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The Ugly Monsters of “Baptized” Partiality
“Christianity – as the true religion affirming what is good, true and beautiful–commands you to love all but to prefer your people over other peoples.”[1]
“Stupid for Jesus is still stupid”[2]
For God shows no partiality.[3]
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.[4]
But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.[5]
A Prefatory Word on Tone
This Dicta edition confronts a pagan malignancy that is being baptized and injected into churches. This corrosive idea instantiates the sin of partiality that certain advocates often, but not always, advance in coded, cloaked, and covert terms, but with unmistakable echoes of Kinism, ethno-centricity, and ethno-racism—read the footnotes for details and substantiation. Make no mistake. These views are unchristian and ungodly and should have no positive place in Christians’ minds, tongues, or actions.
Given the toxicity and pagan ethos of these ideas, TxC addresses them here boldly using strong rhetoric and naming names in order to mark those advocating these pagan points, urging them to recant and repent, while warning the broader church.[6]
Introduction
Sadly, a particularly rancid stream of pagan thought is penetrating – and now emerging – in certain supposedly “conservative” Reformed circles. Contrary to Paul’s instruction that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female,”[7] some today boldly advocate precisely the opposite and contend that doing so represents faithful and “standard” Christian and basic Reformed conviction.
These retrograde pagan “retrievals” are not simply mistaken missteps but are anti-Christian and anti-Gospel. This non-Christianity should be exposed, opposed, and foreclosed. Let’s get to the gist.
Documenting This Disturbing Descent
For several years now, TxC and its Scholars have served as canaries in the theological and cultural mineshafts. Early on, we’ve noted and rebutted alarming trends as they were emerging. One of the more recent corrosive trends advanced a Kinist and Statist version of so-called Christian Nationalism. Dr. Brian Mattson calmly and cogently dissected the work that ignited this most recent pining for a baptized pagan preference: Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism.[8] Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin then released a collection of essays that rebutted these Statist pagan political schemes – advanced by both Progressivism and the New Right – while affirming the Christian shaping of Classical Liberalism.[9] Sandlin and I thereafter subsequently addressed particular facets of this more self-conscious pagan error, commonly known as the Neo-Masculinity movement or the Bronze Age Mindset.[10] Mattson then documented the underlying animating feature of this error: ethno-Kinism that fetes White Boy Summer, aka white supremacy.[11] And, as I pen this, Stephen Wolfe and his defenders, including “pastors,” overtly embrace and espouse this sin – and that’s what it is, sin – of partiality.
The Christian Faith: Uniting in Righteous Grace, Not Race or Place
The errors of tribalism and factions have been addressed here previously.[12] Yet, today, we see largely untrained pastors and inexperienced men imbibing and promoting a poisonous porridge of partiality. Wolfe’s most recent incantation for this unabashedly asserts:
“Christianity – as the true religion affirming what is good, true and beautiful–commands you to love all but to prefer your people over other peoples.“[13]
By this he means – as his other public statements and work verifies – preferring those of a similar ethnic and geographical background – race and place.[14] Wolfe’s conference-buddy and promoter, Joel Webbon, uses his cottage conference enterprise to spew this same baptized pagan content.[15]
Another social media pseudo-sophisticate, Brian Sauve – a Calvary Chapel Bible College grad with a penchant for monsters, mermaids, and the yeti[16] – asserts that Wolfe’s recent partiality post comprises “boilerplate Reformed ethics.”[17] What do the Scriptures teach and what does Reformed ethics actually affirm? The political errors made by these particular Christian Nationalists and their choir-boy cheerleaders – which we have addressed elsewhere[18] – stem from foundational theological and ethical errors – including holding to the sin of partiality.
The Sin of Partiality: Becoming Ugly Monsters
Scripture is unmistakable. Partiality is condemned interpersonally, within the church community, and when administrating justice. This is demonstrable from God’s Character, God’s Rule for Society, and God’s Standard for Public Justice. On the other hand, committing these sins based on race or place, Calvin asserts, makes one an “ugly monster.”[19]
Before considering “boilerplate Reformed ethics,” let’s be clear as to Scripture’s mandate. The following texts are intentionally presented here without comment or interpretation. To advocate something contrary to this cluster of Scriptural witness is telling. The men doing so are not serious men, let alone serious presbyters.
