I’m at a place in my life now where I have a bit more freedom in my reading. Over the years of pastoring, I bought a lot of books. Many of them were old classics that I bought because I thought I should own them and read them. Mostly, I only got the first part of that accomplished. In other words, I own a lot of old classics of Christian literature that I haven’t read until now.
This morning, I was reading in J. B. Phillips’s classic, Your God Is Too Small. I don’t know that I’d call it a major classic for the ages, but it is worth reading. This morning, I came across a section in which he reflects on what he believes to be a deep-seated feature of the human soul. “However, far from the ideal our own practice may be, we have an automatic respect for such things as honesty, sincerity, faithfulness, incorruptibility, kindness, justice, and respect for others.”[1] His point is that these values are deep-seated in the human soul because they are planted there by our creation in the image of God.
He goes on to note that the importance of those fundamental human values can go almost unnoticed until they are challenged by their opposite. For his generation, that challenge came in the form of the Nazi regime in Germany, which he characterized as one of “treachery, brutality, and inhumanity.” He writes that such things “offend the universal conscience of mankind.”[2]
Of course, the fact that the Nazi regime could reject “honesty, sincerity, faithfulness, incorruptibility, kindness, justice, and respect for others” and pursue “treachery, brutality, and inhumanity” is testimony to the fact that these values, if truly universal, can be utterly suppressed. And in fact, the Nazi regime in Germany was neither the first nor the last such program of inhumane brutality.
Though kindness, justice, and respect for others may be deeply set in the human soul by virtue of our creation in the image of God, so also are treachery, brutality, and inhumanity by virtue of our fall. Human beings have shown themselves adept at overriding our original goodness and pursuing programs of brutal depravity.
Strength is corrupted in such a way that it is seen as a means of dominating others rather than as a means of serving and caring for the vulnerable and those in need. Resources are seen as things to be amassed as personal gain and hoarded rather than things to be given to relieve need. Accumulating power in order to impose one’s will on others is the goal rather than sharing power in order to build community. Brutality is seen as a virtue; kindness is seen as a vice. Empathy is denigrated; harshness is celebrated.
Such are the times we seem to be living in. If it were the atheists who were embracing brutality, domination, and inhumanity, I would find it less grievous. But sadly, many in America now champion these things in the name of Christ. And if they do not openly champion these things themselves, they lend their support to those who do.
The embrace of brutality and the inhumane treatment of other human beings is the rejection of him who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). To pursue the power to impose one’s will over others against their will is a renunciation of him who described himself as “gentle and lowly” (Matt. 11:28). The celebration of this world’s wealth and power is incompatible with the kingdom of God, the God whose “foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and [whose] weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25).
To truly follow Jesus is to follow the lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:6), not the roaring lion “seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
As I said, Phillips’s little classic is a little classic, not a major one. But there is much to be said for listening to those who have seen evil and can help us recognize it when it shows up in our time.
© 2025 Gary A. Chorpenning (gachorpenning.com)
[1] J. B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961, page 70.
[2] Ibid., page 71.
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