Dan Olinger

Demystifying Discipleship, Part 2: Why Disciple?

January 8, 2026 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Introduction

If we’re going to be equipped to disciple others, we need to start with the basics:

What is discipleship?

Why is this a priority? (or, to put it more bluntly, why should I care?)

I’m going to answer those questions in reverse order.

It all begins with God’s will.

Just before he returned to heaven, Jesus left his disciples with a command, the one we call The Great Commission. It appears in Mark 16.15, Luke 24.46-49, and Acts 1.8, but its classic expression is in Matthew 28.18-20:

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Jesus begins by asserting that he has obtained all the authority (“power”) there is in the universe.

That’s quite a claim, and it’s backed up elsewhere in Scripture (e.g. Co 1.14-20).

He’s not bluffing.

So the Great Commission is based on the infinite, universal authority of the one giving it. It’s not merely an option.

And what does this authority command?

The main verb of what follows is “teach.” This word means simply to “make disciples.” When are we to do that? Here Jesus uses a participle, “going,” or “as you go.” So whenever you’re out, take the opportunity to make disciples of all people groups. Of course, to do that you need to go to all the people groups. That’s a key basis of what we call “missions,” and I note that he didn’t restrict the command to a subset of professionals. His command assumes that we’ll all be going, and that as we go we’ll take the time to make disciples in the places where we go.

Next he uses two more participles to tell us how we’re to do that. First, we’re going to baptize them. That assumes, of course, that they will have been converted, will have expressed repentance from sin and faith in Christ. And second, we’re going to teach them what they need to know—what Christ has commanded of his disciples.

As the church has functioned throughout its history, some have specialized in certain people groups—and that makes sense. But all of us have been given this command, and by an infinite authority at that. As we go, wherever we go, we should be telling of Christ’s work, encouraging others to repent and believe, and helping to teach them what happens next.

We all have the obligation to evangelize. All of us. Not just the professionals, whether pastors here in the States or overseas. And once, through our evangelistic labors, someone has believed, we have the obligation to teach him. To disciple him.

Apparently, 2 out of 3 of us aren’t doing that.

Maybe they’re too busy screaming at their political opponents about how stupid they are.

I doubt that’ll open many doors. And I doubt that our infinite, universal authority will be pleased with our priorities, or our devotion to the real cause.

The Bible includes many examples of evangelism; we would do well to study those examples and consider how we might apply them to our time and culture:

Pentecost (Ac 2.38)

Temple (Ac 3.19-26)

Sanhedrin (Ac 4.12)

Sanhedrin 2 (Ac 5.31)

Simon (Ac 8.20-23)

Saul (Ac 9.20; 22.16; 26.18-20)

Cornelius (Ac 10.43; 11.17-18)

Antioch (Ac 13.38-39)

Iconium (Ac 14.1)

Gentiles (Ac 15.9)

Philippian Jailer (Ac 16.30-31)

Berea (Ac 17.12)

Athens (Ac 17.30-31)

Corinth (Ac 18.8)

Ephesus (Ac 19.4-5, 18-19)

Rome (Ac 28.23-24)

There’s no lack of patterns provided.

Next time we’ll consider how to proceed in evangelism.

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Demystifying Discipleship, Part 1: Introduction

January 5, 2026 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

We hear a lot about discipleship in the church these days. Pastors and teachers often point out that discipleship is the focus of the Great Commission (we’ll get to that in a bit), but a recent Barna study (2022) concluded that while about 56% of Christians are being discipled, only about 33% are discipling others.

A couple of caveats.

Accurate surveying is a complicated business; minor inattention can produce huge errors, and every survey that does its statistical work prudently will report a certain “margin of error,” usually 3 to 7 percent, based on sample size and other factors. (The margin of error in this study is +/- 1.5% at 95% confidence.) But even a very large sample size can yield unreliable results—as is the case in virtually every Facebook poll, in which the respondents self-select. That said, Barna is a well-regarded research group.

Nowhere does the article report how Barna defined “Christian”; it says simply that the respondents self-identified as Christian. (I didn’t read the study itself, which is behind a paywall.) Given Barna’s history, I think it’s safe to assume that they were interacting with evangelicals.

