Transformation Theology or Transfiguration of Gospel- a Christian Editorial

Christian News- Christian Editorial- Transformation Theology- William Collier

Transformation Theology Replaces The Transfiguration of the Gospel

A new doctrine is spreading, primarily from mega churches and top-down national ministries, that make millions on new books and dvd’s every year, which is subtly replacing the transfiguration of the Gospel with social transformation through good deeds.

Ed Silvoso, a leader within the “Christian Transformationalism” movement cited five key characteristics of this movement:

1. The Great Commission is about discipling nations, not just people.
2. The marketplace (the heart of the nation) has already been redeemed by Jesus and now needs to be reclaimed by His followers.
3. Labor is the premier expression of worship on Earth, and every believer is a minister.
4. Our primary call is not to build the Church, but to take the kingdom of God where the kingdom of darkness is still entrenched, in order for Jesus to build His Church.
5. The premier social indicator that transformation has taken place is the elimination of systemic poverty.

While, at first blush, none of these statements might seem to be off, save the last one, the fruits of this doctrine are tending towards a mixture of dominionism, which holds that we establish God’s Kingdom by taking dominion over even non-believers, and a social gospel that is based on good works of ministry or service to the poor, rather than on redemption and righteousness. This doctrine has led to the idea of “city-wide pastoring”, where one or a few key leaders from area churches serve as “pastors” over all the churches, and where the clergy at the top come together to coordinate the whole “city church” informally but from above.

A few critiques of these five items are a good starting point for discussion.

1. While the Great Commission should properly be understood in the context of making disciples of people AND “Peoples” (ethne, or Peoples bound by common identity, covenant, values, beliefs, and language in a form of nationhood) one should not confuse a “Nation” of such a People with a Nation-State, a modern contrivance that is only around 400 years old.

2. The “heart of the nation” is NOT a “marketplace”, and the marketplace has NOT been redeemed, it is natural, of the flesh, and cannot be “redeemed” like people can, it can either be made to conform to right standards of godliness or it will fail.

There are, in essence, three TYPES of nations; the Kingdom Nation (all believers in Christ within a physical nation-state), which should be the SPIRIT of the Nation, individual People-Nations or Covenant Nations who have a specific identity and calling (the Puritans were such a Nation WITHIN America) and these should be the HEART of the Nation, and the physical nation, or NATURAL NATION, which includes the modern “nation-state”.

The “marketplace” is only one of four primary “authorities” which exist, and SHOULD exist, within all three types of nations- the marketplace, the civic authority, the commons or social authority, and the sacred authority. We can’t just go INTO these authorities within a physical nation without first practicing them AMONGST OURSELVES, from the level of the neighborhood and the local congregation, up.

3. Obedience is better than sacrifice, and holiness, which is righteousness and virtue, matters more than “good deeds” or “labor.” To elevate the thing which is made possible by our love for God, our faith, and our obedience to His laws and precepts, by the Power of the Spirit, ABOVE these things is backwards thinking. We do not do good deeds to redeem ourselves, we do good deeds out of an inner instinctive compulsion because we have been redeemed!

4. The idea that our “primary call” is this or that, and of parsing between building the church (the ecclesia is MUCH more than our modern idea of “church”) and the Kingdom strays off the simple language of scripture: we have two primary mandates, which include the Great Commission and the Great Commandments.

The Great Commission is the preaching and teaching of God’s commandments, followed after the preaching of repentance from sin, faith in Christ, and proclaiming the Kingdom (the reign of Christ WITHIN US, Amongst us, and the reign to COME). We do this as witnesses, as salt and light, as ambassadors, and by doing the work of the ministry, among other ways. The Great Commandments include loving God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and loving one another, especially those who are “of the Household of faith”, but including everyone around us!

5. The idea that the “premiere social indicator” is the elimination of poverty has not one thing to do with Biblical principles. Jesus Himself said that we would always have the poor with us, and the best way to eliminate poverty or any social or national ill is to compare Deuteronomy 28 with Matthew 28 and see how, as it says in Psalms, “blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord.”

If people follow after God and carefully observe His Commandments, they will be blessed, if they don’t, they won’t be blessed. Trying to alleviate a symptom of unrighteousness without preaching, and first LIVING, righteousness, as both an individual and with other believers, is a perfectly useless thing to do! Trying to make a nation-state better without BEING the nation whose God is the Lord AMONGST ourselves within our Kingdom Nation and our Covenant Nations, is backwards- God’s TRANSFIGURES us FROM WITHIN, working outwardly, not from the outside in!

So, what’s the problem?

This movement is tending towards moral compromise, a clergy-centered approach that continues to invalidate believers who are not part of that “club”, a top-down approach, and a process that does not engage or is not led by the WHOLE “ecclesia”, the called-out assembly of God’s elect who meet to decide matters and do work for the good of the community (the very BODY that governed cities in the time of the Apostles!)

We are not called to make the world that follows after ungodliness a better place, we are called, in essence, to BE the nation amongst ourselves FIRST, that we TEACH the nations around us to be!

Finally, the Gospel does not “transform” anyone or anything, that would essentially be taking things that are not godly and making them better. The Gospel, when lived intentionally and with a missionary’s heart for the lost, takes what is of sin and of the flesh and kills it, only to raise up something totally new, with a new DNA: in short, God calls us to TRANSFIGURATION, not merely “transformation.”