A Many Colored Kingdom by Elizabeth Conde-Frazier

Author:Elizabeth Conde-Frazier [Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, S. Steve Kang and Gary A. Parrett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780801027437
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

Putting on New Garments

As we have seen, none of us can be truly incarnate in another culture as Christ was for our sakes. Nevertheless, we can and should seek to identify with any culture in which we are called to serve, following the examples of both Jesus and the apostle Paul. Paul was determined to “become all things to all people” for the sake of the gospel. For the sake of “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10), the eternal Son of God “shared in their humanity” (Heb. 2:14), was “made like his brothers in every way” (Heb. 2:17), and was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15). In Philippians 2, Paul writes that Jesus took on “the very nature of a servant” and was “made in human likeness.” To wash the disciples’ feet, Jesus, having taken off his outer garments, put on a new garment—a towel, wrapping it around his waist in readiness to serve (John 13).

When we are called to minister in a cultural context other than our own, we must seek to identify with that culture for the sake of the gospel. Such action is motivated by servant love and, as is the case whenever we strive to be servants of others, requires deep humility. But as we do so, we must wrestle with the issue of how much of that culture we can take upon ourselves while retaining our integrity. Put otherwise, what ought to happen when the gospel is introduced into a particular culture and the call to discipleship is sounded in that context? This sort of “Christ and culture” question has challenged and perplexed Christians throughout the ages. Space does not allow us to probe this fully here but only to offer a few suggestions.

To begin with, when the gospel truly penetrates a culture, it becomes enculturated in that setting. It cannot remain detached from or unaffected by the culture. As Newbigin says, “There can never be a culture-free gospel.”[22] In gospel ministry today, the role that culture plays is complex on all sides. The gospel is carried into a given culture by messengers who have a culture of their own. The messengers’ understanding of the gospel has been deeply influenced by that culture. The new recipients of the gospel, even in their initial hearing of the gospel and certainly in any subsequent adoption of it, are deeply influenced by their distinct culture. We may be disturbed by such thoughts, but we should not be. Consider the incarnation of Christ. God’s coming to us was not culture free. Jesus Christ was not a generic human being. He was a particular human. God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ “within a particular human culture, conducting his ministry in the language and culture of those among whom he lived.”[23] He was a first-century, Middle Eastern, Jewish man. He was raised in Nazareth, a particular town in Galilee, a particular region of Israel. He was raised by a particular family and participated in a particular form of Jewish religious life.

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