The Supra-Cultural Gospel

The gospel transcends culture and worldview. It is not confined to any one culture, worldview, or people group. It is the good news for every culture, every worldview, and every people group. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, it is always wrapped up in culture and worldview. While it transcends culture and worldview it can never be separated from culture and worldview to exist as a bare gospel. The gospel message, indeed the entire Scriptures were written in a cultural context and we must know biblical culture in order to appropriate Scripture for our culture. The gospel is wrapped up in the culture in which it was written. God predetermined that his word would be written in a historical-cultural context. Therefore his word is enveloped in culture. Yet, his word transcends culture – it can be placed into every culture and applied to every person because it is the revealed will of the Lord for all of his creation.

The Christian and the Old Testament

Many Christians today either outright dismiss the Old Testament or there are others who give lip service to it but in practice see no relevance in it. Yet all of Scripture is clear – the Old Testament is essential for the Christian believer for it contains the very words of God. There are numerous reasons as to why the OT offers an essential message for Christians. Here are a few brief ideas in no particular order.

1. The Sovereign Plan of God. In the providence of God he has determined to provide his people with a twofold covenantal book. The Lord of the Old and New Testaments did not plan and purpose for the writing and establishment of the OT only for the purpose of it being superseded by the New Testament. The Holy Spirit has sovereignly preserved the whole Bible over thousands of years.
2. Progressive revelation. The OT begins the story of creation, fall, redemption and the NT fulfills it. We are left in suspense with the ending of the OT. We have reached the height of the problem. How will God solve this problem of sin and depravity set forth in the OT? Well, that is what the NT completes. It is the rest of the story, the grand finale, and the climax of the Biblical story. Christ is shown to be the answer, the redemption from the fall into sin. Without the NT it would be like reading a mystery novel with never finding out “who did it?” With the NT alone it would be finding out “who did it” without knowing what they did.
3. The OT is foundational to the NT. The NT cannot be properly understood without the OT and vice versa: the OT cannot be properly understood without the NT. The Bible is a unity and Christians should view it as a complete whole. We should not call ourselves NT Christians, but biblical Christians. The Old Testament is the foundational structure for the New Testament superstructure. And the NT is the only interpretive lens for understanding the OT biblically.
4. 1 Corinthians 10:6. “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” The history of the OT is a historical lesson for Christians. The sins, failures and accomplishments of the Saints in the OT serve as illustrations of what the NT teaches didactically. For example, David’s sin with Bathsheba serves as an example of how Jesus defined adultery in Matt. 5:28. David’s lust began with a look and was carried out into the physical act of adultery. Yet, this story also highlights the radical forgiveness of God found ultimately in Christ (Psalm 51).
5. It is the Story of Jesus. This is what Christ himself argues. Luke 24:25-27: He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.[1]
6. Shadow and Reality. The OT paints a picture of the need of Christ while the NT shows the reality of Christ. In the OT the absolute necessity of Christ is set forth with all the rules and regulations of the OT. The sacrificial system points to the need of a perfect sacrifice which was fulfilled by Christ on the cross. Christ is needed in the OT, but Christ is here, present in the NT. The shadow becomes reality.[2]
7. Jesus’ use of the OT. Our Lord himself continually quotes and alludes to the OT. He provides clarification on its stipulations and also fulfills the law perfectly like no other could. Also for Christians who seek to follow Christ shouldn’t we understand his exaltation of the OT as God’s words and then seek to do likewise?[3]
8. Paul’s use of the OT. Paul quotes the Old Testament approximately ninety-three times. Ladd argues that the purpose of Paul quoting the OT is not so much to prove the validity of prophecy but to show the NT continuity with the OT.[4] In other words, Paul uses the OT to provide justification for the NT.
9. Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Paul here particularly referring to the OT says that the words of God are profitable for numerous things. The OT Scriptures are important and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
10. Deuteronomy 32:45-47. “When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶ he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. ⁴⁷ They are not just idle words for you-- they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." The words of Scripture are the words of life. For both the OT and NT saints the OT is made up not of idle words, but words that give life. All of Scripture holds out words of life to those who will hear it call.

---

[1] See Edmund P. Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1988); Charles D. Drew, The Ancient Love Song: Finding Christ in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1996, 2000) and Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., The Messiah in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995).

[2] See Tremper Longman III, Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2001) and Vern S. Poythress, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1991).

