he word “culture” brings

to mind a wide range of

current issues: abortion,

attacks on law enforcement,

entitlement mentality, acceptance

of the LGBTQ agenda, redeﬁning

marriage, widening

distance between the rich

and poor, disintegrating

family structure. And the

list could go on.

While evidence of the world’s

decay may vary from generation

to generation, the fact of sin is

unchanging. From the moment of

the fall of mankind recorded in

Genesis 3, the ways of God have been

diametrically opposed by the devices of Satan.

We live in a sin-cursed world culture described in

Scripture as being under the domain of the Devil,

the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4).

So according to Jesus Christ, how should believers

relate to this decadent culture?

Relationship to Our Culture

Probably the most pointed instruction given by

Jesus to help us understand our role with the

world is provided in the intimate moments of

his High Priestly prayer recorded in John 17. He

describes our relationship to our world with a

series of four prepositions.

Jesus begins by declaring in John 17:6 that He

has “manifested thy name unto the men whom

thou gavest me out of the world.” True followers

of Christ are OUT OF the world where they

physically reside. Simply stated, we don’t ﬁt in the

world’s culture.

But Jesus continues in John 17:11 by stating that,

“I am no more in the world, but these [believing

ones] are in the world.” Our denial of practicing

this world’s culture does not remove us from it.

We do live IN this world. Our presence should

be evident (in), even as we are different (not of).

However, as believers our disdain for our culture

should never be seen as permission to cease loving

the people of our culture. We must love the lost

like Christ modeled for us as he displayed moving

compassion for the needy culture of His day.

The third prepositional description is clearly

implied though not directly stated by Jesus.

Having afﬁrmed our assignment to exist in the

world, Jesus quickly prays, “Holy Father, keep

through thine own name those whom thou

hast given me” (John 17:11). In these words Jesus

describes believers as being kept FROM the world.

Christians must guard themselves lest they fail

to be eligible for the desired unity portrayed by

By Dr. Daniel Anderson

Our denial of

practicing this

world’s culture does

not remove us from

it. We do live IN this

world. Our presence

should be evident

(in), even as we are

different (not of).

THE CHRISTIAN AND CULTURE ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST