Against Christian Nihilism
God has made a world in which what we do matters. True Christianity draws us to more human lives, enmeshed in earthly things, and hoping for the resurrection of it all.
Christianity too often leads to this view: Nothing we do here matters.
For some Christians, this is because of their “end-times” views: “It’s all going to end soon, and Jesus will return. There’s no time to do anything lasting, just to tell people urgently to get saved. Nothing else matters.”
For others, it’s their desire to answer in a moment the question of salvation. This can be through conversionism: The real action in Christianity is the initial moment of conversion. Or it can be through the doctrine of justification by faith: Jesus did it all, so we don’t have to do anything but look back to our justification. Either way, the idea is that the initial moment at the outset of Christianity is all that makes a difference. Nothing between here and the end really matters: Nihilism.
Nietzsche famously hurled the accusation of “nihilism” at Christianity:
[Paul] needed the belief in immortality in order to rob “the world” of its value, that the concept of “hell” would master Rome—that the notion of a “beyond” is the death of life...
Nihilist and Christian: they rhyme in German, and they do more than rhyme...
Does This Life Matter?
A question for Christians: Does this life matter?
While people don’t always come right out and say “no,” here are some signs of Christian nihilism:
Eschatologically, some say, “It’s all gonna burn anyway,” or “Jesus is coming back really soon.”
Theologically, Christians can dismiss the effect of human action on account of divine providence. Does anything we do really make a difference?
Politically, Christians can decide that it is indifferent whether good things in society are preserved and improved or eroded and destroyed.
Some Christians view the exhortation “not to love the world or the things in the world” as undermining love for the very order that God called good. They equate “the world” with worldliness.
And the doctrine of conversionism, mentioned above, amounts to a very limited view of the Christian life as primarily about “getting in,” and then leading others to join the fold. It lacks a vision of sanctification and the life of Christian obedience and progressive sanctification.
But in my own Reformed theological context, the source of a highly intellectual form of Christian nihilism is a narrow focus on the doctrine of justification by faith.
At the outset of their reflections, Reformed theologians correctly detect a problem with conversionism, that it can lead to uncertainty and obsession about whether one has truly converted. The Reformed theologians’ solution is the doctrine of justification by faith: Recognizing that justification is once-for-all and not dependent on anything one does produces, in principle, perfect assurance of salvation.
But that is just a more intellectually robust form of Christian nihilism.
Just like conversionism, only the initial moment of the Christian life matters. But now, the earnestness of determining whether one is truly converted - the redeeming feature of conversionism - is gone. The justified Christian is left with nothing to do except to float through life, trying not to forget that he is already justified.
Officially, being knowledgeable about theology, the Reformed types will insist that sanctification is supposed to follow justification. But the impression given is that the pursuit of holiness is more or less optional. This is chiefly revealed in what they consider to be heretical; any idea that we cannot have perfect assurance of salvation, that Christians might commit apostasy, or that there is a final justification in accordance with works is commonly treated as a departure from the Reformation and from the gospel.
In one radical example, a professor argued that any exhortation making use of “the third use of the law” needs to be followed up with a gospel promise that “Jesus already did that for us,” so that no Christian would feel bad about failing to live a holy life.
But the logical conclusion of this teaching is that nothing we do here matters.
Protestant Anti-Nihilism
True Reformed theology opposes this nihilism.
From the first, John Calvin argued that knowledge of whether one was justified by faith, or elect, could only be obtained on the basis of the evidence of a life of good works, Christian perseverance, and fruit-bearing: “You shall know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16). While the Reformed did promise assurance of salvation as a real possibility, this promise was always tempered by the equally real possibility of apostasy by professing Christians and the impossibility of knowledge of the hidden divine decree.
This meant that, in practice, the difference between Catholic and Protestant doctrines of justification was not infinite, as contemporary Protestants sometimes allege. (Eucharistic theology was the point on which there was deepest division.) Yet many contemporary Protestants draw the distinction between Christianity and all other religions by way of the contrast between justification by works and justification by faith. On this telling, in all other religions, people work their way toward God - justification by works - but in the Christian religion, God gifts salvation apart from works. But this common Protestant account draws too sharp a distinction between works and faith, suggesting that Christianity leaves the life of good works as an optional addition to a salvation that costs us nothing.
