Faith provides support and armour, affects our behaviour, and enables us to overcome the world - John Newton (1725 - 1807)

The practical influence of faith

Faith provides support as we pass through this wilderness

Triumph of Faith over Idolatry by Jean-Baptiste Théodon (1646–1713)

The use and importance of faith, as it respects a sinner's justification before God, has been largely insisted on. But faith is likewise of great use and importance in the daily concerns of life. Faith gives evidence and reality to things not seen, and realizes the great truths of the Gospel, so as that they become abiding and living principles of support and direction while we are passing through this wilderness. Thus, faith is as the eye and the hand, without which we cannot take one step with certainty, or attempt any service with success. It is to be wished, that this practical exercise of faith were duly attended to by all professors. We would not then meet with so many cases which perplex us, and leave us at a great difficulty to reconcile what we see in some of whom we would willingly hope well—with what we read in Scripture of the inseparable attendants of a true and living faith. For how can we but be staggered, when we hear people speaking the language of assurance—that they know their acceptance with God through Christ, and have not the least doubt of their interest in all the promises—while at the same time we see them under the influence of unsanctified tempers, of a proud, passionate, worldly, selfish, or churlish behavior?


Faith Affects Our Behaviour

The Seven Works of Mercy is an oil painting by Italian painter Caravaggio, circa 1607. The painting depicts the seven corporal works of mercy in traditional Catholic belief, which are a set of compassionate acts concerning the material welfare of others.

It is not only plain, from the general tenor of Scripture, that a covetous, a proud, or a censorious spirit, is no more consistent with the spirit of the Gospel, than drunkenness or whoredom; but there are many express texts directly pointed against the evils which too often are found among professors. Thus the Apostle James assures us, "That if any man seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, his religion is vain;" and the Apostle John, "That if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him;" and he seems to apply this character to any man, whatever his profession or pretenses may be, "who having this world's goods, and seeing his brother have need, shuts up his compassion from him." Surely these texts more than intimate, that that faith which justifies the soul, does likewise receive grace from Jesus, whereby the heart is purified, and the life regulated as befits the Gospel of Christ.


The Apostle Paul was a Champion of Free Grace But Also of Walking Worthy of God

The Conversion of Saint Paul, a 1600 painting by the Italian artist Caravaggio.

There are too many who would have preaching limited to the privileges of believers; and when the fruits of faith, and the tempers of the mind, which should be manifest in those who have "tasted that the Lord is gracious," are inculcated, think they sufficiently evade all that is said, by calling it legal preaching. I would be no advocate for legal preaching; but we must not be deterred, by the fear of a hard word, from declaring the whole counsel of God; and we have the authority and example of Paul, who was a champion of the doctrines of free grace, to animate us in exhorting professors to "walk worthy of God, who has called them to his kingdom and glory." And indeed the expression of a believer's privilege is often misunderstood. It is a believer's privilege to walk with God in the exercise of faith, and, by the power of his Spirit, to mortify the whole body of sin, to gain a growing victory over the world and self, and to make daily advances in conformity to the mind of Christ. And nothing that we profess to know, believe, or hope for, deserves the name of a privilege, farther than we are influenced by it to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. Whoever is possessed of true faith, will not confine his inquiries to the single point of his acceptance with God, or be satisfied with the distant hope of heaven hereafter. He will be likewise solicitous how he may glorify God in the world, and enjoy such foretastes of heaven as are attainable while he is yet upon earth.

