One of the distinctives of Christianity is the call to behave otherworldly.
Revenge is a human instinct and something most people would say is a natural right. Christ tells Christians to turn the other cheek and let God take care of vengeance for them. Humanity has no natural impulse to love their neighbor if their neighbor is from a different tribe. Christ says to love your neighbor with no exception—yes, love even that neighbor. The natural order does not call for sacrificial love. Christ does.
In the Old Testament, the Jews were given rules that separated them from other tribes. Mixed fabric was out, tattoos were out, and circumcision was in. The physical attributes of the Jews singled them out as visibly different from the other tribes. In the New Testament, cultural behaviors separate the Christian from the pagan.
Your youth pastor might have more tattoos than the guy down the street, but the youth pastor is going to live differently from the hedonist or the worldly—or he should. The Christian might have a freakishly large family for modern sensibilities, and instead of nursing the hangover on Sunday morning or working on the baseball scholarship with Sunday travel ball, the family will be in church.
In Roman times, Christians were persecuted for their weirdness. They rescued infants from the trash heaps where they had been left to die. They went into danger and illness to help the sick and plague-stricken. They lived temperate, quiet lives. They did not sue, which had become a sport in Roman times. They did not sacrifice to the gods or the Emperor. They were cultural oddities.
Erick Erickson | “Wanted: (Practicing) Christian Leaders” | March 26, 2025
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