After the Beijing Zion Church was banned by the government, the vast majority of those concerned with house churches anxiously awaited the next move against the Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church. The persecution of the Early Rain Covenant Church on the night of December 9, 2018, was a significant blow, despite prior expectations. Two days later, the church released a statement previously written by Pastor Wang Yi before his arrest. In this personal statement, Pastor Wang Yi declared the unique martyrdom attitude adopted by Chinese house churches in the face of nationwide authoritarian oppression. Previously, to address misunderstandings of “sacred and secular separation” both inside and outside the church, we emphasized the church’s social responsibility, noting similarities between Christian social care and certain social and cultural renewal movements. However, as the “Word became flesh,” even if its external manifestation in the world (the flesh) parallels social and cultural renewal movements, its internal life still possesses a unique transcendence. Preparing to “martyr” for the Way of Christ, Pastor Wang Yi wrote this statement, specifically highlighting the unique faith-based nature of his disobedience. This statement can be seen as the basic stance of house churches towards government persecution, whether expressed boldly or subtly. The author, not only a Christian scholar but also a long-time coworker of Pastor Wang Yi, offers a rational review of this faith-based statement.
(1) The statement highlights the special nature of faithful disobedience. Although it appears amidst conflicts of autocracy vs. democracy and infringement vs. rights, involving constitutional and basic rights like freedom of religion, association, speech, press, and movement, its essence lies in the spiritual backdrop of the kingdom of heaven versus the world. The real target of faithful disobedience is not a type of government but the worldly lifestyle of sin. Under this spiritual backdrop, faithful disobedience is a fundamental way of life for Christians. As the statement says: “As a pastor, my disobedience is part of the gospel mission. The Great Commission of Christ calls us to a great disobedience against the world.” Disobedience to certain governmental sins is just a specific manifestation of general disobedience against worldly sin. In other words, faithful disobedience does not target a specific type of government; it’s just that this intense form of disobedience makes it particularly apparent. However, this does not diminish the special significance of such disobedience. Since the sins of a certain type of government represent universal sinful nature, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven cannot avoid disobeying these sins. As Pastor Wang Yi once said: “We criticize all sins of the world, so how can we avoid criticizing the sins of a certain type of government?” It is in opposing the sins of a certain type of government that faithful disobedience fulfills its universality in resisting worldly sins.
(2) The statement declares the source of faithful disobedience to be God’s sovereignty and calling. “Jesus is Christ, the eternal Son of God. He died for sinners and was resurrected for us. Yesterday, today, and forever, he is my King and the Lord of the whole world. I am his servant, and for this, I am imprisoned. I will gently resist all who oppose God, and joyfully disobey any law that disobeys God.” “As a pastor, my firm belief in the gospel and my teaching and reprimanding of all sins are commanded by Christ in the gospel and the immeasurable love of that glorious King.” Ultimately, faithful disobedience only obeys the supreme sovereignty of God, which is the essence of a Christian’s life. Faithful disobedience is not the result of manipulation by any “power” (whether overseas or domestic) or the practice of some doctrine, but the basic life pattern of a Christian obeying God. For Christians, the world’s limited standards of good and evil do not hold ultimate significance and cannot be the absolute standard for behavior. Even towards an evil government, if God allows its existence, we obey its authority within God-given limits; even towards a good government, we criticize where it contradicts God’s will. Although faithful disobedience involves the structure of constitutional order, its focus is whether faith’s external expression is jeopardized.
(3) The statement expresses the inherent purpose and constructive nature of faithful disobedience. Since it originates from the highest God, faithful disobedience is free. It is not a type of government that creates faithful disobedience, but people with the life of Christ who voluntarily choose this form of disobedience to manifest the cross’s transcendence over persecution. Essentially, faithful disobedience is not a political action against the government, nor a social struggle to overthrow it; if so, it would lose its nature of faith, making the government the focus of its activity. “The purpose of disobedience is not to change the world, but to witness another world. For the church’s mission is merely to be the church, not part of any secular system. From a negative perspective, the church must separate itself from the world, avoiding being systematized by this world. From a positive perspective, the church’s every action is an effort to demonstrate the reality of another world to this world. The Bible teaches us that in matters concerning the gospel and human conscience, we must obey God rather than men. Therefore, both our disobedient faith and physical endurance are ways we witness another world and another King.” Faith is an end in itself, without worldly external intentions. Faithful disobedience is not about overthrowing anyone or any government, but about persisting in the life expression of faith in the face of persecution, preventing violence from erasing the true existence of faith in the world. If those who kill the body can really kill our souls, it only shows that our so-called “souls” are not of the supreme Christ; in the eternal sense of freedom, a self that succumbs to the government’s unrighteous flesh is just a walking corpse of faith. The essence of faithful disobedience is affirmation, not denial. From the perspective of eternal freedom, Christ’s attitude towards the world is love, not hatred. The free are not swayed by others, which is precisely why God can positively change the world. No matter what you do to me, I just freely live out myself, thereby showing my transcendence over you, possibly changing you in an exemplary way. Christian faith always saves the world with a free affirmation, not with an absolute denial.
