Alan Noble and Trevin Wax discuss whether contemporary Christians should use the word “exiles” to describe their place in a hostile culture. They consider the biblical precedent of exile and compare the experience of Israel in Babylon to the experience of evangelicals today. We might not always see the subtle ways we’re assimilating into the “Babylon” of contemporary culture and should be alert to the ways we could call ourselves “exiles” while not living like them.
Transcript
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Alan Noble
What do you think about the idea of Christians being exiles in our culture?
Trevin Wax
biblically speaking, this is a motif. It is part of the way we’re supposed to see ourselves in the world at all times. Right? The way it gets used in American culture in particular, sometimes rubs me the wrong way. It’s like the whole, it’s like the the, you know, and I’m actually wrote one of the early articles about this, the, you know, older evangelicals tended to see America is Israel. And younger evangelicals tend to see America as Babylon. Yeah. And I still think that posture wise, that’s been true. But I, my point, a lot of people took that, that comment, and they thought, yes, older Americans are wrong. Younger evangelicals are right. We are in Babylon. We should see ourselves as as I was, I was wanting to say, well, we’re not it’s America was never Israel. And America now isn’t exactly Babylon. Yeah, we have. We have more agency than Israel did when they were shipped off to Babylon, right? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. At this at this point, yeah, there is the pressure to bow before the idol, the pinch of incense for Caesar. And all right, I’m not denying that there’s significant challenges for religious freedom in the public square. But I do feel like sometimes when we use the exile language in an American context, it actually under sells some of the power that we do have to steward wisely for the good of not just the church, but for, for society. And so, yes, we should see ourselves as exiles because Peter tells us to So, but that that that was true, even in the America as Israel years for, for evangelicals, as well. So that’s, that’s where it, I’ve got challenges. Yeah,
Alan Noble
no, that’s a blessing. And it’s a blessing that we need to lean into, for the good of our neighbor for the common good of our neighbor. For me, I think, what’s, what’s important to think about is, we’re probably exiles in ways that we don’t anticipate, right, so there are probably ways in which we see that we are accommodating to culture that are invisible to us. And that’s where things get not scary, but we should be concerned and alarmed. So even someone who really identifies with being an exile, who says, We are in Babylon, just burn this place down, there’s nothing good here, they are probably accommodating in ways there’s probably always all of us are probably accommodating in ways that we don’t see. And I don’t bring that up to make, you know, to make people paranoid, but but to calmly and cautiously and discerningly with wisdom in community, ask ourselves, what are some ways in which we are adopting ideas that we should not be? And so one of those that we have both written about is expressive individualism, right? That that’s it’s easy to imbibe this idea that we create our own identities that we sustain our own identities that we have this responsibility to, it’s just that I choose to create an identity that’s Christian. A certain kind of evangelical, right. But what I’m not recognizing is that I get my identity actually from God. And that’s where my identity should be grounded.
Trevin Wax
So so we’re not as different as we think we are.
Alan Noble
That’s the trick. Yeah. And sometimes I think the the exile language can obscure. It can can be a cop out where we say, Oh, I know that I’m an exile, and I’m living in Babylon. And I want to say, maybe, yeah, you are an exile, but you probably aren’t living like one. And it’s probably in ways that are invisible to you.
Trevin Wax
So that, I guess this goes back to the thing we started with was when Peter talks about us being exiles or Sojourner strangers, that I that should be deeper than the cultural circumstances that we find ourselves in. Yeah, like that’s a deeper I. Identity. It’s not something we’ve just now stumbled into or construct. It’s actually a way of being in the world that is going to make us in all circumstances stand out at some level. So the real question is, are are we standing out as we should? Or are we building our identities in the same way as everyone else to where even though we think we’re standing strong, we’re just as worldly as others.
Trevin Wax is vice president of resources and marketing at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, World, and Christianity Today. He has taught courses on mission and ministry at Wheaton College and has lectured several times on Christianity and culture at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford University. He is a founding editor of The Gospel Project, has served as publisher for the Christian Standard Bible, and is currently a fellow for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He is the author of multiple books, including The Gospel Way Catechism, The Thrill of Orthodoxy, The Multi-Directional Leader, This Is Our Time, and Gospel Centered Teaching. His podcast is Reconstructing Faith. He and his wife, Corina, have three children. You can follow him on X or Facebook, or receive his columns via email.
Alan Noble (PhD) is the author of several books, including To Live Well, You Are Not Your Own, and On Getting Out of Bed. He is associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University.
