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Hi, John Dixon here with another Undeceptions single between our Monday episodes. I hope you're doing well, whether you're locked down in California or here in Sydney.
There's been a bit of talk in the media about Christians claiming special protection from the coronavirus. Now I'm sure this is not a widespread viewpoint, but there are enough prominent examples for people to be confused about the classical Christian view of these things.
The legendary former number one tennis player Margaret Court here in Oz recently said that the blood of Jesus will protect the faithful in her church from the virus. Her church issued a statement on its website saying that COVID-19 "will not come near our dwelling or our church family" and "we are praying daily for you knowing that we are all protected by the blood of Jesus".
This is the idea quite foreign to historic Christianity, that Jesus didn't just die for our sins, he took all of our sicknesses on the cross, so believers now can claim health just as they can claim forgiveness. It's a view that popped out of nowhere in Christian history quite recently, and sadly it's taken off in some quarters.
But it's not just modern types. A Greek Orthodox official just last week said that the Holy Cup cannot carry disease. His point wasn't that the alcohol in the communion cup is protective. He was saying that Jesus will somehow preserve his own. None of that seems right to me.
I mean, there are some Old Testament promises to ancient Israel that if they obey their covenant with God, he will protect them from disease and disaster while they lived in the land of Israel. And if you want the details, they're outlined in Deuteronomy 28. Ancient Israel was meant to be a kind of picture of God's future restoration of all things in a new creation, the kingdom of God.
But this was never thought to apply to God's promises to all the nations in the New Testament, the New Covenant. The New Testament is clear that this side of the new creation, the kingdom come, Christians share the same human flesh as everyone else. There's a groaning in all creation, is how the Apostle Paul puts it in Romans 8.
And Christians aren't immune from it. They groan right alongside everything else. The Bible does promise comfort in the midst of suffering for those who know Christ. And the Christian hope of eternal life obviously is going to bring a different perspective in the midst of a pandemic. But there is no promise of physical protection. And the ancient Christians knew this better than anyone.
You may know that in the century after Christ, and the one after that, there were huge empire-wide pandemics. There was the so-called Galen pandemic of the second century, named after the Greek medical doctor Galen.
And there was another one around the year 250, which went for about 10 years or more. And historians call it the Cyprian pandemic. It gets that name from the famous Christian leader Cyprian, who was bishop of Carthage on the northern tip of Africa, just a short sail across the Mediterranean from Italy.
It was one of the most important cities of the ancient world. Anyway, Cyprian led the church right as the pandemic hit. We're not sure what the disease was. The descriptions are pretty medically vague, but it could have been smallpox or influenza or measles or
Cyprian wrote many letters and sermons during this period, trying just to hold his communities together as literally hundreds of thousands of people died. One of his circulars is called Mortality. It's all about death, of course. It was basically guidance for other Christian leaders, and it was probably read out in churches. It was written right at the start of the pandemic.
And he begged believers not to expect special protections or prosperity in our fallen world. I want to read you just part of what he said.
It disturbs some believers that the power of this disease attacks our people equally with the unbelievers, as if it was for this purpose that Christians believed that they might have the enjoyment of the world and this life free from the contact of ills, rather than as it really is, as those who undergo all adverse things here and are reserved for future joy.
It disturbs some that this mortality is common to us with others. And yet, what is there in this world which is not common to us with others, so long as this flesh of ours still remains? The full treatise, which is mainly about eternal hope actually, is a grave and challenging piece of Christian reflection.
I don't mean to dump on other Christians who see things differently. I really don't. But I do feel that this special protection idea owes more to modern expectations about health and wealth than it does to the Bible, or to the rich tradition of Christian reflection through the centuries.
The other thing Cyprian says in this treatise is that Christians need to be busy while they wait for the kingdom, serving everyone, especially the sick and dying in this fallen world. But that's a theme for another day. I'm John Dixon with an Undeception single. Stay safe. See ya. You've been listening to the Eternity Podcast Network. eternitypodcast.com.au