The article also doesn’t define “discipleship,” though I’m sure the study itself does. Given that only 56% percent of Christians are “being discipled,” I’m confident that the definition does not include pulpit ministry.

With those factors in mind, I think we can take the percentages as reasonably accurate. That said, though the percentage of Christians who are being discipled is significantly higher than the percentage of those who are discipling others, I still think it’s lower than it ought to be; and the number of those discipling others is disturbingly low.

When a subset of the survey group was asked why they’re not discipling anyone, the most common response was that they didn’t think they were qualified. I rather suspect that apathy and/or fear play a larger role than the survey indicates, but because people are not likely to give answers that find fault with themselves, I doubt that any survey would yield reliable data on that question.

So then. A large percentage of self-proclaimed Christians are rendering only casual obedience, if that, to Jesus’ last command.

Maybe we should try to clarify, in a few posts, what discipleship is all about.

I plan to proceed by tracking the basic journalistic questions:

Why should we disciple others?

What does discipleship consist of?

When should we call for a decision in evangelism?

What should we teach the disciple about salvation? (This will consist of a blog series I posted some years ago. A link will suffice.)

How should the disciple be enabled to grow? (This too will be an earlier series on this blog.)

We’ll start down this path next time.

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Top Ten

January 1, 2026 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

And now for the Top Ten posts for all time (since summer 2017).

Same rankings as last year, except #7 and #8 switched, and #9 is new.

The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right (September 4, 2017)
On Calling God by His First Name (November 16, 2017)
Are We Doing Church Wrong? (July 31, 2017)
On Deconversion (March 18, 2021)
On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) (August 6, 2020)
I Was Born That Way (August 9, 2018)
Pants on Fire (August 16, 2018)
On Sin: I’m Guilty of Adam’s Sin? How Is That Fair? (October 4, 2018)
On Retiring (February 24, 2025 )
Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You. (January 8, 2018)

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Top Ten 2025

December 29, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

It’s time for the Top Ten lists. Today, Top Ten for this year’s posts; Thursday, Top Ten for all time (since summer 2017).

I note that by the nature of things, an annual list like this is noticeably biased in favor of earlier posts. Note also that a series’s place in this list is determined by its most-viewed single post.

Top Ten New Posts 2025

On Retiring (February 24, May 15 )
On Jaywalking (October 20)
On Silence During Chaos (April 28, May 1, 5, 8, 12)
On Political Panic (February 27, March 3)
Baccalaureate (May 19, 22, 25)
On Memes (October 6)
How God Makes Well-Rounded Christians (Colossians 1) (August 21, 28, September 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25)
A Denier Redirected (1 Peter) (March 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 27)
On Spiritual Decline (Malachi) (July 28, 31, August 4, 7, 11, 14, 18)
A Book Donation and a Kind Providence (June 26)

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 11: God Is Great, and God Is Good

December 22, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Our third prophet, Habakkuk, will wrap up our thinking with a flourish. He has asked God why he hasn’t judged Judah for her sins, and God has assured him that he will—with the Chaldeans (Babylonians).

But this raises another question. The Babylonians, like the Assyrians, are cruel and violent. Habakkuk asks, “Why, God, would you judge sinners by giving victory to even worse sinners?” (Hab 1.13). How can God use, and benefit, such ruthless (Hab 1.14), brutal (Hab 1.15), sensuous (Hab 1.16), and relentless (Hab 1.17) people?

Good question. And now Habakkuk waits for an answer (Hab 2.1).

Was he out of line for asking the question? I don’t think so—not if God gave him the answer he requested. Even further, God ordered Habakkuk to write down the answer and to run to deliver it to his people (Hab 2.2).

Justice is coming, God says, but slowly (Hab 2.3). You need to trust me and be patient (Hab 2.4).

The next section (Hab 2.5-20) is a “taunt song,” similar to the one David spoke to Goliath as their battle approached. God describes what he will to the the Chaldeans:

The looter will be looted (Hab 2.6-8).