- Theological Considerations:
- As to God and His Character
Deuteronomy 10:17 – For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is notpartial and takes no bribe.
2 Chronicles 19:7 – Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”
Job 34:19 – [God] who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, [why?] for they are all the work of his hands?
Acts 10:34 – So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows nopartiality,
Romans 2:11 – For God shows no partiality.
Galatians 2:6 – And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.
Luke 20:21 – So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.
- As to Justice:
- Privately, that is, Person to Person:
Job 13:8 – Will you show partiality toward him? [no] Will you plead the case for God?
Job 13:10 – He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.
Job 32:21 – I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.
- Communally, that is, within the church
Malachi 2:9 – and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, [why?] inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but showpartiality in your instruction.”
1 Timothy 5:21 – In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.[20]
James 2:1 – My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
James 2:9 – But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- Publicly, that is, as to Law and Policy
Exodus 23:3 – nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Leviticus 19:15 – “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 1:17 – You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Deuteronomy 16:19 – You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
Psalm 82:2 – “How long will you judge unjustly [how?] and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Proverbs 18:5 – It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.
Proverbs 24:23 – These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good.
Proverbs 28:21 – To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
Ephesians 6:9 – Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
Colossians 3:25 – For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality
These verses – boilerplate Bible ethics – illuminate the staggering ignorance of those seeking to import pagan tribalism back into church and society. Contending – as Wolfe does – that Christianity commands (!) believers to “prefer your people over other peoples” borders on blasphemy, denying the impact of Pentecost, among other things, and seemingly pining for a return to a pagan Babelic world.
God’s Word precludes partiality in no uncertain terms. Preferring one’s race and place contradicts the universalizing Gospel of Christ. Jesus, who possessed all authority in heaven and on earth answers the petition we pray: His will would be done “on earth” as it is in heaven. And what does heaven disclose as the pattern for what should be developing on earth as that prayer is progressively answered? Diversity among unity:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”[21]
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nationand tribe and language and people.[22]
As Reformed scholar Herman Bavinck noted:
Regeneration does not erase individuality, personality or character, but sanctifies it and puts it at the service of God’s name. The community of believers is the new humanity that bears within itself a wide range of variety and distinction and manifests the richest diversity in unity.[23]
Instead of Wolfe’s segregated silos, Scripture envisions a joining together, while acknowleding relevant cultural distinctives like ethnicity and language. But, what about the “boilerplate Reformed Ethics” that Sauve asserts support Wolfe’s partiality?
Reformed Ethics and Partiality
Brian Suave claims – notably without any citation – that Stephen Wolfe’s notion of preferring “your people over other peoples,” comports with “boilerplate Reformed ethics.”[24] He’s utterly mistaken – hopefully he’s merely ignorant of the Reformed faith he supposedly champions. Noted Reformed Theological Seminary leader and pastor, Ligon Duncan, addresses the biblical and Reformed view of partiality in no uncertain terms:
A vital faith will lead to our demonstrating mercy in accepting others, especially those who are different from us, those who make us uncomfortable, those who are less fortunate than we are.[25]
What then is biblical partiality or favoritism? Duncan explains:
What does he mean, then, by personal favoritism? What does he mean by partiality?Well, he means this: he means a self-serving discrimination that is based upon shallow externals.[26]
Few things could be more shallow than categorizing preferences based on externals like skin color, ethnic background, or fiscal potentialities. Yet, this is precisely not only what Wolfe, Webbon, and their clan describe as being “natural,”[27] they and Sauve are now saying this is what Scripture normatively requires.[28]As shown by the foregoing, Scripture does nothing of the kind. In fact, it requires the exact opposite ethic.
Perhaps before chirping cute slogans and producing peculiar podcasts, these late-to-the-Reformed-Party Calvinists[29] should actually read Calvin, Bavinck, and others in the Reformed tradition – which, perhaps to their surprise, didn’t begin in Moscow, ID.
