by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect<\/em>” (Romans 12:2).<\/p>\n
“Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:32-33).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
These two passages stand in tension, not opposition. This tension causes us to reflect on how we, as Christians, are to fit into the culture around us. On the one hand, we are not to be conformed to this world and live as strangers and aliens on this earth. On the other hand, we know we are not to cause offense and, to some degree, blend in with cultural norms. How do we do this?<\/p>\n
Here is a suggestion: We should not strive to offend and break cultural norms that have no moral ramifications. We do not want to be a distraction or a roadblock to others hearing the gospel. We are going to be very different from those around us in our modesty, our speech, our love, our morality, etc. But the areas in which we must be different should highlight the gospel and not our individuality.<\/p>\n
I will be different from the world around me because I am imitating Christ, not because I am trying to highlight myself. In areas that are not moral battlegrounds, I cause no offense. In areas where I cannot conform to this world because of morality, I want others to see Christ in me. I do not try to stand out from the crowd to bring attention to me. I stand out from the crowd to bring attention to Christ in me.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Chadwick Brewer “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1264,353],"class_list":["post-68891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-culture","tag-influence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86646,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/culture-wars-and-spiritual-battles\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":0},"title":"Culture Wars and Spiritual Battles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer It is possible to win the culture war, as it is called, and lose the spiritual battle. They are not the same. Culturally, Christians want to stand up for the right and oppose the wrong. We want to keep evil influences from being so pervasive, so we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81400,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/culture-and-the-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":1},"title":"Culture and the Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Christians are called upon to live in a difficult world while, on the one hand, remaining holy and separate (II Corinthians 6:14-7:1) and, on the other hand, engaging in it as salt and light (Matthew 5:14-16). This is no small task. We need to know what we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-information-is-making-it-easier-for-us-to-teach-our-youth-and-new-converts-not-to-be-conformed-to-this-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":2},"title":"Your information is making it easier for us to teach our youth and new converts not to be conformed to this world","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your concepts about bringing the church in the New Testament are really nice to hear because nowadays churches are not giving emphasis enough that we must not be conformed to this world again. Now it will be easier for us to help in teachings our youth and new converts.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-spirit-of-offense\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":3},"title":"What is the spirit of offense?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the spirit of offense? How do you know if you have it? Why do so many churches use this phrase against people to control them? Answer: The phrase \"spirit of offense\" is not found in the Bible. People can cause offenses by their behavior, but using the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4357,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/these-are-our-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":4},"title":"These Are Our Times","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Abusive. Heartless. Brutal. Slanderous. Reckless (read II Timothy 3:1-5). These are our times. These are times in which people will brutally kill a child in the womb, then slander and curse those who would oppose it. These are times in which people will be reckless in behavior,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-not-love-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":68891,"position":5},"title":"Do Not Love the World","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse The fact that Christian people are to be different from those who do not follow Christ, is clearly stated for us in I John 2:15-17: \"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}