Joseph of Arimathea, a Secret Believer

Around the world today, living in settings hostile to Christianity, there are many secret believers. I had the blessing of meeting, knowing, and being friends with some of these believers during the fourteen years I lived in a Muslim majority nation.

Being a secret believer basically means that a person believes in Jesus but does not openly declare this fact. They may share it with a small circle of Christian friends, but they are very cautious. The reason for their caution and the reason they remain hidden is that open declaration of their belief in Jesus as their Lord and Savior could result in them being expelled from their family and home, losing their job, being imprisoned, or even physically attacked or killed.

One of the first secret believers is mentioned in all four gospels as part of the Easter story. His name is Joseph of Arimathea. John tells us explicitly that Joseph was “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38, ESV).

Is it Right to be a Secret Believer?

Jesus said:

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

 – Jesus (Matthew 10:32-33 ESV)

Based on this, some might question rather it is acceptable to be a secret believer. But Luke tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was “a good and righteous man.” It is hard to see how John could call Joseph a disciple of Jesus and Luke could call him good and righteous if Joseph was living a life that was not pleasing to God.

Being a secret believer is not the same thing as denying Christ. At some point a secret believer may indeed be called on to openly declare her faith in Jesus. They certainly should not explicitly deny it. But that does not mean they are required to openly state it in every setting. Jesus told his disciples that in the hostile world where they would be ministering they would need to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Being innocent meant that they could never compromise with evil in order to avoid persecution. But being wise sometimes means knowing when to be patiently silent until God opens the door to speak at an opportune time.

Secret Believers are Sometimes Called on to Serve God in Ways that Require Great Courage

Joseph’s part in the Easter story is small, but it is important. It is important enough that he is mentioned in all four gospels. Joseph could not prevent his fellow religious leaders in the Sanhedrin from carrying out their evil plot to have Jesus crucified. But there is one thing he could do. He could provide a decent burial for the body of Jesus. This burial proved to be part of God’s plan to provide a good setting for the discovery of the resurrection, first by some of the women who were following Jesus, and then by the other disciples. However, in order to provide this burial for the body of Jesus, Joseph had to ask Pilate for his body. This involved a great risk. He might be viewed as being on the side of the guy who was just flogged and killed. Mark tells us that Joseph “took courage” (or “dared”) to approach Pilate (Mark 15:43).

In a similar way, God will occasionally call on a secret believer today to take some action that requires courage. This is the kind of courage that only comes from the Holy Spirit. They may not be asked to publicly declare their faith, but they might be moved by the Spirit to quietly take a risk and witness to a friend or family member. This was sometimes the case with the secret believers I knew. Often the risks they took did not result in any suffering. Sometimes it did. I shared the story of one such believer, whom we call Lily, in a previous blog post.

Applications for Us

If, like me, you live in a place and time where the risk of violent persecution as a result of openly identifying as a disciple of Jesus is low, you may feel that the story of Joseph of Arimathea has little relevance for your life. However, there are several important applications that may apply to us.

1. When the Apostle Paul was chained up for his gospel witness, something surprising happened. You might think that other Christians who heard about it would become more timid and quiet. But Paul wrote, “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (Philippians 1:14 ESV). In a similar way, reading about Joseph of Arimathea and hearing about the courage of secret believers around the world today can encourage us to take the relatively small risks God asks us to take in sharing His truth and love with our neighbors.

2. We can help Christians in hostile settings around the world by praying for them and by supporting ministries that work with them. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 ESV). One of the many wonderful things about prayer is that we can pray for people we have never even met (see Colossians 2:1).

3. We can draw encouragement from the example of Joseph of Arimathea if we or someone we know is in a similar situation. While violent persecution against Christians is thankfully rare where I live now in the US, there are still situations where Christians need the right balance of wisdom and courage, of being “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”  This happens because some part of God’s truth that they believe could cause them to lose their job, their position, or face painful conflict with their family and friends. Some scientists who believe that scientific evidence points to God’s creative acts rather than evolution are very cautious about sharing this because other scientists have lost jobs over this belief. Today, simply sharing that you agree with the biblical teaching that homosexual acts are sinful could cause you to lose your job. Sometimes a pastor or a church member will discover a biblical truth that is different from their church tradition. I know pastors who have lost their jobs when they saw the doctrine of conditional immortality in the Bible (even if you don't agree with the doctrine of conditional immortality, I hope you can see how wrong it is to fire a pastor over a secondary issue like this one). They were not pushing their new view, but they were in situations where integrity required them to acknowledge it and then they were fired. They remained “innocent of doves,” but like many faithful believers they suffered for God’s truth. In situations like these we are sometimes called to speak out clearly and boldly and sometimes even publicly. But other times wisdom and guidance from the Spirit may lead us to be a type of “secret believer” for a season, until God asks us to take a risk. Being in the position of a secret believer of any type is hard and stressful. We can find encouragement from a man who had a small, but important, role to play in the Easter story, a “good and righteous man,” Joseph of Arimathea.

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .