“A City on a Hill”: Reflections on John Winthrop's Vision for Christian Living
John Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," is an enduring masterpiece of Puritan literature. This sermon, delivered in 1630 aboard the ship Arbella, continues to resonate today, thanks to its robust biblical grounding and timeless call to Christian love and responsibility. Winthrop preached this sermon on the cross-Atlantic journey from Britain to New England to prepare his fellow pilgrims for a new life in the Americas under the banner of Christ their King.
The Arbella sermon, if we might call it that, revolves around a central question: How should we, as followers of Christ, live together in community? To answer this, he explores various biblical passages and draws on them to outline a model for Christian charity. This post will focus on three such passages, but I highly suggest that you, the reader, get a hold of Winthrop’s sermon and follow his argument from beginning to end. For now, I’ll focus on his use of Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:26, and, crucially, Matthew 5:14.
In Romans 12:4-5, Paul writes, "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." Paul uses the metaphor of a body to illustrate the function of a Christian community. Each part of the body has a unique purpose, yet all parts are interdependent. Winthrop leverages this passage to emphasize that in a Christian community, every individual—regardless of their role—has an indispensable part to play. He emphasizes, like Paul, that just as the body's various parts work together, so too should the members of a Christian community.
For contemporary Christians, this serves as a call to recognize and appreciate the variety of giftings, experiences, cultures, and backgrounds within our communities, understanding that each member has a unique contribution to make, and that we are mutually dependent on one another. It's a powerful antidote to the sense of individualism and self-reliance that can often divide or isolate us from one another.
Winthrop reflects on the interconnectedness highlighted in Romans 12:4-5 when he states, "We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together." This is a clear echo of Paul's message about the interdependence of different parts in a single body. Winthrop’s emphasis on the negative aspects of the Christian life, “mourning,” “laboring,” and “suffering” are all the more relevant for a group of people about to enter the New World with all of the attendant difficulties, dangers, and, for many, death that awaited them.
Winthrop then turns to 1 Corinthians 12:26, "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." Here, he underscores the importance of empathy and shared responsibility. If one member of the community is in need, it is the responsibility of the whole to address that need. Paul extends the body metaphor in his first letter to the Corinthians, emphasizing that the well-being of one part affects the whole. When one member suffers, the entire body suffers; when one member rejoices, the whole body shares in that joy. Winthrop uses these words of the Apostle to underscore the interconnectedness within a Christian community and the collective responsibility we bear for one another's well-being.
In today's context, it's a potent reminder that we are called to be empathetic and responsive to the joys and sorrows of our fellow Christians. Our shared life means celebrating together in times of joy and bearing one another's burdens in times of sorrow. Winthrop's sermon resonates with the sentiment of shared joys and sorrows found in 1 Corinthians 12, when he writes, "We must bear one another’s burdens. We must not look only on our own things, but also on the things of our brethren." This underlines the sense of communal responsibility Paul emphasizes—the understanding that one member's suffering is a suffering shared by all. Again, Winthrop’s focus on suffering was not just a general conceptualization of daily aggravations faced by normal people in normal times. His audience was a group of pilgrims making huge sacrifices, together, for the sake of holier living. Their great need was to realize that in the midst of the sufferings that awaited them, they had each other, in Christ, to support and carry one another’s burdens.
Perhaps the most profound biblical reference in Winthrop’s sermon is his use of Matthew 5:14, where Christ tells his followers, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." The "City upon a Hill" metaphor is a call to communal holiness and visible godliness, setting the standard for the Massachusetts Bay Colony and, by extension, all Christian communities. Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount serve as a charge to His followers. The call here is not just to personal holiness, but also to communal righteousness that shines forth as a testament to God's transformative power.
For us Christians today, this verse is a challenge to ensure our communities built on Christ our foundation reflect Christ's teachings in our actions and interactions, serving as a beacon of His love and righteousness in a world grown dark. Winthrop draws directly from Christ's words in this verse when he famously declares, "For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us." This reflects the notion of a visible, communal holiness that should be characteristic of Christian communities, as illuminated in Christ's Sermon on the Mount.
"A Model of Christian Charity" presents an enduring challenge. It calls Christians to live in active, loving service to each other, acknowledging our interconnectedness and our shared responsibility to reflect Christ's light in our Christian communities, both within the church building and out in the world. However, the sermon also reminds us that achieving such a community is not without its challenges. It requires continual commitment to the principles of mutual love, empathy, and sacrifice, energized by the Spirit of God working in us for the glory of God.
In an age marked by individualism and division, Winthrop's words echo with renewed urgency. They call us to a higher standard of communal living, one rooted in the values of love, service, and unity, but above all anchored in our union with Christ. Although we might not be capable of achieving that perfect Christian community here in this lifetime, we know that with the return of Christ our King all things will be made new, and Winthrop’s ideal for Christian living will come to fruition far beyond any sense he could have possibly envisioned.
