.
I grow weary of conservatives failing to understand the historical context of such passages or how they have been used to justify all degrees of evil throughout the centuries from slavery to Nazi regimes.
And I grow weary of progressives not having a better response than, “Well, you eat shrimp, don’t you?” and, “I bet that shirt is a poly blend.”
As Christians, we should realize the limitations of the law and understand that Paul, as impressive as he was, was not Jesus. We should be able to hold in tension that Jesus fulfilled the law, or at the very least, provided a different path for Christians to follow.
Further, we must understand that Paul was too concerned with the parousia to construct a systematic theology or social ethic. I am convinced if Paul knew the second coming of Christ would be 2,000 years or more removed from his expectation he would have written very differently.
Is it Christ-like?
More still, I grow weary of being asked, “Is it biblical?”
The Bible can literally be used to justify anything from slavery to receiving the blessing of infant murder to polygamy to incest (Abraham did marry his sister after all) to stoning a sassy teenager (perhaps living under the law does have its advantages) to socialism (the early church did have all things in common).
Christians must instead ask, “Is it Christlike?”
“What we all need is the very thing we do not want: Jesus, undivided.”
What we all need is the very thing we do not want: Jesus, undivided. In A Conspiracy of Love, Kurt Struckmeyer makes the bold statement: “Lots of people believe in Jesus. They just love him to pieces. They worship and adore him. They praise his name. They invite him into their hearts and accept him as their Lord and Savior. But not many people are willing to follow him.”
Ultimately, we do not want Jeus because we do not want to be challenged or changed. We do not want Jesus because we do not want to risk conviction or transformation — because change and transformation are difficult, and that process might cause us to acquiesce that our previously held impermeable convictions were fallible. Perhaps we must concede that we love being right more than we love Jesus, and thus we remain divided, and Christ distorted.
I questioned the time spent in college studying Plato’s allegory of the cave, wondering when this allegory ever would be relevant. Nevertheless, in the decades since, I have discovered people, time and time again, choose to live in shadows instead of seeking the truth outside the cave.
The simple answer remains. Transformation is hard, life-changing, faith-creating work, and we would rather proof text our previously held convictions than be convicted by the freeing transformation of Christ. And so, we have a country full of Christians acting like donkeys rather than being the sheep the Christ they claim to represent calls us to be.
We are guilty of distorting Jesus for ourselves and for the world around us.
Progressive and conservatives Christians alike must return to Jesus and stop our infatuation with the government.
Jesus’ teachings are simple but not easy, so we best all begin to practice. We are to love God and our neighbor. If there were any doubt or residual justification, Jesus goes so far as to teach us to love our enemy. If we are to love even our enemy, then how much more are we to love the immigrant, the atheist, the woke, the foolhardy, the MAGA enthusiast, the LGBTQ person, the Muslim, the incarcerated, the Latinx, the addicted, the other or even ourselves?
A higher calling
Our calling is higher than changing or lobbying the government. Our calling is to be a servant, to help recreate our world from the bottom up, to invest our time ministering to and alongside the least of these — the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned. If our focus, good or bad, noble or corrupt, is on something other than what Jesus has commanded, then our vision is distorted, and we are blind to the mission Jesus has called us to. If we are more tied to nation than to what is Christ-like, may God help and save us from our sin.
I am a terrible predictor of the future, but hear these words: Christianity has outlasted the Roman Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Nazi regime, the Dark Ages and the Crusades … and (thanks be to God) it will outlast this American Empire. One day we will wake up and realize we were not nearly as important as we thought we were.
God couldn’t care less about our nationality, except that we might be called children of God. God’s concern for us is this: Did we love like Jesus?
Jesus’ life and ministry were clearly focused. Jesus was undivided, but the same cannot be said of his followers.
The questions to ask ourselves: Are we willing to put aside our obsession of being right, are we willing to de-prioritize being American, are we willing to love like Jesus, and follow our undivided Christ? There is much work to be done, so may we not waste our time on soul-less pursuits.
Jeffrey Howard serves as senior pastor at Woodland Forest Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He and his family live in the Birmingham area.