The Social Gospel vs. Christian Compassion

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 14:17 ESV)

There is a vast difference between the Social Gospel and Christian compassion.  The first is carnal and the second is spiritual.

The Social Gospel is a Marxist economic analysis and agenda dressed up wrongly in kingdom of God language.  It depends on cobbling together a coalition of aggrieved classes of people to create either a revolutionary army, a cadre of political agitators, or a voting block that functions to re-distribute wealth according to non-traditional criteria.  Usually wealth is gained by work, craftsmanship, service, worthiness, inventiveness, managerial ability, artistry, excellence, productivity, or inheritance.  But the Social Gospel says people have the right to an abstract “fair share” (Peter Singer) for the simple fact of breathing.  It is collectivist, statist, coercive, and does not work, does not achieve the stated goal.  But it does empower and enrich those that promise stuff to one person by using another person’s money.

The Social Gospel fails because it is naïve.  It expects selfish people to have compassion on a grand scale.  But common sense tells us that the circle of compassion is best expressed and experienced in the smaller social circles of family, friends, and local community.  Even on the smaller scale we find that true compassion requires re-birth in the Spirit, a circumcision and softening of the heart by the love of Christ.

Christian compassion as Jesus taught does not think in geo-political or macro-economic terms.  There is no passage of Scripture where Jesus tells government to act with compassion.  He once stood right in front of Pilate, Herod, and then Pilate again … and never said a word about the poor.  When the people wanted to make him king by force Jesus refused and chided them for only wanting bread (see John 6:15 and 25-7).  The New Testament simply does not have a materialistic supposition about human happiness.

Now, some are confused about this.  Nearly all the liberal mainline seminaries teach the Social Gospel and like to quote one passage in the Bible.  The Parable of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:3-46 says that “nations” will be judged by what they do to “the least of these my brothers,” speaking of needy folk.  But “nations” has been a bad translation of the Greek word ETHNOS.  It does not mean nation-states but merely non-Jewish people.  Elsewhere ETHNOS is translated “Gentiles.”  Notice, further, that the analogy says the Judge will “separate people one from another,” referring to individuals.  It’s obvious from these observations that we each will be judged individually for the compassion we show or fail to show toward our neighbors.

A lawyer once asked Jesus who was his neighbor.  Jesus told about the Good Samaritan.  This is found in Luke 10:25-37.  Jesus used a method of spiritualization to re-define for the lawyer who is a “neighbor.”  It is not one that lives next door or down the street.  It is anyone we encounter that has a need that we can meet.  The priest and Levite that walked by the needy man may have rationalized that this man was not their neighbor in the traditional sense.  But the Samaritan had compassion.  Jesus and the lawyer concluded together that if we see a need we are the neighbor!

That is the spiritual Gospel of Christian compassion.  It is roll up your sleeves and help compassion.  It is human compassion not some structural, theoretic, and institutional compassion that requires only that we write a check, carry a sign, or vote our conscience away, though I would never tell anyone how to vote or what to do with their time or money.  My point is that true Christian compassion thinks ultimately in terms of God’s specific calling upon our lives to be aware of the needs of those around us, those that we personally and directly encounter in real time and space.  It is the compassion where human beings see tears in each other’s eyes.

Spirituality Means Zeal for God

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:13-15 ESV)

                Since Augustine the Western Church has been anhedonic.  That means failing to enjoy life and the gifts of God associated with physical pleasure.  Augustine, being a Manichaean that was not fully converted, assumed all physical pleasure was a dangerous sign of sin.  It’s true that the moral tenor of Christianity is decidedly not Hedonistic.  The New Testament speaks of Christian morality in the words of Stoicism, for instance, which says happiness derives from virtue.  But virtue in the ancient world was defined as the golden mean between excess and deficiency.

