No Shibboleth

The Problem with Mere Christianity

These evangelicals hit one roadblock that arises when "mere Christianity" severs our ties to theological traditions. At its best, mere Christianity can be summed up by Augustine's proverb: "In essentials, unity. In nonessentials, liberty. In all things, charity."

I subscribe to the magazine Christianity Today, and I get their articles in ChristianityToday.com emails daily. Most recently was the above article titled The Problem with Mere Christianity. The tile is an obvious take off from Clive Staples Lewis’ book Mere Christianity. The idea is that we cannot give up doctrines because there is controversy about them. Lewis' book, in contrast, developed a very thorough doctrine of God. The idea of the article is that Christianity cannot be reduced to some Mere (read, lesser or reduced) Christianity, cheap grace; a shibboleth.

In the first season of the television show The West Wing, there was an episode entitled Shibboleth. In the show, there was a group of Chinese Christians that had made it to the New World as illegal immigrants, and who were looking for sanctuary because of religious persecution in their homeland. President Josiah Bartlett calls in one of the groups’ leaders to question him about why they are really in America, suspecting that they are not true Christians but merely feigning faith.

Bartlett asks the man about their religious practices, how do they worship? “We hear sermons, we read the Bible, we say the Lord’s Prayer, we sing hymns, we pray,” was his answer. But he senses that President Bartlett is looking for more, for proof positive of his faith; he says “Mr. President, there is no shibboleth.” To this, President Bartlett replies, "You just said the magic word."

Judges 12:6
then they would say to him, "Say now, 'Shibboleth.'" But he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it correctly.

I was blown away when I heard that. His doctrine was exactly correct, no shibboleth, no magic words to make one a Christian. President Bartlett was wrong, there are no magic Christian words.

In Islam, the "shibboleth" is:

“There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his Prophet.”

In Judaism, the "shibboleth" is Deuteronomy 6:4-5 --

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

But in Christianity there is no shibboleth, no magic words.

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Romans 10:9-10
"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

If there were a Christian shibboleth, maybe it would be Luke 18:13

"But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'"

The problem is that one can say the words and never be converted, never really changed from the inside by God. These are the ones called hypocrites by people in and outside the church. They are still lost in their sins. Confession does not equal repentance.

Proverbs 28:13

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:4

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

John 14:15

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.