Contextual Issues of Honor & Shame in Spiritual Formation
September 11–13, 2023 10:00 am to 12:00 pm (GMT + 8:00)
From the Singapore Bible College website: Join us for an exchange of reflections and insights as a group of 10 theologians, biblical scholars, and missiologists from around the world come together to explore the role of honor and shame in spiritual formation through the lens of contextualization processes, and how the gospel transforms culture. The presentation centers around the Pacific Rim but also considers input from other regions.
Mission ONE partners with the Global Church to transform communities to look more like the Kingdom of God—and reach unreached people groups with the gospel through the local church.
For over 30 years, Mission ONE has worked with indigenous partners in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Each of our partners focuses on church planting, reaching unreached people groups, and development projects to create long-term sustainability.
About the position
Through the leadership of the Development Director, Mission ONE seeks to usher in a new era of developing relationships with established and prospective supporters to expand the reach and effectiveness of the mission. The Director of Development will report to the President and actively develop a strategy for and participate in the organization’s fundraising efforts.
Qualifications you should have
Demonstrated ability in the past to create momentum that leads to outcomes; must be proactive rather than reactive.
A strong interest in non-profit Christian organizations.
The ability to effectively communicate the ministry value proposition of Mission ONE and confidently request gifts.
At least five (5) years of successful development and/or fundraising experience and a successful track record in closing major gifts.
You should
Be a committed follower of Jesus Christ and an active member of a Christian Church.
Have earned a BA or master’s degree, preferably in business, non-profit management, marketing, philanthropy, or a related field.
Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Be an organized, concise thinker and communicator.
Be strong, inspirational, and persuasive.
Possess high moral integrity with a persevering spirit and drive.
Be able and willing to travel as needed to connect with major and principal donors; able to make evening and weekend presentations when needed.
Responsibilities
Develop a donor base by sharing existing Mission ONE resources to engage new audiences and donor communities.
Grow the existing donor base through engagement and re-engagement activities.
Identify goals for each year with the Mission ONE President and work towards accomplishing those goals.
Work with Mission ONE’s President and appropriate leadership to track and ensure that principal and major gift donors in the portfolio are being visited.
Participate in goal setting, prepare proposals, strategy development for solicitation, and stewardship as required for major or principal donors in the portfolio.
Successfully and consistently deliver funding proposals to prospective and current donors as the relationship dictates.
Maintain appropriate electronic documentation on time, including engagement activities, proposal tracking, contact reports, donor strategies, and forecasting into Virtuous.
Meet with President weekly. Attend weekly staff meetings virtually or in person.
Maintain a working knowledge of fundraising best practices; attend seminars and conferences annually for personal growth and development.
Perform other development duties as required or requested by the President.
I just pre-ordered my copy. Can’t wait to read it. The subject of honor and shame relates profoundly to our personal spiritual experience in the Christian faith. I encourage you to check it out. The readings are short and accessible to a non-academic audience—perfect for a daily devotional.
It was the afternoon of Good Friday, April 15, 2022. Frederic and I were seated in a small home in Reconciliation Village, Nyamata, Rwanda. It was storytelling time. We gathered closely around a small coffee table—with four other villagers, Lillian fromAfrica New Life, and my colleague Kristin.
We had just listened to three stories. Two stories were from Hutu men who were part of the 1994 Genocide as perpetrators. One story was from Jacqueline. She was 17 years old when the Genocide occurred.
Jacqueline had been out in the field tending the family cows. When she returned to her house in Nyamata, she found the Hutu mob had killed her entire Tutsi family of eleven.
More than 10,000 other Tutsi had fled to the local church property in Nyamata for shelter and safety. They also were brutally murdered—with guns, machetes, clubs, grenades. (We visited this Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial on that Friday morning. Horrifying.)
Jacqueline fled into the forest and survived.
Frederic’s story
Also sharing their story was Frederic, a Hutu. “I was one of the perpetrators,” he said to us plainly. Frederic was arrested by the new government and imprisoned like thousands of other young Hutu men after the Genocide. (Frederick did not go into any detail about the crimes or atrocities he may have committed.)
While in prison, Frederic heard the preaching of many pastors. “Confess your crimes, and seek forgiveness. God will forgive all your sins.” Many prisoners could not believe it. They were afraid that Tutsi would kill them in revenge—at first while in prison and later upon being released.
Frederic became honest about his crimes of violence. His honesty and humility had been a step toward freedom. Rwanda’s new government had created a policy to reward honest confession; as a result, many were allowed to return to their Rwandan homelands. Frederic went back to his home area.
I asked, “You who were the perpetrators, do you ever look back and think of yourselves as victims?” They said, “Yes, in part, we are also victims. It is because we had bad leadership. Every day, we were told lies about the Tutsi that they were cockroaches, not real humans, that they should die.”
I wondered aloud, “If I had been in your community with all the propaganda every day about the so-called enemies in your land to attack them and kill them, would I have done differently or done the same as you?”
After the Genocide, the new Rwandan government welcomed back tens of thousands of Rwandans living in other nations. Thousands came back from Uganda, Congo, and Tanzania—ready to help rebuild their country, Rwanda. But this created a big problem. A massive number of displaced peoples had nowhere to live.
An idea is born: Village of Reconciliation
The US-based ministry Prison Fellowship, which had an office in Rwanda, funded the development of a “village of reconciliation.” The idea was to bring together both victims and perpetrators in a real-life, living-together kind of reconciliation in the same community. It was an experiment in restorative justice. The experiment has proven successful.
Frederic told us, “Because I had been honest about being a perpetrator, the officials asked me to be one of the village leaders. So I agreed. We constructed the first homes in the village in 2004. Other men and I helped to make the bricks. We worked together building the homes. Here we are 18 years later. Today, we work together in our gardens to provide food for the community. Our children are living and playing together in peace.”
After the villagers finished their stories, they concluded: “Two things we want you to remember: First, the Genocide in Rwanda happened, even though some say it did not. And second, true reconciliation is possible; we are proof of that.”
Sharing a bit of my story
Sitting right next to Frederic, I thought it would be good for me to tell a bit of my story. I did not want Frederic to believe I was so different from him.
I said, “My parents were from Germany. The German government drafted my father into Hitler’s army. Near the end of the war, the Allied Forces captured my father, and he became a prisoner of war for four years in Poland. After he was released, my grandfather took his family with three sons, and they all came to America. My grandfather wanted to go far away from the Russians. My German father and mother married in America, so I was born there.”
My colleague Kristin then asked, “Werner, we see here the openness and honesty of this community; is this openness possibly different from how you grew up? Is their honesty touching you in a way that you did not expect?”
Suddenly, a new topic was on the table in front of us. Open, authentic talking about painful, even shameful things—what does this mean for us?
“Wow. Good question, Kristin,” I replied. As I was growing up, I learned about the Holocaust in Germany in World War 2. I asked my parents about it. They did not want to discuss it. They did not want to talk about the horrors of German people being part of the program to kill 6 million innocent Jews.
I asked the group: “You know there have been genocides in other lands, right?” They nodded, yes.
I spoke about the concentration camp Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, the Germans killed 20,000 people a day through gas chambers and burning. Indeed, Rwanda is not the only land with genocide in its history.
I told our little group that I still had questions about my grandfather’s role in Germany’s brutalities in WW2. He was a businessman who sold fuel. He was trying to survive and feed his family. But what if my grandfather sold gasoline to the German army, which helped them do evil? Was my grandfather complicit?
I also said that my father and one uncle suffered from mental illnesses. Was it because they could not talk honestly or openly about the painful, shameful things they suffered?
Any questions for us?
I said to our little group, “We have asked you questions. Do you have any questions for us?”
Frederic said, “I have a question. You shared about your family and grandfather. Do you still have some pains in your heart about what your grandfather may have done? If so, has this time with us been helpful to you?”
Frederic’s question surprised me. I thanked him for his concern about the possible pains in my heart. “Yes, I have been helped. Your honesty and openness are different from how I grew up with family secrets. You are willing to talk about very painful things in a spirit of forgiveness.”
“For many years, I had like a shadow of shame over the questions about my German family and my father’s mental illness. But in recent years, I have been learning that Jesus does not just forgive our guilt. He also covers our shame.”
