Have you ever noticed that most people chase after peace like it’s the last piece of apple pie at Thanksgiving dinner? Unless you have a penchant for psychopathy, I suspect that you also gravitate towards peace most of the time. If you prefer the general absence of conflict and schismatic chaos you are about as normal as… toast. Nearly all people seek to move from positions of less peace to positions of more peace, and this is, in fact, the natural human mode. The way that our hearts recognize, index, and sense peace varies from culture to culture. Anthropologists and missiologists (more on them later) tend to identify three primary punishment/reward paradigms among different cultures, though one culture can have more than one: these three paradigms are fear/power, guilt/innocence, and shame/honor. Applying this to our current discussion would tell us that some people find peace in power, some in innocence, and some in honor. Since I am not an anthropologist, I shall leave the anthropological concerns to one who is. What I can do is talk (write, rather) about the gospel, and since this paper is too short to do anything with right now, buckle up.
Let’s revisit those missiologists (those who philosophize about the best way to do missions) again. They postulate that those three paradigms above (fear/power, guilt/innocence, and shame/honor) are also evidenced in the way different cultures respond to sin. That is, in fear/power cultures, sin produces fear as the primary response; sin produces guilt in guilt/innocence cultures; and sin produces shame in shame/honor cultures[1]. This is probably an appropriate place to insert a word about my purpose to maintain your attention. It has been said by a wiser and more eloquent man that for a man to get saved, he must first get lost. Less eloquently, that means that before we can minister the Gospel to someone, we must first bring them to a place where they realize they lack something: to return to my opening thesis, this something they lack is peace, peace with God. You might even think of these negative reactions (fear, guilt and shame) as blinking “dummy lights” signaling a malfunction in the peace chamber. The purpose of this jumbled collection of words is to help you, the minister of the Gospel, understand what makes men register a lack of peace.
People in fear/power cultures are motivated and propelled towards peace by their inward fear: fear of failure, loss, servitude, or any number of other things. For this person, peace is achieved when fear is removed and power achieved. People in guilt/innocence cultures (probably you, the reader, and I, the author) are motivated to seek peace by inward guilt and a nagging conscience. For us, peace is achieved when guilt is removed and innocence achieved. Our entire Western judicial system is founded on the principle that innocence = peace. Finally, people in shame/honor cultures are motivated to seek peace by the threat of shame and public humiliation. Members of these communities dread the thought of being shamed by their community, family, or country. To them, honor is more important than objective morality because their group values “face” more than morality. They have peace when shame is removed and honor is achieved.
Did you know the Bible addresses each of these cultural viewpoints? I didn’t till last week. Let’s first consider the fear/power paradigm by looking at Romans 5:6, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly”. That idea of strength speaks of authority and self-determination which is the essence of power in fear/power cultures. This verse clearly teaches that we cannot muster up enough strength to make ourselves innocent or godly. In fact, we are totally impotent and helpless to secure peace with God.
How about the guilt/innocence paradigm? Surely we in the West have the best worldview, right? Well, Isaiah 64:6 says that “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away”[2]. Along with many other passages, this Scripture clearly teaches that we are unable to gain peace with God by an effort to be righteous or innocent.
Paul addresses the honor/shame paradigm in Romans 3:23 when he says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory [honor] of God.” Sin is shameful and ignominious to God and to us. A lifetime of sin is a lifetime of shame. The exceeding shamefulness of sin separates us from God and leaves us “without hope and without God.” Now, God lovingly programmed these “dummy light” responses into men to help us realize the lack of peace in our lives, and man has often sought to attain peace through the elimination of those negative responses. Unfortunately, man can never be powerful enough, innocent enough, nor honorable enough to earn peace with God. More succinctly, man can never expunge his own sin.
Now, while one culture may primarily emphasize one paradigm over another, true peace can only be achieved at the nexus of all three paradigms. That is, true peace can only be found when one has power, innocence, and honor all together. Similarly, sin typically cooks up an unholy stew, replete with diced fear, shredded guilt, and mashed shame. One man might feel more guilt than another man, but it is quite likely that there will be vestiges of fear, guilt, and shame like a stray bay leaf in an otherwise good curry. It should follow then that we need a remedy that addresses all three areas. Since this essay is about the Gospel, I’d imagine you’ve already figured out what that remedy is. The Gospel is the promise of all power, total innocence, and princely honor: in short, the Gospel is the promise of perfect peace.
Peace was a favorite theme of the Apostle Paul’s:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh (Eph 2:13-17).
And again, in Colossians 1:20, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” Paul clearly believed that Christ is our peace. For Paul, a man who had labored under the Mosaic law for most of his life, the peace of the Gospel must have been immense. No more did he need to constantly parse the law in fear of losing God’s favor. His peace with God was now dependent on God, not his own actions. Let’s wrap up by talking about how the Gospel brings peace to each paradigm.
How does the Gospel bring peace to the fear/power paradigm? The Gospel has the power to appease the wrath of God through Christ’s propitiatory death, giving us power to become the sons of God (John 1:12, I John 2:2). Christ died so that He could “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Paul tells us explicitly that the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). The gospel can bring peace to the fear/power paradigm because Christ crushed the power of death and we need no longer to fear death.
How about the guilt/innocence paradigm? The Gospel has the ability to render us righteous before Holy God, to justify us in His sight and make us perfectly innocent. Romans 5:1 clearly states that, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Peter 3:18 tells us how Christ’s death “brings us to God.” Because Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, we are no longer subject to guilt.
How about for shame/honor? Ephesians 1:5-14 is one of my favorite passages, so I will quote it in its entirety:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The Gospel has the ability to give us princely honor before God by making us no less than His redeemed and legally adopted children. How priceless! At salvation, we become part of the “whole family of God,” arguably the largest and most significant community one could ever be a part of.
We’ve seen how the Gospel can bring peace. The only piece that’s left is how an individual can access this peace. We know from the Scripture that we must repent and believe the Gospel to access salvation (peace). Peace is always predicated on trust. This is true in human relationships but especially in a relationship with God. To access the peace of God, we must trust His promise that He will give peace. Practically, this is the willing choice to believe that Christ’s death can bring peace – power, innocence, and honor. How do we know we can trust God? God earned the right to our trust when He sent His Son to die on the cross, in our stead, and bear our fear, guilt, and shame. A love like this deserves to be met with reciprocation. Repentance, the other side of salvation, is the decision to stop trying to be powerful enough, innocent enough, and honorable enough to earn God’s favor and to admit that you never could be enough, anyway.
Where the missiologists go astray sometimes is in compartmentalizing the Gospel into these three separate paradigms. In doing so, we risk preaching three different Gospels. There is one Gospel, one peace, and one way to access it. In evangelism, we may need to accentuate one facet of the Gospel diamond, but we should never do so to the diminishment of the other facets. Further, the gospel saves from sin, not the effects of sin. Even though a culture might be motivated by shame not guilt, and we might be able to emphasize how Christ removes our shame, the Gospel does not just take away our fear, guilt, and shame. The gospel saves from sin, and that is the only way to peace. I trust this exploration of the Gospel helps you to more fully appreciate the Gospel. We do a disservice to our God when we only think about one facet of the Gospel. I encourage you to meditate on the Gospel diamond and return some worship to God for so great salvation.
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