When Love is Twisted By Sin
The Sin of Gatekeeping
In her groundbreaking book A Theology of Love, Rev. Dr. Mildred Bangs Wynkoop extends John Wesley’s idea of sin by rooting in Wesley’s centering love. As with most things Wesleyan, sin is relational. Wynkoop writes, “Sin cannot be biblically or theologically discussed in the a any more than holiness or love or faith or grace or any of the great theological words can be. It is a relational term and derives its meaning from its relation to the whole.” (Wynkoop loc 2531) Wynkoop goes on to talk about how sin is love twisted and I see that as a great way to speak of sin. Wesley himself was more concerned with an understanding of sin as relational harm that requires healing through salvation rather than a purely legal understanding. We often hear of the twisting of love by sin in holiness circles. But the discussion of how sin twists love is usually one sided in a critique of anything goes tolerance.
What I would like to look at is how sin twists love into a weapon to be welded. The phrase in Ephesians, “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15) is used as license to speak in rather unloving ways. Using that single verse to justify harsh, angry, or jerk language is outside the context of the wider passage in which the grace of God is given in gifts to equip the Church for ministry. The idea of speaking truth in love is that as we grow in grace and maturity we are better able to speak truth in a loving manner. Ephesians is about how as we grow in grace and unity, we are better able to speak to one another truthfully in love. Notice it does not say that speaking the truth IS love. The idea is that when we do speak truth, it is done through love as it is with God.
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Because sin twists love, it follows that acting in poor ways, even when speaking truth, we are sinning. I know this sounds wrong, but speaking truth in a vacuum is not loving. It is especially not loving when we do not have a relationship with whomever we are speaking to. Let’s consider the examples of Jesus condemning the Pharisees here. But, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for heaping extra requirements on people’s access to God. Jesus was criticizing the gatekeepers of his day who believed in their hearts that they were speaking truth. Jesus tried to show a better way; a relational way through loving. For that approach, the religious leaders plotted to kill him.
Jesus did not shout at those who most needed to hear him. Jesus did not stop those who were teaching in his name, even when they were not a part of the disciples (Mark 9). Why was Jesus so graceful? Because, as a reflection of God, Jesus modeled the First Parent perfectly. Relational holiness was not about certitude, but about an invitation to live in a transformed creation. We traditionally call this the Kingdom of God, but in our context, it may be better to call this the Kindom of God. Jesus invites all into a family that should look, act, and live much differently than other families. The Kindom of God is like a mosh pit where our origins do not matter as we bounce around and enjoy the music and community*. In Kindom ethics, we do not exclude those who Jesus says are part of the family. Jesus is clear in Mark’s Gospel that it is hard to go against him when you do power in his name. Why do we attempt to stop people?
"Then He Shows Goodwill (John) said to him, ‘Wisdomkeeper, we saw a man forcing out evil spirits using your name. We told him to stop, because he does not walk the road with us.’
‘Do not stop him,’ he answered. ‘No one who can do works of power using my name will suddenly turn against me. The ones who are not against us are for us. I speak from my heart, anyone who brings the gift of even a drink of water to the ones who represent me will never lose the honor that has been gained.’" (Mark 9:38–40 FNV)
To add context, the next passage is when Jesus speaks about not putting stumbling blocks in the road for those calling on his name. While that is often used to say if you aren’t on our “side” then you are putting down stumbling blocks, the wider context implies that those keeping people from knowing Jesus are putting down stumbling blocks. The gatekeepers were building metaphorical walls in front of the living gate.
I have been wondering over the last week if the act of stopping those who speak in Jesus' name is sin. In a relational sense, pressuring someone to keep an ordained member of clergy from speaking on a topic not related to any disagreement is sin. As Christians, we engage with many who may have a differing view on one thing, but we typically extend grace when the discussion is something on which we agree. That is especially true when they are clergy in one’s denomination. The sinfulness of this attitude becomes especially onerous when examples of those outside who disagree on a doctrine get invited to speak on that doctrine and no one asks why. Credibility gaps are abundant in twenty-first century American Christian churches. I sometimes suspect that we don’t really like Jesus all that much because we sure don’t act like him when it comes to those teaching and calling in his name.
*Inspired by my friend Nick Polk - check out his Substack Tolkien Pop https://tolkienpop.substack.com/