The cocky one will be exposed (Hab 2.9-11).

The expansionist will be thwarted and outshone by the glory of God (Hab 2.12-14).

The shameless will be defamed (Hab 2.15-17).

The idolatrous will be powerless before the enthroned God of heaven (Hab 2.18-20). The Hebrew of Hab 2.20 effectively says, “Hush!”

God will act in his own time, overcoming Habakkuk’s enemies in ways the prophet never could. To this point in the book, we’ve seen our second principle restated: God is better at dealing with our enemies than we can be,

But the book doesn’t stop there; there’s one more chapter. Here God quits speaking, and the prophet speaks in response to what he has heard.

Or rather, he sings; this is a musical work, as the musical term Shigionoth (Hab 3.1) indicates. And what does he sing?

He begins with full recognition of the greatness of this God who is in his holy temple, infinitely greater than Habakkuk, than Judah, than Chaldea, and even than the whole earth (Hab 2.20). The prophet has asked his questions; now it’s time for him to reflect on the answers.

He begins by describing the Lord’s powerful execution of judgment and justice. I won’t go into the details; it’s moving enough for us just to read it thoughtfully. At the end of it all, the prophet stands overwhelmed by this all-powerful God (Hab 3.16).

But.

He can “rest in the day of trouble” (Hab 3.16), because this all-powerful God is no stranger; he is the covenant God of Judah. He is Habakkuk’s God.

And so he closes with words with which most of us are familiar.

No matter what happens (Hab 3.17), he says, “I will rejoice in the Lord” (Hab 3.18).

Why?

Because God will do things right; he will keep his promises; he will deliver his people.

So how do we think about our enemies?

We see them not as enemies, but as broken objects of God’s love, just as we are.

We trust God to deal with them infinitely more effectively than we can.

And we trust God to do the right thing, and to do it perfectly.

In this world or the next, our enemies will be properly dealt with. We have the privilege of trusting our God, who is in his holy temple.

Fear and despair in the face of polarization and rage is just stupid.

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 10: Why the Delay? 

December 15, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

We turn now to a third prophet who will refine how we think about our enemies. He’s the prophet with the funny name, Habakkuk. He lived, apparently, just before Babylon began attacking Judah and taking her people into exile. This was a time of great evil in Judah—evil kings, evil priests, evil businessmen, evil everybody else. As a prophet, Habakkuk is grieved and troubled by the evil he sees all around him. He cries out to God, seeking answers (Hab 1.2-3), decrying the evil behavior of his own people (Hab 1.3-4).

Have you ever wished that you could just sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with the Almighty? Ask him pointed, specific questions, and hear his answers?

Well, Habakkuk is one of the few people who’ve ever been granted that opportunity. Though lots of people have cried out, “How long, O Lord?” (Hab 1.2), most of them don’t get an audible, verbal answer. Habakkuk does. And his book is a record of the conversation.

In chapter 1 Habakkuk asks God a question and receives an answer—which only raises a further question at the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 records God’s further answer. And chapter 3 wraps it all up, with an example that will put the finishing touches on our philosophy of response to our enemies.

Habakkuk’s first question to God is, “Why don’t you judge Judah’s evil?” (Hab 1.2-3). He describes the evil that is prompting his cry:

Violence (Hab 1.2). Interestingly for our day, this is the word hamas.

Violent robbery (Hab 1.3)

Strife and contention (Hab 1.3)

The Law is paralyzed and does not render justice (Hab 1.4).

Everywhere he looks, there’s evil (Hab 1.4).

Does any of this sound familiar? Maybe applicable to our relationships with our enemies?

The prophet thinks this calls for divine judgment.

And he’s right.

And now, uncharacteristically, God speaks up; he answers Habakkuk’s question.

He begins with a simple promise: I will indeed judge Judah, and within your lifetime (Hab 1.5).

And this tells us why Habakkuk’s question—“How long, O Lord?”—is unwarranted. First, he has apparently assumed that God doesn’t know about the problem; and second, that if he does know, he apparently doesn’t care.

