We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Is Having the “Right” Theology the Core of Christianity?
Last week, we posted a piece by Greg that challenges the practice being violent “in the name of Jesus” toward others who err theologically. (Click here to read this post.) Being that this piece got a lot of attention, we thought it worthwhile to provide some further explication to this point, especially in the light of how common it is in our viral world to express ourselves violently toward others whom we see as wrong theologically. We might not burn people at the stake as Calvin and others did “in the name of Jesus” but much is written today “in the name of Jesus” that contradicts the distinguishing make of true Jesus followers.
______________________________
Someone once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Jesus answered by giving him two, implying that it was impossible to do one without doing the other. “’You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt 22:37-39).
The implication is that it is impossible to truly ascribe worth to God while refusing to ascribe worth to those who whom the Creator ascribes worth. This I why the second command is “like” the first one; it necessarily follows from it. We love God—we affirm the unsurpassable worth of God—by obediently ascribing unsurpassable worth to those to whom he ascribes unsurpassable worth. We love those whom God loves, and we love them the way God loves them. And, God ascribes unsurpassable worth to everyone, as is evidenced by the fact that Jesus died for everyone (2 Cor 5:14; 1 Jn 2:2). We thus manifest our love for God by embracing God’s estimation of every single person we encounter. To do anything less is to fail to ascribe to God the authority, and thus the inherent worth, that he has as Creator.
Christians sometimes try to assess how they or others are doing on the basis of such things as how successfully they conquer a particular sin, how much prayer and Bible study they do, how regularly they attend and give to church, and so forth. And having the proper theology ranks as high, and for many higher, than any of these. But rarely do we honestly ask the question that Scripture places at the center of everything: Are we growing in our capacity to love all people? Even those, especially those, with whom we disagree theologically.
If there is any distinguishing mark of the true disciple from a biblical perspective, this is it! The central defining truth of the believer is that in Christ God ascribed unsurpassable worth to us, through we did not deserve it. Hence, the central defining mark of disciples of Christ is that they in turn ascribe unconditional worth to themselves and all others, knowing that Christ died for them.
This distinguishing mark of love is the central way God’s glory is extended to all the earth, including to those who don’t know Christ. God leverages the credibility of his salvation plan on Christ’s disciples loving as Christ loved! God doesn’t depend primarily on the words of his disciples, nor on their clever apologetic arguments, nor on their ability to concoct ingenious marketing techniques. God relies on his disciples participating in the love that he is and thus replicating it toward each other within the body and toward all others outside the body.
“By this,” Jesus said, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). Jesus prayed that his disciples would replicate the very same love that he and the Father share “so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (Jn 17:23). The thing that more than anything else demonstrates the reality of the loving, triune God is that we embody the reality of the triune God in our relationships with one another and with the world. Nothing less than the credibility of the gospel, the reputation of God, and the salvation of people hangs on our fulfilling the commandment of love.
—Adapted from Repenting of Religion, pages 48-51.
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Love, Non-Violence, Repenting of Religion, Violence
Related Reading

A Revolutionary Kiss
Amidst the violent protests calling for a revolution in Egypt we find a reminder of the utterly unique kind of revolution Jesus calls us to. Love, bless, pray for, do good to — and yes, even KISS — our enemies (Lk 6:27-38). (An Egyptian anti-government activist kisses a riot police officer following clashes in Cairo,…

Where are the Blessed Peacemakers?
Religion Dispatches Magazine posted an article recently on embracing non-violence in the Christian tradition. In it, Elizabeth Drescher argues that the violent imagery in Paul’s writing accounts for a great deal of the violent posturing going on in churches today, but she also argues that these images have been misapplied and misunderstood. She challenges us…

Divine Wisdom
Why doesn’t God end it all and stop the slaughter? Why does God allow suffering and evil to go on so long? Here, Greg offers two possible answers to these questions. Option A is that all evil somehow is designed by God and somehow brings glory to him. But Greg thinks Option B is a better explanation, and it involves…

No Room for Judgment
In the light of the horrible violence in Orlando, and in response to the sickening judgmental statements that some Christian leaders have been making since the mass shooting about the victims who belong to the LGBTQ community, this is a time to remember our calling to revolt against all judgment as kingdom people. In the…

Welcoming Strangers
Zack Hunt shared this video over on his website and we loved it so much that we wanted to share it as well. There are many opportunities to demonstrate the reality of God to the world around us, if we’ll only start to open our eyes and hearts. How might God be inviting you to put his…

Who Killed Ananias and Sapphira? A Response to Paul Copan (#6)
In his critique of Crucifixion of the Warrior God (CWG), Paul Copan makes a concerted effort to argue that the God revealed in Jesus Christ and witnessed to throughout the NT is not altogether non-violent. One of the passages Copan cites against me is the famous account of Ananias and Sapphira falling down dead immediately…