The Sons of Issachar: Knowing What Israel Should Do Part 13

Last week, we saw that it is not necessary to always be explicit concerning our faith (e.g., presenting the plan of salvation or having “Christian” or “Jesus” written in giant letters across our art) in order for our creations to serve God and His gospel.  This is because, as we saw, God has inescapably revealed some knowledge of Himself to every man through His Creation (Rom 1:18-20; Ps 19; Gen 1; etc.).  Romans, chapter 1, teaches that all men know deep within themselves five things: 1) God exists; 2) He made everything; 3) He is holy; 4) we are not holy; 5) He holds us accountable.  The kicker is that unregenerate man attempts to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18), fighting both consciously and unconsciously to twist the nature of Reality in his mind so that he can try to convince himself that he is free from responsibility to God.  According to Romans, chapter 1, though (and the rest of Scripture, as well), he will fail to completely suppress these Truths on some level of his being.

It is in light of this General Revelation, then, that art that presents Reality as it truly is (that is, Reality as it is presented in the Bible), will reinforce Creation’s witness to God and war with unregenerate mankind’s attempt to deny the Truths that God has inescapably written on our very beings.  This is why art that is not what many Christians would normally think of as explicitly Christian (e.g., a love song, or a dance about Spring, or a painting of a landscape, etc.) are still vehicles for a witness to Christ the Lord, provided they do nothing to contradict the true picture of God’s Reality as revealed in Scripture.  All Truth is God’s Truth, and points to Him.

This is why an artist can still be a Christian artist even if his art is not always explicit about his faith, just as a Christian can be a mechanic without chiseling “Jesus Saves” on the metal of every engine he works on, or a baker without decorating every cake he bakes with Scriptures instead of “Happy Birthday.”  What the artist (or the mechanic or the baker) must not do is promote sinful actions or attitudes.

General Revelation forms the basic context for all meaning and art, and it is against that backdrop that art is made.  There is, however, a more explicit context involved in the making of art.  That more explicit context is the context of our individual lives.  We can appreciate aspects of the art of infidels (wherever those aspects square with revealed Reality) despite the unbelief of the unregenerate artist, because of General Revelation.  On the whole, though, infidel art will necessarily depart from Reality because of unbelieving man’s drive to suppress revealed Truth (this doesn’t mean that an unbelieving artist won’t have parts of the body of his work, say a song or painting, that conforms to the basic tenets of generally revealed Truth; it simply means that in many or most places it will depart from that Truth). 

There is (or should be, at any rate) a difference for Christian artists, because Christians live in the light of Special Revelation, the Word of God which reveals the coming of Christ as the Maker and Redeemer who has come to reconcile man to God, and everything men need to know and do to live in the fullness of the Revelation of Christ (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-20).  Because of this, we are to strive to conform every aspect of our lives and being (including our practice of Art) to the scope of Scripture, even down to every last thought we have (2 Cor 10:4-5).

The expanded revelation given in the Bible informs believers to an exceedingly wider degree about the meaning of created things, the legitimate ways to think about and make use of things, and even the short- and long-term end of things (including man and his constructs).  The depth and breadth of Scripture’s revelation should inform everything we do, including our artistic expressions.  Special Revelation, which is so much more detailed and comprehensive than General Revelation, should allow artists to address any area they work in with much greater authority, confidence, and insight, resulting in art that reflects God’s Reality to a must greater degree than that of men limited to General Revelation alone.  This is why it is so important that Christian artists should work to shape their art to the warp and woof of the Word of God.

This is actually the basis of how Christian Art should work.  The Christian artist, having been enlightened and reborn by the Holy Spirit (John 1 and 3), submits his life, thoughts, and vision to the Spirit-energized cleansing of the Word, and brings his renewed vision to the artistic task, infusing it with the insight born from above.  This should result in a clarity and purity of artistry that testifies in ways both obvious and mysteriously subtle of the Truth of the Biblical vision.  (Of course, this presupposes the consistent submission of the artist’s practice to the Word and Spirit and of a certain amount of maturity in that same practice.  Even in a beginning practice of this, though, there should be an interior witness to the numinous quality of the art, simply because of its orientation.)

The resultant works of art can hopefully be used of the Holy Spirit to reveal to nonbelievers and believers the aspects of the insights that come with Special Revelation, and thus to confirm and strengthen the faith of Christians, and to be conduit of Grace to infidels, drawing them toward belief.

This is especially true if works of art are seen against the backdrop of a faithful Christian’s life, and we will, God willing, begin to examine that next week.

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