by David Bercot, from Will the Theologians Please Sit Down
Caspar Zacher* trembled in fear as he was lead into the courtroom in chains. He glanced around the room, looking for sympathetic faces, but he saw none. Instead, he spied a number of his enemies—townspeople with whom he had argued. Caspar desperately studied the face of the judge for signs of sympathy, but all he saw was a stern countenance. Caspar was convinced he faced certain death.
The year was 1562. The place was the town of Waiblingen in southwestern Germany. The charge: heresy. The scenario was one that had been witnessed countless times in Europe for a thousand years or more. Most of those heresy trials had been conducted by Roman Catholics authorities. However, the authorities whom Caspar faced were Lutheran. Times had changed, but the nature of Christendom had not.
Caspar could scarcely keep from trembling when his turn came to stand before the judge. The charges were read. He was being accused of heresy—specifically of belonging to a group known as the Anabaptists. When asked to enter his plea, Caspar emphatically denied the claim.
"I'm a good Lutheran," Caspar protested. "I've never had anything to do with those horrid people!"
The state then methodically presented its case against Caspar. One by one, various townspeople took the stand and testified against him. Several people described Caspar as an envious man, always coveting what others had. Nearly every witness testified that Caspar was extremely quarrelsome, frequently getting into arguments and fights with others. They pointed out that they heard him swear and curse in public many times. A few witnesses reported that he nearly always carried a knife or sword with him when he went out of his house. The whole town hated him.
When the witnesses finished testifying, Caspar was certain he would be found guilty. He knew he couldn't deny the truth of what the witnesses had said. Looking Caspar straight in the eyes, the judge cleared his throat and began to speak:
"Having heard all the evidence presented by the state's witnesses, this court finds the defendant, Caspar Zacher . . ."
Caspar swallowed hard, dreading to hear the judge's next word.
". . . innocent."
Caspar could hardly believe his ears.
The judge went on to explain his decision: "The witnesses are uniform in testifying that you are an envious and quarrelsome man. You frequently curse in public, and you go about town carrying weapons. You are a thoroughly disagreeable man, justly hated by your fellow townsmen. But, fortunately, you are obviously not one of those detestable heretics, the Anabaptists. For the life you live is exactly opposite theirs. They would never have you. You are just as you say, an orthodox Christian."
It was a happy day for Caspar Zacher, but a black day for Christianity. A man was acquitted of heresy because he lived an ungodly life!
What had become of the church Christ founded, so that a holy life was associated with heresy and an ungodly live with orthodoxy? Indeed, a lot had happened to Christ's church—at least, as to the visible body of professing Christians. What happened can be summed up in a nutshell: Christianity had become "Doctrianity."
The Transformation of Christianity
When Christianity was young, the focus was on Jesus Christ and His kingdom—not theology. To be sure, there are foundational doctrines that Christians have always considered essential to the faith. But somehow the things considered essential have grown from a few sentences to a long list of theological tenets, many of which were unknown to the early Christians.
In the beginning, Christians understood that the essence of Christianity was an obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ. This was not just any relationship, but a relationship that produced genuine kingdom fruit. Christianity was a religion primarily of the poor and uneducated. There were no seminaries and no theological schools.
But then something happened: Theologians took over the church. Once the theologians took over, the emphasis soon changed from godly fruit to "orthodox" theology. Before long, living a godly life often made people suspect you were a heretic.
Interestingly, the directive that Jesus gave most often to His followers consisted of just two words. But these two words would turn the world upside down: "follow me." Jesus overturned the theological class of His day and announced a kingdom that would be better understood by intellectual babes than by learned academians.
In contrast, when Christian theologians came to power in the fourth century, the focus changed from "follow me" to "study me." Learned theologians claimed to have special insight and understanding of Scripture. The rest of the church were expected to sit back and accept what the theologians told them the Scriptures really meant. Bearing kingdom fruit was no longer the important thing. The essential thing was to subscribe to the "correct" doctrines.
Theologians Versus the Kingdom
It was primarily the religious authorities who opposed the kingdom of God in Jesus' day, and it has been that was every since. When I use the term theologian in this book, I'm referring to the elite class of scholars and their disciples who have set themselves up as the official interpreters of Scripture. I'm in no way criticizing or condemning Christians who desire to learn all that God has revealed to us about Himself, Jesus Christ, mankind, salvation, life after death, and a whole host of other spiritual subjects. Rather, my criticism is aimed at those elitists who claim for themselves the right to interpret Scripture but deny it to others. It also is aimed at the arrogant academics and ecclesiastical authorities who imagine that they understand the New Testament better than the very Christians who lived close to the time of the apostles.
From the time they came into power, such theologians have warred against the true children of the kingdom. For many centuries these theologians warred against them with fire and sword. Now they fight against the children of the kingdom with words.
However, in many ways, the war of words has been more effective than the war of fire and sword. Many kingdom Christians** are intimidated by today's theological bullies. They've completely adopted the theology of their former persecutors. They're afraid to preach or teach Sunday school without consulting the commentaries, theological textbooks, and study Bibles of the theologians—for fear they might say something "wrong."
As a result, the theologians are effectively destroying kingdom Christianity from the inside out. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if today's kingdom Christians will lose most of Jesus' kingdom teachings within a generation or two.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We kingdom Christians can learn to stand up to today's theological bullies. But to be able to do this effectively, we first need to understand what Christianity looked like in the beginning and how theologians got into power. We also need to understand the means theologians use in our day to muffle the kingdom witness of God's Word.
Once we understand these things, it's not hard to unmask most theologians for the spiritual phonies they often are.
*The account of Caspar Zacher's trial was recorded by the bailiff of Waiblingen in an official letter to Duke Christoph, dated July 12, 1562.
**By the phrase, "kingdom Christians," I'm referring to Christians who focus on the lifestyle teachings of Jesus, recognizing that God's kingdom is in no way connected to the kingdoms of this world. Such Christians realize that the kingdom of God is a present reality, and they recognize that the essence of Christianity is an obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Although living in this world, kingdom Christians live as citizens of Christ's kingdom.
