Category Archives: Gospel of Jesus

You can read and highlight your Bible to better see the honor/shame dynamics

Bible study, Global Christian mission, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame
Colored pencils to see honor and shame in the Bible
Use colored pencils to highlight some of the Bible’s honor/shame dynamics

Various Bible scholars have proven conclusively that Bible societies had honor and shame as their pivotal cultural value. (See my Honor/Shame Resources page for a small selection of these books. Be sure to scroll down to get to the books.)

So for six-plus years now, I have been reading my Bible and highlighting some of the Bible’s key honor/shame dynamics. It has been a most rewarding journey.

In this post, I want to show how I do this.

The system I use is simple: 1) I use a small number of Prismacolor soft-core colored pencils available at any art supply store, and, 2) I use a regular edition of the ESV Bible. Pretty much any printed Bible will work. Below is an image from my Bible.

Ps97.3 to Ps102.20
Click the image to enlarge.
In the image above, take note of the following highlights:
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ YELLOW—Verses which relate to honor-status reversal—or changes in honor status. (In the image above: Ps 97:7; Ps 101:6–7; Ps 102:8–10.) This is by far the most commonly used color in the pages of my Bible. Honor-status reversal is a dynamic that occurs in every book of the Bible—from Genesis to Revelation.
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ ORANGE—Words and verses which relate to things royal—the reign of a king, the kingdom, the sovereign ‘high-ness’ of God, etc. (In the image above: Ps 97:9; Ps 98:6, Ps 99:1–5; Ps 100:4; Ps 102:12–15.) These orange-highlighted words and verses always refer to the two sources of honor—ascribed and achieved—especially as it is reflected in the royal honor of the king and his royal family.
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ RED—Words and verses which relate to salvation and redemption. (In the image above: Ps 98:1–3.) Highlighting ‘salvation words and verses’ helps us see the sometimes vital overlap between salvation and honor/shame.
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ GREEN—Words and verses which relate to the earth, nations, or peoples—and God’s purpose to bless all peoples of the earth. (In the image above: Ps 97:4–6; Ps 98:2–4; Ps 98:7–9; Ps 99:1–2; Ps 102:15; Ps 102:19.) These highlights help the reader to visualize the integral link between God’s honor and his global purpose to bless all the peoples of earth.
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ BLUE—Words and verses which relate to glory—the glory of God, or other uses of the words glory, glorious, glorify, glorified. (In the image above: Ps 97:6; Ps 102:16.) Of course, glory is part of honor/shame vocabulary, and God’s passion for his glory is largely synonymous to the honor/shame dynamic known as the love of honor.
  • ♦♦♦♦♦♦ VIOLET—Words and verses which relate to the love of God—and especially the words, steadfast love, in the Old Testament. (In the image above: Ps 98:3; Ps 101:1.)
What is the value of this highlighting practice?
  1. We discover that the Bible is already contextualized for honor/shame cultures. When we see the honor/shame dynamics in the Bible—we understand that the social context of the Bible—with its pivotal cultural value of honor and shame—overlaps deeply with most of today’s Majority World cultures and peoples. This gives us fresh hope. The Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ speaks more profoundly to  Majority World peoples than we in the West often realize.
  2. We see that honor-status reversal is a motif of Scripture. I’ve been reading and highlighting my Bible like this for about six years. I’ve highlighted about 80% of my Bible this way. This highlighting process has led me to conclude that the dynamic of honor-status reversal is so prevalent in the pages of Scripture, that it is unquestionably a motif of the Bible. Over and over again, God is raising up and saving the humble—while putting down and judging the proud and arrogant. Moreover, the motif of honor-status reversal ties together many stories of the Old Testament—with the salvation work of Jesus Christ. This enhances our seeing the unity between Old and New Testaments.
  3. We see that things regal—are more prevalent than things legal. Kings and queens … pharaohs and caesars … kings and kingdoms of the earth in conflict with one another … and God’s already-but-not-yet kingdom/kingship … these all are widely represented on the pages of Scripture. Of course, everything regal connotes honor, so this further enhances our apprehension of honor and shame on the pages of the Bible. Plus, when laws are decreed in Scripture, they always come forth from a king—or the King: Almighty God, King of Creation. Even laws are saturated with regal flavor.
  4. We see more clearly many overlaps and connections. A full two-page spread of Scripture—with various colors and notations—offers the student of Scripture the ability to see a broader context and see more connections. Prominent themes and how they connect can be quickly identified through color as we flip through the pages of our Bibles.
  5. It helps us grow in our love for God’s Word. Reading and studying the Bible this way has deepened my love for the Bible. It is thrilling to see—over and over again, day after day—how the cultural value of honor and shame is so deeply woven into the text and story of Holy Scripture—from Genesis to Revelation.

Of course, the goal of Bible study is not simply knowledge, but transformation—becoming more like Jesus. My journey to know Scripture’s honor/shame dynamics has done this for me: I have come to more deeply know that, through Jesus Christ, God has covered my shame and shared with me his honor. To God be the glory.

