“14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Tim 2:14-26 ESV)

Agency of Christ, who was not bashful to declare outright war on the established religious authorities: to work for this agency, and to behold sharing our agency—in both senses of the word—towards the end of unashamedly straight-talking, unashamedly curtain cloaking and ending, unashamedly channeling healthy aggression into a stride Jubilant and Fun, Heroic and Rested, of us in league with His agency and His war.

Because it is no thing to apologize for, the outright war foreseen and declared, rather it is the recruit’s pained but uncompromised civil duty, to advance the stages of encounter, of repartee, of commiseration, unto a procedural move called Hostility. Ending the Hostility by a bit of a bark. Prolonging the hostility, around a murderous and thieving (from the poor) alter-ego, claiming themselves to be “Christ’s”, rooted in a false sense of what luxuries a Christ-follower can accumulate.

No, the follow Christ is no cakewalk, no free-loading gig, but rather it is our civil duty working for the Agency of Christ, to be straight-up certain, convinced, though suffering, though dying, though swimming with water up to our gills, though under-appreciated and unrecognized, that our labors are not in vain. Indeed, more, that  we believe in strange days and weird, wild prophetic things circling around our half-sinful heads, in the air, on patrol, to entertain because it will be after all a losing streak for so much of the time: just as He, Christ, lost on the Cross.

The false believer, then, has lost sight of basic truths: “I don’t need to forgive, if so-and-so is not currently forgiving…”, completely unwilling to accept: Christ is only Christ to you, if you agree; He is not Christ to everyone all in the same skin, under the same signature, beneath the same mantle. If one’s only reaction is to shout “Crucify!”, then perhaps better focus on those who do fill the role of a father-figure, a mother-figure, a God Above, to you. Personally, to you, as each of us has been promised in the Scriptures and by the Holy Spirit. Or some don’t need Christ: they are, like Pilate perhaps, or like the Old Testament saints, preoccupied and utterly too busy in the work of Law, of Power-mongering, of a studied historical response called Authority. Worldly authority, authority within the establishment whether religious or nationalistic and cool.

Christ business is all-person’s business, insofar as we make a Christ of those whom we learn to forgive. Christ needed His people to forgive Him for taking them to a level of experience that would make mockery and impossibility of their former places in society and former careers. They would never see the world the same again. They would all die for their testimony, in the long run. They would have to witness the horrifying death of one they loved.