Bad thinking, friend. God knows all things, and his heart is closely wrapped up in his creation and in his covenants. Delay doesn’t mean anything.

God is never in a hurry, because hurry is evidence of lack of authority and ability. Remember the White Rabbit?

God moves deliberately, authoritatively, and always exactly at the right time.

I suppose I should say that we shouldn’t be too hard on ol’ Habakkuk. His entire question seems to be prompted by his firm belief that God will do the right thing—so why isn’t he doing it?! It seems that his view of God is correct; he simply doesn’t understand the timing. We’ll see clearer evidence of this at the end of this chapter.

Now God expands on his answer. He is going to judge Judah by means of the “Chaldeans” (Hab 1.6)—essentially another term for the Babylonians (Is 47.1), who about this time (605 BC) have defeated Egypt at Carchemish (Jer 46.2), establishing themselves as the dominant power in the Middle East. Their infantry is intimidating (Hab 1.7), and their cavalry gives them swiftness of movement (Hab 1.8)—Blitzkrieg! They attack with the fierceness of wolves—”evening wolves,” who haven’t eaten all day and thus are ravenous, attacking with a violence that is only exponentiated by the taste of blood. A feeding frenzy.

When they come to a walled city with an established king, they will not be impressed: king, schming (Hab 1.10). They’ll simply build siege ramps—“heap dust”—and overrun the walls.

And when they win—and they will win—they give themselves all the credit; they are mindless to the role of the God who has decreed and empowered their victory (Hab 1.11).

These are evil, evil people.

Now, this raises a second question, doesn’t it? We’ll include the last paragraph of chapter 1 with chapter 2 in the next post.

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 9: Why Will He Judge Nineveh? 

December 11, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Now that Nahum has declared the certainty and extent of Nineveh’s destruction, he explains in more detail why it is coming—what noted British expositor G. Campbell Morgan called “the vindication of vengeance.”

Chapter 3 begins with “Woe!” This word (hoy in Hebrew) is most commonly used to introduce a pronouncement of judgment: “Hey! Pay attention! Look at me when I talk to you!”

Nineveh Is Thoroughly Evil

Nahum 3.1 lists 3 reasons for the judgment:

The city is “bloody”; it engages routinely in violence. As we’ve noted, the historical record is filled with testimony to this practice.
It is “full of lies and robbery.” This would include, I think, the concept of idolatry, which is the worship of false gods—as we’ll see in a moment.
It is predatory; the Assyrians are always after somebody.

The next two paragraphs expand on the last two of these reasons:

Remember the “montage” from chapter 2? Now Nahum recalls it (Na 3.2-3) as evidence that “the prey departeth not” (Na 3.1).
And he specifies the “lies and robbery” (Na 3.1) as manifested in idolatry (Na 3.4). God regularly sees Israel’s idolatry as adultery, leaving a covenant relationship with the true God for a cheap relationship with mere idols (e.g. Hosea). Here he makes it clear that even for other nations, who do not share in the Abrahamic Covenant, idolatry is violation of a covenant. I think I see a basis for this in Romans 1.18-23, where God asserts that Creation itself is sufficient evidence for the worship of the true God. The rest of this paragraph (Na 3.5-7) describes the appropriate judgment for spiritual adultery—shame, contempt, and revulsion—in horrifying detail.

God Is Thoroughly Just

I’ve just said that the form of judgment, as violent and horrifying as it is, is appropriate. How can I say that?

Because God does right. He will cleanse his creation of the chaos and pain brought by evil actors through their evil actions.

Nahum begins by noting that God has done this before. He gives the specific example of Thebes (ESV; NASB “No-Amon,” KJV “No”) in Egypt (Na 3.8). Thebes, what we now call Karnak/Luxor, was the capital of Upper (Southern) Egypt, and a wonder of power, wealth, and architecture. In many ways it was even more impressive than Nineveh. And unlike Nineveh, which had engendered fear but not loyalty among the surrounding, conquered nations, Thebes had formed alliances—sort of a NATO—among its neighbors Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Put (Somalia), and Libya (Na 3.9). But in 663 BC God had destroyed it through an invading army.

Which army? Well, funny you should ask.

