In this first episode of a three-part series, pastors Derek and Cliff offer a definition of boycotting and discuss some basic biblical categories to help Christians think through this issue.
Transcript
Derek: Welcome to With All Wisdom, where we are applying biblical truth to everyday life. My name is Derek Brown and I am here today with Cliff McManis. We are both pastors and elders at Creekside Bible Church in Cupertino, California, and professors of theology at the Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary, where we have the privilege of training pastors. And today we want to discuss the issue of Christians and boycotting. And before we get to our topic, we want to invite you to check out WithAllWisdom.org, where you will find a large and growing collection of resources that are all rooted in God’s Word and aimed at helping you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that is WithAllWisdom.org. Check it out. Now on to our topic. We’ve chosen this topic because, after our most recent three episodes on the Alistair Begg controversy, we’ve received several questions related to how Christians should think about larger issues related to boycotting. When should we boycott? Should we boycott? Why should we boycott? And so we want to try to answer some of those questions by searching the Scripture and thinking about how Scripture applies specifically to this topic and any kind of sub-topic that we might consider as it pertains to boycotting. And so let’s first define boycott. Cliff, what do you mean by boycott? How would you define it to help our listeners get their bearings here in this discussion?
Cliff: Yeah, we want to be really specific and kind of narrow in our definition of boycott, because if you just look up the word boycott in a dictionary, it’s going to give you several definitions, but also areas and ways you can boycott. So we’re going to emphasize. boycotting in the area of spiritual truth and moral practices, and that kind of thing. And then also primarily driven by what Scripture says. And so boycotting will entail refraining from things or abstaining from things. So that’s what we’re talking about. But more formally, a definition might be boycotting is a negative reaction on our part. In other words, it’s always a reaction to something—how we choose to react to something or someone. So it’s a response on our part to the actions of others, the words of others, and the practice of others. It is to withhold support from something or someone. It is to refrain from endorsing someone or something. It is to isolate yourself as a Christian from a person, an action or event. So those are all synonymous, but I’m just trying to get at it from different angles. And so I guess that would just be my starting baseline definition.
Derek: Yeah. No, I think that’s helpful. And I think it’s helpful to bring it within, specifically, the sphere of spiritual truth. And this area of biblical theology and moral issues. Because as I was looking at definitions, I did find one on dictionary.com where it said, to combine abstaining from or preventing dealings with as a means of intimidation or coercion. And I just thought, that doesn’t work for us, because we shouldn’t be about the business of trying to intimidate. But we will be—like you had already mentioned with the word abstaining and preventing dealings with. So there are aspects of kind of a common definition of boycott that we might endorse, but there are other aspects that we would not precisely [endorse] because we’re trying to think through these things biblically. And also, boycott has a history of things related to unions and work and picketing and these kinds of things. And that’s not really what we’re talking about.
Cliff: Rogue vigilantes. Yes. Which would not be biblical, right? On the face of it, it’s not an evil word or a bad word. Again, it just depends on the context.
Derek: Yeah. All right. Well that’s helpful. Going back to what I already mentioned in the introduction, Cliff, why should we talk about this topic of boycotting?
Cliff: Yeah, two main reasons. I think the Alastair Begg issue was a catalyst for you and I taking up this topic, because at the heart of his statement was the fact that he was answering a question, basically, from a grandma who was who was asking the question, should I boycott this wedding or not? So that was really at the essence and the heart of that question. And then the answer that he gave, I think, and this may have been one of his biggest missteps in answering the question. I think he simplified it too much. He conflated the issues involved. He wasn’t nuanced enough in his answer. He didn’t give enough scenarios that are presented in the Bible or in life. So by giving an overly simplistic answer and brushing with two broad of a brush, that got him in trouble and created a lot of confusion and dismissed a lot of other scenarios that the Bible clearly speaks to. So I thought when you start thinking about boycotting, the Bible has a lot more to say about it than what he did, because when he addressed it formally, he just went, here’s a passage from Luke 15 and boom, this solves the problem, right? No, it doesn’t, because that doesn’t address about 17 other issues regarding boycotting that Christians have to think through. So it’s not that easy. And the more I thought about it, I thought, boy, this boycotting thing is really difficult.
