Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel | Rapp Report Weekly Wrap-up 0019 | Striving for Eternity

The Purpose of the Daily Edition and the Statement on Social Justice

Welcome to The Rapid Pull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity.

Well, if you have maybe had your head in the sand and have not paid attention, there has been a huge news in Evangelicalism, and that is that there was a signing of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel.

This has been something that has now been out for several weeks. We broke the news to you, our listeners, when it first was able to be announced. And the fact is, we want to encourage everyone to go and read that statement, sign that statement.

You can get that information at statementonsocialjustice .com. And what we want to do now is give you basically all 14 articles of the statement in audio form. This is a wrap-up of our dailies, so you have them in one spot, so you can listen to all of them and put them together.

We hope that you are in agreement with the Statement on Social Justice, that this is an attack on the Gospel to basically put the issues of social justice as equal with the Gospel. And so we want to get folks to sign it.

And there are articles also that are out there, on there, for you to see more articles. And as of the time that I am recording this, there are over 6 ,000 signers. When we first put this out, when I had signed it before it went public, I think there were only like 50 of us at that point.

And it is now over 6 ,000. We would like to see even more. Would you consider signing that? Go to statementonsocialjustice .com. Here is all 14 articles with a little bit of commentary, not too much. Enjoy.

The History of the Statement and Its Initial Drafting

For the next couple of weeks, we are going to look at the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel. And you can see and sign the statement at statementonsocialjustice .com. This is an important statement for our time.

We want to take the time to go through that. And what I want to do today is to start by going through some of the history that you can see documented there. Back on June 19th, actually even before that, I should say, there were many of us that were starting to get concerned and tried to see about getting folks together to discuss this.

On June 19th, 2018, 14 men had gathered together to discuss the issues. And what came out of that was the decision to write a statement that others can affirm and deny the things that we would believe in as evangelicals.

And the goal was to make this to be something that would be a very succinct statement. And Josh Bice, Pastor Josh Bice, had taken the steps to make the initial edits. Basically, Tom Askell had written the initial copy and Josh did some of the edits.

And afterwards, Justin Peters had submitted some other articles. There were several men and women who had reviewed it, commented, and looked at this. This is not something that just one person was doing on their own.

There were several initial signers. There were about 75 before it even went public. So many of us had looked at this. It is something that is essential for our day and age as Christians to look at. We are looking at the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, available for you to read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com.

Scripture, the Image of God, and Justice

Starting with Article 1 Scripture, we affirm that the Bible is God's Word breathed out by Him. It is inerrant, infallible, and the final authority for determining what is true, means what we must believe, and what is right, how we must live.

All truth claims and ethical standards must be tested by God's final Word, which is Scripture alone. We deny that Christian belief, character, or conduct can be dictated by any other authority. And we deny that the postmodern ideologies derived from intersexuality, radical feminism, and critical race theory are consistent with Biblical teachings.

We further deny that the competency to teach on any Biblical issues comes from any qualification for spiritual people other than the clear understanding and simple communication of what is revealed in Scripture.

Why is this an important article to start with? Well, because everything else that we're going to see after this article is going to be argued from Scripture. This is where we as Christians get our arguments from, where we say what we believe and how we live.

This is what's at stake with this issue on social justice. It's how we believe things. What do we believe? How do we live? We get that from Scripture and Scripture alone. As we continue to look at the statement on social justice and the gospel, available to be read or signed at statementonsocialjustice .com We're looking at article number two, the Omega Dei.

This is basically going to say, We affirm that God created every person equally in his own image. As divine image bearers, all people have an inestimable value and dignity before God and deserve honor, respect, and protection.

Everyone has been created by God and for God. We deny that God-given roles, social economic status, ethnicity, religion, sex or physical condition, or any other property of a person, either negates or contributes to that individual's worth as image bearers of God.

In other words, when it comes to being an image bearer of God, we are all created in that way. But, though we may have different status in our culture, that does not change the way we are made in God's image.

We all are made as image bearers of God and our worth should be found in that, not in any type of social economic or other status that people try to argue for. We as Christians are about the gospel. Looking at the Statement on Social Justice in the Gospel, something you can read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com.

God’s Holiness, Law, and the Nature of Sin

We're looking at article number three on justice. Speaking of God, it states,. We affirm that since he is holy, righteous, and just, God requires those who bear his image to live justly in the world. This includes showing appropriate respect to every person and giving to each one what he or she is due.

We affirm that societies must establish laws to correct injustices that have been imposed through cultural prejudice. We deny that the true justice can be culturally defined, or that standard of justice that are merely socially constructed can be imposed with the same authority as those that are derived from scripture.

We further deny that Christians can live justly in a world under any principles other than the biblical standard of righteousness. Relativism, socially constructed standards of truth or morality, and notions of virtue and vice that are consistently in flux, cannot result in authentic justice.

In other words, the final authority for all justice that we as Christians would see, and in fact everyone in the world, would be from the nature of God. Where do we learn that? We learn that from scripture alone.

