Anabaptist History (Day 2) the Early Church — Dean Taylor

Kingdom Theology and the Early Church

All right, so now we're going to talk about the early church. To begin our discussion about the early church, one of the things that I have to talk about is kingdom theology. Now you've probably heard that a lot around here.

You see a whole class dedicated to kingdom theology. You've probably seen it, I'm sure, in Brother Steve Brubaker's class with Anabaptist worldview. But the concept of the kingdom understanding or kingdom theology is very dear to early Christianity.

It was to the people through the dark ages, the radical churches, and it is to Anabaptists today. And I think it should be to you today. And do you know why I think it's so important? Going back to my paradigm, because it was important to who?

To Jesus. There was nothing he talked about more than the kingdom, nothing. And I guarantee you, if you let these seeds of this concept of a kingdom come out, it will change your entire worldview, guaranteed.

I remember even years ago, David Rousseau wrote a book, The Kingdom Turned the World Upside Down, and I was actually a little perturbed that he was harping on the kingdom thing too much. And I remember reading the book saying, okay, he's a great, he's like a father figure to me.

So I said, I took his challenge in the book and I said, okay, and I reread the New Testament with that theme in my mind. And suddenly I did realize just how important it is to Jesus, which makes it very important to us.

The concept of, the idea of God wanting to bring about a kingdom that glorifies his name here on earth. He talked about, if you stacked up the passages that Jesus spoke of the kingdom, it's more than he spoke on faith and heaven and hell all combined, Jesus' words on the kingdom.

And here's the thing, if even if today you get an understanding of kingdom theology, I encourage you to reread Matthew 13. And in Matthew 13, in each one of those parables that Jesus gives us, he talks about the kingdom being something very small, like a mustard seed, a pinch of leaven, a little bitty coin that grows interest, but each thing is something that grows.

And when you begin to understand that Jesus came to do something completely incredible on this earth, that kingdom theology will begin to grow as Jesus gives us that analogy in 13, Matthew 13. So what is kingdom theology?

I have a definition on your handout. I use David Bersow's definition, and he says this, he defines kingdom Christians as, quote, Christians who focus on the lifestyle teachings of Jesus, recognizing that God's kingdom is in no way connected to the kingdoms of this world.

Such Christians realize that the kingdom of God is a present reality, and they recognize that the essence of Christianity is an obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ. That passage there, or that section there, Christian is an obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ.

Although living in this world, kingdom Christians live as citizens of Christ's kingdom. And I believe, and we're going to see this paradigm and this frame, I like to use that word frame, if you know what I mean by that, how we frame our arguments, how we frame the way we look at things.

I believe losing this frame of the teachings of Christ and the emphasis of Jesus' emphasis is what has hurt us through every century, and it's hurting us today, losing this. So, kingdom, so I'm going to give a little bit of background from the scriptures.

Caesar Augustus and the Radical Claim That Jesus Is Lord

But first, there was Caesar Augustus, and in Luke chapter 2, Luke gives us this little brief word that says, Luke chapter 2, in those days, chapter 2 verse 1, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire world.

He gives us the idea that Caesar Augustus was in power. Now, it's interesting that Caesar Augustus, the whole name Augustus means the venerated one or the worshipable one. It was a title given to him that he was one that was thought to be known as God.

And the language that they used to discuss Caesar, when you hear that language, it makes the words that Jesus gave really come out in a strangely even political way, political not like we would think in today political, but political of a kingdom of God indifferent to the kingdom of this world.

Listen to something that was written in 9 BC, right before the coming of Jesus. This is speaking of Caesar Augustus. The most divine Caesar, we should consider equal to the beginning of all things. For when everything was falling into disorder and tending toward desolation, he restored it once more and gave to the whole world a new aura.

Caesar, the common good, fortune of all, the beginning of life and vitality, all the cities unanimously adopt the birthday of the divine Caesar as the new beginning of the year. Whereas providence, which has regulated our whole existence, has brought our life to the climax of perfection and giving to us the emperor Augustus, whom it providence filled with strength for the welfare of men and who being sent to us and our descendants as savior, who put an end to war and has set all things in order.

