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Ask Theophilus: Sheep, Shepherds, Writers and Accountants

BAD SHEEP OR BAD SHEPHERDS?

Dear Professor Theophilus:

My ex-church placed a lot of emphasis on discipleship. One of the core principles was that the "sheep" should put utmost trust in the "shepherds" because the shepherds were appointed as spiritual leaders by God, and even if somehow the shepherds misled the sheep, God would make something good come out of wrong decisions. The "shepherds" gave opinions about who we should date, what careers we should choose, and what kinds of extracurricular activities we should get involved with. Although "sheep" were encouraged to test their leaders' opinions against the word of God, the atmosphere of the church was such that if a "sheep" thought a "shepherd" was wrong, he was viewed as deficient in spiritual insight and out of right relationship with God. People who disagreed with the "shepherds" usually left the church.

Lately there has been a big split in the network because of abusive, unbiblical and cultish practices by the leadership. A few friends and I left the church several months ago, but we are still bewildered. It seems that early Christians could easily be accused of being part of a cult — they lived lives that were radically intertwined with one another, sharing even their property, and having every aspect of their life commented upon by Paul. My friends and I are really confused about what we should be looking for in a church. Can you give us any insight into what spiritual authority within a church body looks like?

Here's another problem. We were told by our former leaders as we were leaving that they are aware of the criticisms, that they are making changes, and that we should consider staying and trying to help change the church rather than just giving up. This just adds guilt to our confusion. What does it mean to say that we're "committed" to a church? Is it like a marriage, where divorce is not an option?

Reply

Congratulations on getting out; may God lead you to where you ought to be. You may feel desperately perplexed, but you're asking the right questions.

Your first question asks what spiritual authority "looks like." Its crucial function is to teach, so first and foremost, it is a doctrinal authority. Although it has other functions too, all of them grow from that root. What tortures you is the thought that in the early Church things were different — in fact, that it was pretty much like the group you've just left! However, your picture of the early Church is inexact. Here's where you're right: It was a real community, the Body of Christ, not just a gas of individual atoms who hung around and happened to believe some of the same things. But here's where you're mistaken: You overstate what community involves. Since you say three things about the early Christians, I can illustrate my point by taking them one by one.

"They lived radically intertwined lives." Certainly the early Christians loved each other and carried one another's burdens, and that's profoundly important. But if they had been intertwined in every respect, then some pretty strange consequences would follow. For example, every husband would have been married to every wife, and vice versa. Plainly, that wasn't the case. By God's own plan, there were limits to that intertwining.

"They shared even their property." Certainly they put their wealth at the disposal of the needy, and again you've touched on something crucial. But they didn't share literally everything, owning nothing. The passage you probably have in mind is Acts 2:44-45, which does describe some sort of sharing of possessions among the Christians in Jerusalem. Notice, though, that it couldn't have meant that they were expected to give away all of their property, for the very next verse shows that they continued to live in their homes. Here is what I take the passage to mean. Let's say a man had two houses. He would continue to live in one, but he would sell the other, putting the proceeds at the disposal of the community. Even this arrangement was later changed.¹ The lesson isn't that the early Christians abolished private property and lived a communal life in barracks, but that they went to extraordinary lengths to care for the poor among them.

"Paul commented on every aspect of their lives." Certainly he commented on each aspect in general, but not in detail; he didn't dictate their decisions. For instance, Paul plainly expected Christians to practice their trades honestly, but he didn't tell Aquila whether to be a tentmaker or a weaver. He clearly expected Christians who married to marry godly spouses, but he didn't tell Priscilla whether Aquila was the right man. If the "shepherds" of your ex-congregation went further than Paul did, then they may have pretended to be following the New Testament model, but they were doing no such thing.

Now for your second question. "What does it mean to say that we're 'committed' to a church? Is it like a marriage, where divorce is not an option?" The commitment to the Church is something like a marriage,² but there is a problem with your question. It lies in that little word "a." We aren't united to "a" church, for there is only one Body of Christ. Christ prayed to the Father at his last meal with the disciples "that they may be one even as we are one."³

In these days of division, tens of thousands of different groups call themselves Christian, each of them believing different things. As Theophilus, I haven't the authority to tell you which one is right, but I can offer two pieces of counsel with which all Christians should agree. The first piece is negative: Your task is not to find a fellowship where there aren't any problems. We have the authority of Scripture that there will always be problems. The second is positive: With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, seek the expression of the Body of Christ that most fully manifests the one Church of Christ on earth, and when you have found it, worship there.

