Outside are the dogs... – Jesus (Revelation 22:15a)

There is no one in the universe (or outside the universe) who will "other" more people, more utterly, and more permanently, than the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ.

Let that sink in for a minute. Some expect us to pretend that Christians can make common cause even with people plotting destruction because, after all, we wouldn't want to "demonize" or "other" them. But Jesus has no problem with talking about the broad way and the narrow way; the saved and the lost; the children of Satan and the children of God. "Us," and "others."

Just for fun, let's list a few of the people Jesus "othered" in His short ministry.

The Pharisees,

the Sadducees,

the Scribes,

the Herodians,

the priests,

the High Priest,

the fake High Priest,

the fake king,

a foreign woman who needed His help,

Jerusalem,

the Disciples,

Judas,

Peter.

Oh, my. Jesus "othered" Peter. No, worse. In the twisted terminology of our times, Jesus "demonized" Peter.

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23)

This is instructive. Why, in that moment, did Jesus identify Peter with the Enemy of God and mankind?

First: Because it was TRUE. People who don't want us to "other" outsiders, or call murderers and liars "sons of the devil," are really insisting that we lie.

Second: Because Peter's GOOD INTENTIONS were leading him into darkness. Simon wanted to spare the Lord from a gruesome death. Those are some good intentions. But if he had had his way, every human being would have been lost forever. No Cross, no salvation, utter destruction of the human race. Jesus wanted to jolt Peter into realizing that he had to get with God's program, whether he understood it or not. To put a sharper point on it: Jesus puts zero value on your "good intentions" if they're outside the plan of God.

Third: He wanted to RESTORE Peter. It isn't just for the sake of truth and plain dealing that the Christian refuses fellowship with someone who is outside the circle of grace or civil discourse. It's to bring that person inside the circle.

Exhibit A:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)

The "extreme othering" worked. The excommunicated man repented, and was brought back inside the circle, as we read in 2 Corinthians.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

If there is any concept which cannot by any conjuring be removed from the teaching of Our Lord, it is that of the great separation; the sheep and the goats, the broad way and the narrow, the wheat and the tares, the winnowing fan, the wise and foolish virgins, the good fish and the refuse, the door closed on the marriage feast, with some inside and some outside in the dark.

Oh, the "othering!"

It's not Christ-like to come alongside the spiritual progeny of genocidal maniacs and say to them, "Hey, brothers and sisters, you've got some good impulses there. Really respect you for that. We'd like to learn from you, and maybe come up with a joint venture for this new world we're both looking for. Whaddya say?"

That's anti-Christian.

So, believers, don't be cowed by the shameless voices trying to shame you. Keep discerning those goats, keep uncloaking those wolves, and keep calling evil by its real name – just like Jesus does. The long-awaited Christian-Marxist "synthesis" will be delayed indefinitely, whether you abandon your convictions or keep them. Might as well keep them.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)