Biblical conservatives try to follow Christ in every way, which sometimes makes them liberal.

This is an article in Mennonite Weekly Review written by Myron S. Augsburger, entitled “The Kinds of Conservatives We Should Be”. I will be commenting and posting on this article for my next couple of posts, for now I wanted to post this so that you could read it and be better prepared for my responses.

February 14, 2005, page 7

“Dividing people into two categories, liberal and conservative, fails to recognize those who try to follow a third way, accepting some things and rejecting others from both the left and the right. I believe we should be biblical conservatives-that is, Christians who seek to be faithful to God in his Word written. This will make us theologically conservative. But it does not require us to be politically or socially conservative. When we take Jesus’ commands to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies, this discipleship will mean that a truly biblical conservative will be a social liberal. Many Mennonites and other Anabaptists, many African Americans and many ‘progressive’ evangelicals will be a social liberal. One characteristic of our humanness is that we submit to Scripture’s authority, we must recognize the presuppositions we bring to Scripture. Often what divides Christians is not what the Word says, but what we understand it to say. A commitment of being honest about what we bring to scripture distinguishes authentic conservatism from unhealthy traditionalism. The latter is bondage and legalism. The former allows freedom to interpret and contextualize while being true to Scripture’s meaning. Traditional conservatives, I believe, are not conservative enough. They do not stand firmly for the whole of scripture nor let it actually be the authority in correcting a given base. I have selected seven issues that illustrate differences between biblical conservatives and traditional conservatives. These differences are stated in terms of what we should do to be biblical conservatives.”

1. “We must understand the new birth as beginning a daily walk with Christ, not as an emotional, one-time experience. Traditional conservatives, emphasizing the new birth as a crisis experience, often fail to emphasize the life of discipleship with Jesus. Biblical conservatism means walking with Jesus in life, being conformed to his image. One cannot be truly a Christian and live by a private piety. Nor can one assume that being saved means that one’s convictions are automatically conformed to the will of God. Our regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit recreating us to true selfhood. We are to ‘work out’ [our] salvation with fear and trebling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Phil. 2:12-13).”

2. “We must give priority to God’s kingdom in life relationships now. Traditional conservatives tend to see the kingdom of God only as a future happening. They read the Bible as a flat book and miss the unfolding revelation to its full expression in the Incarnation. They tend to take many biblical statements in a literalistic way, except those that don’t fit their presuppositions. Often they minimize being members of the kingdom of God now. We are born into the kingdom. This is a new relationship and order of life in the present. Eventually Jesus will complete building this kingdom and will turn it over to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). Paul writes that we are citizens of heaven now (Phil. 3:20)”

3. “We need a biblical understanding of the state. Traditional conservatives fall prey to “God-and-America” ideas that neglect caring for the whole human family. Rather than being a Christian influence in the social order, as salt and light, they give the impression that they want to sanctify the state and have it mandate religious ideals… Biblical conservatives seek to be in the world but not of the world, living as resident aliens, seeking to express the will of God in society rather than trying to impose our convictions on others. Interestingly, traditional conservatives seek to confront the state with a higher will on issues such as prayer in public schools and abortion, but they become critical when biblical conservatives confront the state on additional issues such as war. God has ordained government to secure order in society. God has not ordained any specific government or leader, but government in general. Our witness to government should be to call it to be fair and just in its treatment of all people.”

4. “We need to follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies. Traditional conservatives apply this teaching to personal relationships but not to the social and political order. They claim to serve God even when carrying out the state’s violence. If one believes war can be just, it would seem logical that one should carefully examine whether a particular war is just or not. But such a judgment would be seen by many traditional conservatives as unpatriotic. Biblical conservatives are pacifists simply because we want to follow Jesus. Our pacifism must be clearly distinguished from a liberal pacifism based on humanism. Contrary to what some evangelicals believe, pacifism does not weaken America, or any other nation, but enriches it. Love must be our way of life.”

5. “We must be better stewards of material resources. Traditional conservatives tend to elevate capitalism as though it is the Christian approach to the material order. Many seem to measure God’s blessings by material prosperity. Some imply that God guarantees financial success to the faithful and that this is an essential aspect of true faith. Biblical conservatives emphasize dimensions of stewardship that promote equity and mutuality to meet human need. Jesus taught that we are not to hoard wealth but to share with the needy. Felix Manz said, ‘What is mine is the church’s if my brother has need.’ God has promised to supply our needs, not out wants. Christians should live at the median level of their community of residence rather than at a superior level. We should not spend on ourselves to the extent that we neglect the needs of our world.”

6. “We need to take a service approach to mission as we share Jesus’ message. Many traditional conservatives are so focused on ‘getting saved’ that they fail to model discipleship or to pursue evangelism that engages people in discipleship. The result is a conflict between religions and arguments over religious values rather than an emphasis on a covenant response to God. Our mission and evangelism must follow Jesus’ teaching that we are to relate to others by being servants. We need to serve in the spirit of Jesus, serving others as they need to be served and not as we want to be served. The Master has given us the ministry of reconciliation and has called us to be ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:18-20). If we go with Western arrogance, power, dominance and immodesty, we invalidate the gospel. Paul writes that we should not let the world squeeze us into its mold, but by the transforming grace of God demonstrate his good and perfect will (Rom. 12:2).”

7. “Our mission must be global and beyond nationalism. The traditionalist conservative finds it easy to endorse Zionism-establishing and preserving, at any cost, and Israeli state. The biblical conservative follows Paul’s teaching that Jesus broke down the wall to make of Jew and Gentile one new humanity, so making peace (Eph. 2:14-16). The biblical conservative sees the Incarnation as the final word of God and does not see a return to the Old Testament Jewish practices as a way of salvation in the future. The presence of the Jew anywhere in the world is a sermon for Jehovah. It is for us, by a spirit of grace, to help Jew and Arab, Jew and Gentile, to understand that God is creating ‘One new community’ in Christ. ‘For other foundation no one can lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 3:11).”