Presenting the Gospel in Honor-Shame Cultures

Global Christian mission, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, Shame pathology, The Global Gospel

Presenting the gospel in honor-shame cultures.fwThe interview (below) was published in the October 2015 issue of Anthology, a publication of Missio Nexus. Marv Newell, Sr. Vice President of Missio Nexus, has been an endorser and advocate for my book, The Global Gospel. Marv’s enthusiastic support is what led to this interview, which is posted here with permission. Click here for the PDF. Thank you, Marv! To God be the glory!  –Werner Mischke

Mission Nexus articleWhat do you mean by a culture that is embedded in “honor and shame?” Just how do you define and describe these terms?

In Jerome Neyrey’ s book, Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew, he describes honor as “the worth or value of persons, both in their eyes and in the eyes of their village, neighborhood or society”. He says the “critical item is the public nature of respect and reputation.”[1]  Brené Brown says this about shame: It is “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. … It’s the fear disconnection.”[2]

What ties these two definitions together is the social, relational or public aspect of the dynamics. Western philosopher René Descartes coined the phrase, I think, therefore I am. And one African theologian modified it to describe people in honor-shame cultures this way: I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.

This idea shows that in an honor-shame culture, people are really immersed and completely embedded in their community, and their sense of individuality is far less than how we perceive ourselves in the West.

What’s the difference between cultures that emphasize honor-shame and cultures more like ours that value guilt and innocence?

In guilt-innocence cultures I would say we are more law-oriented and individualistic. Kids grow up in the West with the phrase, What do you want to be when you grow up? Many of us have been raised to value individual dreaming and pursuit with minimal  regard for the opinion of the extended family or community. This is far less common in an honor-shame
culture. They are so embedded in their extended family and community.

Now, to be sure, the West is not completely individualistic and guilt-oriented—neither is the Majority World is completely group-and-shame-oriented. But without a doubt, in guilt-innocence cultures, we are a lot more individualistic, whereas people in honor-shame cultures are more collectivistic. Sometimes anthropologists call group-oriented cultures dyadistic—meaning the individual is embedded in the group.

Consequently, laws are not as important as relationships in honor-shame cultures. In the West, our society is ruled by laws. Honor shame-cultures do have laws, but there is a greater emphasis on relationships and how one is perceived in their community.

What are some of the blind spots that we in the West have toward cultures that have honor-shame as their pivotal cultural value?

When Westerners observe honor-shame values at work in other cultures, we normally see them as unethical. In other words, we only see the dark side of honor-shame. Now, to be clear, there is a dark side. We have become familiar with the honor killings that have taken place in some of our own cities in the West as people from south Asia and the Middle East have come to North America. And when someone from an honor-shame culture shames their family, sometimes violence and bloodshed is the result.

So if we are aware of honor and shame, it is almost always the dark and evil aspect that we
notice. The Bible plainly describes the source and the results of that evil. There is, however, a bright and glorious side to honor and shame throughout the Scriptures, which I examine extensively in my book.

As Christians we don’t see the honor-shame dynamics in our own Bibles. We don’t realize that there are twice as many occurrences in the Bible of the word shame and its derivatives than there are to the word guilt and its derivatives.

When we read the Bible we’re not alert to the myriad honor-shame dynamics in Scripture
because Westerners do not normally use that language—and more importantly, Western
theology has a blind spot about honor and shame. We don’t live with this awareness of honor and shame nearly to the degree that the authors of Scripture did.

Give us some biblical examples of honor and shame that you advocate permeates the Scriptures.

I’ll mention just three of the ten honor-shame dynamics we describe in the book. The first
dynamic is called love of honor. And that’s simply the recognition that people in the Ancient Near East had as a primary motivation—the pursuit of honor and glory. Jerome Neyrey quotes Aristotle who says: “Honor is clearly the greatest of external goods. It is honor above all else that that great men claim and deserve.”

The Roman Empire was saturated with values of honor and glory, so this is the social context and emotional environment in which the New Testament was written. So we see this love of honor, and correspondingly the fear of shame, to be something that goes from Genesis to Revelation.

A second honor-shame dynamic is purity. We see purity codes in the book of Leviticus, for
example—who is included and who is excluded. As someone moves toward holiness, they gain honor. As someone moves toward being common or unclean or even an abomination, they move toward exclusion and shame. [See article: “The Gospel of Purity”.]

If you want to see an example of how shame equates with uncleanness, look at Ezekiel 16.
You’ll see that God’s unfaithful bride is described in crude shameful terms. Plus, the dynamic of purity is part of the atonement in Leviticus and Hebrews. So purity is a key honor-shame dynamic in Scripture which beautifully relates to the gospel.

There is also the dynamic of what I call “honor-status reversal”. And by that, we mean
someone’s family, community, or people whose status is being reversed from shame to honor or from honor down to shame.

Consider the great stories of the Bible: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the
Exodus, Job, David—all are examples of honor-status reversal. Whether in the books of Moses, the historical books, the prophetic books, many of the Gospel stories and parables, or in the epistles, we see this dynamic of honor-status reversal appearing again and again. The climactic example is the story of Jesus Christ. Look at Philippians 2:5–11. There it is—honor-status reversal! That’s why I call this honor-shame dynamic a motif—we see it repeatedly in the Scriptures.

