The perennial question of the fate of those who have never heard the gospel is addressed by Robert Haldane.
While it is on all hands admitted that the knowledge of the gospel is highly beneficial, there are many who may hold that it is not indispensable to salvation. This opinion is opposed to the whole testimony of the Scriptures, whether they refer to the way of salvation, or to the condition of all who are strangers to the gospel. From every part of the word of God, it is obvious that salvation comes to none of the human race in any other way than through the knowledge, more or less clear, of the Messiah, before or after his advent. “Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12] Multitudes, however, are unwilling to admit that salvation should be so limited in its extent as to be confined to those who have enjoyed the advantage of a revelation with respect to the Messiah. They have, therefore, endeavored to show that the benefits of Christ’s death may be available to those whom they term the virtuous in all nations, even although they have heard nothing of the revelation of mercy (emphasis mine).
From Exposition of Epistle to the Romans (1858), 670.
Nobody wants to stick out. People may want to lead or be on top, but generally speaking few of us like to stick out from the crowd. We certainly don’t like to stick out when there is no noticeable benefit. This is a proverb that exists in many cultures: The nail that sticks out will be struck down, or, The tall poppy will be cut off.
Christians feel this fear too. They don’t want to be left out and they prefer to fit in, even blend in. But that is where the problem lies. Christians will always stick out unless they are Christians in name only.
Sticking Out in the Right Way
One of the first temptations to deal with is the mistaken pursuit of being obnoxious. Christians can think that they need to be brash in order to be bold. They can mistake the negative responses by others as mini-persecutions when really they are just sick of a Christian’s bad manners. When Paul instructed Titus on the subject he said:
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
Titus 3:1-2
I have wondered sometimes if pastors (as well as church members) need to take a rudimentary course in manners. To even say it sounds quaint and dated. But the fact is that in any culture the norms of courtesy express honour, respect, care and love. These expressions are all the more important when you are in disagreement with someone else. Since they are not at home in this world, Christians are always in a state of disagreement with it. So we need to figure out how to stick out in the right way without being needlessly offensive.
Sticking Out for the Right Things
If Christians are meant to stick out, like a lamp on a stand or a city on a hill as Jesus described (Mat 5:14-16), then they must stick out for the right things. It ought to be clear that what Christians say and do expresses the imitation of Jesus Christ and the fruition of Jesus’ work in their lives. The right thing to stick out for is that you have been called “out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
Ultimately, Christians will stick out because they are following Jesus “outside the camp” in order to “bear the reproach he endured” (Heb 13:13). By following Jesus, they are sticking out for the right things. Other things, such as what we eat, drink, and wear shouldn’t be things that we are overly concerned about (cf. Matt 6:31). And they aren’t things that we should prioritize being different in. There is a certain self-forgetfulness that should apply to such things. We may fit in or we may not. But the key idea is that we stick out because we are following Jesus.
Sticking Out and Ready to be Struck Down
In following Jesus, we know we will stick out. So we can expect the hammer. The world, under Satan’s sway, demands conformity (cf “the elementary principles of the world” Gal 4:3, Col 2:20). When we realize how we are perceived because of our allegiance to Jesus, it will help us to understand what to expect.
As believers follow Jesus, they will resemble the apostles who are “a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.” (1 Cor 4:9). Paul’s experience was that “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” (1 Cor 4:12-13). This is not a recipe for becoming cultural champions.
So we need to be prepared to be struck down. Jesus reminds us that the reception of fierce opposition is part of our witness. In the sermon recorded in the fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus said:
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt 5:11-12
As we receive the blasts of opposition because we are sticking out in the right way for the right things, we join the gospel’s long line of witnesses or rather the “great cloud” of them (Hebrew 12:1). Paul could say:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Phil 2:14-16
If we stick out in this way, we bear witness that something is wrong with the world, and only in Christ can it be made right.
Few people will deny that the topic of sexuality rises to the top of all other discussions in Canada. Even in my own church we talk about these issues frequently. The public tensions center around sexuality in relation to the notion of equality. Yet no one can doubt that the subject of diversity is just as prominent. A Christian cannot ignore these ideas of equality and diversity. And in an interesting juxtaposition, my church hosted a conference that addressed the topic of sexuality, only a week prior to the annual celebration of the local Gay Pride parade.
