Articles : 9Marks

More Christian than Black or White

By Isaac Adams | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Phrases like “I’m more Christian than black or white” are gloriously true, but they’re often wielded in white culture to enable and encourage colorblindness.

More Christian Than Democrat or Republican

By Bruce Ashford | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Some say that religion shouldn’t be brought into the public square, especially not into politics. This common wisdom is well-intentioned but wrong, unhelpful, and ultimately impossible to put into practice.

More Christian Than American

By J. D. Greear | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

We serve America best when we don’t serve her first.

Men, Women, and the Place of True Equality

By Trillia Newbell | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

In our rush to explain and emphasize the differences between men and women, we too often forget to emphasize the gloriously counter-culture truth of the equality of men and women.

Church Life: Our True Political Witness

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Where do we first beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks? Where should love of enemy first dissolve a nation’s tribalism? Where should Lincoln’s “just and lasting peace” first take root and grow?

Just A Spoonful Of Wilberforce

By Jonathan Worsley | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

We should tell the stories of successful Christian social advocates. But we should also tell the “unsuccessful” stories too, and explain how so many “unsuccessful” heroes pleased God through their faithfulness.

The Dangerous Allure of Being a Cultural Warrior

By Brian Davis | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Our cultural engagement should always advertise our true hope. Just as we are not of this world, our hope is not of this world—nor is it dependent on this world’s acceptance.

Why Politics Overwhelms the Church

By Russell D. Moore | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Caesar never prompted Jesus to rejoice (Lk. 10:21). Pilate never prompted him to sweat blood. Why? Because he trusted a sovereign Father and saw a kingdom that would triumph over all rivals.

American Civil Religion and the Gospel Aren’t the Same Thing

By John D. Wilsey | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Civil religion, when it remains unevaluated and unchecked by the Word of God, can easily run amok. It can present the nation as God, as the savior of the world, as the last best hope on earth.

The Church’s Most Powerful Political Word: The Gospel

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

Our gospel, the gospel of justification by faith alone, is profoundly political. It creates a new body politic, one where there’s no boasting. And it sends us as ambassadors with a message of peace for all who would look to King Jesus and live.

The Local Church as a Counterculture

By Brett McCracken | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018

The local church was never meant to be a cultural, comfortable, bourgeois social club that affirms people in their idolatry and helps them along on a journey to their “best life now.” It was meant to be a counterculture, a set-apart community embodying a radically different vision for human flourishing.