Over the summer I have been reading Eric Metaxas' biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Currently the book has dealt specifically with the state of the German Church in the early 1930s, as the Nazis were taking Germany by storm. Hitler's ultimate goal was for Christianity to ultimately raise him up in the place of Jesus Christ, and for the church to promote National Socialism. Many churches refused to do this, knowing that there was no way to reconcile the church and the swastika. However, Metaxas writes about a group of Christians who tried to bridge this irreconcilable gap. They referred to themselves as the German Christians, and they were some of the strongest opposition Bonhoeffer faced.
The goal of these German Christians was to create a Christianity completely divorced from any reference to Jewish culture. The entire Old Testament was thrown out of the Bible and references to the Jews in the New Testament were either omitted or taken out of context. Hitler had already painted Jesus as "our greatest Aryan hero," so it was easy to portray Him as a zealous anti-Semite. This Jewish-born Savior was soon made to look like the modern German with an avid grudge against the Jews. Metaxas writes that even German church music was forced to change. Not even the greatest German hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," made the cut because it referred to Jesus with a Jewish title -- "Lord Sabaoth."
These conspirators soon began to realize that they could not continue this charade. It was impossible to reconcile Jesus with their antisemitic views. So they took matters into their own hands -- they threw the Bible out completely. Metaxas shows their reasoning behind such an action:
'Whereas the Jews were the first to write out their faith,' they said, 'Jesus never did so.' True 'German' Christianity must therefore move beyond words. 'A demon always resides in the written word,' they added. (Metaxas, 173)
Since their views were running contradictory to what the Bible said anyway, it was very easy for them to get rid of the entire thing in their concocted nationalist religion. Their desire was to create a "positive" atmosphere, one that was specifically tailored to the propaganda of the Nazis.
The ploy of the German Christians may have fallen from any sort of grace with the fall of the Third Reich, but this ideology still persists today. This weekend many churches will gather and listen to the Word misinterpreted to play to the comfort of its listeners, and those congregations will eat it up. It can come in many different forms, but they all seek to preach a different gospel, or add to the Gospel that already exists. Paul condemns these attempts, specifically in his epistle to the Galatian church. They had fallen into this very trap. Here's part of his introduction to the Galatians:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10)
Paul is very straightforward in this passage. Any gospel that is contrary to what is preached in the Word of God, it is a cursed and false gospel, rendering its messenger accursed and a servant of man and not of Christ. This Gospel of Christ is not to be taken lightly. If God has called us to preach it, we must bring the Word in its entirety, omitting nothing and seeking the proper context of the passage we are preaching. If we are sharing the Gospel to an unbeliever, it is a gross miscarriage of the Word if you do not bring the full Gospel.
The German Christians were blinded by socialist indoctrination and believed that by adding it into the Gospel that it would produce a "positive" outcome. Yet the very ideologies they added into their "Christianity" became the only thing they cared about preserving, even if it meant throwing out every facet of Christianity while still clinging to the name. Today, modern Christian sects (for lack of a better term) have claimed similar additions in revelation that they say help explain Christianity more clearly. Sinclair Ferguson tells us that these sects begin with the Bible as their primary source of revelation and their addition second; within one generation, however, each of these sects has ended up clinging to their additional revelation as primary, forcing the Bible into the back seat. Be careful that you do not fall down this rabbit hole. The positive outcome they seek, as did the German Christians, can only be found in the very Word they claim to believe. Do not omit any part of this ultimate source of Truth. Find rest and joy in the written Word of God.