HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS ENGAGE WITH CULTURE?
Key Facts
The number of Americans claiming to be religiously affiliated is on the decline. The culture of America reflects this statistic. [1]
Some churches, like those at pride celebrations, are known for their cultural engagement. On the other end of the spectrum, Amish churches and many others are known for their full withdrawal from the common culture.
A 2009 study found that one-third of America's volunteer force served through a religious group. Religious organizations engage with culture by volunteering for many different areas of need. [2]
Christians have a long history of cultural engagement including cultural and political movements toward medical advancement and advancement for freedoms. [3]
Key Scriptures
John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’”
Matthew 6:10-13 “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.”
James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
Application
With a declining number of people in America claiming to be religious, Christians are finding the culture around them becoming increasingly secular. [4] Christians often disagree about how much or how little to engage with culture especially when the values of the culture seem opposed to biblical values. Questions come to mind such as “How does the church avoid becoming a mere social club?” or “Should Christians try to stay relevant in the culture?” All Christians employ a model of cultural engagement, even if they aren’t aware of it themselves. It is important that we go back to what the Bible says about how Christians should relate to the culture around them rather than assume that our own church’s way of engaging is correct.
The Models Explained
There are many approaches to cultural engagement for Christians. For this article I will be looking at five ways for Christians to engage with culture as defined by Richard Niebuhr. Those who are interested can also check out Tim Keller’s models of cultural engagement, but for our purposes here, we will be discussing Niebuhr’s work. The five ways are points on a spectrum of cultural engagement, with one end featuring complete cultural withdrawal and the other embracing culture wholeheartedly.
Christ Against Culture
On one end of the spectrum is the idea that the culture of the world is so depraved that Christians must withdraw from it. Proponents of this view usually cite Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Churches who hold to this view do not want to be conformed to the world so they withdraw as much as possible. An example of this is the Amish church. The Amish view the culture around them as corrupting and thus have created their own societies without the direct influence of the worldly culture.
Critics of this view are most likely to bring up our call for evangelism (Mark 16:15). How can Christians share the gospel if we avoid going to the places where there are people who need to hear it (John 20:21)? Many also argue that it is naïve to believe that we can remove ourselves from culture. [5] In one way or another, the outside culture will always influence us and it is better to recognize that influence than to be unknowingly manipulated by it.
Christ of Culture
On the other end of the spectrum is a view that recognizes that Christ is at work in the culture and looks for a way to affirm this. This view is the opposite of the previous one, arguing that culture isn’t inherently bad and Christians should be accommodating to the culture around them. Christ’s relationship to culture is more like a hero of a great cultural narrative. In practice, this looks a lot like the Episcopal church sanctioning homosexual marriages. In this instance, the common culture and the biblical teachings came into tension and the Episcopal church ruled in favor of the culture rather than the biblical teachings. Advocates of this view may cite verses such as 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. In this section Paul discusses how he becomes like the ones he is ministering to in order to build bridges to share the gospel with them.
Critics of this view argue that churches who follow this model have lost their devotion to righteousness and holiness as the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-27; Rev. 19:7-9). Many argue that sin should be of much more concern to us as Christians (Rom. 6:23). Because sin is so troubling to the heart of God, it should not be something that we take lightly (Heb. 1:9).
Christ Above Culture: Synthesis
This view seeks out good in the culture for the purpose of pointing to Christ. In this view, culture is basically good, but not perfect. As such, it is positioned below Christ who exists in infinite perfection (Heb. 4:15). While the culture is basically good it still falls short when one considers its relation to Christ. In this view, Christ rules over culture (1 Pet. 3:22). The slight change in wording, while it may seem insignificant, results in a significant difference between this view and the previous Christ of Culture view. While the Christ of Culture view argues that culture is an extension of God’s creation, the Christ Above Culture: Synthesis view argues that culture is weak and insignificant when compared to Christ. This view does not accommodate for sinful cultures as the previous one does. This view recognizes that culture will always fall short of the glory and beauty of Christ and therefore Christ should be more of a focus than the culture around us.
Even with the attempted synthesis of the two previous views, some still worry that it relies too much on the church being an institution which judges and rules over the culture rather than being a body of believers. [6] Even more so, critics argue that this view is still too optimistic about culture because the sinfulness of humanity means that culture is also deeply flawed (Rom. 3:10-11).
