The word victim’s earliest use in the English language pointed to a living creature that was to be sacrificed to a deity. The usage broadened in the mid-1600s to include one who is hurt, tortured, or killed by another, and again in the early to mid-1700s to include the idea of one being oppressed by a power or situation. None of these historical uses took into consideration the broadness of the word’s application today. To a great degree, the lowering standard required to obtain victim status has come in conjunction with its increasing popularity to be identified as such.
All conditions and definitions considered, the greatest victim to ever live was never in His lifetime identified as such, nor did He ever take up the title for Himself. If we add to that the fact we often incorporate into our understanding of victimhood that the one victimized is, at best, INNOCENT and, at worst, UNDESERVING, we might say those attributes can and have only fully applied to one—Jesus Christ. That being said, if one truly wants to know how to define victimhood or how to behave should one be victimized, he would look no further than the Lord (1 Peter 2:21).
Jesus was not blindsided, He knew He would be victimized, how it would happen, and at whose hands it would take place before it transpired. Had Jesus been like the modern victim, He would have never become the victim. He would have become so enthralled with His victimhood that it would have consumed His thoughts, teachings, and interactions with others. In turn, He would have so riled up His followers that they would have never let Him go to the cross.
Had Jesus taken the modern victim’s path, He would have been engulfed with self and of no good to others. The men calling for His death would have died before they could beg His life. After all, some crying, “Crucify him,” (at the end) were among those He had fed, healed, and taught during His earthly ministry. In fact, as He did those things, He knew they would later cry, “Crucify.” Yet, He refused to allow this to alter what He did.
Any type of abuse one could imagine is an abuse Christ endured. He suffered systemic abuse when trials were rigged against Him and the verdict of guilty was decided before He was ever heard or questioned (John 18:38-40). He suffered spiritual abuse at the hands of religious leaders (Matthew 26:3-4). He suffered physical abuse as He was beaten so severely that one could count all His bones (Psalm 22:12-18). He suffered mental abuse as He was taunted, mocked, and ridiculed while dying for all to see (Luke 23:35-37).
The temptation of a victim, especially of one who is falsely so-called, is to exaggerate the details to validate the claim of victimhood. Yet, no matter how badly Christ described the way men treated Him, it would be an understatement. However, in the truest state of victimhood, Christ did it without a swell of community and family support. A march against systemic injustice could have stopped His victimization, but few would have marched with Him. A newspaper write-up about false imprisonments might have helped, but nobody cared; and had Christ’s disciples desired to pen such a write-up, He would have discouraged them from doing so. A support group, website, or social media site about the abuse He would receive might have alerted some of the common people to the evils of the religious leaders, but the Son of God’s purpose was not to destroy those who sought to destroy Him, but save them.
All in all, Christ spoke very little of His suffering. He spoke very little of how, when, or why it would happen. When He did speak of it, His disciples did not understand (Mark 8:31-32; Mark 9:31-32). When it finally clicked with Peter, he pulled sword from sheath to cut off a man’s ear, and the Saviour rebuked him for doing so and healed the wounded man (Matthew 26:50-53). Even during the height of His victimization, Christ called upon His Father to forgive (Luke 23:34). To the modern victim expert, Jesus knew little about victimhood. The reality is that Christ was victimhood’s greatest partaker and example (Philippians 2:5).
In short, Jesus did not dwell upon His victimization. If ever there was an unjust treatment at the hands of people, it was He. If ever there was a man who in no way deserved what He got, it was He. Yet, He did not make it His mission to get sympathy or draw attention. Even after His death and resurrection, it was impressed upon Christ’s apostles not to slander the religious leaders, but to proclaim His victory and the hope He had to offer by trusting in Him. Bluntly stated, Christ did not focus upon victimhood when it was looming over His head and He did not remain in victimhood after it was past. He moved on!
Before we assume the expectation of such behaviour is limited to Jesus and that we bear no responsibility or ability to mimic the Lord’s response, we should consider the Lord’s admonition to His followers. According to 1 Peter 2:21, we are called to this same conduct, “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” In fact, the Lord’s response—“Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23)—is to be our response.
Christ committed Himself to the Father knowing the Father would execute judgment. It was in this spirit that Christ informed Peter He could have called twelve legions of angels and put a stop to it all (Matthew 26:53). Instead, He trusted God and moved on. There is no doubt those who victimized Christ (excluding those who would later get saved) have already met their just judgment in hell and will continue it for eternity in the lake of fire, but Christ simply committed Himself to the One who would do the judging. This was the very advice believers received when Paul wrote, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19).
While we can only speak for the history we have experienced, this seems to have been the way the previous generations dealt with difficulties. They faced hardships, dealt with them, and moved on. They rarely spoke of their misfortunes. They took their heartaches to God and their blessings to others, refusing to be defined by bad things that happened to them.
At some point, the title “Victim” became desirable. When it did, victimhood ceased to be a town through which one passed, but the permanent place in which one lives. Instead of being something that happened to a person, it became an ever-present, always occurring event. Rather than men doing all they could to be sure the time of suffering did not define their lives, the mistreatment (real or supposed) became a badge of honour and they sought to become its spokesperson.