It’s complicated. There are a lot of issues related to it. There’s a lot of scripture that speaks to it. The more you dig, the more you find out. The more questions you ask, the more questions crop up. I was thinking, I’ve never done a really thorough, exhaustive, systematic summary theology of boycotting in the Bible. And the more I thought about it, I was like, wow. In 30 years of pastoral ministry, just a flood of questions were coming to my mind, of people in the past and even current members and other Christians who have asked me, Pastor Cliff, should I boycott this? Should I go to this event, or should I associate with this person? And there were a lot of different scenarios that I have been asked over the years. And I realized, wow, we believe in biblical sufficiency. So the Bible must speak to all of these issues, even the complicated ones. So we should talk that through. And that’s why I thought this would be a helpful resource for listeners out there, because no doubt, I think some of these issues are going to intersect with decisions they have to make or have made. Or maybe they regret a decision they made. Maybe they thought they made a wrong decision or a decision was unbiblical. So, like you and I, in most of our 80 podcasts—what are we on?
Derek: What are we on? We are on 84, I believe.
Cliff: Yeah. So to ask, why are we doing this topic, for me and you? It seems like it’s always the byproduct of you and I dealing with pastoral ministry, right? And shepherding the saints and trying to help them—searching the scriptures together with them to get answers from God.
Derek: Yeah. That is usually, if not almost always, the stimulus for these podcasts. We are in the thick of pastoral ministry, and we want to help our people and others who listen in to think biblically on these important issues. And this, like you said, the more you think about it, the more immediately relevant and pervasive this question really is. Because you may not label something officially a boycott. Like I’m boycotting this store, or I’m boycotting this product. But the need to avoid and abstain from certain things, people and institutions, well, it kind of requires—it’s almost a daily thing, in some sense. Maybe the word boycott is a little too large and official for people. But if you just think in terms of what you’ve already said—avoiding, abstaining—well, that kind of has to do with all of life on a regular basis. So I think this is an immediately relevant topic pastorally.
Cliff: Yeah. The way you put it, I mean, just think about the Bible. God has all these commands and they’re either, do this or don’t do that. And there are a lot of commands where God says, don’t do that. Refrain from them, or abstain, which, you know, intersects with boycotting. Don’t do that. It’s all over the Bible.
Derek: Exactly. So, Cliff, why don’t you take us through some of the principles of why Christians should boycott, avoid, abstain from certain things, people, institutions, or whatever it might be, as we try to think about this topic biblically and theologically.
Cliff: So we’ll consider this kind of our introductory laying of the theological groundwork to talk about more specific issues and also answer specific questions that frequently come up. Regarding boycotting, I just came up with general biblical principles by which we should think about all these specifics. So with general biblical principles, I came up with two general principles that will be my guiding principles as we talk through all this stuff. So the two principles regarding boycotting from a Christian point of view. Number one: Christians should boycott sin, false teaching, and the devil. I just was trying to keep it simple. I mean, first of all, do Christians boycott? Yeah, we should boycott or abstain from sin. That’s clear. So I think that incorporates just about everything that I could think of or have encountered. So we definitely proactively boycott sin, false teaching, and the devil. There is a second principle that will help us in trying to discern, well, what exactly should we boycott, and what scenarios fall under these three categories. So principle number two is we, as Christians, when thinking about boycotting, need to clearly distinguish between gray area issues, which you and I have talked about, versus biblical prohibitions where God clearly says, do not do that. Refrain from doing that. That really helps when sorting through the morass of confusion from one decision to the next.
Derek: Yeah. As you think about these two categories—for example, abstaining from sin, false teaching and the devil—I think immediately what comes to mind is how to do that, because there are some Christians who would say that this involves not only personally abstaining from sin, false teaching, and the devil, but refusing to associate with anyone who doesn’t abstain from sin, false teaching, and the devil. So I think that’s where some of the complexity comes in. How is this done in our context? So any thoughts on how this is done?