Faith means that pain, chastisements, sufferings are appointed for good by Infinite Wisdom

A 19th-century painting depicting the Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Bloch

Faith, then, in its practical exercise, has for its object the whole word of God, and forms its estimate of all things with which the soul is at present concerned, according to the standard of Scripture. Like Moses, it "endures, as seeing him who is invisible." When our Lord was upon earth, and conversed with his disciples, their eyes and hearts were fixed upon him. In danger he was their defender; their guide when in perplexity; and to him they looked for the solution of all their doubts, and the supply of all their needs. He is now withdrawn from our eyes; but faith sets him still before us, for the same purposes, and, according to its degree, with the same effects, as if we actually saw him! His spiritual presence, apprehended by faith, is a restraint from evil, an encouragement to every service, and affords a present refuge and help in every time of trouble. To this is owing the delight a believer takes in ordinances, because there he meets his Lord: and to this, likewise, it is owing, that his religion is not confined to public occasions; but he is the same person in secret as he appears to be in the public assembly; for he worships him who sees in secret; and dares appeal to his all-seeing eye for the sincerity of his desires and intentions. By faith he is enabled to use prosperity with moderation; and knows and feels, that what the world calls good is of small value, unless it is accompanied with the presence and blessings of Him whom his soul loves. And his faith upholds him under all trials, by assuring him, that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of his love; that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need. Thus, his heart being fixed, trusting in the Lord, to whom he has committed all his concerns; and knowing that his best interests are safe; he is not greatly afraid of evil tidings, but enjoys a stable peace in the midst of a changing world. For, though he cannot tell what a day may bring forth, he believes that he who has invited and enabled him to cast all his cares upon him, will allow nothing to befall him but what shall be made subservient to his chief desire—the glory of God in the sanctification and final salvation of his soul. And if, through the weakness of his flesh, he is liable to be startled by the first impression of a sharp and sudden trial, he quickly flees to his strong refuge, remembers it is the Lord's doing, resigns himself to his will, and patiently expects a happy outcome.

Faith means regulating your behaviour to be like Jesus

The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt (1630) shows the Good Samaritan making arrangements with the innkeeper. A later (1633) print by Rembrandt has a reversed and somewhat expanded version of the scene.

By the same principle of faith, a believer's conduct is regulated towards his fellow-creatures; and in the discharge of the several duties and relations of life, his great aim is to please God, and to let his light shine in the world. He believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit. Humbled under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others, if he has anything against any. A due sense of what he is in the sight of the Lord, preserves him from giving way to anger, malice, and resentment. He is not easily provoked, but is "swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to become angry;" and if offended, easy to be entreated, and disposed, not only to yield to a reconciliation, but to seek it. As Jesus is his life, and righteousness, and strength—so he is his pattern. By faith he contemplates and studies this great Exemplar of philanthropy. With a holy ambition he treads in the footsteps of his Lord and Master, and learns of him to be meek and lowly, to requite injuries with kindness, and to overcome evil with good. From the same views, by faith he derives a benevolent spirit, and, according to his sphere and ability, he endeavors to promote the welfare of all around him. The law of love being thus written in his heart, and his soul set at liberty from the low and narrow dictates of a selfish spirit, his language will be truth, and his dealings equity. His promise may be depended on, without the interposition of oath, bond, or witness; and the feelings of his own heart, under the direction of an enlightened conscience and the precepts of Scripture, prompt him "to do unto others as he would desire they, in the like circumstances, should do unto him." If he is a master, he is gentle and compassionate; if a servant, he is faithful and obedient; for in either relation he acts by faith, under the eye of his Master in heaven. If he is a trader, he neither dares nor wishes to take advantage either of the ignorance or the necessities of those with whom he deals. And the same principle of love influences his whole conversation. A sense of his own infirmities makes him sympathetic to those of others: he will not readily believe bad reports about them, without sufficient proof; and even then, he will not repeat them, unless he is lawfully called to it. He believes that the precept, "Speak evil of no man," is founded upon the same authority as those which forbid committing adultery or murder; and therefore he "keeps his tongue as with a bridle."


Faith preserves and armours the believer against the world

The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1503) shows the "garden" of mundane pleasures flanked by Paradise and Hell. The exterior panel shows the world before the appearance of humanity, depicted as a disc enclosed in a sphere.

