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On the Peculiar Lives of Christians
Posted by Rastis in Church & Missions, News & Culture
The following letter, The Letter to Diognetus, is part of one of the earliest apologetic writings [You can read the whole thing here]. The purpose of the letter was to demonstrate that Christians were not a danger to the city. The anonymous writer is by no means the last to make such an argument.
For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. This doctrine of theirs has not been discovered by the ingenuity or deep thought of inquisitive men, nor do they put forward a merely human teaching, as some people do. Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man’s lot has been cast, and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not cast out their offspring. They share their board with each other, but not their marriage bed. It is true that they are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all men, and by all men are persecuted. They are unknown, and still they are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonored, and in their very dishonor are glorified; they are defamed, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and yet they bless; when they are affronted, they still pay due respect. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; undergoing punishment, they rejoice because they are brought to life. They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and enemies, and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their enmity.
To put it simply: What the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but does not belong to the body, and Christians dwell in the world, but do not belong to the world. The soul, which is invisible, is kept under guard in the visible body; in the same way, Christians are recognized when they are in the world, but their religion remains unseen. The flesh hates the soul and treats it as an enemy, even though it has suffered no wrong, because it is prevented from enjoying its pleasures; so too the world hates Christians, even though it suffers no wrong at their hands, because they range themselves against its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and its members; in the same way, Christians love those who hate them. The soul is shut up in the body, and yet itself holds the body together; while Christians are restrained in the world as in a prison, and yet, themselves hold the world together. The soul, which is immortal, is housed in a mortal dwelling; while Christians are settled among corruptible things, to wait for the incorruptibility that will be theirs in heaven. The soul, when faring badly as to food and drink, grows better; so too Christians, when punished, day by day increase more and more. It is to no less a post than this that God has ordered them, and they must not try to evade it.
The argument in this letter reflects the tone of those seeking to gain legitimacy as a minority within a larger group. Apologetic approaches from the times and places where Christians are in the majority take on a dramatically different tone. The former arguments demonstrate that Christianity seeks to redeem the community through identifying common goals, lives, values, etc. The latter arguments are more focused on demonstrating the theological differences and uniqueness of Christian belief, values, culture etc. and calling the lost world to be part of that movement. For many generations now, apologists, pastors, and theologians have signaled the alarm that the era of the Christian dominated culture is now over. These voices begin with Schaeffer, who as in most things was ahead of the curve, to a wide array of contemporary voices: Driscoll, McLaren, Keller, Baucham, Frost, Hirsh and countless others. Assuming that this is the case, and I believe it is, then there is much we can learn from the anonymous letter to Diognetus.
- Be part of what exists and look/act the part. We are notorious for carving out little sections of culture for ourselves, or worse, creating copy-cat versions. We are also notorious for the way we look and act, and rarely in a good way. “Xianity” on twitter made the following joke: “CULTURE: Hundreds converted at area mall by Christian dad’s t-shirt depicting clever pun of a candy bar and Jesus’ name.” I grew up with tons of people who would only wear “Christian” t-shirts and listen to “Christian” music—It is little wonder the music industry is suffering and fads from the 70’s are back, something has to fill the void. It amazes me that God made an entire world without stamping a Bible reference on anything, and we can’t even make a breath-mint without “Christianizing” it (and selling it for twice as much…). The author of the letter argued that believers of his day sought no such social dichotomy. There was no “us/them” distinction. Being part of the host group goes beyond vocabulary and dress—though those are important. Rather than live our lives in the “secular” world we carve out similar places. People go to coffee shops and so we create our own coffee shops and beckon the masses to change their loyalties. Rather than redeem existing schools, we copy and paste private Christian schools. When we want to help the community, we go past existing organizations which would gladly receive us and create our own humanitarian organizations which often lack the longevity and practical wisdom to make a lasting impact.
- Take full stake in your life in your host culture. They married and had children and planted their lives there. They thought of their home as a fatherland and themselves as citizens. One attitude that has always bothered me is the platonic notion that this world does not matter since we will all be taken out of it. There is always the weight of eternity, but God loves the here and now nonetheless. He is seeking to restore all things to himself. Just like the exiles in Jeremiah’s day were instructed to plant their lives, so lived the early Christians. We often live with one foot in the kingdom and the other in the American dream. Our spiritual imagination is convicted and inspired by preachers who can cast a vision of an active community reaching out sacrificially to its host community. We often cannot follow this dream because we are too far leveraged as it is.