And whereas having become God manifest, having become God manifest, Caesar has fulfilled all the hopes of earlier times in surpassing all the benefactors who preceded him. And whereas finally the birthday of the God Augustus has been for the whole world the beginning of the good news, the evangelion concerning him, therefore let a new era begin from his birth, 9 BC.

Now with that kind of language circulating around, imagine what it meant to say, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is our Caesar. Jesus is, it's his way and it's his kingdom that we are here to establish. Suddenly that becomes a very radical statement, a very politically radical statement.

And when they said that, you can understand why they got themselves into so much trouble. But here I'm going to go into some of the questions you have in your handout there. I'm going to look at some, just touch on some of the scriptures that talk about where did this whole kingdom idea come from?

Isaiah's Prophecies of the Coming Kingdom

If you have your Bible, if you don't you can hear me. If you have your Bible, I'd like to open up to Isaiah. A lot of Jesus' teachings and the teachings of the kingdom pour out from this beautiful prophecies of Isaiah.

Interestingly enough, the Dead Sea Scrolls, you've heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, these ancient documents that they found of the Old Testament, which kind of gave a lot of credence to the antiquity or the oldness of the Old Testament.

They found all kinds of scraps. As a matter of fact, years ago for a wedding anniversary, we stood in this huge line to see a piece of the Dead Sea Scroll in Dallas once. We got there, I paid a lot of money and we waited in line and all of a sudden I got to there and there was this little thing that, to me, looked like beef jerky.

But they said that was a piece of the Dead Sea Scroll and they even had the interpretation and that was what they called it. Of all the books that they've been able to find, Isaiah, interestingly enough, is a book that they have almost the whole thing of.

They say there's a museum in Jerusalem that's like a circle. You go in there and they have the whole scrolls of Isaiah right there. I think it's a testimony of saying, your Messiah has come and it's Jesus Christ.

But if you look at Isaiah chapter 1, and I'm just kind of touching on some of these prophecies. If you look at Isaiah chapter 1, you get some of this anticipation of what God was wanting to do with His Son, Jesus Christ.

Beginning at chapter 1, beginning at verse 10. Hear the words of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord?

I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of the fed beast, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. When ye come and appear before me, who hath required to set your hand to tread my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. I can't stand it. It is iniquity. Even your solemn meetings, your new moons and your appointed feast, my soul hates.

They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Then he says, wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.

Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. It begins to see this anticipation of what God was wanting to do. It goes on and on. I'm just having to skip through here. Look at chapter two now.

And it shall come to pass, verse two, in that last days at the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it.

People are going to come from everywhere, Gentiles and everything. And in many people shall go and say, come ye and let us come into the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways.

On this mountain they will come and they will teach us his ways. And he will walk in the paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And you know, interesting, Jonathan Edwards frequently spoke of this passage as the end time revivals that he was thinking was coming during the great awakening.

He didn't usually quote the next passage though, which goes with it. And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. That's what it's like to be a kingdom person in the New Covenant. Okay, go on. Again, I'm just skipping through here.

Chapter 9, Isaiah continuing with this anticipation. And this one we pick up in the New Testament. Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as it was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the ways of the sea beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations.

And then here it is. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hath multiplied the nation and not increased the joy.

The joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hath broken the yoke of his burden and the staff off his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

Look at verse 5. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and their garments rolled in blood. But this, their garments, shall be with burning and fuel for fire. Why? For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.

He has a government. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Listen to this verse. And the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.

Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with justice and with justice, fairness, from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Wow.

We get into Isaiah 60 and we see, 61, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, and has sent me, and he goes on to the passage that we remember from Jesus.

And so this idea of that would come, the early Christians, and the way I read Jesus Christ,.

It came, it came.

And the increase of that government, there was no end. And this paradigm, this understanding that God was wanting to do something like this among the people so that he would receive glory, is a paradigm that you cannot lose.

Because I believe it was obviously the most important thing, or the most talked about thing that Jesus spoke of. To lose this concept is to completely change the way you understand the scriptures, from the beginning to the end.

Jesus Announces the Kingdom in His Ministry

Now, you get into Matthew. Well then, did that really get fulfilled? Look at Matthew chapter 4, and Matthew chapter 4, picking up at verse 13, Matthew gives us this. Now having, now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, verse 13, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtalium, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee, and the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region in the shadow of death, the light is sprung up.