1. Equality of Humanity
Both the attendees at our conference and the attendees at the Gay Pride festival are all equal in worth, dignity and value. That is the Christian viewpoint. Since all the attendees are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27a), they have an equal standing as well designed, created beings. The design of the human body abounds with evidence of this design, from the microscopic universe of complexity in a human cell to the culture-producing capacity to make create art for the senses.
2. Equality of the Sexes
If the image of God is the first equality that human beings have, the second equality which humans beings have is the equality of sexuality. Since sexuality is the expression of sex, it finds its equal source in the binary sex displayed as male and female. When we consult with Genesis 1:27, we see that this binary division of male and female establishes equality in these two sexes
We know that this second equality applies to sexuality, because in Genesis 1:28, God commends and commands the equal male and female image bearers to be “fruitful and multiply”. This requires the sexual union of male and female; two equals, producing more equals. The equality status is built into God’s design because there are things that have a lower status. In fact, God commands equal, fruitful, human beings to “fill the earth and subdue it” (v.28). Equality is established because the earth, not other people, are placed below human “dominion”.
These equalites that God has established require the high valuation on life that ought to be confessed by all people. Terms today like “pro-life” are just as much “pro-equality”. The unborn child at conception is a human life, and so ought to be treated with dignity, worth and value. The same applies to the elderly or mentally underdeveloped, who are nevertheless equal in worth, dignity and value. No matter the nomenclature we ascribe to ourselves (Baptist, Hindu, Transgender, etc) we are equal in status, worth and dignity because we are created in the image of God.
3. Equality of Corruption
There is third equality that must be looked at before we can consider the diversities. The third equality is the status of fallenness or moral corruption. The tragedy that started it all is recorded in the third chapter of Genesis. Adam disobeyed God by eating what was forbidden (v.6). The result of his action was the equally affecting contagion which touched every human being:
Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”
Romans 5:12
Prior to the spread of this corrupting contagion, human beings were equal in status. But afterwards, they remained equal in status, yet also equally contaminated and corrupt. This equality of corruption is not talking about the quantity of criminal acts. It’s not talking about individual’s lists of sins and their relative length. What it’s talking about is that every person from the goody-two-shoes to hardened prisoner has equality of corruption.
The equality of human beings is the reason why Adam’s sin corrupts all, not just some. The point is an important one because self-identified religious people can act like self-identified gay people are unequal and more corrupt. Of course the reverse is true too. Gay people can act like Christians are moral monsters, and undeserving of treatment as equals.
Celebrating equality is a good thing. It is the gift of a special status which God has given to all people. But we must also recognize that there is an equality of corruption which requires a deliverance, but deserves none. None of us deserves to be delivered from judgment. We are all equally under the condemnation of God (Ro 1:18).
Diversity of Equality
There can’t be a discussion of equality without a matching discussion about diversity. Diversity is built into the creation of equal human beings. Even as God created humanity in the image of God, he created two binary, biological sexes, male and female (Gen 1:27). The second chapter of Genesis shows that there was a diversity to the order of the male and female creation, with man being created first in time (2:7). Without a compatible, equal complement to him, God supernaturally created the woman from the biological material of the man (v.22). This diversity in time did not change their equality, but it established diversity within equality. The man was not a woman, nor vice versa. The man had responsibilities given to him by God, such as naming the animals and naming his co-equal corresponding image-bearer. Only the woman had the diverse characteristics to bear children. Yet equality remains.
Equality was not injured or altered by this diversity. But diversities developed, as equal human couples were tasked to socially separate themselves from their parents, being bound together in a union, and establishing new families. This extension of equality beyond one couple, or one tribe is the essence of equality for all of humanity. Although there is diversity in new heterosexual, covenanted unions that are blooming with new life, every new tribe inherently possesses all the equalities, both positive and negative.
Other Diversities
The binary diversity of sex, means that men and women will differ. They will have biological and social differences. Diversity, as in all art, provides variety and intrigue. The differences between men and women are not in terms of the quantity of their worth, but the characteristics of their design.
All peoples are diverse as descendents of Adam. The biological, genetic diversity cannot dispel the fact that we are all connected to each other at the root. We all possess the equalities, even as we celebrate the diversities. Although people may talk of races in the plural, there is really only one race, that is Adam’s race, which we all share in, however diverse we may be in other ways.
Sadly, all of us would like to deny the equality of value for all people, while at the same time selectively denying the equality of corruption for others. Due to sin, we are constantly elevating ourselves and denigrating others. People can celebrate pride as a virtue, when our equality should make us all humble, even repenting in dust and ashes. As Isaiah said:
“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Isaiah 6:5
Retrieving Equality
I was confronted by the distorted views of equality recently when I had a conversation with a woman via social media.
