In the last few years, many Christians had said that all Christians need to be winsome at ALL times. Now, of course, Christians should always have the fruit of the Spirit in their lives and that absolutely must govern our conversations. But it is not that simple. Some Christian apologists are so nice and so accepting when talking with those who have rejected the truths of Christianity that the non-Christian they were talking to might not realize that their eternal destination is at stake. Also, believers need to be careful that winsome doesn’t become a cloak for cowardice. The word winsome is defined by Merriam-Webster as “1: generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence….: CHEERFUL, LIGHTHEARTED” (capitalization in original). The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “attractive and pleasing, with simple qualities, sometimes like those a child has.” Princeton Writes defines winsome as “pleasing or attractive in appearance, handsome, comely; of attractive nature or disposition, of winning character or manners.” Now Jesus may have evinced a “winning character or manners,” but “attractive in appearance, handsome, comely” perhaps isn’t true because we read in Isaiah, “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (53:2). And did Jesus always come across with an “attractive nature or disposition”? There is a great difference between Jesus’ ministry and much Christian public discourse today. Namely, Jesus wasn’t concerned about scoring political gains, except indirectly as He changed the hearts of those in power. Since Jesus was not trying to win the Pharisees over, He was laying out plain truth for the audience’s sake. Jesus was letting the crowd know that the Pharisees were evil and that their counsel should be rejected.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Clay Jones about his online article, “Jesus Wasn’t Always Winsome“.https://www.equip.org/articles/jesus-wasnt-always-winsome/

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