a quote

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

When it comes to modern Christianity and the issue of dealing with evil in the world, there are two polar opposites in perspective. The first, extremely popular within evangelical Christianity, is that the world is evil and there's nothing we can do about it, so let's just isolate ourselves and get off as best we can, waiting for Jesus to come back and deal with evil once and for all. The second extreme, popular within the more emergent circles of Christianity, is that the way to deal with evil in the world--modeled by Martin Luther King's own career and speaking, evident in his quote--is to "turn the other cheek, go the second mile," etc. It's what one could call evolutionary progressivism but reworked from a secular standpoint into a Christian one. It goes something like this: the church, as the body of Christ, emulates Christ's own sacrificial disposition, and thereby defeats and eliminates (ever so slowly) evil from the world.

Both perspectives are flawed. The first perspective is flawed because it doesn't take seriously the church's role to acknowledge, call out, and judge evil for what it is. The church, as the body of Christ, is to deal with evil to the best of its God-given ability. The second perspective is flawed because it assumes that the church is Christ, not that Christ is over and against the church ruling from heaven, and because Jesus is the one who will win the day, thus the church will win the day. Amongst people I know, the second perspective is clung to very dearly. It is a very hopeful perspective, but it doesn't take into account the nature of the evil of the world, and especially the evil within man. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down--in that sense, evil won the day. As long as we live in this realm polluted and spoiled by sin and evil, no amount of compassion and sacrifice and love will win the ultimate victory.

Now, let me be clear: I am not saying that we are to pick up our swords and fight against evil, fighting violence with violence, evil with evil. Nor am I saying that we should become like the Essenes, holed up in seclusion, waiting for God to act. The church is an ecosystem of heaven within this ruined world, and the church is to promote justice, mercy, and love. It is not a battle that is doomed to be lost. When the church deals with evil, evil is dealt with. Such dealings with evil are not pseudo-victories (because they are victories), but rather sub-victories, in the sense that while dealing with evil in certain situations and places, whether on a private or communal or even global scale, evil as a whole, the evil that permeates the entire world and, while defeated and limping because of the cross, flourishes and will continue to flourish.

The ultimate victory against evil will not be won by the church, but this does not excuse the church from living out its God-given vocation: to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, promoting God's justice and condemning sin and vindicating the righteous. The church is to do what Israel failed, continuously, to do: to bring God's blessings to the world. But the ultimate bringing of blessing, the ultimate flourishing of justice, will not be accomplished by the church. It will be accomplished by the appearing of Christ, when he weds heaven and earth together and finally and decisively deals with evil in a way the church never can. The lifestyle that Martin Luther King, Jr. promotes--a lifestyle of love and sacrifice and compassion--is the lifestyle of the community of heaven, and it is to be modeled, and within it are victories over evil; but let's not buy into that garbage that things will gradually get better and better until the church deals with evil finally. The ultimate dealing with evil will come through Christ alone; all of the church's victories of evil are signposts to that future day, they are symbolic actions speaking of that coming moment, and they are foretastes of what will happen when God makes all things new, fulfilling all his promises to the prophets. Until that day, evil will flourish--all around us and even within us; and that is the harsh reality