What are examples of a gospel presentation in which guilt-innocence and honor-shame are the focal messages?

I think most of us are familiar with the gospel presentation called The Four Spiritual Laws, which was developed decades ago by Campus Crusade for Christ. God has used this presentation mightily. I’ve met numbers of people who have said, “Hey, that’s how I got saved.” We don’t want to disesteem what God has done in using this great resource to introduce people to Christ. However, the very name of this gospel presentation—The Four Spiritual Laws—reflects a legal framework for the gospel. But it needs to be pointed out that we don’t have to articulate the gospel using laws. We can also articulate the gospel using stories. We don’t have to rely exclusively on propositional truth.

The Four Spiritual Laws is geared toward individuals. It talks about you as an individual and how you must make a faith commitment to Jesus Christ. Furthermore it talks about forgiveness of sins. In other words, all of us have behaved badly and we have committed sins for which we need forgiveness.

This may be distinguished from needing forgiveness—not just from our sinful behavior—but also from our sinful being. Behavior is more about guilt whereas our being is more about shame. It is not just our behavior—but also our being—which dishonors God. You can see this emphasis on sin as the dishonoring of God in Romans 1:23, Romans 2:23 and Romans 3:23.

So a Western gospel presentation like The Four Spiritual Laws focuses on a legal framework.  And we certainly affirm that the gospel can be articulated using a legal framework that focuses on forgiveness for sin as guilt and based upon laws of Scripture, propositional truth.

The Father’s Love Gospel Booklet, the gospel in the language of honor and shameIn contrast, consider a gospel presentation called The Father’s Love Booklet which we
developed a couple of years ago. It’s the prodigal son story in words and pictures. It shows how the prodigal son’s descent into sin and shame alienated him from his father. Then his father—in his desire to have his son reconciled back to his family—went out and met this prodigal as he came back from his shameful exploits. The father covered his son’s shame and restored his son’s honor. He covered him with his favorite robe. He gave him a ring signifying his honored place in the family and his authority. He gave him sandals for his feet. With outrageous love, the father restored the honor of his prodigal son.

And then the booklet has a bridge to the gospel of Christ using verses from Scripture like, “He who believes shall not be put to shame” in Romans 10. We show how the work of Christ on the cross demonstrates that God is like a father willing to suffer shame for us that we may be reconciled.

In your book you say, “Shame is more likely to lead to hurtful behavior whereas guilt is more likely to lead to healing behavior. The pathology of shame for individuals can be terrible and impact generations, but when that pathology of shame impacts whole societies and nations it becomes truly horrendous.” What are some examples you’ve seen of how that is played out?

This is an important distinction between guilt and shame. Social science research shows that guilt is more likely to lead to healing behavior because people are motivated to apologize for what they have done. Consider the phrase, I did that horrible thing. For guilt-prone people the emphasis is on the words did and thing—the emphasis is on behavior.[3]

However, with shame-prone people, the emphasis is not on the bad thing I did—but on the bad person I am. So the phrase reads with an emphasis on “I”: “I did that horrible thing.” The research shows that whereas guilt is more likely to lead to healing behavior, shame is more likely to lead to hurtful behavior. And when this is played out on the broad stage of human history, we see horrendous things happen.

For example, in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany was deeply excluded and shamed by the international community. They had to pay back billions in reparations. It was impossible. Consequently, Germany was in a place of profound economic dysfunction and humiliation. My mother had been a teenager in Germany during World War Two. She told me that after the First World War, “We couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread.”

Hitler rose in power because he tapped into that German humiliation and shame. He also found a scapegoat—which of course was the Jews or other non-Aryan people. Hitler rebuilt their military and satisfied the longing of the nation to have their honor restored. The nationalist desire to overcome shame led to evil and violence on a monumental scale.

Another prominent example in the last century and continuing into current events has been the rise of Islamic terrorism, which I believe is large-scale honor competition. The Arab Muslim world has been shamed by the Western world in many different respects—at least that’s how they perceive it—and so their honor must be vindicated.

I was reading about the Al Qaeda representative in Yemen who took responsibility for the
Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. He plainly stated that this attack was a vindication to restore honor. He said they denounce the unbelievers who “insulted the chosen Prophets of Allah” and caused Muslims to “awake and roar out of rage.” The “heroes,” the killers in Paris, were then “assigned” to attack the Charlie Hebdo office in revenge.

“Congratulations to you, O Ummah of Islam, for this vengeance that has soothed our chests. Congratulations to you for these brave men who blew off the dust of disgrace and lit the torch of glory in the darkness of defeat and agony.”

We must understand that honor-shame dynamics are at the very root of what is happening in this clash between East and West—between religious fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, and our own Western culture—or we will not address it effectively. We’ve got to understand the root causes. We’ve got to realize that shame leads to hurtful, sinful behavior for individuals, families, societies, even nations. Christian leaders and missionaries must learn to teach and preach a gospel which speaks to honor-based violence.

You conclude that the gospel is already contextualized for honor-shame cultures. Would you explain that?

