Have Evangelicals Downplayed the Power of the Cross?

Christian contemporary music doesn't much appeal to me. On the whole I think the secular world does a better job (and at least when its artists behave badly you're expecting it). I also find some loud rock contributions somewhat distracting during worship. But that's just my personal preference.

One exception is Ricardo Sanchez's Power of the Cross which I first heard at a US conference earlier this year. What immediately stood out was the song's lyrics. While some rock worship songs are rather empty of theology, Sanchez's song focuses strongly on Christ's work at Calvary.

The power of the cross, of course, is a scriptural theme. The Apostle Paul explains how the cross lies at the heart of the gospel, so that for those of us being saved it is the very power of God. He writes:

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1:17-18 ESV)

Evangelicals have always strongly affirmed and proclaimed this salvific aspect of the cross. An emphasis upon the cross is a defining characteristic of Evangelicalism. Evangelicals preach the good news of salvation through the cross, and indeed are even named after this good news (euangelion). The cross is also a central aspect in Bebbington's now famous quadrilateral (generally regarded as the standard definition of Evangelicalism): biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, activism.

However, I wonder if too many of us Evangelicals have focused so much upon the power of the cross in the life of the individual that we have relegated its wider power.

The power of the cross: It's not just about individuals

Evangelicalism is strongly individualist in nature. For example, Evangelicals emphasise a one-to-one relationship with God, brought about by an individual's decision to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. Furthermore, the theology of personal regeneration, sanctification and empowerment through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit emphasises further a strongly idiosyncratic focus upon the cross and its aftermath for individual believers. Meanwhile the Evangelical movement strongly emphasises individual ministries and have a well-developed culture of ministerial entrepreneurship and independence (much to the chagrin of others across Christendom). 

This is fine and good, and make no mistake, I fully recognise the gospel's bearing and impact upon the life of the individual (I'm a fully conformist Evangelical in this regard). But I wonder if this focus on the cross in the life of the individual limits the full power of the cross. Consider, for example how, at its most banal, the contemporary worship scene (Sanchez' rather powerful song aside) presents the Christian faith in today's highly individualist and consumerist society as a path to personal success, a power to help worshippers "overcome" everyday struggles, problems, or addictions, as well as making you a nicer person. 

To be sure, the gospel does (or at least should) make us much nicer people (unfortunately not always the case), while the indwelling of the Holy Spirit indeed guides and helps us to lead lives pleasing to God. But "overcoming" is not necessarily what the Bible is all about. Sometimes it's about surviving in the midst of adversity through God's grace (consider, for example, Paul's infamous thorn in the flesh and God's decision that His grace was sufficient for the apostle).

Meanwhile there are too many godly yet frail Christians who have not yet "overcome", believers who still struggle with problems, issues and challenges, including - yes - addictions and besetting sins (even the apostle anguished over the battle within him concerning what he should and shouldn't do, Ro 7:21-5). Conversely there are people who have rejected Christ but nonetheless have completely turned their lives around, exhibiting incredible personal discipline and willpower to "overcome" their particular struggles, as well as achieving great success by the world's standards. Thus it is surely a slightly perverse theology that maintains the cross is the ultimate device which will help you overcome in a way the world cannot, while some in the world succeed in a way many Christians long for. (Some of the "overcomers", of course, would suggest these frail Christians have somehow "let down the side", having failed to claim and project the fulness of their faith. But that, of course, is another matter best left for another time.)

So while I do believe that salvation and regeneration can lead to transformed lives, that is not always the case. Paul's own personal battle detailed at the end of Romans 7 is testimony to that. The work of the cross and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit transforms our status in God's eyes, together with our attitudes, motives, and yes, sometimes our physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. But if we make the cross the magic pill that does all these things in every single case, instantly we're on dangerous ground. Doesn't the Bible indicate we are being gradually transformed, a piece of clay to be worked by the potter, in short, a work in progress? Aren't we to crucify the flesh daily? To say otherwise leaves open the cross for ridicule.

More importantly, doesn't focusing on power of the cross in the life of the individual alone downplay the full power of the cross? I think it does, and as Evangelicals perhaps some of us should seek to move beyond individualism to broaden our understanding of the full power of the cross.

The communicative power of the cross

As the first chapter of Corinthians makes clear, to the unbeliever the cross is utter folly, foolishness. But actually the message is profound. Yes, it brings about a transformational, salvific outworking for the individual, and for each and every believer this is life-changing. But the cross is so much more than that.

