In a complex and polarized world, it’s tough for the church to stand up for justice without losing our balance. Voices from church history provide indispensable help in finding our footing. In this powerful EWP Talk, Gavin Ortlund of First Baptist Church of Ojai helps us hear the voice of Gregory of Nyssa, who spoke out against slavery in the 4th century, and provides some specific applications to the task of standing for justice in the present day.
When we listen to this ancient witness for justice, we discover that his voice sounds much more familiar to us than we might expect. That’s just one reason this provocative video is such an invaluable addition to our collection of talks on History.
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Ortlund begins by acknowledging that justice is a touchy subject these days:
Of course, people have always cared about justice. But right now, this has become a flashpoint in the polarization that our culture is going through. Just think about how people respond when I say words like this: “Cultural Marxism” . . . “critical race theory” . . . “wokeness” . . . “toxic masculinity.” Now, all I’ve done is just say these words. And some of you may already be angry with me!
While it’s easy to put reflex reactions to hot-button phrases and images at the center, the example of Gregory of Nyssa demonstrates that it’s also possible for the church to develop its own voice and speak with theological integrity. At a time when slavery was almost universally accepted, Gregory developed a careful and compelling argument that it was intrinsically wrong.
Gregory put forward three reasons why Christians need to care about the injustice of slavery – and other forms of injustice as well. Gregory argued that slavery violates our equality, since it was God’s design for human beings to be morally equal as God’s creatures:
Gregory says we are all fundamentally equal. We’re all made from the same dust. We all look at the same sun. We all breathe the same air. At one point, he says we all have the same intestines – which is kind of a gross image, but it’s true!
Slavery also violates our nature, since God designed human beings to have stewardship over his world rather than to be objects that other people would control and manipulate:
Gregory says there is something we call the natural law. Human beings are on top, the animal kingdom is on the bottom. We rule over the animal kingdom. And when you own a slave, you’re treating a human being as though they were an animal.
And slavery violates our dignity as creatures made in the image of God. As Ortlund points out, to be an “image of a god” was, in the ancient world, a claim that was made about royalty to lift them up above all others. But the doctrine of the Bible is that the whole human race is of royal lineage, as God’s special representatives on earth:
Gregory goes on at great length in this sermon about what it means to be made in the image of God. He says to be made in the image of God invests profound value and dignity in every single person.
At one point, he says a single human person is of greater value than the entire physical universe.
At another point in the sermon, he says if you knew how much that person was worth, you would know: No amount of money is enough to purchase them.
These ancient arguments will seem – perhaps surprisingly – familiar to those who follow the debates about justice and the gospel in our own time. There’s a lesson in that about how deep the connection between justice and the gospel goes. It isn’t something that was cooked up recently as a fad.
Ortlund draws a series of specific applications for us as we hear Gregory’s testimony. Among these, he points out how Gregory’s example challenges a variety of inadequate approaches that are widespread today. Against secularists who think religion is inimical to justice, Gregory illustrates how essential religion has been to the real history of justice advancing in the world. Against progressive-leaning Christians who think ancient doctrines must fundamentally change before they can promote justice, Gregory illustrates that an older orthodoxy is often just what we need to make progress. Against conservative-leaning Christians who are so wary of false ideas of justice that they’re in danger of leaving justice out of the Christian life entirely, Gregory makes the case that caring about justice isn’t optional for the followers of a savior who cared so much about justice that he died on the cross for our justification.
Despite the difficulties, justice is worth standing up for. As Ortlund says, drawing our attention to a different period in church history:
I love the thought of Bonhoeffer at his desk, writing a letter to his brother-in-law, explaining why he’s decided to found an illegal seminary at his own great peril. And he’s writing, and he says: “There are some things in this world that are worth standing up for. And for me, justice is one of them, just as Christ himself is.”
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