God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.
In our last post from Romans, we looked at what Paul said about injustice in the world. If you’re interested, you can read more here: Is There Injustice on God’s Part?–Romans 9:6-24. In today’s post we’ll look at the contrast between Adolf Hitler’s ideology and the ideology of Jesus and Saint Paul.
Romans 9:25-33
As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Hosea 2:23, 1 Peter 2:10)
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” (Isaiah 10:22-23, Hosea 1:10)
And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9, Deuteronomy 29:23, Isaiah 13:19, Jeremiah 49:18, Jeremiah 50:40, Amos 4:11)
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Psalm 118:221, 1 Peter 2:6-7, Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 28:16)
The Ideology Behind Adolf Hitler’s Atrocities
Today I watched an excerpt from an interview with the historian Tom Holland. Holland is an atheist who set out to write a book about how his own Western values were formed by ancient Greece and Rome. But as he started his research for the book, it wasn’t long before he realized the idea that Western values came from ancient Greece and Rome wasn’t true. What he found was that Western Values came from Christ and his teachings. The result was his book titled Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. I read it a year or so ago and found it to be brutally honest. Both the virtues and the sins of the church are shared without reservation. I also found it fascinating and I highly recommend it.
Anyway, after watching this excerpt with Tom Holland, I was inspired to do a little research on Hitler’s ideology. We all know the horrors that were committed by the Nazi regime. But how did Hitler and the Nazis come to believe their approach was the “right” approach, from their perspective?
What I learned was that Hitler was a committed social Darwinist. That is to say, a big important part of his ideology was the concept of “survival of the fittest.” He believed, as did the ancient Greeks, that goodness was defined by strength and beauty. Hitler also believed the Germans were the strongest and most beautiful race of people on the planet. The social Darwinism that Hitler believed in, though, went a step further; because of his belief in survival of the fittest, he said it was not only the right of Germans to kill and subdue other races, but it was their obligation. So he, and others like him, took the idea of “survival of the fittest” to “might makes right.” In order for the strongest race in the world to flourish, Hitler said, the Germans must dominate all other races. And, in order to keep the German race pure, human beings with physical or intellectual disabilities were executed. Hitler’s goal was world domination by the pure and strong German race, which, in his mind, was in perfect harmony with survival of the fittest and nature itself.
Hitler’s ideology was aligned with ancient Greek and Roman ideology, which really comes down to the worship of power. If the Greeks or the Romans are the most powerful, then naturally they should dominate the races around them. If the German’s are the most powerful, then it’s natural for them to dominate other races, even an obligation, according to Hitler. (If you’re interested, I wrote about the way power was the ultimate value in the ancient western world here: The Difference Jesus Made: Sex and Power before Christ entered the world–Acts 28:11-19.)
Jesus and Saint Paul
In today’s passage Paul is sharing about the beautiful gift of salvation, and how the Gentiles were blessed with this great gift from God. And how those Gentiles who had faith in Jesus as their Lord would belong to Him and be called sons of the living God. Paul also shared how Israel (meaning those Israelites who did not believe in Jesus) were those spoken of in Isaiah chapter 8, who would take offense at our Lord and stumble in their faith. (Isaiah 8:11-15)
God’s gift of salvation is possible for the Gentiles, as well as the believing Jews, and as well as any human being, because of the inclusiveness of Jesus and his Apostle Paul’s teachings. As Paul put it:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28, NASB)
So inside of Christ, there are only human beings. There are no categories. Anyone can come to Jesus.
Anyone.
And Hitler didn’t like that.
During Tom Holland’s interview he talks about how the Nazi ideology is antithetical to the ideology of Jesus and Paul. “For the Nazis, Jews and Greeks were completely separate, and we know where that led,” Holland says. He goes on to say that Hitler saw Paul’s teachings as having “corrupted” the power ideology of Greece. Jesus, who taught we’re to feed the hungry and give to the poor and help the homeless, brought us to the point where we believe human beings have a right to food, and shelter, and a right to help from those who are capable of helping. Today, in the West, we all believe in human rights. And, according to Holland, the reason we believe in human rights is because of Jesus and His disciples. We believe all human beings are created in the image of God, not just our race of humans, or our class of humans, or our gender of humans, but all.
There are so many beautiful things about Jesus and his teachings. But I find that one of the most beautiful is the way Jesus welcomes everyone, no matter who they are.
Notes:
Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, Basic Books; Illustrated edition (October 29, 2019)
Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Murder of People with Disabilities, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Religious views of Adolf Hitler, Wikipedia
Image of Saint Paul via Picryl–Public Domain. Image of Hitler via wikicommons.
The Love Like Jesus Book
Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!
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In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.
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- Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
- How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
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- How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
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- How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
- How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
- How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
- How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.
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Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:
It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.
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