Christ Above Culture: In Paradox
This view suggests that Christians are part of two different realms, one sacred and one secular: the culture of the world, and the Christian culture. [7] The culture of the world was created good but has been tainted by sin (Rom. 5:12). As a result, there is tension between the sacred and secular realms that Christians must live in (John 15:19). [8] Christians are to embrace the good aspects of culture while rejecting the sinful aspects.
One significant critique of this view is that it can result in apathy to the current culture. Christians are called to bring about justice and critics argue that this view does not encourage Christians to do that (Prov. 31:8-9). This model can result in pessimism toward cultural improvement and leave Christians without an urgency to be involved in benefiting the culture around them.
Christ Above Culture: Transforming Culture
This view argues that every part of culture should be transformed by the work of Christ. Since Christ is the redeemer of all of creation (Rom 8:19-25), Christians should work to redeem culture through significant activity in culture such as politics and social issues in an attempt to redeem the culture for Christ. An example of this would be some of those on the so-called “Religious Right” who seek political change fervently, sometimes with more effort than their desire for spiritual change.
Critics of this view may argue that culture will not be redeemed for Christ before he comes again and thus Christians should not expect that it will (Rom. 8:19-23). They say that this model of cultural engagement will result in an unbiblical belief that Christ’s redemption of culture is the most urgent issue (Col. 3:2). Many think that Christians should be more focused on sharing the gospel with individuals rather than transforming a culture of unsaved people to act as though they were saved. An example of this concern is early American morality which held to Christian standards of morality without recognizing their need for the savior Jesus Christ.
Which Model Most Aligns with the Bible?
The Bible holds many of these teachings about Christian engagement with culture in tension. Although no one model perfectly accounts for every biblical principle, each model has something to learn from.
The first tension we can recognize is the need for Christians to be distinct from the world, yet remain faithful to our call to be in the world sharing the gospel (Mark 16:15). Involvement in the world is a necessary part of sharing the gospel and being a light. The light shines brightest in the darkness and we know that we have been called to go to all places on earth to share the gospel (John 1:5). This will inevitably mean that Christians will find themselves among sinners and in spiritually dark places. However, being in the world does not mean that we should be of the world (John 17:15-16). Rather than withdrawing from the world, we should be in it and asking the Lord to ensure that we are not becoming conformed to the world around us (2 Thes. 3:3).
The second tension we can see is our pull toward true social and political justice while also recognizing that we are ultimately citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). On the one hand, we are called to bring about social, political, and cultural justice on this earth (Prov. 31:8-9). Christians should not be apathetic to the evil in the world and should fight for justice everywhere we can. On the other hand, we must also recognize this world is not our home (Phil. 3:20) and that we cannot fully erase the effects of sin until Christ comes to rule and reign. If we expect the culture (politics, social change, cultural morality) to become fully Christianized, we will get frustrated and worn out. God has warned us that the last days will continue to get worse (2 Tim. 3:1-5). This does not mean that we do not do what we can to enact social and political change but that we understand the sinfulness of the world. The corrupt social and political problems are ultimately symptoms of the true problem---a world without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (John 12:46). While bringing about change here on earth is not the ultimate goal of a Christian, fighting for justice and righteousness do matter.
Biblically, multiple principles are in tension and that is okay. Veering too far towards any of these models has its dangers. Instead, Christians can learn from the truth of each one and seek to incorporate it in their own cultural engagement. For example, a Christian may affirm the Christ Against Culture’s wariness of being conformed to this world. After all, we see this happening with so many religious leaders being led astray by the philosophies of this world (Col. 2:8). However, this same Christian can seek more balance by highly valuing evangelism. Each model has something to be learned from and also pitfalls to avoid. While Christians may find themselves leaning toward one model or another, they should be diligent to seek out solutions that balance the pros and cons of each view.
Conclusion
It is important to incorporate all aspects of the Bible and our Christian purpose into the way that we approach the culture around us. As Christians engage with a lost world, they should be careful to not begin to look like it (John 15:19). As we seek biblical guidance, Christians should allow for disagreement on this issue. Churches around the world take slightly different approaches to the issue of cultural engagement and, for the most part, this is okay. We should allow for these models to spark good discussion and growth between brothers and sisters in Christ.
[1] https://time.com/4385755/faith-in-america/
[2] https://www.christianpost.com/news/study-1-3-of-u-s-volunteers-serve-through-religious-groups.html
[3] https://godreports.com/2016/02/how-the-christian-hospital-movement-changed-the-world
[4] https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/]
[5] Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 282.
[6] Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 282.
[7] Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 282.
[8] https://www.focusonthefamily.ca/content/christ-and-culture-five-views