The World on Addiction
We live in a very polarized world. This polarization is seen in politics, social issues, and even in the church. It is seen in binaries where everything is distilled to x’s and o’s. Whether it is us versus them, good versus evil, or right versus wrong. The world today has a seeming addiction to splitting things into these nice and neat categories. It’s intoxicating.
Binary thinking works like a shortcut for our minds. Life is complicated and often overwhelming, so we crave clear answers. Splitting the world into “good guys” and “bad guys” feels like a relief. It gives us a sense of order when everything else feels messy.
It also gives us a little boost of pride. If we can say, “I’m on the right side, they’re on the wrong side,” then we don’t just feel safe — we feel righteous. We feel like we have things figured out, like we’re in control of a world that often feels out of control.
The problem is, that clarity is only an illusion. The world isn’t that simple, and neither are people.
The danger of binary thinking is that while it looks simple on the surface, but underneath it carries a type of poison. It takes the beautiful, complex reality of human life and squeezes it into flat, either/or categories. And it’s not just ideas that get boxed in—it’s people, real people, made in the image of God.
Once we stick a label on someone as “them,” it becomes easy to push them aside. We stop seeing them as human. We forget they, too, are made in the image of God. And when that happens, it’s not long before we treat them as less than human.
That’s the tragedy of binary thinking: it doesn’t just stay in our heads or in our words. It shows up in how we treat each other. It shapes the way we argue about politics, the way we handle disagreements in our families, even the way we live as the church. Instead of drawing us closer to Christ, it pulls us apart.
As Wesleyan-Holiness people, this is something we must face honestly. We do take sin seriously—and rightly so. Scripture calls us not to be conformed to this world. But we also take love seriously, because our witness is always a response to God’s love poured out in Christ.
So we cannot simply run away from the harm that comes from false binaries. We must ask the harder question: how do we live holy lives, reflecting Christ’s holiness, without falling into the trap of “us versus them”? How do we resist the idol of false choices while still holding tightly to the biblical distinctions that are necessary for a holy life?
Jesus and the Distortion of False Binaries
The Gospels present a Jesus who consistently broke open the false either/or choices that were forced on him by others. Religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. They thought they had him caught him in a trap: either sentence her to death or condone sin by disobeying God’s Law. But Jesus refused to be pigeonholed. He laid bare the sin in their hearts, but offered mercy to her (John 8:7–11).
In another case, when a man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” He didn’t reply with a definition of neighbor. He told the story of a Samaritan (someone from the wrong race) who lived out true love (Luke 10:29–37).
Jesus shattered the boxes others tried to use. He wouldn’t let anyone be dismissed or labeled. But he wasn’t a pushover on sin. He told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). In Jesus, mercy and truth are united. It’s not the world’s either/or—it’s the paradox of holy love.
Distinction and Holiness in Wesley’s Theology
John Wesley’s own theology provides guidance on how to navigate this tension. On the one hand, Wesley was clear and unambiguous about real distinctions. He writes, “Salvation is the passing from death unto life, from sin to holiness, from the image of the devil to the image of God.”¹ The Scriptures themselves talk about light and darkness (1 John 1: 5–7), holiness and sin (Romans 6:22), life and death (Deut. 30:19). Without these distinctions, holiness loses its meaning.
Yet Wesley was also very clear that holiness was not mere rule-keeping or following categories. For Wesley, holiness was being perfected in love. “Love is the sum of all virtue, and love disposes us to good.”² In this way, holiness has nothing to do with binary thinking; holiness is the Spirit’s work of holding together grace and truth, justice and mercy, faith and works.³ Binary thinking says we must choose one or the other. Wesleyan holiness says we must be both.
The Paradox at the Heart of Holiness
In fact, the very life of God himself is our teacher here. The Trinity is a unity-in-diversity: Father, Son and Spirit–three distinct persons, yet one. The gospel itself is a paradox: life found in death, strength in weakness, exaltation in humility. For Wesley, this paradox is at the heart of the doctrine of Christian perfection: “Christian perfection is nothing higher and nothing lower than this, the pure love of God and man, the loving God with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves.”⁴
That paradox is found in the Gospel, because it is uncomfortable because it doesn’t provide simple answers or little boxes for us to fit into. It is the mystery of the gospel that the Holy Spirit uses for His profound work. Sanctification is not the resolution of the tension or the coercion of life into simplistic categories. Sanctification is the work of God’s grace forming us, enabling us to love God and others with all our heart.
Living as Wesleyan-Holiness People in a Polarized World
To live as Wesleyan-Holiness people in a world that has an addiction to binaries means refusing both extremes: the violence of false binaries on one side, and the empty tolerance of moral relativism on the other. This is a calling for the church as a whole, but also some very practical, personal steps for all of us:
- See every person as an image-bearer of God first.
- Slow down when the world wants us to outrage.
- Listen when the world wants us to judge.
- Build churches where disagreement doesn’t lead to exile.
- Speak the truth in love, both naming sin clearly and extending grace lavishly.
The kingdom of God is not built on taking sides. It is built on the cross. At Calvary, Jesus destroyed the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14–16). Jew and Gentile, man and woman, slave and free find their identity in Him as one family (Gal. 3:28).
That is holiness. Not our tribalism. Not diluting the truth. It is the fullness of God’s love that keeps us together in our differences.
Holiness as a Witness in a Binary Age
The world loves binaries because binaries are fast and easy. Binaries are black and white, and they give us simple and satisfying answers. The Kingdom of God does not work that way. To follow Jesus is not easy or instantaneous, but a slow and arduous process that transforms us from the inside out. Holiness means dwelling in the tension, where God’s grace does its deepest work – where love pours out mercy and justice together, and where truth and compassion journey hand in hand.
Wesleyan-Holiness teaching can help us with this. We are reminded that the issue is not whether we have distinctions but whether we distort them. We must cast aside the counterfeit categories that this world presents to us, but we must hold fast to the real and true distinction between sin and holiness. To be perfected in love is not to have all our answers tied in a neat little bow; it is to live as faithful witnesses to the God who reconciles all things in Christ.
In this fractured world our witness must be this: not clinging to counterfeit binaries, but embodying the holy paradox of love.
Notes
John Wesley, The Scripture Way of Salvation , in The Works of John Wesley, Bicentennial Edition (Nashville: Abingdon, 1985–), 2:160 (§I.5).
John Wesley, On Love , in Works, Bicentennial Edition , 2:47 (§I.2).
John Wesley, The Scripture Way of Salvation , Works, Bicentennial Edition , 2:161 (§II.3).
John Wesley, Christian Perfection , in Works, Bicentennial Edition , 2:104 (§I.1).
