Some Biblical Thoughts On Being Offended

Some Christians/people take offense when none is intended.

If I am offended, I have responsibility, Matthew 18:15-18.

• I can either deal with the offense biblically, or
• Let love cover it, believing the best about people, see below, Proverbs10:12.

If I am easily offended, I may be ultimately selfish and not loving in some areas of my life.

• 1 Cor 13:4, 5 ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful . . .

If I easily get my feelings hurt, I may be defective in my view of ministry, i.e., I am not very Christ-like. I think my “feelings” and interests are more important than those of others.

• Phil 2:3-4 ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 

If I am offended, my response to offense is always wrong if it 1) seeks revenge or, 2) seethes in resentment.

1.    Destroys, acts to condemn, seeks revenge, Romans12: 17, 19; 1 Peter 3:9 

2.    Endures, Eph 4:26,27; Lev 19:18  “bears a grudge,” seethes in resentment;Psalm 37:1ff

If I am easily offended, I am usually proud.

• Proud people usually struggle a great deal with correction or criticism.  They presume themselves to be right. Often they cannot bear that someone else has found an area where growth is necessary or a fault that may need corrected, Proverbs 13:1, 1 Peter 5:5.

If I am easily offended, I may not be teachable or correctable.

• Proverbs 19:20; John 9:13-34

If I am easily offended, I am likely not very open to biblical teaching

God’s word offends, 2 Tim 3:16.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof (this is offensive), for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Jesus offended people–that is a shock to many.

• . . .his sayings are often hard because they run counter to well-entrenched presuppositions and traditional assumptions of life and human relations.  . . . But the Jesus whom we meet in the Gospels, far from being an inoffensive person, gave offense right and left. Even his loyal followers found him, at times, thoroughly disconcerting.  He upset all established notions of religious propriety. He spoke of God in terms of intimacy which sounded like blasphemy. He seemed to enjoy the most questionable company. He set out with open eyes on a road which, in the view of ‘sensible’ people, was bound to lead to disaster,[1]John 6:60-69.

People easily offended, especially when no offense is intended, usually need to repent of their pride, selfishness, and lack of love. They need to develop the same attitude as Jesus Christ, Phil 2:5.

[1] F. F.Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus, pp.14, 15.