- Do not claim rights in the culture. This appears contradictory to point two. While early believers were fully vested in their cities, they were at the same time aliens. Content with their status as exiles and foreigners, they did not seek a “place at the table”. Strategically speaking, this mindset is freeing. We are always free to do as we please. Often, we must be willing to take our lumps for doing so. We are afforded certain privileges of freedom in this country, but as those wane, many will echo the sentiment of the Acts 17 apologetics guys. Sadly, rather than retooling and starting new, many will mire themselves in political debate. Life is short brothers, choose wisely.
There are countless other observations which can be gleaned from this letter, but I will leave that to the brilliance and wisdom of the readers. I long for the day when we can echo the sentiment of this letter in our own culture.
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I just attended a seminary class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and I recorded some of the lectures and uploaded them to the internet (with permission). You can access two lectures from Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin on the Letter to Diognetus (as well as the rest of the lectures) here.
Really this is one of the best posts I have seen on this blog in many months regarding mission and Christian witness in a hostile context. Thanks Rastis. I am mostly involved in Christian witness within an Islamic context, and these are good lessons which, I am guessing, apply quite well in secular Europe and largely-Hindu India, and so on.
I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s a certain wisdom in those early Christian writings that has not been replicated in later generations. Thanks for drawing on those ancient sources. The student who knows about the kingdom of God is like the manager of a household who brings out from the storage room both treasures new and old.
–abu daoud
Andrew, Thanks for the link.
Abu Daoud, Thanks for the comment. I think the first century guys have something to teach us about living and operating withing the confines of an antagonistic system.
Good thoughts. I think you have hit on a signficant observation with the combination of “taking full stake in your life in your host culture” and not “claiming rights in the culture.”
I have noticed that, as Christians, we indeed tend to take a different stance toward culture, when we are a small minority (as is the case of Evangelicals in Spain), as opposed to a group with aspirations toward being a majority (as is the case in the USA).
John Armstrong had some very interesting thoughts along this same line the other day in his newsletter, regarding assuming the role of “diaspora” in the world. Indeed, Peter referred to us, as believers, as “temporary residents and foreigners” (1 Peter 2:11, NLT).
http://www.act3online.com/ArticlesDetail.asp?id=495
Thanks David. I think the shift in our behavior has left a bad taste in peoples mouths. For example, few people today in any part of the world can think of the word “missionary” with out images of colonialism popping into their head. I worked in the oilfield before coming to the field. I had given up telling people I was a missionary or that my masters was in missiology. The problem was that most people had no clue what that was and I spent too much time explaining it. The few who knew what it was had a negative, and mostly incorrect, understanding of what it was. As and experiment I started saying that I was going to be a sociologist and in a sociology program. There was instant recognition when I used this word. The questions I received in response were different–better–as well. Remarks such as “Should we really go take over other people’s culture and tell them ours is right?” changed to questions such as “So what language are you going to learn?” and “what people group are you studying?” I prefer the word missionary to sociologist for the theological distinctions between them, however, our culture no longer has that category–along with most of the countries in the world.
This is one of the reasons I think the Culture Warriors are fighting the wrong battle in the wrong arena for the wrong cause using the wrong weapons and achieving the wrong ends. My question to them that remains only vaguely answered is, “What happens if you win? What does victory look like? When will you be able to say you have finally achieved a fully Christian Culture? And if you were able to win, is that what Christ called us to do – to win a Culture War – or to win souls for Him?”
We are not at war with the Culture. The culture is the product of all human endeavor and so is neither the enemy nor the prize. There is no biblically mandated culture that we can say is our objective, even though everything we do touches culture.
We are using the weapons of the world – boycotts, political action, protest, etc. – to achieve our ends. If the culture is what we are fighting to gain, then indeed these are the right weapons, but if the Culture War is the wrong war, then these weapons are wholly unsuited to the war we should be fighting.
If we were to apply Powell Doctrine to our spiritual battle, the Culture War is unwinnable. We should not be fighting it. This is why Jesus likened us to yeast in a lump of dough where we work secretly, silently, and steadily until the whole lump is leavened. Let us beat our boycotts, political agendas, and protests into love and good works and charity and see where that gets us instead.
