Generic Christianity?

Newsletter article for June 2003

© 2003 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)

There is a tendency in America to reduce the Christian faith to a “generic Christianity.” I am not sure if this originates within the church. It may come from our ignorant and illiterate society’s desire to fit everything into simplified categories that are easy to understand, and easier to ignore, but I have seen this idea beginning to make its way into churches and into the minds of Christians. (Actually I can’t see into the minds of others, but I can recognize this when it comes out of their mouths.) This tendency may also come from an overwhelming desire to avoid conflict so it avoids issues that may cause conflict or division, and reduces the Christian faith to some simplified, lowest common denominator. Jesus Himself didn’t do this. He recognized the divisive nature of His message when He said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”

This simplification of the Gospel message is not something that Christians ought to be doing. The message of the Gospel can be simplified for children and others into a message that can be as simple as “Jesus loves you” we ought not stop there as if that were sufficient. Although this simple message is the most important truth of the Gospel (and is enough to bring eternal salvation), there is much more to the Christian faith than just that. Just as babies grow from only needing a diet of milk to a gradually more complex and varied diet, so Christians need to grow from this simple message of the Gospel to a more detailed and mature understanding of God’s Word. We can’t remain “baby Christians” for an extended period of time any more than we can live our whole lives on a diet of only milk. We must either grow or die. The trouble with a simplified, generic Christianity is that something important is lost in the transition.

What is lost in generic Christianity is the specific details which make Jesus real to us, and show us that He is the true source of life and salvation for all who believe in Him. If Jesus is generalized or simplified to the point of abstraction then to our minds He becomes just that, abstract, and with abstraction He then becomes unreal to us. I think in some cases this is the intended effect. When, for example, feminists attempt to de-masculinize the Bible they are making God’s Word into something generic, and then (and only then) is it possible to dismiss it as something irrelevant and out of date. The same thing happens when fundamentalists attempt to determine which parts of the Bible are important, and which are not, or even when well intentioned evangelists try to cater to special interests in order to try to make the Bible less offensive to certain people. But even though God’s Word may offend some, God still intends us to preach and teach it in all its truth and purity, because that is the best way to bring salvation to those who do not yet have it.

Jesus is a specific man, an Israelite, a descendent of King David of the tribe of Judah (a Jew). He was born sometime around 4 B.C. (even though this seems to make no sense it results from some kind of addition error when the Gregorian calendar was first developed) in Bethlehem. Jesus is the only begotten son of God, and the firstborn son of a woman named Mary. After fleeing to Egypt to escape the murderous insanity of King Herod, His family settled in Nazareth, where Jesus grew up and lived a mostly unremarkable life. At around age thirty Jesus called twelve disciples to follow Him and He began a three year ministry during which He demonstrated His divine power through teaching and miracles. Although Jesus demonstrated great power and an ability to do whatever He wanted, He allowed Himself to be arrested, charged with false accusations, and condemned to die by crucifixion. He died and was buried, and on the third day after His death He rose to life again. After forty days He ascended into heaven where He rules over all creation at the right hand of God the Father. All this was done for us and for our salvation. We know all this (and much more details of Jesus’ life and mission) only from the Holy Scriptures which, from Genesis through Revelation, is the true Word of God.

The specific details of the life and mission of Jesus are offensive to sinful human beings like us. In Galatians 5:11, St. Paul complains that if he is preaching anything other than the truth of God’s Word then “the offense of the cross has been abolished.” The specificity of God’s Word, though it may offend us from time to time, should really be a comfort to us. The details of our own lives are of great concern to each of us. It ought to be a tremendous comfort to know that our Lord and Savior, Jesus, also had to deal with the same specifics in His life. Hebrews 4:15 shows us that our Savior can sympathize with the details of our lives because He was “tempted in every way just as we are – yet was without sin.” His sinlessness, although foreign to us, is what qualifies Jesus (and no one else) to save us from the consequences of the guilt of our own sin.

Therefore we should avoid this generic Christianity. But the only way we can avoid it is if we are well taught in the truth of God’s Word and in the specifics of Holy Scripture. We all need to be in Church to worship every week, and those of us who are confirmed ought to receive the Lord’s Supper frequently. We all need to study the Bible frequently, at least once a week, although every day would be much better. As we do this Jesus will become a more important part of our lives and we will appreciate Him for who He is. Jesus is our one and only Lord and Savior. There is no one else like Him.