(4) The statement points out that the ultimate effect of faithful disobedience is to change lives, not social systems. “Everyone’s life is so short, yet God so urgently commands the church to lead and call anyone willing to repent to him. Christ is so eager and willing to forgive all who turn from sin. This is the purpose of all the church’s work in China, to witness Christ to the world, the kingdom to China, and the temporary life of the earth to the eternal life of heaven. This is also the pastoral calling I have received.” “I am not interested in changing any political and legal system in China, nor even when the CCP’s policies of persecuting the church will change. As long as secular governments continue to persecute the church and harm the human conscience that belongs only to God, I will continue to disobey in faith. For the entire mission God has given me is to make more Chinese people understand through all my actions that the hope of humanity and society lies only in Christ’s redemption, in God’s supernatural grace ruling.” Christ’s salvation is for people to repent and receive eternal life. Political and legal systems are limited, unable to reach the eternity that is the ultimate foundation of human life; thus, these systems only apply to limited external actions and cannot reach the ultimate life within. Life is only changed by life; Christ’s death on the cross shows that the Word-made-flesh life is the only way to change the life of sinners (the Mediator). The significance of faithful disobedience is not to overthrow or establish a political or legal system but to witness the transcendence of Christ’s life over political and legal systems. Only a spiritual life that transcends political and legal systems can change human life. The purpose of Christianity in the world is not to establish a Christian political and legal system, but to lead people into the eternal kingdom of heaven. If one thinks that faithful disobedience is to overthrow or establish a certain Christian political or legal system, this misunderstanding essentially degrades Christianity and its faithful disobedience, denying the transcendent nature of the Christian faith. Of course, since Christian faith is “Word made flesh,” when a certain group in society believes in the Lord, they will influence political and legal systems through their external actions, but that is just a side effect of faith, not the ultimate effect Christian faith anticipates. Although faithful disobedience has the same external form as civil disobedience, its essence is not to change political and legal systems but to witness the transcendence of Christ’s life and change the life of sinners with this transcendent life. “If my being imprisoned for a long or short time can help those in power reduce their fear of my faith and my Savior, I am very willing to help them in this way. But I know that only when I say no to all sins that persecute the church and disobey in peace can I truly help the souls of those in power and law enforcement. I long for God to use me, through the loss of personal freedom, to tell those who deprive me of personal freedom that there is an authority higher than theirs and a freedom that they cannot imprison, filled with the church of Jesus Christ who died and was resurrected.”
(5) The statement demonstrates the peaceful nature of faithful disobedience, rooted in love. “Those who imprison me will eventually be imprisoned by angels. Those who interrogate me will ultimately be questioned by Christ. Thinking of this, the Lord fills me with sympathy and sorrow for those who are trying and currently imprisoning me. I pray that the Lord uses me, grants me patience and wisdom, to bring the Gospel to them.” Civil disobedience is also peaceful, but its peace is fundamentally a loyalty to the entire system, a strategy to win over the public. The peace of faithful disobedience is absolute, as it is peace in the infinite love of God. Since this peace comes from the supreme love of God, nothing can take it away; you can kill me, but not my peace, for it resides in eternal love. This peace is not a strategy to achieve external victory, but a way to win the essence of inner life. The greatest love is to give life by sacrificing one’s own; if God ordains that I, through persecution, change the life of the persecutor, let me approach the persecutor with the love of the Lord in my disobedient stance. This is something we cannot do on our own, but any peace of love in faithful disobedience is a flow of Christ’s love from the cross in our lives, for it was Christ who voluntarily accepted our crucifixion to place eternal life before us sinners. This is the essence of faithful disobedience.
(6) The statement appeals to the absolute transcendent power of the cross. Civil disobedience appeals to the power of morality, its point of transcendence, but also its limitation, as morality does not go beyond the relative realm. The power of faithful disobedience comes from another “space.” “They can cause my wife and children to leave me, ruin my reputation, destroy my home, even take my life. However, no one in this world can make me renounce my faith, change my life, or resurrect me from the dead.” All things in this world can only exert power up to death; only the infinite God can still live in the complete annihilation of finite things, and physically resurrect from complete death. The power of faithful disobedience does not come from violence, strength, wealth, ideologies, or even the limited power of morality, but from the power of resurrection fully revealed in the complete killing on the cross. This is the power of absolute transcendence. The author particularly chose “faithful” to translate the “faith” in “faithful disobedience.” This not only points out the source and nature of the absolute transcendence of faithful disobedience but also expresses its absolute power. Only that which comes from Christ’s faith will have absolute loyalty, persistence, certainty, and truth.
Whatever the author says is still insufficient, for the transcendence of faith can only be spoken by a transcendent life. For this spiritual statement, the life that intended martyrdom at the time of writing and is now practicing it is the best interpretation; this statement is still being written, with the pen of life in Chengdu prison writing indelible names in the book, with Christ on the cross holding the pen, depicting a self-portrait on that name.
Originally published on “https://www.chinaaid.net/“
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