NEUHAUS’ LAW
Dear friends,
Richard John Neuhaus’ (1936-2009) was a Christian pastor, intellectual and public intellectual. He once proposed this sort-of famous law. Referring to churches and Christian organizations, he said, “When orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed.” Please note that the word “proscribed” means “forbidden”, “denounced”, and “condemned”. What he means is that when orthodox Christian belief becomes one of several options in a church, denomination, mission or Christian movement, then sooner or later orthodox Christian faith will be seen as a threat, and excluded. To many Canadian Christians this belief seems extreme, but it is a good summary of biblical teaching. At Messiah we are in the Book of Judges. In that book, the Lord keeps calling Israel to worship Him alone. He warns them, that if they mingle with the people of the land of Canaan, then they will become “Canaanized”. This means that they will worship the Lord and the gods and goddesses of the nations. However, the Lord says this cannot be. To worship Him and an idol is really to reject Him and serve the gods. In Judges 6 we see that Gideon knows much about the Lord and His dealings with Israel. We also see that Gideon’s family worship Baal and Asherim. When the Lord tells Gideon to tear down the Baal and Asherim, he does. The response of the community is to desire Gideon’s death. You see, in Israel during the time of Judges, first the worship of the Lord becomes one option among many, and then the worship of the Lord is, in effect, forbidden and condemned. Several points.
First, this biblical teaching makes great sense, and should not be feared. To many Canadians the Neuhaus Law sounds as if the Bible demands rigid ideological purity and conformity. But this is not the case. Ephesians 5:22-33 captures the breadth and depth of the Bible. Our relationship with the Triune God is like the relationship between husband and wife. No marriage is helped by one person in the marriage growing in affection and attraction to others. Exclusivity is at the heart of intimacy and a good marriage. Similarly, every romantic comedy shows the pitfalls and tragedy that flow from believing things about your beloved that are not true. So it is with the Christian and the Lord. Wholehearted devotion to Him, and the truth He has revealed about Himself and you, is essential to a good and growing relationship. So just as no sane wife will agree that she can be one of several romantic interests for her husband, neither should a church consider biblical orthodoxy to be one option in the congregation or denomination or movement.
Second, the path to optional orthodoxy always seems wise and innocuous at first, beginning with something that sounds good-hearted. People say, “Let’s re-frame the Bible’s teaching on miracles, or the sacrificial death of Christ, or the exclusive claims of Christ, or biblical teaching on sexuality – so as to reach the modern sceptical, sensitive, pluralistic, liberal world.” This “new way” then becomes one option. But the original claim is more often than not a Trojan horse and the church now has an orthodox and non-orthodox option within its common life. Look at the mainline churches.
Third, the Lord takes no delight in the death of a sinner, but that we will turn to Him and live. The Bible confronts us to connect with us, in the hope that we will turn to the Lord, be saved, and walk with Him. The warnings are important – we cannot serve two masters – but so are the promises – that He will hear when we repent with “godly grief”. But true repentance will mean being willing to first confront the “orthodox alternative”, and then, if there is no repentance, they will have to be let go. Pray that our churches are reformed by the Bible and revived by the Holy Spirit.
George+