The separateness of the church from worldliness and the wicked is a consistent theme which runs throughout the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. One of the clearest statements to the believer regarding God’s command to be separate is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church.
Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God…Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them…” [2 Corinthians 14-16a, 17a. RSV]
Life is a journey and the separateness of which Paul spoke is not achieved by a one-time inoculation of holiness. To be holy or set apart is both a singular event at salvation and a continuing process. We must contend for separateness as described by Christ near the end of the Sermon on the Mount. “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” [Matthew 7:13-14. RSV]
If the way of Christ is hard, why would the world listen to and embrace such an austere, demanding message? To follow Christ is to die to self and the things of this world. Apart from the Bible, we may find the answer in one of the greatest works of literature of all time.
Born in 1628 near Bedford, England, a young boy grew up to follow his father’s trade as a metal worker. At age sixteen he was caught up in the English civil war and almost killed while battling the forces of Charles I. Following his military service, he was in great confusion and struggled with guilt. Eventually he found spiritual peace and became a Christian as a result of reading Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians in which grace triumphs over law. He joined a Protestant church and soon became a lay preacher and polemicist. He was a Nonconformist which meant that he did not adhere to the doctrinal tenets of the Anglican Church. In 1660, Charles II was restored to the English throne which also restored the power of the Anglican Church over all religious life in England. In that same year the thirty-two year old young man was persecuted and arrested for unlicensed preaching. His first wife died in 1656, and he remarried in 1659. Soon after his imprisonment, his second wife gave birth to a child that died within a few days. Because he would not recant and conform his preaching to the Anglican model, his first imprisonment lasted twelve years.[1]
John Bunyan had chosen Christ’s hard way. Having lost personal liberty as well as the liberty to preach, prisoner Bunyan picked up his pen and wrote one of the classic allegorical works of all time—Pilgrim’s Progress. Using a dream as the means for telling his story, Bunyan begins with a description of a pilgrim called Christian.
…behold I saw a man clothed with rags, [Isaiah 64:6] standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. [Psalms 38:4] I looked and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read he wept and trembled, and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, “What shall I do?”[2] [Acts 16:30-31]
Christian went home but tried to hide his distress from his family. When he could be silent no longer, he told his wife and children of his experience.
…I your dear friend am in myself undone, by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire from heaven, in which fearful overthrow both myself, with thee, my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except (the which, yet I see not) someway of escape can be found, whereby we may be delivered.[3] [emphasis added]
The burden that lay hard on our protagonist was sin. It was neither a new burden to Christian nor exclusive to him. Sinful man carried the burden since that shameful day he was banished from the Garden, and all of his unredeemed decedents have continued to carry that burden to this present hour.
Christian’s moment of truth occurred when he opened the book and began to read. His abominable sin nature was fully and startlingly revealed to his heart and mind, and he saw the inevitable and eternal destruction that awaited him at the end of life. He had carried the burden of sin his entire life, often shifting it from one shoulder to the other to gain a measure of comfort for he knew that of his own accord he could lay his burden down. Sometimes he attempted to ease his discomfort by padding his shoulders with the things of the world as he carried the wearisome weight. But in his moment of truth as he read the book, he saw the utter loathsomeness of his burden in a new light. He now saw that it was part of his very nature. Even more intolerable was his rejection of the immeasurable love of Christ whose death on the cross had made it possible for Christian to lay down his burden. He was imprisoned by sin and awaited final condemnation that would banish him to eternal torment. The book revealed that at the end of life there would be no character witnesses to stack up his good points to offset the bad. There would be no excuses to be given or extenuating circumstances to be considered. There would be no summing up of arguments to a jury of his peers to lessen the sentence of death. At the end of his life he would stand before the supreme judge from whom there is no appeal. In utter despair our hero knew that he was guilty and destined for eternal damnation. In utter despair he could only cry “What shall I do?”
Every man or woman who ever lived is convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, but man’s final destination is decided by what he does with that knowledge. His conviction is not man-made and does not come from a guilty conscience, shame, fear of punishment for sin, or even agreement with the scriptures as to right and wrong. Although these often accompany the heavy load of sin, conviction comes only from the work of the Holy Spirit. Teaching His disciples just before His betrayal, Jesus spoke of the coming of the Spirit and His mission.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. [John 16:7-11. RSV]
The Holy Spirit’s first mission is to deal with sin. Because the sinner does not believe in God regarding sin and righteousness, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of sin to convince the heart of the sinner of his sinful life. Conviction of sin is a call to salvation and separateness from the world (holiness). Christians answer that call at the moment of salvation. He is a new creation and is separated from the world, but the work of separateness must continue as one takes the narrow path.
As with all mankind, Christian chose a path that eventually led to his day of judgment. The prosecutor in our drama unfolding in this celestial courtroom is the Holy Spirit. The Supreme Judge of the Universe turns to the Holy Spirit and asks, “Did you perform your office work by speaking with Christian of sin and righteousness and judgment?” The Holy Spirit replied, “Yes, Father. I did.” At that moment the gavel of justice was raised in preparation to seal the verdict and impose the sentence of death. Pausing, the Father turns to Christian’s defense counsel, the Son of Man, who sits at the Father’s right hand. “Son, do you have anything to say in Christian’s defense?” Jesus reached for a large book with His nail-pierced hands that bear mute testimony of His authority to present a defense on Christian’s behalf. The Son opened the book and searched its pages. He smiles as he looks at the Father. “I have no record of Christian’s sin. Whatever they were has been washed away by my blood. Only his name is written here in the Book of Life.”
Like Christian, we are mere sojourners in this world. We may choose the hard way or the easy way. One is narrow and leads to eternal communion with God. The other is broad but leads to destruction and eternal damnation.
We have spoken of the church’s separation from the world. But here we must address a seeming contradiction. Although Christians are sojourners in this present life, they are also commanded to be salt and light to a lost and dying world. [See: Matthew 5: 13-16] It is in the balancing act of being separate and being salt and light that the church often has difficulty. This is the subject of Part II.
Larry G. Johnson
[1] John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, (New York: Signet Classics, Introduction Copyright by Roger Lundin, 2002),pp. x-xii.
[2] Ibid., p. 12.
[3] Ibid., pp. 11-12.
