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Great Thinkers in the History of the Church (no. 9)
“We have been taught that Christ was the First-begotten of God, and we have indicated … that he is the Word of whom all mankind partakes. Those who lived by reason are Christians, even though they have been considered atheists.”
—St. Justin Martyr, Christian apologist and martyr, b. c. 100, First Apology
Stories
A man, angry, stormed into his pastor’s office, saying, “Pastor, how dare you quote from non-Christian religions in our church! How can you do that?” “Sir, Truth is not like a buffet, that one can choose to fit her likes and dislikes. Either you serve Truth, or you don’t. To fail to honor the Truth in other faiths would make me less a Christian, not more a Christian.” The man got angrier. The pastor concluded, “Now, do you want me to serve Truth or your versions of truth?”
A pastor stood before her congregation. She spoke, “Friends, we must remove the idol from our midst!” Someone replied, “But, pastor, there is no idol among us.” “Yes, there is,” retorted the pastor, “and it is called ideology.”
Once Jesus visited a congregation. He said, “Friends, you have ceased following me.” The people, confused, were asking how that could be, since they claimed to love and adore Christ. He replied, “You ceased following me, when what you think became more important than loving your neighbor as yourself.”
Comments
The early Church Father, St. Clement of Alexandria integrated the Christian message with Greek philosophy. He said that he was not like many Christians, “who are frightened at the Hellenic philosophy, as children are at masks.” Regarding Truth, St. Clement wrote, “The way of truth is … one. But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from all sides.” (The Miscellanies)
We are to be servants of Truth. This Truth has no versions, or Truth would cease to be Truth. To be a Christian who respects Truth, I cannot respect it as a labeled truth. To be a Christian who loves Truth, I must respect it in whatever stream it flows into the perennial river.
Likewise, Truth is not an object for me to attain or have. Truth in Itself is free. Truth can be reflected through philosophical and religious systems, but Truth cannot be contained in them.
The Christian faith has a startling passage, spoken by the Jesus of the Fourth Gospel, “5Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”(St. John 14, ESV) Likewise, another bold statement by the Gospel of St. John: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (St. John 1.14, AV) And, “16From Him Who has so much we have all received loving-favor, one loving-favor after another. 17The Law was given through Moses, but loving-favor and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18The much-loved Son is beside the Father. No man has ever seen God. But Christ has made God known to us.” (St. John 1, NLT)
Because the Christian tradition begins in the Word, the Son of God outside time, even before the Incarnation, St. John speaks of Truth being personal and manifesting in time through a Person. “Meeting this Word, we meet the living God, and interpretation becomes encounter,” says Christopher Bamford, in The Voice of the Eagle. Truth, ultimately, is a personal encounter with a Living Reality. This Reality, by transcending personal and impersonal, can be ultimately Person, absolutely Personal.
Therefore, the person who does not have a living relationship with Truth as Person, as Personal, may have a faith in the head, but he does not know Christ. He may know of Christ, but he does not know Christ.
And, where is the Christ, this Truth, manifesting? Everywhere. Therefore, what is Truth, found anywhere, is the witness of and to Christ. Therefore, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Jainism, Islam, and any other religion or philosophy is Christian to the extent it witnesses to the Word, the Truth. The same applies to Christianity, and Christianity is not a perfect means of Truth. Christianity has proven that it limits the Truth, or, rather, tries to, by reducing Truth to ideology. There is Christianity, then, there is Christianized ideology.
As a Christian pastor, I face much opposition due to the above stance. But, seeing religion is still a major factor in war and the sufferings of humankind and nature, can the religions of our world remain quiet on the subject? Can we foster acting like we have all the Truth? Can we choose, rightly, to ignore the universal and cosmic Truth, the Word, while we market our versions of truth?
Jesus, to many Christians, has become little more than a cultural icon, shaped in the image of a rationalistic, close-minded, close-hearted, far right wing political deity. This “Jesus” needs to be dethroned, that we might worship the Christ Who is Truth, Universal Truth, bringing love, joy, and peace among all peoples and all faiths, as we together speak, live, and if need, die for Truth.
Does this make the Christian less Christian? No. Rather, she is more Christian who sees the Truth wherever the Word, Jesus Christ, is manifesting for the good of all creatures. Amen.
Reflection
Do you agree with St. Clement of Alexandria in saying, “The way of truth is … one. But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from all sides”? Why? Why not?
Do you agree with the statement of St. Justin Martyr, “We have been taught that Christ was the First-begotten of God, and we have indicated ... that he is the Word of whom all mankind partakes. Those who lived by reason are Christians, even though they have been considered atheists”? If you agree with St. Justin Martyr, does that mean persons may be truly Christian, in Christ, who serve God through Truth, while not having explicit faith in Christ? Could St. Justin Martyr’s words imply those in the institutional churches who refuse to serve truthfulness and Truth are without Christ, or Christ-less, even while claiming to serve Christ?
Interspiritual Christian refers to a person who, while a Christian, honors how God speaks and Christ manifests in other religions. Do you think a person can be a true Christian and be interspiritual as Christian? Explain your answer.
How do you think Jesus would relate to non-Christian faiths today?
Is it possible that the Word incarnated in a specific time and place, while manifesting more generally in other times and places before and after the Incarnation of Christ?
Spiritual Exercise
Consider daily reading three Psalms, one chapter of Proverbs, and a chapter of the Gospels. Read sequentially through each book.
Keep spending at least twenty to thirty minutes daily in Silence, resting in the Lord of Love.
Make sure you have a sacred space in your home for time alone in prayer and spiritual reading.
Make sure you are in a covenant group. For more information on covenant groups, write me at the address below.
Consider, if you are not already, sponsoring a child through Compassion International. You can find out more about Compassion International by going to www.compassion.net to read about sponsoring, in the name of Jesus, children living in poverty. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
Brian’s book An Ache For Union can be purchased at major book dealers.
To contact Brian, write briankwilcox@comcast.net .
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