excerpt 2 from “Is There Salvation in the Church?” to be published in May.
Facing the Sinfulness of the Church
Both in the Gospel description of the disciples, and in the writings of Paul, the history of the church is replete with problems that challenge the faith the church was meant to proclaim. The divisions and arguments described in the churches at Corinth, Philippi, and Colossae and the major division that led to the Jerusalem conference between Paul and those who objected to the way he was conducting his mission to the Gentiles were just a prologue to the history of the sinfulness of the church.
God’s Failed (Chosen) People
One’s heart sickens as we read about the Crusades, which justified bloodshed in the name of Christ, or the equally violent results of the missionaries accompanying the imperialistic expansion of the European countries. With the perspective given by time, we now see that some of the values that were imposed by the missionaries were more a part of the culture from which they came than the faith itself. The church’s response to the Holocaust in the same German society that was producing the elite of Christian scholarship challenges the integrity of the church. In this country, sensitive Christians are shocked at the church’s participation in the Salem Witch Trials, the justification of the massacres of Native Americans, the enslavement of African-Americans, and the oppression of women. Skeptics cite such examples as justification for their rejection of the church. If God chose to speak through a chosen people, either God has been defeated by the sinfulness of those God chose from the beginning, or God is able to speak in a manner that is not defeated by our disobedience.
Does God Have a Better Idea?
God’s Work through an Imperfect People
If God is saving people through the church, we must understand how God is doing that through an imperfect people. One of the remarkable aspects of Scripture is its willingness to confront the sinful aspects of its messengers and community as it tells the story of faith. It is not hidden that Abram was willing to allow his wife to be violated by the pharaoh in order to protect himself or that Sarai was spiteful towards Hagar and Ishmael. Jacob was clearly a manipulating scoundrel, and he apparently learned that trait at his mother’s knee. Moses was wanted for murder. The people he led to freedom began to grumble and rebel from the very beginning of their journey. The judges that were raised up to save the people were filled with human frailties. Despite God’s repeated saving acts, the people continually returned to their sinful ways. David was an adulterer and killer. Solomon became an indulgent tyrant. The story is only remarkable for God’s faithfulness and patience. If there was symbolic continuance suggested in the twelve tribes and the choice of twelve disciples, there was also a continuance of their obdurate and sinful ways. The disciples argued about who was the greatest. James and John attempted to use the influence of their mother to secure positions of power. At times some of the disciples seemed to represent Satan more clearly than they did God. Greed influenced some of their decisions. Betrayal existed within the community. Some were ready to use violence to enforce conformity. At a critical moment, they all lost courage and ran for cover. They continually seemed to misunderstand both Jesus and his message. The pattern of Scripture is to be very open and honest about one’s own sinfulness. To understand the true nature of the church through which God has chosen to express Godself, one must be honest about the sinfulness and the faithfulness of the people of God. As Hans Kung reminded us, “In all its historical forms the true nature of the church is accompanied, like a dark shadow, by its ‘un-nature’; the two are inseparable.3”
3 Hans Kung, The Church, p. 51, Image Books, a division of Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1976.