Lastly, Faith is of daily use as a preservative from a compliance with the corrupt customs and maxims of the world. The believer, though in the world, is not of it; by faith he triumphs over its smiles and enticements. He sees that all that is in the world, suited to gratify the desires of the flesh or the eye, is not only to be avoided as sinful, but as incompatible with his best pleasures. He will mix with the world so far as is necessary, in the discharge of the duties of that station of life in which the providence of God has placed him, but no farther. His leisure and inclinations are engaged in a different pursuit. Those who fear the Lord are his chosen companions: and the blessings he derives from the word, and throne, and ordinances of grace, make him look upon the poor pleasures and amusements of those who live without God in the world, with a mixture of disdain and pity. And by faith he is armored against the world's frowns. He will obey God rather than man; he will "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but will rather reprove them." And if, upon this account, he should be despised and injuriously treated, whatever loss he suffers in such a cause, he accounts his gain, and esteems such disgrace his glory.

Faith justifies, purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the world

The Harrowing of Hell as depicted by Fra Angelico.

I am not aiming to draw a perfect character, but to show the proper effects of that faith which justifies, which purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the world. A habitual endeavor to possess such a frame of spirit, and thus to adorn the Gospel of Christ, and that with growing success, is what I am persuaded you are not a stranger to; and I am afraid that those who can content themselves with aiming at anything short of this in their profession, are too much strangers to themselves, and to the nature of that liberty with which Jesus has promised to make his people free. That you may go on from strength to strength, increasing in the light and image of our Lord and Savior, is my sincere prayer.

Source: Newton, John. The Works of the Rev. John Newton. Volume I, London: J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-yard and J. Smith, No 6, Coleman-Street-Buildings, 1808, Letter VI, pages 142-148.

While today's culture denies it, the Bible assumes human defilement and uncleaness before God and addresses it through the sacrificial system culminating in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, according to Eric L. Johnson

THE HUMAN STAIN

Europeans and indigenous Americans being judged at the court of Nature for modifying their bodies, from the frontispiece to John Bulwer’s Anthropometamorphosiss, London, 1656.

Indigenous religions around the world collectively recognize taboos

Cannibalism, Brazil. Engraving by Theodor de Bry for Hans Staden's account of his 1557 captivity.

According to international surveys, most people in the world report a positive sense of subjective wellbeing (Deiner, 2000). At the same time, there is also evidence that human beings sense, way deep down, that there’s something wrong with them. To begin with, indigenous religions around the world collectively recognize a state of contamination that humans can contract after violating a cosmic norm, a belief that anthropologists have called a taboo. Usually one becomes contaminated by physical contact with something associated with badness, like something dead, or by breaking a social norm, like incest. If the impurity is not removed, the “cosmic order” will bring about “disastrous results” (Young, 1995, p. 44). One might interpret this as a primordial kind of displacement.


The cleansing rites of religions point to moral unworthiness

Woman's Bath, 1496, by Albrecht Dürer

The world’s major religions generally have a more sophisticated understanding of the awareness that “something is wrong,” and they typically address it through a more elaborate and systematic set of procedures, using various "cleansing rites”—perhaps washing rituals; sacrifices of rice, flowers, or animals; or prayers—which are necessary to “purify” the worshippers and placate the gods. Why do humans from different cultures around the world experience themselves, at least at times, as unclean and desecrated and therefore needing cleansing? After reviewing the classical evidence of this in the West, Ricoeur suggested that it “points toward a quasi-moral unworthiness” (Ricoeur, 1967, p. 35), reflecting a primordial sense of ontological shame and guilt.

The Bible assumes this sense of defilement and uncleaness before God and addresses it through the sacrificial system in which the sinner's guilt is transferred to a sacrificial animal

Zurbarán Lamb of God, Prado Museum, c. 1635-1640.

