Christian Freedom is Neither Blue nor Red

Last updated on: October 31, 2019 at 3:41 pm by D. G. Hart

Christian Freedom is Neither Blue nor Red 2019-10-31T15:41:45-04:00 D. G. Hart

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Reformation Day, mentions of Martin Luther are legion. This post is not about Luther per se but builds on his 1520 pamphlet, The Freedom of a Christian, to underscore the spiritual nature of the gospel and the liberty it promises. Luther distinguished between the inner man, which enjoyed complete freedom, and the outer man, which was servant to everyone and everything.

Keeping that distinction between the spiritual and temporal is difficult because many Christians want faith to be relevant to all of life. Or sometimes they want the gospel to be on the right side of the political divide, such as Commonweal’s recent criticism of William Barr’s speech at Notre Dame on religious freedom:

Barr’s speech was a snide version of conservative Catholic boilerplate, designed not to persuade anyone but to flatter true believers and incite the troops. Barr claimed that “Christianity teaches a micro-morality. We transform the world by focusing on our own personal morality and transformation.” But this “micro-morality” has more to do with Republican Party orthodoxy than with the Gospel. So much for the long record of the church’s support for labor unions and a robust role for government in caring for the poor and promoting civic virtue. So much for Catholic social teaching, period. Barr seems to believe the church can tell you what is moral in the bedroom, but not in the workplace or the marketplace.

Entirely missing here is Luther’s distinction since the argument locates one version of Christianity on the Republican side of the aisle while church has historically stood with labor unions and welfare for the poor (read Democrats). Roman Catholics might miss what Luther was saying if they identify Christianity with law rather than gospel. That leaves competing moralities prey to either the Democratic or the Republican civil religion. Luther’s point was to abandon moralism, whether William Barr’s or Commonweal’s.

Another failure to capture Luther’s point about Christian liberty comes when trying to turn the God of the reformer’s famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress, from a fortress into a refuge. From what threats and perils do Christians turn to God for help? Chris Gehrz says that the answer has to do with the way that God will be exalted among the nations (from Psalm 46):

How will it come to be that God is exalted among the nations? How will the eternal God be exalted here, in a world of change and tumult and collapse and conflict?

Not with us looking down on a battlefield from behind the cover of walls and shields. God will be exalted among the nations because we go out among the nations. God will be exalted in the earth because that’s where we live and serve.

God will be exalted when we relax our stance, come out from behind our positions, and dwell among neighbors and enemies alike. We will be still together; we will know God together. Together, we will come into God’s refuge and God’s strength.

As true as that may be that God is glorified by peace and stability in this world, it is fairly distant from the kind of fortress that Luther had in mind when he talked about Christian freedom. The real threat to people is not war, poverty, or hunger because these are temporal aspects of human existence. The real perils were and remain sin and its consequences for judgment day. God only became a refuge and a fortress against sin and the devil when Christ took upon himself the sins of the world and rose victorious from the dead. That leads to a Christian freedom that English Protestants confessed about 125 years after Luther but that still echoed the German reformer:

The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law; and, in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin; from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as also, in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law. But, under the new testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected; and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of. (Westminster Confession 20.1)

And in case you think this sounds like political liberty, English Protestants followed Luther again when they quickly insisted that the freedom of the gospel had little to do with political freedom:

because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another, they who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. And, for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are … destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the church, they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against, by the censures of the church. (20.4)

Image

Westminster Confession

William Barr

Previous Post

October 30, 2019

Was John MacArthur Channeling His Inner Aimee Byrd?

Next Post

November 5, 2019 Defining is not Belonging

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2016 Presidential Election 2020 Presidential Election Apocalypse Bible in American Life Biblical authority Books and culture Calvinism Church Life Civil Religion Culture Wars Doctrine evangelicalism Gullibility Heaven and Hell Intellectual life Jesus Ministry modernity moralism Nationalism New Testament Old Testament Otherworldiness Otherworldliness Paul Peter Piety Popular culture Protestantism Psalms Puritans Race Roman Catholicism sacred/secular distinction Sex Shameless Self Promotion Sports Ten Commandments U.S. politics Uncategorized vulgarity worship

Select a Month January 2022 October 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz