A Theology of Cultural Intelligence

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

Christians fight a battle in a fallen world. Scripture often speaks of the world as being opposed to the things of God and, as a result, opposed to believers.

In a battle, it is essential to understand the calling and the mission. For decades the church fought a culture war where we often made other people the enemy. But this text reminds us that our real battle is spiritual. It requires spiritual resources, and we are armed with those in response to the conflict.

Paul is telling the Ephesians to stand strong as they resist the devil. Ground has already been won. That ground is spiritual and is tied to things such as our theology and our character…. We need to hold our ground, not take over new territory.

Both a guide to the battle and a description of the battle are present in this text. Strength is to come from the Lord, and we are to equip ourselves with what he provides: his armor.

There is nothing about circumstances here. There is nothing about political ideologies here. The resources are our theology, our faith, and the quality and character of our lives as believers.

We are members of the GIA (God’s Intelligence Agency). Our assignment is to rescue people … from the clutches of unseen enemies. Those people walk “according to the ways of this world” (Eph. 2:2). It is unrealistic to expect people who are not connected to God to live in ways he directs. This is why the gospel is so important in this struggle. The gospel equips people with ability and capability that they otherwise do not possess.

Our assignment is to engage in this spiritual battle using the spiritual resources we’ve been given so that, by the distinctive way we live and love, others will be drawn in.

That distinctiveness is most evident when we love our enemies as Jesus called us to do.

But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and respect.

Peter had one word he could choose to summarize everything that faith comprises, and he chose “hope.” That hope is about understanding and appreciating why we are on Earth and how we can connect to the Creator who made us.

If we do good to others, things should go well. Simple enough…. Only we live in an upside-down world.

The tension of sharing the gospel and engaging with our culture is always a balance between the challenge the gospel presents to people about their sin and failure to live rightly and the gospel’s invitation to enter into hope and a new kind of life. As we engage, we have to simultaneously challenge and invite.

Often, we stop reading 1 Peter 3:15 right there at the mention of being prepared to give a defense for our hope. That is a major mistake. We don’t merely offer our content, but the tone we present it with matters:

1. Our engagement should come with gentleness and respect;
2. Our good behavior will be slandered;
3. We are to maintain a good conscience while knowing
   God is fully aware of the wrong we have experienced.

In 3:17, Peter explains why we can conduct ourselves in this way… We are not to respond to the world in kind, even in the face of unjust responses. Disciples engage and show a different way of relating, even to those who reject them.

COLOSSIANS 4:5-6

As wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

Two terms are fundamental in this text: “always” and “gracious.”

First, “always” is an emphatic time marker. “Always” is all the time.

Second, our tone always matters. “Gracious” is like the gentleness and respect we read about in 1 Peter 3. We should always be ready to share our hope, but always do it with this gracious tone.

The idea of salt as a preservative reinforces the imagery. Our speech should help things to settle – and to settle down. It should be constructive in dealing with issues, not destructive by engaging in personal insult.

Cultural intelligence calls us to see ourselves as ambassadors representing God, not so much as citizens of a particular earthly nation or political view.

GALATIANS 6:10

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of the faith.

Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) – to make clear that our call is to be a neighbor, not worry about who is our neighbor.

Our call is to be a neighbor and to know that neighbors come in surprising packages, and Jesus underscored the point by presenting a hated Samaritan as the example.

So, in Gal. 6:10, Paul ends his exposition on loving our neighbor with … a call for us to actually do good. Engagement is not left to words alone. We have to show through our actions what we declare.

A technical term in this verse is the word “all” … Cultural intelligence says our love is most distinctive when it includes all people.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

There is a provision that comes with faith – an enablement that a person who does not know Christ lacks… a new kind of life, a life that honors God and has access to the indwelling Spirit of God to live that way.

Paul’s one word to summarize what his ministry is about is reconciliation. God saves us to reconcile us to him and to others.

Now, an ambassador represents a country. He also is a foreigner in a strange land. An ambassador’s calling is to represent his home country and its values. He or she works for peace between the people the ambassador represents and the people among whom the embassy resides. All those things are in play.