The Apostle Paul, on the contrary, speaks of us “filling up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Col 1:24). He writes in Romans 8:17 that we are “fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Even if you – as I do – distinguish the necessity of suffering as a condition of salvation from its merit, suffering and good works are not optional for the Christian, but necessary. Francis Turretin captured this by arguing that good works were, not the grounds, but the way and means of salvation, and a necessary way and means. What Jesus did for us, we must imitate as a condition of salvation. Obedience and the life of good works are not optional, but obligatory.
The Penultimate Things
The most trenchant critique of Protestant Christian nihilism is the one Bonhoeffer mounted in his critique of cheap grace. The Lutheran church had strongly taught that justification by faith is all that matters: To insist on a life of obedience was legalism. What is more, this teaching had the political implication of a “two kingdoms” doctrine that left the secular realm alone, staying out of politics completely. Yet as Hitler came to power, the mainstream German Lutheran church refrained from commenting or intervening, out of adherence to this principle. From a Nazi prison, Bonhoeffer articulated what was so wrong about this approach.
The Christian thinks that the only things that matter are ultimate things, like whether you’re saved or not, justified or not, and the spiritual things of the future kingdom of God. Everything in between is a potential source of idolatry or legalism. If we think that some form of secular human action is necessary, that merely shows that we are trying to work our way to God, instead of confessing our total human inability and sinfulness.
These in-between things Bonhoeffer calls the penultimate things. He agrees, yes, that these are not the ultimate things. But they are not for that reason nothing; they are penultimate, all but ultimate. They are not the last things, but they are what is right before the last. Nothing could be more important, except, of course, the ultimate things.
This is a different theological perspective. This side of eternity, ultimate things are not even attainable without attention to and cultivation of the penultimate. At the limit, if you refuse to speak up as Hitler takes over Germany and eventually the German church, the ultimate things will be lost as well. A church that won’t protect people physically from harm is not one that will ever have a chance to protect them from spiritual harm.
Some try to argue that what kind of government or policies the state enacts, or what kind of culture we are surrounded by, should make no difference to Christian witness to the ultimate things. But this is just false. It makes a world of difference. If you don’t attend to the penultimate things, you may not even have the right or the opportunity to speak about the ultimate things. But even if you do, the Christian message will receive a very different response depending on the audience: Does your audience accept the basic outlines of the Ten Commandments? Or does your audience think that Christianity itself is deeply immoral? You won’t be able to communicate the ultimate things without understanding your penultimate context.
What is more, the entire Christian life is one that is lived in the penultimate arena. The good works we are called to do may not immediately result in the salvation of souls, but they can improve the world for the better, and thereby prepare people for the gospel. This is why it is true to say that the unbelieving, secular humanism that often replaces Christianity in the West is Christian in origin. Sometimes it is more Christian than Christianity in its devotion to making a dent in this world, while the remaining religious communities become gnostic, insisting that minor differences in profession of faith make more of an ultimate difference than obedience and activity in the penultimate realm.
The Law Before the Gospel
“The sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light.”
When people question Jordan Peterson for not being a “true Christian” or they take it that he is teaching a false religion of works-righteousness, or when they critique Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion for being motivated by political and civilizational concerns, they really miss the point. What Peterson has done is take the practical content of Christianity and spoken it in terms a broad range of people can accept (if not always understand), effectively urging our civilization to act as though God exists. Unfortunately, many a professing Christian does not act as though God exists. The idea that this minor, cheap, theoretical profession of faith makes more of a difference than acting as though God exists really has things backwards.
Even if the Protestants are right that all of us will fail to live up to the law of God, an absolutely necessary first step toward that recognition is to remind Westerners - Christian and non-Christian alike - that the law of God applies to them. No one who is not conscious of guilt for failing to live up to the practical demands of Christianity comes to Christ seeking forgiveness. No one who has not experienced the difficulty of trying to live righteously by human power alone seeks the Holy Spirit’s power. In the logic of Christianity, the law is prior to the gospel. Teaching the law is not legalism; it is Judaism - the first half of Christianity. It is the preparatio evangelium, the preparation for the gospel.