I agree with my friend Jackson Wu from China: “The gospel is already contextualized for honor-shame cultures.” This comes from our observations of honor-shame dynamics in the Scriptures that plainly overlap with verses concerning the gospel, salvation, Christ’s atonement, the resurrection, and what it means to follow Jesus.

This is exciting because when we think about the unreached and unengaged peoples of the world, when we think about the multitudes who have yet to receive the blessing of Christ—so many of them are from honor-shame cultures.

We can build on the legal framework of the gospel by including the honor-shame dynamics that are woven into the Scriptures. We can connect with the thought forms and honor-shame motivations of the people who have yet to receive the blessing of the gospel. We can discover that for many in the Majority World, their honor-shame values overlap with the pivotal cultural value of honor and shame in Bible societies—and that this overlap can be used to powerfully communicate the gospel.

This gives us fresh hope as we continue our work in the world Christian community to bless all the peoples of the earth and make disciples of all nations.

1. Jerome H. Neyrey, Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 15.

2. Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Gotham, 2012), 69.

3. See June Tangney and Ronda Dearing, Shame and Guilt (New York: Guilford Press, 2002).

A great sermon on honor and shame

Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, The Global Gospel
The glorious gospel sermon

My friend Sam Winfield (pseudonym) recently preached a sermon on honor and shame for the missions conference of a church in northern Indiana.

I love this sermon. It is some of the finest preaching I have heard concerning honor and shame in Scripture, how this relates to the gospel, and what it means for Christian world missions.

The title of Sam Winfield’s sermon is “The Glorious Gospel”.

Sam preaches on two of the ten key honor/shame dynamics which I describe in my book The Global Gospel. These two dynamics described in his sermon are 1) limited good, and 2) purity.

Sam shows how these dynamics overlap with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Plus, he gives great insight as to why the gospel is more glorious than we may have previously known.

Sam speaks from many years of experience serving in North Africa and Europe as a missionary. You will like his clear teaching from God’s Word, combined with stories, spiritual passion, and practical application.

Thank you, Sam, for granting permission to put this on my blog.

We can, we MUST remove the Western blind spot about honor and shame. Here’s how:

Bible study, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, Ministry tools and resources, The Global Gospel

The Bible is loaded with honor and shame. This makes sense since the societies of the Ancient Near East had honor and shame as their pivotal cultural value.

So understanding honor and shame in the Bible is vitally important because 1) it helps us to properly interpret the Bible, and 2) it helps us understand and relate to our multicultural world. This issue is magnified when we realize that the vast majority of the world’s unreached peoples are from honor/shame cultures.

guilt vs shame graphBut we in the West can hardly recognize the honor/shame dynamics in Scripture—even though there are more than twice as many references in the Bible to the word shame and its derivatives than the word guilt and its derivatives (see graph at right).[1]

Why this blind spot? John Forrester writes as a pastor:

We Western pastors have a blind spot. In a word, that blind spot is shame. We don’t learn about shame in seminary. We don’t find it in our theological reading. We don’t recognize it on the pages of Scripture. We don’t see it in our people. Shame is just not part of our pastoral perspective.[2]

Why do so many pastors have this blind spot? Because shame has not been a subject of theological inquiry.

One way to examine the degree of theological importance of a particular word is by looking at theological dictionaries. I went to Phoenix Seminary and did a little research at the library. My question was simple: In the available theological dictionaries, is there an entry for guilt and also an entry for shame?

Here’s what I found. The dictionaries are listed in order of the year they were published.[3]

Bible dictionaries guilt vs shame

This survey shows that it was 1996 when shame appeared as an entry in Elwell’s redo of his 1984 version. Interestingly, neither of the dictionaries published in 2000 had an entry for shame. The massive Global Dictionary of Theology by Dyrness and Kärkkäinen has an extensive entry for shame. But (sadly) the vast majority of Western pastors would not likely use a theological dictionary with a global scope.

What can we do to remove this blind spot in Western theology? Five suggestions:

1. Look for honor/shame as you read the Bible. You must read the Bible extensively in order to see how pervasive is honor and shame in the Bible. Regular reading of Scripture is essential. I started on my own journey of understanding honor/shame in the Bible by simply underlining and highlighting words and verses that included words or dynamics about honor and shame. You, too, can be on this learning journey, whenever you read your Bible.

2. Check out my free resources. You’ll find a variety of free stuff in various media: Gospel booklets, video, PowerPoint, articles, and even a skit—all focused on honor/shame dynamics and how it relates to cross-cultural ministry.

3. Subscribe to blogs about honor/shame written by evangelical mission leaders. In addition to my site, I especially recommend these two:

These sites have a wonderful growing array of free resources.

4. Read my book, THE GLOBAL GOSPEL: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World. I break down nine honor/shame dynamics in the Bible societies—and one motif—and show how these dynamics overlap with verses about the gospel, the atonement of Christ, and salvation. This book attempts a comprehensive understanding of honor/shame in the Bible and what it means for the world Christian movement. It is a book for educators, thought leaders, trainers and key leaders. It is not an easy read, but if you take it slow, it might transform how you read the Bible, how you preach and teach, how you communicate the gospel, and how you collaborate with others in the global church.