Frederic thanked us. He said I was just the second visitor to their village in 18 years who, after hearing the stories of the victims and perpetrators, also openly shared from his heart.
I felt a strange closeness to Frederic. There was comfort in being together with these men and women in the Village of Reconciliation, Nyamata, Rwanda. I think it was how Frederic and others in the room had been so honest. It was an unusual vulnerability. It felt healthy, like fresh air. If reconciliation is possible here, it is possible anywhere.
I waved my hand across the table in front of us. “We are together sharing in our humanity. We all have struggles. We all need the love of God,” I said.
The Rwandan woman in whose tiny home we had gathered (she has the green sweater in the photo below) gave a closing prayer. She thanked the Lord for our fellowship. She prayed for us and blessed us in the name of Jesus.
Inside a home in the Village of Reconciliation in Nyamata, with victims and perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Jacqueline, mentioned above as a victim who lost eleven family members, is third from right.Get an overview of the project here.Support the project here.
Why were we in Rwanda?
We are in Africa on behalf of Mission ONE to conduct research for the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project. Our experiences in Rwanda have been instructive and inspiring.
The Ephesians 2 Gospel Project is about horizontal reconciliation through the cross of Christ. There is a social, horizontal dimension to the gospel of Christ because there is a social, horizontal dimension to the atonement of Christ. The gospel of peace offers reconciliation to groups in conflict (Eph. 2:13–17).
Rwanda is an important place to learn for the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project for two reasons:
The 1994 Rwandan genocide by the Hutu against the Tutsi people resulted in 1 million people brutally murdered in 100 days; the church was significantly complicit.
Since 1994, Rwanda has experienced a nationwide movement of reconciliation despite enormous struggles and ongoing trauma. There has been much positive development that would have been impossible without the profound involvement of the church and the reconciling gospel of Jesus Christ.
Final thoughts
On Tuesday, we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. It is the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Incredible. Check out the website.
Want to support the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project? Donate here.
This text, Ephesians 2:13–17, speaks of reconciliation between peoples— through the cross of Christ.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached [the gospel of] peace to you were far off and peace to those who were near. –Ephesians 2:13–17 (ESV)
Some questions:
What aspects of this text speak exclusively to Jew-Gentile reconciliation in the church? What aspects of the text speak of reconciliation between Gentile peoples, tribes, or other social groups in the church?
What does it look like in a given local context when Jesus Christ, the One who is all in all (Eph 1:23), is the Savior-King through whom our tribal, racial, or status divisions in the church are resolved?
What does it look like in a given local context when the crucified Christ, having “killed the hostility” (Eph 2:16), becomes the body of Christ living as the “one new man” (Eph 2:15)?
This text (Eph 2:13–17) has dense atonement-and-gospel content; why, then, has it been broadly ignored in atonement doctrine—especially at the popular level? Why do few pastors preach on this text concerning the meaning of the cross of Christ?
To what degree is collective identity conflict addressed by the atonement verses in Ephesians 2:13–17? Does the atonement of Christ/gospel of peace offer reconciliation horizontally between groups in competition or in conflict within the church?
How was this text used, abused, or ignored in three historical contexts when the church failed to halt violence and bloodshed—despite widespread Christian influence in the nation?
Christianity and the genocide in Rwanda, 1994
Christianity and the German Reich, 1933–45
Christianity and America—slavery and racism
How does Eph 2:11–22 fit into the broader context of Ephesians? How does this text relate to the three passages that refer to cosmic powers of darkness, “rulers and authorities” (Eph 1:21; 3:10; 6:12).
Does this text speak of a reconciliation in Christ that is simultaneously vertical with God and horizontal within God’s people?
How does this text speak to the problem of group-based honor competition or tribalism in the Global Church? How might this text speak to the church in America?
How does this text challenge our Western bias toward individualism in theology?
What can we learn from Early Church interpretations of this text?
What honor-shame dynamics in the Roman Empire might inform our interpretation of this text? (I begin to address this here.)
How do scholars and preachers from minority groups interpret this text?
What might this text say to the Church Growth Movement or the Unreached Peoples Movement?