What is more, in the logic of Christianity, posterior to the gospel is again the law of God, which is to guide our living in obedience to the divine commands, which is nothing but living in accord with our divinely-designed human nature.
Christian Humanism
Now, one way to misunderstand the teaching of the penultimate things is to misread it as instrumental: The only reason what we do here matters is because of the afterlife. On the contrary, obeying the law of God has real material consequences here and now. If your mind is only set on the possibility of punishment or reward hereafter, it means you’ve already ignored the temporal consequences of your actions. Doing good for others physically and politically in this world really improves people’s lives. The world becomes a better place. There is nothing to discount about this. This world isn’t only good for what it can get us in the next.
The doctrine of creation is crucial here. The things God created are good. The Christian who can’t see that is less of a human for that fact. The heathen who enjoys the physical creation is more honoring to God than the puritan who doesn’t.
This also means that Christians are absolutely incorrect to say that, without God, nihilism is inevitable. On the contrary, non-Christians of all stripes can and should find meaning and goodness in this world. That meaning and goodness is a pointer to the divine, even if not all follow the trail. Christians who use the above apologetic line betray their own alienation from the created order and Christian nihilism. Our apology for Christian faith should move from the goodness and meaningfulness of created life to the reality of our creator and the human desire that created life continue beyond death - the desire for resurrection.
Idolatry of created things and indulgence in cheap pleasure is a real human temptation; it is true. But that path itself involves a devaluing of the created order, an attempt to instrumentalize everything around us egoistically for the sake of base pleasure, or narcissistic honor, or material gain. Following such a path reveals that we have already departed from the Epicurean path of enjoyment of the created order, with each thing in its proper place. We have ceased to live truly human lives; but the solution is not to live ghostly, inhuman lives, insisting that only the spiritual matters. No, this-worldly human life matters.
Christian nihilism is, I fear, a common offering from Christians to others. We tell them that nothing matters without God, hoping that they’ll come to God, after which they’ll have nothing to do, except to bring other people to God. This is so much less than what God himself offers and requires. God has made a world that matters, a world in which what we do matters. Christianity is supposed to draw us to more human lives, enmeshed in things that matter and hoping to see them continue on after death. Catch yourself when you are tempted to use those arguments. Eliminate them. Look at secular people who successfully live deeply human lives. Begin to live a more human life yourself.
Christianity is a humanism.
Why would I wait ’till I die to come alive?
I’m ready now, I’m not waiting for the afterlife.
I still believe we can live forever.
You and I, we begin forever now.
Switchfoot, “Afterlife”
There is a conflation drawn in these various traditions, that you have tapped into eloquently: a conflation which states that because our salvation is not contingent upon action, our actions must not matter. But, true salvation, I would argue, is an effect which will naturally emit its cause to the world. That is, that our salvation is not held hostage by action, and thus we will not act out of desperation to save ourselves. But, a part of being welcomed into salvation is that Christ has lavished His irresistible grace upon the sinner, and they will respond by falling in love with Christ. Love being not merely a feeling (though I think D.A. Carson lays out a convincing argument in his book “Love In Hard Places” that the affectionate side of love is still important), but also a manner in which one structures their life according to what they desire most. Those who are saved, who love God, will act out that love. Furthermore, we are called to make disciples of all nations. As you have pointed out through Bonhoeffer’s articulation of the penultimate.”If you don’t attend to the penultimate things, you may not even have the right or the opportunity to speak about the ultimate things.” I find myself pondering this sentiment often. I think of how often the life of following Christ involves delving into matters which appear, at first glance, trivial. Because in order to love people, we must meet them where they are, and where they are is often quite boring, or seemingly detached from things ultimate. But, the seemingly trivial has real implications. What is trivial to me, is life altering to someone else. That is, that in order to love people, we must take up what matters and affects them, because the gospel is transmitted through life together. And life together is often painful, sacrificial, boring, monotonous, and unpleasant.
Most of all, part of loving Christ is to love what He loves. He would not enter into our brokenness if He saw this world as trivial and futile. It is clear by His interest in salvation for people on this earth, that what is done here matters to Him. Because He exercised the salvation of the world, in the world, among people. And in the course of His life here He attended to their pain.
All of this rambling to say....I really enjoyed this post!
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” —Voltaire
Interesting article.