The Theology of Separation

The separation of Church and government or church and the world. The church is compared to the brotherhood under the Fatherhood of God by faith in Jesus Christ. The brethren or the brotherhood as the church of Jesus Christ are the called out of the world and separated themselves from the evil and corrupt world. The government is the servant of the people and a minister of God to enforce and maintain law and order in the world (society) of godless people.

The brotherhood has to love, serve and care for one another but not to serve the government or in the government. We are affected as a church or individual Christians today because there something is wrong with the way the church is form today. Participation and submission do not mean cooperation and agreement. The brethren are separated orf must separate from the world. However, this cannot be done effectively unless the brethren are separated from the world. This is the literal response to II Corinthian 6: 17 i.e., to come out from among them and be separate. But the coming out and separating do mean to be fragment and scattered as sheep without a shepherd so to speak. The brethren s the church be organized in a manner similar to the one Christ built. What is the church that Jesus built? Jesus said, in the world but not of this world (John 15:19; 17:16). When asked by Pontius Pilate, Jesus replied, my kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

The theology of separation is the antidote to split level Christianity of Bulatao and Mercado. Kierkegaard when he brought to circulation the existential or concrete Christianity, referred to the Christianity of the New Testament in contrast to organized church-Christianity of today (The Theology of Anabaptism, Robert Friedmann, p 30). As in the separation, the church should not meddle nor cooperate, nor serve the government or at the disposal of the state or government. Either the government should meddle with the affairs and functions of the church. The church can put up its own socio-economic-political system. Separation calls for the rethinking of the structure, mission and purpose of the church. The revitalization of the New Testament concept of the of the church. The church therefore should engage itself is socio-economic endeavours as part of its mandate.

What Should Be Done?

The relevance of the church in today’s society always puzzles everybody. Is the church really necessary for the globalized world? There are many problems plaguing the contemporary society and the answers seems to be in the church. But the churches are unable or not equip to respond meaningfully. The church at the time of the Apostle has provided a way out to the sick society then. Why? What is lacking in today church, why its relevance is in question?

However, today what we have is not really the church that Jesus built. What we have is simply a liturgical association which main function is to conduct worship activities. Therefore, any time the church is mentioned it is equated to worship. An activity-oriented gathering confined only to ordered and structured liturgical worship service. The adherents are only gathered during the Sunday to celebrate the worship service. They are seated to hear the message from God, sing and share their offerings as a gesture of participation to finance the operation of the church. And what about the message from God? What the message all about anyway? It’s an age-old message that Christian believers have nothing to do with the world because God mandated in the Bible that the believers have to be separated from the world and the only responsibility they have is the Great Commission that is to disciple men to poverty and sufferings

If the current understanding is far from what was presented here and therefore, the function of the church is only for worship, what should be done in order to be faithful to the church of Jesus Christ? In fact, the church could address many issues of relevance in the contemporary world appropriately today by going back to the root.

The church as a nation and race similar to the Jews, the Chinese, the Muslims, etc it can create great impact and influence in economics. It can participate in financial activities of the state. The Christian church is not only a form of faith or religion; it is a form of ethnicity where Christians should be ethnocentric.
Rod B. Alcazar