--- title: 'The Manful Courage of Christ' type: text hasMedia: true requiresPurchase: false authors: - 'Jim McCarthy' date: 2026-06-15 collection: 'Articles' subcollection: '2026' topics: - 'Deity, and Person and Work of Christ' - 'Office of Christ' - 'Kingdom of Christ' url: https://confessional.org/articles/2026/the-manful-courage-of-christ --- # The Manful Courage of Christ Our King courageously faced His own death, conquered it in resurrection glory, and sent His Spirit into our hearts, so that we too may valiantly fight the good fight. The year was 480 B.C. Xerxes’ invading hordes swept down the Grecian peninsula until they were stopped by Leonidas, king of Sparta, and his brave 300 at Thermopylae. To advance, the Persian army had to funnel through the “Hot Gates,” a narrow mountain pass where their superior numbers counted for nothing. For two bloody days, wave after wave of Persian warriors shattered against Spartan shields. But the traitor, Ephialtes, showed the Persians a secret goat path by which they outflanked the Spartans who, instead of surrendering or retreating, fought valiantly to the death. Even more dastardly is the betrayal of Jesus at the hands of Judas recorded in John 18. But unlike Leonidas, Jesus was the all-knowing and all-powerful King of Kings. Why would He walk into a trap? Why is Gethsemane a crucial ingredient in our understanding of the gospel? Because in Gethsemane, the manful courage of Christ comes into sharp focus. Jesus and His men have finished supper, crossed the Kidron Valley, and come to Gethsemane. Now, John passes over much of what’s found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, focusing instead on precious details they omitted. When you imagine this scene, what do you see? A dozen or two dozen soldiers following Judas? John calls the band of Roman soldiers mustered by Judas a σπεῖρα, or cohort (John 18:3). A cohort was a standard military unit of hundreds, not dozens, of soldiers. Calvin said, “It is certain that the band of soldiers was borrowed from the governor, who also sent a captain at the head of a thousand soldiers” (*Calvin’s Commentaries*). That fact radically transforms the scene! Can you feel the ground trembling beneath the boots of hundreds of marching soldiers? Can you hear the clanging of their armor and the rattling of their swords? Can you see the steam of their breath in the cold and the fire of their torches bathing the garden in light and shadows? At this moment in the Synoptic Gospels, Judas steps forward to seal his betrayal with a kiss. But in John’s account, Christ takes the first steps to meet the traitor and his cohort. In epic fashion, John remembered, “Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward…” (John 18:4). Jesus knew. He knew why Judas excused himself from supper. He knew what the soldiers had come to do. He knew where they would take Him and how they would brutalize Him. He knew what was starting here in Gethsemane would reach its grisly summit on Golgotha. He knew the souls of His people hung in the balance and the success of His messianic mission depended on His next words and actions. Despite “knowing all that would happen to him,” Jesus didn’t hesitate, shrink back behind His disciples, or flee into the darkness. Like David meeting Goliath on the battlefield, our courageous Christ came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he,” \[and\] they drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:4-6). Now, what force could flatten a cohort of battle-hardened Roman soldiers? Did a hurricane wind blow through the garden? Did an earthquake shake them off their feet? No! God the Son spoke. By the word of His power—the same word by which He made a Galilean storm heel and put a legion of demons to flight—Christ subdued His foes. Kent Hughes was right: “The cohort did not arrest Jesus—he arrested them!” Jesus was not the hapless victim of circumstances, but invincible God. No one was taking His life from Him; He was laying it down. As He promised through Isaiah, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” (Isa. 50:6). O, the courage of our Christ! As Charles Hodge reminds us, “The death of Christ was not a mere martyrdom. He did not die because He could not help it. He laid down His life by His own authority.” Gethsemane is not the scene of Christ’s helplessness, but of His sovereign resolve. Today, many Christians are uncomfortable recognizing and celebrating the manful courage of Christ. Dwelling exclusively upon His gentler attributes, they prefer a Jesus who is delicate and inoffensive. But this is not the Jesus of the Bible—not the callous-handed carpenter who braved 40 days alone in the wilderness with wild beasts (Mark 1:13); not the Lion of Judah who was so consumed with zeal for His Father’s house that He overturned tables and whipped money changers (John 2:15); not the dragon-slaying Man of War (Ex. 15:3) who came to destroy the works of the devil in righteous ferocity; and not the dread judge of men and angels whose robes are dipped in blood from treading “the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15). When we refuse to see and savor Jesus’ manful courage, we reject the Jesus of the Bible and surrender crucial aspects of the gospel. What’s more, we drive men from the church who find little in an effeminate Jesus they can relate to or respect. We also lose a powerful source of inspiration for boldness. Remember Jesus’ courage next time you’re tempted to be ashamed of Him—to not pray in public, to hide your Bible, or to compromise biblical convictions for fear of man. Remember how He came forward for you, to shoulder your cross, your guilt, and your shame, when you have an opportunity to “lift high the cross” by sharing the gospel, inviting a friend to church, or showing hospitality. Jesus was so brave for us; should we not be brave for Him? The way Leonidas and his 300 faced their death inflamed a nation that eventually drove the Persians out of Greece. So too, as we consider the courageous way our King faced His own death, conquered it in resurrection glory, and sent His Spirit into our hearts, may we valiantly fight the good fight knowing, “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20).