The cultic religion revealed by God through Moses (found in the Torah, the first five books of the OT) assumed this sense of defilement, and seems intended to make it more salient, and to shape and refine it, in its stories and rules (Vos, 1949), especially in the detailed rituals of the Levitical sacrificial system. God was teaching the Jews that humans really are unclean—before God—those negative emotions are not mere subjective feelings, but, at their root, are valid signs that something is objectively wrong with us, ethically and spiritually, since he himself is offended. The Torah teaches, further, that humans cannot have a positive relationship with their Creator apart from a system of restoration that he has initiated, involving the bloody death of a substitute, in which the objective shame and guilt is transferred from the shameful/guilty one (or people) to a sacrificial animal (signified by laying hands on it), which was then either killed and burned or sent away, symbolizing the divinely sanctioned destruction or carrying away of “the badness” (cf. Lev. 16:15 22; Lev 17:11; Dempster, 2004; Vos, 1949). Christians realized that these cultic practices were a divine preparation for a much more radical and personal therapeutic intervention: the sacrificial death of God’s Son. “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jo 1:29; see 1Pe 1:18-19).

THE MODERN "ABSENCE" OF DEFILEMENT

Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles, 1952, National Gallery of Australia

Today's culture denies humans are good or evil, denies defilement, and attributes shame and guilt to socialization and evolution


Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910, Art Institute of Chicago

Things of course are more complicated in our post-Christian, increasingly secular culture. At the risk of overgeneralizing, contemporary culture holds together uneasily a few contrasting secular views of the sense of morality and the spiritual realm. Hard-core naturalists believe that there is no moral or spiritual order at all. The sense that there is one is simply a result of evolutionary adaptation; believing that there are “transcendent” values promotes solidarity and cooperation, so it has helped humans survive. Humans are neither good nor evil; they just are. Humanists hold some additional values, affirming some sense of human goodness and arguing for the self’s rights to self-expression and self-realization, that may trump biological norms, hence the celebration of gay marriage, which produces no children. Officially skeptical of the modern self, postmodernists uphold the diverse values of selves-in-communities, but end up affirming most of the same values as the humanists, with a generally greater appreciation of their social situatedness. As we have seen, in this late-modern sociocultural context, without a truly transcendent standard, the Self has become the implicit, religious center of our culture. Consequently, modern, secular culture teaches that humans are either morally neutral or innately good, in either case, without evil or alienation from God, and this has led, in turn, to the relative absence of a conscious awareness of a sense of defilement. Most Western intellectuals understand shame and guilt feelings to be the result of ancient evolutionary dynamics and contemporary socialization, and therefore have no ontological truth-value, other than promoting healthy social relations.


Humans become depressed or anxious, feel shame and guilt, and experience disorders

Eve covers herself and lowers her head in shame in Rodin's Eve after the Fall.  Éve, bronze, Auguste Rodin, 1881-ca.1899, Jardin des Tuilleries, Paris

At the same time, in spite of decades of promoting an autocentric orientation in schools and media, a significant number of Westerners remain haunted by a sense of “badness.” Millions are diagnosed with clinical depression (which usually includes feelings of shame and guilt) or anxiety (which often includes a foreboding that something bad will happen to them). Some people have disorders that would seem to symbolize self-punishment, most obviously “cutting,” but also eating disorders and aspects of some personality disorders. Some think OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) may be related to “a perceived violation of moral standards, guilt, and inflated responsibility” (Doron, Sar-El, Mikulincer, & Kyrios, 2012, p. 293). Substance abuse would seem to reduce shame and guilt feelings, whereas aggressive behavior, violence, prejudice, and even an undue interest in the failings of others may indicate the projection of repressed feelings of shame and guilt.


Our negative reaction to valid criticism indicates unresolved shame and alienation

The Dunce (1886) by Harold Copping (1863–1932).

Yet such individuals are admittedly exceptional and the extent of their sense of badness is often due, at least in part, to high levels of shame they internalized in their families-of-origin. More universal is the automatic reaction of even relatively healthy people to valid criticism, perhaps more subtly indicating the repressed remnants of a primordial, unresolved shame, and signifying simultaneously the inner conflict between a sense of original goodness and the shame of alienation from one’s Creator, lying on the boundaries of human awareness. One also wonders about the underlying significance of our culture’s interest in evildoers who are different from us: “monsters” like pedophiles, serial killers, and mothers who murder their children. Even so, it must be conceded that, analogous to its reduction in cases of polio, modern culture has done a fairly effective job of undermining and minimizing conscious experience of shame and guilt.


