10 responses about Church, culture, and social pressure

Theological thoughts to set the record straight on 10 misconceptions about the Church and its relationship with culture and society.

 

1. The church only faces real danger from external threats when it has already been significantly weakened by internal conflicts.

Response: This statement overlooks the persistent and significant external threats against the Church throughout history. Internal conflict certainly weakens her, but external threats require double vigilance and steadfastness in faith (Ephesians 6:10-18). Especially for the fact that conflicts inside the Church can be addressed and settled with the Word, while external threats are the ones who battle against the Word. In other Words, internal conflicts may be an opportunity for strengthening the Church in the Word, while external threats are the occasion in which failure and destruction may fall upon a given congregation/Church body.

The  Book of Concord emphasizes that both internal discord and external persecution have historically posed significant threats to the Church's mission and unity. Martin Luther, in his writings, also underscores the importance of both maintaining doctrinal purity within the Church and being prepared to face external opposition with the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

2. If Christians respond to attacks on their faith with insults and threats, they risk deepening the divide between themselves and non-Christians. Such reactions won't lead to conversions and will only blur the lines between the Church and the rest of society.

Response: This reflects a common trend in online interactions, particularly on social media websites. It is the subjective labelling of language based on agreement or disagreement. When someone uses strong words to disagree with a position, their words are often dismissed as "insults" or "threats." Conversely, if people agree with it, the statements may be celebrated as "a firm stand against injustice and error." This is evident, for example, when individuals engaging in illegal acts are labelled "activists," while others doing similar or even less significant things are branded "fundamentalists." While the Church must remain charitable in speaking the truth, it is equally important for the Church to not accept labels that misrepresent its identity.

This approach also neglects the necessity of defending the faith while remaining charitable. Martin Luther’s approach in his writings shows a balance between firm defense of the faith and pastoral care. Ephesians 4:15 encourages speaking the truth in love, which is essential for maintaining the Church's witness. The Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article X, emphasizes the importance of handling doctrinal disputes with both firmness and Christian love, maintaining the Church's distinctiveness without resorting to worldly methods.

3. If our hatred for the ideology we consider non-Christian is greater than our love for the gospel, we cannot be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Response: This argument wrongly labels the Church's firm and prophetic voice in the world as "hatred" rather than recognizing it as a necessary proclamation of truth. Where true hatred is present, then it cannot be considered the voice of the Church. What happens is that this perspective misinterprets the biblical mandate to stand against false teachings, confusing it with hatred. It assumes that expressing love means only saying "nice words," whereas true Christian love encompasses both Law and Gospel. The Gospel offers Christ’s redeeming forgiveness, but it only does so after the Law has exposed sin and guided the repentant heart to Christ

While love for the Gospel should indeed surpass all, the Bible also calls for the rejection of false doctrines and practices (Augsburg Confession, Article VII). The balance is in maintaining the purity of the Gospel while showing love and compassion. Luther's distinction between Law and Gospel helps maintain this balance, ensuring that both are properly applied in Christian witness.

4. If the church's membership consists of people whose conversions are insincere, it risks succumbing to cultural pressures.

Response: While one can surely know a tree by its fruits, this statement creates a judgmental approach towards fellow believers and could lead to division within the Church. "Insincere conversion" is something that is hard to be established as a fact, as we watch frequent instances when Christians accuse each other of "feeble, insincere and not converted", each side thinking they are on the right side of conversion. This spirit is captured when the phrase is used "The Church needs another Reform", always referring more to "other people's churches" than to the Church of the person utilizing that sentence.

Biblical Theology emphasizes the importance of faith and grace, not human judgment, in determining one's standing before God. True faith and conversion are the work of the Holy Spirit, as explained in the Luther's Small Catechism’s section on the Third Article of the Creed. The Augsburg Confession, Article V, reinforces that conversion is solely the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace (Word and Sacraments), and human judgment cannot determine the sincerity of one's faith.

5. Poor theological preparation of pastors makes the church an institution of spiritually immature members, ill-equipped to face the hostility in the culture.

Response: One can certainly find examples of poor preparation of pastors, especially when formal education is lacking. But when the word "theological" is used, more is involved. All Churches that erect Seminaries and Theology schools and invest in Theological preparation of their Pastors don't do it lightly. If the Theological content is "poor" or "rich", it is a rather subjective than objective assessment. Also, It overlooks that theological growth is a lifelong process for pastors and their congregations. Defending this argument would oblige us to bring forth the parameters by which a pastor will be considered "rich" in Theology. Pertinent is also the reflection about how much needs a member to be equipped to leave the "ill" section, since many congregations have faithful and lifelong members who might not pass a given theological test.

