Bourgeois Gospel

Email This Post

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (New International Version)

²⁶Brothers [and sisters], think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Gordon Fee, a biblical scholar and member of the Assemblies of God, writes about this passage:

“By bringing the ‘good news to the poor’ through his Son, God has forever aligned himself with the disenfranchised; at the same time he has played out before our eyes his own overthrown of the world’s false standards. Every middle-class or upper-class domestication of the gospel is therefore a betrayal of that gospel.” (NICNT, “The First Epistle to the Corinthians.” Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1987. p. 82)

God forgive us for our bourgeois gospel! Lord, help restore in us your heart and compassion for the poor and marginalized. Help us not to seek things, but help us to seek your kingdom. Forgive those who present you as a “suger-daddy in the sky,” and seek only your blessings. Forgive those who teach the prosperity is part and parcel with the gospel, who teach that prosperity for our every need is provided for by the work of Jesus. Forgive for my unhealthly wants and desires, and focus my attention on you.

Evotational Filed under Evotational |