Peace be with you,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

BELIEVING AND BELIEVING

(I) Dear Professor Theophilus: My Dad says "I was saved when I was young," but he doesn't pursue a relationship with Jesus. He seems to think that just saying that you believe in Jesus makes you a Christian. I guess he says that to protect himself from hell, because he doesn't pray, go to church, study the Bible, or do any of those other Christian things. Do you see where I am going with this? To be Jesus' friend, won't you do what He commands, like it says in the first letter of John? But I'm not sure what to tell my Dad.

(II) Dear Professor Theophilus: I am currently dating a girl who is wonderful, smart, and makes me happy. She says she is a Christian because she believes in Jesus and believes that He died on the cross for our sins, but she doesn't go to church. Is going to church just as important as accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior?

Reply

This is a deeply practical question, and it comes up so often that I can see I haven't written about it enough. If I were my editor, I'd be taking a deep breath right now, because in times past Christians have gone to war over it, and Theophilus isn't supposed to take sides on either Protestant-Protestant or Protestant-Catholic issues. Count to ten! I think I can answer your question without doing that. What follows represents something like what C.S. Lewis called "mere" Christianity. (Who says professors don't live dangerously?)

When you ask what makes a person a Christian, I don't think you're asking about how survey researchers use the term "Christian." I think you're asking what makes a person right with God, how he comes to have life in the Trinity — in the biblical expression, how he comes to be saved. And here's what's confusing you both: All those passages in the New Testament are about belief. That's also what's throwing off your Dad, Reader I, and your sweetheart, Reader II, isn't it? I'm talking about passages like this:

But these [things] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.⁴

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.⁵

[I]f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.⁶

What these passages say is that you have life in God — you're saved — you're in that sense a true Christian — if you believe in Christ. Is Theophilus going to say that these statements aren't true? Far from it! But let's make sure we understand the meaning of belief. Reader I's Dad and Reader II's sweetheart think belief means mere head knowledge: I believe that the earth is round; I believe that the sun is a hot ball of gas; I believe that Christ died for my sins; I believe these statements are true; and it stops there. Now I won't tell you that the New Testament never uses the term for mere head knowledge. Sometimes it does, like here:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder.⁷

Ah, but wait! Those shuddering demons aren't Christians, are they? They aren't saved; they have no life in God. Yes, you're saved by belief in some sense, but you aren't saved by belief in that sense. Wherever the New Testament speaks of the belief that does change your relationship with God, it uses the term differently: Belief isn't just knowing in your mind the facts of grace; it means saying "Yes" to that grace with your whole self, including your mind, your will, your everything.

How do we know that? For starters, take another look at one of the verses up above — the one that mentions confessing with your lips. It also mentions believing in your heart. You might be thinking, "OK, I get it. Heart isn't head. Belief isn't head knowledge about Jesus. It's feeling real good about Jesus." No, that's not it. In the Bible, the term "heart" doesn't mean your feelings. It means the core of your self, the place from which all your commitments and decisions arise, the place where your identity resides. Saying "Yes" there is the total "Yes" that I'm talking about.

Reader I, you were onto the same idea when you mentioned the letters of John. You should have just kept going! Think about how John used the word believe in this passage:

So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.⁸

Obviously, what John means here by believing God's love is entering into that love; it means loving. But what is love? John explains that too:

And this is love, that we follow his commandments; this is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you follow love.⁹

Are you getting this? Belief in the New Testament sense includes love, and love in the New Testament sense includes doing what God says. That's why, even though sometimes the Bible mentions belief by itself, other times it links it with other things:

He who believes and is baptized will be saved.¹⁰

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.¹¹

The one who believes will be baptized, will practice love, and will keep the rest of God's commandments. Each one of these things entails the other; you can't separate them. That's what to tell your Dad, Reader I. Reader II, you can tell your sweetheart the same thing, but make sure to tie up one more loose thread: Yes, going to church really is one of God's commandments too.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.¹²

As you can see, like all the commandments, it's connected with love.

Peace be with you,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

CAN ACCOUNTANTS WRITE?

Dear Professor Theophilus:

In "Should I Give up My Calling to Follow God?," you wrote, "There is no particular reason to think that [God] would create and adorn you with temperament and talents that pushed you so strongly toward writing, then tell you 'Now be an accountant.'"

I laughed when I read that, because I'm studying accounting at college, but recently I finished writing my first novel. I can't say that the two often go together — but it is possible to be a writer and an accountant!

Reply

Far be it from Theophilus to suggest that accountants can't write! It does seem to me, on the other hand, that not many writers can count. True?

Peace be with you,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

C O F F E E  S H O P

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Do you agree that salvation comes from belief and actions?

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