We often don’t realize it’s happening. We don’t detect the dangers and costs. But the Gospel-driven faith is constantly under pressure to adapt to agendas that don’t align with Christ’s agenda. We have terms for these abuses, and it’s helpful to be able to recognize them and call them by name.

Syncretism

When we combine Christian faith with other religious concepts, we adjust values and beliefs to make it work with another religion or worldview. When Paul was writing to many of the early churches, he addressed ways that those conflicting beliefs were being combined and causing damage to the proclamation of the truth. Corinth allowed the cultic rituals to combine with the Lord’s Supper and worship gatherings so that it was no longer the sacred memorial to Jesus’ death on the cross.

Nationalism or Colonialism

When we take a particular political or government system and adapt Christian beliefs to adhere to political goals, it tends to change the fabric of the truth we proclaim, often using it to justify choices. King Henry VIII adapted Catholicism to his own desire for divorce and co-opted the practices of the church in England to adhere to his political goals.  In America and England, biblical texts were often used to justify the practice of slavery.

Relativism

When we decide that no absolutes exist, we make our faith beliefs become whatever we want them to be to accomplish our own ends, our own desires, and standards. We see that in many moral choices relating to sexuality, compromised relationships, and defining who Jesus is “for us.”

These examples are why we return to the Bible repeatedly so that we calibrate our lives by God’s standards, not our own, not our government’s, not our culture’s, or even our own personal standards. We must hear Jesus’ confrontation of the assumptions of His day and realize that we all need to hear the truth clearly so we recognize when it’s being twisted.

One example of Jesus’ response to the cultural relativism and nationalistic tendencies of His day was in Matthew 5, part of the Sermon on the Mount:

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies!^] Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. [NLT]

The actual command of God was to love your neighbor, but the CULTURAL teaching that was twisting the command through nationalistic motives added “and hate your enemy” to the common quote of the law. In fact, this weekend, every major news organization reported on Erica Kirk’s shocking statement at the memorial for her slain husband. “I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did.” It was also what Christ commanded us to do. This comes straight from what Jesus was talking about 2000 years ago. Jesus’ peers wanted to HATE enemies and felt justified to do so because that was the “twisting” of God’s command that was prevalent in that time.

But Jesus called them back to the pure command and noted that if we give in to that twist, we are no different from those we call “pagans.”

Friends, we must refuse to let Jesus’ teaching be twisted by ANY other voice–not the voice of convenience, not the voice of competing religions, not even the voice of our own national goals or politics. THOSE voices answer to Jesus; Jesus does not answer to them. Neither should you.