The Assyrian army.

If God could use Nineveh to destroy Thebes in recent memory (Na 3.10), what was to prevent him from using some other earthly power to destroy Nineveh?

So there. Q.E.D.

Nineveh, then, will be similarly destroyed.

What will she look like when the enemy invades?

She will be disoriented and ineffectual, as though drunk (Na 3.11).
She will recognize her weakness and look for a place to hide (Na 3.11).
She will fall easily into the hand of the invader (Na 3.12).
Her soldiers will be weak (Na 3.13).
Her fortifications will crumble (Na 3.13).
No matter what she does to prepare—store up water, make bricks, expand military forces (Na 3.14-15)—she will be defeated.
Her riches will be plundered (Na 3.16).
Her leaders will abandon her (Na 3.17).
Her leaders are apathetic—or perhaps dead (Na 3.18).
When she’s gone, nobody will care (Na 3.19).

And there the book ends.

Yikes.

What a laundry list. What a reversal. What a judgment.

So, what’s Nahum’s point? How should we think about our enemies?

Do you think that a perfectly just, infinitely powerful God can’t deal with your enemies better than you can?

I’m not suggesting that we should savor anticipating our enemies’ destruction; we’ve already noted that God loves our enemies as much as he loves us, and we should too. We should desire their repentance and faith in God, so that he will graciously forgive them, just as he has forgiven us despite the depravity and depth of our own sins.

But I am suggesting that our own efforts to harm our enemies are doomed to be incomplete, foolish, and feckless. This a job for the Creator of heaven and earth, the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Our God.

Next time: one more prophet.

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 8: How Will He Judge Nineveh?

December 8, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

In chapter 1 Nahum has stated that God will certainly judge Nineveh; now, in predictive prophecy, he describes it happening—not in a single report, but in a series of impressions flashing by, like a video montage. He addresses Nineveh directly, warning the city to prepare for the coming violence. A “smasher” is coming, and you’d better get ready (Na 2.1). How?

Keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

Do what you can. But as the context makes clear, there is really nothing they can do to prepare for the attack of the “smasher.” His power is infinite, and his rage is intense—as chapter 1 makes clear. You’ve never met an enemy like this one.

In the KJV Nahum 2.2 sounds like judgment on Israel, but most of the modern versions render it as a promise of blessing:

For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though devastators have devastated them And destroyed their vine branches (Na 2.2 NASB).

Why this statement of blessing in the middle of a promise of violent destruction? Some interpreters have suggested that it’s an aside, as though God the “smasher” (and I say this reverently) turns to his people and says, “Watch this!”

Now come the flashes of battle vignettes. First there’s the red of the approaching attackers, the Medo-Babylonians (Na 2.3), then a closeup of the violence in the streets. Now image after image pictures the invasion and destruction of Nineveh (Na 2.4-7).

There’s some question about the word “Huzzab” (Na 2.7 KJV). It could be a place name or a personal name, as the KJV renders it, or it could be a verb meaning “It is fixed.” In either case the destruction is unavoidable.

The mention of water in Nahum 2.8 is also interesting. We know that Assyrian rulers had built dams to control the water supply. Now, Nahum says, “They shall flee away.” Does this mean that the attackers will flood the city, or that they will divert the waters so that the people face death by thirst? Again, neither possibility is any good for the Assyrians.

Now we see the ransacking (Na 2.9). Nineveh had extorted silver and gold by the ton from its conquered enemies in “tribute.” But now it’s all meaningless, because it’s all gone.

Years ago a property in my neighborhood held an estate sale. The late owners had been collectors of many valuable things; gold, silver, crystal, fine china, art. We watched as all of it went to strangers, mostly antique dealers interested simply in reselling for profit, in one afternoon. All the memories were gone. A vivid illustration of Ecclesiastes 12.

You can’t take it with you.

The chapter ends with a “sword song,” a taunt from the victor. The words “empty, and void, and waste” (Na 2.10) are deeply impactful in Hebrew: Buqah uMebuqah uMebullaqah. They hit like a series of hammer blows, reinforcing the violence and completeness of the destruction.

