False Antitheses and their Eternal Destiny

One of my favorite quotes comes from D.A. Carson, and was shown to me by my friend Brad Davis. It is found in his book Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church:

“So which shall we choose? Experience or truth? The left wing of an airplane, or the right? Love or integrity? Study or service? Evangelism or discipleship? The front wheels of a car, or the rear? Subjective knowledge or objective knowledge? Faith or obedience?
Damn all false antitheses to hell, for they generate false gods, they perpetuate idols, they twist and distort our souls, they launch the church into violent pendulum swings whose oscillations succeed only in dividing brothers and sisters in Christ. The truth is that Jesus Christ is Lord of all—of the truth and of our experience. The Bible insists that we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.”

False antitheses abound in theological discussion today. I see it a lot in debates on Calvinism. Calvinism or evangelism? Predestination or human responsibility? The problem is not some of these people just think that they are logically incompatible– that is certainly a valid opinion– but that some people produce these false antitheses meaning “Calvinists DON’T evangelize” or “Calvinist DON’T believe in human responsibility.” Which is an outright lie. Obviously, these are the ideas of hyper-calvinists, and I would join you in decrying such attitudes. However, if you want to engage my beliefs, please engage me in what I actually believe. It’s ok to debate Calvinists on whether responsibility and predestination are incompatible. It is not ok to assert that all Calvinists do not belief in responsibility or evangelism.

There has been another false antithesis that has appeared in some circles: social justice or proclaiming the Gospel. The problem with this particular antithesis is that it is held by people on both sides. One side says that people will be won to Christ through social justice, and the other side swings the pendulum too far in the other direction saying that we only need to focus on the proclamation of the Gospel.

The reality is that the social justice message of the prophets came along with the call to repentance. The call to repent and believe in the Gospel from Christ came alongside His mission to free the oppressed, heal the sick, and give sight to the blind. Luke 4 is just as inspired as Romans 10.

¹⁷And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
-Luke 4.17-20

Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of this prophecy, and in so doing asserts that He has been annointed to proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, give the blind sight, and liberty to the oppressed. To put it succinctly, social justice. Here’s the thing. That mission didn’t stop with Jesus. We are called to do that very thing. The prophets cried out against it, John the Baptist preached against it, John tells us that it is one of the ways in which love is defined, and there’s even something about loving our neighbors as a particular summation of a certain law.

However, this is not His [and our] only mission. Luke records, “for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Furthermore, Paul writes in Romans 10:

“¹³For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
-Romans 10.13-17

Let me restate what Paul says. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. This they are unable to do unless they hear the Gospel. They cannot hear the Gospel unless people bring it to them. “[F]aith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is no other way. No salvation apart from the Gospel. Or Christ is a liar, our faith is in vain, and we are to be most pitied above all else.

There is no salvation apart from the proclamation of the Gospel. There also certainly won’t be ears to hear the Gospel from the mouths of hypocrites. When people hear what we proclaim, and then see us hate and act unsacrificially, and without love… why would they want that? They are getting along just fine not being included with us hypocrites!

“¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ²‘[Christians] sit on [Jesus’] seat, ³so practice and observe whatever they tell you— but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice…¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
¹³‘But woe to you, [Christians], hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. ¹⁵Woe to you, [Christians], hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.’”
-Matthew 23.1-15 (changes obviously mine).

I do not set out to change the Scriptures. Matthew 23 is a series of woes against a specific generation of Jewish leaders, as the final verses of the chapter make clear. Yet, when we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and act hypocritically like these leaders, we make people twice the children of Hell.

A little while later, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus would say this about the righteous when they go before God:

“³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
-Matthew 25.35-40

The unrighteous do not fair so well. “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

I shudder at the thought of hearing those words: “Depart from me, you cursed.”

It is not that those works save us. We are not saved by feeding the poor, as I quoted from Paul earlier, it is by faith. But such works should be the fruit of the regenerate heart. The question of social justice and the proclamation of the Gospel is not either/or, but both/and. The gospel must be proclaimed so that people will repent and turn to God. Social justice must be done, because it shows the justice and love of God, and from ourselves.

I say damn the false antithesis to hell.