[3] Graeme Goldsworthy, The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom (Paternoster Press, 1981, 2000). He writes, “The Christian cannot be committed to Christ without being committed to his teaching. It follows that Christ’s attitude to the Old Testament will begin to convey itself to the Christian who is carefully studying the New Testament” (19).

[4] George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament. Rev. Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974, 1993): 432-434. He writes, “Paul’s use of the Old Testament is not so much to seek a one-to-one equating of prophecy and fulfillment as to place the new redemptive events squarely in the stream of Old Testament redemptive history” (433).

Anti-Christian Riot in Egypt

The showing of a two year old play in a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt sparked a riot brining about 5,000 Muslims descending down upon the church. Police had to use tear gas and rubber bullets in order to quell the crowd. One man was killed after being trampled in the mob. Muslims tried to storm St. George Church as they pelted the building with stones. The DVD was a taped performance of a play entitled "I was Blind but now I can See." It portrays the story of a Christian who turns to Islam and later becomes disillusioned with his new faith. He is later "saved" by a Muslim. Egypt's Ministry of Interior described those rioting as "fanatic elements" but one has to wonder if 5,000 people are all fanatics confused about the true nature of Islam or 5,000 people who see the very heart of Islam as being anti-Christian.

Culture and Worldview

Some brief thoughts about culture and worldview: Culture is the “how” and “what” of life. A worldview is the “why” behind the “how” and “what”. Culture is the “how” of life. It is how we live out our lives having been shaped and molded from birth. It is also the “what” of life. What is life made up of? What is the world and what is our place in it? On the other hand, worldview is the “why” of life. It seeks to explain the “how” and “what” of life. Worldview functions to explain how we do things and what those things are in relation to God, the world, and self. While some distinction can be made between the two we must be careful to not press their differences. There is an intricate reciprocity between the two. Culture helps shape and form worldview, but worldview also shapes culture. One cannot exist without the other.

God's Work in Salvation

Will Metzger, in his excellent book on evangelism, argues that salvation is an absolute work of the sovereign and living God. He artfully spends most of his book describing and declaring the depravity of sin and the glory of the gospel. While his book has some detail on methods it is primarily based about the message – the gospel of Christ. He beautifully proclaims the work of our mighty God in salvation:

So God, in Christ, calls to us in our complacency. We hear the outward call offering good news, but we are unwilling. Then the Holy Spirit enters the basement and turns up the heat of conviction. We now have an inner urge, a desire to get out of that house. That desire is fanned into a passionate flame by Christ’s alluring beauty and his provision of a place of safety and love – at home with the Father and adopted into his family. I became willing and choose Christ because of what I desired in my mind was changed by God’s empowering, evocative grace! Sovereign grace gives power to obey, as well as grants pardon for disobedience. My will is freed.

Thoughts on Orality

In a class discussion I was recently asked the following. Below is my answer. About 70% of the world consists of oral cultures -- people who do not, cannot, or will not read. 50% of the world is illiterate and over 70% of the Unreached People Groups of the world are illiterate. Using oral methods like Chronological Bible Storying allows missionaries to win and disciple people from those cultures but many find these methods too "loose" since there is no written Bible. Consider that about 2/3 of the 6809 languages of the world do not have a scrap of Scripture. How can we use oral means to share the Gospel? Is an oral format enough? What if they never get a Bible? How can you adjust your methods while ensuring that you do not change the message? ---------------------------------- Orality has its limits and I think those limits need to be recognized. Chronological Bible Storying is helpful in evangelistic and new Christian contexts. However, it cannot be the end. For discipleship to continue there must be a progression of faith and understanding of Scripture. I think we need to be careful of saying that just because 70% of the world consists in oral based cultures that we should exclude or minimize the written word. Literacy is not a bad thing and I believe it is something that we as Christians should strive to bring to those remaining peoples who have no written language. With that being said I don’t think that written language is an end all either. Both oral and written language communication is helpful and important for sharing the gospel. If a people group were to never receive a written Bible in their own language then I don’t think they would be ostracized from Christ. I doubt the repentant thief on the cross was able to read from the Scriptures, before he entered paradise with his Savior. For salvation one must only hear the word proclaimed and then respond by believing and confessing Jesus is Lord. Nonetheless, for Christian maturation I believe that the written word is needed. God, in the mystery of his providence, has chosen for His Words to be written down. This began with Moses and has been carried on throughout the ages. A danger of having no written Bible is that over time the possibility of the oral word becoming corrupted is too great. God has his word written for its preservation. It has been kept securely for thousands of years. If his word is to have any abiding affect in a culture for many generations than it must become ink on paper. If at the very least just for the sake of its preservation. Another problem particularly with Oral Bible Storying is when one comes to the epistles. Storying is just that – telling a story. Try explaining Ephesians 1 or Romans 9-11 in a story. These texts are written in propositional language and while their truths can be illustrated with stories the truths themselves – the way God has chosen to word his words – are given propositional statements. Some cultures may think more abstractly while other more concretely, but this does not negate the fact that both cultures need to learn and understand communication in both abstract and concrete terms.

