The Culture of God Vs. The Culture of Man
Posted by Mark Stephan
There’s a lot of hype going on about culture. I’ve been reading a lot of books, articles, been in conversations that try to understand biblical culture, and how that relates to us. On one side are people who say that God created cultures, and that it makes us unique and uniquely able to display his Glory. They often use the view of Revelation’s Heaven "Every tribe, nation and tongue" as an image that all the cultures will display their beauty in worship to God. On the other side is the view that human culture is not something to be lifted up, but rather is depraved, like our sinful selves and that the Bible relates to us a biblical heavenly culture that is given to us once we’ve been saved and redeemed, and that the acculturation to that culture is the process of sanctification.
While some may consider this as just an academic discussion, and not important to everyday life, I’d argue this is one of the most fundamental questions the church is facing, and the answer to it determines where Christianity will be one hundred years from now.
The Roots of the Culture of Man
It is important to know, and fundamental to the faith that God created man in his image. We were made in the image of God. We were made in a perfect state to live an existence of perfection. We were Holy, and thus in perfect alignment with God’s culture. Holiness and Righteousness is the culture of God and His Kingdom.
Then something happened. We broke the cultural standard of God, we did the taboo, and the result was sin entering the world, ourselves, and that corruption effected our holy culture dramatically leaving it marred and mutated beyond manly repair.
Humanity grew and so did its sinfulness. Humanity’s culture still remained rather homogenous, yet effected by the fall. We built a tower to reach the heavens, and in that attempt, God confused our language splintering us off and spreading us across the earth. As isolated groups of people, our identities and culture developed as isolated groups, becoming more and more unique and different from each others until today where we can look at every part of the earth and find diverse languages and cultures.
The question arises then, what are the ramifications of this people group focused culture on the long-term plan of God and His Kingdom. Does God cherish diverse culture and have a place for it in His fulfilled redeemed Kingdom, or does God have something new that he wants to create?
What the Bible Says
To find out what God has planned for the long-term, we need to look at the heavenly culture of God post-rapture to ad infinitum. While it is clear from the Bible that God is calling people from every Tribe, Tongue, People, and Nation what isn’t clear is what happens to them once the complete regeneration occurs i.e. the redeemed receives their new spiritual bodies.
The Bible Says:
- Our present body is only a "tent" which we will put aside. 2 Co 5:1-3, 2 Pet 1:13-14
- God, through Christ, will deliver us from this present "body of death" (which is the sinful nature). Rom 7:20-25
- God has prepared us for the purpose of being clothed with our heavenly body. 2 Cor 5:4-5
- Although we do not know exactly what our new bodies will be like, we know that they will be like Jesus. 1 John 3:2-3
- Our new bodies will be like Christ’s glorious body. Phil 3:20-21, Rom 8:28-30, Ps 17:15, Ro 6:5-8, 1 Cor 15:49, 2 Cor 3:17-18
- We will be changed instantaneously when we are raised. 1 Cor 15:51-53
- To gain our new body, our current body must die. 1 Cor 15:35-49 (See also Phil 1:21-23)
- Our new body will be incorruptible. Our current body is corruptible. 1 Cor 15:42-44, 1 Cor 15:52-54 (In context: 1 Cor 15:35-58)
- Our new body will be glorified. Our current body is dishonorable. 1 Cor 15:42-44, (In context: 1 Cor 15:35-58)
- Our new body will be powerful. Our current body is weak . 1 Cor 15:42-44, (In context: 1 Cor 15:35-58)
- Our new body will be spiritual. Our current bodies natural. 1 Cor 15:42-44, (In context: 1 Cor 15:35-58)
- Our new bodies will be from God, eternal and in the heavens. 2 Co 5:1-5
- Like Moses and Elijah, our bodies will likely be able to converse with others. Lk 9:28-32, Mt 17:2-3
- People who currently have physical disabilities will not have them in their new bodies. Isaiah 35:3-5
- We will have no racial or cultural distinctions Col 3:9-11
No Culture in Heaven But the Heavenly Kingdom Culture
It is the last point that is of special interest to me. In heaven, with our spiritual and new, incorruptible bodies, there will be no racial or cultural distinction between us. While Revelation shows that people will be called from every tribe, tongue, people and nation it is clear they are called from them, but not called to it. What this means is that the usage of ‘from’ dictates that the Gospel is made for all. No one is left out. It does not necessarily mean that heaven is filled with various cultural expressions and languages. As the body is made anew, our culture and perhaps even language likewise is made to the image of God himself. In the vast picture of the multitudes of people in heaven never do we see any diverse expressions of the human cultural experience. They all worship in uniform praise and song singing out in praise of the one God. We are back to the origins of God’s creation. A holy and perfectly redeemed people worshipping the Lord. We are now completely acculturated to the culture and lifestyle of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So that’s what we will be, but what do we do now?