5. Check out the Jan/Feb issue of Mission Frontiers magazine. The magazine is devoted to the subject of honor and shame and features a variety of authors and perspectives.

If we want our gospel message to better resonate with honor/shame peoples—so many of whom remain resistant to Christianity and remain unreached—we MUST contextualize that glorious message in the language of honor and shame.

1. Diagram adapted from “Figure 1.05: Words in the Bible derived from ‘guilt’—versus ‘shame’”, The Global Gospel, p. 47. Original research by Bruce Nicholls, “The Role of Shame and Guilt in a Theology of Cross-Cultural Mission,” Evangelical Review of Theology 25, no. 3, (2001): 232; as quoted by Timothy C. Tennent in Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 92–93.
2. John A. Forrester, Grace for Shame: The Forgotten Gospel (Toronto: Pastor’s Attic Press, 2010), 9.
3. This chart is taken from my book, The Global Gospel, p. 46: “Figure 1.04: Entries for “guilt” and “shame” in theological dictionaries”.

Parts of this blog post were excerpted from THE GLOBAL GOSPEL: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World.

You CAN contextualize the gospel in the language of honor and shame

Contextualization, Global Christian mission, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, The Global Gospel

I had the privilege of doing a workshop today for ISI (International Students Inc) at Phoenix Seminary. It was a dynamic, electric time of interaction and learning from one another. I am so grateful for the opportunity. Here’s the presentation I used (below).

It was also great to sell numerous copies of The Global Gospel as well as several packs of “The Father’s Love Booklet”.

I am observing a real hunger among people engaged in cross-cultural ministry to understand how the Bible’s pivotal cultural value of honor and shame relates to serving people in our world today.

After the Adam Bomb

Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, Shame pathology

By guest blogger, Robert Walter

atom bombIn the early morning predawn of August 6, 1945, a Boeing B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay revved its engines at the end of the airfield. It would need every inch of runway to get aloft with its enormous payload, an atomic bomb code-named Little Boy.

After 6 hours of flight the bomb bay doors opened and Little Boy began its descent towards the target, Hiroshima. The detonation leveled 70% of the buildings in Hiroshima over an area of roughly five square miles. About 70,000 people were killed and another 70,000 were injured that morning. Many continued to suffer the consequences of that blast for months and years to come.

The “Adam” Bomb

As destructive as the atomic blast was, it doesn’t compare to the devastation of another earlier event in human history. Only two lives, Adam’s and Eve’s, were affected that day, but the fallout from their disobedience in the Garden of Eden has affected every person in every generation since.

No one has escaped unscathed.

Pain has visited every woman in childbirth since that time. Work became toil. There was no mushroom cloud, but sin billowed up in an endless variety of self-centeredness, greed, depravity, and violence.

We don’t have to strain to see the impact of sin in our lives, yet some of the fallout from Adam and Eve’s disobedience remains largely unnoticed and unaddressed in Western Christianity. I’m referring to shame.

The Hiddenness of Shame

Before their sinful disobedience, the Bible records that “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Shame was foreign to Adam and Eve in the Garden before the Fall.

Unfortunately, shame remains a foreign concept to many Western pastors and teachers in the church today. This is not a personal criticism. It is a reflection of a blind spot we have inherited from generations of Western theologians before us.

In his wonderful new book, The Global Gospel, Werner Mischke notes that since the Bible grew out of a culture defined by the values of honor and shame, it is no surprise to find that the values of honor and shame feature prominently in the Bible. Yet that emphasis has largely remained hidden from the eyes of Westerners who are only conditioned to look for the pivotal values of guilt and forgiveness.

Werner Mischke illustrates this blind spot well by noting that the word shame is only listed in the index of two out of seven theological dictionaries published by Western scholars. This is a striking omission given that the word shame and its derivatives occurs 4–5 times as often in the New Testament compared to the word guilt and its derivatives.

The Epidemic of Shame

Shame may often be hidden from the eyes of Western theologians, but that doesn’t mean it is absent in the lives of Westerners. Not at all. Shame’s impact is broad and deep.

I first became aware of shame’s impact while working with survivors of sexual abuse during my years as a pastor. We are not surprised to learn that people who have been scarred by childhood sexual abuse suffer from shame – a gnawing sense that they don’t measure up and will never be worthy of love – but we may surprised to discover how wide this epidemic of shame has spread. Let’s look at some other examples of populations who are struggling with shame:

  1. The Unemployed
    Richard Wilton was a successful real estate developer who dedicated his work to God’s glory. However, when the economy tanked in 2008 he took it on the chin. Properties that once secured loans worth millions now were worth only dimes on the dollar. Unable to refinance, the bank took the opportunity to repossess everything. Richard not only lost his collateral, but he also lost his house and his sense of identity with it. You may like to think we are not defined by our net worth, but it’s tough to shake the idea that you are a loser when you are 55 and no one will hire you.
  2. The Disabled
    9501297964_67e1e8f62d_b    Tammy Thompson, a blind woman, shares how she’s struggled with her disability: “I’ve spent many years on a mission to cancel out my disability by frantically stacking up achievements, hoping that someday I would find that final, magic accomplishment which would absolve me of the sin of being disabled. … I guess I thought that if I were successful enough, I’d escape from the ‘less than’ feeling that quivers in my guts.”
  3. The Depressed
    Teaching and preaching on the wonders of God’s love actually makes Jean Sorrento feel worse. “What’s wrong with me?!” she asks, “I should feel better.” She has confessed every sin she can think of but still can’t shake her shame or the depression that comes with it. Eventually she concludes she is spiritually dead and without hope.