The Assyrian lion is destroyed, surrounded by wasteland (Na 2.11-13).

It’s been my privilege to observe lions in the wild many times. They are not afraid, because they have no predators. They hunt as they wish, but most of the time they sit in the shade of trees, a male and his pride, staring calmly into the distance, looking bored, and studiously ignoring the tourists and the clicking of their cameras.

But this lion has faced a predator that is infinitely greater than he is, against whom none can stand. His judgment is complete.

We today have difficulty comprehending the significance of this prophecy. Nineveh ruled the entire known world with extreme violence and cruelty. If you heard that the Assyrians were coming, you prepared to die, because they had power and reach all across the known world, and they were certain to crush you like a bug.

But in God’s economy, the roles are reversed, and judgment comes to those who justly deserve it. God deals with those who abuse his people.

In the next chapter we’ll look at why God chose to act this intensely against Assyria.

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 7: Who Will Judge Nineveh?

December 4, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

We turn to a second prophet, Nahum, for more insight into how we should think about our enemies. Nahum lived about a hundred years after Jonah, at a time when Nineveh was still dominant but about to fall. He’s much less well known than Jonah, for an obvious reason: Jonah is narrative, so his story gets told to all the kids in Sunday school.

Nahum’s prophecy is a counterpoint to Jonah’s story. Jonah is all about mercy; Nahum is much darker. The reason is not difficult to discern: Nineveh’s repentance apparently didn’t last very long, and the leaders returned to their cruel, abominable ways. Nahum tells us about what happens when mercy is ignored.

I’m going to use an outline provided by Willmington’s Bible Handbook: in laying out the judgment of Nineveh, chapter 1 tells us Who?; chapter 2 tells us How?; and chapter 3 tells us Why?

The whole purpose of Scripture is to reveal to us who God is, because knowing him is the purpose for which he created us. Not surprisingly, the infinite God is a complex being, an infinitely round character. There’s a lot to him. In this chapter he reveals his care for his people, which involves both lovingly recognizing and protecting them and also angrily—wrathfully—removing threats to their well-being.

The Lord is “slow to anger” (Na 1.3), but he also loves his people and is highly motivated (“jealous”) to defend them (Na 1.2). By Nahum’s time Nineveh has taken Israel into exile and has attacked Judah, breaking off their siege of Jerusalem only after the Angel of the Lord slaughtered their army (2K 19.35). The time for mercy is past; judgment is justly due.

And God is fully capable of rendering judgment against any foe. He dries up rivers (Na 1.4), which are typically obstacles to advancing armies; the NET Bible notes, “The Assyrians waged war every spring after the Tigris and Euphrates rivers dried up, allowing them to cross. As the Mighty Warrior par excellence, the LORD is able to part the rivers to attack Assyria.”

He is not only able; he is motivated. Nahum 1.6 includes four different words for anger, as though he is angry in every way possible (from the four corners of the earth?). When someone who is “slow to anger” is this angry, then his commitment to his people is absolute; he will certainly defend them. This is evidence not of smashing things in a temper tantrum, but of goodness (Na 1.7). We love it when a strong hero steps in to defend the weak, even when a Boy Scout helps a little old lady across the street. This is that exponentiated.

It’s true that Judah had faced an Assyrian invasion before Nahum, but now God speaks words of comfort to them:

“Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. ¹³For now will I break his yoke from off thee, And will burst thy bonds in sunder” (Nah 1.12-13).

And to their attacker he says,

“Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile” (Na 1.14).

This is good news to God’s people, and Nahum echoes Isaiah’s earlier prophecy:

“Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” (Na 1.15; cf Is 52.7).

We know from history that the Northern Kingdom of Israel could not have defeated the Assyrians, because, well, they didn’t. And we know that the Southern Kingdom of Judah couldn’t either, because God had to break the siege on Jerusalem by massacring the Assyrian army.

Even assuming that we don’t deserve what our enemies are doing to us—that they are acting unjustly—how likely is it that we’ll enforce justice better than the Almighty can and will?

Next time, we’ll move into chapter 2.

