The Meaning of Identification

The Meaning of Identification

by Max Warren

229Effective partnership between the Christians of the West and the Christians of Asia and Africa is one of the vital needs of the Christian mission of our time. But it is precisely now when it is most necessary that it is most difficult to realize. For one pattern of power in the world is disintegrating and the new pattern of power has not yet reached stability, and Christians by virtue of their involvement in history are inescapably related to one or other of these patterns of power. Here is the inner significance for the Christian mission of the revolt of Asia and Africa against the dominion of the West, of contemporary nationalism and racialism, in relation to the Church.

As might be expected it is among those who represent the most direct and immediate contact between the Church in the West and the Church in Asia and Africa that an awareness of this situation is most acute—that is, among missionaries from the West and some at least of their colleagues in the church in which they serve. This awareness has been reflected increasingly in recent years by the use of the phrase “identification with” as providing a clue to a new and creative relationship between East and West. There is, as we shall see, a shrewd Christian instinct at work in the choice of this word, a staking out of a claim that in a world of flux, in a world of power struggle, there is an incalculable potentiality in the power of love, the power to identify oneself with another in his 230hopes and fears, in his triumphs and failures, his generosity and his need, the power to break down separation, the power to be at one.

To speak of the power of love in a world of power struggle is to lay oneself open to the charge of sentimentality. This charge can only be met if it is clearly recognized and then translated into practice that love, Christianly understood, signifies an outward moving of the will in service, in service to which no limit is attached. The call to love is a call to a life of unlimited liability. The goal of this service in the common life of men is right living, which means a reflection of the divine righteousness. A just society is one in which this righteousness finds expression.

But where is the just society? In experience its realization is always being postponed. And the ground of postponement is man’s refusal to love the highest when he sees it, in his preference for discovering the highest in the realization of his own desires. Society so organized needs redemption and rescue. The Christian reading of the meaning of life and history is that into this situation there has already come the power of love, that it is always at work, and that it is ceaselessly seeking to find outward expression in the acceptance of its dominion by individuals, groups, and societies. This is but to define in other words the Christian belief in revelation as the unveiling of the true meaning of creation, incarnation, redemption, resurrection, and the indwelling of Holy Spirit. And the focal point of revelation, now as always, is incarnation—the point where a principle becomes personal.

The best expression of this whole argument that I have met recently is found in a passage in that important contribution to our subject by Dr. Kenneth Cragg, entitled The Call of the Minaret. This book is an attempt to come near the world of Islam by way of identification—not the identification of Christianity with Islam, but the costly effort of the Christian to enter into a real conversation, with the Moslem, never overlooking the cost this will also involve for the Moslem. This effort to establish communication, communion, involves for the Christian—and this must be our point of departure—a real attempt by the Christian to enter into the will of God for the Moslem, an entrance which will bring both Christian and Moslem to a new understanding of what that will demands. The need for a fresh approach to the world of Islam, the need for some new kind of initiative from the Christians of the West, would seem to be timely. Essentially the newness of this approach will be 231found in the humility which will be demanded, the self-emptying of much pride of possession which will be involved, and the readiness to take the form of a servant—a threefold attitude of mind seldom found as a natural endowment among the Christians of the West.

In Dr. Cragg’s book, which develops this whole approach with great imagination and courage, there occurs the passage which I would quote as giving us a lead into our understanding of the phrase “identification with.” He writes:

In our time we may be unable to see the way out of the human problems of the world. But the way in is clearly evident. It is to invest our lives in the service of those problems as they bear upon people. Indeed the meaning of Christian compassion is that problems become persons, and cases

The way in to the problems of our time, not the least of which is the struggle for power, is the way of incarnation, the following of the Incarnate Lord.

Let us clarify our Christian task as being a twofold one. The Church has to identify itself with the world as Christ did and with the same purpose of redemption and rescue. That is one part of the task. At the same time, as we have already seen, there is another task which lies within the life of the Church—the need to arrive at a new degree of identification between the Christians of the West and the Christians of Asia and Africa. In a special sense within the context of contemporary problems, success in the second operation is a precondition of success in the first.

We are dealing with a problem of reciprocal relationships, of genuine mutuality, which is by no means easy to define. Something will be achieved if we keep clearly in view the fact that at all times “identification with” must be an activity of persons. A church in the West cannot identify itself with a church in Asia or Africa otherwise than through the activity of persons. A lot of loose thinking would be avoided and much confusion of purpose and effort if that fact could be generally recognized. ~ -

“Identification with” becomes, then, in first instance the adventurous meeting between the messenger from the Church in the West and certain particular members of the Church in Asia or Africa. Likewise the reverse is equally true when the messenger 232of the Church in Asia or Africa comes over here to meet particular members of the Church in the West. If we in the West are more familiar with the first kind of meeting, that is an accident of history. It does not affect the principle. We may expect and hope that the latter kind of meeting will become increasingly common as messengers from Asia and Africa come in greater numbers to share in our domestic scene.

