The International Christian Church teaches that a person can only be saved if they are willing to submit themselves (and be baptised) as a “soldout” disciple. Sadly, this view of discipleship is based on a flawed and dangerous interpretation of Jesus’ words in the Bible. On a practical level, it can lead to spiritual abuse and servitude.

In my previous article, “7 reasons why the ICC’s ‘soldout‘ theology is wrong“, I gave a number of biblical reasons why we ought to reject the ICC’s soldout theology.

However, my article did not address how we should rightly understand the discipleship teachings of Jesus in passages such as Luke 9:23-26 and Luke 14:25-33. These verses have been used to justify the ICC’s discipleship doctrine in their First Principles Bible studies.

So here are the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23-26 and 14:25-33:

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Luke 9:23-26 (NIV) – emphases mine

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 14:25-33 (NIV) – emphases mine

The interpretation of these verses isn’t as straightforward as some might think. Even the ICC will have to agree that Jesus was not speaking literally in every statement. There are no literal crosses that every disciple must daily bear. And neither must we literally hate our closest loved ones, as this will violate biblical commands to love our parents and family members (eg. Ex 20:12; Eph 5:21–6:9; Col 3:18–4:1; 1 Pet 2:18–3:7).

So what did Jesus mean?

In order to interpret Jesus rightly, it comes down to this question: What was Jesus intending to communicate to his followers?

I can think of two options. Either:

1. Jesus wanted to lay out the conditions (or entry-rules) that they needed to agree on before they became his disciples.
2. OR, Jesus simply wanted to help his followers set realistic expectations about what they will face if they continue to follow Jesus as his disciples – namely to expect a life of challenges and self-denial.

The ICC would take option number 1. Hence, the life of the ICC member is a constant fearful striving to live up to the original “conditions upon entry” lest they be disqualified from being a disciple.

But the correction interpretation should be number 2, and the biblical context supports it.

The context of Luke 9

The ICC’s argument that a person must agree to a set of conditions before becoming a disciple of Jesus is very foreign to Luke’s Gospel because Luke records that Jesus begun having disciples as early as chapter 5 – long before the cost of discipleship teachings that Jesus later gave in chapter 9 (maybe a year or two into his ministry)!

If this was so important to Jesus, then why didn’t Luke record this earlier? And why didn’t Jesus start teaching it earlier? (NB: In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples began baptising other “disciples” as early as chapter 4 – very early in Jesus’ ministry!)

When we read the biblical context of Luke more closely, we will begin to understand why the cost of discipleship teachings were given from Luke 9.

In Luke’s Gospel, there is a distinct change in the narrative beginning in Luke 9:18. Leading up to that point, Jesus had been performing a great number of miracles including healing the sick (eg. Luke 4:40, 5:12-13, 7:1-23), casting out demons (eg. Luke 4:41, 7:21-23, 8:26-33), raising the dead (eg. Luke 8:49-56), as well as feeding the hungry (eg. Luke 9:12-17).

Having witnessed these miracles, people will naturally start asking questions about the identity of Jesus. Who is Jesus, really? This is the same question Jesus asked of his own disciples in Luke 9:18.

Peter rightly confessed that Jesus is indeed “God’s Messiah” in verse 20.

However, their understanding of “Messiah” (or Christ) needed correction. Culturally speaking, the Messiah was commonly understood by Jewish people to be a military ruler who will save Israel through divine power.

But Jesus surprised them all. In Luke 9:22, Jesus instead said the following –

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Luke 9:22 (NIV)

Rather than coming to conquer, Jesus said he actually came to suffer and die.

Hence, followers of this suffering Messiah should expect to become suffering disciples. They need to follow in his footsteps by also denying themselves as Jesus did through carrying their own cross on a daily basis (Luke 9:23).

In other words, Jesus was simply telling his followers to expect a life of suffering and hardship, because their Lord and Messiah is about to undergo rejection, suffering and even death.

Therefore, Jesus calls on his disciples not to be ashamed of this suffering Messiah (verse 26a). Because if they do (and reject Jesus), they themselves will be put to shame when Jesus returns in glory (verse 26b).

