Who Defines Christianity?
Should we allow unbelievers to define what is, and what isn't, the Christian faith?
By now I am sure that most people have already seen (or at least seen the criticism of) the supposed Anglican Bishop who preached a leftist politically driven sermon (voicing sympathetic support for the LGBTQ+ movement) at the National Cathedral on the day of the inauguration. Everything that needs to be said about this specific instance has already been said by others, and I do not need to repeat here what most Christians already know. Christians know, because of their Bibles, that women are not permitted to occupy the office of elder (bishop) or to teach and exercise authority over men (1 Tim. 2:12). Christians know, because of the Scriptures, that homosexuality, transgenderism and abortion are abominations in the Law of God (Lev. 18:22, Deut. 22:5, Lev. 18:21).
The specific thing that I want to address, that this situation has forced us to discuss, is what do we as Christians do when unbelievers, not operating on the authority of the Scriptures, seek to criticize us and tell us what Christianity truly is. In our day and age of pluralism, just about anyone who has access to a keyboard and an internet connection feels qualified to make statements about what Christianity really teaches. We have seen countless secularists, atheists, leftists and other stripes of non-believers take it upon themselves to praise “Bishop” Budde as a shining example of true Christian compassion, and labelling her critics as fundamentalists who simply don’t know how to love like Jesus. The problem? Well, the vast majority of these critics offer a definition of Christianity based upon emotion, autonomous reasoning, or a combination of both. They are able to come up with a definition of Christianity that matches up surprisingly well with the neo-Marxist leftist agenda. What we see is that, because their thinking is not grounded, concreted in the Scriptures, they are led in to error. We must, as Christians, offer a response to this, demonstrating that the one who defines Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself, and that He has done so in His word.
Examples of non-believing critics:


These two images were posted by Kyle Kulinksi (a politically left social commentator and host of the webcast Secular Talk) on his X account on January 22nd (I have blurred the depictions of Jesus for conscience’ sake). The purpose of both of these images is to mock Christians who supported Trump (of which I was not one, to be clear) for an internal inconsistency. The argument (whether or not it is sound) is that Jesus supported values that the political right would find objectionable, therefore Christian right-wingers are found to have a contradiction in their thinking when they (on the one hand) say they believe in Jesus while supporting people, or policies, that Jesus would hate. It is something that we have heard countless times before, when the leftist equivocates Jesus’ teaching concerning mercy and compassion with a socially left political agenda.
The amazing thing about this is that Kyle’s show is titled Secular Talk, and yet he believes himself to be in a position to lecture Christians on Jesus’ moral teaching! What gives him this right? What gives him this authority?
In the first image, you have a quotation of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful”, which apparently would make Jesus appear to be a “radical leftist” in the eyes of Donald Trump. Now this cartoon is so vague that it is difficult for anyone to respond to, but we will try to dissect it. Note that it assumes (without stating) a definition of mercifulness that is on par with the left’s social agenda. Because of the fact that there is no specificity, there is nothing to shoot at other than the basic question of how do you define mercy? Mercifulness and compassion are things that are exhorted to us throughout the Scriptures, but in the Bible it is always clear that love and mercy are defined in the context of the Law-Word of God. The Scriptures teach that individual Christians are to show mercy in their everyday dealings with individuals. Jesus will go on in the Sermon on the Mount to tell us that if someone strikes us with the back of their hand, to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). The point is that in our personal lives, when others show disrespect to us, we do not retaliate.
Now, how does this relate to the role of the state? What we absolutely must understand is that the Bible reveals to us varying spheres of authority in this temporal world, all of which God is sovereign over, but with their own roles and purposes. This has been called sphere sovereignty, Dr. Joseph Boot provides a helpful definition:
“On this model each sphere is prevented from dominating, controlling and absorbing each other. Instead, each area of life (including the family, church and state) enjoys an internal sovereignty. God has established these various spheres of life to be governed in terms of their own structural principles, ruled by His Word and subject ultimately to Christ as Lord and king.” - Dr. Joseph Boot, Ruler of Kings (Wilberforce Publications: London, England) page 182, emphasis mine.
What we see in the Scriptures is that the role of the state is different than the role of the individual Christian. So there is no contradiction for Jesus to teach me to be merciful in my personal life, as well as for Jesus also to uphold and affirm the Law of God, which requires the state to exact justice upon wrongdoers. While it is my responsibility to be merciful to those who wrong me, it is not the responsibility of the state to show mercy to those who violate the law! As a matter of fact, if we saw the state showing mercy to murderers and rapists, we would actually find that to be an incredible injustice. The German reformer Martin Luther has stated it well:
“If he [the prince, or ruler] does not fulfill the duties of his office by punishing some and protecting others, he commits as great a sin before God as when someone who has not been given the sword commits murder. If he is able to punish and does not do it—even though he would have had to kill someone or shed blood—he becomes guilty of all the murder and evil that these people commit. If [God] will have wrath, what business do you have being merciful?… What a fine mercy to me it would be, to have mercy on the thief and murderer, and let him kill, abuse, and rob me!” - Martin Luther, cited in Dr. Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics (Covenant Media Press: Nacogdoches, TX), page 426.
The Holy Scriptures command the death penalty for certain crimes, such as murder (Gen. 9:6). The only reason to see this as contradicting the Bible’s teaching for mercy and compassion is if one confuses the distinct spheres of sovereignty God has instituted in this world.
In the second image above, you have this same category of mercifulness being conflated with the pro-LGBTQ+ “sermon” from “Bishop” Budde. The underlying assumption seems to be that if we are to really follow Christ’s instruction concerning mercy, then we will tolerate and affirm sexual immorality. However, when one looks at ALL of Jesus’ teaching, they find Jesus upheld everything the Law of Moses taught about homosexuality, and that Jesus defined marriage as being between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6). Furthermore, in one of the opening letters in the book of Revelation, Jesus condemns the church in Thyatira for “tolerating” the sexual immorality of “that woman Jezebel” (Rev. 2:20). There is not much else needed to refute this second cartoon. It falls apart on face-value.
The Key Issue
What is the key issue in all of this? It is that when men seek to define the Christian faith apart from the Christian Scriptures; they are inevitably bound to fail. When one tries to make the language of the Bible sound like it is promoting a politically left agenda, the Christian response is simply to look at the context of any passages cited, keeping in mind the varying spheres of authority God has instituted.
When a non-believer seeks to lecture you on what Christianity truly is, you must (graciously) challenge how it is they are coming up with their definitions. Neither Jesus nor His Word will be made subject to the autonomous reasoning of sinful man. The Bible tells us that because of sin, mankind’s reasoning and thinking are sinfully flawed as well.
“In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God’” - Psalm 10:4 (ESV)
The Bible tells us that apart from the fear of the Lord, no one will arrive at wisdom, for wisdom consists in repentance from evil and practicing righteousness.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” - Proverbs 9:10 (ESV)
“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding” - Job 28:28 (ESV)
Spiritual understanding, and a knowledge of the truth are ultimately gifts of God (2 Tim. 2:25), but God still calls us to proclaim His truth to an unbelieving world, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).