There is no contradiction in the Biblebetween an evangelical gospel and a social gospel. The Bible calls usto faith in Christ, but also, to preach liberation to the oppressed.There are not two gospels, but one gospel. Personal devotion toChrist is closely linked with social justice. Some Evangelical or conservativeChristians ignore or downplay the social justice message in theBible. They preach a personal relationship with Christ, but ignorethe social implications of the gospel. They spiritualize the gospel.Christians like this sat on the sidelines of the great struggle forcivil rights in our country, or even sided with the oppressors.Today, they ignore, down play, or are in denial about issues ofeconomic justice, the continued presence of racism, genderinequality, the environmental crisis, and other social injustices.
Some liberal or progressive Christiansdo the opposite. They reduce the gospel to social justice only. Thereare even some extreme examples of those who are rationalists, whohave jettisoned the supernatural aspects of the faith altogether.They do not call for a life-giving relationship with Christ. Theyonly are left with a social justice message, that frankly might bepresented in a more straight-forward manner by a secular Marxist.
Both sides of this divide areunbalanced, and do not have a complete gospel. The Gospel calls us tofaith in Christ, but also, to solidarity with the oppressed. TheGospel calls us to love God and neighbor.
All Christians give lip service tocharity, but the Bible calls us beyond charity to justice. A classicBible text for the social gospel is from Isaiah:
“learn to do good;seek justice,correct oppression;defend the fatherless,plead for the widow.”
- Isaiah 1.17, RSV
“Correct oppression,” theRSV text has; in the New King James Version, this same phrase isrendered “rebuke the oppressor.” God calls us to preach aprophetic word, to challenge the powers, to speak the truth to power.I am glad for our charity. But we are not fulfilling our task asChristians unless we preach justice and work for it. We arerecalcitrant in our duties if we do not speak against oppression, ifwe don't “rebuke the oppressor.”
But rebuke does not mean that wenecessarily do so in anger. St. Paul enjoins us to “speak the truthin love.”
Take for example the rich young rulerMark's Gospel, chapter 10. The rich young ruler was likely anoppressor, he collaborated with the Roman occupiers. In order to haveor maintain wealth in first century Palestine, one had to have somebusiness or political relationship to the Romans.
The rich young ruler came to Jesus andasked him, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus toldhim to keep the commandments, “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery,Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor yourfather and mother.” The rich young ruler answers, “Teacher, allthese I have observed from my youth.” But had he?
First, as I mentioned, the rich youngruler was probably an oppressor. Secondly, the early fathers of theChurch teach that whatever superfluous wealth we have belongs byright to the poor. When we fail to share with the poor, we arerobbing them. “Property is theft,” St. Basil says. The rich youngruler probably did not realize that by hoarding his wealth, and thatby the means with which he acquired it, he was in fact breaking thecommandments- “do not defraud!”
Jesus for his part, spoke the truth inlove to the rich young ruler. When the rich young ruler came toJesus, the Gospel says that “Jesus look upon him and loved him.”Yet, he enjoined him to sell everything he had and give the proceedsto the poor. Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “sell what youhave, give the proceeds to the poor, and then come follow me.”Jesus is the source of eternal life. The rich young ruler mustrepent- that is, change his mind; he must stop oppressing the poor,and give them his wealth instead. But he also must come to Christ. Itwould not have helped the young ruler have eternal life withoutcoming to Christ. St. Paul says “that if I give away all that Ihave and have not love, I am nothing.” We must all come to Christand be devoted to him. Christ in this passage, makes a strongconnection between devotion to himself and solidarity with thepoor, as he does in the famous parable of the Last Judgment inMatthew 25.
The story of the rich young ruler is aperfect example of “rebuking the oppressor” in love. It wouldhave been a good example of “correcting oppression,” if the richyoung ruler would have done as Jesus asked of him. It is a sublimeexample of a complete gospel, which calls us to social justice anddevotion to the Person of Christ.
There is no contradiction between theevangelical message of faith in Christ and the social Gospel. It isall one gospel. As John Wesley says, “There is no holiness, butsocial holiness.”
- Lance
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