If a crime has been committed against you, you should report it to the proper authorities and pray for and pursue swift and sure justice. This is God’s way! (Romans 13:3-4). However, the love of victimhood (outside of the previous statement) is both unhealthy and sinful. Years ago this would have been both common knowledge and common practice, but no longer. Before you dismiss the notion that men today love victimhood, consider that every time you rant against a restaurant, car dealership, school teacher, beautician, or church, the rant is intended to confirm that you or I have been victimized. The evidence that victimhood is now on steroids is obvious by the social justice warrior mentality that the supposed victimizers must now be shut down, maligned, slandered, and destroyed because we were wronged.
Sadly, our idolization of victimization has grown to such a climax that men now fabricate atrocities in order to obtain victimhood. Many others, while not entirely fabricated, include exaggerated details of ill-treatment in hopes of establishing one’s self as a victim and it is deemed acceptable to ruin the lives of others (who may or may not have mistreated you) if it means your cause is brought to the forefront and the greater evil of abuse is exposed.
Historically, there would have been fear of being exposed as a fraud or exaggerative and, therefore, overly dramatic, but no longer. While the principle of American exceptionalism once stood as “innocent until proven guilty,” the social justice warriors of our day have transformed the standard to be “accused and therefore guilty in some form or fashion.” Because of this, one need only to accuse someone; stand up against him/her; speak truth to power; tell only the facts that fit your agenda; receive the support of those who agree that you were abused; and let the chips fall where they may.
Does the accusation of abuse have to be true? Of course not. Even if, by rare chance, somebody checks into all the details and finds that somebody has been wrongfully accused, the individual accused will have already been tried in the court of public opinion and found guilty. The accuser will have already been tried in the court of public opinion, hailed as a victim, and lauded as a hero for speaking out. It is a win-win situation and will only grow worse so long as we continue as a society to accept the new normal.
If all of today’s outlets were available in Bible times, things would have been much different. Nehemiah would have been called a xenophobe and forever known as a physical abuser as he contended with the Jews, “cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair” for allowing marriage with people from other nations (Nehemiah 13:25). Paul would have been slandered as a homophobe when he identified sodomy as “vile affections” and “unseemly” and suggested that those who took part in it had been given over to “a reprobate mind” (Romans 1:26-28). Speaking of Paul, he was guilty, according to modern perception, of spiritual abuse when he spoke of delivering “Hymenaeus and Alexander…unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Timothy 1:20). Lest we forget, Christ would be the posterchild of toxic masculinity.
In other words, the “everybody is a victim movement” is anti-God and anti-Bible. Apart from Christ, it may be that there was no greater victim in the Bible than Joseph. He was hated of his brethren because he was loved of his father (Genesis 37:4) and was thrown into a pit and eventually sold into slavery by them (Genesis 37:23-28). If that were not enough, when he rose to prominence as a slave in an Egyptian household, the owner’s wife made a pass at him and falsely accused him of sexual assault for which he was imprisoned and forgotten (Genesis 39:1-20).
After a few more setbacks, Joseph wound up as the second in command in Egypt, only behind Pharaoh (Genesis 41:33-45). Joseph would certainly qualify as a victim and yet he did not seek to victimize as a result of being a victim. Instead, he forgave those who mistreated him and said, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
There can be no doubt Joseph’s handling of his troubles is an example for us. All things considered, there are really only two scenarios under which men can suffer (deservedly and undeservedly) and both call for a different response than what is being promoted in the godless society in which we live. According to scripture, being a murderer, thief, evildoer, or a busybody brings consequences; and depending upon the level of the crime and the associating punishment, the suffering may well be just and deserved (1 Peter 4:15). Nowhere in that description does it suggest that one suffering under such conditions should victimize others. On the flipside of this, there are some who are victimized though doing right (1 Peter 4:12-14). To them, God said they ought to rejoice because of the fellowship and rewards enjoyed.
The sad truth is that the greatest victimizers are often those who have been victimized and yet mishandled it. Instead of forgiving and enjoying God’s peace that such victory brings, they hold a grudge and grow bitter. Either in the immediate or sometime later, something comes up that stirs the preexisting hurt, and the one who was once victimized now victimizes. The problem? The one who is usually victimized now is not the source of the pain. So the cycle continues.
This cycle only ends when one does as Jesus or Joseph did and refuses to dwell upon what was done, forgives, and moves on. This response frees from the bondage of victimhood and truly sets free—something that does not fit with the narrative of embracing victimhood. Yet, it is the responsibility of God’s men to teach people these truths. In doing so, we will be accused of all manner of things by some of the very people we seek to free, but the truth must be told (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
The country, the community, the church, and the family cannot afford for men of God to ignore this pandemic. Eventually, everybody will be victimized and become the victimizer of someone else. The only answer is to deal with the problem, forgive, and move on! This is easier said than done, but God helped people to do just that in the past and He will help us now.
Have you been hurt? Stop the cycle! Do you crave attention that comes with being a “victim”? Find it through a personal walk with the Lord. Are you currently allowing your hurt to hurt others? Stop! Are you bitter from things in your past and transferring your vengeance upon someone who you deem has done you unjustly? Forgive those who hurt you in the past and stop letting them continue to hold power over your life. Be sure, the judgment seat of Christ will make all wrongs right for the believer.