Christians are always ambassadors, visibly representing the One whom they serve back at home, that is, our heavenly home.

Now, the people we’re pleading with are accountable to God for their response, but that also means their response is not part of my responsibility. The response is between that person and God, and so is the accountability for that response. The call within engagement is to be faithful in message and tone – to be a faithful representative of God, an ambassador who is worthy to be heard.

Reconciliation is an important theme in engagement … Without being reconciled to God, we cannot be fixed. Our human brokenness – and its estrangement from God – overshadows everything: politics, ideology, world circumstances.

This is why the gospel is so central to our mission. How we represent God in word and tone sets the stage for our credibility about the gospel. What we care about and how we care for others is part of building a bridge to the gospel.

We show our care for people by engaging with their lives and what is going on inside them, being aware of what troubles them and why. We help people when we do not just argue but show them that there’s a different way to live. One of the best ways to do that is to listen and care.

Cultural intelligence calls us to see ourselves as ambassadors representing God, not so much as citizens of a particular earthly nation or political view. Our mission is to offer an invitation, pleading with any tribe and every nation to reconcile to God, showing love to any and all people.

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Two themes that we have seen before reappears here. The first is being kind toward all. Kindness is not selective. The second theme is gentleness.

Nothing about this is necessarily easy. Thus, it takes spiritual resources and maturity to develop such responses. It’s all too common to want to snap back during a disagreement. Paul tells Timothy not to go there.

First, the person’s response to God is tied to something God does. The ambassador is not responsible for the response of someone’s heart. Still, in a battle of ideas or actions, we don’t want to give someone cause for rejecting what we are saying. It may be unavoidable due to a difference of opinion, but we should never seek conflict. In fact, we should be careful not to descend into debate, but instead work to have a fruitful discussion.

Second we are only called to be faithful in sharing what we have experienced and what we understand by God’s grace. Winning an argument is not a goal because it is not in our control anyway.

Third, the remark about escaping the devil’s trap is another allusion to the spiritual battle of Eph. 6:12. …. The members of the GIA are skilled at balancing challenge with hope.

Fourth, the result is a liberating escape. Rather than being trapped and captive, … the result for that individual is a flourishing life and walk with the Creator.

Cultural intelligence avoids unnecessary disputes and engages in ways that are gentle. It also allows God to own the results of a conversation and trusts that by engaging faithfully and patiently, we are offering the non-believer an opportunity for a life-changing escape.

CONCLUSION

Engagement can lose its effectiveness when we lose sight of the primary objectives of our mission.

In shifting times such as ours, we need a biblical agility that sees what is needed, alongside a relational ability to read and react. As we develop cultural intelligence, we gain this agility, guiding us to carefully listen and pursue gentleness while balancing challenge and hope. We also learn to appreciate the spiritual nature of the challenge of engagement and how to use those spiritual resources that allow us to stand. Skillful engagement means having a sense of our security in God so we do not fear no matter how grave the circumstances may look. Finally, cultural intelligence teaches us to understand that the gospel is the real answer for ultimate human transformation. Every other answer has severe limits.

Such engagement also grasps that not only is what we say important, but so is how we say it. …the call is to humbly remember where we came from when God drew us to Himself. Engagement cuts against the grain and does not react as the world does. It requires a love that extends to all people at all times.

In the end, even if the world sometimes pushes back (as it did against the Savior), biblical engagement reveals the presence of God, who empowers us to live distinctively and speak to others with wisdom and skill. The result is a cultural intelligence that images God’s character in our individual relationships, our church communities, and in our society. When we mirror him, we honor him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DARRELL BOCK is Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). Dr. Bock has earned recognition as a Humboldt Scholar (Tübingen University in Germany), author of over 40 books (including a NYT non-fiction best-seller), and as host of DTS’s Table Podcasts. He was a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, is a consulting editor for Christianity Today, and serves on the boards of Wheaton College and Chosen People Ministries. He holds a Th.M. from DTS and a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen.