What is the antithesis?

Of what? Antithesis, to the broader world, describes that idea which counters the thesis. The antithesis of “Social justice is a biblical concept” is “Social justice comes out of Marxist ideology.” To the Christian, however, it is more than this. “The antithesis” is a concept found in our Bibles that affirms the reality that there exists in this world two groups of people- the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and that these two groups are at war with one another. It is a way of looking at the world in light of this reality.

The church, too often, takes the eminently biblical notion that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal and turns it into the eminently carnal notion that there is no war going on. The world is, to those who don’t think in terms of the antithesis, a neutral place, Switzerland if you will. To be sure there are Nazis out there, enemies of the kingdom of God, but the great bulk of the world is made of non-combatants, well-meaning albeit ignorant civilians. Such a perspective is, well, the antithesis of what the Bible teaches.

We are engaged in a war. The war began in the garden. Satan’s first assault made of every mere human a soldier in his army. God’s promise, however, was that He would put enmity in our hearts against the serpent, that He would draft us into His army. There is, however, no way station. We are born at enmity with God, by nature His enemies. We stay that way, no matter how polite and well behaved we might be, no matter how conservative our politics might be, unless or until He gives us new life. The instant that happens we are at enmity with the Serpent, soldiers in the Lord’s army.

Antithesis then means tearing down strongholds, every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (II Corinthians 10: 4-5). The Apostle Paul, Jesus Himself, the whole of the Bible reminds us of the reality of the war. Because one of the enemy’s most potent weapons is simply getting us to forget. In our day, as the broader culture tosses overboard every vestige of its biblical heritage, the antithesis is more easy to see. Watching tens of thousands of Argentinians in a frenzy of celebration over being given the legal “right” to murder their own babies doesn’t look “neutral” to the most oblivious Christian.

The danger faced by those who are aware of the antithesis, however, is found here- knowing who and what our enemies are. There is great overlap between the culture wars and the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. But they are not the same thing. The enemy of our enemy may be someone we can fight beside. But we must remain on our guard. We must not confuse our common cause with a common faith. We must, in fact, be eager to fight the enemy within, our own sins and lofty thoughts. We have been drafted into the Lord’s army, but the old man always tries to drag us to the other side. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty. And they begin here- with repenting and believing the gospel.