The Implicit Religious Agenda of Modern Psychiatry and Psychology

Dr. Philippe Pinel at the Salpêtrière, 1795 by Tony Robert-Fleury. Pinel ordering the removal of chains from patients at the Paris Asylum for insane women.

Modern psychiatry and psychology have played a critical role in this reduction by radically reconceptualizing what is wrong with human beings. In the premodern West, the soul’s worst problems were understood to be ethical and spiritual. However, the replacement of theism with naturalism as the worldview underlying the care of souls in the West necessitated that psychic problems be understood solely in terms of natural dynamics (i.e., biological and psychosocial). Consequently, as a secular version of psychopathology developed, its practitioners very consciously restricted themselves to the observation of natural events and processes and observable symptoms, voided of their ethicospiritual significance. Relevant ethical terms—like envy, hatred, bitterness, adultery, and pride—were studiously avoided. Similarly, the religious and spiritual significance and remediation of shame and guilt, as well as self-hatred, loneliness, meaninglessness, and unforgiveness, were rarely considered—except their influence on psychopathology (though thankfully that has changed remarkably in recent years). As a result, the sense of defilement manifest in shame and guilt came to be considered as either the illusory legacy of maladaptive upbringing or, at best, the socially adaptive effects of evolutionary selection. Secular treatment for these negative self-conscious emotions, when needed, is medication and talk therapy, in which counselees are encouraged to reinterpret their shame and guilt feelings as merely subjective experiences that are either entirely maladaptive (Rogers, 1961), or at best, useful guides in one’s social relations (Dearing & Tangney, 2011; Harter, 2012), but in neither case do they bear any transcendent ethical or spiritual meaning.

Source: Johnson, Eric L. God and Soul Care: The Therapeutic Resources of the Christian Faith. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, manuscript submitted for publication, chapter 8 on Sin.

God is One of Us: The incarnation of Jesus Christ sets Christianity apart from every other religion according to Elyse Fitzpatrick

HE IS ONE OF US

Christ Emmanuel, Christian icon with riza by Simon Ushakov, 1668. According to the Gospel of Matthew Immanuel (Hebrew עִמָּנוּאֵל meaning, "God with us") refers to Jesus Christ.

The incarnation sets Christianity apart from every other religion

Christ Pantocrator, God incarnate in the Christian faith, shown in a mosaic from Daphni, Greece, ca. 1080-1100.

The incarnation sets Christianity apart from every other religion. The thought that God would become man is simply without parallel in any other faith. In no other religion does a god do anything more than tell his subjects what to do to become like him, earn his favor, or give instruction on how, if they’re lucky, they might avoid ticking him off. In no other religion does a creator god become weak and an indistinguishable part of his creation.

Jesus’s deity was perfectly veiled in human flesh

The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator, encaustic on panel (Saint Catherine's Monastery). The two different facial expressions on either side may emphasize Christ's two natures as fully God and fully human.

Mirror composites of the two sides of the face.

In the incarnation, God became so completely one of us that the people who lived with him didn’t notice anything special about him; Jesus’s deity was perfectly veiled in human flesh. In fact, when he went to his own village, Nazareth, “the people who had known him for many years did not receive him.” “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”they asked. “Is not his mother called Mary?”(Matt. 13: 55). Even his own family didn’t know he was the incarnate one. Think of this: “Not even his brothers believed in him”(John 7: 5).

What did Jesus look like?

The Shroud of Turin: modern photo of the face, positive left, digitally processed image right.

What did Jesus look like? A regular Joe. His form was just like ours. Put this book down for a moment and look across the room at someone. That’s how ordinary he looked. Or, better yet, look at yourself in a mirror. He looked just like you! He had eyes, pores, hair, and teeth. If you’d seen him, you wouldn’t have thought he was anything special. He didn’t have any sort of magnetism that would make you take a second look. He looked like any twenty- or thirty-something carpenter on any construction job.

