The Theology of Martyrdom — Kyle Stoltzfus — Ep. 059

Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of Anabaptist Perspectives. I'm here at Faith Builders in Pennsylvania with Kyle Stallspoos, which you happen to be my brother-in-law, which works nicely. You're working on a master's degree in church history, um, and theology, that kind of thing. And something you've been pretty interested in from our conversations is something called the theology of martyrdom. Can you just define that and describe what you mean when you say that? So theology of martyrdom, um, takes really seriously what we say when we mean that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. And what we mean by the treasures of wisdom in Christ is that in His, in Christ's self-emptying life, in His innocent death, and in His vindicating resurrection, we know what wisdom looks like.

And it looks like that Christ is the expression of wisdom. He tells us everything we need to know about God, everything we need to know about man. And it looks like that self-emptying arc of His life. So what do I mean? Like this, this is kind of the theological side of it. What do I mean by a theology of martyrdom? The first thing that we have to mean by that is Jesus Christ's identification with us as human beings. So I mean that Jesus Christ, in the whole span of His life, He demonstrates solidarity with human beings because He's God and He's human, and He demonstrates His solidarity with us. He's with us. He's God with us.

And it's this reality, the reality of God in Christ appearing on the scene of human history that captivates the first believers. It's hard to make sense of. It's hard to get their minds around, but it absolutely captivates them. But there's more to that. And here's where it gets really interesting and starts to merge into what I mean by a theology of martyrdom. It's that not only does God appear on the scene of human history in the form of Jesus Christ, but He comes in a certain way.

There's a form to it, and there's a trajectory or a manner of God's revelation. And in that trajectory, that manner is this. It's He comes in a self-emptying manner that ultimately leads to His death. And that's the form of God's revelation. So we find Paul grappling with that revelation in Philippians 2. It's one of the earliest Philippians is one of the earliest books that we have in the New Testament. And this passage in Philippians 2, it's becoming one of my favorites, central to what it means. And Peter Paul writes, he writes, "Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted and bestowed Him and given Him a name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." So I mean, you notice in that two basic movements, there's the movement downward, and then there's the movement upward, where first Christ is emptying Himself. He's humbled. He's crucified on the most humiliating and agonizing deaths possible. Then the Father exalts Him for the great cost to Christ taking on the form of a servant.

And it led to His abandonment. It led to His crucifixion. So when I'm talking about a theology of martyrdom, a theology of martyrdom or martyrdom in general is just in its barest form, giving witness to Christ's solidarity with us and to its form. It originates there, and it flows then from our participation in the life of Christ. And I can take as my jumping off point to kind of describe how that flowing out of the life of works, this curious little passage in Paul in Colossians. In Colossians 1:24, Paul writes, "Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you," meaning the church at Colossi, suffering for the church at Colossi. And he rejoices in that. "And I will fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church."

So he says, the interesting part about this is that he is filling up in his flesh, Paul's flesh, what is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions. And you just have to ask, so what's he trying to accomplish here? Is he trying to crucify Christ again? And well, obviously not. I think what you can say about that passage is there's an open-endedness to the story and to the sufferings of Christ. Okay, it originates in Christ, but there's an open-endedness to it. And the gospel that's presented by Paul in Philippians 2, the gospel of though he was found or though he was in the form of God, it's not only a historical fact, but it's also a cosmic reality that Paul is living into.

Because of this, Paul is willing to suffer for the church at Colossi. And in fact, he says he rejoices in it because he wants to fill up in his flesh, thus be a witness or be a martyr for the sake of the church and in union with the sufferings of Christ. And it's that attitude of participating and reiterating the sufferings of Christ as believers that makes up the theology of martyrdom. So how has this doctrine been displayed in Christians in the past? And how did it practically affect their lives and actions? There's a lot of examples. It's really overwhelming.

There's the martyrdom of Stephen that's recorded in Acts. He's the first Christian witness, the first Christian martyr we know of. There's Polycarp, an early martyr. Justin Martyr. Jump ahead many thousand years, several thousand. There's Felix Mons. There's Dirk Willems in our own tradition. The question of how has this been displayed, how has it worked out in life? Well, there I really have to zero in and focus just on one.

And that the figure that I think that I've gotten, I've had the chance to do a little bit of work on there is Ignatius. He's the second-century bishop, or a second-century bishop of Antioch. And he's taken from Antioch with a cohort of soldiers, and he's being taken to Rome, and he's going to be executed there in the Coliseum. And on the way, he writes seven letters. And we still have those letters. It's the basic record of what we know about what we know about Ignatius. We get to know a little bit about some of the doctrinal concerns he has, but what's really interesting is you see what does he, what's he doing with his body, with his martyrdom that he's presenting as a witness for Christ?

