“A half truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” J.I. Packer, Knowing God.
You likely saw the commercial during a recent professional sports game or prime-time programming on major networks. Do you suffer from anxiety? Well, you are in luck—Jesus did too—"He gets us." Are you unsure of yourself? Well, fear not, Jesus was equally unstable—"He gets us." Are you a refugee sneaking through the razor wire? You may be surprised, but according to #hegetsus… that's right, Jesus too! He was "bullied," "he ran with a rough crowd," he was "lonely," he was "canceled," and he was "sick of politics." But the trophy of woke-ology was given at the Super Bowl this year when the ad campaign proclaimed that, "He didn’t teach hate" and proceeded to interweave scene after scene of amoral irony, or moral subversion illustrating that sinful behavior like homosexuality, transgenderism, or black-lives-matter levels of racism just needs a good foot-washing, and those who oppose… well, they need repentance.
In an effort to show the supernatural empathy of God and His profound understanding of our fallen condition, the possibly well-intended, soon-to-be billion-dollar ad campaign has given, not even a half-truth but a partial truth in hopes that some partial percentage of the millions of viewers will make their way to a call center—where a small percentage of the call-takers will attempt to draw them to some small percentage of evangelical churches—that will hopefully proclaim some rendition of Paul Harvey’s “rest of the story.”
This partial truth gospel resonates in varying degrees with many in evangelical circles. It's the J.D. Greear speaking of God’s mere whispers about homosexuality, the Allister Begg surmising that attending the gay wedding is the greatest way to show love. It's pastors in my own city defending #HEGETSUS like it’s the next Jesus Film.
Why has it become so difficult to simultaneously communicate God’s infinite mercy without ignoring His deep-seated contempt for sin? Maybe we should look to the scriptures. We may conclude that God’s infinite love is inseparably accompanied by an equal hatred for sin, and together they help us to understand the whole Gospel.
Balance of God's Attributes
There is no debating the love of God, nor should we minimize it. The Apostle John declared it without ambiguity: "God is Love." (1 John 4:7-21) He is not just loving… although He is loving. He is the very embodiment and expression of love for the universe. There is no love apart from God. The coming of Christ was the clearest demonstration of this love when John said, “God so loved the world that He gave his only son.” Gracious? God is a well of grace that can’t be plumbed. Is He merciful? Boundlessly merciful. His mercy never ends for a thousand generations. In Him we see grace and mercy like nowhere else; it's His nature. Everybody gets this about God.
But the scriptures also declare God as the perfect embodiment of justice and righteousness. Passages like Deuteronomy 32:4 describe God as the Rock, whose actions are perfect and just, affirming His unwavering righteousness in all His dealings. Similarly, Psalm 89:14 and Psalm 11:7 emphasize that justice and righteousness are not merely attributes of God but the very foundation of His rule and interaction with humanity. In other words, it’s not merely that God is good, but that God defines what good is, and His justice never counteracts his goodness. The combination of these characteristics ensures that every decision made by God is inherently and absolutely fair and morally impeccable.
The problem seems to arise for some when trying to reconcile these images. When out of bounds on one side, we end up with a God who is cruel, having some proclaim, "God hates faggots," or on the other side where God shrieks in sensitivity as a culturally skittish weakling. Both of these distortions raise profound theological questions about the nature of sin, the concept of repentance, and how God's love interacts with His stance on moral transgressions. How we present this says nothing about the sinner who receives this message, but may say volumes about we who deliver these partial messages. It prompts a deep examination of whether campaigns like #HEGETSUS actually get it or if it only highlights that He gets us, but #WEDONTGETHIM.
Bring it Together
Only in Christ do justice and mercy come together in perfection, and this is worth telling: Christ is the perfect picture of love and justice. Romans 3:25-26 and 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 illustrate how divine justice is manifested through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, reconciling God's mercy with His moral law. This dual nature of God as both just and the justifier highlights His commitment to upholding justice while offering grace through faith in Jesus.
In Romans 3:25-26, Paul writes about how God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood, to be received by faith. This work of grace and act of faith demonstrates God's righteousness because, in his forbearance, he passes over the sin. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.
Just: God is just in that He cannot ignore or condone sin. His moral law demands that sin be punished, reflecting His perfect standards of justice and righteousness. The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and without the satisfaction of this justice, there can be no reconciliation with God.
Justifier: At the same time, God is the justifier, which means He declares sinners to be righteous on the basis of His grace and their faith in Jesus Christ. This justification is made possible through Christ's sacrificial death, which satisfies the demands of God's justice. Unlike Stephen Furtick’s example of God “breaking the Law” to save us, by bearing the penalty for sin, Christ’s work enables God to forgive and justify those who believe in Him without compromising His justice.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7, we see God's justice in dealing with persecution and suffering. Paul assures the Thessalonian Christians that God will repay trouble to those who trouble them and give relief to the afflicted. This is part of God's righteous judgment, which will be fully revealed when Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing glory.
Just: God's commitment to justice is clear in His promise to repay those who persecute His followers. His justice ensures that wrongdoing is addressed and that there is a moral order in the universe that He upholds. Yes, He has both the power and the will to uphold it.
Justifier: The promise of relief and vindication for believers who are persecuted for their faith points to God's role as justifier. Through Christ, believers are not only justified in a legal or forensic sense but are also promised ultimate deliverance and vindication in the face of injustice and suffering. That’s the God whose side you want to be on.
Christ embodies and enacts God's justice by satisfying the demands of God's law through His death, thereby enabling God to forgive sins without compromising His righteousness. At the same time, through faith in Christ, believers are justified—declared righteous before God—not based on their own merits but based on Christ's atoning sacrifice.
In sum, the nuanced approach to sin and its consequences within the framework of divine justice underscores the complexity but also the fairness of God's judgment. It neither leaves Him a merciless ogre nor an effeminate naive.
What Does the Message Say?
#HEGETSUS is a partial Gospel that has more of a D.E.I. sound than a B.I.B.L.E. sound. It's the planned parenthood protesters, police, cheerleaders, good students, and straight, gender-confident, regular citizens that need repenting. Sinful behavior is accepted without any inkling of justice, and without warning of what is to come. Is Hell real, and certain? “Well, we won’t say,” but what’s important here is that "He gets us." "Is the goal that people become Christians? Obviously," Bill McKendry, one of the architects said, but His "brand is not doing well." This is why the unregenerate won't listen to the Gospel. McKendry went on: "But more importantly for now… we need to raise [people's] level of respect for Jesus..." What is he saying? Jesus is just misunderstood, divine judgment is too judgmental, sin has no sting to be removed, and Hell has no heat to be avoided.
In the #HEGETSUS approach, effective Gospel preaching takes a cool, hip, low dosage, palatable, easy-going approach that ignores the sinner's hostility toward and rebellion against the all-authoritative King of the universe. In this, we end up with a Hallmark Channel Gospel where the message is reduced to a feel-good love story, and accepting Jesus is more like getting a boyfriend for Christmas or something. I think Charles Spurgeon had a better idea, he concluded: “It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.” Preach the whole Gospel, and then people may #GETHIM.