You Are Witnesses: The Pattern and Power of Christian Life

Abstract

This thesis explores witness as a focal image for Christian life. I contend the resurrection and ascension narratives of Luke-Acts prepare us to see the events following Pentecost as the unfolding pattern and power of faithful witness. Chapter one establishes the canonical centrality of witness by demonstrating that it is conceptually essential, experientially sensible, and motivationally responsible. First, canonical accounts convey that witness is conceptually essential always and only to the extent that it is contextually embedded in the living reality of the Incarnation. Second, post-Pentecost narratives of incrementally increased suffering are rendered experientially sensible as a form of witness through a durable experience of divine presence. Chapter one concludes by considering witness as a responsible source of motivation in Revelation. According to the Apocalypse, our witness is the continuing embodiment of Christ’s life-giving achievement and Christ’s life-affirming manner. His triumph ensures that witness is never wasted. His manner ensures that witness is always ennobling. Chapter two considers witness as a patterned practice by exploring an early instance of post-apostolic testimony, the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Consistent with Acts, the Martyrdom portrays Polycarp’s witness unto death as the unfolding Spirit-filled embodiment of apostolic identity. Polycarp’s martyrdom in accord with the gospel is in fact the primary reason the document offers itself for the reader’s attention, let alone devoted study and imitation. I explore the Martyrdom’s portrayal of witness in accord with the gospel as a threefold pattern of waiting on Christ, abiding in Christ, and manifesting Christ. This patterned practice reliably aids our discernment as we seek to release the beauty, goodness, and truth of Christ amid even the most intractable circumstances and even when our witness appears to be unsatisfying or incomplete. Chapter three seeks to strengthen the connection between concept (chapter one) and practice (chapter two) by considering the power of witness as a function God’s presence in us and through us. First, God’s power in us – God’s glory – is characterized by cross and resurrection. We most reliably receive God’s power in the deathliness of our weakness because death is where God most reliably gives life. Consequently, faithful witnesses must learn to expect a measure of suffering and foster practices that strengthen our exercise of self-giving love. Second, God’s power through us should be consistent with power of Christ himself, who is God’s living Word. In the parable of the sower/soils Jesus teaches followers that the fruitful power of God’s word is noncoercive, humble, generative and patient. This is the form of power at work through our witness. In the end, faithful witness does not necessarily lead to social victories or protect us from culturally reinforced postures of aggression or hostility. Rather, it allows Christ to be named, encountered, and followed in every circumstance, especially when we feel the cost. Social marginalization may not signal the failure of faithful witness to the crucified-and-risen Christ. It may, in fact, signal the exact opposite. After all, we’re not here to win. We’re here to witness.