Carson on Christ and Culture

In Christ and Culture Revisited, Don Carson says that a comprehensive view of the great turning points of Biblical redemptive history – creation and the fall; Israel and the law; Christ and the new covenant; and heaven and hell – permits a nuanced Christian response to culture. He says if we keep all four turning points in our mind at all times, we might be able to discern what to affirm in culture, and what to criticise. On pages 45-59, Carson draws implications from each of the four great turning points of redemptive history.

From creation and the fall:

• Humans are all equal, in God’s image.
• As such, we are responsible to God, “we owe him” (p 46, italics in original).
• As God’s image-bearers we have the privilege and responsibility of governing the world.
• We are bodies, we must use our physical bodies to serve God, each other and the world.
• Sin is first of all God-focused – it is rejecting God as God, it is idolatry and pride.
• Secondly, sin is social – we break God’s law, and hurt each other.
• Yet God, in his ‘common grace’, restrains evil, so there is yet much good in the world.

From Israel and the Law:

• God graciously chooses a people for himself.
• The fact that the law affected every part of life demonstrates that God demands Lordship over every part of his people’s life.
• The Law simultaneously shows us to be guilty and stained by sin, and provides for forgiveness and cleansing.
• Israel’s social institutions were distinct (prophet, priest, king) but were all uniformly co-ordinated towards being loyal to God. This implies that there need not be conflict between ‘church’ and ‘state’, but God can use both to advance his kingdom.
• Israel did not exist merely for itself, but was God’s means for saving the whole world.

From Christ and the New Covenant:

• Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity. He is the king of God’s kingdom, who has established that kingdom once for all, even though it remains contested in this age.
• The incarnation demonstrates God’s humble self-identification with us.
• The way Jesus established his kingdom was his cross and resurrection.
• We now proclaim the cruciform gospel, which is God’s wisdom and power, which puts all the world’s wisdom to shame.
• The risen Christ now pours out his Spirit upon his people, which gives his people a limited but genuine experience of God’s presence and power.
• The new covenant people of God are not one nation but a trans-national community identified by their allegiance to Christ.

From heaven and hell:

• Current relationships between Christ and culture are not eternal.
• Nothing in this world will be perfect. Perfection will come when Christ returns.

In my next post, I'll try and use these to analyse a Christian approach to parenting. Stay tuned!