Cliff: Yeah. It’s like peeling away all the layers of an onion, in terms of its complexity, because once you start talking about abstaining and boycotting, then you get into issues like second degree separation and third degree separation. For those of you that may not know what that means, those are terms and phrases very common in formal fundamentalism. The Bible talks about separation very clearly. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul, through the Spirit, tells the Corinthian Christians, separate yourself from the sinful person or practice. So that’s first degree separation, which is a basic biblical principle. But then fundamentalists take it a step further and say, not only should you separate yourself from overtly wicked, evil, immoral people, but you should separate yourself from anybody who associates with them. That’s second degree separation. And you should not associate with people who associate with those who associate with those who sin. So then you’re getting into this , to what degree do we have to separate from sin? They have the cooties, for those of you who know what cooties is. And they might give it to somebody else, so that’s really difficult as well. So we’ll talk through that. And I think some of these basic biblical principles will help us think that through. I actually have a question for you later, Derek, that I’m going to ask you—a practical situation that you’re familiar with that will address the very thing that you brought up. And I think that’ll give us some clarity.
Derek: Great.Well, why don’t you start taking us through some of these general principles as you flesh out these two major categories here—which I think are helpful—of what we are to abstain from. And Scripture is clear at this point in terms of abstinence from sin, and rejection and avoidance of false teaching and false teachers. And of course, we are to resist the devil. All that’s boycotting language, quite honestly.
Cliff: I agree.
Derek: I guess the Bible is for boycotting.
Cliff: Yes.
Derek: And then with these, having to discern and distinguish between gray areas and biblical prohibitions, and help us think through some of these things with some clear biblical principle.
Cliff: Yeah. Let me expand on my opening definition, just to clarify. Maybe stating it another way, of what is boycotting from a Christian point of view, according to the Bible, in a way that the Bible would endorse? So what I’m speaking of is, we boycott open, manifest, sinful practices of other people. So we should boycott manifest things that can be seen—sinful practices of other people in public and overt promotion of sin. Boycotting in a biblical manner is my decision. That is a response relative to other people who have a platform to promote or advance an agenda that is clearly contrary to the Bible or Scripture. So I was very particular when I wrote that statement because, bottom line, you have to make a distinction. We’re not supposed to boycott all unbelievers. That’s clear. We’re going to read that in the scripture. So the next thing I want to do is just, I want to read one Scripture—which is all I’m going to read—for laying the foundation of boycotting. It’s kind of the starting point, because there’s a lot of scriptures that play into boycotting and different scenarios and situations. But I think 1 Corinthians 5 is one of the most important and foundational. So let me just read through it. It’s 13 verses. I’ll just read through it. First Corinthians chapter five, verses one through thirteen. The apostle Paul planted the church at Corinth. He pastored this church for a few years, went away, and now he’s writing back to the Corinthians. He knew them, but he’s writing not just as their pastor, but as an apostle moved by the Spirit of God.
He got word that they were compromised in a lot of different ways in terms of being sinful. One of the ways that they were being sinful is they were tolerating sexual immorality in the church, and even in the corporate assembly. So that’s what he’s addressing here in 1 Corinthians 5. And the scenario is that apparently there was an influential member of the church in Corinth who claimed to be a Christian, and he was a man, and he was involved in an illegitimate sexually immoral relationship with a woman in the church. I think she was in the church. And this guy was involved illegitimately with his step mother, which is a clear violation of the Mosaic Law in Leviticus. He was uncovering the nakedness of his step mother. This is not his biological mother. This is his step mother—probably his father’s wife or whatever—which in the Old Testament, under Moses in Leviticus, required the death penalty. This is an egregious sin. Not all sins required the death penalty. This one did. Paul found out through reliable testimony that this was going on in the church and it was going on publicly, or at least it was sanctioned, and it’s obvious that the Corinthians knew about it and they didn’t do anything to stop it. And so Paul rebukes the entire congregation for tolerating this gross, sexual, immoral sin going on in the church. So I’ll just read from there. Now that’s the context. So starting at verse one, he says, it is actually reported that there is a sexual immorality among you in the church. An immorality of such a kind or nature as does not even exist among the pagans or Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. A