What is dualism?
We’ve heard about a lot of different “isms” these last few weeks. Arianism = Jesus is only 100% human. Docetism = Jesus is only 100% God. Pelagianism = people are responsible for their own conversion.
Today we are exploring another “ism” — dualism. The best way to understand dualism is with a play on words: duel–ism. Dualism is a duel (d-u-e-l) between two things. Two things which belong together are separated, then forced to fight, with one winner. Let’s take a few examples: spiritual vs material, soul vs body, faith vs science, sacred vs secular. Unfortunately we only have time to explore two of these today!
1. Spiritual vs material
Dualism falsely rips apart the spiritual and the material and says, “spiritual = good, material = bad.” (By material I mean things that you can see and touch). Religion, and even some distorted forms of Christianity, then becomes about escaping this evil material world. Dualism wrongly focusses on the spirit and all things spiritual. The goal becomes about reaching the spirit world i.e. “heaven.” You see this in many Eastern religions. We can see this in our pop-culture too. Remember the song ‘Spirit in the sky’? (Supposedly it’s the second most requested song for funerals!)
When I die and they lay me to rest.
Gonna go to the place that’s the best.
When I lay me down to die.
Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cXrEPNvRO8
Timothy had the same problem in his church. Recall that Timothy was a “young” pastor in the early church. Paul was his pastoral mentor and teacher. Timothy’s church faced this age-old issue of dualism: ripping apart spirit and material, body and soul. Paul writes to his young student:
Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits … [Such false teachers] forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good. (1 Timothy 4:1–4)
The false idea Timothy was facing in his church was that the spiritual was good and material bad. People were being wrongly taught that it’s bad to marry and enjoy physical intimacy, but better to deny yourself. People were being wrongly taught that some food was evil and other food better and more “spiritual.” Ultimately the false teaching was that only “spiritual” persons would be saved.
But the truth is that God created everything good. ‘For everything God created is good’ (1 Timothy 4:4). The material creation is good (see Genesis 1). Marriage and physical intimacy is good. Food is good. Your bodies are good. The goal of Christianity is not to escape this supposed evil material creation into a higher spiritual existence in the sky. Yes, this material creation has been corrupted, but the gospel is that God is making everything new. God is redeeming this material creation. The trees, animals, food, the soil, the sky, your bodies — all creation, everything — is being made new.
We hear this clearly in Revelation chapter 21:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. … I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. … He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:1–2,5)
There’s two things that stand out to me here. First it says God will make ‘a new earth.’ Wait a minute, what?! Yes! God is redeeming this creation. The material creation is good, but it’s corrupt, so God is in the process of saving it and making it new. Second, it says ‘the Holy City … [was] coming down out of heaven from God.’ The picture of the end times is not us going up to the spirit in the sky. No, it’s God coming down to earth to live and dwell with us here on earth!
This is exactly why God comes in material things. In the past God came as a human baby when Jesus Christ was born that first Christmas. Although God, Jesus took on human flesh and became truly human. His human body died and rose again. He did this to save our bodies. Not so we could escape from our bodies into a spiritual existence, but to make our bodies new. The picture of our future eternal life is not sitting up in the sky on a cloud playing a harp. The picture of eternal life is God coming down to earth, making the earth new, making your body new, and God being with you forever.
Not only does God come in the material in the past or the future, but God comes in material things to you here and now too. God comes in things you can see/touch/taste/feel. I’m talking about the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. God works through water, bread, and wine — material things. Material things are not evil as dualism tries to say. Material things are good and God’s way of working.
Martin Luther fought against a form of dualism in the 1500’s. There were a bunch of people called “enthusiasts.” These dualists falsely taught that the internal “spiritual” life is where you live the Christian faith. They falsely said, “God works within you; what’s important is your internal thoughts, decisions, emotions.” But the truth of the gospel is that God’s Word is external to us. The Word comes from the outside through material things. Jesus came in a body. The Bible is written on paper. You can touch the water of baptism, smell and taste the bread and wine of communion. Luther writes in the Large Catechism:
Our know-it-alls, [the enthusiasts], assert that faith alone saves and that … external things contribute nothing. … We answer: It is true, nothing that is in us does it, but faith. … But these leaders of the blind are unwilling to see that faith must have something to believe — something to which it may cling and upon which it may stand. Thus faith clings to the water and believes it to be baptism. (Large Catechism, Baptism, 28–29).