In service of our Savior-King and the global church, to what degree can a team of scholars and practitioners from around the world, be in fellowship on a journey together, to answer these questions?
More on the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project will appear here in forthcoming posts from our ongoing research. Subscribe and stay tuned. Or write to me at werner@mission1.org.
At the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on August 6, 2015, I took this picture of myself in front of an aerial photo of the center. I did this to acknowledge the shame of human beings (me being of the same species) who committed the atrocities there.
First, some background material:
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached [the gospel of] peace to you were far off and peace to those who were near.
Ephesians 2:13–17 (ESV)
We launched the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project (E2GP) through my work with Mission ONE in January 2021. The key idea of the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project is this: There is a social and horizontal dimension to the gospel of Christ because there is a social and horizontal dimension to the atonement of Christ (Eph 2:13–17). Our short-term goal is a book. Our desired long-term impact is God’s people drawn into and embodying Christ’s peacemaking work through the gospel.
E2GP is a two-year research project which includes:
listening to and learning from the Global Church, including Mission ONE ministry partners,
grappling with relevant questions about the gospel, the atonement of Christ, the global mission of the church, and why the church has sometimes been complicit with conflict and violence,
reading relevant literature (books and articles) on history, theology, missiology, the social sciences,
writing a book (to be co-authored with Kristin Caynor), which is the catalyst for developing other resources for learning and practice,
facilitating a fellowship of Christian scholars and practitioners around the world to study and embody the gospel of peace as a solution to collective-identity conflict in the church in their own nations and contexts.
Since last January, Kristin Caynor has been contributing as a research assistant to the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project. Kristin grew up on the mission field; she and her parents serve with a mission organization similar to Mission ONE. Kristin is a qualified researcher. She has a lot of cross-cultural ministry experience, has a passion for helping marginalized peoples in the global church, and is a Ph.D. candidate at Trinity College Bristol/University of Aberdeen. (Check it out:Kristin’s recent lecture on the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project is for the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence; it is outstanding. You can view the video here.)
About Germany and the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project
I am the son of German immigrant parents. My father was a soldier in Hitler’s army; he was a prisoner of war in Poland for four years. He became mentally ill in my teenage years. I took on a shadow of shame from my father and family.
Concerning WW2 Germany, the juxtaposition of two truths (below) should cause us to shudder.
WW2 Germany and Europe was the location of a massive violence and bloodshed. A central part of this conflict was the Holocaust (or Shoah). It was a deliberate, sustained, unspeakable evil. It was murder on the largest scale committed against the Jews on behalf of the supposed superiority of the German (Aryan) race.
At the time of Hitler’s rule, Germany’s people identified as 97% Christian.
Here’s how Holocaust scholar Robert Ericksen describes this statistic of Germany’s people identifying as 97% Christian.
“When Adolf Hitler came to power, 97 percent of the German population considered itself Christian, with about two-thirds being Protestant and one-third Catholic. Less than 1 percent of Germans were Jewish in 1933, and only a slightly larger percentage registered as pagans or nonbelievers. It is true that the entire 97 percent registered as Christian did not attend church regularly or maintain a vibrant Christian identity. However, all of them agreed to pay the church tax, money they could have saved by the simple act of leaving their church. Furthermore, they received religious education in all German schools, and, of course, many of these 97 percent of the population were fervent Christians active in their faith. Germany in the 1930s almost certainly represented church attendance and a sense of Christian commitment and identity similar to that in America today, for example.”
Robert P. Ericksen, Complicity in the Holocaust: Churches and Universities in Nazi Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 9.
In Germany: Centuries of accrued Christian influence from the church, a population that identifies as 97% Christian … and yet, the Holocaust. How does this add up? How can this be?
Missionaries and missions scholars sometimes speak of the “redemptive lift” that comes to a community when the gospel of Jesus is embraced. I believe this.
But what happened in WW2 Germany? Widespread systemic evil and violence occurred in the society, despite the broad sustained influence of Christianity. Could it be that in the rise of Hitler’s Germany, somehow Christianity was complicit with a redemptive fall?
Was there a dimension of the gospel de-emphasized, tragically ignored?