She had been criticizing our church for promoting a conference on sexuality and gender. Her questions were about equality. Did we believe in ‘equality’? Did we support ‘marriage equality’?
I responded in as winsome a manner as possible, trying to articulate the biblical view of equality and diversity. But she responded that I was speaking in a non-secular way. In other words, my definitions of equality (in keeping with standard English usage) did not correspond to hers. When she said “marriage equality” she didn’t mean the equal status of two binary male and female people joined in a covenant with the design that their union be exclusive and fruitful. She meant homosexual unions being re-defined as marriages. We seemed to be speaking different languages.
So if I understood her correctly, she saw equality as requiring interchangeability or fluidity. Further, like Orwell’s Animal Farm, she also understood that all are equal, but some were more equal than others. I was confessing a realistic view of the world where human beings are equal in value, worth and dignity, yet diverse in binary sex, ethnicity and amazing productive capacities. But this confession was forbidden.
I came away from the exchange realizing that there is a vast language gap between what Scripture says, and what our neighbours are saying, even when they employ similar sounding ideas.
Equality and Diversity in the Message of Jesus Christ
The most important way to retrieve equality and diversity is not by playing language games, but by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Son of God took on the equality of human beings, by adding to himself a human nature (Phil 2:5-11). This was a condescension because the Son who is God is by definition unequally superior to all creatures. Yet by adding this second, human equality, he could welcome a great diversity of human beings to be united to him. He bore their sin, receiving their due penalty, giving them a renewed equality as children of God, objects of the Father’s love (see 2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 3:1).
There is a new message which diverse humanity must hear in all of their equal corruption. It the message of the gospel that will bring together people from every tribe, tongue and nation to worship at the feet of the one who is superior to all, the Lamb who was slain (Rev 7:9).
Summer is a gift of God to a people who live in a cold country. Our summers are short and so there is always a certain urgency. We have to take advantage of the warm (hot!) weather.
The same is true for the Christian life. All people need to take advantage of the gospel offer in this season before the last Day. Paul reminds the Corinthians that “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2).
A Sense of Urgency
It is also a season for calling people to believe in the gospel. This is not just your own personal belief in Christ, but the importance of bearing witness to this news of salvation. The season for this is brief too. And that is all the more reason why we need to have a sense of urgency, even as we are basking in the sunlight of the Son.
Jesus knew this tendency to forget how brief the window is. He said to the disciples:
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (John 4:35)
The harvest was urgently upon them. And they needed to admit the facts. They couldn’t let themselves think that they still had lots of time before the urgency kicks in.
The Unexpectant
In 1866, Charles Spurgeon preached on this passage and he noted how unexpectant Christians had become. He said:
You know that this is the general feeling at present in the Christian church, not to expect any great things now, but to be waiting and watching for something or other which may one of these days, in the order of providence, “turn up.”
We can be quite unexpectant. That is why we are fearful in evangelism, or we are apathetic in it. We just don’t expect that we can do it, or it will do any good. We almost completely take God out of the equation. All we end up seeing is the indifference or hostility of people toward the gospel.
But could it be that the indifferent person is simply being ripened by God, so that their apathy will be arrested by the drama of God’s wrath that rests upon them? (cf. Rom 1:18). Maybe they’ll be shaken by the profound condescension and love of God in Christ Jesus? If you speak the gospel to them, they might be ready to burst in relief at finding a refuge to flee from the wrath to come.
You don’t know this for sure. But you can be expectant of God.
As William Carey said, “Expect great things; attempt great things— for God”.
Enter the Harvest
Summer is a wonderful time. Let’s also remember that it is the precursor to the harvest. Will you pray with expectancy for ways to enter into God’s harvest?
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10.2).
Pray this way and God will make you an answer to your own prayer.
3 Ways You Can Expectantly Enter the Harvest:
Prayerfully reflect on God’s undeserved favour to you, and start praying in concentric circles for the salvation of those closest to you, and progressively further out.
Pray for the Word heard together, in your Sunday gatherings and as people apply it in small groups and one-to-one discipling. Pray that new people would be witnessed to and invited to come and hear the message of the gospel too.
Go and share the gospel with someone and invite them to your church.
Let us pray to be more expectant of what God can do.
