Treasure in Jars of Clay

Robert Louis Wilken’s article “Christianity Face to Face with Islam” in the January 2009 issue of First Things argues that a “complacent ignorance” toward Islam “has prevailed, especially in the West” (19). He uses the geographic expansion of Islam to make a case for taking Islam seriously.

Yet Wilken’s argument against complacency seems upside down at some points, where it builds on despair rather than on hope. He writes, “Set against the history of Islam, the career of Christianity is marked as much by decline and extinction as it is by growth and triumph” (22-23).

Islam has conquered with sword many regions where Christianity was once openly practiced. But even where Islam has conquered and has driven the church underground through persecution, even there the church has thrived.

Where Islam is gaining power and shown to be lacking, many are thirsty for truth. In a published interview with International Christian Concern, an Iranian believer said,

When Khomeini took over, many people believed that Islam was the answer. They believed Islam was going to take over the world, through Iran. Now . . . a large number have come to the conclusion—the definite conclusion—that Islam is not the answer. It is the problem! . . . Iranians have seen the total implementation of Islam and how it has worked. . . . Ayatollah Khomeini was in power for ten years. In ten years, he did more than the missionaries did in 200 years in Iran.

The church is not in decline or extinction. The church has a treasure, an answer to share with those who are living under the fear of Islam. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Believers in Islamic regions are afflicted, but not crushed, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. So we do not lose heart.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. . . .

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:5-12, 16-18)