Just as guilt affects every one of Adam and Eve’s descendants, so does shame. No one is immune. So far I’ve identified as many as 40 populations like the three above who are prone to struggling with shame: the divorced, the obese, the adopted, and the addicted are just a few of these. At some point shame touches us all.

PrescriptionsCure for the Epidemic

Prescriptions for shame tend to follow the pattern of prescriptions for guilt. However, failure to see the shame problem as a unique problem prevents us from seeing the unique solution.

Matt was born out of wedlock to parents who were not ready to marry or take on the responsibility of raising a child. In the heat of an argument his father tells Matt, “You ruined my life.” Matt learns beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a bastard and a burden. This identity mars his outlook throughout his life.  How does the repentance and forgiveness formula fit? While Matt can confess many sins of commission and omission, how does he confess the sin of being born out of wedlock?

If we don’t have anything but forgiveness to offer, we offer a deficient Gospel. But the Gospel itself is not deficient. Jesus took both our guilt and shame on the cross.

Two Arms of the Cross

The author of Hebrews writes this about Jesus, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (12:2)

In an honor and shame culture, the cross – designed to maximize both pain and shame – was the worst punishment. Yet Jesus willingly and joyfully took on our shame in order that we might share in his honor at the right hand of the Father.

So often we reduce the Gospel to a work of forgiveness only. When we do, we are guilty of preaching a one-armed cross. God’s forgiveness is clearly the only solution for our problem of guilt, but forgiveness has little to say to shame.

Fortunately, the cross has two arms. With one we are embraced by God’s forgiveness removing our guilt; with the other we are embraced by His love removing our shame.

Forgiven feel badFor more on the healing of shame get the free eBook by Robert Walter, If I’ve Been Forgiven, Why Do I Still Feel Bad?

Robert Walter is the training director for Leader Source, an organization that works with Christian leaders around the world to help them rise up the next generation of healthy leaders.

Interview on the “Deeper Waters” podcast about The Global Gospel

Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, The Global Gospel

Interview with Werner MischkeNick Peters has a series of podcasts in which he interviews Christian leaders and authors. Nick’s blog is called “Deeper Waters.”

I was recently interviewed by Nick concerning my book The Global Gospel. You can listen to the interview / podcast here.

I am grateful for Nick’s enthusiasm for my book, and his willingness to conduct an interview with me.

Blood and honor

Bible commentary, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, The Global Gospel

Blood and honorThe media is currently focused on two huge news stories of great violence and bloodshed. The first is the gruesome war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinians. The second story involves Ukraine, Russia, and the downing of the Malaysia Flight 17, causing the death of 298 civilians. I have watched my share of news reports—and can’t help but think of the role of  blood and honor in both stories.

Blood and honor in the news? Well, journalists do not actually use the words blood and honor to talk about the events. But I believe blood and honor is just below the surface. To explain what I mean, we will explore what the Bible says about blood and honor. In this post, we will examine:

  1. how blood and honor are essentially about family honor,
  2. that blood can be both the result and cause of honor-based violence, and
  3. how the blood and honor of Jesus Christ is a completely different kind of catalyst—offering the possibility of peace instead of violence.
“Blood and honor” is essentially about family or kinship

In my forthcoming book, The Global Gospel, one of the things I do is explain nine different honor/shame dynamics in the societies of the ancient biblical world. One of these dynamics is referred to as “name/kinship/blood.” Basically, this refers to family honor.

  • Think of Medieval England and the profound importance of a family’s “coat of arms.” What’s that about? It’s about the honor of one’s distinctive family name.
  • Think of the saying, “Blood is thicker than water.” What’s that about? It’s the idea that relationships through family blood exceed all others in importance.
  • What about protecting your family reputation and name. What’s that about? Family honor, of course.
  • Add the word kinship to the mix and you have family honor spread across a large extended bloodline or clan of people—almost like an ethnic group. This is where family overlaps with God’s great promise to Abraham—that through his descendents, “all the families [that is, kinship groups] of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3).

Now many aspects of family honor are good, reflecting the way God made us to care for one another in our families.

However, because of devastating effects of sin on the human race, other aspects of family honor—or the dynamic of “name/kinship/blood” can result in great evil. You will see below that honor-based violence is often related to blood. You’ll see that blood is often both the result and the cause of honor competition and honor-based violence.

Blood as the RESULT of honor competition

The Bible’s first reference to blood is in Genesis when Cain killed his brother Abel. Cain felt jealous over the fact that “the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Gen 4:4–5). In jealousy and revenge—what I call “honor competition”—Cain killed Abel. The murder of Cain is symbolized by blood.

