What An Obscure Old Testament Figure Teaches Us About Culture

Two new articles, one drawn from a mysterious figure in Genesis and another from a contemporary statement of faith

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

It’s been a while since I sent a newsletter. I’ve been travelling a bit, to DC for meetings with public officials and a few other places. I’ve also been working on some projects and shepherding my kids to the end of their school year. Fort Worth has had some unseasonably cool weather here, so the heat blast I’m used to at this time hasn’t yet arrived, but I’m not exactly putting out a welcome wagon for it. I don’t mind a breeze this late into May.

I’ve written two articles for my institution here at Southwestern Seminary that I think you’ll like. First, I was honored to be asked to write a journal article for The Artistic Theologian, which is the publication for Southwestern’s School of Church Music and Worship. I’m very biased, but I do believe we have the finest such school in the country. This is the 100th anniversary of Cowden Hall on campus, and to commemorate it, they asked some of us to write about the influential music figures etched on the side of the building. I was assigned the task of writing about Jubal. If you are not aware of who Jubal is, well, he’s the man, in the family of Cain, whom Genesis 4:21 says invented music. I think this inclusion in the story of Genesis tells us something about the importance of music, about the development of culture, and about common grace. Here’s an exerpt:

Here, tucked inconspicuously into a genealogy, are three world-shaping developments that come from Cain’s offspring: (1) the invention of the domestication of livestock, (2) the invention of metallurgy, and (3) the invention of music. Though these are the works of a rapidly paganizing cohort, distinguished by Moses from the righteous remnant in Seth’s line, we should not be so quick to dismiss them as mere futile works done by faithless profligates.

Here in Genesis 4, we see God receive glory from rebels, even as they continue to embrace the way of the serpent. The mandate (Gen. 1:26–28) to create is still operative, even in a fallen state. Often well-meaning but misguided Christians assume righteousness is equivalent to a primitive state of unspoiled wilderness. Yet, as evidenced by the editorial statement made by Moses in Genesis 2’s creation narrative—“there was no man to work the ground” (Gen. 2:5)—God’s desire is to see his creation move beyond the raw, untamed wilderness. The movement in Scripture’s telling of history is from a garden to a city, from Eden to the New Jerusalem.⁹

Perhaps Moses intended to help the people of God understand that much of what they took for granted in everyday life—the silver and gold and copper goods they took from the Egyptians, the livestock they shuffled through the wilderness and to the doorstep of Canaan, and the music they heard in Egypt and created in their own subculture—had roots, not in the pagan myths they had imbibed but in the innovation of image-bearers, many of whom nevertheless refused to worship the giver of gifts. Kidner sees that “God was to make much use of the Cainite techniques for his people, from the semi-nomadic discipline itself … to the civilized arts and crafts …. [This] prepares us to accept for ourselves a similar indebtedness to secular enterprise.”¹¹ This innovation by pagan ingenuity, Tony Reinke convincingly argues, is not incidental: “God chose to channel his common grace through Cain’s lineage to bless the world. A murderous rebel and his rogue family became God’s choice for unleashing innovation into the world.”¹² God spared Cain from death for the purpose of innovation.

These opening chapters of the Bible’s first book should teach contemporary Christians to appreciate God’s divine appointment of image-bearers who, while not acknowledging their Creator, still manage to produce marvelous inventions and innovations that enrich our lives. For example, this current article is being written on a sleek Macbook Pro laptop computer, produced from a company started by an eclectic inventor, the late Steve Jobs—a pagan at worst and a dabbler of spiritual oddities at best.¹³ Jobs’s unregenerate state did not prevent him from creating a company whose products assist in the heralding of the gospel by making the process of creation and innovation easier.

In Genesis 4, Moses is teaching that the creative grace of God often emerges from pagan hands.

If God’s preservation of the line of Cain was essential for the continued cultivation of his creation, then it must be said that inclusion of music (alongside the domestication of animals and metallurgy) in the three cultural advances is noteworthy. A closer look at Jubal and music’s biblical uses helps reveal the significance of music for culture and the people of God.

Here in Genesis 4, only seven generations after Adam, music is first mentioned in God’s word.²² Even in a fallen creation beset by thorns and thistles, the development of musical instruments from the raw materials God had bestowed on his image-bearers was inevitable and, one might argue, indispensable to human life.

You can read the whole thing here:

And then for Southwestern’s website, I wrote a piece about the way the Baptist Faith and Message urges Southern Baptists to engage the culture, specifically partnering with other coalitions and groups on particular issues. We see this most acutely in the pro-life movement, where evangelicals, Catholics, and even non-believers march every year and work together to protect unborn human life. The term for this is often called “co-belligerence”, a descriptor coined by Francis Schaeffer. Here’s an excerpt:

Drawing from a particular phrase in Article 15 of the Baptist Faith and Message, I explain:

The phrase “work with all men of good will in any cause” defines what Francis Schaeffer labeled “co-belligerency.” This is the idea of limited, focused, and temporary political or policy alliances with others with whom we have other significant disagreements. To be “co-belligerent” means that we are joined with folks who are against the same things or support the same social ends, like the sanctity of human life.

Carl F. H. Henry, the towering Baptist intellectual and longtime editor of Christianity Today, urged Baptists and evangelicals to engage in this kind of work for the sake of advocating for issues that promote the common good, as informed by Scripture. Henry writes:

“Cobelligerency will be a fact of political life in the decades to come . . . and not without frequently shifting alliances for preferred ends. Nothing precludes an evangelical and a secular humanist from standing together. … Nothing precludes an interreligious or ecumenical cooperative public witness against injustice or for justice.^”

It’s important to recognize the limits and scope of such relationships. The last part of this particular phrase in Article XV reminds us that in the political fray we are still guided by both Christian demeanor and Christian doctrine:

always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.

Baptists in co-belligerent relationships should enter these conversations without giving up our distinctives as Baptists. Our demeanor must be “in the spirit of love.” In other words, those who don’t share our Christian faith cannot catechize us away from a life of holiness and devotion to Jesus. The political fray is often messy and tough, but we must resist the temptation to yield to sinful rhetoric and hatred of those God has called us to love. More importantly, we must also resist the temptation to let our temporary alliances shape our doctrinal convictions.

In advocating, for instance, on the sanctity of human life, it is often prudent to work with activists, lawmakers, and policy professionals who might practice different faiths or no faith at all. These political alliances should not be confused with ecclesial networks or replace our membership in faithful, Bible-preaching, local Baptist churches.

Politics in a democracy like ours requires us to build coalitions to advance policies that promote the common good. From the sanctity of human life to opposing racism to helping alleviate human poverty to the priority of the human family, Baptist social action, as outlined by Article XV, draws from a worldview that humans are made in the image of God and that “the world and everything in it” is God’s. The range of issues addressed in this statement demonstrates the diversity and scope of the Christian mission in the world.

You can read the whole thing here.

Lastly, I had preaching professor and editor of Preaching Magazine, Michael Duduit, on to discuss the art of preaching.