“A great gulf separates the scriptural picture of the Church’s spiritual mission and the social, economic and political aims proposed by the ‘Confession of 1967’ ”
Abraham Lincoln, that master story-teller, once told of a farmer who was trying to teach his son how to plow a straight furrow. After the horse had been hitched up and everything was ready, he directed the boy to keep his eye upon some object at the other end of the field and plow straight toward it. “Over there is an ox,” he said. “That will do.” The boy started plowing and the father went about his chores. When he returned a little later to see what progress had been made, he was shocked to find, instead of a straight line, something that looked more like a question mark. The boy had obeyed his instructions; the trouble was that the ox had moved!
We can make this kind of mistake in writing creeds and confessions. Instead of keeping our eyes centered upon the unchanging and incorruptible Word of God, which, as the Apostle Peter says, “liveth and abideth forever,” we can set our eyes on the word of psychologists, philosophers, and theologians, all of whom are but fallible, changing, sinful human beings. Unwittingly we may end up following a moving ox.
What, after all, is our criterion of truth? The Shorter Catechism tells us plainly: “The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him” (Q. 2). The Bible alone is timeless and changeless, a foundation that cannot be shaken, the inspired and infallible Word of God.
Just how far the proposed “Confession of 1967” of the United Presbyterian Church departs from this divine standard becomes evident when we examine what it says about the Church of Jesus Christ. Let us first see what the confession has to say about the mission of the Church, and then see what the Scriptures say.
The confession finds the pattern for the Church’s mission in the “life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ”:
“His life as man involves the church in the common life of men. His service to men commits the church to work for every form of human welfare. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all the sufferings of mankind so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of the poor, sick, and oppressed. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on man’s inhumanity to man and the awful consequences of its own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming the church sees the promise of God’s forgiveness for all wrong and the renewal of society in all aspects of its life” (11. 214–24).
This theme of social renewal is dominant in the confession’s description of the mission of the Church. “So to live and serve,” the section concludes after the paragraph quoted above, “is to confess Christ as Lord.”
The confession calls attention to three “particular problems and crises which call the church to act” at the present time. The first is discrimination: “God’s reconciliation of the human race creates one universal family and breaks down every form of discrimination based on alleged racial or ethnic difference” (11. 298–300, italics added). This means that we ought “to bring all men to accept one another as persons and to share life on every level, in work and play, in courtship, marriage, and family, in church and state” (11. 301–3).
Secondly, there is the problem of “conflict among nations”: “The church is called to practice the forgiveness of enemies in its own life and to commend to the nation as practical politics the search for cooperation and peace” (11. 310–13).
The third problem presently calling the Church to action is “enslaving poverty” (1. 320), whether caused by “unjust social structures, exploitation of the defenseless, lack of national resources, absence of technological understanding, or rapid expansion of population” (11. 324–27). Poverty “in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of God’s good creation” (11. 320, 321).
This, then, is what the “Confession of 1967” has to say about the mission of the Church. The ministry of reconciliation of Christ and the Church lies wholly within the social, economic, and political spheres. Let us now turn to the Word of God to see how it describes the mission of the Lord’s redeemed.
The Greek word for “Church” is ekklesia, from ek and kaleo, meaning literally “to call out from.” We are a chosen generation whom God “called … out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). But we were not called into this royal priesthood because of any personal merit. We were “called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (1 Tim. 1:9). This puts great honor and dignity upon being a follower of Jesus Christ. The question now before us is this: What purpose does God have for those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ?
In order to answer this question according to the Scriptures, I made a careful study of the Greek verb meaning “to call,” kaleo, together with its gerund, klesis, and the participle, kletos. These Greek words occur 167 times in the New Testament. I examined each occurrence in order to find out why it was that God called us into his Church. This was a most enriching study, and I am able here only to touch on its salient features. In the great majority of instances, the verb kaleo is used in the Gospels as a simple declarative, such as, “and he called his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25b). But in those places—mostly in the Epistles—where kaleo is used to denote God’s calling out his Church, the majority of its usages fall into two general categories. God calls men into his Church (1) to bring souls to Christ and (2) to build believers up in Christ.
The first of these purposes, then, is evangelism, or the spreading of the Gospel. Paul, for example, was “called to be an apostle” (Rom. 1:1), and he designates himself in this way seventeen times in his epistles. An apostle, Greek apostolos, is literally “one sent from” one person to another with a specific message. Paul considered himself “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). What this gospel message was he tells us in the letter to the Galatians. God, he said, “separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen …” (Gal. 1:15, 16). This is why he was called, to bring Christ to the unsaved.
This is our first and foremost mission as members of the body of Christ. Our Lord defines this as his own mission to earth: “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:13b). It is now our duty to extend that call to all the unsaved. In Second Thessalonians 2:13, 14 Paul declares this to be the eternal purpose of God in Jesus Christ: “… God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It was through the preaching of the Apostle Paul that God extended this call that was in his mind before the world was.
This has always been the essential mission of the Church, to spread the Gospel to all nations, in order to call out a people for His name’s sake. We are not asked to bring the world to Christ: we are asked to bring Christ to the world. The early disciples were not sent out to organize freedom marches or to form picket lines protesting the power of Rome. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins …” was their message (Acts 2:38). This is the Church’s foremost mission: to preach Christ’s redeeming love and saving power.
The second mission of the Church is to build up believers in Christ, preparing them to be fit members of his body at his coming. This purpose of Christ’s ekklesia is also made clear from the use of kaleo. In Romans 8:30 we read that “whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” God’s holy purpose for members of the Church is not only their salvation: it is their spiritual growth and development until final glorification. It was for this reason that Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church … that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25–27).
And it is for this reason that the Church exists. Just as it is the highest function of parents to bring up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4), so it is the divine purpose of our heavenly Father, “who hath called us unto his eternal glory,” to “make [us] perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [us]” (1 Pet. 5:10). Under every condition of trial or suffering or persecution, we are to remember that God is using these means to perfect our growth in grace and in Christ-likeness, “for even hereunto were [we] called” (1 Pet. 2:21a). After sinners have been converted, a lifetime challenge confronts them of growing “up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15). As imitators of Christ, we are called “to peace” (1 Cor. 7:15), “unto liberty” in Christ (Gal. 5:13), to “let the peace of God rule” in our hearts (Col. 3:15), “unto holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7), to be “holy in all manner of conversation” (1 Pet. 1:15). All these are but fragments of the divine image which we are to develop as part of the Bride of Christ. This, then, is the twofold function of the Church according to divine revelation: to bring the unsaved to find Christ as their Saviour, and then to help believers to grow spiritually in Christ, their Lord and Master.
… AND I AM HIS
Today I found a critter on my range
As fat and sleek as any calf I own.
But this fat calf was slick, unbranded, strange;
The burning iron this calf has never known.
O lucky calf, you’ve never known the fright
Of lariat that snatches you in flight.
You’ve never known that hopeless, helpless plight
When strong, unyielding hands have held you tight
And that fierce iron has burned upon your hip
An everlasting mark of ownership.
I pass you by, to ride among my own;
To see with joy how much my calves have grown;
To care for any sickness, any need;
To put my cattle on the finest feed.
My cows, it seems, quite gladly wear my brand.
It seems somehow they almost understand
That they are mine and I will give them care;
And what they are is but the brand they wear.
I wonder, is that calf, unbranded still,
That feeds alone upon that lonely hill
As lucky as I thought he was at first?
No rancher cares if he should die of thirst.
And if at roundup time that calf is lost
No one will search and never count the cost
Of making sure he’s safely back at home
Before the howling wolves of winter come.
It seems I read once in a sacred book,
That sheep is blest that knows the shepherd’s crook.
And someday surely I will understand
How blest is one who wears his Master’s brand.
DON IAN SMITH
By this time it must have become quite evident that a great gulf separates this scriptural picture of the Church’s spiritual mission and the social, economic, and political aims proposed by the “Confession of 1967.” It is to be noted first that this twofold purpose of the Church of Christ is not even recognized in the confession. But that is not all: it is also apparent that nowhere in the scriptural calling out of the Church is there a command to build the world into a place of greater social or political or economic security!
Does this mean, then, that to be “sensitive to all the sufferings of mankind,” to be concerned about “man’s inhumanity to man,” to work for “the renewal of society in all aspects of its life,” as the confession puts it, has no sanction in the Word of God? By no means. These are worthy motives, all of them, and encouraged by Scripture; and they surely have a place in the life of the Church. And yet, having said this, we must make an important distinction.
Such acts of love and mercy, important as they are, are not God’s primary reason for calling the Church into being. They are not the root of the Church’s strength. They are rather the fruits of the indwelling Spirit (Gal. 5:22). The real root of the Church’s mission and strength is the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in a redeemed and sanctified heart. This must remain the primary function of the Church—to keep nourishing these roots; for if the roots wither, the fruit will soon disappear. And if the roots are kept healthy, the fruits will follow as naturally as harvest follows the planting.
Desirable as are these works of social and economic uplift, they can never replace God’s program of salvation and edification of lost souls as the primary function of the Church. As soon as the Church of Jesus Christ substitutes outward political or social or economic activity for inner spiritual life, it loses its force as a spiritual power. At that moment both the Church and the society it is trying to save suffer an irreparable loss.
