The irony of this era is not lost on me; we are supposedly living in the information age, but misinformation, especially from sources that are expected to be credible, has never been more prevalent. As a result, when some people state the obvious, they are often seen as geniuses. In normal times, any person of faith professing that Jesus is enough shouldn’t be anything special. It’s like telling us that water is wet; you don’t get any prizes for such submissions, nor does it make the news. I will be the first to admit that I’m also a man of like passion, far from the finished article and certainly not one to claim moral authority, but this race is not for the swift – it’s for the forgiven. Most great communicators already know this: when a great message comes through to you, more importantly, it also comes to you. As I listened to Oluwatosin, an inspirational song by Tkeyz and Steven Hills, I felt nudged to share thoughts that I believe could contribute meaningfully to the conversation. As usual, the most consequential figure on sound doctrine, a certain Paul of Tarsus, will provide valuable ad libs.
Fais Comme Tu Veux?
There is something known as exegesis, which is the proper interpretation or explanation of the Scriptures. It doesn’t just examine a text but also interrogates the context to reveal the truth or the original intention of the author. This distinction is critical because whilst different writers curated the different books that became the canonised bible, the author of the Scripture is God. It is also worth noting that those writers lived in different times and experiences in terms of culture, history and language. Thus, if God is the author and is also a spirit, then a proper understanding of the Scripture cannot fully be achieved by human intelligence but through divine revelation. This is why Paul, in his second letter to the community of faith in Corinth, said, “the letter (the literal, academic and oftentimes legalistic interpretation of the Scriptures) kills, but the spirit (of God which guides into all truth) gives life.
There are three figures that I find very relatable, not just owing to their life stories but also their mastery of communication. The first is David; he’s mostly known for his stellar leadership and military exploits, but many people forget that he was also known as the Sweet Psalmist of his homeland. David didn’t just write the 23rd psalms (letter), he knew the Good Shepherd (spirit) – hence his use of personal pronouns in that famous piece of literature to highlight that close relationship doesn’t go unnoticed. Jesus is literally known as the Word of God, so when Jesus communicates, he’s intentional because he didn’t have a message; he is the message. For example, when he said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” – the repetitive use of the definite article is for emphasis.
Paul’s style of writing is so profound that his signature is known as apodeixis. His scholarly background as a student of the esteemed Gamaliel, combined with the numerous revelations he received from God, demonstrates his ability to weave words with great skill and wisdom. Paul wasn’t politically correct, nor did he mince words over his position on the adulteration of the gospel: “Let me be blunt: if one of us – even if an angel from heaven were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed.” This is not a statement to be taken lightly because later on in the same chapter of his letter to the community of faith in Ephesians, Paul states the basis of his audacity and convictions: “this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn’t receive it through the traditions, and I wasn’t taught it in school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.” This is why I strongly believe that during the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, when he said he had many things to say but the people couldn’t handle it, the plan wasn’t just to send the Holy Spirit, but Paul was also in the cut. There is a method to the madness; hence Paul’s famous admonition to his protégé on the need to “rightly divide the word of truth”. As a skilled tentmaker, Paul knew a thing or two about orthotomeo, the Greek word for precision in cutting. I shared all that to say this: we shouldn’t conflate standard with style because when it comes to the gospel of God’s grace, forgive my French, but it’s not lâchez-vous!
Soteria
Salvation is not just forgiveness of sin, it’s the total package that includes deliverance, prosperity, preservation, freedom, physical, mental and spiritual wholeness. All of this is collectively known as the gospel of God’s grace. So technically, none of these features is a stand-alone. This doesn’t mean God wants people poor as some have erroneously and sometimes maliciously alluded to, it’s really more about properly situating the emphasis – Jesus. The recent furore over comments on prosperity reminded me of what I was trying to communicate exactly four months ago. In Acts 20:24, Paul writes as he prepares to embark on a journey to a hostile region: “none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Translation: I am fully immersed in this message such that its inerrancy is the hill I’m willing to die on, literally. There are certain people I don’t argue with, and Paul is one of such people; he’s a subject matter expert, and whenever he talks, everyone should take notes.
