(OPINION) Charisma – Throughout the past several decades, many biblical principles and symbols have been co-opted by non-Christian groups to brand their various causes. The latest biblical term to be copied is the term “woke.”
Paul the apostle said more than two millennia ago, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed (Rom. 13:11, ESV).”
Today, “woke” people are those who agree with the views of intersectionality, which combines radical feminism, socialism, specific views of systemic racism and various sexual identity concepts and more. The purpose of this article is not to disparage any particular group or person who utilizes the term “woke,” but to show the biblical roots and meanings of the term. The following are seven traits of biblically woke people:
- A biblically “woke” person has been “born from above,” which enables them to “see” the kingdom of God (John 3:1-8). Jesus said, if a person has not yet had this supernatural experience (otherwise called a conversion experience or being “born again”), then it will be impossible for them to understand the reality of God’s reign; it’s a reign which governs both the visible and invisible realms.
- A biblically “woke” person views the world through God’s perspective instead of their own. Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore … when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore lest the light which is in you is darkness” (Luke 11:34-35, MEV). What Jesus was referring to here was not merely the physical eye but the perspective of people.
The eye is the gate of the soul that enables a person to observe the world and judge it. When the eye gate is dark (without divine illumination), a person’s whole body will be filled with darkness. Hence, a biblically woke person has a worldview or life perspective based on God’s reign and His Word instead of the world’s opinion and value system. This is why Paul states that all believers were once darkness, and now they are light in the world (Eph. 5:8).
- Biblically “woke” people expose works of darkness. According to Ephesians 5:11-13, Christ-followers are called to speak out against the wickedness and bring it to the light. Hence, if you are genuinely biblically “woke,” you will not be captive to the “group think” of the world but will live contrary to it and expose its lies by speaking the truth in love. If all you do is echo what pop culture says and believes, chances are you are not fully “woke” from God’s perspective. CONTINUE
