Introduction

How do you act when you’re representing someone else? If you’re wearing the jersey, the badge, or the company polo, your behavior doesn’t just stick to you—it splashes mud on the whole outfit. That’s why Jimmy Kimmel and Gina Carano found themselves out of a job: because what you say in public reflects on who you’re tied to. Free speech? Sure. Free from consequences? Not so much. With freedom comes responsibility—and, yes, accountability.

Now, let me tell you what really grinds my gears: when Christians seem to forget this. They’ll say the most obnoxious, unkind, or flat-out nasty things, and then when people push back, they puff out their chest and shout, “Persecution!” as if they’re the second coming of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Newsflash: you don’t get to act like a jerk and then play the martyr card when people treat you like…well, a jerk.

The hard truth? You represent Christ. And when you do it poorly, you’re not suffering for the gospel—you’re just giving Jesus bad PR.

The Problem: Mistaking Pushback for Persecution

Here’s the pattern: someone unloads a rude comment, steamrolls people in conversation, or weaponizes Scripture like it’s a blunt instrument—and then, when folks react, they suddenly discover a spiritual gift called playing the victim.

“Oh, they hate me because I’m a Christian!”

No. They dislike you because you acted like an insufferable jerk.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” — Gandhi

This is the martyrdom reflex: confusing the natural consequences of bad behavior with holy suffering. Real persecution is being jailed in Rome, not being unfollowed on Instagram because you were mean in the comments section.

Now, some might push back: “But Jesus was crucified for His message! So if people hate me for my words, I’m just walking in His footsteps.” Nice try. Let’s look closer. Who wanted Jesus dead? It wasn’t the tax collectors, prostitutes, or the everyday people. It was the religious leaders—the self-righteous crowd who couldn’t stand having their hypocrisy exposed. If anything, that should make us nervous when we’re the ones hiding behind religion as a shield for bad behavior.

And here’s the kicker: when Christians cry “persecution!” every time someone calls them out, they cheapen the stories of people who actually were persecuted for their faith. The apostles weren’t beaten and imprisoned because they were snarky at the town square. They suffered because they wouldn’t stop preaching Christ’s love.

Real persecution looks like believers worshiping underground in China, or being jailed for their faith in first-century Rome. It’s not losing followers on Instagram because you went on a rant, or getting side-eye at work because you blasted a coworker in the breakroom. Let’s stop cheapening the word.

If the only cross you’re carrying is the backlash from being obnoxious, don’t call it discipleship—call it “what goes around, comes around”.

Representing Christ Well

Here’s the thing: when you call yourself a Christian, you’re not just flying your own flag anymore—you’re carrying the banner of Christ. And if you drag that banner through the mud by acting like a fool, you’re not “suffering for the gospel,” you’re just making Jesus look bad. You’ve basically turned the King of Kings into the customer service rep people want to yell at.

Jesus didn’t treat “sinners” with contempt. Read the gospels carefully. The woman at the well? Compassion. Zacchaeus the tax cheat? Dinner invitation. The woman caught in adultery? Protection and forgiveness. The only people He ever roasted publicly were the religious gatekeepers—the ones who thought they were God’s PR department. So if you find yourself constantly angry at the “sinners” out there, ask yourself whose playbook you’re really working from. Spoiler: it’s not Jesus’.

Paul, too, understood the weight of representation. He told the church to live “above reproach.” Why? Because people aren’t just watching your doctrine, they’re watching your life. And when you treat people with disdain while wearing Christ’s name tag, you’re not defending the faith—you’re actively blocking people from coming to it.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13:35

Representing Christ well means humility, honesty, and treating people as God sees them: beloved and worth pursuing. Anything less is malpractice.

Misused Justifications: Jesus and Paul as “Models of Rudeness”

Whenever the pushback comes, some Christians will reach for their favorite get-out-of-humility free card: “Well, Jesus flipped tables!” or “Paul wrote angry letters!”

Nice try. But that’s not how this works. Let’s look at both.

Jesus Cleansing the Temple

Yes, Jesus overturned tables. Yes, He drove out merchants. But let’s stop pretending this was Him giving you permission to be nasty on Facebook.

