Gospel and Culture, a story from the Bible

I have been reading through the book of Hosea in the Old Testament and find it is a powerful corrective to me on a number of fronts.  It "relates" to people in ways I am not comfortable with in my white, suburban, middle-class background.  It is a book that "connects" because it is so earthy and shocking -- but God uses images and ideas to communicate powerfully.

Hosea is a book that dramatizes the passionate holiness of God for his people.  It uses powerful images to convey this.

Hosea is filled with the language of whoredom -- the idea of sexual fidelity and infidelity shapes the book.  God marries Israel, a whoring wife, and she commits whoredom -- has children by her whoredom.  She is not merely an adulterous wife who has an affair; she is a prostitute (such a gentle word compared to the fervor of the original) -- a whore -- who squanders her favors on any passing lover. She is a cheap date in the worst sense of the term.  She is likened to a horse in heat -- ready for any passing male.

Wow, that is earthy!  Probably would stir some blog comments! To make matters worse, it is more vivid in the original, having been toned down by the translators.  Here is the shocking part -- we are all Israel, in our own hearts -- irrationally whoring after other gods, compulsively driven to pursue any and every lover that comes along, no matter how tawdry.

Yahweh, on the other hand, is the faithful husband and Hosea (who marries a harlot and walks through a parallel experience) prophesies of the heart and holiness of God.  God is holy without losing compassion and he is fervent in love without compromise or sentimentality.  The book is rich with the covenant faithfulness of God -- and anticipates the future bride price of the cross.  It is rich with God's jealousy for his redeemed and it is full of hope -- God WILL redeem his people and they will be his faithful bride as he will change their hearts.

How does this relate to Gospel and culture?  I think one of the greatest barriers to bringing the Gospel to the ugliness of our society is Victorian moral pride and prudishness.  Let me explain -- we (make that I) have far too much distaste for sinners -- not in that I hate sin, but that I am unwilling to dirty my hands with their lives.  I am very glad to offer moral condemnation and to call to repentance, as long as it does not soil my carpets or the linens in our home or take up free time. 

God is not so squeamish.  He, without compromising his holiness, engages with the lives of his whoring people and does so at great pains to himself.  He is not safe and distant, hurling moral slogans. He marries a harlot (us, his people), he chastens her, he pursues her, he woos her, he overwhelms her with his holy love, he makes her new.   

It seems very significant that God is not overly pious (as we may be) in that he employs one of the most tawdry metaphors to illustrate the sin of Israel -- and it must be so because the perversity of harlotry is the perversion of the purity of sexual intimacy within marriage.   There are no Victorian euphemisms in Hosea -- it is blunt, sharp, shocking -- because our wayward hearts are the same.  And the purpose of God to redeem his bride to himself in faithfulness overrules all the ugliness of our sin. 

I think if we are to be relevant we must be blunt and, in appropriate ways, shocking.  People are morally indifferent, how do we awaken their sense of the vileness of sin?  (Secular people do this -- just watched Hotel Rwanda and found it to be intentionally jarring).  We do this not to jade the heart but to awaken it -- just as Hosea did.

God relates to people in a metaphor that is powerful and may be offensive to some -- but it "connects" at the deepest levels of human experience.  It is not pretty. It may be offensive.  This reminds me of the time Chuck Colson offended a man who objected to Colson's portrait of all of us as sinners -- to which Colson responded -- I have more more in common with Adolph Hitler than Jesus.  How uncouth!  The man was offended and the truth was conveyed.

Finally, here is one more area where it shows how the Gospel can relate to culture -- it reveals the heart and holiness of God.  There is this amazing mix of perfect judgment (no rationalizing here, no, "its OK, we are all whores at heart", no weakening sympathy) and perfect compassion (God's heart wrenches for the sin of his people and its consequences). 

Here is a cue on how to relate to sinners of all kinds -- we are called to display the heart and holiness of God.  If all we do is condemn the sin of our culture -- and give people a moral message, we have conveyed holiness without compassion.  God agonizes for sinners -- and pronounces their judgment after much patience.  God dirties his hands with the rescue work and does not keep safely aloof.  Do I? 

Comments

[Dave Taylor]

It's interesting that you call one of our faults "Victorian moral pride and prudishness." I've often thought that there's a strain of teaching in the church that won't go away—in fact, it may be gaining ground—that I characterized as neo-Victorianism. It even reprints and distributes Victorian-era literature and Christian teaching for present use. (I just received such a catalogue in the mail.)

As you say, its tone is moral and upright; but its stance tends toward separating yourself from a moribund world lest you be dragged down with it. If I remember correctly, Lloyd-Jones said Victorian religion was a poor substitute for Christianity, and I think he was right.

[rsp]

"Keeping safely aloof," yes this is what I would like my 18 year old daughter to do. I have worked hard to keep her from getting "dirtied" by the world. However, she is now attending the local community college, meeting sinners and developing a love for them while saddened by their ungodly state. O dear, I think in my heart, She has a love for her kind fornicating teacher. She goes to coffee with a fellow student who uses profanity. I would be more comfortable if she stood self-righteously distant. But no, she lovingly befriends them, but continues to stand firm in her convictions. She questions why her teacher lives with her boyfriend when she desires to be married with children. She asks me, "How will she achieve her deep desire if she is fornicating?" Conversations about my daughters virginity have just naturally occured, and my daughter has explained her desire to remain a virgin until marriage. Ewww! My daughter, who I have worked hard to keep "clean" is having those conversations with people. Even youngmen have asked about this. My daughter, a friend to sinners?!? I find myself filled with fear and unbelief. Do I really want God to use my "clean" daughter to love the sinner? To have those kinds of sexual conversations? NO, I would prefer her to STAND ALOOF. It is more comfortable for me...