In January 2016, I
heard Jayson Georges present on the gospel from an honour-shame perspective and
I was intrigued.[1] I had served in Asia for
about 20 years, so was familiar with the importance of face and reputation in
Asian cultures. What took me by surprise was the claim that the Bible was
written out of an honour-shame culture. While his presentation was persuasive,
I was still cautious. Afterwards, I asked Jayson if he thought that perhaps the
reason the book of Romans was from more of a guilt-innocence perspective was
because of the audience Paul was writing to, and he responded, “Actually, the
book of Romans is full of honour-shame language.”
So I decided to read
Romans for myself, looking for honour-shame references, and what I found has
broadened my understanding of the gospel:
Romans 1:16 (ESV) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Not only is there honour-shame language, but
power-fear language is central.)
Roman 1:21-23 (ESV) “For although they knew
God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they
became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.” (The fundamental offense of the ungodly against God is to
attribute God’s honour and glory to anything or anyone other than God!)
Romans 1:24 (ESV) “Therefore, God gave them up
in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…” (All of the other offenses come as a
result of abandoning God’s glory.)
At this point, I was
convinced that an honour-shame perspective on the gospel was not a side issue,
perhaps beneficial for communicating the gospel in Asia and the Middle East,
but was core to understanding God’s message to us. How could I have missed such
an important facet of the gospel, even after serving in Asia for more than 20
years?
Werner Mischke, in his
book The Global Gospel,[2] gives
three reasons for our blind spot to an honour-shame lens on the gospel: It is
theologically ignored, it is a new area of study, and blind spots are common.[3] On
the one hand, it is understandable that someone raised in a Western culture,
steeped in a theology based on a legal model of salvation, would be less prone
to notice the honour-shame language of the Bible. But as someone who has been a
missionary in Asia for over 20 year surely I should have been alert to language
of honour and glory in the Scriptures, shouldn’t I?
It is small assurance
that not much was written on an honour-shame lens to the gospel until less than
20 years ago.[4] Even Asian Christians as a
whole have been taught a gospel that is based on a justice-justification model,
and so there is a distinct Western flavour even to (for example) Thai
Christianity. Personally, I have always felt more drawn to a relationally based
gospel – an influence from my own early training under the Bethel Bible Series.[5] But
I’ve sometimes felt out of step with the more “standard” evangelistic models,
such as the Four Spiritual Laws and the Romans Road.
I am thankful to Georges and Mischke for
demonstrating that an honor-shame perspective of the gospel is not just
“contextualization” (or worse, syncretism!), but is integral to an
understanding of all that God’s salvation entails. Integral, though not a
replacement. So the question arises: What does a richer view of the Good News
of Jesus Christ entail? And what are some of these other perspectives that the
Bible itself presents?
[1] Jayson Georges is
author of The 3D Gospel: Ministry in guilt, shame, and fear cultures,
and moderates the honorshame.com blog.
[2] Mischke, W. (2015). The
Global Gospel: Achieving missional impact in our multicultural world,
Scottsdale, AZ: Mission ONE.
[4] Ibid.
[5] See www.bethelseries.org. The Bethel Bible Series essentially follows a
chronological teaching approach.