As for Lutherans, we are on the formal education track. The Book of Concord on its turn insists on the importance of sound doctrine and education for pastors. Luther’s prefaces to his catechisms stress the need for thorough and ongoing theological training (Large Catechism, Preface). Additionally, C.F.W. Walther, in his "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel," highlights the necessity of continuous study and application of Scripture for pastors to rightly divide Law and Gospel, thereby equipping them to address cultural challenges effectively.

6. Aligning unconditionally with progressivism to avoid conservatism, or vice versa, creates an imbalance in character.

Response: This affirmation is rather shallow, for it oversimplifies complex theological and social issues by framing them as binary choices. Churches that really strive to proclaim the Gospel of Christ are never interested in siding with any human or political choice, and don't oversimplify topics that demand careful approach. At the same time, it may create a false equivalence of two sets of principles which are frequently in completely opposite sides when it comes to faith, life, society and culture.

The Lutheran tradition encourages discernment based on Scripture rather than political alignments. Article VI of the Augsburg Confession emphasizes that faith should produce good works, which are guided by the Word of God rather than political ideologies. Martin Luther's teachings often focused on the need for Christians to engage the world with a biblically informed conscience, avoiding the extremes of political partisanship and instead upholding scriptural truths.

7. The church beautifies life in society when, instead of responding with hatred to cultural pressures, it penetrates culture through different roles and functions inside it.

Response: On one hand, this argument connects to one of the previous ones, when the Churches firm instance in some topics may be labelled as "hatred" when it is not. Also, it implies that cultural engagement alone is the core foundation for the church’s mission, which may romanticize the involvement of Christians in society as a driving force to transform it. This could imply that it would complement or supplement the preaching of Law and Gospel and the proclamation of Christ.

The Lutheran Confessions emphasize the proclamation of the Gospel as the primary mission of the Church (Augsburg Confession, Article IV). Cultural engagement should be a result of faith, not a substitute for the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen. Martin Luther valued vocations in various fields, seeing them as opportunities to serve God and neighbour, but always in the context of a life centred on the Gospel.

8. The church cannot withstand the pressures of modernity—rooted in both right and left-wing ideologies—without the power of a renewed love for Christ. This love must triumph over all other passions, not through mere moralizing, but by captivating hearts with the truth revealed in God's love through Christ.

Response: While, again, an imprecise equivalence is generated by this argument, it is important to underline that the Church cannot resist societal pressure with her love for Christ, but only with Christ’s love for her, for when we are weak, then we are strong. 

While moralizing is not the goal of the Church, for the Gospel alone, rather than moralistic preaching, has the power to change hearts and create a new love for Christ, moral teaching is an integral part of Christian proclamation. Good works are necessary - not for salvation, but for the witness of Christ and the benefit of our neighbour. The Formula of Concord (Epitome, Article IV) stresses that, while it is the Gospel that transforms hearts, good works follow true faith.

9. Dead orthodoxy (preaching the truth without embodying it) is as lethal to the life of the church as theological and relativism behaviour.

Response: It presents a false dichotomy between orthodoxy and lived faith. If orthodoxy is dead, it is not orthodoxy anymore, for there is no orthodoxy without orthopraxy - or at least an earnest attempt at it. The Lutheran tradition upholds that genuine faith produces good works (Augsburg Confession, Article VI). Faith and practice are intrinsically connected, as Luther’s catechisms teach. Francis Pieper, in his "Christian Dogmatics," stresses that true doctrine must always lead to sanctified living, embodying the truth of the Gospel in daily life.

10. Our selective approach to the causes we support often leads the world to view us as hypocrites, which in turn can erode the respect they have for us. In such cases, the struggle for cultural influence is essentially lost without hope of recovery.

Response: This argument sounds as an attempt to invalidate legitimate protests by questioning the priorities of the Church. The core issue here is who defines the agenda for the Church: those who believe they know better what the Church should focus on, or the Church itself, which seeks to proclaim and defend the Gospel. It assumes a false equivalence between different moral issues and it assumes a role of defining and judging the Church's agenda according to what one thinks should be the topic of the day.

The Lutheran tradition emphasizes the comprehensive application of God’s law and Gospel. Hypocrisy should be avoided, and engagement with societal issues should be consistently grounded in Scripture and the teachings of Christ (Augsburg Confession, Article XX). The Church has its right and its way to address what she thinks is appropriate when it comes to culture and societal pressures, always with biblical consistency and ensuring that the Church's witness remains credible and faithful to the whole counsel of God.

 

Speaking with grace and truth, the Church should never be stopped from proclaiming God's Word. This includes both the law, which points out sin, and especially the Gospel, which points to Christ. Christianity is counter-cultural and must remain so whenever culture clashes with the Word of God. The Church's role is not to conform to societal expectations but to faithfully speak God's truth in love. By addressing issues through the lens of Scripture, the Church fulfills its calling to be a beacon of hope and truth in a world that desperately needs both.