                As a corrective to Augustine we might point to some things about Jesus.  His first sign was turning water into wine at a wedding.  He said that he came to give life abundantly (John 10:10).  On the third day he arose; he did not stay dead but rose up to enjoy the joy for which he suffered (Hebrews 12:2).  He knew what the Old Testament said:

                You make known to me the path of life;

                                in your presence there is fullness of joy;

                                at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

(Psalm 16:11 ESV)

But there is an exception to this rule, which the life, death, and resurrection of Christ teaches us, and which necessitates the dualistic, cross-bearing, spiritual perspective.  We must advance the Gospel with zeal (not moderation).  We are called to bear faithful witness and always speak the truth in love, whatever the temporal consequences might be.  The Pauline passage above, Galatians 5:13-15, does not say the opposite of flesh is anhedonia but to love and serve, and fulfill the law by doing so.  If we live our life consuming things in this “consumer society” then our moral sensibilities become dull and we end up consuming everything in sight, including each other.

Spirituality Depends on a Dualistic Perspective

Spirituality depends on the philosophical dualism that is the suppositional basis of the New Testament.  It is on nearly every page of the Christian scriptures.  Dualism can be roughly described by the two general categories of good vs. evil.  In fact, that is the primary difference between Western intellectual traditions, of which Christianity is the perfection, and Eastern monism, which says that it’s all the same.

Good and evil branch off into other objects that are opposed to one another.  In time I hope to identify them all and provide the references in a larger work.  There are dozens of dualisms and hundreds of verses.  But for now I will show a few and one passage that supports it.  One verse proves each duality true but might leave the impression that it is a passing remark.  Believe me, the number of dualistic verses, along with historical evidence, means that Jesus, his disciples, and the early Church were predominantly Hellenistic – that is, they used philosophical terms (like form and substance) to convey the Good News of God’s love in Christ to a non-Jewish audience.

According to New Testament dualism, then, the definition of spirituality means to develop a personal habit and lifestyle of choosing between good and evil.  It does not mean to be doe-eyed, ethereal, overly religious, one with the universe, or otherwise strange in appearance, language, manner, or affect.  It means simply to gain clarity and choose well.  Admittedly that is difficult to do sometimes so we need each other, the word of God, and all the other the means of grace that God provides in Christ.

Be that as it may, here is a partial list of New Testament dualities:

Good vs. evil: Romans 12:9: Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (Romans 12:9 ESV)

Spirit vs. flesh: For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17 ESV)

Light vs. dark: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5 ESV)

Mind vs. body: For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:22-24 ESV)

Real/true form vs. shadow: For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. (Hebrews 10:1 ESV)

Heaven vs. earth: If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12 ESV)

God vs. the world: You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4 ESV)

Righteousness vs. sin: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:13 ESV)

Freedom vs. slavery: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:31-34 ESV)

New vs. old: But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6 ESV)

Christ vs. the lawless one: And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8 ESV)

Life vs. death: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

Re-forming the Church

I’ve been recovering from surgery lately subsequent to a boating accident that nearly killed me years ago.  I am reminded of my theme that the body, though wonderful in its recuperative powers, is the weakest and most problematic of our parts.  As Jesus said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

It’s impossible to emphasize too much in this day and age how the New Testament is based on Greek philosophical dualism.  We cannot appreciate as we ought the miracle of the Incarnation or God’s condescending love toward us without first positing the enmity between flesh and spirit.  “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” says Paul (1 Corinthians 15:50) and:

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 ESV)

That being said, I had an interesting conversation with my surgeon last week.  We agreed that there must be some form of intelligence that operates in our bodies on the cellular level and in knitting together damaged tissue.  In other words, our body is not a machine but a living organism in which, as Paul, again, notes, the various parts are intricately linked: the church, or Church, or both, depending on your ecclesiology, is the body of Christ.  In a play on words Paul speaks of each individual Christian being a member of the body.  So just as the physical body has a way of mending itself there must be a way for individual Christians to know what the larger community of believers needs, working as a whole.

That intelligence comes to us through the Spirit and expresses itself in words that we must communicate to each other in preaching, teaching, prophecy, administration, and fellowship.

