Every day brings another gruesome story of men, women, and children in the Middle East being persecuted for their faith in Christ. Churches are destroyed, families are pushed out of their homes and villages, individuals have their throats slit—and the entire world watches with horror. Western Christians regularly pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, but some wonder if it is proper to think of them as fellow Christians. After all, missionaries have been at work in many of those same regions for years, trying to convert people from Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches to Protestantism. Why were they trying to convert them, if they were already “in Christ” with us?
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion (IV.1.8), John Calvin refers to “a certain charitable judgment whereby we recognize as members of the church those who, by confession of faith, by example of life, and by partaking of the sacraments, profess the same God and Christ with us.” Taking their mark from Calvin, other Reformed theologians have often spoken of the “judgment of charity” with regard to how we evaluate another person’s claim to faith. The idea here is that unless someone proves by their profession or their actions that they are not Christians, we should take them at their word and not second-guess their profession of faith.
This attitude should help us give the benefit of the doubt to those men, women, and children who are being persecuted simply for being Christians. The important theological distinctions we discuss in the free West are not even under consideration among those whose very lives are threatened by their simple profession, “Jesus is Lord.” We can and should rejoice with them when their towns and villages are freed, when they can worship in peace, and when their lives are safe from threats of harm.
That does not mean, however, that we shouldn’t still seek to bring them—as we do our neighbors here in the West—to a better, fuller, and richer understanding of the Christian faith. As circumstances allow, our missionaries should try to convince them of the significant errors of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Being freed from a theology of works righteousness will give them significant peace and assurance of their standing in Christ today. Along the way, we may discover that some Middle Eastern Christians were Christians in name only—having a cultural connection because of family and place of birth, but no vital, living faith. In that sense, they are no different from many Americans who are Christians in name only, identifying as a Christian because of a family or cultural connection.
In April 2017, a video of Coptic Christians chanting the Nicene Creed went viral on social media. People claimed it was a response of the small Christian minority in Cairo, responding to attacks on Palm Sunday that killed dozens of worshippers. If we watch that video and are moved to question the veracity and vitality of the faith of those who—at the risk of their own lives—appear in public to profess their faith with the same words we recite on Sunday mornings, then we lack the judgment of charity Calvin enjoins on us. Instead, we should be moved to prayer and praise instead. For there will “always be a church on earth” to worship God (WCF 25.5), and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
Eric Landry is exeutive editor of Modern Reformation and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.
