I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God… (Exodus 20:2-4)
In light of the fact that most Christians have a pretty good understanding of the Old Testament concept of idolatry, and that some recent comments I made that need to be expanded, I am going to focus this post on the further explanations of idolatry in the New Testament.
All of us commit the sin of idolatry at some point. Paul tells the Colossians to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). Tension exists in the term “put to death” because it means that some of these sins still exist in Christians but God has given them the power and desire to overcome that sin.
My statement last week was on a different way to commit idolatry that is exposes a person's unchanged heart and not merely the old sinful nature rearing it's ugly head.
First let me clear up something that hasn’t been commented on but I think could be misinterpreted. When I say that we shouldn’t treat people who aren’t Christians like they are Christians I don’t mean that we shouldn’t love them. I am not advocating hatred. I am advocating loving evangelism.
“…when we know people who clearly believe in a different Jesus (Catholics, Muslims, nominal Christians, etc...) we do them no favor by treating them as if they are just a little off with their theology.”
What is a nominal Christian and how do they commit idolatry? A nominal Christian is a Christian by name only. When I used them as an example in my previous post I was thinking of what some would call "CEO (Christmas Easter Only) Christians." You also see a lot of nominal Christians in youth groups and on college campuses all over the place. These people may go to church a lot or a little, it doesn't matter. They try to merge a Christian religiousness with a worldly life style. I don't pretend to know who these people are. I do think that we see more of this type of person as church discipline becomes less and less common.
What about Catholics? Catholicism is not just another denomination. One example is that they don't merely have an unbiblical view of Justification but they also state in the Council of Trent that if one believes in Justification by faith alone they are anathema (Canon 9). So they teach a different gospel and they themselves separate from those who hold to "reformed" doctrine.
However, the interesting thing about Catholicism is that it is so closely related to biblical Christianity that there probably are some saved people in the Catholic Church. The fact that I suggested there are "nominal Christians" allows for the possibility of "nominal Roman Catholics" who are actually saved. All that said, they should still leave the Catholic Church because it is so far gone from biblical Christianity I would think they are doing more damage than if they just didn't attend a church at all.
And Muslims? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth to live a perfect life and die a sacrificial death on behalf of sinful men. My Muslim friends would agree with me that Jesus was a prophet and many would even say that he is the messiah predicted by the Old Testament. But my Muslim friends (I say this in a John McCain sort of way because I don’t know any Muslims) would not say that Jesus is the Son of God. They do not believe that he is the mediator between God and man for salvation.
How is this idolatry? "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God." (2 John 9)
"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing..." (1 Timothy 6:3-4)
Please please please understand my heart and tone in this post. My hope is that it has made you think about idolatry and not planted any form of hatred in your heart toward other groups of people. My heart in the post last week was to awaken an urgency for evangelism rather than controversy.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
2 comments:
Good stuff here Stephan. I appreciate you clearing up those questions I had.
I do think it's interesting that you define a nominal Christian as "one in name only". What I hear you saying is what I believe as well. I would just say it in a different way. In other words, are they really Christians? Anyone can claim anything, but is the fruit of the Spirit evident in their lives? Wasn't it Piper who said something to the affect of, "One can come to church and even be active. But just like standing in a garage doesn't make you a car, a person active in a church may not be a Christ follower."
Crowm, I agree with you 100% on this. If you keep in mind the context of the post on which you originally commented I was saying that we should think of this kind of person as someone who needs to be evangelized rather than considered a saved person who is just a little off.
One reason I use the word “nominal Christian” is because I live in Arkansas. In a recent poll my state was ranked the 5th most religious state in the nation. Everybody here either is a “Christian” or was a “Christian” at some point in their life. So it has become very difficult for me to make the distinction at that level. Instead I allow people to speak for themselves on what they believe and when I evangelize I want to get the message across to them that I don’t think they are what they say they are. It makes it easier for me because it guards me from not witnessing simply because the person says they are a “Christian.”
So to answer your question, I would never call a person a “nominal Christian” who I thought was an actual Christian.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
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