This is what I am hearing.  I do not trust the emerging church movement.  I think the appropriate word is the reform of existing structures.  The surgical procedure I just endured was called a revision.  The doctor worked on the leg that I have.  He said to me, “Dr. Lhowe had to play the hand he was dealt and I had to work on what was presented to me.”  Both doctors did a wonderful job.  I would almost want to use that word, revision, because I expect great things as a result of this painful procedure.  But historically we know and understand that the Church is in constant need of re-form because of the tendency of the flesh to be weak, sinful, and corrupt.

Who Are the Spiritual Ones?

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. –I Corinthians 3:1

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. –Galatians 6:1

These two verses provide a three-fold and extremely useful answer to the title question.

The first part of the answer can be expressed like this.  A spiritual person has a spiritual perspective, that is, knows the difference between carnal and spiritual, and dedicates himself to learning about and pursuing spirituality.

The second part is an extension of the first.  It is developmental.  If we were to divide the ages and stages of our life into distinct growth categories we’d come up with the same analogies used elsewhere, such as the love chapter of First Corinthians, chapter 13, which says children think like children and adults think like adults.  John speaks of it in three stages, children, youth, and adults (First John 2:12-14).  Hebrews 6:1 speaks of growing in our doctrinal understanding, elementary vs. mature.  The spiritual person, therefore has grown and developed over time, reaching maturity, characterized by fruitfulness.

The third part, more closely related to the second passage above, tells us that the spiritual ones have achieved enough moral purity to correct those caught in sin.

All the categories of thought here are related, though, because the New Testament, spiritual perspective is that the flesh is the seat and occasion of sin, and a constant struggle or cause of conflict.  Even the “spiritual ones” are cautioned against falling into the very sins they try to correct!  But he caution does not negate, dare I say it, the strong moral position from which one might correct another.

To reiterate how the categories of perspective and moral victory work together let us look at one more admonition of Scripture that might help us as we earnestly and diligently pursue spiritual formation, I Corinthians 14:20:

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

The "Crucial" Issue in Spiritual Formation

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. –Romans 8:12-17 ESV

Christianity is a vastly different religion from all others and even the one that came just before it, Judaism, based on the Law of Moses.  The Faith of Jesus Christ is vastly different because it is based on philosophical dualism, flesh vs. spirit.  Ours is a spiritual religion.

In the beginning God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17 ESV).

Then in the salvation historical scheme of things he rescued a covenant people from slavery in Egypt and gave them a law, saying, in effect, that they must choose to obey or perish (Deuteronomy 30:11-20).

Now in the Christian dispensation the Lord raises the stakes; he tells us that if we live according to the flesh we will die.

With the new religion comes a new understanding of God himself.  The Old Testament, for instance, says that Abraham saw the Lord (Genesis 17 and 18), and that Moses saw God’s back from the cleft in the rock (Exodus 33:23), and spoke to him face to face in the tabernacle as God dictated to him the legal code of the Hebrews (Numbers 12:68).

But the New Testament says, in support of the new dualistic religion, “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18, 5:37, 6:46, and 1 Timothy 6:15-16).  One cannot see spirit.

Of course, it does not stop there but the unseen spirit-nature of God is a critical piece of information to absorb if we ever want to understand the radically new religion that came into the world with Jesus, who died on the cross.

The cross is the key to understanding Christianity and our call to discipleship.

The traditional evangelical answer as to why Jesus died is that he paid for our sins on the cross vicariously as the Lamb of God.  The good and holy Biblical word for it is "propitiation."  That is true as the apostolic witness attests in full:  Without Jesus we Gentiles do not have a sacrifice for past sins because we were not given the temple sacrifices like the Jews were given.  It is the sins of "the world” that Jesus takes away.  But that is not the whole story.  If we stop there then we might miss the whole counsel of God.  He calls us to join him on the cross against the flesh, which is required to die in order that our soul may live, “for if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live.”

The paradox is this: if we live according to the flesh we will die spiritually; but if in the name of Jesus we put the flesh to death, figuratively speaking, then the spirit lives.  In other words, we gladly and willingly submit to the sentence of death already passed upon our carnal existence.  That is the strange and unusual way that we live as Christians, in self-denial, making us a peculiar people, because it seems to go against the survive and thrive instinct.

