CULTURE—RELIGION—CHRIST
Because culture, in the common use of the word, connotes the attractive and the desirable, it is often confused in people’s minds with Christianity.
Culture implies refinement of taste, social grace, and intellectual and aesthetic training.
We also call a particular stage in civilization, along with the social development and mores of a certain race as culture. The various stages run the gamut from crude paganism of early times to the sophistication in our day. And the influence of culture has, from time to time, been widely reflected in the creative arts and in the political and economic life of nations.
But culture should never be confused with Christianity. Let us take the Apostle Paul for illustration.
Paul was educated and steeped in the culture of his day. But after meeting the risen Christ on the Damascus road and completely surrendering to him, he came to see the clear distinction between those things which produce a cultured way of life and the one thing which reconciles a sinner to God.
Writing to the Christians in Corinth he says: “For look at your own calling as Christians, my brothers. You don’t see many of the wise (according to this world’s judgment) nor many of the ruling class, nor many from the noblest families.… When I came to proclaim to you God’s secret purpose, I did not come equipped with any brilliance of speech or intellect.… What I said and preached was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God! Plainly God’s purpose was that your faith should not rest on man’s cleverness but upon the power of God” (Phillips, 1 Cor. 1:26–2:5 in part).
Paul recognized the danger of confusing culture with Christ, of interposing human wisdom between the sinner and God’s revelation in his Son.
It is because culture is so satisfying to human pride, and intellectual attainments frequently become an end in themselves that the great educational institutions, which were founded for and once were bulwarks of the Christian faith, are now largely enemies of that faith. It is very easy for sophistication to take the place of spiritual perception and the adventures of the mind to lead into a morass of earthbound speculation when the Author of wisdom, the God of the universe, is not relied upon.
That the Christian should develop social graces, refinement in tastes, and intellectual power we do not argue. These things can be used for God’s glory and can certainly increase one’s usefulness as a steward of God’s love and grace.
The world owes a great debt to everything which has contributed to gracious living and to scientific and technological discoveries, the benefits of which we all enjoy.
The point at issue, therefore, is not the worthwhileness of such things, but that they must not be confused with Christianity or made a substitute for those spiritual values which come through faith in Christ alone.
Religion
An unredeemed culture is not the only enemy of Christ, however. Religion can be a deadly obstacle to a knowledge of God. There is a form of godliness which denies the power thereof, a religiosity that becomes a substitute for Christianity. We could even speak of it as a religion of culture. Here we find worshiped the best that contemporary civilization has to offer. Man and his magnificent accomplishments hold the center of the stage. The god of this world has captivated the hearts and minds of the devotees of this religion, and the eternal God of the universe, the One with whom all men must ultimately deal, receives lip service at best and is more often ignored or denied.
In past generations men spoke of “Gospel-hardened sinners,” men and women who repeatedly heard the Gospel message and became hardened through repeated rejection of the claims of Christ.
Today there is another subtle danger—that of being exposed to an attenuated form of Christianity. The result has been a generation that is effectively vaccinated against true Christianity.
Evidences of “religiosity” are all around us. Courses on “religion,” sermons which are ethical but not doctrinal, humanism portrayed as the acme of man’s goal—anything is exalted but the simple Gospel of Christ’s dying for our sins and being raised from the dead for our justification. These activities in the name of religion have all conspired to make many people religious who know nothing of the implications of the Cross.
Culture in its perfection can be utterly pagan. Religion can enlist the devotion and activity of man, but is able to lead a man no higher than his own attainments.
Christ
Only Christ makes Christians, and Christianity exists only as men and women come into a saving relationship with him. In a real sense Christianity is Christ living in the hearts of men.
The Apostle Paul said: “For me to live in Christ, and to die is gain.” And again: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Also he said: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Christianity is a Person. It is also a way of life. But this way of life cannot be lived apart from Christ, for it proceeds from his indwelling us and is the outward manifestation of his presence within us.
Furthermore, there is but one Christ, the Christ of the Scriptures. From the Written Word we learn the historical facts about the Living Word, and through the Holy Spirit we come to an experimental knowledge of our Saviour.
The world desperately needs Christ, for the hope of the individual and of society rests not in culture and not in religion but in a personal and continuing experience with the Son of the living God.
Keenly aware of the person and work of Christ, Satan is unceasingly active among men to provide substitutes for the Cross which appeal to mankind and lead to destruction and to raise every possible stumbling block to Christ and his claim on us.
In pulpits today there is the ever-present temptation to preach ethical concepts without the root of spiritual fact; to equate social graces with Christian behavior; to pander to intellectual attainment rather than humble faith; to confuse the god of this world with the sovereign God of the universe.
Only Christ can give us peace in the midst of turmoil, rest where others are restless, courage when hearts are faint, hope where the world is hopeless, power where spiritual power is wanting and an eternity with him for all who are his own.
L. NELSON BELL
