Hating the church, and all things religious, has become a raging fad among Christians. Daily I read Facebook posts and blogs expressing resentment toward religious institutions of all shapes and sizes. With friends like this, who need enemies?
I recently read through Hosea again. This time I was overwhelmed by the depths of sin and grace expressed in this narrative.
Yahweh commanded Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry” (1:2). I will not rehearse the whole narrative, but only need to point out that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was an expression of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. Throughout the generations Yahweh had been utterly faithful to Israel, but Israel had repeatedly committed spiritual adultery by devoting herself to other gods. Israel became a great whore. The naming of the children of Hosea and Gomer testified to God’s judgment upon the whore. Jezreel spoke to the forthcoming slaughter of Israel; Lo-ruhamah means that Yahweh will no longer have compassion on Israel; and Lo-ammi means that God has abrogated the covenant with Israel. As for the whore, Gomer: “she is not my wife, and I am not her husband” (2:2). So far the story is unremarkable. It would surprise no one if God stoned the great whore.
What I find remarkable is that Yahweh once again fell in love with the great whore: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods…” (3:1). God sought to redeem the whore. In redeeming Gomer, Hosea had to choose to live with the pain of betrayal associated with infidelity. It is the pathos of suffering betrayal which Yahweh embraces. Forgiveness is choosing to live with the pain of betrayal.
The imagery of Israel as the bride of Yahweh is appropriated by the apostolic writers in the New Testament. The church is the bride of Christ. Paul wrote, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27).
There is a myth that the church of the New Testament was pristine and pure. Those who hold to that myth have never seriously read the New Testament. Paul rebuked the Corinthian church because of “immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 5:1). James charged that the church had committed adultery by loving the pleasures of this world (James 4:4). Jesus warned the churches of Asia Minor of impending judgment because of their love of heresy and immorality (Revelation 2-3). No, the apostolic church was not pure and pristine. In fact, she resembles the great whore of the Old Testament.
Even so, the church is the bride of Christ and as the bride of Christ the church is one body with Christ. “So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body… and the two shall become one flesh (Ephesians 5:28-31). So how can the church, sinful and corrupt, be holy and blameless? Paul declared, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Co 5:21). Jesus, the sinless bridegroom, takes upon himself the sinfulness of his bride and sanctifies her; and the two become one.
The church is the body of Christ. When the risen Christ confronted Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, Jesus did not ask, “Why are you persecuting my church?” Rather, Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). The unity between Christ and his church is real. Divisions in the body are wounds to the body. Sinfulness in the body is a disease. But in spite of wounds and disease, the church remains the bride and body of Christ.
Should we therefore turn a blind eye corruption in the church? God forbid! Yahweh sought to redeem the great whore. Yahweh cried out, “My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled” (Hosea 11:8). “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Likewise, the Apostle Paul declared, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” (2 Corinthians 11:2). Just as Hosea shared the pathos of Yahweh for Israel, Paul shares Christ’s love for the church. Paul’s zeal, his love and devotion for Christ, extends to the church which is the bride and body of Christ. Devotion to the church means that we discern the voice of the Spirit so that we may lead the church into repentance and renewal.
If I may press the metaphor a bit further. We are aware of the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11). The Pharisees were eager to stone the adulteress. Many critics of the church are likewise quick to throw stones. But then we are confronted with the words of Jesus: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Jesus offered forgiveness and grace to the adulteress: “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more” (John 8:11).
That is the zeal I seek to express. Yes, the church, like the people of Israel, has an adulteress history. But I love her. The church is my spiritual mother and I have been nourished by her. The church is comprised of my brothers and sisters, most of whom are not perfected saints. But I love them. Because of our common confession in Jesus Christ, we are one in Christ. If I seek to separate myself from the church, I injure the body, and infect myself. Rather than separate myself from Christ, and his church, I will strive to be perfected by her and in her. I will passionately offer my judgments and criticisms of her, tempered with respect and patience. I choose not to throw stones. Rather, I choose to live with the long-suffering of forgiveness, to be a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 17-21). I choose to live in grace.