Faith, which is internal and spiritual, needs something material (like water and bread and wine) to cling to! The spiritual and material go together, they cannot be separated and forced to fight each other. Theologian Gerhard Forde sums it up when he says, ‘We worry a great deal these days about “feeling.” People complain that they don’t “feel” saved. Perhaps the best reply is to ask, “What do you expect to feel? Feel the water! Feel the bread and wine on your lips! That is all you need to feel!” Faith must not be separated from its object.’
2. Sacred vs secular
Dualism falsely says that the world is divided into two separate realms: sacred (where God is) and secular (where God is not). This kind of false dualism has infiltrated the Christian church. Author Michael Frost tells a story about a speaker at the graduation service of a well-known seminary. This speaker congratulated the graduates on giving up their “secular” careers to “follow God into the church.” The speaker told a story of a ‘high-up executive in the Coca-Cola Company who left his well-paid position to become a minister. When asked about his decision by the press, the Coca-Cola executive answered, “When compared with preaching the gospel, everything else is just selling lolly water.” The idea that our so-called secular careers are simply a matter of selling lolly water (soft drinks) compared to the eminent worthiness of a clergy vocation is altogether unbiblical.’ (Frost, 2006, Exiles).
The truth of the gospel is that what you do in your body is part of God’s work to make all things new. God partners with you in his redemptive work. (This is sometimes called the “doctrine of vocation”). So the truth is that everything is sacred, there is no secular. Yes, God works through pastors — I, as a pastor, have the job of saying, “Your sins are forgiven,” baptising with water, and giving bread and wine together with the Word. But likewise God works through you and your work, your job. And I don’t just mean when you tell someone about Jesus.
When you’re baptised you are adopted by your loving heavenly Father. As an adopted child, you are asked to work in the family business. Jesus your brother is working to make all things new. He does this through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. The old is gone, the new has come! Likewise, you are also tasked with the work of making all things new. You have died in your baptism, and now you are working with God to resurrect his creation.
You may ask, “What do you mean? How does my work do this?” Let me give you a few examples:
Creating/building. God the Father is a creator. He loves to build and create things (e.g. this material creation). God calls you to partner with him. Parents create babies together with God. Engineers, builders, inventors create useful products to help people to live. Artists paint, sculpt, and make music to help us to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. For everything God created is good.
Providing. God provides everything we need for daily life: food and clothing, house and home, family and property. He sustains your body and soul. God calls you to partner with him to sustain creation. Mothers and fathers provide basic needs for their children. Farmers grow the food that feeds the world.
Healing. God is a healer. In the gospels we read about Jesus healing many people. The helping professions — such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, chaplains — partner with God to heal body, mind, and soul; making all things new.
Truth-telling. God is truth and can do nothing else than tell the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts (like when God says we are sinners in need of saving). Sometimes the truth sets us free (like when God says that Jesus is making you new). God calls you to partner with him in his truth-telling. Teachers help students to unearth the truth as they discover and learn together. Law enforcement officials — such as police officers, detectives, lawyers, judges — seek to discover the truth around crimes. Researchers undertake experiment to test what works and what doesn’t, what is true and what is not.
There are many other dualisms that falsely rip apart what God has joined together. But the truth of the gospel is that God is making everything new. The old you has died with Jesus in the tomb. The new you has been raised with Jesus and now works in partnership with him to make this creation new again.
Every so often this new creation breaks through. We feel it when the doctor prescribes some medicine and our sick bodies are healed. We hear it when feuding family members forgive each other. We touch and taste it when we remember our baptism and celebrate Holy Communion. The old is gone, the new has come!
May God continue his sacred work through your body, now and forevermore. Amen.