man is committing sexual immorality with his stepmother, and the Greeks, or the pagans, wouldn’t even tolerate such an egregious sin. That’s how bad it was. Verse two: you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead. So they should have been grieved by the sin and put a stop to it. But they didn’t. So that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. So there’s the first verse that informs us about boycotting this sin. This sinner, this self-professed Christian, should have been removed from the congregation if he continued in that practice without repentance. Verse three: for I on my part, though absent in the body—I’m not with you now; I’m writing from a distance—but I am present in spirit. I’m with you in Christ. We’re all believers. I’ve already judged this man, this sinner in your church who has so committed this sin, as though I were present with you. So Paul’s already rendered his judgment. This is categorically unbiblical. I’ve dealt with it in my mind. Now you guys need to deal with it there. Verse four: in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled together, when the church comes together, when you gather, and I with you in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh or his body, so that his spirit or soul may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
So not only boycotting, but some church discipline needs to be taken at a severe level and quickly with this unrepentant sinner. Verse six: your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? And he’s talking about the leaven of sin right there, or tolerating sin in the congregation. It’s going to poison your whole church. It’s going to destroy the church. It’s going to bring God’s chastening. Verse seven: therefore, clean out the old leaven. That’s an imperative. He’s saying, get that guy out of here, remove him from the church, clean out the old leaven that’s boycotting. Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, a purified lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. God saved you. Christ saved you. You’re clean. You should act clean and pure, but you’re not. You’re tolerating sin for Christ. Our Passover also has been sacrificed. Christ died for you and you’re not acting like he did. Verse eight: therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with old, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. So Paul wrote an earlier letter and said you should boycott certain people. And they misunderstood who the boycott was against. He said, you should boycott immoral people. But they misunderstood. Verse ten: I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world. When I said to boycott immoral people, I didn’t mean boycott unbelievers. You guys got it all mixed up. I didn’t want you to boycott the people of this world, or the covetous and swindlers or idolaters, because if you boycott unbelievers or people who aren’t Christians, then you would have to go out of the world. You would literally have to leave the world. You can’t escape unbelievers, right? Verse 11: but actually, I wrote to you not to associate with (which means boycott) a so-called brother, a professing Christian. That’s who you’re supposed to boycott, if he’s an immoral person. So immoral, unrepentant, professing Christians who refuse to turn from their sin. That’s who you boycott. Not unbelievers, or the immoral person or the covetous, or an idolater, reviler or drunkard, or a swindler. Not even to eat with such a professing Christian who engages in those sins and lives on in an unrepentant manner. Verse 12: for what have I to do with judging outsiders? So this is a rhetorical question from Paul. And basically what he’s saying is, as Christians, we have jurisdiction, and it’s a limited jurisdiction about where and who we’re going to boycott. And God has not given us a jurisdiction to boycott unbelievers outside the church. Unbelievers are going to live like unbelievers. And in a sense, we’re supposed to just let unbelievers live like unbelievers. We don’t foist unrealistic expectations on unbelievers outside the church.
Derek: Sinners are going to sin and sin. And don’t be surprised when they do.
Cliff: Yep. But when they step foot in the church, that’s a different story, because that’s our jurisdiction. And it’s not only the pastor’s jurisdiction, but the body of Christ’s. Every believer’s jurisdiction is within the church, right? They have the Spirit of God living in them. So there are clear lines of jurisdiction of those who are in the church—the body of Christ—and those unbelievers in the world. And Paul’s drawing those parameters for us really clearly here. And he’s saying, even as an apostle, because he personalizes it here, I don’t have jurisdiction to be judging outside unbelievers and holding them to a biblical standard, right? Other than just calling them to repent and believe in Jesus. Otherwise the wrath of God abides in you. And then he tells the Christian Corinthians, do you not judge those who are within the church? So that’s a rhetorical question. So he’s saying you need to judge those in the church. You need to judge this professing Christian who is in an immoral relationship with his step mother in the church. You guys got it completely backwards. You’re boycotting unbelievers, and you’re not boycotting the sinner in your midst that calls himself a Christian.
