Biblical Ethics Exercise #2: The 'Underground' Church

Hiding the Light

Over the next series of articles we will be exploring the realm of Biblical Ethics by considering example case studies and the arguments in support of and opposed to differing sides of ethical questions. In this installment:

Is it right to hide the activities of the church and the identities of individual Christians in a highly persecutory environment?

To set the stage for this particular example, one could consider the State persecutions by the Roman government in the later 1^st^ through 3^rd^ Centuries. While widespread persecution varied, usually by whoever was Emperor at the time, direct persecution including imprisonment, torture, and execution solely for following Christianity were very real dangers. Such dangers also exist in some nations even today.

Arguments for

There is a necessary degree of prudence when approaching a hostile State and society. It is a proper use of God-given wisdom to pick one’s battles and to understand the realities of what a particular congregation must face on a day to day basis. A body of Christ that is destroyed temporally cannot achieve its goal of presenting the Gospel temporally.

While outright lying and deception would be unethical, there is no requirement to overly advertise one’s beliefs and actions if the only result would be direct harm and an attack upon the message. Jesus Himself commanded His followers to be “shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mat. 10:16).

Arguments against

While prudence is certainly a necessary aspect of wisdom, there is a danger that by going “underground” one in essence is placing the proverbial “basket” over the light of the church (cf. Mat. 5:14, 15). The State is not to be feared as much as the Creator of all is to be feared and respected (cf. Heb. 10:31). As an example, Christ encouraged His followers in Smyrna to be “faithful until death” (Rev. 2:10), not to “hunker down until it all blows over”.

The Need to Share

The greatest influence the Gospel and God’s Word ever has is when it is shared, proclaimed, and lived in example by those who follow and treasure it. To “go to ground” because the world or even popular opinion has turned against God’s will for mankind is akin to never preaching that Word at all (Rom. 10:14ff).