Here’s the great Genevan Reformer preaching from Galatians. Calvin is arguably about as “Reformed boilerplate” as they come. How does he address partiality? He calls those who embrace it “ugly monsters”:
Let a Moor or a Barbarian come among us, and yet inasmuch as he is a man, he bringeth with him a looking glass, wherein we may see that he is our brother and neighbor. For we cannot abolish the order of nature, which God hath set to be inviolable. So then we be bound to all men without difference, because we be all one flesh, as the Prophet Esay avoweth, saying: (Isaiah 58:7) Thou shalt not despise thine own flesh. As if he should say, they that are niggardly [stingy, covetous] and pinching, and shrink away when they should do good, do not only despise God, and reject his word: but also are ugly monsters, because they consider not that there ought to be a community among all men. Thus ye see why Saint Paul saith expressly, that we must endeavor to do good to all men, yea even to such as are unworthy, even though they were our deadly enemies. Truly this is hard, and contrary to our [natural] inclination: but yet therein God trieth us so much the better. For if we do good to such as deserve it, or to such as are able to recompense it: it is no declaration or [589] proof that we be willing to serve God: for it may be that we had respect to ourown profit.[30]
The choice set before the godly man is definite and clear: embrace and espouse pagan partiality and thereby become an ugly monster. Or instead, embrace and espouse Christ and His comprehensively redeeming Lordship and thereby become a godly man who rejects all tribalism, siloing, and flawed sociology. Choose wisely, and if repentance is necessary, do so quickly and earnestly. And then “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”[31]
[1] Christian Nationalist, Stephen Wolfe, X September 24, 2024
[2] I first heard this adage from Officer Alan Hardwicke (now retired) in early 1990’s and have copiously used it ever since.
[3] Romans 2:11
[4] 1 Tim. 5:21
[5] James 2:9
[6] Romans 16:17, 18, and Titus 3:10
[7] Gal. 3:28. These three categories reflect the prime grounds of pagan tribalism threatening the early church: preferences predicated on ethnicity, economic status, and demeaning the Imago Dei in females.
[8] Brian Mattson, A Children’s Crusade – Stephen Wolfe and “The Great Restoration.” https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/a-childrens-crusade
[9] P. Andrew Sandlin, (Ed.) – Virtuous Liberty: A Christian Defense of Classical Liberalism and the Free Society Against Cultural Leftism and the New Right (2023), https://www.amazon.com/Virtuous-Liberty-Christian-Classical-Liberalism/dp/B0CN4MDQ5L. Sandlin will release in December 2024 another collection entitled The Sanctified State.
[10] P. Andrew Sandlin, The Old Bronze Age Mindset Meets the New “Christian Vitalism.” https://pandrewsandlin.substack.com/p/the-old-bronze-age-mindset-meets; Jeffery J. Ventrella, The Bold Pagan Buffoonery of Buffed Bronze Age Boys, https://truthxchange.com/the-bold-pagan-buffoonery-of-buffed-bronze-age-boys/
[11] Brian G. Mattson, Take a Bath in Bleach, which documents the now uncloaked white supremacist drivers to these ideas. https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/take-a-bath-in-bleach
Here is the direct link to this fetid White Boy Summer video that was “liked” by “pastors” Brian Sauve and Eric Conn, as well as Kinist Andrew Isker. Conn adulated this video, posting: “By God we shall have our home again!” View the video and see the nature and color of the “home” he’s seeking to re-establish. These folks may say “Christian Nationalism” but pretty clearly what they mean is “white nationalism.” https://x.com/SamuelHolden_/status/1792714080421343602 For a more general engagement with the neo-masculinity underpinnings fueling some of this foolishness, see Brian G. Mattson, Putting Away Childish Things, https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/putting-away-childish-things – see also his TxC Every Square Inch presentation, posting this month.
[12] Jeffery J. Ventrella, Christ Plus? Tribalism and the Hyphenated Christian Life, https://truthxchange.com/directors-dicta-christ-plus-the-hyphenated-christian-life/
[13] Stephen Wolfe, X September 24, 2024
[14] Wolfe’s long time podcast partner, Thomas Achord, eventually confessed to posting “racist, Jew-hating, misogynist tweets” – The American Conservative – “Thomas Achord Confesses,” https://www.theamericanconservative.com/thomas-achord-confesses/ Caught with their drawers drooping, we can fully expect to see a Motte-and-Bailey squirm occur, asserting that Wolfe’s claim is only about something mundane and unremarkable like loving your own children differently when compared with other children – his record repeatedly confutes this attempted dodge.