And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand” (Gen 4:10–11).

What is the meaning of “your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground”? God is saying, This is murder!—the horrible injustice of killing an innocent man.

This, of course, has become a pattern for all of humanity; honor competition results in violence. Blood is the result of honor competition.

Blood as the CAUSE of honor competition

In 2 Samuel 4, the account is given of two men, Rechab and Banaah, who murdered Ish-bosheth, son of Jonathan the son of Saul (2 Sam 4:4–6). Rechab and Banal thought they could cover up their murder of Ish-bosheth by telling David they were doing him a favor:

And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring” (2 Sam 4:8).

Rechab and Banal sorely miscalculated:

But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” (2 Sam 4:9–11).

David immediately commanded that Rechab and Banaah be executed by “his young men.” In fact, “they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron” (2 Sam 4:12). What a gruesome result to their miscalculation.

The point here is that Rechab and Banaah thought that David would agree with the default culture of … avenging the blood of enemies by killing their offspring. As a man of God, David would have none of it. But it points to the fact that the default culture at the time recognized that family blood was a justifiable catalyst for honor-based violence; family-versus-family revenge was indeed culturally acceptable.

Blood represents family honor

Jerome Neyrey writes: [R]elatives who press for the advantage of family members are simply doing their duty to the kinship group, which is an honorable thing. Hence solidarity and loyalty among family members go without saying. Blood replicates the honor of the family.[1]

“Blood replicates the honor of the family.” Yes, and anyone familiar with a blood feud will agree. The definition of a blood feud is: “a lengthy conflict between families involving a cycle of retaliatory killings or injury.”[2] The cycle of violence is fueled by honor competition.[3]

This is why in honor/shame societies, ethics is generally trumped by honor—usually the honor of the family, family blood. The rule of law is practically irrelevant:

In Sicily too, according to the writer Leonardo Sciascia, himself Sicilian, the family is the state, a be-all-and-end-all in itself. To any Sicilian, “the exact definition of his rights and duties will be that of the family.” The mafia, the Camorra of Naples, the Corsicans, the people in Provence and in Spain, share with the Arabs self-regulatory group concepts wholly opposed to the workings of the state with norms legally defined and voluntarily obeyed. Equality under the law, that central constitutional pillar, cannot be reconciled with codes of shame and honor.[4]

Violence of family against family, tribe against tribe, nation against nation—is rampant throughout the world. An Internet search of “blood and honor” or “blood feud” brings out the ugly prevalence of this global scourge. Whether it is the Hatfields and the McCoys … or Sunni versus Shiite … Arian race against Jewish race … Chinese against Japanese … white race versus any others, it is, in essence, all honor-based violence fueled by blood.

The blood of Christ is different, hallelujah!

There is a huge contrast between the impact of blood and honor in the kingdom of this world and the blood of Christ in the kingdom of God. We have noted that blood can be both the result and cause of honor competition; we have noted that the cycle of blood feuds can be seemingly endless. But consider these verses which show that the blood of Christ is an entirely different kind of catalyst:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility … that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (Eph 2:13–16, emphasis mine).

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:19–22, emphasis mine).

Blood and honor in this world’s kingdom fuels family-against-family violence (blood feuds and vendettas)—but the blood and honor of Christ brings healing between families and kinship groups.

Blood and honor in this world’s kingdom is a catalyst for ethnic hatred and genocide—but the blood and honor of Christ is a catalyst for the acceptance, even the celebration of all ethnic groups and peoples.

Blood and honor in this world’s kingdom opens humanity to the life-killing spirit of jealousy, evil, murder, genocide, the devil—whereas the “blood of Jesus…opened for us” access to the conscience-cleansing Holy Spirit and life-giving presence of God—a new and living way!

This is our hope. This is the expectation and desire we have in Christ for a world so deeply scarred by violence and bloodshed. This is but one facet of an amazing multifaceted diamond we call “the good news”—the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Jerome Neyrey: Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), p. 53.
2. Definition from: New Oxford American Dictionary 3rd edition © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Referenced by Mac OSX 10.8.2.
3. “A blood feud is a cycle of retaliatory violence, with the relatives of someone who has been killed or otherwise wronged or dishonored seeking vengeance by killing or otherwise physically punishing the culprits or their relatives. Historically, the word vendetta has been used to mean a blood feud.” See “Famous Blood Fueds,” accessed 17 June 2013, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud#Famous_blood_feuds>.
4. David Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1989, 2009), p. 38.

Free new resource—“The Gospel of Purity”

Bible commentary, Bible study, Contextualization, Evangelism, Global Christian mission, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, Quotes, articles & books related to cross-cultural partnership, The Global Gospel

Gospel of purityI’ve got a new article available as a free download. It’s called, “The Gospel of Purity for Oral Learners.” Here’s what this article is all about.

In the Old and New Testament, impurity and uncleanness relegated people as lower-status social ‘outsiders’ in varying levels of shame. The greater the uncleanness, defilement or pollution, the deeper the shame.