So, the cross is not an altar per se.  It is an instrument of execution.  The Romans executed malefactors on their crosses.  Spiritually speaking, that is, from the perspective of the Spirit, the flesh is the crooked thing about us that has committed crimes against the spirit.  Jesus came for two reasons, “for sin” and to “condemn sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).  The first instance is the cultic, propitiatory sacrifice but the second is how we appropriate it in the way of the cross.  The way of the cross is the condemnation of sin in the flesh because it is mortification of the flesh itself, which houses sin.  No flesh, no sin.  Get rid of carnal desires and you get rid of reasons to sin.

Can we have the one without the other?  Can we have Jesus’ sacrifice for us without presenting our bodies a living sacrifice for him (Romans 12:1-3)?

New Testament probably does not split between judicial pardon and death to self.  The very heart and nature of our religion is at issue in answer to this question.

We may see the answer in Jesus himself, the author and pioneer of our Faith.  Jesus needed no judicial pardon or sacrifice because he was without sin.  But the commandment of the New Dispensation, to live according to the Sprit, applied to him and so he became obedient with his flesh unto death.  Why?  If he had not he could not have been “saved” because salvation, as defined by New Testament dualism, is to be delivered from “this body of death” in the dualistic understanding (Romans 7:24).  That is why Jesus is the “way, truth, and life” and we cannot get to the Father without him, that is, by his cleansing blood and his example of the “way” of the cross.  Early on Christianity was called the “Way” precisely because it was a way to live and find salvation (Acts 9:2, 18:25-26, 19:9 & 23, and 24:22), not a belief system only.

Our Quadripartite Nature, Spirit

The integration of human personality (integrity, health, wholeness, wholesomeness, Shalom, salvation) depends on this aspect of our nature, the highest, which is spirit.

For purposes of illustration let us say that spirit is the “silver cord” that runs vertically through every part of us.  Imagine attached to the lowest end of this cord is the body, like a heavy stick of wood, say, a quarter hewn piece of oak firewood.  From it the cord runs upward to the heart, which can be likened to a red balloon Valentine, full of emotion for what it likes and dislikes, loves and hates.  Now, some hearts are small, shriveled up, hard, dark, and misshapen.  But we imagine the vibrant, warm, beating, and colorful soul of a Christian, whose heart is aflame with the love of humanity, like the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Next our cord runs through the mind, which is like a steel trap.  It captures and subdues beasts of the forest in order to subdue them to the benefit of Man.  But no, that sounds cruel.  Some dedicate their minds to that: to lie in wait, conceiving evil things for fellow creatures, ready to snap, pounce, find fault, judge, argue, and condemn.  But that is not the proper use of the mind.  A more gracious image is to see the mind for its best imaginative qualities, like a pure mathematical equation, suspended above the log and the flowery heart, 2+2=4 in a titanium sculpture of Florentine script.

From there the silver cord runs skyward, up and out of sight and to unseen reaches, into the heavenlies.  The mind has words for the spiritual realm but always speaks by analogy, approximation, and abstraction, symbol, and similitude.  Jesus taught in parables, for instance, arguing from the known to the unknown because that is the best we can do to describe the wondrous mysteries of God!  But spirit is the part of us that connects with God, if we have God.

The Bible tells us about the spiritual realm.  It says, for instance, “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” (Ephesians 6:12).  We see in this passage that the spiritual realm contains not only God, Jesus, and the angels, but also the devil and his minions.

The question for us in spiritual formation is who has the other end of our silver cord “up there,” so to speak?

If evil forces are tugging on our spiritual chain several things could happen, all of them bad.

It is natural that the log of our body touches the ground.  I will boldly say that the Buddhists are correct about the need to be “grounded.”  In this also Freud is right.  Mental health depends on accepting our body and basic physical needs.  As long as we understand the difference between what we want and what we need there should be no problem.  Jesus instructs us to pray, for instance, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  That is a humble prayer for the lowly aspect of being.

