John Piper's X comment reveals

And America melts down

“ For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

I was reminded this morning of this Scripture from the book of Hebrews. Yesterday John Piper did what he does most days, and share on X a Bible verse that he had read that day. Well, yesterday, American went full down meltdown like a slice of manufactured cheese stuck in a microwave.

Piper tweeted,

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:34

Christians know the miserable bondage we were all in.”

What he said is true, isn’t? Are we really wanting to disagree with Leviticus 19:34? Piper doesn’t provide a context or suggest he’s thinking about any particular government policy. Piper is doing what Piper does, and that is regularly share verses from his daily Scripture reading.

Meg Basham was among the conservative glitterati who jumped on the assumption wagon,

“Not every stranger who comes to your country is a Sojourner. Some respect our system of laws and come to be a blessing to their host nation. To work hard and raise strong families.

But some come illegally. And they do not come to work hard. Some come to live off the system, and to exploit the generosity of their host nation. Others come to engage in destructive practices that harm the citizens of the host nation.

Biblical wisdom requires us to discern the difference.”

Her response was gracious compared to what came next. One might be forgiven for thinking that John Piper is Kamala Harris’ official spokesman or is himself vying for the Democratic 2028 ticket. I have many evangelical American friends, and think highly of them, but boy, there is a political disease sweeping the United States and then outcry to John Piper’s tweet is a case in point.

Erick Erickson helpfully pointed out,

“There was literally no context to John Piper’s tweet. That’s the point. You idol worshipers have added context from your idols. He tweeted at 6am and 6pm to passages from Leviticus. No one cared about the 6am tweet.”

Later on, I said this,

‘John Piper quotes Scripture and America goes insane. People can’t help filter God’s word through their own political colon and spit it out the other end. Hard to know if they’re more mad at John Piper or with God for including Lev 19:34 as Scripture.’

Piper quoted other Bible verses on the same day, and more today, and yet people found Leviticus 19:34 beyond galling.

Denny Burke offered this wise word,

‘I am for closing the border to illegal entry. I am for cracking down on immigration enforcement. I think the federal government has the right and the duty to enforce our immigration laws. I believe that all people who immigrate here legally ought to assimilate to and embrace our nation’s customs, language, and founding commitments.

And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why people are scandalized by a pastor quoting Leviticus 19:34. How else are we supposed to treat people who are “strangers” and “aliens” among us? Loving your neighbor does not entail lawlessness or open borders. Neither does quoting this verse imply any such thing.

Even in the context of a contentious immigration debate, there is no justification for imputing lawless motives to someone merely because they quote Leviticus 19:34.’

The whole non controversial Piper tweet reminds me how quick we are to judge and impugn motives on others. I’m reminded how toxic online spaces are today. I’m reminded how easily people filter the Bible through their a priori political and social convictions. If your politics prevents you from accepting the goodness and truthfulness of Scripture, then you’ve probably made an idol out of your politics.

Based on the literally thousands of responses, it’s hard to know whether some people are more angry at Piper for quoting this Scripture or they are with Levi

One person responded to me saying,

“We’re mad at people like Piper misusing God’s word to push a progressive political agenda.”

Another claimed, while having a dig at Russell Moore,

“And yet not a word from those defending Piper on the misuse of that scripture by others that caused the stink . . Not a word, using scriptures that support treating people fairly and loving thy neigbor translated by politcal partisans, is sad.”

And this doozy,

“Sissy pastors who defend this effeminate leftist wolf is a big problem in the Church.”

The outrage isn’t one sided. Anger is burning at both ends of the American candle. For example, earlier in the week an upcoming Democrat politician paraphrased Jesus and used the language of loving neighbour as an argument for dismissing Christian objections to abortion and same sex marriage. The temptation, if you’re a Christian who finds the Presidency of Donald Trump problematic, is to leap onto Miley Cyrus’ wrecking ball pendulum and swing to another unhelpful position.

Christians have something to say about social issues and public discourse, and yet we seek the common good while saying amen to Jesus and the Apostles who tell us that this world is not our home. We are aliens. We are sojourners, awaiting our true home.

Coming back to Hebrews ch.4…when Hebrews speaks of God’s word as a sword, the author gives us a visual of how the word cuts into the heart, exposing our idols and biases. The word that brings healing also wounds like a surgeon’s scalpel.

If we take offence at God’s words about treating the alien or if we take offence at the Bible’s clear rejection of same sex marriage, then the fault is with us, and not with God.

My urging for fellow believers is, don’t let your love for or distaste for one side of politics push you to another side and therefore diminish the unsettling yet wonderful and vital words of God. I’m not suggesting that all politics is equal in truth or goodness; of course not. Whatever John Piper’s reasoning for sharing the verse, and other Bible verses that same day, a better response is to allow the sword of the Spirit to do that essential heart work in all us.