Consider what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. First he juxtaposes the words and philosophical reasoning of eloquent wisdom with the word of the cross. In short, he's not interested in the eloquent words or philosophical reasonings of men, but rather the word, or raw yet profound message of God, which the cross transmits/broadcasts, to the world. Thus John's gospel refers to Jesus as the Word of God: He is God's word or message - better, God's communication -  with humanity. In other words, a "wholly other" God, a completely inconceivable, unknowable, indeed alien God as far as humanity is concerned, nonetheless makes Himself known to humanity through His Son. And his vehicle for speaking through His Son in this manner? The cross.

In short, a wholly other God communicates His Word (or message) for some inexplicable reason (though fully explicable to those of us who are being saved) through an historical, heinous act carried out against His beloved Son upon, of all things, a Roman instrument of degradation, torture and execution: a cross.

So the power of the cross is not just that we are saved as individuals, but ultimately that God Almighty uses the cross to communicate with humanity as a whole.

The cosmic power of the cross

We've noted how the cross is all about salvation. Of course it is. But the salvific realm, or the economy of salvation, is not limited to individuals, or indeed humanity alone. The Fall affected creation in its entirety. We do not for a moment believe God created an imperfect world where there is pain, suffering, disease, violence, and ultimately, death. Quite the opposite. Neither is He responsible for their causes, which are directly attributable to fallen mankind and sin. 

It is inconceivable that such features of this imperfect life will survive beyond the eschaton. How can they? How can humanity share in eternity and still be ravaged by the very things Christ's death at Calvary reversed, at that time when the Kingdom of God is brought to fruition? Thus passages relating to Christ's return indicate a reversal of the old enmities associated with the Fall (e.g. Is 11:6-9), while the Kingdom of God, demonstrated in microcosm during Christ's ministry on earth, will be fulfilled in its fulness when He returns.

The miracles of Jesus have massive theological significance in that they demonstrate the Kingdom of God, currently in an inaugurated state, in its fulness. The people whom Jesus encountered and were healed by Him were offered a tiny glimpse of what the Kingdom will look like. When Christ inaugurated the Kingdom here on earth, and in the process took away pain, suffering, misery and marginalisation through His miracles, these acts pointed to the institution of the Kingdom in its fullness one day. Where there is currently pain, suffering, marginalisation, misery and death, one day the institution of the Kingdom when Christ returns will bring freedom from pain and marginalisation, joy, peace and life.

Which leads me to a final manner in which some Evangelicals arguably downplay the power of the cross.

The eschatological power of the cross

I've heard several scholarly Evangelicals refer to the eschatological nature of the cross, almost as if when Jesus said, "It is finished" God's work on earth was completed, salvation had come, and that's the end of the story. But how can that be the fulfilment of all things? Yes, Christ's work on earth was finished and the Christological aspect of God's salvific work was accomplished. But that is not the end of the divine plan. 

As we look around and see the desperate situation humanity and the world as a whole find themselves in, it's pretty dismal to say "this is it", God has accomplished everything. And of course, wider Christian theology doesn't maintain "this is it", proclaiming there is more to come. But the focus on the cross in the life of the individual, of "overcoming", totally downplays not just the communicative power of the cross, or its cosmic power, but the very eschatological power of the cross which brings about the fruition of all things God has foreordained.

In his very useful The God of Israel and Christian Theology R. Kendall Soulen warns of downplaying, or relegating God as consummator of the age at the eschaton, or the Day of the Lord. The cross is not the zenith, or climax of God's work. Rather, it's a means to an end, not an end in itself. The cross brings about what God planned from the foundations of time: God and man in perpetual communion brought about through Him at the consummation of the age.

The work of the cross in the life of the individual, then, is indeed a very real, powerful thing, while the indwelling of the Holy Spirit equips us in a way the world is to be pitied for not experiencing. But there is so much to the cross than how it affects us as individuals. So while some Evangelicals overemphasise the individual (so much so that Evangelicalism's ecclesiology is notoriously weak), conversely the cross has a massive bearing not just on our individual relationship with God, but also our communal relationship with both God and each other. Beyond that, the cross is the means through which a wholly other God speaks to humanity as a whole. Meanwhile the cross brings about the eventual transformation of society, this world and the universe as a whole... it has a cosmic impact. And the cross brings about the consummation of the age - the end, or rather the beginning, of eternity.

So by focusing on one - almost selfish - aspect of Calvary (getting to heaven, overcoming and becoming successful), aren't we downplaying the full power of the cross?