“Jesus remained silent during his trial,” and “Do not take revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19) are among the scriptures most commonly used by religious authorities to teach believers that, no matter the injustice they face, they must remain silent and voiceless.
But what happens when these verses are used by these same religious authorities to silence any kind of dissent—including against flaws in themselves or in their own religious organizations?
There's one thing we know about God. He sometimes uses pain to chastise us. He's not a vengeful God who wants to destroy us with this pain, he sends it because He loves us, like a father punishing his child with a stern voice but suppressing his own tears when he sees the tears in his child welling up.
And there's one thing we know about those who try to silence dissent. It doesn't end well for them. Look at all the kings of Israel and Judah whose first instinct wasn't to humbly listen to the harsh words the prophets told them, their first instinct was to silence the prophets.
Is it Biblical for a church leader to tell his congregation to remain silent in the face of what they perceive as injustice or corruption? For them to continue to ignore criticism in the name of preserving "order"?
Let's look at Scripture.
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For three years, Jesus opposed the religious authorities, even overturning tables in front of the temple, and repeatedly rebuked the priests, scribes, and Pharisees for their hypocrisy in public.
For a few seconds, Jesus was silent (Matthew 26:63).
Is it Biblical to say that as Christians we must always remain silent in the face of injustice? Had Jesus followed this principle, we would have no Salvation today. Let's take a look at what Paul meant when he said “do not take revenge”. Does that mean that even in the face of slander and false accusations, a person should always yield and allow lies to spread unchecked—never speaking in their own defense. If that's the case, then wouldn't the letters Paul wrote in defense of himself (like 2 Corinthians 11:23) contradict his own teaching?
In fact, so many of Paul's letters were written for the main purposes of defending himself and ensuring that the churches had a permanent record of his preaching that church "leaders" were twisting out of context. Had Paul not defended himself in writing, a big chunk of what we call the New Testament would never have been written.
For the Kingdom and righteousness of God to be realized on earth, neither Jesus nor Paul blindly followed the principle of “silence is golden.”
Instead, they upheld the wisdom of their ancestors:
“Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked” (Proverbs 25:26).
They fought against evil, opened a path, and left blessings for future generations.
Read that again.
They fought.
Fighting for your own human desires and pride is a waste of everyone's time and space, including yours and especially God's.
But if the Holy Spirit is laying "dissent" on your heart and opening your eyes to injustice and corruption, it is not only your duty to raise it regardless of the consequences. God will judge you for quenching the Spirit's fire, regardless of who or what made you do it.
Before we meet the Lord, the greatest peace and assurance in our hearts comes from the words:
“I have fought the good fight.”
Stolen from here.
Translated by ChatGPT.
Rewritten by me.