Cultural Anthropology

Stephen A. Grunlan and Marvin K. Mayers, Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1979, 1988. Cultural Anthropology is an introductory book written by two Christian anthropologists for Christian missionaries and pastors. The sub-title declares after all that it is a “Christian Perspective.” Grunlan and Mayers have taken various insights which they have learned from studying anthropology and have applied it to the Christian context. They have correctly noted the usefulness of anthropological study for the task of missions in particular and any cross-cultural encounter in general. One of the most helpful contributions this book provides is its discussion of Cultural Relativity in relation to Biblical Authority. Cultural relativity is achieved when one recognizes that no two cultures are alike and that those differences do not necessarily constitute matters of validity or non-validity. The rightness of wrongness of culture cannot be determined solely by comparing it with another culture. This recognizes that every culture has problems and no culture is superior to the other. Yet, if one held only to cultural relativity than one would slide deep into a morass of relativism. Everything in every culture would become acceptable and right. It is here where it becomes necessary to recognize the authority of the Bible. Biblical absolutes help ground cultural relativity. In fact, biblical authority is the bedrock foundation upon which cultural relativity is built. Biblical authority shows that there are some things within culture and transcending culture which are wrong. Scripture is the ultimate authority in matters of right and wrong. Every culture and every cultural practice must be weighed by the teaching of Scripture. Therefore, “each culture defined the situation (cultural relativity), but it was on the basis of the biblical principles (biblical authority) that the action was evaluated” (260). Such recognition of biblical authority keeps cultural relativism in check. Unfortunately, the book suffered from what I thought were some basic shortcomings which affected its usefulness. First, throughout the book, there is a quiet tendency to drift more toward cultural relativism than toward biblical authority. Of course, this is after all a fine line and I am sure that no one can walk it without falling, yet I do believe that Grunlan and Mayers were in danger of falling off in numerous places. While for the most part I agree with their understanding of cultural relativity and biblical authority I don’t think we should hold to it to tightly. There are many times where the Bible may not specifically speak to an issue and yet one culture may have a better way than the other. Cultural relativity can tend to smack of arrogance in saying that both cultures are right. What actually needs to be done is for both cultures to have a willingness to listen and learn from each other. There may be some things that are “culturally relative” but should none the less be changed for the better of the culture. One of things that what most annoying in reading this book is that for most chapters it read like a dictionary with examples. They would define a term and then provide a few examples from some preliterate culture and then define another term along with more examples. There didn’t seem to be much of a critical evaluation of the terms they were borrowing from secular anthropology. Maybe the inclusion of more in-depth case studies would have proven more helpful than just brief illustrations of the definitions they provided. One can quickly get bogged down in trying to remember what endogamy, proximic communication, sororate marriage, and phratry are. Thankfully they at least provided a glossary of terms at the back. Despite a lot of the profuse vocabulary the book remained rather readable. The illustrations helped move the book along, but after a while they grew tiresome. I would have enjoyed them using more illustrations from western and Middle Eastern countries along with the smaller tribal communities which they primarily used. This book is written for a selective audience. Those interested in tribal missions in particular and those who have an interest in other cultures would benefit from reading this work. I honestly question its usefulness for pastors who already know the culture in which they minister. Yet, for the missionary it does help awaken their eyes to be prepared for what they are about to step into when they first get off that plane and enter into a new culture.

