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Question 8

The chapter insists, “It is not cowardice that God desires. He wants us to fight and do battle… the weapons…have changed”; where do modern evangelical instincts tend to label non-resistance as either weakness or optional, and how does Dean’s framing challenge those labels?

Another way to ask: The chapter says God doesn’t want cowardice, but He also says the “weapons” have changed. Where do evangelicals today treat non-resistance as weakness or as optional, and how does Dean challenge that?

Direct Answer Dean’s framing challenges the instinct to equate non-resistance with passivity by insisting Christians must still fight—just not with carnal methods. In the transcript, non-resistance is not “doing nothing,” but engaging conflict with prayer, gospel peace, and the Spirit’s weapons.

Support from Transcript:

Dean anticipates the “weakness” objection: “It is not cowardice that God desires. He wants us to fight and do battle.”
He clarifies the shift: “it is the nature of the kingdom and the weapons of our warfare that have changed.”
He rejects a purely passive approach: “I felt I couldn’t just give up the weapons of the world and be passive.”
He replaces worldly tools with spiritual ones: “put on the weapons of God…prayer, fasting, and gospel preaching.”
He grounds this in 2 Corinthians 10: “weapons…not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”
He sees Romans 12 as central: refusing vengeance is part of Christian warfare, not an escape from it.

Discussion Follow-ups Where do you feel pressure to “prove strength” the world’s way? How would you explain to someone that refusing revenge can be an act of warfare and courage?

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