The Literature and History of New Testament Times

by J. Gresham Machen

CHRISTIANITY AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

1. THE PROBLEM

Two apparently contradictory features appear in the life of the apostolic Church. In the first place, there was an intense other-worldliness; the Christians were regarded as citizens of a heavenly kingdom. In the second place, there was careful attention to the various relationships of the present life; no man was excused from homely duty. The two sides of the picture appear in the sharpest colors in the life of the apostle Paul. No one emphasized more strongly than he the independence of the Christian life with reference to the world; all Christians, whether their worldly station be high or low, are alike in the sight of God; the Church operates with entirely new standards of value. Yet on the other hand, in his actual dealing with the affairs of this world Paul observed the most delicate tact; and in all history it is difficult to find a man with profounder natural affections. Where is there, for example, a more passionate expression of patriotic feeling than that which is to be found in Rom. 9:3? "I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

On the one hand, then, the apostolic Church regarded all earthly distinctions as temporary and secondary, and yet on the other hand those same distinctions were very carefully observed. The apparent contradiction brings before us the great question of the attitude of Christianity toward human relationships. This question may be answered in one of three ways.

2. THE WORLDLY SOLUTION

In the first place, there is the worldly answer. The Christian finds himself in a world where his time and his thoughts seem to be fully occupied by what lies near at hand. The existence of God may not be denied, but practically, in the stress of more obvious duties, God is left out of account.

(1) "Practical Christianity."—In its crude form, of course, where it involves mere engrossment in selfish pleasure, this answer to our question hardly needs refutation. Obviously the Christian cannot devote himself to worldly enjoyment; a cardinal virtue of the Christian is self-denial. Worldliness in the Church, however, may be taken in a wider sense; it has often assumed very alluring forms. At the present day, for example, it often represents itself as the only true, the only "practical" kind of Christianity. It is often said that true religion is identical with social service, that the service of one's fellow men is always worship of God. This assertion involves a depreciation of "dogma" in the interests of "practical" Christianity; it makes no difference, it is said, what a man believes, provided only he engages in the improvement of living conditions and the promotion of fairer laws.

(2) This World Is Not All.—This tendency in the Church really makes religion a thing of this world only. Undoubtedly, much good is being accomplished by social workers who have given up belief in historic Christianity; but it is good that does not go to the root of the matter. Suppose we have improved conditions on this earth, suppose more men have healthy employment and an abundance of worldly goods. Even so the thought of death cannot be banished. Is the totality of man's happiness limited to a brief span of life; are we after all but creatures of a day? Or is there an eternal life beyond the grave, with infinite possibilities of good or evil? Jesus and his apostles and the whole of the apostolic Church adopted the latter alternative.

(3) The Secularization of Religion.—We lay our finger here upon one of the points where the modern Church is in danger of departing most fundamentally from the apostolic model. Religion is in serious danger of being secularized; that is, of being regarded as concerned merely with this life. The only corrective is the recovery of the old conception of God. God is not merely another name for the highest aspirations of men, he is not merely the summation of the social forces which are working for human betterment. On the contrary, he is a living Person, working in the world, but also eternally independent of it. You can work for the worldly benefit of your fellow men without coming into any saving contact with God; it does make a vast difference what you believe; it makes all the difference between death and life.

(4) The Teaching of Jesus and of the Apostles.—Only one-sided reading of the New Testament can find support for the opposite view. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me," Matt. 25:40; but the same Jesus also said, "If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26. The giving of a cup of cold water, which receives the blessing of Jesus, is done for "one of these little ones ... in the name of a disciple." Matt. 10:42. Evidently the good works of the Christian are not independent of the attitude of the doer toward Jesus and toward God; Jesus regards the personal relation between himself and his disciples as one which takes precedence of even the holiest of earthly ties. Far more convincing, however, than any citation of definite passages is the whole spirit of the New Testament teaching; evidently both Jesus and his early disciples had their lives determined by the thought of the living, personal God, holy and mysterious and independent of the world. Social service exists for the sake of God, not God for the sake of social service. The reversal of this relationship is one of the most distressing tendencies of the present day; a study of the apostolic Church may bring a return to sanity and humility.