How Can I Be More Bold?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast we’re joined by the Senior Pastor of Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, FL, a Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow, and also Ligonier’s Chief Editorial Officer, Dr. Burk Parsons. Dr. Parsons, as a Christian, how can I grow in boldness?

DR. BURK PARSONS: That is a good and very important question, and before answering that particular question, we really need to dig down deeper and define what true boldness actually is because there are a lot of misconceptions about true boldness.

I think a lot of people think that boldness is more or less a personality trait. We all know people that tend to be just more bold; they tend to be more confident; they tend to have more courage. A lot of that comes from their upbringing, if they played different sports—and we just know these people who exude seeming confidence and courage, and their personalities seem to be very bold. They seem to be very extroverted, and they can talk to anyone at any time about anything. I think part of the problem—and many of the reasons why there are so many misconceptions and confusion in the church about what true boldness is—I think actually stems from preachers, from us pastors. I think we sometimes give a wrong impression of what true biblical boldness actually is.

First of all, we need to understand that boldness, as we’ve already considered, is not a personality trait, nor does boldness mean being loud. It doesn’t mean raising our voices. It doesn’t mean harshness. Boldness doesn’t mean being brash. We oftentimes say, “Well, someone’s bold because they don’t fear anything or anyone, and they’ll just tell it like it is.” Well, they may have boldness, but that doesn’t necessarily define boldness as it is given to us in Scripture.

And so, even a lot of times in the church, people think, “Well, I have to become like the pastors,” or, “I have to become like this preacher if I’m going to be truly bold for the Christ, if I’m going to be truly bold for the gospel.” And that is simply not the case. I know many people are very quiet people by nature. Their personalities do not seem to exude the sort of confidence that we were just talking about, or courage, or boldness. Yet when they are challenged and there is something they need to address with honesty and forthrightness, they exude that when and where they must, with patience, with gentleness, not with raised voices, and they’re able to speak confidently and boldly according to how Scripture defines it.

It’s very important that we understand this because as Scripture explains what boldness is—and even as we see it exemplified in Scripture—we come to understand that it is not a natural-born confidence or a natural-born strength that we have within us, but rather it is a strength; it is a confidence and a courage we have because of the Holy Spirit and His work within us. It is a confidence that we have in Christ. It’s a confidence that we have in God. And we see this exemplified by Paul in particular because many of us think that Paul was just this bold, confident man and preacher, but he actually admits that he wasn’t always, and he struggled with speaking, and he even asked for prayer that he would be bold, that he would speak boldly because he often lacked that boldness.

Boldness in the New Testament, very simply put, is fearing God above man and being able to speak openly, forthrightly, and honestly, not fearing the consequences of men. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have any right or healthy fear of men; we need to. It’s an appropriate and healthy fear that we need to have of people, what they can do, how they can respond, what they can say to us. And in one sense, if we’re honest, we are all a little bit afraid of what people can do to us, what people can say about us. I am. A lot of people think :“Well, you’re a preacher. You must be very bold.” I’m not. In and of myself, I am not bold. I am shy. I am often scared of people. Large groups of people scare me because I feel like I’m going to probably say something stupid. I’m not good at just interacting sometimes because the little chitchat conversations—I’m afraid because I don’t want to say anything stupid or foolish, or I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings by misunderstanding or presuming something. Boldness is not something that is a personality trait that we exude. It is rather the Spirit of God within us, giving us a certain courage and confidence that what we are saying is true and right and necessary.

I think a lot of preachers give the impression that boldness is raising your voice and being harsh and telling it like it is, and even being brash at times, and that’s not necessarily what biblical boldness is or looks like. And so, we need to understand what boldness is: being in Christ, coming from God by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to speak that which is true and right, whether it is with a quiet voice, whether it is at times with a raised voice if we need to, but saying what is right, not fearing ultimately the consequences of man because we ultimately fear God.