Jesus completely identifies with us

Isaiah 53 in the Great Isaiah Scroll, found at Qumran and dated to the 2nd century BCE.
“He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him”

His complete identification with us shouldn’t have taken his contemporaries by surprise, because seven hundred years before his birth the prophet Isaiah spoke of how normal the Messiah would appear: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him”(Isa. 53: 2). He willingly took a servant’s form and was born in the likeness of men. He was fully human (Phil. 2: 7–8).

What was baby Jesus like?

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

What was baby Jesus like? Did he have some sort of radioactive glow about him? Maybe a little halo or cherubs floating around his head? No. He looked like any Middle Eastern infant, wrapped in rags and nursing at his mother’s breast. And contrary to the sweet carol “Away in the Manger,” he did cry when awakened by the cattle’s lowing. He cried just like us.

Jesus is unlike mythological gods

Boniface bears his crucifix after felling Thor's Oak in Bonifacius (1905) by Emil Doepler

Unlike ancient mythological gods, Jesus was no naughty demigod stripped of his superpowers and banished to earth as punishment. Jesus isn’t Thor. No, God the Son freely volunteered to become one of us and to forever take to his person all that it meant to be human. “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he [voluntarily] became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich”(2 Cor. 8: 9). The incarnation isn’t a punishment on the Son; it is an act of his love, a “voluntary humiliation.” He gladly “made himself nothing”(Phil. 2: 7 NIV). He who had everything, who was Lord of all, God Most High, creator, became a poor servant—your servant—out of love for you, his beloved. He came to serve you and win you with his love. He became one of our own so that we could be his own.

JESUS THE JEW

Moses receiving the Law (top) and reading the Law to the Israelites

But his self-humiliation didn’t end with becoming a human. He was born as a Jew, into the nation of Israel, an insignificant nation that the Lord described in this way:

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. (Deut. 7: 7)

Nehemiah describes Israel

Gustave Doré, Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, 1866.

Further, there wasn’t any other nation upon which the Lord so incessantly poured his love and yet was so opposed to his wooing. Even though he loved them, they gave themselves completely to wickedness. Nehemiah described Israel’s persistent resistance in these terms:

Nevertheless, they [the Israelites] were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. . . . Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. (Neh. 9: 26–27, 29)

Jesus born under foreign rule

The statue known as the Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century.  "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register." (Gospel of Luke, chapter 3)

In fact, this nation had a history of being so wicked that even the Philistines, those idolatrous wretches, were actually ashamed of Israel’s lewd behavior (Ezek. 16: 27). Because of the Israelites’ relentless stubbornness and unbelief, they were trodden under the heel of one wicked nation after another, and it was into this nation of failures (in every sense of that word) that the Savior chose to be born, in a Roman colony in a barn where his family had been forced to travel for taxation purposes. In his veins flowed Jewish blood, and in his manhood he remains Jesus the Jew to this day. Jesus the Jew embraces Israel’s national identity as the shameful chosen who were not known for their consecration but rather for their idolatry, insignificance, weakness, and slavery. How many times had they suffered exile as punishment for their rebellion? He came unto his own people, but in typical fashion, they “did not receive him”(John 1: 11).

Jesus came to Israel and not to the Chinese, the Romans, or the Greeks

Some of the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, c. 210 BCE.  "Don't lets appeal to the Chinese, for example, where people can read and study evidence and have a civilization. Let's go to the desert and have another revelation there," says atheist Christopher Hitchens.

He could have come as a wise Chinese, a powerful Roman, or a philosopher Greek, but he didn’t. Instead he came as a weak Savior, first to the Jews among whom there were not many wise, not many powerful, not many of noble birth (1 Cor. 1: 26), and then to all the Gentile races who would hear the message through them. He was born as Savior for a world full of foolish, weak, ignoble losers. All of Israel’s history demonstrates how willing Christ was to be humbled.