Continuing to look at our statement on social justice and the gospel, something that's available for you to read in detail, and to sign on your own, at statementonsocialjustice .com. We're looking today at article number four, God's Law.

It states,. We affirm that God's law, as summarized in the Ten Commandments, more succinctly summarized in the two great commandments and manifest in Jesus Christ, is the only standard of unchanging righteousness.

Violation of that law is what constitutes sin. We deny that any obligation that does not arise from God's commandments can be legitimately imposed on Christians as prescription for righteous living. We further deny the legitimacy of any charge of sin or call to repentance that does not arise from violations of God's commandments.

This is a very important article because of the fact that we have many people arguing that other people are guilty of things that past generations have done. When you call that a sin, that is not from scripture.

We can only say that something is a sin when it violates God's commands that he has laid out in scripture. That is what we are to do, and that's where we see God's law for us to understand. Continuing to look at our statement on social justice and the gospel, something you can read in detail and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com.

We're looking at article number five today, the issue of sin. We affirm that all people are connected to Adam both naturally and federally. Therefore, because of original sin, everyone is born under the curse of God's law and all break his commandments through sin.

There is no difference in the condition of sinners due to age, ethnicity, or sex. All are depraved in all their facilities and all stand condemned before God's law. All human relationships, systems, and institutions have been affected by sin.

We deny that other than the previously stated connection to Adam, any person is morally capable for another person's sin. Although families, groups, and nations can sin collectively and cultures can be predisposed to particular sins, subsequent generations share that collective guilt of their ancestors only if they approve and embrace or attempt to justify those sins.

Before God, each person must repent and confess his or her own sins in order to receive forgiveness. We further deny that one's ethnicity establishes any necessary connection to any particular sin. Looking at the statement on social justice and the gospel, available for you to read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com.

The Gospel and Salvation by Grace Alone

We're looking at article number six. The topic is the gospel. It states, We deny that anything else, whether works to be performed or opinions to be held, can be added to the gospel without perverting it into another gospel.

This also means that implications and applications of the gospel, such as to obligate to live justly in the world, though legitimate and important in their own right, are not definitional components of the gospel.

This article is important because there are people who are saying that social justice is a gospel issue. They're saying that grace alone is not enough, that we have to be having a right opinion about things to have the gospel.

Looking at the statement on social justice and the gospel, available for you to read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com. We are looking at article number seven, salvation. It states,. We affirm that salvation is granted by God's grace alone, received through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Every believer is united to Christ, justified before God, and adopted into his family. Thus, in God's eyes, there is no difference in spiritual value or worth among those who are in Christ. Further, all who are united to Christ are also united to one another, regardless of age, ethnicity, or sex.

All believers are being conformed to the image of Christ. By God's regenerating and sanctifying grace, all believers will be brought to a final, glorified, sinless state of perfection in the day of Jesus Christ.

We deny that salvation can be received in any other way. We also deny that salvation renders any Christian free from all remaining sin, or immune from even grievous sins in this life. If we further deny that ethnicity excludes anyone from understanding the gospel, nor does anyone's ethnic or cultural heritage mitigate or remove the duty to repent and believe.

Looking at the statement on social justice and the gospel, available for you to read in detail and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com, article number eight, the church, states,. We affirm that the primary role of the church is to worship God through the preaching of His word, teaching sound doctrine, observing baptism and the Lord's Supper, refuting those who contradict, equipping the saints, and evangelizing the lost.

We affirm that when the primacy of the gospel is maintained, that this often has a positive effect on the culture in which various societal ills are mollified. We affirm that under the Lordship of Christ, we are to obey the governing authorities established by God and pray for civil leaders.

We deny that political or social activism should be viewed as an integral component of the gospel or primary to the mission of the church, though believers can and should utilize all lawful means that God providentially established to have some effect on the laws of a society.

We deny that these activities are either evidence of saving faith or constitute a central part of the church's mission given to her by Jesus Christ, her head. We deny that laws or regulations possess any inherent power to change sinful hearts.

This article says the gospel is what does it. Looking at the statement on social justice and the gospel available to be read in detail or signed at statementonsocialjustice .com. This is article number nine, topic heresy.

We affirm that heresy is a denial of or departure from a doctrine that is essential to the Christian faith. We further affirm that heresy often involves the replacement of key essential truths with various components or the elevation of non-essentials to the status of essentials.

To embrace heresy is to depart from the faith once delivered to the saints and thus to be on a path towards spiritual destruction. We affirm that the accusation of heresy should be reserved for those departures from Christian truth that destroy the weight bearing doctrines of the redemptive core of scripture.

We affirm that accusations of heresy should be accompanied with clear evidence of such destructive beliefs. We deny that the charge of heresy can legitimately be brought against every failure to achieve perfect conformity to all that is implied in sincere faith in the gospel.

This article is saying that we should not be quick to say someone is a heretic or believing in heresy. Looking at the statement on social justice and the gospel available for you to read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com.

Sex, Marriage, Complementarianism, Race, Culture, and Racism

Article number 10 sexuality and marriage states we affirm that God created mankind male and female and that this divinely determined distinction is good proper and to be celebrated. Maleness and femaleness are biologically determined at conception and are not subject to change.

The curse of sin results in sinful disordered affections that manifest in some people as same-sex attraction. Salvation grants sanctifying power to renounce such dishonorable affections as sinful and to mortify them by the spirit.

We further affirm that God's design for marriage is that one woman and one man live in a one flesh covenantal sexual relation until separated by death. Those who lack the desire for opportunity for marriage are called to serve God in singleness and chastity.

This is as noble a calling as marriage. We deny that human sexuality is socially constructed concept. We also deny that one sex can be fluid. We reject gay Christian as a legitimate biblical category.

We further deny that any kind of partnership or union can be properly called marriage other than one man and one woman in a lifelong covenantal covenant together. We further deny that people should be identified as sexual minorities which serves as a cultural classification rather than one that honors the image-bearing character of human sexuality created by God.

In looking at the statement on social justice in the gospel available for you to read and sign at statementonsocialjustice .com article number 11 complementarianism. We affirm that God created mankind both male and female with inherent biological and personal distinctions between them and that these created differences are good proper and beautiful.

Though there is no difference between men and women before God's law or as recipients of his saving grace we affirm that God has designed men and women with distinct traits and to fulfill distinct roles.

These differences are most clearly defined in marriage and the church but are not irrelevant in other spheres of life. In marriage the husband is to lead, love and safeguard his wife and the wife is to respect and be submissive to her husband in all things lawful.

In the church qualified men alone are to lead as pastors, elders, bishops and preach to and teach the whole congregation. We further affirm that the image of God is expressed most fully and beautifully in human society when men and women walk in obedience to their God-ordained roles and serve according to their God-given gifts.

We deny that the God-ordained differences in men's and women's roles disparage the inherent spiritual worth or value of one over the other nor do those differences in any way inhibit either men or women from flourishing for the glory of God.

The Statement on Social Justice in the Gospel available at statementonsocialjustice .com. Article number 7, Race and Ethnicity. We affirm that God made all people from one man. Though people can often be distinguished by different ethnicities and nationalities they are ontologically equals before God in both creation and redemption.

Race is not a biblical category but rather a social construct that often has been used to classify groups of people in terms of inferior or superior. All that is good, honest, just, and beautiful in various ethnic backgrounds and experiences can be celebrated as fruit of God's grace.

All sinful actions and their results, including evils perpetrated between and upon one ethnic group by others are to be classified as sinful, repented of, and repudiated. We deny that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above or even equal to their identity in Christ.

We deny that any divisions between people groups from an understated attitude of superiority or to an overt spirit of resentment have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression.

While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person's feelings of offense or opposition necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice. We're looking at the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel.

You can read this in detail and sign it at statementonsocialjustice .com. This article is article number 13 on the culture. It states,. We affirm that some cultures operate on the assumption that are inherently better than those of other cultures because of the biblical truths that inform those worldviews that have produced these distinctive assumptions.

Those elements of a given culture that reflect divine revelation should be celebrated and promoted, but the various cultures out of which we have been called all have features that are holy and sinful, and therefore those sinful features should be repudiated for the honor of Christ.

We affirm that whatever evil influences to which we have been subjected via our culture can be and must be overcome through conversion and the training of both mind and heart through biblical truth. We deny that individuals and subgroups in any culture are unable, by God's grace, to rise above whatever moral defects or spiritual deficiencies have been engaged or encouraged by their respective cultures.

The Nature of Racism and the Church’s Mission

Statement on Social Justice, available at statementonsocialjustice .com, article 14 on racism. We affirm that racism is a sin rooted in pride and malice, which must be condemned and renounced by all who would honor the image of God in all people.

Such racial sin is subtly or overtly manifest itself as racial animosity and racial victory. Such sinful prejudice or partiality falls short of God's revealed will and violates the royal law of love. We affirm that virtually all cultures, including our own, at times contain laws and systems that foster racist attitudes and policies.

We deny that treating people with sinful partiality or prejudice is consistent with biblical Christianity. We deny that only those in positions of power are capable of racism or that individuals of any particular ethnic group are incapable of racism.

We deny that systemic racism is in any way compatible with the core principles of historical evangelical convictions. We deny that the Bible can be legitimately used to foster or justify partiality, prejudice, or contempt toward other ethnicities.

We deny that the contemporary evangelical movement has any deliberate agenda to alleviate one ethnic group and subjugate another. And we emphatically deny that lectures on social issues or activism aimed toward reshaping wider culture are as vital to the life and health of the church as the preaching of the gospel and exposition of scripture.

Historically, such things tend to become a distraction and inevitably lead to departures from the gospel.

This podcast is part of the Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content, or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org.