“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:4-9)

The Christian faith is a divine revelation about God, man, sin, and salvation. Sinners, because they are evil, do not wish to keep a sovereign and righteous God in their thinking, and they are unwilling to admit the truth about their need for repentance and salvation. For this reason, unless God directly alters the disposition of a man, he will always resist the truth and refuse to accept reality. And when confronted by the doctrines of Christ, he will persecute the messenger. He will mock him, slander him, use violence against him, and even kill him.

The natural man cringes from danger, and persecution pressures a person to compromise his principles, and to recant the truth. Although non-Christians live by animal instincts, and exhibit an intelligence barely beyond that of beasts so as to distinguish them from these lower creatures, Christ calls his people to a life of truth, wisdom, and power. The spiritual man has resources from God that the world does not know. They enable him to mind the things of God, and not only the things of men, and to have the courage to stand firm on the truth. This otherworldly quality comes from the divine energy infused into the believer by the Holy Spirit. But the Almighty is not only a God of power, but also a God of wisdom, and he has given us an understanding, so that not only by power but also by truth shall our faith stand unmoved.

Jesus explains how we should think about the fear of men. He talks about it in terms of the consequences to our beings. The most that sinners can do is to murder a Christian, but after that they can do no more. They cannot sever God’s love toward him. They are unable to destroy his union with Christ. They cannot rob him of his heavenly joy and inheritance. Jesus says that they can only kill the body.

Contrary to many theologians, the Bible makes a sharp distinction between the body and the soul. It is true that when we refer to the person in a general sense, a distinction is often unnecessary, so that we could refer to the whole man as one, or refer to a part to denote the whole. We know that salvation applies to both the soul and the body, but it is acceptable to say, “Five souls were saved the other night.” The Bible itself uses such language. Sometimes we count “heads,” and when we do that, we include the souls as well.

However, when a distinction is needed, the Bible does not hesitate to make it. This is because the soul and body are in fact two different parts of a human person, and what applies to one does not always apply to the other. Theologians wish to preserve the unity of the human person, and they think that the way to do this is to deny a sharp distinction between the soul and the body. As a result, they are often untruthful about the biblical data. The issue is far from trivial, since it is a necessary principle to many doctrines, including the teaching in our text.

Another significant point is that personal identity is necessarily associated with the soul, but not the body. That is, a disembodied soul is still a person, and the same person before he was disembodied, but a body without a soul is not a person at all. The Bible refers to the body as a tent, or a housing apparatus for the soul. Again, theologians often resist this and claim that it is a Greek teaching. But regardless of what the Greeks thought and where they got it from, this is the biblical teaching, and to deny it is to oppose the word of God. Just as we should not be influenced by Greek thinking, neither should our theology be warped by an anti-Greek agenda.

Jesus addresses the topic differently than many modern preachers would. He says that men can kill the body, but after that can do no more. On the other hand, God can kill the body, and after that he can throw the soul into hell as well. Paul wrote that we should grasp both the kindness and the sternness of God. Jesus never shied away from talking about God’s severity, or to implement stern preaching and harsh discipleship.

Unlike preachers and theologians who complain that it is insensitive to say that Christians fail because of a lack of faith, and to say that there is a relationship between faith and the blessings of God, or faith and effective ministry, Jesus repeatedly said it, and rebuked both the common men and his close disciples for it. He rebuked them for a lack of faith even when it came to situations where some would consider it unreasonable to expect faith. For example, he rebuked Peter for a lack of faith when he failed to walk on water. James wrote that if you doubt, if you are double-minded, do not think that you will receive anything from God.

Many preachers and theologians are out of touch with the Jesus of the Bible, and probably do not care to portray him accurately. They prefer their own invention, a Jesus who is stuck saying, “If it be thy will,” which he said only once when he referred to his mission, and one who never rebuked people for a lack of faith, which he in fact did to various people in many situations, including those where they tried to obtain blessings from God. Against this trend, we should often rebuke Christians for a lack of faith. If this makes them feel guilty, then so be it, since if they lack faith, then they ought to feel guilty. It is always sinful to doubt. They should repent and strive for improvement.

If we wish to be like Jesus in our ministry, most of us should reach for a much harsher approach toward both believers and unbelievers. He teaches us to overcome the fear of men with a greater fear, a greater threat. You say, “What will happen to me if I become a Christian?” But what will happen to you if you do not become a Christian? You say, “What will happen to me if I acknowledge Jesus Christ?” But what will happen to you if you do not acknowledge him? It is better to fall at the hands of a few thugs than to fall into the hands of an angry God.

Nevertheless, it is true that Jesus does not present only God’s severity, but also his kindness and faithfulness. Even a sparrow is not forgotten by God, but we are worth more than many sparrows, and the very hairs of our head are all numbered. This does not mean that he prevents all the effects of men’s opposition against us, or that he withholds from his people the glory of martyrdom. But it means that he is in control of all that happens to us, and whatever happens to us are ordained for his honor and for our good. This truth arms us to accept not only martyrdom, which only a few of us may face, but also the lesser troubles that will come our way because we are Christians.