Was there a cosmic, systemic dimension of sin ignored?
Were there forces—social, systemic, cosmic—against which the German peoples’ Christian faith had little or no defense?
Did the church in Germany ignore, abuse, or conceal the gospel text of Ephesiasn 2?
Is the gospel of peace (Eph 2:13–17; 6:15) about individual, vertical, personal peace-with-God—or something more social, horizontal, and corporate?
We hope to address these questions, among many others, in the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project through a journey together in the Global Church.
What can we learn from the tragic failure of the church in WW2 Germany? How might these lessons apply to nations today that are dealing with collective identity conflict or tribal conflict? What lessons can we learn about the kind of gospel we are preaching and living?
More on the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project will appear here in forthcoming posts from our ongoing research. Subscribe and stay tuned.
In my ministry with Mission ONE, I am working on a multi-year project called the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project.
Here’s the big idea: There is a social, horizontal dimension to the gospel of Christ because there is a social, horizontal dimension to the atonement of Christ (Eph 2:13–17).
Hindustan Bible Institute & College(HBI) has invited me and researcher Kristin Caynor to introduce the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project through HBI’s monthly webinar series. You are invited to join us!
Date: Friday, October 8, 2021
Time: 8:30 a.m. USA Eastern Time / 6:00 p.m. Indian Standard Time (Time Zone Converter)
Platform: Zoom video conference
Title:“Ephesians 2 Gospel Project: Does the Atonement Speak to Collective Identity Conflict?”
Format: a) 20-minute presentation by Werner Mischke, b) 20-minute presentation by researcher Kristin Caynor, c) 10-minute response by HBI scholar, d) Questions and discussion
My presentation will introduce the project. I’ll discuss the social/horizontal aspect of the reconciling work of the cross in Eph. 2:11–22. Kristin Caynor’s presentation focuses on how Early Church fathers interpreted Eph. 2:11–22.
We have two goals for the HBI webinar: 1) Describe in brief the research we have done so far in the Ephesians 2 Gospel Project, and 2) invite the HBI scholar community into the learning journey with us. We want the resources that are developed to be by and for the global church.
Doing Theology, Thinking Mission is available on most podcast platforms. Here’s a link to one: Apple podcasts.
I am enthused about our new podcast “Doing Theology, Thinking Mission.” Here’s why…
1) It meets a need. You will hear compelling (and surprising!) explorations of how Christian theology and the church’s mission relate to each other; that’s pretty special in the world of podcasts. We cover contextualization, honor and shame, biblical interpretation, and the church’s mission in the world.
2) It’s engaging. Dr. Jackson Wu, Carrie Vaughn, and I genuinely enjoy conversing together about the issues we cover and the stories we tell. I’m pretty sure our joy and passion leak through.
3) It’s relevant. It is no small challenge to make the Bible’s story and truths, centered in the life of Jesus Christ, relevant to our broken world. It is an endless quest with lots of discoveries along the way. I hope that this podcast will be a help for many on that same quest.
Check out Episode 1: “How the Bible Frames the Gospel”
In episode 1, we explore the way the Bible consistently frames the gospel. While gospel formulas are comfortable, our pursuit of simple, efficient, and portable gospel explanations have led to an anemic church. Is the gospel the message about how to get saved? Maybe not completely. What if the gospel is not so much the message about how we get saved but the message we must believe in order to be saved?
We also explore the following:
“We compromise the gospel when we settle for the truth.” What does this mean?
Creation, Covenant, and Kingdom—the three gospel frameworks found in the Bible.
Is the truth that “Jesus is King” central to the gospel?
Doing Theology, Thinking Mission is available on most podcast platforms. Here’s a link to one: Apple podcasts.
I was baptized in a Baptist church at age ten. What I learned about sin as a boy attending church is the same as what I’ve heard in countless sermons through adulthood. I came to understand sin as a human, individual dynamic: Sin is when you rebel against God’s laws, when you fail to do what is right. I can still hear Billy Graham preaching—when unsaved individuals face God as their Judge after death, they hear God pronounce loudly, “Guilty!”
