Shaking Off Our Opposition to Opposition

On Gentleness and Offensiveness II

Sometimes, it’s ok to offend. Sometimes, it’s essential.

Questioning “Unchristian” Behaviour

We should never set out to offend people unnecessarily. I try my best not to do so, wherever possible. We should be friendly, gracious, and welcoming wherever possible. We should “let our reasonableness [and/or gentleness] be known to everyone” (Phil. 4:5). We shouldn’t blast into situations or confrontations trying to attack people for the sake of showing off our “boldness” or purely to tear people down because we dislike them or what they think. Not all boldness is good. It depends upon the situation, it depends upon the motivation. But the same goes for gentleness.

When speaking with people with whom we disagree - whether they’re Christian or not - we should be patient with them. You should seek to persuade them, wherever possible, “correcting your opponents with gentleness” (2Tim. 2:25). This is effectively what it means to practice “winsomeness”, the dominant evangelical approach of the past few decades. This approach, however, has been the subject of significant debate in recent years, not least because of the changing face of the climate in which many Christians find themselves today. Many are starting to rediscover aspects of the Bible that simply do not fit with the perpetually winsome approach, and finding very strange things there which we didn’t think were “allowed”. But who told us they weren’t allowed?

Not even Jesus calls us to be perpetually welcoming to those who will not be persuaded:

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” (Matt. 10:14-15).

When was the last time you did anything like that in your missional interactions with unbelievers today, let alone entire towns? Whilst we seek to be hospitable to those who seek to truly listen, it’s clear that there are times not to be hospitable, not to be “winsome”. We should not be ongoingly hospitable to those who have no ears to hear.

Yet there are some who believe such an approach to be impossible for a Christian to take because it sounds “unchristian”. They believe that because “God is love” and because “God so loved the world” we must love and include everybody all the time, no matter what they say or do. I have nothing against being loving and gracious and kind, but tell it to Jesus. He’s the one who said it, and He’s the one who’s God. If you end up with the conclusion that Jesus Christ is being “unchristian”, perhaps your definition of “being Christian” needs revising? Jesus gets to decide what “Christian” behaviour looks and sounds like, not us.

When Offence is Necessary

Now, there certainly are some Christian combatants who can be prone to “shaking the dust off their feet” too soon or for the wrong reasons. They may be angry, impatient, quick-tempered, or - ironically enough - offended by those who reject what they say. In online interactions, for example, it can be easy to write off the most aggressive unbelievers or opponents far too quickly. Some of them - like Paul himself - may well be closer to the kingdom than we think, and it’s not our job to determine someone’s eternal fate for them.

But whilst we should always seek to “persuade” unbelievers or erroneous believers (2Cor. 5:11), we must be mindful of another of Jesus’ unwinsome teachings: “do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matt. 7:6). What a statement, by the way. Try tweeting that today and see what people make of it! Just so we’re clear: in this analogy, the “pigs” are people. Another example of Jesus being “unchristian”, perhaps?

Not casting pearls before swine is likely the kind of thing Paul & co had in mind when they directly applied Jesus’ practice of dust-shaking in their evangelism.