Nor does this mean that the Church is a body of people interested only in their own salvation. By no means. In my long experience in the ministry I have discovered, as every minister of the Gospel discovers, that it is just those people who have given themselves completely to Jesus Christ and are dominated by the Spirit of God who do most to relieve the poor and needy, visit the sick, and give themselves in unselfish community service. But they do it for a particular purpose. That purpose is not to renew society but to renew the individual in society in his personal relationship to Jesus Christ. This makes all the difference in the world. It is the difference between healing a diseased body or merely giving a sedative for the temporary relief of pain.
But there is more to this issue: the person and work of the Holy Spirit are involved. In the scriptural passages that define the purpose of the Spirit’s coming and his work in the world, I challenge anyone to find a passage that promises his power for the social renewal of pagan society or promises to guide the world to a better secular future. Like the mission of the Church, the Spirit’s present work is related to two general areas, regeneration and sanctification of the believer. Our Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q.35) defines sanctification as “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man alter the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness.”
That this is the present mission of the Holy Spirit is made abundantly dear in Scripture (see such verses as 2 Thess. 2:13, Rom. 15:16, and 1 Pet. 1:2). There is not a word here about the renewal of society or even the adjustment of social or political wrongs. How can the Church expect to go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit unless it stays within those spheres in which the Spirit’s power is specifically promised? And if the Church does not expect to go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit or to carry out his divine mission in this world, then it has no right to call itself the Church of Jesus Christ.
Nor is even this all there is of the matter. To claim that the mission of the Church is the social and economic and political renewal of mankind is to betray a tragic misunderstanding of the nature of the world itself. Mr. World is a very sick old man. Long ago, the Scriptures tell us, he rebelled against God Almighty. Even the thought of God became obnoxious to him. But that was not the end of the story, for God is not through with man when man is through with him. The result was that God gave him “over to a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28), that is, a mind “abandoned to sin.” God as much as said, “All right, Mr. World, you think you know better how to run your affairs. Follow your course and let us see what you can make of it.”
Mr. World accepted the challenge. By now he was a thorough hater of God, and he was determined to prove that through cultural and scientific measures he could improve himself independently of God. In spite of his best efforts, however, the symptoms of a strange disease slowly began to break out all over his body. There were wars, racial hatreds, lawlessness, crime, sex perversions, delinquency.
Mr. World became concerned about this disease and sent for his best doctors, who began treating the symptoms. What was needed, they said, was more social justice, a more equitable distribution of society’s wealth, more equality of opportunity among races. Mr. World tried all these; but instead of getting better, he slowly got worse. Today his condition is so serious that it alarms every thoughtful person.
And now, amid mounting crime, spreading wars, increasing drug addiction, racial hatred, and moral delinquency, Dr. New Confession has come forth with his remedy. It is the same old aspirin of social and economic and political uplift prescribed by the other doctors. The only difference is that this time it has an ecclesiastical coating.
Blind leaders of the blind! Can we not see by this time that there is something drastically wrong with this poor, wretched old man that cannot be cured with pain-relievers? These “remedies” at best are temporary. They may provide a psychological lift, but that is all.
Is there then no cure? Yes, there is. But Mr. World will have to come to the Great Physician, who alone can heal. His disease is sin, and for that there is only one cure. He must come in true sorrow and repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ, accept his atoning work on Calvary’s cross to cover his sin, and then by the mighty regenerating work of the Holy Spirit be born again to a new life in Christ. Long ago God revealed this secret to Solomon. “If my people,” he said, “which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Citron. 7:14). First in the divine order for renewal is removal of sin. Then, and only then, comes healing of the land.
It begins to look as though the scriptural mission of the Church has more sound common sense in it than we may have given it credit for. The ills of society will he solved only as one by one men repent and believe the Gospel. When the sin problem is solved, society’s problem will also be solved. All other proposed remedies touch only the symptoms.
This is not the first time the Church has been troubled with those who would corrupt her doctrinal purity. In the days of Jude, the brother of James, “certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). How did Jude meet the problem? He told the believers that they should “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (v. 3). He urged them to build themselves up in the “most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” and to keep themselves “in the love of God” (vv. 20, 21).
Nor was this experience of the early Church the last of its kind. The Apostle Paul was deeply concerned about this in his epistles to Timothy. He expressly warns that the Lord’s personal, victorious return will be preceded by days of great peril and ungodliness (2 Tim. 3:1), and that the best preparation for such days is to be thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures, God’s inspired and infallible Word (2 Tim. 3:14–17). Among perils of the last days is apostasy: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3).
Never was the need greater than now, not only for the United Presbyterian Church but for every church of Jesus Christ, to face the issue squarely, to build ourselves up in the most holy faith, to pray much, to keep ourselves holy before the Lord. Paul expresses it for us in his charge to Timothy. Let us change one word, so that it reads, “O Church, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20, 21).
We have a noble heritage to maintain. Let us be strong and of good courage, remembering that when the Church of Jesus Christ departs from its true spiritual and ecclesiastical mission and enters into power politics, then America is on the road to ruin.
