Is It Cowardly To Remain Silent About Biblical Truth To Avoid Conflict?
Q: Revelation 21:8 lists sins that lead to the second death, including cowardice, and our culture is staying silent about biblical truth in order to avoid a conflict, a form of cowardice. Thoughts?
Revelation 21:8 – But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
A: As with every passage, this must be understood in context. For example, one of the sins mentioned there is lying. Would we look at a person and say, “Oh, you lied. I guess you’re going to hell”? No, nobody would say that, even though we acknowledge that lying is a serious sin. It’s included on that list. In the same way, we would not say that a single act of cowardice necessarily makes a person a chronic coward, just as much as a single untruth might not characterize a person as a chronic liar.
All cowardice is a sin. Is it a serious thing to be a chronic coward? Absolutely it is. Jesus said, “Whoever is ashamed of Me on that day, I’ll be ashamed of them” (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26).
If a person is unwilling to take a stand and suffer for the cause of Christ and for biblical truth, it’s fair to at least raise a question about their commitment to Jesus Christ. This seems to be a class of people –the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, etc. – who have ultimately rejected the Gospel. They’ve rejected God, and so these things become their identifying features.