It should be obvious that in this interchange “identification with” must be mutual if it is to be a genuine partnership. This is often forgotten. “Identification with” does not mean loss of identity. It means the sympathetic entering into the life of another. Only by a deep mutuality of relationship can “identification with” be purged of a purely romantic and unreal significance. The missionary who leaves America or Britain for India does not go to meet his Indian colleague bearing all the burden of “identification with” on his own shoulders. Partnership involves for the Indian no less real an adventure of meeting, a no less difficult “identification with” the man from the West. The true dignity of relationship demands the recognition of mutuality.

But even that is not all. If identity is retained, as it must be if genuinely reciprocal relationships between church and church are to be realized, then both parties to the meeting have responsibilities back to those whom they represent. The man from the West retains with his identity his identification with those who have sent him, just as the Indian, in our illustration, has responsibilities born of his own identification with his own people. This applies pari passu if the -Indian comes to the West. Beyond this still there is the responsibility of those who send to be identified with the one sent. In a word there is then a complex of relationships involved in all efforts at “jdentification with” which must be clearly understood and kept in mind by those who would engage in this spiritual adventure. There is nothing simple about incarnation. It stretches the imagination to the limit, and its sign is the sign of the cross.

All that I have said so far goes little beyond a general indication of what “identification with” must include within its range. As a first step toward understanding its deeper implications we must

seek to understand the pattern set before us by Jesus Christ our Lord.

I would draw attention to three passages intimately linked with 233the life, conversation, and death of our Lord. The first passage is Philippians

Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

That passage corresponds to Bethlehem in the historic life of our Lord—Bethlehem in its fullest meaning which includes the fact that “there was no room for them in the inn” and the offering not only of gold and frankincense but also of myrrh.

The second passage, Psalms 40:6-8, may be said to correspond with the Temptation in the Wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; I delight

to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”

The third passage is 2 Corinthians 5:21, which is linked with Calvary:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

To this may be added by way of amplification the parallel passage from Galatians 3:13-14:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree”—that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Those passages, linked as they are with Bethlehem, the ministry ushered in by the Temptation in the Wilderness and closed by - Gethsemane, and the death upon the cross provide the theological foundation for any true appraisal of the Christian meaning of identification. Before, however, we draw from these passages certain inferences for practice let me add two other passages which provide for the superstructure to be raised upon that foundation.

234The first of these passages is found in Romans 5:18-19:

Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

The other passage is from Ephesians 2:8-10:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The foundation is laid in Jesus Christ. The superstructure built upon that foundation in human experience must take account of our human solidarity in sin and in grace and also the summons to partnership with God in which we discover the role of faithobedience.

These five passages yield the following guides to action. (1) From Philippians 2:5—8 we learn that identification involves mutuality. The Revised Standard Version—“Have this mind among yourselves” is an important clue. Identification is essentially a social activity to which no bounds can be set. From the same passage we see that the abandonment of any privileged status is demanded. Self-emptying denotes this at least. And there has to be the positive acceptance of the role of the servant.

In this connection it is worth noting that the word servant in Scripture implies not only the idea of subordination but also the concept of service as the pattern of leadership. It has, indeed, to embrace the pattern presented by the figure, with the basin and the towel, washing the disciples’ feet. But it has also to find room for Isaiah 53:11, “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.” Knowledge means much more than the possession of factual information. In its root meaning it contains the idea of bringing together, and hence the faculty of comprehension, the ability to give a balanced judgment. It is knowledge used perceptively. The man or woman who is called to be a servant may have his or her greatest contribution to make through the capacity to see things in perspective. This has a direct bearing on our theme. “Identification with” does not mean sharing a lack of perception or being unable to form sound judgments.

235A final point from the passage in Philippians may be noted. What is called for is an attitude of humility—the ability to say “no” to oneself. That is the daily dying with Christ. Saying “no” to oneself, by the way, does not necessarily mean saying “yes” to everyone else!

Passage (2), Psalm 40, presents us with a number of additional pointers along the road. We may note first that striking double nega-

tive with which the passage starts: Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire…. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.

That is, of course, hyperbole. What the Psalmist, who stands within the great prophetic tradition of Israel, is saying is that externals are not the essence of worship and that formal obedience to ritual law is no substitute for a right intention. Perhaps we can take a warning from these words that whatever the form which our identification with others may take there is no merit in the form itself. And if the form should generate a feeling either of martyrdom or of complacency then it will cease to be the vehicle of spiritual power.

“Thou hast given me an open ear” says the Psalmist. In so saying he reminds us that for identification with the will of God in any situation what is required above all else is the ability to listen—listen to God and listen to our fellow men. This, being translated, means the central importance of a time of quiet for prayer. It also means an openness to life in all its many-sidedness.

