David Wells on Preaching the Cross in 2007

David Wells is a theologian who teaches at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has written a number of excellent books critiquing contemporary culture and Christianity. Wells says that one evidence of the breakdown of our society can be seen in the shift away from virtues to values.

Virtues are the aspects of the good which are enduringly right in all places and at all times. These things are enduringly right because they reflect the unchanging and perfect character of God.

Whereas virtues are enduring and unchanging, values may mean nothing more than a preference, belief, feeling, habit, or convention, or ‘whatever any individual, group or society happens to value, at any time for any reason.’ (Wells in Losing our Virtue, p 16)

Good character, Wells says, results from ‘internalizing the virtues so that they become somewhat habitual.’ He continues, ‘In the 19^th century, when people wrote a job reference, they were mostly character references…Today, in our competitive, globalized, bottom-line driven world, it is competence that matters much more than character.

Character is nice, but it doesn’t make much money. Besides, who is to say what is right and what is wrong? When we talk about virtues, there is agreement; when we talk about values, there is no agreement.

The result of this shift in thinking, along with others Wells mentions is the increasing trend toward individualism and relativism which makes the need of the death of Christ on the cross incomprehensible to the postmoderns.

The New Testament states the facts of Christ’s death and its meaning (1 Cor. 15.1-3). He died for sin, to spare us from God’s wrath, to deliver us from sin. But we are trying to tell people who have no category for sin that Christ died for them because they are sinners and subject to God’s wrath.

Wells concludes: “Our task today is to tell people who no longer understand what sin is, no longer have the categories for understanding it, who no longer think they are sinful, who no longer in their heads inhabit a moral universe is to tell them that Jesus Christ Christ died for something they believe they are not guilty of.”

Since this is so, we need to patiently talk with those who fall into the above category. We need to ask them what part of the Christian message they cannot accept, and why do they think of themselves and others as free from sin. We need, Wells concludes, to show the same patience with others as God has shown to us. “Between Genesis 1 and John 3, there is the long, patient work of God in preparation so that when Christ comes in the fullness of time, people can understand this magnificent work of God.