Building God’s City - 22 March 2009 |
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John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life. Chapter 45: What Is Culture?
Crystal clear, relentlessly logical, delightfully understated. How can anyone not love John Frame?
Scripture does not contain a definition of culture. (p. 854)
We use the term culture to describe anything that human beings work at to achieve. (p. 854)
We should make an important distinction between creation and culture. Creation is what God makes; culture is what we make. … Or, somewhat better: creation is what God makes by himself, and culture is what he makes through us. (p. 854)
Culture is not a creation, but something that God has commanded, or “mandated,” us to make. … (Gen. 1:28). … the “cultural mandate”. … This command governed everything Adam and Eve would do thereafter. It defines the very purpose of human life. (p. 854)
As we go back and look again at the various definitions of culture that people have offered, we can see that there is almost always a value element, a normative element. (p. 856)
Culture always involves evaluation, a common understanding, not only of what is, but also of what is good and right. (p. 857)
So now we can see how culture is related to religion. When we talk about values and ideals, we are talking about religion. … Culture and cult go together. (p. 858)
Every worldview, every philosophy, even if it professes to be nonreligious, has this totalitarian influence on human life, and, followed consistently, will dictate a certain kind of culture. Culture, therefore, is never religiously neutral. Everything in culture expresses and communicates a religious conviction; either faith in the true God or denial of him. (p. 858)
There are some kinds of goodness even in pagan culture. [These are products of] common grace, nonsaving grace. (p. 860)
The other source of goodness, of course, is God’s special grace, his work of saving the world through Christ. This work of God goes far beyond common grace. (p. 861)
Does God’s saving grace make an impact on culture? Certainly it does. When you believe in Jesus, your whole life changes direction … Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, you seek to do it for God’s glory. (p. 861)
The gospel, you see, is not only a message for individuals, telling them how to avoid God’s wrath. It is also a message about a kingdom, a society, a new community, and new covenant, a new family, a new nation, a new way of life, and, therefore, a new culture. God calls us to build a city of God, a New Jerusalem. (p. 861-862)
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Books, Minister's Blog, Theology