Now listen, and from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, change the whole way you're living and thinking. Why for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That concept is the early Christian concept.

It's the early Anabaptist concept, and I think it was Jesus' concept. And then Luke 4, the powerful passage there when Jesus came into the synagogue, I love this, this is one of my favorite scenes as I imagine Jesus there, and we know he's beginning his ministry and all these things, and in Luke 4, verse 16, he says, and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, and the Spirit of the Lord, imagine Jesus reading this, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and to recover the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, the Jubilee.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. Imagine the scene now. I love this. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Wow, what a moment. It's like all of what these prophets were speaking of, this coming, this incredible new kingdom, this setting things back in order like the beginning of creation, this all that God wanted to do, he now wanted to do amongst a people so that he would receive glory.

It was like all these Sabbaths and the anticipation had finally been fulfilled. I do this, and if you could bear with my singing, I'll try to give you an analogy that I sometimes use. All right. Imagine it like this, all the Old Testament unto the day.

It goes like this. I'll have a drink of water. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Sabbath day after Sabbath day. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Into the temple every year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Thinking about the prophets, talking about the day that it would finally come.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And you're hearing the scripture is fulfilled. And Jesus came and wanted to do this incredible thing of bringing in this kingdom. And this kingdom, the old kingdom, the old world is still existing and going on, but it's like he said we are ambassadors.

We are like an embassy, if you would, of a kingdom that's somewhere else. And he spoke of this kingdom over and over again and wants us to represent that, wants us to be that in this world. Do you remember some of his passages that Jesus gave us?

Seek first what? Seek first the kingdom of God. Well, does that mean just when we get to heaven? Well, he prayed. Pray like this. He says, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, what?

Come. Keep going. Where? On earth as it is in heaven. His desire to manifest this kingdom here on earth encompassed his teachings. And it encompassed the teachings of the early church and it encompassed the teachings of radical Christians that opened up the Bible throughout all generations and said, I think he wants us to do these things.

I think he'll get glory out of things like this. And it's powerful. It's beautiful. And it's interesting the way, again, these paradigms, we get switched. The famous passage, you see it, hopefully you don't see it, but in football games where people put up John 3, 16.

Even our favorite passages have been kind of tainted by this mental concept of faith just being a bunch of, like I grew up with the accept the Lord type of salvation, not a grace-filled living life salvation.

But you remember even the John 3 passages when Nicodemus came to Jesus and he said, verse 2, the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, watch now, accept a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom. In other words, you're not going to get it. It means the same word, you're not going to understand it.

Unless you are born from above, born of godly seed, not born of man, you're just not going to understand what I'm trying to do here. And he goes on, he says, and Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, okay, cannot see the kingdom.

Verse 4, Nicodemus said unto him, Well, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter again into the mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, accept a man be born of water and of spirit.

He cannot enter the kingdom of God. So, this is something that comes from God. The word there in Greek means to be born again. Both means to be born again and it's also a play on word that means to be born from above.

Born of god seed, not of man. And when you allow God to completely change your life, you get it. And then, like reading Matthew 13, you get it. And you're willing, like he goes on in Matthew 13 to say, I'll give everything I have to own this pearl of great price, to give God the glory and to exalt him.

And that kingdom kind of theology finds itself out throughout the early church. Let me read you one more passage that I think puts it in a nice perspective. It's another prophet, Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, I think it's here, Ezekiel 37, 36, excuse me.

God's Holy Name and Salvation in Ezekiel

It's another prophecy about the kingdom age or about the coming of Christ and him giving us all. It says this. This is a time when they were just, the Jews were Israelites and were just making mockery of the name of God.

And listen to the emphasis here of where God puts his salvation. Watch this. Ezekiel 36, verse 21. And watch for a difference from American modern evangelicalism. Verse 20. And when they entered into the heathen, when you went into the heathen areas, wherever you went, they profaned my holy name.

When they said to them, these are the people of the Lord and are gone forth of his land. Oh, these are the Jehovah people. And look at them. These are God's people. And boy, they're terrible. They blaspheme God with their lifestyle.

But he says this, verse 21. But I had pity. Watch what he had pity for. But I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen whether they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God.