Obedience to the will of God is, of course, central to this passage. It is expressed in individual terms to remind us of an existentialist element in all obedience—the need for a response to a call, to a word spoken with an instantaneous demand. Such obedience will differ at different times and will not be the same for any two people, a thought which should save us from overready judgment of others. Incidentally, this would also seem to suggest that as we think of identification with others we should pause to consider what in them it is that we wish to identify ourselves with. The will which has to be done is God’s will, not ours or the other man’s.

A last word from the Psalmist reminds us that with our identification we are to bring a sense of joy. “I delight to do thy will, O my God.”

The third passage, 2 Corinthians 5:21, and its parallel in 236Galatians 3:13-14 show us the purposefulness of the Incarnation. It was for our sakes. Identification with others is never meant to be undertaken as a means to self-fulfillment, as an attempted escape from frustration.

The goal of that purposefulness was that those with whom the Christ identified himself “might become the righteousness of God.” That is a tremendous phrase. There we see manhood being taken up into the Godhead. It suggests a transformation, a transfiguration. Surely this has something very pertinent to say to the practice of identification with others. Our goal is not to pass out of and beyond our own racial and national heritage, to try to be more African than the African, more Indian than the Indian, an attempt foredoomed to failure. Our goal is that they may become the righteousness of God. Their goal should be a like transformation of ourselves. If it helps to this supreme end to “go native” then let us “go native,” but the proof of the value of “going native” will lie precisely, neither more or less, in the extent to which it helps to that end.

“Identification with” is, we see, a profoundly theological principle related to the divine activity of redemption.

In the fourth passage, Romans 5:18—19, we are reminded of the great truth of our human solidarity. In the first place there is the solidarity of a common need. In this we are already identified with those to whom we go, and they with us. I wonder if the failure of some missionary enterprises may not turn on the unwillingness to recognize in our feelings as well as with our minds that what we already have in common with those to whom we go, in our common sinfulness, is a solemn and inescapable bond of union.

And there is also the solidarity of mankind in grace. There is a deep and profound sense in which every man and woman we meet has already been redeemed. We address redeemed men and women. The difference between them and us, which is itself of grace, beyond our understanding, is that we know we are redeemed and they may not. It is a big difference. But the solidarity remains; they and we are both redeemed sinners. Inasmuch as we believe this our approach to others will be subtly different from the one which would see them as benighted heathen and ourselves as obviously enlightened from on high. The subtle difference makes all the difference because the look in the eye is different. Identification means sitting with men where they sit (Ezek. 3:15). The Revised Standard 237Version of that passage from Ezekiel renders it: “I sat there overwhelmed among them.” To be overwhelmed by one’s share in a common sinfulness, and in the common need for forgiveness, and in the knowledge that grace of forgiveness is available for all, is a long first step toward true identification with our fellow men.

From this it follows that if we believe that redemption has already been decisively accomplished, if as a result of Calvary our total human situation has been changed, then our minds will be open to the possibility that God has already gone ahead of us into every place, cultural, religious, or political, to which we may find our way. We shall go then to meet God. There will be an air of expectancy about our identification.

From the last of our passages, Ephesians we are reminded of two truths of great practical importance. “By grace you have been saved through faith.” However much we may have been redeemed we only begin to enjoy redemption when we have made our own response to it by accepting it. This is, in fact, another aspect of mutuality. The response of faith means trust. And trust, in the religious sense, always expresses a mutual relationship. It is the establishment of partnership. All this is of grace, whether it be what comes to us from God and returns to Him in faith, or the response which we receive from our fellows and give to them. On this basis partnership between men can be built. On no other basis is it possible.

The second of the two truths from Ephesians is that “We are his workmanship.” We do not set out on this adventure of identification with others as an act of supererogation, something which is an optional extra to which specially gifted persons are called. Rather it is something for which we have all been “created in Christ Jesus.” It is the good way in which we have to walk, the highway of God in which the wayfaring men, however foolish, will be saved from stumbling and getting lost.

These inferences cumulatively considered provide us with the material for an attitude of mind such as can enter creatively into the human situation in which we find ourselves. “We may be unable to see our way out of the human problems of the world. But the way in is clearly evident.” What we have attempted to discover in studying these passages from the Bible is clues to our equipment so that “going in” we may be the better qualified to be the kind of persons through whom the love of God can penetrate into the heart 238of the power struggle of our time. By “going in” we seek so to labor that our human society may in some measure be more able to reflect the will of God. This is not utopianism but obedience. We cannot tell how God will bring His purposes for mankind and man’s world to a conclusion. But in so far as we identify ourselves with the will of God as revealed in Christ we can be certain that we shall be working along the line of that purpose and not against it. This gives meaning and direction and poise to life.

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