I have never read Samson treated correctly, not once. Of course, I have not read everything written about him. But based on my own exposure, he is always, without exception, outright defamed.

People see the strength that came from God, but other than that, all they see is arrogance, lust, a “lone ranger” lifestyle, and other character flaws. However, God himself includes Samson among the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, among those of whom the world was not worthy. The good qualities in him are just so, so good, that to paraphrase something that Jesus said, I have never seen such faith, no, not in the church.

You see, Samson was “good” on an entirely different wavelength than what “Christians” and faithless religious people regard as good. And this is why it never occurred to them that Samson was good, even one of the very best. Whether Samson intended it or not, his personality played right into some of the qualities that God favors the most. When I read about Samson, I get the sense that he was deeply, intensely, loved by God. Others see a man that they could use as a cautionary tale, someone they can preach about, make fun of, and trample upon, just like the Philistine did to him. But I see a story of faith and grace that moves me to tears.

When it comes to what Samson can teach us about doctrine and spirituality, everyone misses the point. “Christians” are fundamentally moralistic and legalistic. This is human nature unless one is born again and renewed by truth, and most religious people are not. Thus they cannot conceive that God actually prefers Samson’s irreverent faith to their own stuck up attitude.

Samson did not choose isolation. He sought companionship, celebration, marriage, and even reconciliation. He went to feasts, he brought gifts, he tried to mend relationships that others had destroyed. His story is full of attempts at human connection, and the Bible goes out of its way to show that he was consistently rejected, betrayed, or abandoned by the people who should have stood with him. Israel did not want him. They preferred peace with their oppressors over deliverance with their judge. They tied him up and handed him to the Philistines to protect themselves. They recoiled from the conflict that God had raised Samson to embrace. His solitude was imposed, not chosen.

This is the crucial point that preachers habitually miss: Samson remained faithful when community failed him, not because he despised community, but because no one was willing to follow God with him. His strength was not weakened by being alone. His strength revealed the weakness and unbelief of the nation. He did not forsake God to gain harmony with his own people. He refused to surrender to the Philistines for the sake of comfort or acceptance. He carried the burden of deliverance without allies, not because he rejected fellowship, but because the covenant people refused the blessings and responsibilities God had given to them.

Samson was not a man who failed because he was alone. He was alone because Israel failed. Jesus never strayed, but not because he practiced “team ministry” and so-called “accountability.” The whole team abandoned him when there was trouble! Many who supported him were manipulated to turn against him, and ended up calling for his death. The universal shallow reading of Samson reflects the people’s own lack of genuine spirituality. They perceive things from a viewpoint that is no different from how unbelievers explain success and failure. Here is the key that made all the difference: Jesus was stronger on the inside than Samson was on the outside. This was why Samson could rip the city gates off its foundation and carry them on his back for many miles, while Jesus did something far greater: he ripped the gates of hell off its foundation and carried the sins of the world on his back.

Jesus was that perfect, that strong. The decisive factor was never the support of the crowd or corporate spirituality. The crowd did not have faith in God and betrayed God’s chosen one. So-called fellowship was the hindrance, and often even the greatest threat to God’s plan. The key was the spiritual strength of the individual, not the group. The examples of both Samson and Jesus demonstrated the opposite point that everyone confidently, arrogantly, super stupidly asserts. Individual faith was the key. Not the group. Not the church. The lesson from Samson is not “join a church,” but beware of the crowd, especially the religious people, and become strong on the inside.

Samson stumbled, but he was successful at the end. The “church” never helped him. Jesus never stumbled, and he succeeded not because of the “church,” but he succeeded despite the crowd who abandoned him and turned against him. Now imagine if there are a hundred of such individuals, or a hundred million, and they gather in fellowship and cooperation. Now that’s a church! To have a healthy church, you must have healthy individuals. This is because the “church” as such does not even exist. There is no such thing as the church without individuals, just like there is no such thing as a forest without trees. The word “forest” does not refer to something that exists in itself. It is only a shorthand for the individuals it comprises. And to have a healthy forest, you must have healthy individual trees. Otherwise, “a little yeast will work through the whole batch of dough.”