Watch what he's about to do and watch why. Don't miss why. I do this. I'm going to do this for your, excuse me. I do not this for your sake. What I'm about to do, I'm not going to do. It's not about you.

I do not this for your sakes, oh house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen whether you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you profaned in the midst of them.

And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in your midst. When I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into my own land.

Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.

And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, watch this, and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them.

Why, what was the emphasis? Why did God, I'll ask you, why did God give His salvation there? What was the reason? What was He, what was He, it's about His holy name. It was about God. In other words, I hate to break it to you, it's not about you.

It's not about you. It's not about me. Our life is about God and our salvation is about God. You see, God didn't give us the kingdom, and it doesn't say in John 3 that God gave us the kingdom so that we can have our personal salvation.

It says it just the opposite. He gives us salvation so that we can glorify Him in the kingdom. You see, it can be interpreted differently and very scarily results can happen from looking at it the wrong way.

It's about God. It's about Him and it's about His holy name. So this kingdom concept you can't miss because it's what makes things tick to the early church. It makes them move in the persecuted area and it's what made the early Anabaptists the same way.

And you know where it comes from? Just picking up the scriptures and reading it. When you get into these theological wranglings, it happens to all of us. It moves the frame away from Christ and what He dreamt of doing and gave us a vision of doing.

The Ante-Nicene Church and Continuity With Jesus

All right, so let's go into the early Christians now and see how they put this stuff into practice. We're going to be looking at a period called the Ante-Nicene. This is A-N-T-E, Nicene. Anybody know what this means?

Anybody know what that means? It simply means ante, like the ante room of a room here. This means before. And this means Nicaea. So it's everything that was written by the early church that we have before the council of Nicaea in 325.

And so that classification of Christians is called the Ante-Nicene, not anti. It's kind of like everybody messes up Anabaptist. No, it's not anti-Baptist, and I try not to be, but it's Anabaptist. Well, it's the same way.

Ante-Nicene just means everything before Nicaea. And this is a milestone from the time of Acts to the time that came with the coming of Constantine. We're not going to get into Constantine today, but I want to make sure I give you enough of an idea from the early Christians.

As we go through the book of Acts, we see the same kind of thing talked about in a very beautiful way. From the very beginning, they say they're meeting together and wanting to anticipate this coming of this kingdom.

Throughout, Paul says when he's called into trial that he's been here to testify of bringing up the kingdom. At the very last passage, chapter 28 in the book of Acts, he talks about people visiting him in his rented house, giving people and telling them the things of the kingdom.

And so this beautiful concept goes out even in Paul. A lot of times people want to point or try to separate Paul from Jesus. And people say, are you Pauline or are you a Jesus? Well, I'm a Jesus follower, okay?

But I believe the whole word of God is true. Every single word of God is true. But I do interpret everything through Jesus. It all comes back to him. The Old Testament, I think, is fulfilled in Jesus.

And I read everything that Paul says because he's trying to make us look at Jesus. And so everything brings us to Christ. And I say, okay, what do you have for me? What do you want? And when I realize that I can't get to some of those things, then those beautiful passages of Paul say, Paul, I can't do this.

I need grace. I'm a sinner and I need for you to, these teachings that he gives me of how God, as we read in Ezekiel 36, puts that spirit within us and causes us to walk out this beautiful life that Jesus wants us to live.

We see that through Acts, and we see that through the New Testament and the different struggles that went through the New Testament. I thought I would just jump right into the Antonicene, since you probably had Bible studies on the New Testament a lot.

Early Christian Nonresistance and the Sermon on the Mount

I'm going to hit to the Antonicene. Here's a passage, I don't think I put this one in there, from Irenaeus. Irenaeus was a bishop of Lyons, France. Around the year 150, 120 or so. He says this, And they will no longer learn to fight.

The Romans, as you picked up in that Caesar passage, they believe this Roman peace was because of this God, Caesar, came. The Christians argued, no, it's not Caesar why we have this period of peace. It's because the Christians are praying for the government and praying for you and our saints among you.

They gave a lot of those analogies. He goes on, So now they are unaccustomed to fighting. When they are struck, they offer also the other cheek. So what I thought I would do now, I have a series of quotes, and I wrote some questions in your thing here, to give you some things to think about of what was this piety?