Derek: That’s just a really excellent point, because in my limited experience, some people who are very strong in boycotting those same people are not as excited, you might say, at what Paul’s talking about here. They think about, here’s some evil out in the world. I want to boycott that. But that same person, if I talk to them about the necessity of church discipline, they don’t want to judge other Christians. They’re too sinful there. And so it’s interesting. That is an actual scenario where I’ve talked to people who have that kind of dichotomy in their thinking. They want to do the boycotting of unbelievers, but they don’t want to do the boycotting of believers. And your point in this text is that that’s actually the priority. The priority is, first, to avoid the professing believer who is living in sin and refuses to repent. That’s the priority. If we’re thinking of who and when and where to boycott, that’s number one, right? That’s before looking out in the world and boycotting this movie or that retail store or whatever. This is priority number one for the Christian.
Cliff: Yeah, absolutely. So in that statement, Paul’s rebuking the Corinthians because they had it categorically 180 degrees backwards. They boycott unbelievers when they shouldn’t and they don’t boycott with church discipline the sinner in the church, which they should. And you’re right, you just used the word church discipline synonymously with boycotting. And I think church discipline is a form of boycotting. I see the same thing very frequently—Christians boycotting the wrong things out in the world. Refusing to, out of fear, ignorance, cowardice, or whatever it is, boycott through church discipline in the church or confront fellow brothers or sisters. It’s like they’re on a rampage and promoting it at the top of their lungs that we need to boycott Disney! When, no, Disney is going to act like Disney. Disney’s woke, they’re going to be woke. Don’t be surprised. Yet they won’t get behind legitimate church discipline in the church because they fear it. Completely backwards.
Derek: And what’s interesting is the boasting here is probably—I’m not sure how you interpret the boasting here, but I’ve taken it to mean they were boasting about their tolerance. Like, look at how he’s mentioning you’re boasting is not good. You have been arrogant about it. You mentioned that in verse two. And thence your boasting is not good. It could potentially be that they’re actually kind of proud at how tolerant they were of allowing and being compassionate or whatever of this particular sinful person and not doing anything about it. It’s interesting that he brings up the issue of boasting and arrogance in this context.
Cliff: Yeah, I think that’s very possible. And this was really important to the apostle Paul because there was a faction of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem—you can call them the conservative wing or whatever—who actually weren’t really fond of the apostle Paul. That’s why we have the Jerusalem Council, because they saw that the Apostle Paul was too lenient because of his gospel of grace. Oh, you’re too lenient. You’re not harsh enough. You don’t hold people accountable. And these were Christians. That’s why they had the Jerusalem Council. And then Paul catches wind of this. You’re my congregation. I used to pastor you, and you’re tolerating overt, gross sexual immorality of a kind that pagans won’t even tolerate in the church. And you’re tolerating it, and you’re boasting and proud about it. That’s just going to give fodder to these critics who say the gospel of grace is too lenient.
So you got it backwards. Verse 12: for what have I done to those. Do you not judge those? And then verse 13: but those who are outside, God judges. There it is. Vengeance is mine. Leave that to me, says the Lord. God will judge outsiders. Leave them, just evangelize them, pray for them, be a good testimony and witness to them. Pour heaping coals of love and kindness on their head, and then leave the results to God in his perfect timing. And then he quotes Scripture, closing out verse 13: remove the wicked man from among yourselves. Let God judge unbelievers. You guys need to take care of the household of God and keep it pure through, sometimes, boycotting.
Derek: Yeah. Very, very helpful, I think, and freeing, honestly, for the Christian to know what our priorities need to be in this area. It’s easy in this day and age, where there is a lot of rampant evil and wicked things going on around us to get our priorities out of order. First and foremost, Christian pastor, be concerned about the church and the requiring of purity in the church. Long before you start thinking about things that are happening outside where sinners and unbelievers are going to do what unbelievers are going to do. So that is a wonderful introduction. Thank you very much. It’s very clarifying for me, Cliff. I think that was a great way to kick things off. We’re going to come back because we have a lot more to say about this topic. So please check back for our next episode. And until then, keep seeking the Lord and His Word.
