Saddleback Church founder and bestselling author Rick Warren apologized earlier this week after deleting an X post that prompted backlash for its political interpretation of the Crucifixion.
“I apologize. I wrote poorly. I don’t believe Jesus was a centrist. He stands far above it all. ‘My kingdom is not of this world…’ Jn.18:36 Jesus demands our total allegiance as the center of our lives,” wrote Warren a day after he had deleted his previous tweet.
I apologize. I wrote poorly.
I don’t believe Jesus was a centrist. He stands far above it all. “My kingdom is not of this world…” Jn.18:36Jesus demands our total allegiance as the center of our lives.
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— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) February 16, 2025
His original tweet, which drew 3.5 million views last week before he took it down Friday, suggested that the middle position of Jesus’ cross indicated that He would have been a political centrist today.
“‘They crucified Jesus with two others — one on each side & Jesus in the middle,'” Warren had written, quoting John 19:18 along with an image of the Crucifixion. “The guys on both sides were thieves. If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.”
The tweet drew many responses from prominent Christian voices on X, with many claiming Warren was reading a modern political point into the ancient biblical text that its author did not intend to convey. Justin Peters, who heads a worldwide expository preaching and teaching ministry, was critical of Warren’s biblical interpretation.
“This is, sadly, typical of Rick Warren’s approach to scripture,” wrote Peters. “This would have been laughed out of biblical hermeneutics on day 1. Basic hermeneutics dictates that you strive for authorial intent, and this is definitively NOT the point the author was making. This is not only embarrassing, it is inexcusable.”
Some thanked Warren for his apologetic tweet.
“Love you brother,” Sean McDowell, associate professor of Christian Apologetics at Biola University in California, wrote on X. “Thanks for taking the criticism seriously and responding graciously.”
Kevin Foster, lead pastor at LifeBridge Community Church in Fresno, California, tweeted that people attacked Warren “too quickly”
“You’re a legend and we appreciate what you did for the Body of Christ, and what you continue to do,” Foster wrote.
Others are still not quite satisfied with Warren’s apology.
Robert A. J. Gagnon, visiting scholar at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Ridgeland, Mississippi, penned an op-ed for The American Spectator in response to Warren’s tweet. He also echoed some of its sentiments in an X post following his apology.
“The real problem, which you don’t address in your mea culpa was that you made an exegetically indefensible claim about Scripture in order to claim divine authority for a politically indefensible position that the Democratic Party is no further from Jesus than the Republican Party,” Gagnon wrote in part. “A political party whose two main idols are virtually unlimited abortion and radical LGBTQ immorality is not just non-Christian but demonic.”
The Federalist founder Sean Davis criticized Warren for his apology in a lengthy tweet, accusing him of effectively bullying conservative Christians and exhibiting idolatry toward the prevailing liberal cultural elite.
“The problem was not what you wrote, which you well know. You communicated exactly what you intended to communicate, which was a condemnation of conservative Christians who rightfully understand that God condemns and prohibits abortion, trans ideology, and the chemical and surgical mutilation of children,” Davis wrote.
“You very clearly confessed your true idol — a desire to be loved by the world and especially its elite cultural tastemakers — when you twisted the crucifixion of Christ and the story of the thief who was saved through repentance of sin and acknowledgement of Christ as the Messiah into a hackneyed ‘both sides’ modern-day political fable.”
Davis contends Warren’s actions were meant to “nudge faithful Christians on the right” because “nobody on the Left cares what you say about anything unless it can be weaponized against the Right, which you fully understand.”
“We all see what you’re doing, and we’re not having any of it anymore,” Davis added.
The problem was not what you wrote, which you well know. You communicated exactly what you intended to communicate, which was a condemnation of conservative Christians who rightfully understand that God condemns and prohibits abortion, trans ideology, and the chemical and… https://t.co/FrmlWqNAxZ
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 17, 2025
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