What was it like to be in the early Christians? Because really any renewal group like the Waldensians, certainly the Anabaptists, it was not so much let's try to just fix up the church. It was an idea to go radically back to the early Christians.

So I'm going to go through some of these quotes with you. And if you have some questions or some wow comments or anything or whatever, but what I want you to do is to see what would it have been like if we had dropped into a church in the early Christian period.

One of my favorite writers is Justin Martyr. And he gave some beautiful things, but the thing that I want you to get a hold of is if you were to ask an early Christian, so tell me, what does it mean to be a Christian?

What would have come out of their mouth? And surprisingly what you see is Jesus. They talk about what Jesus wanted to do here on earth. And I gave you this quote. It's on page 167 of volume 1 of the Antoninus Scenes.

And I'm going to skip around and read some of it for you. I gave you the quote in your handout there. This is from what's called a dialogue. Well, I'll just read from my handout too. I wrote the wrong page number.

This is from 166. Yeah, here we go. This is an apology which means he's explaining to an emperor or somebody what it means to be a Christian. And it's impressive the things that he feels are interesting to note.

Where do I pick it up? I'll just read from here. Okay, he goes and he says, For we forewarn you to be on your guard, lest the demons whom we have been accusing should be deceived you. Let me see what I found here.

This is under the topic, The Demons Misrepresent Christian Doctrine. Interesting topic. The Demons Misrepresent Christian Doctrine. For we forewarn you to be on guard, lest those demons whom we have been accusing should deceive you and quite divert you from reading and misunderstanding what we say.

Let me make it very clear to you what we're about. For they strive to hold you their slaves and servants, the demons do, and sometimes by appearances and dreams and sometimes by magical impositions, they subdue all who make no strong opposing efforts for their own salvation.

And thus we do also, since our persuasion by the word stands aloof from them, the demons, and follow the only unbegotten God through His Son, we who formerly delighted in fornication but now embrace chastity.

Now he's about to just start going into this explanation. Chastity alone. We who formerly used magical arts dedicate ourselves to the good and unbegotten God. We who valued above all things the accusation of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and communicate to everyone in need.

We who hated and destroyed one another on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe. Now since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them and pray for our enemies and endeavor to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live comfortably to the good precepts of Christ to the end that they may become partakers with us of the same joyful hope of reward from God, the ruler of all.

In other words, we don't go to war because we hope that we can convert them. But lest we should seem to be reasoning sophistically of the sophist, we consider it right before you, the promised explanation, to cite a few precepts given by Christ Himself and be it yours as powerful rulers to inquire whether we have been taught and do these things truly.

And he goes on and he says here concerning chastity. He utters such sentiments as these. Whoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart before God. And if the right eye offend thee, cut it out.

For it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of heaven with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into everlasting fire. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced from another husband commits adultery.

And there are some who have been made eunuchs of men and some who have been made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. But all cannot receive this saying. Notice how he ties it together.

So that all who by human law are twice married are in the eyes of our master sinners and those who look upon a woman to lust after her. For not only he who in act commits adultery is rejected by him but also he who desires to commit adultery says not only our works but also our thoughts are open before God.

And many both men and women who have been Christ's disciples from 70 years and I boast that I could produce such from every race of men and he goes on and on and he keeps talking about the different things of the Sermon on the Mount.

But just notice some of those things. Would that be the way normal Americans would explain Christianity? But isn't it just so simple? What if Jesus really meant every word he said? Think of the divorce.

Think of the war. Think of the different things that have occurred through human history. If we would have just kept it to this kind of simplicity. I was at work once and I was talking to someone about non-resist and it usually comes up, particularly around voting time.

It will come up a lot next, just come up for voting. And somebody asked me about it. I said, you know, I don't know. I just wish it was more clear. Let's go back to that Soren Kierkegaard quote. We pretend not to understand because we know the moment we do it demands our response.

I don't understand. I wish he had said something more clear, she said to me in the operating room. Oh, so something like love your enemies is not clear or the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty.

You're looking for something more clear than that? The words of Jesus are simple, but we know that they demand utter obedience of our life. And that's the kind of thing that you see coming out of the simplicity of the early church.