Good post, Rastis. A very timely reminder.
Great comment Rick!
As usual… Rastis has nailed it!
Rick,
I think i blog up here just to read your responses! Loved the last one about intellectual superiority. Love this question: “When will you be able to say you have finally achieved a fully Christian Culture?”
The problem with many culture warriors is that they do not know what it will look like when they achieve their goals and so they never quit. This isnt just something in our tent either… just look at some of the countries in the middle east.
Rastis,
I found your post especially prescient after reading this BP article:
http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=33580
This is what made my heart grieve:
The Patenaudes wrestled with the uncertainty and self-questioning that came with not seeing a single adult accept Christ. The successes they did have seemed to end badly. Several children professed faith in Jesus but fell away in their teenage years because of cultural pressure to conform to their unbelieving parents.
“[We asked], ‘God, are we still supposed to be here?’” Patenaude recalled. “… Every time, the answer came back [from God], ‘Look, you may not see it, but this is where you’re supposed to be right now.’”
He and Lisa accepted that answer each time it came, striving to be obedient despite their frustration. Their hearts ached for the villagers, who lived in darkness, fear, jealousy and hatred, refusing to embrace salvation.
“… Jesus is weeping over His lost sheep, His people that don’t know or receive Him,” Patenaude said. “I think that really captures how we also felt.”
After knocking on so many doors that wouldn’t open, the Patenaudes finally felt God leading them to a new strategic role that required close work with Thai churches in a nearby city. The Patenaudes still visit the village, and they have seen some adults move toward a greater understanding of God. The couple trust the seeds planted in the hard spiritual soil will someday grow.
I’m not there. I don’t know the situation. I’m sure I don’t have enough information to make an informed comment, but after reading biographies of Judson, Taylor, Carey, and others, I wonder if they quit too early and gave up too soon. Maybe stink free pigs is the work God wants for them to do right now.
I’m reminded of a Vince Lombardi (or was it Bear Bryant? I forget. Makes no difference.) quote: “It’s not the will to win. Everyone has that. It’s the will to PREPARE to win that makes the difference.” I made this my watchword when I was teaching in a Christian school. Everyone wants to rush out and save the world. No one wants to do the hard work of preparing to be able to save the world. What if these folks had moved on just as they were getting started with the preparation work? Maybe they were in God’s place, doing God’s work on God’s schedule?
Does anyone know these folks and the whole story? Or, like me, do you have any uninformed comments and opinions you’d like to share?
Rick,
I am not personally acquainted with their situation beyond what the article says. It is hard to point to any one thing that opens or closes a door–humanly speaking. I hate to say that a particular method does not work because that would undercut the fact that it is God who saves and he often works in spite of us. At the same time, I think God works through the incarnation–Jesus’ and our own. I see and hear many plans within many organizations which conform more to the principles of Amway than they do to the incarnation. Thailand was my top choice originally when I was looking at assignments. It is just a tough environment. They are the only country in the east to never have been ruled by an outside power. This makes them very proud culturally and resistant to anything foreign. In environments which are openly resistant, and in some cases hostile, to outsiders the need for incarnational witness is even greater. This level of incarnation is often beyond our abilities as students of culture and way outside of our comfort zone. If there is one thing we learn from Jesus it is that the incarnation hurts. I have no way of knowing what and how the Patenaudes were doing, but they are in a tough place. Here is an article I wrote a while back about different methods http://offtheshire.blogspot.com/2009/07/windows-and-doors.html. We were talking with Muslims at the mall–which I do not suggest–and my partner and I received vastly different responses based on how we acted and what we said. Granted, he didnt believe or even receive a bible from us, but he did at least hear my testimony.
Rastis, thanks for the link. The story reflects well on what I wish more people understood.
One of my favorite parables is to read, in its entirety, “Green Eggs and Ham” as a strategic evangelism primer. The end result of the book is that it did achieve a good outcome – a convert to the cause – but at what price? I know a good many Sam I Am evangelists whose approach is to persist until they chalk up a “win” for Jesus. I like reading you and Strider and others in this column because you offer an alternative to the Green Eggs and Ham school of personal evangelism.