This is your Savior

The Scourging on the Front (La flagellation de face) - James Tissot

This needs to speak to your heart so that you know that no matter what kind of “loser” you are, Jesus willingly condescended to go even lower than that. He had no great pedigree. He was of questionable lineage, working class, uneducated, poor, weak, despised, rejected, and exiled. This is the baby and his family of origin; this is your Savior.

Source: Fitzpatrick, Elyse M. Found in Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013, pages 44 to 47.

In the Ancient Roman Empire, Saint Augustine (354 - 430 AD) was against Ultimate Fighting #ufc (known back then as Gladiator games)

Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1872

Augustine's friend Alypius is caught up in the whirl of easy morals at Carthage and deveops a fatal attraction to the games in the amphitheatre with its continual round of futile entertainments

The Colosseum amphitheatre in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering.

This was a constant subject of gloomy talk among my circle of friends, but I used to discuss it especially with Alypius and Nebridius. Alypius came from my own town and his people were one of the leading families. He was younger than I was and had been a student of mine both in our own town, when I first began to teach, and later on at Carthage. He was greatly attached to me because he thought that I was a good and learned man, and I was fond of him because, although he was still young, it was quite clear that he had much natural disposition to goodness. But he had been caught in the whirl of easy morals at Carthage, with its continual round of futile entertainments, and had lost his heart and his head to the games in the amphitheatre. At the time when he was so wrapped up in this wretched sport I had opened my school as professor of rhetoric in Carthage, but because of some difference of opinion which had occurred between his father and me he was not one of my pupils. I found out that he was fatally attracted by the games and it caused me grave anxiety to think that he was likely to ruin a future which promised so well, if he had not already done so. But I had no means of offering him advice or using any pressure to restrain him, for I could claim neither the privilege of a friend nor the right of a master. I thought that he shared his father's feelings about me, although, in fact, this was not the case for he ignored his father's wishes and treated me with courtesy when we met. He soon began to come and listen to some of my lectures, but he never stayed for long.


Augustine converts Alypius from his futile pastime of going to the arena to the right path




"The Conversion of St. Augustine" (Gozzoli)
The figure at right is probably Alypius.  Saint Alypius of Thagaste was bishop of the see of Tagaste (in what is now Algeria) in 394. He is also credited with building the first monastery in Africa. He was a lifelong friend of Saint Augustine of Hippo and joined him in his conversion and life in Christianity.

I had forgotten that I might use my influence with him to prevent him from wasting his talents in this thoughtless, impetuous enthusiasm for futile pastimes. But you, O Lord, who hold the reins of all you have created, had not forgotten this man who was one day to be a bishop and administer your sacrament to your children. You used me to set him on the right path, but so that we might recognize that it was all by your doing, you used me without my knowledge. One day as I sat in my usual place with my pupils before me, Alypius came in and after greeting me politely sat down and listened attentively to the lesson. It occurred to me that the passage which I happened to be reading could very well be explained by an illustration taken from the games in the arena. It would appeal to the students and make my meaning clearer, and it would also enable me to make a laughing-stock of those who were under the spell of this insane sport. You know, my God, that I was not thinking of Alypius, who so badly needed to be cured of this mania. But he took my words to heart, thinking that I had meant the allusion to apply to him alone. Anyone else would have taken this as a good reason to be angry with me, but this conscientious young man saw in it cause for anger with himself and warmer affection for me. Long ago you caused these words of yours to be inserted in your book: The wise are grateful for a remonstrance.


Alypius drags himself out of the deep pitfall into which, dazzled by the allure of pleasure, he had plunged of his own accord only to fall into the superstitious beliefs of the Manichees and their false continence

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883)

I had not meant to rebuke him, but you use us all, whether we know it or not, for a purpose which is known to you, a purpose which is just. You made my heart and my tongue burn like coals to sear his mind, which was so full of promise, and cure it when it was sick of a wasting disease. Those who have no inkling of your mercy may be silent and offer you no word of praise, but from the depths of my heart I make avowal of your mercy. For after he had heard my words, Alypius hastened to drag himself out of the deep pitfall into which, dazzled by the allure of pleasure, he had plunged of his own accord. By a great effort of self-control he shook himself free of all the dirt of the arena and never went near it again. Then he managed to overcome his father's reluctance to allow him to become a pupil of mine. His father gave in and granted his request. But once he had started his studies with me he became involved in my superstitious beliefs. He particularly admired the Manichees for their ostensible continence, which he thought quite genuine, though of course it was merely a nonsensical and deceitful method of trapping precious souls which had not learnt to feel the depth of real virtue and were easily deceived by the appearance of virtue that was spurious and counterfeit.


