By Nathaniel Gamble … The Importance of Loyalty in Human Life
Regardless of era and place, people have constantly devoted their attention to matters of loyalty. Loyalty to country, family, ethnic or cultural community, and even religion, are matters of daily consideration. In discussions of loyalty, the specter of disloyalty—breaking faith with people or ideas which you should implicitly support—can also haunt the conversation.
The pursuit of loyalty always carries the potential for conflict, since many dispute whether a person can have multiple loyalties and to whom or what loyalty is due. In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, there has been much discussion for the last couple of decades regarding the real or perceived dichotomy between loyalty to God and loyalty to the denomination.
The Bible and Issues of Loyalty and Disloyalty
The Bible, too, extensively wrestles with the issue of loyalty. The Old Testament most often uses the concept of “covenant faithfulness” or “loving kindness” to describe loyalty, while the New Testament utilizes the word “faith” (with its semantic meanings of truth and trust, faithfulness, reliability, and even allegiance) to discuss the practice of loyalty. Likewise, both testaments use the terms “duplicity,” “double-mindedness,” “apostasy,” and, in its skeptical form, “being doubtful,” to talk about disloyalty to someone or something.
These notions of loyalty and disloyalty show up in many well-known Bible stories. Adam and Eve’s disloyalty to God’s instruction in Genesis 3 results in the stories of human rebellion and disloyalty that follow, as well as the repeated story of God’s redemption and faithfulness: the biblical stories of disloyalty under Cain (Genesis 4), Pharaoh (Exodus 1-12), Israel in the wilderness (Exodus through Numbers), Achan (Joshua 7), the Levite and the twelve tribes (Judges 19-21), Israelite and Judean kings (1 Kings through 2 Chronicles), and God’s people before and after exile (the prophets and the Gospels) are offset by stories of partial loyalty under Seth (Genesis 5), Noah (Genesis 6), Abraham (Genesis 12), Moses (Deuteronomy), Joshua (Joshua 1-6), a few leaders (Judges), a remnant of Israel after the exile (Ezra and Nehemiah), and the early Christians (Acts).
The Key to a Biblical Theology of Loyalty
The story that provides the key to the Bible’s theology of loyalty, however, is actually found in two pieces of poetry— Philippians 2:5-11 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. In these biblical passages, one a song, the other a prophecy, we find all the stories of the Bible considered in the light of loyalty: how loyalty to God was faced in the Garden of Eden and at the cross of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-4 encourages believers to take care of each other in imitation of Jesus, and then describes how Jesus exhibited care in His relationship with God and other people in Philippians 2:5-11. Jesus existed in the form of God, but did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped (Verse 6). There has been much debate among theologians about what it means for Jesus to exist in the form of God and how Jesus could have grasped at equality with God, but what is readily apparent from this hymn is that Jesus’ story begins with His relationship with God—a relationship that had already existed well before we encounter the story—and Jesus’ story purposefully intersects with another narrative that has already been told in Scripture: the tale of a figure in a garden, as told in Ezekiel 28.
In Ezekiel 28:12, God gives a prophecy about the king of Tyre. In relating this prophecy to Ezekiel, however, God chooses to talk about Tyre and its king by referring to a much older setting and set of characters: the Garden of Eden and the first human and first angelic rebel. Since the human king of Tyre is first referenced in Verse 12, it makes sense that the character in the Garden of Eden is Adam, the first man; it is entirely within reason to initially see him as the “seal of perfection” and “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” But Adam was never clothed with precious stones or gold (Verse 13), and we eventually discover that a supernatural being who was present in the Garden of Eden is also being referenced: the “guardian cherub” (Verse 14).
Even prior to his presence in the garden, this cherub had been on God’s holy mountain—in the very presence of God —until “wickedness” (literally “violent injustice” in Hebrew) was found in him (Verses 14-15). This violent injustice be- came manifest in this cherub as cruelty and oppression of others (Verse 16), the twisting and perverting of skill or ability that was intended to serve and help others (Verse 17), and actively polluting or corrupting places of refuge by crimes and mischief against those seeking sanctuary (Verse 18). The tone of this prophecy, which harkens back to the rebellion of Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) and the rampant violence in Noah’s day (Genesis 6), suggests that all these angelic actions are deliberate acts of disloyalty. And the tone of the song in Philippians 2 suggests that the author of the hymn is aware of this story and wants to tell a narrative about the divine-human figure who remained loyal to God.
The term in Philippians 2:6 for “grasp” actually means “violently seize” or “take advantage.” It bears connotations of rape, manipulation, even torture and brutal aggression to get what you want—in short, disloyalty. But instead of “grasping” at equality with God, Jesus used his equality with God to demonstrate continued loyalty to God. Jesus demonstrated his loyalty by first making himself “nothing” (with a linguistic nod to doing the opposite of vainglorious violence), then embracing the position of a servant, and finally becoming a human being (Verse 7). Still equal with God, Jesus further demonstrated his loyalty by humbling himself (thus deepening his opposition to vainglory and violence), being obedient to God, and going to such lengths in his obedience to God as to die on a cross (Verse 8). Because Jesus was loyal to God in humility, God showed his loyalty to Jesus by exalting and glorifying him (Verses 9-11).
Unlike Adam and Lucifer, who are portrayed in Ezekiel 28 as being disloyal to God and creating models of disloyalty that are imitated throughout the Bible’s stories, Jesus is shown in Philippians 2 as the example par excellence of what it means to be loyal—to God, to yourself, and to others. According to Scripture, a theology of loyalty entails humility, obedience, and love, because the Bible’s theology of loyalty is Jesus Christ.
Lingering Questions about Loyalty
This central biblical story answers the dominant question: what does it mean to be truly loyal? Loyalty means to follow and imitate Jesus. But in good biblical fashion, this central story also raises several troubling questions. In light of Jesus’ model of loyalty, what does it mean to give to Caesar and to God (Mark 12:17)?
Even more puzzling, how do you exhibit loyalty in society—all of which are technically opposed to God? What is the difference between loyalty and idolatry, or even selfish- ness? Is there a relationship between loyalty and sacrifice? Perhaps the ultimate question Jesus’ loyalty to God (and us!) poses, especially in light of the faithfulness of Jesus in Revelation, is this: is there such a thing as “bad loyalty”—loyalty that is not disloyalty, but is still used for evil purposes?
In the final analysis, these kinds of questions are absolutely essential for Adventists to consider, because the insurmountable loyalty Jesus has for God and people is the foundation of our imitation of Jesus’ loyalty.
–Nathaniel Gamble is pastor, among others, of Fort Lupton Seventh-day Adventist Church and Aspen Park Seventh-day Adventist Church. Email him at: [email protected]