Dooyeweerd, Thessalonica, and Turning from Idols to the Living God

"God does not speak to theologians, philosophers and scientists, but to sinners, lost in themselves, and made into his children through the operation of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. In this central and radical sense, God's word, penetrating to the root of our being, has to become the central motive-power of all Christian life within the temporal order with its rich diversity of aspects, occupational spheres and tasks. As such, the central theme of creation, fall into sin and redemption, should also be the central starting point and motive power of our theological and philosophical thought."

-Herman Dooyeweerd, In the Twilight of Western Thought

The heart directs all of human life and action. Often we think it is the mind that directs us in how we live, and move, and have our being. Yet, Jesus declared that out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks, and I would argue, the hands act and the mind thinks. Created to love the Lord our God with all our being in every sphere of life and our neighbor as ourselves, the fall fundamentally corrupted the religious root of our being (the heart). As a result, humanity deluded itself, and (mis)directed this religious root towards the relative and dependent aspects of this temporal world. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).

This was the case in Thessalonica. Egyptian gods like Isis and Greek gods like Dionysus, as well as the cult of Cabirus, flourished in this influential city. The Roman Empire, with its Caesar, was honored, praised, and held absolute sway over the city and its people, promising comfort, assurance, and hope. And many found the philosophies and ideas of the teachers and orators to be utterly compelling ways of orienting themselves to the world. Having rejected the true and living Creator God, the people of Thessalonica had made relative, dependent aspects of the creation to be gods: sexuality, politics, and human knowledge. 

Not much has changed in two-thousand plus years. Sex and sexuality continue to give rise to new movements that seek to absolutize this aspect and misdirect numerous spheres of life: family, education, government, etc. Political ideologies take people captive with their promises of utopia through totalizing influence (a la communism, socialism, nationalism, etc.). And there is no end to the philosophies and world-views that exalt the self (human reason and sufficiency as de facto gods) over against silly notions of the divine. Sexuality, politics, and knowledge. 

So what are we to do? 

Look to the Thessalonians. In his first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, Paul writes: You turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God (1:9).

They turned to God from the dualistic Greek philosophies and hedonism. They turned to God from emperor cult worship and the exaltation of the Empire. They turned to God from fertility gods and sexual religious practices. 

But it was not simply a matter of the will. A changing of the mind. No, it was a radical transformation of the being through the power of the gospel proclaimed to them by Paul. As Dooyeweerd so eloquently puts it, God in Christ penetrates to the root of the sinners' being, unmasking their idolatries and reorienting their hearts to the religious root for which they were created: to love and serve God in all aspects of life. This is the good news!

This redemption, renewal and reorientation through Christ laid full claim on not only the hearts of the Thessalonian Christians, but also their minds and lives. The working of the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit laid bare the antithesis facing the Thessalonians: serve the gods of the age as slaves in the kingdom of darkness, or serve the true God as members of his household in the kingdom of light and life. There was no middle ground for them to stake out, no compromise, because these two ways arose from two wholly different religious roots. God chose them in Christ to be a holy people witnessing in their words and deeds to the reality and power of the gospel of Christ and the Kingdom. So, Paul writes them to remind them of this calling, to give instructions on what it looks like to live as the church, and to both warn and encourage them to persevere in the face of rejection and harassment from the wider culture. 

In the same way, in Christ, our hearts have been fundamentally renewed and reoriented to the biblical root motive of creation, fall, and redemption. Once again, by the working of the Word in us, we are enabled to rightly view the world around us and see how each aspect of life finds its proper place in service to the true and living Triune God. 

But, much like Paul, Dooyeweerd leaves us with a warning. As our Christ-centric, kingdom-witnessing community (the church) grows, engages, and shapes the world around us, it will face opposition from other religious root-motives: dualistic neo-paganism and secular humanism among others. And how we respond to them and their ideas is key. Hold fast to the gospel and the divine Word (both Christ and Scripture), and do not succumb to the sinful inclinations of the human heart to weaken the integral and radical meaning of the divine Word. 

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 
-1 Thessalonians 5:19-23