[15] Accordingly, Webbon “prefers” white doctors instead of black ones: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13828293/Joel-Webbon-pastor-black-doctors.html
This and similar “preferences” litter his conference presentations. See, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5lYTd_HTrKEPnAXaXuGLOirbQpwOiesD. I do not recommend listening to this stuff as it is strewn with what could be categorized as racist, Kinist, antisemitic, and misogynistic constructs and inuendo. What I do recommend is categorically severing all ties with this cabal of partiality pushers until demonstrable public godly repentance occurs, which in the case the “pastors” would include their demitting the offices they have violated by advocating and defending the vile sin of partiality.
[16] https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/maritime-mysteries-mermaids-monsters/id1676489540?i=1000648100624
[17] Pastor Brian Sauve, X September 24, 2024, purporting to “rebut” TxC Scholar David Bahnsen who had correctly commented that, contrary to Wolfe’s point, “Christianity LITERALLY commands the opposite” X September 24, 2024. Suave’s assertion would also be news to John Calvin. He wrote, in speaking of encountering Moors or Barbarians, that those who reject them, “despise God, reject His word” and are also “ugly monsters because they consider not that there ought to be a community among all men.” Brian Mattson lays bare Sauve’s ignorant error here: Brian G. Mattson, About That Boilerplate, https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/about-that-boilerplate?utm_campaign=email-post&r=2hn8d7&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email – tellingly, Sauve, as Mattson notes, exposed his own tribalism when he chided Bahnsen for allegedly “siding” with a heretic. Note carefully: Sauvé’s modality is about “who’s side are you on,” – tribalism, who’s “your people” – rather than “what is true.” The latter comprises “boilerplate Reformed ethics.”
[18] See notes 8-10
[19] See note 28. This is deliciously ironic since Sauve’s social media platforms frequently delve into monsters, etc. The Gospel according to Grendel, Gorgon, and Godzilla???!!!
[20] This passage is particularly damning of Mr. Suave’s assertion as it is directed by Paul in a pastoral epistle to a pastor, Timothy, concerning the non-negotiable requirement of impartial conduct. For any pastor to teach and act otherwise arguably disqualifies him from being a presbyter.
[21] Rev. 7:9,10
[22] Rev. 14:6
[23] Herman Bavinck Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church and New Creation (2008) vol.4, 640
[24] Perhaps if Mr. Suave spent more time delving into actual Reformed ethics instead of speculating about fairies and mermaids in the name of ministry, he could avoid such embarrassing errors. See, e.g., Haunted Cosmos: “Season Three of the most important mermaid-related podcast in existence has arrived.” https://x.com/Brian_Sauve/status/1765437301692498168
[25] Ligon Duncan, Favoritism: A Contradiction of Christian Living, https://rts.edu/resources/favoritism-a-contradiction-of-christian-living/
[26] Id.
[27] Wolfe’s view of “natural” roots itself in the fallen order unaided (or uncorrected) by special revelation. Here, he commits a classic fallacy: trying to derive an “ought” from a selectively observed “is.” For further analytic undressing of Wolfe’s contentions, see Brain G. Mattson’s, A Children’s Crusade: Stephan Wolfe and “The Great Restoration”, https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/a-childrens-crusade
[28] Part of Wolfe’s theological error stem from his failure to situate ethics in Creation and Redemption; his analysis stays stuck in the mud up to its axles in the Fall, so that he predicates ethics on the “natural” FALLEN world – devoid of the correcting lens of special revelation. Sauve contends this is “boilerplate Reformed ethics.” Suave would benefit from cracking open Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. There, he would find – in the very first section – the notion – the Reformed boilerplate – that using Scripture’s spectacles corrects our views of the creation marred by sin. (John Calvin, Institutes I.vi.1) (John Calvin, Institutes, I.xiv.1)
[29] Perhaps they could be deemed RINOs: Reformed in name only???
[30] John Calvin, Sermons on Galatians, 41st – https://media.sabda.org/alkitab-7/LIBRARY/CALVIN/CAL_SGAL.PDF 588-89
[31] Matt. 6:33