For one is a witness against the power of Rome. And I mean by that not just the authority of it, but the way that Rome was, for one, it was so absolute in its demands of its citizens and its use of coercive force to see to it that that absolute commitment to the Roman imperial cult and to the Roman ideals for his citizens were actually brought about. Okay. And he's protesting that. I'm just going to kind of barely assert that here. It gets really fascinating when you begin to understand how the Romans saw the Coliseum and how Ignatius, as he's coming to the Coliseum, well, he talks about it in these terms of the Eucharist.

And he's going to go celebrate the Eucharist in the Coliseum. The bread is his body. And he's going to be offering it as this means of protest and martyrdom. Okay. What's he witnessing for, though? It's clear that he's not just witnessing for some kind of idea of like religious rites, we think of them today. Instead, I'd argue that he has some particular vision of what it means to be a human being and that that has to do with the gospel, as I've talked about, as Paul's talked about it. Where I get that from is this really interesting line he puts down as he's writing to the Roman church. And he says this, he says, "Suffer me, my brethren, hinder me not from living.

Okay, hinder me not from living. Do not wish me to die. Suffer me to receive the pure light. When I shall have arrived there in Rome to be killed, I shall become a human being. Suffer me to follow the example of the passion of my God." He doesn't want to live. Like he doesn't want to biologically continue into life so he can actually live, which is kind of a reverse problem. So it seems like, you know, in his body, he's arguing through martyrdom for a particular vision of what it means to be a human. And he's saying that it's actually in self-emptying a basement that he's going to express humanity and become a human being himself.

And he's going to do that in a public arena. So the second thing that I think he's witnessing for is he's witnessing against these totalizing claims of Rome on him and his religious or his allegiances, his commitments. He's witnessing against that, but he's also witnessing for a kind of vision for the social structure of the church, like how the church is to conduct itself, how it's to order its power. And I think it to say that whereas the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, could press members of society into certain social forms by demonstrating its power, the corporate identity of the Pax Christi, the peace of Christ, is achieved through these innumerable reenactments over and over and over, both the ritual and the embodied reenactments of the Eucharist, the practice of communion with the sufferings of Christ.

So basically, Ignatius, this early Christian martyr, he embodied with his life and with his martyrdom a rejection of the totalizing power of Rome. And he saw his witness as participation in the life of Christ. His practice of the Eucharist and his concern for unity, and finally his concern for hospitality, they all flow out of that first or that primary commitment to his union with Christ and the practice of the Eucharist. So then one question I'd have is, does this doctrine only apply when being persecuted or attacked, or is this something that has much broader elements? Yeah, well, it becomes most obvious. You know, martyrdom is something when it's physical martyrdom, it's clear. It's out there.

It's public. It's in an arena. It's in a public setting. And that's the whole point. But I think because of how stark martyrdom is as a public spectacle, and because the way it speaks to the most extreme and vulnerable circumstances that we as Christians could face, I think absolutely, yes. The theology of martyrdom has much broader applications. And I think really because of how well it speaks to not just the really extreme circumstances we face, but also to the really everyday encounters we face, it just absolutely begs to be expressed and worked out in all aspects of life. Can you give a practical everyday life example of how something like this applies? If you source a theology of martyrdom back in the self-emptying, self-giving life of Christ, right?

That does speak to the kind of harmlessness or vulnerability of somebody who's in the situation of physically being killed for their faith. But I mean, you just imagine, right, the incredible number of situations you have in everyday encounters to demonstrate self-emptying, self-giving love. It's as easy as, oh, if you're doing, you know, 3 a.m. parenting and you're trying to relate to this child in a constructive way, which would be really, really difficult sometimes. Like that's an opportunity to work within the context of a theology of martyrdom.

It influences how we think about the relationships that are most intimate to us, our friends, our spouses. The theology of martyrdom is going to influence how we think about that. So how do you see Anabaptists living this out or maybe not living this out? I mean, especially given the situation where we don't have opportunities like being thrown to the lions, like they did in other parts of church history. Yeah, how is this working out for us now? How does this specifically apply to the Anabaptist people? Martyrdom is a central part of, I think, our historical memory as Anabaptists. One of the difficulties we've had as Anabaptists to face, and it's not an insurmountable one, but it's a difficulty is translating that attitude of vulnerability and defenselessness that leads to physical martyrdom into an ethic that's suited for just like everyday life, a normative ethic.

Well, I do think there have been translations from that really extreme situation into the more everyday ethic. You'd see it in things like the Anabaptist commitment to forgiveness and non-retaliation coming from that is this refusal to go to war, non-resistance.