That being said, the evil forces, if they are in charge of our lives are likely to drag us through the mud.  All men suffer but there are two kinds of suffering, noble and ignoble.  The difference between the two is the cause of suffering or the cause for which one suffers.  Jesus’ suffering and death was noble on both counts.  Many people sacrifice their bodies in worthy pursuits, from putting food on the table through hourly wages or contract labor, to spending long hours in study, deliberation, or management, to military personnel giving themselves in battle to defend us.  But the indignity of moral compromise is not God’s will for the body.  We are not meant for the gutter or sewer but that is where our bodies may be found if we give our members over to sin and self-indulgence.

Likewise, if an evil force controls the spirit, the heart and mind may follow the body in tragic descent.  We sometimes “look for love in all the wrong places,” for example.  Or we might try to “feel better” by the abuse of substances.  Our hearts may, therefore, fall into a depression, no longer visible above ground, and our minds entertain dirty thoughts.  The carnal mind calculates angles and devises strategies to get what the depraved body and wayward heart “want” rather serve its proper role of finding, serving, preserving, and representing truth.  One of the most frightening things to realize is that the mind can “go,” if we live “in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.”  Satan has practically won if he can drag our minds under.  The first recorded words of the devil came in the form of a question, attacking Eve’s mind, “Did God say …?”  The clincher for Eve in the decision to partake of the forbidden fruit was a false conclusion, “It was desirable to make one wise.”  In other words, she believed propositions put forth by the devil.

It is axiomatic that every feeling of the heart and every action of the body has an idea behind it.  The carnal mind has bad ideas.  The spiritual mind is full of good ideas and beautiful truth.

But another tactic of the devil is to lift us up too high so that we are detached, above it all, arrogant, prideful, haughty, and self-righteous.  In this state no one is good enough for us so we do not love anyone with our whole hearts.  Our minds become overly ambitious; we imagine vain things, refuse to submit to legitimate authority, rationalize failures, and make excuses.  To those too high and mighty the Bible says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

But another thing might happen, which is very confusing, both to ourselves and to those that observe our behavior.  Did you ever cast a fishing line to discover that the baited hook, cork, and sinker were all jumbled up, tangled, and out of order?  Of course, we think, no fish would fall for that mess!  In the famous words of a brilliant politician and mini-messiah, who wants to save the planet from its fever, “What’s up should be down and what’s down should be up!”

All these spiritual ailments, too high, too low, cyclical, or out of sorts, may result from the influence of evil spiritual forces jerking us around, that is, if we eliminate any medical or psychological diagnoses.  For our purposes in spiritual formation we must assume a normal and ordinary soul that wants to grow in the Lord.  This is how we do it: by righteous living, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines communicate to the spiritual world who is your Lord and God.  Let the universe know to whom you give your spirit.

If we choose God and maintain our relationship with him this is what happens: by the Holy Spirit our spirit, and thus our entire being, will be lifted up from the miry clay, or lowered to the fertile soil, whatever we need, for as Scripture says, “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away” (James 1:9-10 ESV).  Likewise, all will be put in its proper place; we are held steady and secure by God, our Father:

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. –Romans 8:15-17 ESV

For the Christian, then, spiritual does not mean being one with the universe because the universe contains evil.  It means to choose God and his holy ways, thereby sending shock waves up our silver cord, to continue with the analogy, causing the evil forces to take their filthy hands off us.  Spiritual means to be comforted, empowered, instructed, and ultimately led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14).  It is by the Holy Spirit that God speaks to and communes with our spirit.  The messages of the Spirit will first come to the mind, become intelligible there.  That is why Paul says, for instance, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).  Likewise, when Jesus rebuked Peter about the way of the cross he said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23 ESV).

How we think about things is the greatest variable in spiritual formation.  But the directions we receive from above, from God’s Spirit through our spirit, in guidance and direction, will be confirmed by the whole of our being because spirit runs through and affects every aspect of our personality.