Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Thursday, April 03, 2008 9:00:01 AM
“God does not will that people should be oppressed, and that was why he came in Jesus and why he is present as Holy Spirit today. God’s stand against oppression is his affirmation that all men have a common humanity in freedom. This means that I cannot be free until all men are free.” –James Cone on Black Liberation Theology
How does the theology of James Cone compare with the theology of Jesus Christ? Let’s start with the statement…
“God does not will that people should be oppressed…
First how do we know God’s will except from divine revelation? Where in the Bible does it say that God does not will that people should be oppressed?
If God’s will is that people should not be oppressed, then how is it that oppression exists? Does Mr. Cone believe that God is unable to accomplish His will?
Is this view of God consistent with how God reveals Himself in the Scriptures and in Jesus Christ? In the interview from which this quote is taken he makes no appeal to Biblical revelation to support his view. Mr. Cone’s authority is something other than Scripture.
In fact the children of Israel were oppressed in Egypt and again in the Babylonian Captivity.
In Babylon the captivity was a consequence of their disobedience to God’s Law…
Her adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has afflicted her
Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. [Lamentations 1:5]
So the statement that God does not will that people should be oppressed is not supported in the Old Testament. Israel’s fall into disobedience and captivity provided the context for the New Covenant promises to be fulfilled in Messiah and His Church…
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. [Jeremiah 31:3]
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. [Ezekiel 36:26-27]
Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy. [Daniel 9:24]
The New Covenant prophecies speak of an end of sins and bringing in everlasting righteousness. A new heart is promised along with a new life in the Spirit. These are internal changes in individual people.
In Egypt the people of God became the slaves of Pharaoh so that God could demonstrate His power and that His name might be declared in all the earth [Romans 9:17]. The apostle uses Pharaoh as part of his argument for the doctrine of the sovereignty of God even over the sins of men to accomplish His will.
God demonstrates this conclusively in the life of Joseph. Sold into slavery, he became an example for our instruction of one who learned obedience in his suffering. The Christian knows that suffering is the best teacher of grace…
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. [Hebrews 12:11]
Our pride must be crushed before God can raise us up. We must face our unrighteousness before we can experience the imputed righteousness of Christ…
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” [Mark 2:17]
I suspect that Mr. Cone’s doctrine of the Fall is unorthodox. He does not see man as ruined in sin and dependent on God’s grace for redemption. It follows then that he will deny the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of imputed righteousness.
If these things are true, then Mr. Cone’s theology is another gospel [Galatians 1:6-12]. His theology is a poor exchange for the central message of the gospel. The problem with men whether free or slave, whether black or white is the heart.
Out of the heart come the issues of life. The problem of outward oppression cannot be dealt with outwardly. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation; that is, a supernatural change of heart from which outward reformation is possible.