There's within the communities, the idea of glosson height or yieldedness starts to really emerge and be strengthened in the years following persecution winding down. So you see that transformation beginning to happen. There's responsiveness to needs globally and locally when there's humanitarian crisis. There's a strong sense in Anabaptist circles that there ought to be a response. It's a costly choice.

But I think that has something to do with the theology of martyrdom. It links back to associating with the sufferings of Christ. Maybe most generally, there is a sense in which there is just a commitment to do the hard thing and a general, of course, I'm generalizing here, but a general willingness to engage difficulty that comes with doing the right or the good thing without a lot of complaining. So there's some ways in which I think contemporary Anabaptists are seeking to work out of the theology of martyrdom.

The other half of the question, like, well, is there any failure in this? Well, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, of course, there is. Basically, whatever we fail to live our lives or when we fail to allow our lives to be ordered in a christiform or cruciform way of life in a voluntary way, that's a failure to really inherit a theology of martyrdom. That's, I think, part of our tradition. The whole theme or concept of cross-bearing in Anabaptism, you know, I think we've all heard of that in different forms. I'm curious, who else, what other examples can you give of Anabaptists who have talked about this or taught this or lived this out in a specific way that they've done that, but also that is applicable to us today?

We definitely don't have a corner on that as Anabaptists. There's been a lot of people who've given themselves to talking about what a theology of the cross or a theology of martyrdom actually means. And there, I'm just going ahead and jumping to Luther. Luther talks about the theology of the cross, and he makes a distinction between the theologians of the cross and the theologians of glory. So a theology of glory deals with suffering and cross-bearing by trying to find a way around it. You know, maybe try the power of positive thinking, just hope for better days ahead and try to kind of minimize the pain. Because if you just stick to it, eventually you come to a better time.

And that's what you're really here for. Whereas a theologian of the cross calls suffering what it is. It identifies it and identifies with the suffering because at the other end of the suffering, there's hope, right? And there's vindication because of the work of Christ and because of his own faith in the completed work of Christ. So that's the theologian of the cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he says at the beginning of his ethics, right at the very, right at the very start of it, he says, "When Christ bids a man, he bids him come and die."

That sounds like cross-bearing. Yeah. Just a little bit further, and he identifies four stations on the way to freedom. Starts with discipline. It moves to action and then suffering and then death. Okay. This is not just your traditional ethic that you realized when you were starting to read Bonhoeffer. Yeah. That's a movement toward the theology of the cross. That's what that's the center of it.

There's many more. I think it's just worth noticing maybe that more attention is being given to an ethic or a theology of martyrdom as it becomes increasingly apparent that we're living in a post-Christian world. What, in your opinion, would be the outcome of if Christians really started living out this theology in a practical day-to-day, you know, in shoe leather? What would that look like? I think if, as we begin to live into the identity of Christ and begin to live out of a theology of martyrdom, I think Christians become more stable and they also become more missional. Christians become more stable as they live out of a theology of martyrdom because it engages us with our present circumstances and doesn't just allow them to kind of squirt out around them and try to find some other place where we think we'll be happy.

To be a martyr, to be living within a theology of martyrdom is to realize that voluntary self-offering of ourselves, our resources, that's just the way at some fundamental level. That's just the way the world actually operates. Those who live into that reality, those are the people who are actually seeing the world rightly. And everybody who lives outside of that reality is seeing the world upside down.

Okay. Which is really kind of paradoxical and hard to get a hold of. That ability to see the world rightly gives you enormous stability. I mean, it gives you a kind of a, it gives you an indifference to what's going to be benefiting myself and how I'm going to be furthering my own agenda there. And when a person makes those sorts of commitments and lives out of that kind of reality, it clears out a lot of overhead and really stabilizes us. So that's the first part. I think the first dimension is stability. The second dimension is mission. It's going to change how we think about how we conduct mission and how willing we are to even go into mission.

Just practically, as Christians think about a theology of martyrdom and they engage in mission as they go outward and witness for Christ and against competing powers, which would take us away from Christ or as a witness against competing powers who are idolatrous to our commitment to Christ, it's first of all going to influence how we go about that mission. And we're going to be, I think, defenseless and harmless. So there's no room, you hear me right? You know, there's no room for shoddiness. If we take seriously a theology of martyrdom and put strategy in the second place, it's just a realization that suffering is inevitable as we go about God's mission. And when we encounter it, we have the opportunity to participate in the sufferings of Christ.

And that's actually, like with Paul, that's a glory. It's not something that needs to be avoided. So we can live into those. And in some paradoxical ways, many times that's how the kingdom is actually brought about, not only by our strategies. Well, thank you so much, Kyle, for your time and also the amount of research that you've put into this so that you're able to share that with others. I think that's really valuable. The real difficulty has been trying to narrow it all down.

Well, you should just write a book about it someday or something. That would be great. Anyway, thank you.