In this issue we shift gears in our tour through the consecutive phrases of Matthew 28:18-20 in order to take up an important discussion of the gospel and social justice. This is a timely topic, as many readers know, and we are eager to help Reformation-minded Christians discern the difference between the Great Commission given by Jesus to the church and the Great Commandment to love our neighbor’a command similarly issued by Jesus in the New Testament but also rooted in creation and therefore applicable to all people, believer and unbeliever alike. Distinguishing faith (the commission) and love (the commandment) without separating them is our goal. Further, we want to encourage readers to acknowledge the appropriate sphere for each, whether the church for the proclamation of the gospel or in the lives of individual Christians for love of neighbor.
We believe that a Reformation understanding of law and gospel, two-kingdoms theology, and the uniqueness of the task given by God to the church should be brought to bear on this sometimes controversial topic. First, we want to encourage pastors to remain steadfast in their mission and singularly focused on Word and Sacrament ministry. Our editor-in-chief Michael Horton helps us recognize that the commission and the commandment each have their own logic, means, and application, and that these differences must be recognized so that each one can flourish as God intends. Typically the question arises: Should the church "do" anything other than preach and teach? Seminary professor David VanDrunen provides solid answers while explaining the difference between the church as an institution with offices and means of grace, and the church as an organism, or a community of faith and life.
But in this issue we also want to go on record and state our view of the importance of social justice of all kinds in the lives of Christian disciples, which is why VanDrunen reminds us of the Reformation teaching on "vocation." We follow up with an article by Ken Jones, White Horse Inn co-host and pastor of Glendale Missionary Baptist Church, who offers a well-informed discussion of the black church and social justice. He explains the origins of the black church and its role as a vehicle for socialization in local communities, which led to the inevitable expansion of the Great Commission to include a variety of cultural initiatives. Jones fights against the notion that two-kingdoms theology will leave Christians unconcerned about justice in society, while challenging the emphasis on social issues in the black church.
Kim Riddlebarger, pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim and another White Horse Inn co-host, spells out the debates concerning eschatology’in particular, amillennialism’that frequently underwrite discussions about the role of the church in relation to culture. He criticizes the labels "optimistic" and "pessimistic" and proposes a better category, that of "biblical realism." When it comes to realistic strategies for making a difference in this world and loving one's neighbor, Tim Blackmon’a Christian Reformed minister who serves at the American Protestant Church of The Hague in the Netherlands’encourages us to recover the lost art of hospitality. This is a practical suggestion within reach of all of us that streams out of God's own overflowing love for creation.
Looking in passages of Scripture at examples of Jesus' miracles and service to the poor, Presbyterian pastor Jon Payne reminds us that these events function first as testimonies to Christ's true status as God's Messiah. They provide glimpses of the coming kingdom where sickness, demon possession, sin, and death will be no more. They point to Jesus' divinity and role in redemptive history above all, and they are not essentially examples of how to unite Word and deed in ministry. Historically, churches that have pursued this latter interpretation have sometimes confused the difference between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment and therefore have been susceptible to mission creep, where a concern for social justice has been replaced by a social gospel. This is ultimately a tragedy for both the gospel and Christian charity.
As you peruse this issue, remember that the gospel alone is the power of God unto salvation. Christ's liberality and merciful charity to us on the cross does indeed have the power to inspire us to grateful lives of service to the poor and the weak. But remember the words of Lee Iacocca where it concerns the mission of the church, "Keep the main thing the main thing."
Ryan Glomsrud
Executive Editor