I have a profound appreciation for nuance because many things can be true at the same time. Remember the dangers of the single story? It creates stereotypes; the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. For example, it’s true that Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy man, had the socio-political clout to demand Jesus’ body from the Roman authorities and, in so doing, fulfilled scriptures; not just by ensuring Jesus was properly buried but also that his bones would not be broken. If we then make people with wealth the SI Unit, where then do we put Ananias? Ananias was a guy who probably didn’t have millions in his bank account or huge followers; we almost didn’t know he existed until Jesus appeared to him and gave him specific instructions on Paul. As someone who my former boss once entrusted with state government digital assets to manage, I know exactly who Ananias is. When companies onboard blue-chip clients, they don’t assign those HNIs to interns or rookies but to top account managers. That tells us that Ananias sef no small. If we make education/intelligence the SI Unit, then where do we place Peter and John, who were “unlearned and untrained in the schools”?
What about John? If he had been dismissed because he was the youngest disciple, we would have lost out on his unique perspective. Of the synoptic gospels, it was only John that focused on the divinity of Jesus. Whilst others invested ample time in telling us who begat who, John tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh who is full of grace. This reminds me of Elihu; he, too, was the youngest of the friends who visited Job following the devastation of his wealth and family. You can feel the cultural tension in the text as he struggles between keeping quiet or speaking up and being perceived as disrespectful: “I’m a young man and you are all old and experienced. That’s why I kept quiet and held back from joining the discussion. I kept thinking, experience will tell. The longer you live, the wiser you become. But I see I was wrong – it’s God’s Spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty One, that makes wise human insight possible. The experts have no corner on wisdom; getting old doesn’t guarantee good sense. So I’ve decided to speak up. Listen well! I’m going to tell you exactly what I think.” I wrote in my book, Hope Is Not A Strategy, that, “the so-called mainstream is not the only stream because God has children in different area codes some of us don’t know about”. So we have to be careful before dismissing certain demographics because the grace of God that brings soteria has appeared to everyone.
The Crossover Phenomenon
When Jesus told his disciples to cross over to the other side, to being Decapolis (a confederation of ten cities which was heavily populated by Gentiles), an unusual storm emerged. When they got to the other side, it became immediately apparent why their journey was tumultuous–some territorial forces weren’t particularly excited about this missionary voyage. Interestingly, Paul, who by his own admission identified as “The Apostle of the Gentiles”, also faced an unusual storm on his way to uncharted territory, so much so that an angel had to show up and assure him that the shipwreck wouldn’t lead to any loss of life. Here is the parallel in both stories: both men, in their bid to share the culture of the kingdom of heaven with hitherto unreached gentile regions, faced stiff resistance. The demon-possessed man whom Jesus met, isolated in the tombs and the island (which literally means an isolated piece of land) where Paul eventually found himself, are metaphors for demography that needed to be reached out to and converted.
You’re probably wondering how all these have anything to do with a song, just dey with me. Earlier this year, a song was released, and it crossed over into places and demographics that such songs typically don’t get into; No Turning Back II went crazy on TikTok, and even in the clubs, people were playing it. Then came the storm of criticism: some people accused the singer of being worldly, having a strange haircut and other crash out talking points. Here is the thing: it’s entirely possible to be anointed but not culturally intelligent. The disciples of Jesus saw him walking on water, but their diagnosis was that of a ghost, not God. Oluwatosin is another crossover song; it’s going to get even bigger and be played in the most unusual spaces, and that’s completely okay.
We can’t talk about shifting the culture without understanding culture wars. It’s not designed like a conventional aircraft, but that bad boy is brutally efficient in penetrating strategic locations undetected and dropping heavy payloads. To render this in bible-speak: he that is born of the spirit is like the wind, you can’t see him coming. Going along with the anecdote: imagine heading to war and you have a B-2 in your arsenal and the message of Jesus as your payload to reach your target audience, but somehow people are splitting hairs over the fact that the aircraft doesn’t look like a conventional war machine? That’s how ridiculous some of these hot takes sound. Paul said he desired to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Like Tkeyz and Steven Hill submitted in their song, Jesus is enough. If communities of faith can focus on that message and leave out unproductive chatter, we will be shocked to see what culturally intelligent ecclesias can do.
