The Christian’s Response to Persecution
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Romans 12.14
I have been reading through Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on Romans 12 and want to share some of his comments and some of my own on this verse about the Christian’s response to persecution.
Persecution of Christians has increased over the last 10 years all over the world. Under our civilized democracies this persecution takes the form of legislated attacks on the family structure, institutions of Christian education, individual Christians who are courageous enough to speak out against a sinful culture of death and immorality, Christian churches who are willing to take the Bible as their authority for truth, and charitable services given in the name of Jesus Christ. Under more oppressive democracies and dictatorships Christians are marginalized, physically abused, jailed and even killed while police and soldiers turn a blind eye. Persecution against Christians should not surprise us. Jesus said that in the last days, “They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24.9-13. Persecution is to be expected. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3.12. As believers we need to pray for one another and for our brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution.
Peter cautions us to be aware that we are being persecuted for the right reason, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” 1 Peter 4.15-16. Christian’s can sometimes be belligerent, disrespectful, self-righteous, the great moral authorities over culture, unkind and unloving toward unbelievers. So make sure you are being persecuted for truth and Christ-like character and not for something that is really not Christian at all.
How are we as Christians to respond to the injustice and violation of persecution? Paul’s answer in this verse clearly shows that believers in Jesus Christ are different from the world and manifest the spirit of Jesus in their response to persecutors. The command is “Bless them”. Blessing those who persecute us is not something that is done by an unbeliever.
What does it mean to bless someone? The bless someone is “to speak them good”. As Jesus said and set the example in Matthew 5.43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” So Paul and Jesus teach us to speak good and pray for those who persecute us even though they may be acting as our enemies.
Our natural reaction is not to bless but to curse our persecutors. So Paul adds the command “And do not curse them” in order that our Christian response to our persecutors may be in the right spirit and not just with hypocritical good words with a heart that means them evil. We are not to “bless” our enemies with our mouth while calling a curse upon them with our minds and hearts. We must truly mean them well and call down God’s blessing upon them, even us God brings rain on the just and the unjust.
I believe we can also extend this same principle of “bless and do not curse” to those who are not openly persecuting us but who have an opposing worldview and moral standard than we do, and to those who have different political and social views which are in opposition to the biblical worldview and morality we hold. Often Christians are portrayed as self-righteous holier-than-thou name calling bigots, who tear these people down and do not “speak good to them” and instead curse them and mock them which really shows that they are not much better in behavior than their “enemies”. This is not God’s way in the upside-down-kingdom of God. We can stand up for the truth and point out error but Christians should live higher than mocking and caricatures if they want to be like Jesus.
The response of blessing and not cursing is only possible from a Christian who knows the love of God and has received God’s mercy upon his own life. We once were enemies of God and yet God showed us love and mercy and kindness and forgiveness, and we need to remind ourselves of this as we face our enemies. To retaliate, to curse them, to hate them, to speak evil of them, will not reflect God to them and we will be like the servant whose debt was forgiven who went out and put someone who owed him far less in jail, not realizing or appreciating the forgiveness of his master. We were saved by the Grace of God and are commanded to extend that Grace to all, even our enemies.
It is also important to realize who is persecuting us and why we are being persecuting. By blessing and not cursing the persecutor we are not making their sin, their abuse, the suffering they inflict, less sinful. We are not pretending that everything is fine and that the persecution is to be ignored. We are leaving that final judgment in God’s hands. We realize that the one who is persecuting us is unsaved, a slave to sin, blind to God’s truth, and ignorant of God’s love and mercy. This persecutor is a victim of sin and the evil one and is to be pitied and blessed so that God may bring them to the knowledge of salvation. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4.3-6. Or as Paul wrote to Timothy, “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2.24-26
As the world looks at our reaction to those who persecute us they may at first think we are weak and frightened people, for the world’s way is to seek revenge, to attack, to defame, to call evil upon them, to curse them, to hurt them, and to jail and punish them. But God’s way is not the way of the world and over time the world will realize that “we have been with Jesus” and we live by another spirit, by a higher power, by love and mercy and not by meting out immediate justice. To live in this Christian way requires continued fellowship with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit. To live this way as the early believers did is to win the world for Jesus. We too often fail by our worldly reactions to persecution, demanding our Christian rights, justice, compensation, acknowledgment, retribution and so on. One of my favorite verses is in Hebrews 10.34, “For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” I think I would find it hard to live like the believers mentioned in this verse. I pray for mercy and grace to be more like Jesus.
