The Clerk who was Right, but Wrong

I begin the college course I teach with this question: “Radical Islamic Jihadists believe that their only option against the onslaught of Westernization is violence. Are they right?” I have (thankfully) never had a student approve of the violence embraced by Radical Islamists, but I have had many admit that Starbucks, Target, and iPads are part of a tidal wave of culture that seems unstoppable. Most of these students have experienced the global reach of Western culture personally, as many are international students, and most others have studied and traveled abroad. There are few places from Tierra del Fuego, to the Faeroes, to Fiji where one would be unable to buy a USA Today, and a Venti Latte to start the morning.

There was a time when Western culture felt similarly threatened, and similarly responded. The Gospel became so successful in Ephesus, that the city’s culture and economy were threatened (Acts 19). We are told that the mob response ignited by the Silversmith Guild resulted in the citizens of Ephesus filling the amphitheater and screaming for two hours. This brief exercise if mobocracy comes to an end after the intervention of the Town Clerk of Ephesus. Exhibiting great bravery and clear-headedness he tells them:

“…You have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples, nor blasphemers of our goddess. So then if Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are is session, proconsuls are available, let them bring charges. If you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in a lawful assembly…”

I have always had a great admiration and affection for the Town Clerk of Ephesus. He is one of a large group of Roman officials (Gallio, Claudius Lysias, even Ponitus Pilate) who appear in the New Testament as the representatives of law & order, of due process. The mob has a visceral response to the threat Christianity poses to their idolatry based culture. The Town Clerk insists that no crimes have been committed, to his knowledge, and if any have formal charges should be brought.

His words to the crowd are prudent, and true. And yet there is a sense in which the mob response of the citizens understands the real situation in a way the Town Clerk does not. He says the temple hasn’t been robbed, and the goddess has not been blasphemed – this is true- and yet the preaching of the Gospel intends to destroy both.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ… II Corinthians 10.5

The mob understands that the Gospel fully intends to destroy every competitor, and responds the way a cornered animal would respond – it turns and fights. Christianity did destroy the Artemis cult – but not by blasphemy and robbery, vandalism and violence – it won in the marketplace of ideas. The gospel won because it is true.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and powers, and world forces of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness… Ephesians 6.12

I think it is important to remember that. The Gospel is true. The Gospel triumphs because of its truth, not because we can yell the loudest. It is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1.16). The Gospel doesn’t depend on elections, or legislation, or Supreme Court Decisions, or angry protests to succeed. Its success is guaranteed by the Cross of Christ. The Gospel is NOT threatened the way the Artemis cult was, or radical Islam is. We’ve not been asked to rescue it from anything (we are the ones in need of rescuing). What we’ve been asked to do is answer for our faith with “gentleness and reverence,” (I Peter 3.15).

“Gentleness and reverence,” those are God’s words. “Volume and resentment,” are not.