Alypius becomes obsessed with an extraordinary craving for gladiatorial shows



Part of the Gladiator Mosaic, displayed at the Galleria Borghese. It dates from approximately 320 AD. The Ø symbol (possibly Greek theta, for thanatos) marks a gladiator killed in combat.

But he did not abandon his career in the world, for his parents would not allow him to forget it. He went to Rome ahead of me to study law and there, strange to relate, he became obsessed with an extraordinary craving for gladiatorial shows. At first he detested these displays and refused to attend them. But one day during the season for this cruel and bloodthirsty sport he happened to meet some friends and fellow-students returning from their dinner. In a friendly way they brushed aside his resistance and his stubborn protests and carried him off to the arena.


'You may drag me there bodily,' he protested, 'but do you imagine that you can make me watch the show and give my mind to it? I shall be there, but it will be just as if I were not present, and I shall prove myself stronger than you or the games.'


When they arrived at the arena, the place was seething with the lust for cruelty

Mosaic at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid showing a retiarius named Kalendio (shown surrendering in the upper section) fighting a secutor named Astyanax. The Ø sign by Kalendio's name implies he was killed after surrendering.

He did not manage to deter them by what he said, and perhaps the very reason why they took him with them was to discover whether he would be as good as his word. When they arrived at the arena, the place was seething with the lust for cruelty. They found seats as best they could and Alypius shut his eyes tightly, determined to have nothing to do with these atrocities. If only he had closed his ears as well! For an incident in the fight drew a great roar from the crowd, and this thrilled him so deeply that he could not contain his curiosity. Whatever had caused the uproar, he was confident that, if he saw it, he would find it repulsive and remain master of himself. So he opened his eyes, and his soul was stabbed with a wound more deadly than any which the gladiator, whom he was so anxious to see, had received in his body. He fell, and fell more pitifully than the man whose fall had drawn that roar of excitement from the crowd. The din had pierced his ears and forced him to open his eyes, laying his soul open to receive the wound which struck it down. This was presumption, not courage. The weakness of his soul was in relying upon itself instead of trusting in you.


When he saw the blood He revelled in the wickedness of the fighting and was drunk with the fascination of bloodshed

Real fighters aren't afraid to get a little bloody. #ufc #ultimate #fighting #match #action #bloody #fight | UFC | Pinterest | Ufc, Blood and Sad

When he saw the blood, it was as though he had drunk a deep draught of savage passion. Instead of turning away, he fixed his eyes upon the scene and drank in all its frenzy, unaware of what he was doing. He revelled in the wickedness of the fighting and was drunk with the fascination of bloodshed. He was no longer the man who had come to the arena, but simply one of the crowd which he had joined, a fit companion for the friends who had brought him.


He watched and cheered and grew hot with excitement, and carried away with him a diseased mind

Nate Diaz celebrates after submitting Conor McGregor in the second round at UFC 196 on Saturday

Need I say more? He watched and cheered and grew hot with excitement, and when he left the arena, he carried away with him a diseased mind which would leave him no peace until he came back again, no longer simply together with the friends who had first dragged him there, but at their head, leading new sheep to the daughter. Yet you stretched out your almighty, ever merciful hand, O God, and rescued him from this madness. You taught him to trust in you, not in himself. But this was much later.

Source: Saint Augustine. Confessions. Translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin. London: Penguin Group, 1961, Book VI, sections 7 and 8, pages 120 to 123.