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A Change of Allegiance  /  Chapter 13, The Theology of Martyrdom  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 2
Jesus’ commissioning picture is “sheep in the midst of wolves,” and Tertullian argues sheep are not those who “repel force with force” but those slain “with patience”—how do you think the earliest Christians heard Jesus’ “sheep” language, and what instincts in us resist Tertullian’s definition of faithfulness?
Another way to ask: Jesus says His followers are like sheep among wolves, and Tertullian says faithful sheep don’t fight back but suffer patiently. How do you think the first Christians understood that image, and what in us pushes back against that kind of faithfulness?

Direct Answer Based on Dean Taylor’s teaching, the earliest Christians likely heard Jesus’ “sheep” language as a realistic warning and a calling to non-resistance—accepting vulnerability as part of faithfulness. What resists this in us is the instinct to protect ourselves, “repel force with force,” and measure faithfulness by survival, control, and winning.

Support from Transcript:

  • Jesus’ own picture is intentionally discouraging by earthly standards: “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Taylor asks listeners to imagine a “defenseless” sheep surrounded by “growling…wolves.”
  • Jesus also frames persecution as blessed: “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you…Rejoice…for so persecuted they the prophets.”
  • Tertullian (AD 190) defines “sheep” as those “slain…with patience, rather than fighting in self-defense,” explicitly rejecting “repelling force with force.”
  • Taylor later calls fear of death a major enemy tool, noting we spend effort “trying to avoid suffering and death.”
  • He implies our natural logic seeks “preservation of this current life and the attempted safeguard of our happiness.”
Discussion Follow-ups Where do you most feel the urge to prove you’re not a “defenseless sheep”? What would patient faithfulness look like when you feel threatened?

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