The context of Luke 14

After Jesus first predicted his death in Luke 9:22, he repeatedly made further predictions about this (eg. Luke 9:44, 12:50, 13:33-34, 17:24-25, 18:31-33) until the day it was finally fulfilled.

Therefore, it is not a coincidence that after Luke 9:22, Jesus also taught his disciples more and more about the cost of following a suffering Messiah. Luke 14:25-33 is just one example of this. Other examples include Luke 9:57-62, 10:16, 12:4-12, etc.

But warning his followers about potential hardship is only half of what needs to be done. Because his followers may end up rejecting Jesus and his calling for other reasons.

This is where the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:15-23 is helpful to guide us in understanding Jesus’ discipleship teachings of Luke 14:25-34 that comes immediately after.

Once when Jesus was having a meal at the house of a Pharisee, he told a parable about a great banquet:

¹⁵ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Luke 14:15-23 (NIV)

In this parable, the banquet invitation represents Jesus’ invitation of sinners into the kingdom of God.

But in the presence of many Pharisees who were more interested in “watching him carefully” (Luke 14:1) than listening to his words, it is obvious that Jesus was using the parable to speak out against them for their rejection of him.

In the parable, the people rejected the invitation simply because they had other priorities. In their own eyes, those were much higher priorities than the banquet. However, their rejection has greatly angered the banquet host, and so he invited the lowliest of people into his banquet instead – the poor, the blind and the crippled.

So it is immediately after this parable that Jesus began his cost of discipleship teaching in Luke 14:25-35.

The essence of what Jesus wanted to teach his disciples is to set right priorities. Because if you don’t set your priorities straight, you will ultimately miss out on the kingdom of God.

In Luke 9:26, Jesus speaks hyperbolically about “hating” their closest family members and even themselves to starkly demonstrate that the path of following Jesus may lead you to override other priorities – even those of your own will and the will of your family members!

But as cautioned earlier, this should never violate the biblical principles about loving and caring for family members.

That being said, the mention of family members is important because throughout church history – in particular the first century, but even today – becoming a Christian may cause you to be renounced even by one’s own family members. In which case, Jesus exhorts us to keep walking this path of rejection and suffering, rather than to heed the call of your family to forsake Christ.

Therefore, it is only right for Jesus to help his disciples to carefully weigh up what to expect if they continued to follow him on the suffering path to Jerusalem. Thus, the words of Jesus in Luke 14:33 must be read in this context.

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 14:33 (NIV)

In light of the context and its use of hyperbolic language, the correct way of reading “give up everything” is to prioritise Jesus as your number one over everything else. Because only Jesus can lead us into the kingdom of God.

The danger of misinterpreting Jesus

When viewed through the interpretive lens of the ICC, verses such as Luke 14:33 can be and has been abused to make ICC members do the bidding of their church leaders.

As reported in an earlier article, when you don’t give enough money to the church, your baptism vow to “give up everything” for the sake of Jesus will be questioned.

This is perhaps the biggest danger of interpreting Jesus’ words to be conditional entry requirements. You will end up being a restless slave working yourself down to the bone in order to maintain your salvation status.

Ironically, the point of Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet is to come to Jesus as you are, even if you’re poor, blind, lame or crippled. These people are not marked by their ability, but their inability to work.

So it is no coincidence that the ICC tends to only target young and energetic people with an ability to earn a bit of pocket money. You will also see very few elderly or physically/mentally disabled people in ICC congregations as they have very little ability to make a contribution toward the ICC’s financial and evangelistic goals.

Conclusion

I hope that I’ve made a clear biblical case why the ICC has misinterpreted the words of Jesus. Their interpretation of verses such as Luke 9:23-26 and 14:25-33 falls really short once you begin to read Luke’s Gospel in its context.

My heart really breaks for all the people who are enslaved by the ICC, thinking this is true Christianity. This is the reason why I continue to write articles on my blog, so I can help such people arrive at a more informed theological position and be set free.