Our Acculturation to the Kingdom of Heaven
Once we are saved and redeemed, immediately our sinful nature is violently attacked and bombarded by the Holy Spirit of God. A transformation is initiated that will burn through our soul refining us and pulling us forcibly back into alignment to the Character and Holiness of God. We tend to fight this process as while it is for our benefit, it also forces us out of the world, leaving us rejected by the culture and world around us. We are now aliens to this world, having become official, blood-boughten citizens of heaven. It’s life a broth, and literally it is a rebirth. Although bloody, hideous and painful, it is the most amazing and glory filled moments in worldly our life.
This violent process should be embraced by believers world-wide. Yet, unfortunately, it is shunned, and the violence of it is often watered down so that it is not feared, and made bearable to our human comfort. In the hopes of leading more to the gospel many have watered down this gospel of violent transformation to the culture of Heaven, and instead have told people they can keep many if not all of their humanly developed culture intact as not to lose their social connections to the world around them. This however is not the gospel of the Bible. Whether you are an American, Westerner, Asian, Latino, Middle Easterner, African, Indiana, and so on and so forth, no matter what our cultural background is, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, etc.. we are all called to abandon these cultural identities and bring them into alignment to the culture of the Kingdom of God. We cannot tell the Muslim convert that they can keep their culture. God calls them out of it. We cannot tell the American they can keep their culture. God calls them out of it.
Often under the flag of reaching back to the community to reach others who are lost, people try to maintain their culture. However, biblically that is only possible once we have abandoned our culture, embraced the culture of Heaven, and through that new and redeemed life, reach out to the world around us from the position of our new Godly culture. We cannot reach a lost world from being part of a lost culture. We represent the culture we are in. If we are in a lost culture, we only lead people to more lostness. There is no culture on earth that isn’t lost. Only being transformed and being in the culture of Heaven are we truly found, and have a culture worth displaying and sharing.
If the heavenly culture is adhered to and followed, then missionaries will not go from the west to the east and spread ‘western’ christianity. Instead they will display the heavenly culture, and call others out from their past sinful and corrupt culture into the Heavenly culture, not into a western christian culture. At the same time, one cannot argue that their culture is redeemable or that they are required to live out their culture to reach others. There is no distinction of any human on earth. All must abandon their culture and embrace the culture of Heaven.
The following verses really wraps up the whole thought.
Colossians 3:1-17 (ESV)
1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I could say it no clearer. Seek the culture of God above. Abandon our sinful corrupt culture of the world below, which lies in idolatry. Together in Christ we have no race or cultural distinctions, but rather we are one whole and united body in Christ that finds our pure identity, cultural or otherwise in Christ alone. We need to put on and acculturate to the identity of Jesus and adopt His culture and attitude of holy living, compassionate giving, and loving as he loved. In everything we do, every word or deed, Christ, His work, and His Holiness should be at the root of it, displaying all with a great thankfulness to God the Father through him.
Also see this excellent Blog Post on this same issue that I found while researching this issue: http://www.albatrus.org/english/living/kingdom/kingdom_god_vs_culture.htm
