Image Of A Soldier

March 2006

Images are used in the Bible to convey the nature and meaning of the life of discipleship. So far, we have looked at discipleship through the lenses of apprenticeship, servanthood, stewardship, and shepherding. The image of a soldier is next.

Paul uses this image for the Christian life when he tells Timothy: “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). My initial reaction to this verse is: “I am not a fighter, I am a lover.” However, I have lived long enough to know that fighting may be a way of loving! This is not a license to be nasty in fighting.

My initial experiences in church as a follower of Christ included marching hymns like:
Onward Christian Soldiers,
Marching as to war
With the Cross of Jesus
Going on before.

I also sang about seeing the glory of the coming of the Lord (Christ is Victor idea) and the truth marching on. I learned early that success in living the victorious Christian life involved struggle.

Check out these references that address the soldier image of the Christian life: Phil 2:25; Philemon 2; Eph. 6:10-17; 2 Tim. 4:7; Rom. 13:12; 2 Cor. 6:7; 1 Thes. 5:8; Heb. 4:12. Use your favorite concordance to find more references.

I know this about soldiering: Soldiers need resources to carry out their responsibilities.
The Christian disciple is endowed with great resources to meet his/her responsibilities. I’ll name a few. You can add many more to these as you study this image for yourself.

1. One resource is the word of God (Hebrew 4:12). I am not talking here about paper and ink, but about the razor sharp message that permeates the Scripture. We need this razor-like sharpness to understand our intentions, our thoughts, the decisions we make and the kind of Christian life we live.
2. Another resource we cannot do without in being good soldiers of the cross is the subject of the word of God which is the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:39, 37). How can we bear to live a day without basking in such love? The confidence we receive from the Holy Spirit that God loves us is sufficient to empower us for the struggles of the Christian life.
3. One last resource is that the battle for holiness and for joy and gratitude in the Christian life is not a solo flight. I know that to “fly solo” is a great achievement. Not in the Christian life. Sorties are always done in teams. Soldiers are ineffective in isolation. They do their best when there are others to support them. Do you have a team supporting you? Two are better than one. When one falls the other comes along and lifts him up. Even geese know this routine!

One idea strikes me as essential in the preparation for struggles. In1Timothy 4:7-8, just before Paul tells his protégé to fight the good fight, Paul instructs Timothy to train in godliness. Godliness demands practice of the disciplines of the Christian life. A soldier does not just show up for battle. He will be killed easily if he is not trained to fight. Worse, he will endanger others around him.

A soldier must be loyal. A soldier must learn to surrender his will to that of his superior. A soldier must be willing to suffer. So does the Christian. Loyalty to Christ, surrender to the will of God, and suffering for the cause of the spread of the love of God through Christ are the constant companions of the Christian.

All his life Jesus trained to live and to die for us. He went away to solitary places to train, he fasted, he prayed long and hard, he served, he taught, he guided others, he loved the unlovable, he cried and lamented, he kept silent, he worshiped, he studied the Scripture, he meditated on them, he memorized them, he did all of these because they were necessary preparations to stand in the midst of the battles of life and to die a brave death for you and for me. It is our joy to walk with the Master who walked in our shoes. He has faced every battle we face. He’s the captain of our souls.

Send this Column to a Friend






Past Columns

Return to top