In 1865 Sabine Baring-Gould penned the words to a song that has been sung by millions of Christians since and became the theme of the Salvation Army, “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Set to music by Arthur Sullivan in 1871, it is based upon the idea of Christians as soldiers in the army of the Lord and supported by scriptures such as 2 Timothy 2:3 (KJV) which admonishes “Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
But far too often in the history of Christianity, Christians have not lived up to the ideal of soldiers of the Gospel, and perhaps never more so than in the late 20th century and present day. Churches have been consumed by false doctrines of love and meekness and in their rush to be loving and meek have forgotten how to stand firm in the face of evil. It is undeniably true that God is a God of love. But conversely, God is also a God of righteousness and judgement. Throughout the Bible those who sinned and did not seek forgiveness faced God’s wrath and punishment, and God has not changed simply because we say that He has.
Likewise, much is made of Matthew 5:5 from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The word that is translated into English as “meek” is the Greek word transliterated into English as “praus” which means gentle as well as meek. In English, however, the word meek carries a different meaning: enduring injury with patience and without resentment, deficient in courage, quiet and unwilling to strongly support personal ideas and opinions, submissive. And thus, wrongly interpreting the meaning of the English word “meek,” Christians have become generally silent in the face of evil, forgetting that we are to be “good soldier[s] of Jesus Christ.”
Because the New Testament was largely written in Koine Greek, of the 61 translations I looked at for this article, all but 21 faithfully translated “praus” into meek. But the others, looking also at earlier manuscripts and the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the manuscripts and early translations that the King James Version and most other modern versions are based upon, translated the word differently. One used “mild,” six used “gentle,” an accurate rendering of the original Greek word, and fourteen translated the term as “humble.” Interestingly enough, the Orthodox Jewish Bible used the Hebrew word “anavim” in that verse, which translated into English, means humble. Humble: not arrogant, not overly proud or regarding others as inferior to you.
So, which is it? What is the correct rendition of that scripture? For the Hebrews to whom Jesus was speaking during the Sermon on the Mount, it would have made a very great deal of difference, for the word “meek” in Hebrew meant “lowly, poor, afflicted, wretched, weak, needy.” It would have been comforting for the poor among his listeners to hear that their reward would someday be great, but if the Beatitudes, as we call them, were intended as a guide for the Christian life, then surely Jesus was far more likely to call upon his followers to be humble than to be wretched, weak and needy!
And indeed, His teachings and the teachings of His apostles seem to carry out that very argument. Over and over we are admonished not to be arrogant and overly proud. Consider the parable of the Pharisee who stands in the Temple praying and thanking God that he is not a sinner like the tax collector standing next to him. But the tax collector, looking down, begs God to be merciful to him, a sinner. And Jesus tells the listening crowd, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” (Luke 18:14)
And the examples abound: “Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation”(Romans 12:16).
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”(James 4:6).
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3).
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”(Romans 12:3).
Jesus, Himself, was never meek in the English meaning of the word, except when He submitted to the death on the cross for our sins. Once He accepted in the Garden of Gethsemane that there was no other way, He willingly endured the shame, the agony, and the death to fulfill God’s plan and provide a means of salvation for all who choose to accept it. And He endured it all quietly and meekly as a lamb to the slaughter.
But otherwise He was never meek. At only twelve years old, in the bustling city of Jerusalem with his parents, the young Jesus left them as they departed with other pilgrims, staying behind in the Temple in order to sit with the teachers and discuss the law with them. This was not the action of a meek young lad.
During his ministry, when faced with a group of men about to stone to death a woman taken in adultery, he stopped them, wrote something on the ground, and then challenged the man without sin to cast the first stone. No one did. But a meek person, deficient in courage, unwilling to stand up for his beliefs would never have faced down a mob of angry men who, by Jewish law, were justified in what they were about to do. No, He was not meek then.
Nor was He was he meek when calling the Pharisees out for their hypocrisy time after time, once referring to them as “whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness,” (Matthew 23:27). And it was not a Man without courage, unwilling to fight for His beliefs who drove the money changers out of the Court of the Temple in Jerusalem, charging “It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves,” (Matthew21:13).
It is well beyond time, Christians, that we take up the admonition of Paul in Ephesians when he urges us:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
We are Christian soldiers. We stand between Satan and the souls on this earth. Certainly, we can pray, but there comes a time when God expects more from us. After the Israelite’s victory at Jericho, Joshua sent a small force against the city of Ai, expecting to easily take it. But instead, his forces were roundly defeated. He fell upon his knees before God, asking why they had lost the battle, why their enemies had overcome them. And God told Joshua to get up off of his knees because there was sin in the camp! A man had taken plunder instead of destroying everything as God had commanded. But the point here was that Joshua had to do something himself. God could have punished the man, but he wanted Joshua to do it. It was Joshua’s job.
God will eventually end the evil on this earth and defeat Satan. But until then, fighting Satan and evil is our job! We need to get up off our knees and do it! Speak up against sin. Speak up against what is wrong in this world. Don’t be afraid to express your ideas and opinions if they are based on Biblical scriptures. Be a soldier for Christ. Put on your armour. Pick up your sword. Don’t be meek, but be humble. And march off to war “With the cross of Jesus, going on before!”