A popular Systematic Theology describes sin as follows:
We may define sin as follows:sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. Sin is here defined in relation to God and his moral law. Sin includes not only individual acts, such as stealing, lying, and committing murder, but also attitudes that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us.
Wayne Grudem. Systematic Theology, Second Edition (pp. 965). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
I agree: sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. The underlying assumption in this definition seems to be that the locus of sin is the individual. Individuals fail to conform to the moral law of God. Individual persons steal. Individual humans commit murder. Individuals have selfish attitudes. We all can attest to this truth.
However, in the Bible’s narrative, we also observe this: The failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature goes beyond the individualistic human realm of human life. In fact, the Bible reveals that sin is also observable and judged at the familial,civic,corporate,national, civilizational, and cosmicarenas.
In his brilliant book, Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology, Mark Biddle writes:
“In the West, the dominant model of sin and salvation—developed especially in the thoughts of Tertullian, Augustine, Anselm, and Abelard—has long relied on a courtroom analogy. Human beings in willful rebellion against God’s authority violate God’s law. Their crime incurs the penalty of death. … This ‘sin as crime’ metaphor, with its emphasis on the juridical, the individual, and willful rebellion, and its interests in assignment of guilt and exaction of punishment, addresses certain aspects of the problem of human existence. Yet, although dominant in the Western popular mind, it does not fully reflect the biblical witness …”1
Biddle goes on to say that in the biblical narrative, many aspects of sin and evil cannot be reduced to the problem of individual humans. Human existence is just too complex to reduce sin to an exclusively individual dynamic.
Sin is cosmic—prior to human existence, from nonhuman personages who are involved in human affairs today
In the Bible, evil exists prior to human existence: Sin begins with a deceptive serpent (Gen 3:1–7), opposed to God’s will. The serpent is nonhuman, created by God, highly intelligent (Gen 3:1). The serpent speaks in a way understood by humans. The serpent is crafty, suggestive, indirect.
The serpent’s existence and communication with man and woman indicate that something has already gone horribly wrong in the cosmic realm, prior to the creation of man and woman. What happened? We do not know for sure. Genesis offers no direct information about the origin of the “crafty” serpent. There is a mystery here.
Some theologians believe that Isaiah 14:12–15 offers a clue. They interpret the passage as a description of an angel who is expelled from heaven prior to the creation of Adam and Eve; and “brought down to Sheol” (Is 14:15) because of rebellion against God. The angel’s rebellion is sometimes called the five “I wills”:
“I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God”
“I will set my throne on high;
“I will sit on the mount of assembly …” (Is 14:13)
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds”
“I will make myself like the Most High” (Is 14:14)
Perhaps the serpent of Genesis 3:1 represents this fallen angel and its allied evil forces.
There are profound mysteries about the nature and origin of evil. But biblically speaking, this is plain: According to Genesis 3, evil and sin originate with a highly intelligent personage who is able to deceptively communicate with humans, and this personage is nonhuman and superhuman—beyond human limitations.
Thus, the narrative in Genesis 3 asks readers, ancient and modern, to grapple with the truth that the origin of evil is outside of human life. Sin and evil begin external to humanity.
Other passages of Scripture confirm the reality of nonhuman sin or supernatural evil. Here is a sampling:
Book of Job. “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” (Job 1:8). The book of Job reveals a cosmic, nonhuman evil personage—Satan. And Satan is given permission by God to attack the man Job, “the greatest of all the people of the east” (Job 1:3). Job is completely unaware of the evil Satan. And yet it is Satan who destroys Job’s family, property, and health. The most honorable man becomes the epitome of shame. The book of Job explores the reality and mystery of supernatural evil, and that humans can be victims of such evil.
Daniel. Daniel is mourning, fasting, waiting on the Lord for three weeks (Dan 10:1–2). Daniel is finally told by one who looks and sounds like an angel (Dan 10:5-6): “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me out …” (Dan 10:13). There is a conflict in the angelic realm between the forces of Almighty God and the forces of evil which have affected Daniel. Apparently, superhuman evil “princes” are attached to Persia and Greece (Dan 10:20).
