The faithful church follows Jesus in testifying to the truth
from Gafcon GB and Europe:
‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’ John 18:37
On November 15th 2023, General Synod voted to support the bishops’ proposal to change the ethical teaching of the church (and thereby also its doctrine, although they claim not to have done this!) Much has already been said (examples in News 24.11.23) about this sad but almost inevitable next phase of the Church of England’s trajectory away from Christian orthodoxy. It’s important to be clear about what is happening, to look at some options for further action, and to look with optimism to the future.
Here are some thoughts from John 18:28-40. In this passage, the religious leaders take Jesus from his trial with the High Priest to “the palace of the Roman governor”. They will not go into a gentile building, “to avoid ceremonial uncleanness”. Jesus has a private conversation with Pilate about the nature of kingship, authority and truth.
Liberal scholars have for decades questioned the historical reliability of John’s gospel, and use this passage as an example. How could John have known what was said in a private meeting? He must have made it up, put words in the mouth of Jesus to suit the audience of a Christian community 50 or more years later. But of course, there’s no need for this scepticism. It is quite possible that other witnesses and even notetakers were there when Pilate met Jesus. Or even that Jesus himself, risen from the dead, told John what had happened. And why do we need to know what liberal scholars think anyway? The answer is in what has just happened in the Church of England. The assumption that Scripture is just a human story, whose wisdom we can choose to take on board or ignore, is central to the theological education that most of today’s Church of England leaders have received. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Synod has made its decision, or that the laity, who often have not been subjected to such academic theological heresy, are more conservative than the bishops and clergy!
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