Scholars agree that this was a deliberate prophetic sign-act, not Jesus having a bad day at the farmers’ market. His action was targeted: exposing corruption, exploitation, and a system that had turned God’s house of prayer into a marketplace. It was aimed at the religious establishment, not the average person trying to make ends meet.

And notice: the gospels don’t depict Him as beating people up. John mentions a whip, but it’s aimed at animals—herding them out as part of the drama. This is symbolic protest, not a license for Christian cage-fighting.

In other words: Jesus confronted the powerful religious elite. He did not go around browbeating everyday sinners. If you’re using this passage to justify being rude to your neighbor or smug at work, you’re not imitating Jesus—you’re impersonating a Pharisee.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.” — Matthew 23:13

That’s a passage I would like to see posted on the door of every church.

Paul’s “Anger” in His Letters

Paul could be sharp, no doubt. But his letters weren’t drunken rants on parchment. They were carefully crafted rhetorical documents. Scholars of ancient rhetoric point out that Paul used devices like diatribe—posing an imagined opponent, mocking them, and then demolishing their argument with hyperbole.

What looks like anger is often strategy. He wasn’t venting his spleen; he was persuading. And his targets? Always specific: legalism, false teachers, factionalism—things that threatened the vulnerable and distorted the gospel.

As N. T. Wright reminds us, Paul wasn’t some crank yelling at strangers. He was a pastor fighting for the health of his communities. His sharp words were a scalpel, not a club.

So no, Paul’s rhetorical smackdowns don’t give you permission to unleash your inner troll on strangers online. Unless you’re writing first-century epistolary diatribes to protect the gospel in fledgling churches (spoiler: you’re not), maybe keep the caps-lock theology to yourself.

The Real Takeaway

Both Jesus and Paul confronted religious hypocrisy and corruption, not random “sinners” just trying to live their lives. If you want to justify your own meanness by pointing at them, you’ve missed the context entirely.

Being prophetic is not the same as being obnoxious. One aims at truth for the sake of love; the other just aims at people’s patience.

Practical Rules of Interpretation (a.k.a. How Not to Weaponize Scripture for Being a Jerk)

If you want to avoid turning Jesus into your personal bouncer or Paul into your online sock puppet, here are a few basic rules:

1. Read genre and context first.

Is this a prophetic act, a parable, a moral exhortation, or rhetorical smack talk? Jesus flipping tables in the temple isn’t the same thing as you flipping out at Starbucks.

2. Identify the target.

Who’s being addressed? Spoiler: it’s usually not “sinners.” Jesus saved His sharpest words for religious leaders who were exploiting people. Paul’s heat was aimed at false teachers and factions tearing churches apart.

3. Ask what the text is trying to correct.

Was the strong tone protecting the vulnerable? Resisting hypocrisy? Preserving gospel clarity? If your “correction” has more to do with winning an argument than loving your neighbor, you’re reading it wrong.

4. Let love set the boundaries.

Jesus repeatedly modeled compassion, healing, and non-retaliation. If your behavior looks more like a Twitter troll than the Good Shepherd, stop pretending it’s “biblical boldness.”

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” — James 1:26

5. When in doubt, zoom out.

Don’t cherry-pick the one fiery passage and ignore the dozens of calls to gentleness, patience, and sacrificial love. If your theology licenses you to be mean, it’s not the gospel—it’s just bad exegesis with a side of ego.

Ambassadors for Christ: You Don’t Represent Yourself

If you call yourself a Christian, you aren’t on your own little freelance mission. You’ve been appointed as an ambassador for Christ in this world. That means your words, your tone, your behavior—they don’t just speak for you. They reflect on your King, His Kingdom, and His message.

An ambassador doesn’t represent their own ego. They represent a leader, a nation, a cause. Mess that up, and you can be (in diplomatic terms) recalled.

When Ambassadors Get Recalled

Let me give a cautionary tale from real-world diplomacy. Jaliya Wickramasuriya was Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States. During his tenure, accusations surfaced that he had diverted government funds—essentially using his diplomatic post for personal gain. The U.S. government asked Sri Lanka to recall him.

In effect: Wickramasuriya was removed from his position because he failed his responsibilities as an envoy. His behavior no longer honored the country he claimed to represent.

That’s what you risk doing as a Christian who claims to speak for God while acting poorly.

Higher Stakes When You Speak for God

In the Old Testament, claiming to speak for God when you were not called sometimes carried the death penalty (see for example the warnings against false prophets). The stakes were sober and real. If people claimed to be God’s mouthpiece without divine sanction, the community was warned to take it seriously.

So when someone today says, “I speak for God,” they step onto a razor’s edge. The higher you claim to speak, the more your behavior must be worthy of that claim. Otherwise, you risk becoming a scandal, not a witness.

Ambassador Rules for Christians

Speak humbly, with caution. If you preface every claim with grace and openness, you’re less likely to cross into arrogance.

Accept accountability. When you mess up, you don’t cry “persecution”—you repent, learn, and make amends.

Let Christ be glorified, not you. The goal isn’t your reputation; it’s that people see Jesus.

Guard your character. If your life contradicts your claims, people won’t see your message—they’ll see hypocrisy.

Never act as “God’s defender” when you’re merely defending your pride. That’s the path to disaster.

So yes — you are an ambassador. The role demands seriousness, humility, and integrity. If you’re going to affiliate your voice with God, then let that voice be worth listening to.

Conclusion: Don’t Be a Fool

If you want to act a fool, maybe the Christian life isn’t for you. Jesus and Paul didn’t build their ministries on sarcasm, contempt, or self-righteous tantrums—they built them on love. Not the fluffy, Hallmark-card kind, but agape love: the highest form of love, the one that takes action even when your gut screams to slap the smug look off someone’s face.

That kind of love is hard. Really hard. But it’s the calling.

Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 13: patient, kind, not self-seeking, not easily angered. Before you post, before you clap back, before you declare your “holy boldness”—stop and ask: Is this an example of agape love?

Check your behavior. Be honest about yourself. I’m not perfect—I blow it, too. I don’t always react in love. But I know what love is, and when I fall short, I need to admit it and ask forgiveness. That humility is part of the Christian life.

At the end of the day, remember: it’s not about you. It’s about Jesus—and the person in front of you, or the onlookers watching to see what Christ looks like in the flesh. Don’t make them confuse Him with your bad attitude.

Excerpt

Some Christians confuse being called out for rudeness with suffering for Christ. But if you’re acting like a jerk, that’s not persecution—it’s bad representation. As ambassadors for Jesus, our calling is agape love, not arrogance.

References

Evans, C. A. (1989). Jesus’ action in the temple: Cleansing or portent of destruction? Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 51(2), 237–270. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43717764

Boyd, G. A. (2016, January 4). The cleansing of the temple and non-violence. ReKnew. https://reknew.org/2016/01/the-cleansing-of-the-temple-and-non-violence/

Thuré n, L. (2019). Rhetoric and argumentation in the letters of Paul. In M. V. Novenson & R. B. Matlock (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Pauline studies (pp. 294–313). Oxford University Press.

Turgong, B. L., & Hundu, J. T. (2024, December 29). Understanding the socio-religious significance of the Temple and Jesus’ action in cleansing the Temple. The American Journal of Biblical Theology, 25(52). https://www.biblicaltheology.com/Research/TurgongBL01.pdf

The Cleansing of the Temple and Non-Violence, ReKnew, January 4, 2016 https://reknew.org/2016/01/the-cleansing-of-the-temple-and-non-violence/

Epistolary Diatribe in the Letters of Paul (No, really! It’s Interesting. I promise!) by Jeremy Myers https://redeeminggod.com/epistolary-diatribe-letters-of-paul/

Porter, S. E., & Dyer, B. R. (Eds.). (2016). Paul and ancient rhetoric: Theory and practice in the Hellenistic context. Cambridge University Press. https://assets.cambridge.org/97811070/73791/frontmatter/9781107073791_frontmatter.pdf

Sumney, J. L. (2015, August). Convincing Early Christians: The rhetoric of Paul. BibleInterp. https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2015/08/sum398012

Briones, D. E. (2018, May 11). Book review: Paul by N. T. Wright. Tabletalk. https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/book-review-paul-by-nt-wright/

American Bible Society. (2010, July 29). Book reviews: Paul: In fresh perspective, N. T. Wright. Engage in God’s Word. https://www.americanbible.org/engage/bible-resources/articles/book-reviews-paul-in-fresh-perspective-n-t-wright/