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On How to Think about Enemies, Part 6: Jonah v. God

December 1, 2025 by Dan Olinger 1 Comment

Part 1: Introduction  | Part 2: Jonah, for the First Time | Part 3: Exemplary Pagans | Part 4: A Psalm | Part 5: More Exemplary Pagans 

Jonah’s story closes with a second conversation with God (the first being chapter 2). It begins by showing us Jonah’s heart, and it ends by showing us God’s heart. The contrast is instructive for our thesis.

Jonah’s Heart

The chapter starts with the word “but.” Following God’s forgiveness of the repentant people of Nineveh at the closing of the previous chapter (Jon 3.10), Jonah is deeply unhappy. God is pleased; the prophet is displeased. He wanted to deliver the message of judgment, but he did not want the evil ones to be forgiven.

And now we learn why he sailed for Tarshish—the ends of the earth—when God first commissioned him:

O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil (Jon 4.2).

“I knew you’d do this!” he rants. “I knew you were just the sort of person who would forgive them!”

How did he know that? He knew it because that is how God has revealed himself throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, beginning with Moses at Sinai (Ex 34.6-7) and continuing through Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land, and the Psalms, and on the return from Babylon, and (after Jonah) in the prophet Joel. Here Jonah is essentially quoting God’s words to Moses some seven centuries earlier.

And Jonah didn’t want that.

And this despite the fact that he had just been delivered from a destruction (Jon 2.10) that he completely deserved (Jon 1.12). Grace for me, he thinks, but not for thee. Because I hate you. You’re my enemy. I’d rather die than see grace come to you (Jon 4.3).

As at the very beginning of his story, Jonah’s will is at cross purposes with God’s.

Some prophet.

God’s Heart

God asks Jonah a simple question—“Are you doing right?” (Jon 4.4), and then the conversation pauses while God gives the rebellious, blindly angry prophet an object lesson.

This is the Mesopotamian desert. It’s barren, except just along the banks of the Tigris River, and it’s really, really hot. Jonah hikes up a hillside for a good view of the city, in desperate hope that God will nuke the Assyrians just as he did the Sodomites. He builds some kind of rudimentary shelter for shade from the sun—using whatever materials he can find in this desert—and he waits (Jon 4.5).

And God, the Teacher, causes a vine to grow up in just a day, a vine with good-sized leaves to give Jonah further protection from the sun (Jon 4.6).

Aaahhh. Thank you, Lord. You are so kind.

But the next day the vine withers and dies. And then a hot, dry desert wind, like a scirocco, arises and just saps the life out of everything, especially Jonah (Jon 4.8). Now he’s thirsty; he has sand in his throat and in his eyes and in his ears and he’s more miserable than he’s ever been, and on top of everything, the sandstorm is so thick that he won’t be able to see anything even if God does destroy Nineveh.

And now the conversation resumes.

You feel bad about the vine, do you? An insensate, transitory vine? (Jon 4.9-10).

What about all these people, who do live and feel and suffer? Including 120,000 children, too young to know left from right? (Jon 4.11).

What about the children, indeed.

And here the story ends.

We don’t know how Jonah answers, or whether he answers. We don’t know how or whether the conversation continues—is this a rhetorical question that God tosses over his shoulder as he strides, so to speak, out of Jonah’s life forever?

We know that at some later time Jonah writes the story down, or he tells it to someone else who writes it down, and that the account finds its way into the Israelite literary corpus and eventually the Hebrew Scripture. That gives us some hope that the old bigot came to his senses; perhaps he realized that at core, he too was an Assyrian. Or, as pastor and hymnwriter Chris Anderson has preached, “I am the Samaritan woman.”

But leaving the speculation aside, what do we learn from this prophet about how to think about our enemies?

Our first principle:

God loves our enemies just as much as he loves us.

Perhaps that’s why he tells us to love our enemies (Mt 5.44), and also to be like him (1P 1.16).

If you want your enemies destroyed, you’re doing it wrong.

If you would be pleased to see them judged, you’re doing it wrong.

Next time, we’ll begin our look at Nahum.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash