Faith That FIghts
Faith That Fights: Embracing the Strength of the Christian Life
The Christian life is a powerful battle of faith and hope, where we stand unshaken in the victory Christ has already won, confidently fighting the good fight with unwavering strength and trust in God’s promises.
The Christian life is not for the weak. One of the most misunderstood aspects of Christ and His followers is that we lack fight. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything about our faith requires having the will to fight.
The Father fought for us by sending Christ to die for our sins. Jesus fought for us by offering His body as an offering for sin. The apostles fought against the religious and political leaders of their day by refusing to be intimidated from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And many Christians throughout history have fought the good fight of faith, even at the expense of their own lives. So, yes, we take offense at the idea that Christianity is for weaklings.
The Wisdom and Power in Faith and Hope
It is the world that misconstrues physical and military activity as fighting because it doesn’t understand God's wisdom and power. As the apostle Paul declared to the churches in Corinth, “[T]he foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Paul’s language of God's foolishness and weakness is hyperbolic sarcasm. He is driving home the point that humanity is way out of its league if it thinks it has the intelligence or strength to match up against the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present God.
This is the same God who loved and cared for us when we did not consider loving or serving Him. He was with us while we were dead in trespasses and sins. He was always watching over us, nudging us onto the path that He prepared for us before the foundation of the world because we had already been chosen and predestined for salvation in Christ.
Now, there are battles ahead of us, but we stand on the shoulders of the great men and women of the faith who remind us that the war has already been won. Jesus has already secured our victory because He has risen from the grave with all power in His hands. However, we must continue in the tradition of our exalted Savior and fellow saints by fighting the good fight and keeping the faith.
In the hymn “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” eighteenth-century theologian Isaac Watts asked, “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?” The answer is a resounding no! We are called to a faith that fights. Yet, we don’t fight with sword or spear; we fight with faith and hope. Our faith is our trust in the revelation of God in the Person of Christ, and our hope is our confident expectation of our vindication by Christ on the day of His judgment.
We Will Continue To Be Unmovable and Unstoppable
It is in the final pages of his letter to the churches in Corinth that Paul brings us to the end of our faith and hope based on the victory we have in Jesus: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Paul’s encouragement to Christians in the early stages of burgeoning warfare—that would result in them being disowned by their families, ostracized from their communities, divested of their property, unjustly imprisoned, and martyred unmercifully—was to be steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord.
William Mare explains that the “present imperative [be steadfast] stresses constant Christian stability, as does [always abounding] also, [and should be translated]: ‘Continue to stand firm … always abound.’ The addition of the word [labor] to [work] … suggests that work for the Lord is to be hard work and that it involves hardship and suffering.”[1] His point is that the Christian life is a battle, but Christ has given us the ability to stand and excel despite our hardships and suffering. That’s a great place to give God praise!
So, I end where I started: the Christian life is not for the weak. The good news is that we are not weak! The Lord and His mighty power continuously strengthen us. There will be battles to fight and principalities and powers requiring us to have steadfast faith. But we will stand firm and excel in God’s work because Jesus has already given us the victory!
Dr. Isaac Hayes is an Assistant Pastor at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, and author of Men After God’s Heart: 10 Principles of Brotherly Love. He also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Follow Dr. Hayes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @RevIsaacHayes.
[1] W. Harold Mare, “1 Corinthians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 292.
The Christian life is a powerful battle of faith and hope, where we stand unshaken in the victory Christ has already won, confidently fighting the good fight with unwavering strength and trust in God’s promises.
The Christian life is not for the weak. One of the most misunderstood aspects of Christ and His followers is that we lack fight. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything about our faith requires having the will to fight.
The Father fought for us by sending Christ to die for our sins. Jesus fought for us by offering His body as an offering for sin. The apostles fought against the religious and political leaders of their day by refusing to be intimidated from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And many Christians throughout history have fought the good fight of faith, even at the expense of their own lives. So, yes, we take offense at the idea that Christianity is for weaklings.
The Wisdom and Power in Faith and Hope
It is the world that misconstrues physical and military activity as fighting because it doesn’t understand God's wisdom and power. As the apostle Paul declared to the churches in Corinth, “[T]he foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Paul’s language of God's foolishness and weakness is hyperbolic sarcasm. He is driving home the point that humanity is way out of its league if it thinks it has the intelligence or strength to match up against the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present God.
This is the same God who loved and cared for us when we did not consider loving or serving Him. He was with us while we were dead in trespasses and sins. He was always watching over us, nudging us onto the path that He prepared for us before the foundation of the world because we had already been chosen and predestined for salvation in Christ.
Now, there are battles ahead of us, but we stand on the shoulders of the great men and women of the faith who remind us that the war has already been won. Jesus has already secured our victory because He has risen from the grave with all power in His hands. However, we must continue in the tradition of our exalted Savior and fellow saints by fighting the good fight and keeping the faith.
In the hymn “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” eighteenth-century theologian Isaac Watts asked, “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?” The answer is a resounding no! We are called to a faith that fights. Yet, we don’t fight with sword or spear; we fight with faith and hope. Our faith is our trust in the revelation of God in the Person of Christ, and our hope is our confident expectation of our vindication by Christ on the day of His judgment.
We Will Continue To Be Unmovable and Unstoppable
It is in the final pages of his letter to the churches in Corinth that Paul brings us to the end of our faith and hope based on the victory we have in Jesus: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Paul’s encouragement to Christians in the early stages of burgeoning warfare—that would result in them being disowned by their families, ostracized from their communities, divested of their property, unjustly imprisoned, and martyred unmercifully—was to be steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord.
William Mare explains that the “present imperative [be steadfast] stresses constant Christian stability, as does [always abounding] also, [and should be translated]: ‘Continue to stand firm … always abound.’ The addition of the word [labor] to [work] … suggests that work for the Lord is to be hard work and that it involves hardship and suffering.”[1] His point is that the Christian life is a battle, but Christ has given us the ability to stand and excel despite our hardships and suffering. That’s a great place to give God praise!
So, I end where I started: the Christian life is not for the weak. The good news is that we are not weak! The Lord and His mighty power continuously strengthen us. There will be battles to fight and principalities and powers requiring us to have steadfast faith. But we will stand firm and excel in God’s work because Jesus has already given us the victory!
Dr. Isaac Hayes is an Assistant Pastor at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, and author of Men After God’s Heart: 10 Principles of Brotherly Love. He also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Follow Dr. Hayes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @RevIsaacHayes.
[1] W. Harold Mare, “1 Corinthians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 292.
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