As World War II raged, Hitler’s commanding generals began to steal art en masse. Hitler formed an outfit explicitly tasked with the systematic looting of art and cultural artifacts across Europe. The Parisian Museum, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, was designated as the central storage unit for all the treasures that the Nazis plundered. But the Nazis also hid their loot in salt mines across Germany and Austria.
Their stolen booty included works by master artists Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Johannes Vermeer, Van Gogh, and countless others. The collection even included famous works like Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child sculpture. They were all pillaged from city museums, public galleries, and private collections.
To protect cultural artifacts from the ravages of the war, the American government formed a special task force called the Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Section (MFAA) of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.
Nicknamed the “Monuments Men,” the unit was responsible for protecting cultural relics like churches and museums, assessing damaged art inside demolished cities, and initiating restoration projects.
The Monuments Men were not trained soldiers. They were art curators, collectors, academics, and historians committed to protecting and recovering Europe’s artwork — several lost their lives in the process.1
The Apostle Paul was a Monuments Man! He protected and proclaimed the gospel treasure. Paul was concerned that, over time, the gospel would become distorted and compromised (defaced). In Paul’s letters, we find a constant theme of clarifying and defending the gospel. Knowing it would be a constant battle, he challenged Timothy to take up the same responsibility to guard this gospel treasure in his generation.
Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:14; also 1 Timothy 6:20).
As Paul guards the treasure, he reveals three ways we deface the gospel: additions, subtractions, and distortions. Let’s examine each one.
- Guarding against additions
Paul and Barnabus had just returned to Antioch from their first missionary journey, during which they had spread the gospel to Jews and Greeks. The gospel had taken root and believers were growing in their faith. But now, back in their sending church, they encounter a challenge to the gospel they had been proclaiming. The issue was not so much the content as it was in the required response – which affected the content.
Believing Jews from Jerusalem had come to Antioch to add circumcision to their faith in the gospel. They claimed that without circumcision, a person could not be saved. Requiring circumcision added works to faith and merit to Christ’s righteousness.
In a typical Bible understatement, Luke says in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabus
- had no small dissension or disputation (KJV).
- disagreed with them, arguing vehemently (NLT).
- were up on their feet at once in fierce protest (MSG).
- were livid (me).
To clarify and protect the gospel, a delegation of leaders from the Antioch church, including Paul and Barnabus, went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and elders. They had to clarify the essential gospel message in order to export it beyond Judaism and out to the nations (Acts 1:8). If the gospel was to cross cultural boundaries with a power, it needed to be free of religious traditions and cultural baggage.
When the Jerusalem leadership convened, Paul reported how the gospel they preached had the power to convert Gentiles and his version of the gospel did not include circumcision. Peter’s conclusion: “But we believe that we(the Jews) are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they (the Gentiles) also are” (Acts 15:11 ). Verdict: Circumcision is not essential to the gospel, leave it out.
Armed with a letter from the Jerusalem leaders, the delegation returns to Antioch with clarity on the gospel, with no additions. But Paul did not let down his guard. He knew it would come up again and was looking for it. Sure enough, it did with the church in Galatia.
Jewish believers again attempted to add works of the Jewish law to the gospel. When a group from James in Jerusalem came to visit the church in Galatia, they, along with Peter, created a two-tier faith. The higher level was for those who added works of the law to their justification and the lower level was for those who just had faith. Paul was incensed.
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ (Gal 1:6-7).
Peter’s error clarified the gospel and gave us key verses like Galatians 2:20.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
We, too, must guard against adding our ideas to what it means to embrace the gospel. Over time, we tend to add a little here and there until our cultural baggage compromises the historic gospel.
A current example could be adding the phrase “Invite Jesus into your heart” as the response to the gospel. It is certainly not at the same level as adding circumcision, but an addition nonetheless. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to say that. It most likely came from an inaccurate understanding of Revelations 3:20, and it became ensconced by the classic painting by Holman Hunt (1853) of Jesus standing alongside a Gothic wooden door. This Light of the World painting was a common picture in hospitals, homes, and churches (we had one in my home growing up). Countless sermons used this picture to show how to respond to the gospel. As we will explore later, the gospel’s invitation is that we join him in his grand story, not that he joins our little story.
The following blog will look at guarding against subtractions and distortions.
1 For a fuller story, read this article in the Smithsonian Magazine (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-monuments-men-180949569/)