Recently while driving I saw a sticker on a car windscreen which read, “I have no problem with God. It’s his fan club I can’t stand.” The quote is attributed to Albert Einstein. Although I do not know whether Einstein actually said this or precisely what he meant by it, I believe that the upshot of this statement is that you can love God and hate the Church. Is this a consistent position to take?
To begin with there is an inescapable connection between human beings and God. Because we are creatures made in the image of God the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves as human are intrinsically linked.[1] Even as sinners we remain connected with the Creator, since we cannot sustain our own being. The God of the Bible reveals himself, not through concepts, but through human history, most specifically the history of Israel. In this sense there is no way to know God without knowing what he has done in the world of human beings.
Secondly love is not an abstract concept but a verb, an action. It is easy to say, “I love God” but the way in which this is shown to be true is through actions directed at fellow humans. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Humans were made to be dependent on one another. That is why God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). Although Adam had perfect fellowship with God this was not enough; he needed the fellowship of another human.
No doubt the idea of God appears to be lofty and noble as long as it is not attached to the reality of the Church. But God is not an idea; he is the living God who has willingly allowed himself to be known as the God of humans. “God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’’” (Exod. 3:15). In the New Testament he has unashamedly connected himself with the Church by being named “God our Father” (Col 1:2; Philemon 1:3). In the Bible there is no abstract God who is unconnected with his people.[2]
No doubt the Church is full of hypocrites, of which I am one. However, that Church is the one for whom Christ left the glory of heaven to become human and died the most shameful of deaths upon a cross. Jesus can never love God and hate the Church. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27 ESV). Jesus can never hate his bride, since he has given his life for her.
Therefore it is not possible to love God and hate the Church.