The church in every age needs models, people in whom the passion and victory of Jesus Christ are palpably manifest. As Christians, we are all called to be saints, but there are some who have been specially chosen by God to make a public witness that patently reveals the judgment of God upon human sin. We are all called to radiate the light of Christ, but only some are"There is need today for a theology of courage - of holy daring, saintly boldness - which may serve to justify the way of human beings with what has immemorially been called God." - Roger Hazelton
This is not to denigrate the unsung and unknown saints who have had
to break with friends or family or who have lost jobs or the hope of promotion
for taking a stand for what they know to be right. Or the mother
who has been left on her own to care for five children and who survives
on next-to-nothing and a living faith in God. But it is to insist
that those singled out for
public rebuke and opprobrium, especially those who die for the faith,
should be given signal recognition and honor by the church, since the sufferings
of these people become dramatically visible to the world at large.
These saints are not necessarily more worthy, but in the providence of
God their story succeeds in capturing the imagination of untold numbers,
both believers and unbelievers, and can therefore be used by the church
to instruct its children on the meaning of discipleship and to proclaim
anew to the world the cross and resurrection victory of Jesus Christ.
To be sure, any real sacrifice for the faith that comes to public attention
and poignantly demonstrate the cost of discipleship lends itself to commemoration
by the church. The Epistle to
the Hebrews does not hesitate to rejoice in the heroism of particular
Old Testament saints (ch. 11).
Every period in the church has had its celebrated representatives of the sacred. In the early church, martyrs and anchorites were held in high esteem. The medieval church accorded similar honor to monks and nuns, both contemplative and active. The Reformation period eulogized those who were concerned for purity in doctrine and liturgy, who pioneered in church reform. Biblical preachers and missionaries were the models for the Pietists and Puritans.
I suggest that the models of the future will again be the martyrs and confessors of the faith,* those who are persecuted primarily because of their Christian identity. These are people who will suffer for the sake of the gospel itself and not simply for the cause of social righteousness. These are the people who will boldly confess that Jesus Christ alone is Savior and Lord;...The demonstration of a Christian life will still be important, but it is the proclamation of the gospel that will arouse the special ire of a secularized world. Life and words, of course, go together, but the stumbling block that will elicit the rage of the world is Jesus Christ himself and those who bear witness to him (cf. John 15:18-20; Acts 4:24-26).
What I am suggesting is that the Christian message itself will become the object of ridicule. The life of discipleship will be derided precisely because it calls attention to the gospel, to is claims and imperatives. We are entering an age in which the simple confession of faith becomes the dividing line between the reprobate and the elect, the oppressors and the oppressed, the children of darkness and the children of light. [Go to part II]
[1 Confessors are those who confess the faith under persecution but do not actually suffer death for their convictions. Church historians have traditionally referred to these people as "white martyrs".]