Gospels. Jesus is “tempted by the devil” in the wilderness and for forty days and forty nights (Mat 4:1–2). Jesus engages with a superhuman personage, “the devil,” who powerfully tempts him. We also observe in the Gospels that Jesus encounters demons on various occasions. Perhaps the most dramatic account is when Jesus heals the demonaic (Mat 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–19; Luke 8:26–39). The man is horribly defiled, defaced, out of control, out of his mind. Jesus is setting people free from demonic, evil, sinful enslavement. The Apostle John plainly states, “The reason the Son of God appeared is to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Paul and Peter. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood,” Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Paul refers to these evil “rulers” in three other places (Eph 1:21; 3:10; Col 2:15). Peter writes, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).
Revelation. John mentions “the devil” five times (Rev 2:10; 12:9; 12:12; 20:2; 20:10). John writes of “the beast” more than 30 times in his Revelation. He says that Satan will deceive the nations (Rev 20:7). John prophesies that all cosmic evil will one day be judged and destroyed: “the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev 20:10).
Sin is human—individual, social, collective
Below is a diagram I created which attempts to describe the range of human groupings in the Bible, along with examples of these groups being judged or critiqued by God for their sin.
At the left end of the continuum is the individual person. Here the emphasis is on the individual judged by God (or forgiven) for their sin. At the far right of the continuum is all humanity.
Range of human groupings in the Bible critiqued or judged—examples of single individual to all humanity. Yellow highlight refers to New Testament examples.
In my opinion, much theology aptly addresses the problem of human sin at the individual “persons” level at the far left, and at the “all humanity” level at the far right. What about the various kinds of collective identity sin in between?
Could it be that much theology—despite biblical evidence to the contrary—tends to avoid addressing the more systemic sin problems that exist at the family, corporate, national, or “collective-identity” level? I contend that there is an imbalance in Western theology’s relentless focus on the individual. I agree with Mark Biddle, quoted near the beginning of this post. A truncated view of sin results in a truncated gospel.
The Bible reveals sin to be a mixture that is cosmic/corporate/familial/civic/national/cultural. The synergy of sin seems greater than the sum of the parts. In Exodus, the nation/civilization called Egypt is judged for its idolatry and oppression. Indeed, nations are judged corporately for their sin all over the Old Testament. What about cities? Yes. Whole cities are judged for their idolatry and sin, for example, Jericho (Jos 6:1–21)2 and Niniveh (Jon 1:1–2).
In the book of Revelation, we also see an emphasis on the corporate. Seven different communities of believers—not individuals—are judged and critiqued (Rev 2:1–3:22). The cities are Ephesus (Rev 2:1–7), Smyrna (Rev 2:8–11), Pergamum (Rev 2:12–17), Thyatira (Rev 2:18–29), Sardis (Rev 3:1–6), Philadelphia (Rev 3:7–13), and Laodicea (Rev 3:14–22). There’s a different message for each church based on degrees of love and loyalty—and degrees of idolatry or immorality. The message to the church at Laodicea concerns their evil self-recognition about wealth and independence that makes for a despicable lukewarmness (Rev 3:16–17). The message is directed to the church as a whole.
In these letters to the seven churches, the Lord addresses the corporate whole while also addressing the individual. For example, the phrase “the one who conquers” is used four times (Rev 2:17; 2:26; 3:5; 3:21), encouraging individuals within these communities to be courageous in their loyalty to Christ. The “both-and principle” is clear: God speaks simultaneously to the community and the individual. It corresponds to the often complex, non-formulaic nature of Scripture.
Closing questions
Could it be that because we tend to understand that the gospel speaks exclusively to individuals (Jesus died for the sins of individual persons), we ignore the Bible’s critique of human groups? How does the gospel address cosmic evil? What about structural, collective, or cultural evil—does the gospel speak to these realities?
Could it be that evangelical tradition has overemphasized the significance of Christ’s atonement for individual sins, and has underemphasized the significance of the atonement in addressing cosmic evil (Col 2:14–15), collective identity sin, and group-on-group hostility (Eph 2:13–18)? See this post.
Could it be that in framing sin as an exclusively individual human dynamic, Christians are given theological cover to ignore structural and social sin dynamics such as tribalism, racism, and nationalism?