Mr. Freethinker

A guy nicknamed “Freethinker” left a comment on my blog so I naturally checked out his blog. As a humanist atheist, Freethinker’s blog is a splash of color and life, yet sadness and death. This is the subtitle of his blog: Freethinker: "One who forms opinions on the basis of reason independent of authority; especially one who doubts or denies religious dogma." I left the following in the comments section on his blog. ----------------------------------------- "Freethinker": Thanks for stopping by. Of course the Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is not just for homosexuals. It is for all of those who seek to pervert that which is good. FSF is actually a radical perversion of how sex was intended. Such a perversion is the result of rebellion against God their Creator. Of course, you personify this rebellion in your blog and by your very assumption of being a "freethinker." This is what the Bible says: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." I like your definition of a free thinker. Unfortunately it is rather naive. In your free thinking you have only traded in the true God of the Bible for a false and enslaving religion with yourself and/or reason as god. You rule your life and you have traded in one "religious dogma" for another. You are now your own authority. If you are not your own god than from your definition you seem to have placed reason as your deity. For many, reason becomes their sole authority and religion. The very sad thing is that reason is so corrupted. Interestingly, you unwittingly exalt reason as an unquestioned, infallible and sure dogma. The very thing you despise in “religious” people you end up doing yourself with reason. It seems that you have placed a lot of your faith in reason and reason alone. Do you really believe that you can reason independently of all authority and religious thought? This is only possible if you were to exist in a vacuum of nothingness. You are shaped by authority and by religion. I no doubt believe that you are a very religious person. Of course you reject Christianity, but you seem to have developed your own atheistic religion. One of the main tenets of such a man-centered religion is the rejection of Jesus Christ and the only true religion he offers. As the Bible says you have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. I would much rather be labeled as a critical thinker. One who seeks after the truth and determines its validity or invalidity through careful study and attainment of knowledge. Such free thinking to which you espouse only results in a free fall of the mind and soul. Have you ever read completely through and understood that which you so quickly denigrate – the Bible? Do you understand truly the message of Jesus Christ? Yet, by rejecting the God of the Bible and his Son Jesus Christ you have allowed your thinking to become futile and as punishment God has given you over to your sin. However, God is in the habit of saving and changing those who hate him. Paul, one of the main writers of the New Testament hated God before his life was changed after he realized who Jesus Christ was and what Christ had done. In fact, he actually killed Christians, much worse than your denigration with words. Yet, God demonstrates his love for the world in this way – while we were still in our sin, still with our corrupt God hating minds – he sent his Son to die on the cross to take away our sins. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved. Your mind will be renewed. Your thinking will be aligned with the way it was created to be. You will know your God, your creator. Of course, all this only appears as foolishness to those who are perishing, to those who reject and hate God. Yet it is the greatest wisdom to believe in the one who created you. Whether you believe it or not you were created to worship, you were created religious. Yet, because of the sin of your heart you have rejected the only way to restore true worship to the one and only true God. By believing in Jesus Christ you will restore that relationship. This is not foolishness, but hope and life for now and in the next. Thank you for your time in reading this. Thank you for posting your comment on my blog. Please feel free to respond if you would like. I would very much like to hear your thoughts about what I have said. By the way I agree with you – I would rather listen to Green Day over Stryper any day! I certainly think they are right in Jesus of Suburbia. Many who claim to be Christians have so distorted Christianity that it has become unrecognizable. Too many Christians offer a watered down Jesus tailor made for what people want – what will make them feel good. This is not at all how the Bible presents the almighty Son of God. They are also right: “No one ever died for my sins in hell as far as I can tell.” Jesus did not die in hell; he died on a cross some 2,000 years ago outside of the city of Jerusalem. It was there he died for the sins of those who believe on him. And three days later by the power of God he arose from the dead and now he stands at the right hand of God the father awaiting the time of judgment and salvation. “As far as [you] can tell” Jesus may never have died for your sins, but I tell you the truth – if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. You will not stand condemned. You will have eternal life. You will not stand at the “end of another lost highway” but you will stand before the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life. Foolishness…maybe. Words of life – definitely!

Turkey and Austria

Austria is becoming a thorn in Turkey's side in regards to getting the talks for EU membership underway. Austria wants to be able to offer Turkey, what amounts to a second rate EU membership, in case full EU membership breaks down. Turkey adamantly rejects this "second-class status." UPDATE: Talks have begun...

San Fran's Folsom Street Fair

On September 25, 400,000 people from the homosexual community congregated in San Francisco for the purpose of raising money to benefit homosexual and AIDS agencies. The event, ,Folsom Street Fair (click at your own risk - homosexually activities pictured), raised over $265,000. Yet, the interesting thing is that hardly any of the media has picked up the story. Why? Because of what takes place at this event. Let's just say it makes Sodom and Gomorrah look mild. Baptist Press has an interesting article on the event and its lack of media coverage.