Likewise, cleanness, sanctification or holiness identified people as higher-status social ‘insiders’ in varying levels of honor. The greater the cleanness, purity, even holiness, the higher the honor. The Mosaic laws of Leviticus defined for the Hebrew people purity codes and the cycle of sanctification.

Though strange to Western/secular sensibilities, these purity codes are crucial to understanding both God’s covenant with the Hebrews, as well as the radical nature of Christ’s ministry. Jesus transcended Old Testament laws of ritual cleansing—offering his cure for people in shame due to moral failure, disease, disability, disfiguration, or death. The New Testament frequently uses “purity language” to describe what God has done in Christ for humanity.

The gospel is much more than a cure for sin/guilt; it is also a cure for sin as uncleanness/shame. The Western theological default toward judicial language in presenting the gospel should be supplemented by purity language for better contextualization.

The gospel of purity will better resonate with peoples in oral and honor/shame cultures. Many of these peoples are unreached in the Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim blocs—all of whom practice their own distinct cleansing rituals and are honor/shame-oriented in their cultural values. Therefore, developing an awareness of the gospel of purity is a strategic issue.

>> Click here to download the article

The gospel of grace as the crux of honor-status reversal, part 2

Bible commentary, Ephesians, Evangelism, Global Christian mission, Gospel of Jesus, Honor and shame, The Global Gospel

In my forthcoming book, THE GLOBAL GOSPEL: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World, I devote quite a few pages to the premise that honor-status reversal is a motif of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Ephesians 2:8–9 as the crux of honor-status reversalHonor-status reversal as a horizontal/social orientation in the second half of Ephesians 2

In my previous post about honor-status reversal, we explored what this motif means in Eph 2:1–10. We found that the dynamic of honor-status reversal in verses 1–7 refers to the personal and vertical—our relationship as believers with God the Father. In Eph 2:11–22, however, the dynamic is social and horizontal. Let’s take a look.

Verses 11–12 refer to the shameful status of unsaved peoples in relation to God’s people:
  • Unclean, defiled and without hope of being made clean: “Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision” (2:11)
  • No access to the honor and benefaction of the Messiah King: “separated from Christ” (2:12)
  • As aliens in relation to God’s great people Israel: “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel” (2:12)
  • Unaware of any relational destiny in God: “strangers to the covenants of promise” (2:12)
  • Living in despair without God’s presence: “having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12)
  • Disconnected from the most honorable relationship: “far off” … “strangers and aliens” (2:12)
  • On the other side of “the dividing wall of hostility” (2:12)
Verses 13–22 refer to the reversal of our honor-status in relation to God’s people:
  • From far away in shame to very near through the honor of Christ’s blood: “you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13)
  • Messiah King himself is our new source of honor—dispelling our compulsion for honor competition and hostility: “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (2:14)
  • For a completely new kind of kinship group made in peace: “by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace” (2:15)
  • The shame of Christ’s body on the cross absorbed humanity’s compulsion for honor competition and hostility—to create a new body among humanity—a community of peace: “and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (2:16)
  • Both Jew and Gentile (no superiority for being Jewish) were equally in need of the preaching of this grace and peace: “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” (2:17)
  • The high honor of access to Holy God is now available to all peoples—further dispelling honor competition: “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (2:18)
  • Shameful state as strange aliens replaced by multi-dimensional honor of citizens, saints, family members: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (2:19)
  • Entering into the honor of God’s ancient story, the crux of which is the Messiah King and Son of God: “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (2:20)
  • Brothers and sisters in Christ become the new “sacred space”—wherever they are: “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” (2:21)
  • In Christ your new community is the dwelling for the most honorable, holy presence of God: “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (2:22)

Ephesians 2:8–9 as the crux of honor-status reversalLet’s recall that the crux of the two dimensions of honor-status reversal is 
“Salvation by grace through faith”

What is located between these two dramatic expressions of honor-status reversal—between verses 1–7 and 11–22? The often-quoted verses about salvation by grace through faith:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8–9).

This “salvation verse” sits at the intersection of vertical and horizontal dimensions of honor-status reversal. The vertical dimension refers to a person’s relationship with God. The horizontal dimension refers to the Gentiles’ relationship with God’s people. The drama inherent in these dimensions of honor-status reversal—along with the liberation that this brought spiritually, emotionally and socially —is the context for “salvation by grace through faith.”

And the stunning impact on the gospel? Consider…

  • If salvation according to the context of Ephesians 2 is more of an honor/shame message than one of guilt/innocence, what does this mean for the way we present the gospel?
  • Could it be that being saved by grace—that having our sins forgiven—is actually the means for having our honor-status reversed in relation to God and to God’s people?
  • If salvation is both personal and social, how should this affect the way we live the gospel, and the way we share the gospel?
  • Could it be that the gospel is just as much about the covering of sin/shame and the gaining of honor—as it is about the forgiveness of sin/guilt and the gaining of righteousness?
  • Vast numbers of unreached peoples are motivated more by honor/shame than by innocence/guilt; what does this mean for believers who are trying to share with them the gospel of salvation in Jesus?