Either/Or

The power of love redeems the will to power.

Some movie one-liners stick with you. Here’s a bit of dialogue from the 2010 crime thriller called Edge of Darkness that’s been on my mind a lot lately:

"You had better decide if you're hanging on the cross or banging in the nails."

What grabs me about this line is the either/or—the stark existential choice—with which it confronts us. We can hang on the cross, or we can bang in the nails. We can choose to belong to one of two spiritual, moral universes. In biblical terms, we can give our loyalty to the Kingdom or to the Empire.

In The City of God, St. Augustine tells us that, instead of choosing one or the other of these spheres, we live in both at once. Followers of Jesus are citizens of the City of God. And yet we dwell in the City of Man. Our true allegiance belongs to God’s Kingdom, and our commitment is to the selfless way of life outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. And yet, in our daily lives we must navigate an earthly domain driven by selfish ambition, competition, and conflict.

Photo by Dominik Lalic on Unsplash

To put that succinctly, we seek to walk the way of the cross in a world that keeps banging in the nails. And if we’re honest about our spiritual challenge, it’s tough to remain loyal to the City of God when the City of Man has such a powerful gravitational pull on our everyday existence.

Bonhoeffer warned us that discipleship is costly. And indeed, it is. But I’m going to suggest something in addition to that. Discipleship is unnatural. Or, to put that a different way, discipleship is supernatural. Discipleship is not a way of life that humans achieve by our own steam. It has a transcendent alpha and omega, a divine origin and a holy destination. (Revelation 21:6)

This needs some clarification. So let me explain by saying a few words about what I mean by natural. Or more accurately, let’s consider what some increasingly influential voices in our culture are calling natural. Then we’ll turn to what it means to walk the way of the cross.

Let’s start our discussion of natural with the philosopher John Gray. In his recent book The New Leviathans, Gray urges us to return to Thomas Hobbes’ view of human nature. According to Hobbes, humans are not guided by reason. Neither do we pursue virtue by biological default. Fear, desire, and conflict drive us. Our natural state is a war of all against all. Without government constraints, the strong will dominate the weak. That’s only natural.

Moving to a more radical perspective, consider what’s called contemporary right-wing vitalism. Contemporary vitalism does not refer to a monolithic ideology or a mandatory, non-religious creed. Instead, the term designates a diverse group of thinkers and influencers who bear a sort of family resemblance to each other. Andrew Tate is the most notorious and odious of the group. But perhaps the most widely known figure goes by the pseudonym Bronze Age Pervert (BAP). While there are differences among the proponents of vitalism, we can safely crystallize their approach drawing on BAP’s insistence that we are all propelled by the Will to Power.

Photo by Moritz Mentges on Unsplash

Graeme Wood summarizes BAP’s worldview this way: “[The] natural and desirable condition of life is the domination of the weak and ugly by the strong and noble.” BAP contends that strong individuals should strive to dominate and exploit their inferiors. That is the natural order of things in his view. The fittest thrive and survive. The weak serve the strong or perish. So it is, and so it should be. The assertion that all humans are created equal is a myth used by the weak to constrain the powerful.

Let’s turn now to what it means to walk the way of the cross. Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) Jesus revealed his kind of love to us by hanging on the cross. Or, as the oft-cited passage puts it: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16)

On the cross, Jesus reveals the power of God through weakness. Since contemporary vitalists like BAP define power as the will’s self-assertion, weakness is the complete opposite of power. If you submit to anyone else’s will, you’re weak.

However, Jesus expressed his freedom in a way that transforms and redeems power. He freely aligns his will with God’s desire to make all things new with the power of love. He showed us that true power comes from being willing, not in being willful.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

The Will to Power nailed Jesus to the cross. In the resurrection we see that, through Jesus’ weakness, divine love eventually overcomes and defeats the Will to Power. So too, through our weakness, through our willingness, God transforms us and transforms the world.

Of course, eventually is key here. Jesus calls us to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God now. To resist the worldly obsession with success, privilege, influence, and status. Now. Even while some of our neighbors remain card carrying members of the Empire Club. And in a material sense, they do appear to keep getting ahead.

Nevertheless, Jesus shows us that dying to self-will opens us to a whole new kind of life, a full-hearted life, even now. A kind of life that eventually overcomes the Will to Power and even death itself.

Some Upcoming Speaking Events

Speaker, Preaching Conference, Brant-Norfolk Deanery, Diocese of Huron, May 27, 2025

Speaker, Diocese of Texas Retired Clergy and Spouse Conference, October 6-7, 2025

Preacher and Speaker, Diocese of Louisiana Convention, October 24-25, 2025

Speaker, Diocese of Missouri Clergy Conference, March 3-5, 2026

You can schedule a virtual event or an in-person event with me by clicking the button below. My colleague Holly Davis will get back to you quickly.