Are the myriad divisions in the church—divisions according to social status, race, or ethnicity—massive obstacles to scores of persons and peoples wanting to become followers of Jesus Christ? Are these divisions (divisions with which Christians are quite comfortable) examples of the complexity of sin?
Could it be that Christians often blame unbelievers for being rebellious against God—that’s why they don’t want to come to church; they are rebellious toward God—when we Christians should rather lament our own disobedience in displaying the reconciled new humanity (Eph 2:15) for which Christ died?
NOTES
Mark Biddle, Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005), viii.
The Bible is not explicit in saying the city of Jericho is sinful according to the record Joshua 6. The Bible assumes that its readers will understand that Jericho is a pagan city permeated by sin. This is unlike the book of Jonah, where the Bible explicitly acknowledges the collective evil of the city of Nineveh; God tells Jonah “their evil has come up before me” (Jon 1:2).
I have found these books super-helpful in understanding sin and human nature.
I’ve got questions about sin. I’ve been reading about sin. I’m in two books currently:
Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology,by Mark E. Biddle (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005). I bought this book in 2016. I have underlines, markings, and notes on nearly every page. I’m reading it again. (Unfortunately, the book is now out of print.)
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo (New York: Random House, 2007). This book is a recent purchase. I am engaging for the first time with one of America’s most famous and widely published psychologists.
Here’s why I am reading about sin: I believe that a limited understanding of the scope of sin has a profoundly undesirable result: It limits our understanding of the scope of the gospel. This, in turn, limits what sins and evils we address by the gospel of Christ—in our own lives, families, communities, nations.
Reductionism about sin leads to reductionism about the gospel.
Our view of sin is crucial
Our understanding of sin and how the Bible describes sin is part of many important beliefs. For example, our understanding of sin helps shape how Christians think about:
Human nature: The theological concepts of original glory, depravity, and original sin fit into this category. The Bible offers us a narrative that can be interpreted in various ways; how does theology shape a view of humanity and humanity’s sin?
The origin of sin: What does the Bible say about the supernatural origin of sin? What about “the demonic”? How does “the demonic” influence humans to perform evil in our world? What is “the Lucifer effect”? What do we make of human responsibility in light of this?
The essence of sin: Is sin atomistic—located first of all in the individual? Or is sin systemic—located first of all in the family-and-social system into which the individual is born? This debate is sometimes referred to as nature versus nurture.
The result of sin: According to the Bible, is humanity’s guilt before God the primary, objective result of sin—or is sin-and-shame equally primary and objective?
The scope of sin: Does sin consist first of all in human pride and willful rebellion against God? What about the witness of Scripture showing that sin can be involuntary or unintentional? What about not living up to our glorious potential as humans—is this sinful? What of sin as silence or inactivity—the passivity of sin?
God’s judgment of sin: Does the witness of Scripture show that God judges or critiques the sin of individuals (and no more)—or does God also judge or critique human social systems— families, cities, tribes, nations, empires? What about churches? Relatedly, does God’s view of sin change from the Old to the New Testament?
The atonement for sin: How does our understanding of sin influence our view of the atonement of Christ—and vice versa? Through his saving death and resurrection, Jesus Christ offers to cleanse persons from their sin, thus reconciling individuals to God. In what ways does Scripture show that the cross and resurrection of Christ offers reconciliation in other dimensions—in ways that transcend the redemption of individuals?
Does the gospel address more than individual sin? Does the gospel offer hope for systemic sin?
If sin is first and finally about individuals, then the gospel is first and finally about individuals. But if the witness of Scripture shows that the gospel addresses more than individual sin, if the witness of Scripture shows that the gospel also addresses the social, systemic nature of sin, what then?
My next series of posts will explore these issues, exploring some of the questions above. I will be referencing plenty of Scripture, the two authors above (Mark Biddle, PhD and Philip Zimbardo, PhD), as well as several other experts and their writings.
I will be making the case for a more systemic, more nuanced, more biblically-comprehensive understanding of sin than what some Christians are accustomed to. And along with that—an expanded hope in the gospel.
Please join me in the coming weeks—in thinking more broadly about sin—and the gospel.
