How Shame-Honor Culture impacts the Church in the Philippines (Part 2)
Sean Ransom is president of The Expositor’s Academy in the Philippines, Regional Director for Asia for The Master’s Academy International, and Asia Regional Shepherd for Grace Ministries International.
This article is the second in a two-part series by Sean Ransom.
In the previous article, we saw that culture is manifest in a people’s beliefs, values, and customs. One of the major elements of the Filipino culture, as in many Asian cultures, is the shame-honor value system. Unlike the guilt-innocence kind of culture, a shame-honor culture places greater value on the community’s perception of harmony than on an individual’s sense of right and wrong. In the Philippines, that emphasis on the community’s perception results in societal values like a good reputation, harmonious relationships, and personal debts of gratitude. Those values are expressed in behaviors like high respect for age and rank, sacrificial service to the family, hospitality, loyalty, and the strong avoidance of confrontation.
We also saw the pressure that this cultural paradigm can put upon churches in the Philippines. Concern over shame, or hiya, can seriously hinder biblical ministry in a church, giving a sense of bondage, which undermines the gospel’s proclamation. Though more examples could be given, we examined just three areas where this pressure can be felt: appointing elders, preaching the Word, and reconciliation between believers.
After seeing the roadblocks that shame can create in relationships and ministry, it is easy to wish that shame and honor would just go away. But how does the Bible deal with these motivations? Are they always negative? In this second article, we will answer those questions and thus see how the Bible guides ministry in shame-honor cultures like the Philippines.
Shame and Honor in Scripture
While the cultural lens of shame and honor may in many ways damage the proper functioning of a society (and ultimately a church), there are biblical examples where shame and honor have their proper place. There are times that people should be honored and ways in which people should seek to be worthy of honor. There are also times that people should be shamed, and even times where God Himself is the agent of that shaming.
Appropriate Honor
Proper times to honor people are demonstrated throughout the Bible. At times, God honors mankind. In Psalm 8:5, God crowned man “with glory and majesty” (LSB) by placing him over creation. The Lord gives honor to him who honors the Lord (1 Sam 2:30). He honors him who calls upon the Lord in times of trouble (Ps 91:15). He loves and honors Israel (Isa 43:4), and He demonstrated special honor toward David (1 Chr 17:18).
People are also taught throughout Scripture to honor one another properly. Children are taught to honor their parents (Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16; Eph 6:1–3; cf. Mal 1:6), adults to honor the aged (Lev 19:32; 1 Tim 5:1), and the righteous to honor those who fear the Lord (Ps 15:4). The apostles instructed believers to show honor to whom it was due: God, governing authorities, the aged, and those in respected positions (Rom 12:10; 1 Tim 5:3, 17; 6:1; 1 Pet 2:17; 3:1, 7). “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Rom 13:7).
Believers are even taught how to correctly pursue honor. Proverbs 15:33 observes that before glory must come humility. Thus, if one desires to be honorable, he must first seek humility of heart (Prov 29:23; cf. 3:34; 22:4; Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5). Obviously, the concept of honoring and pursuing honor is deeply biblical.
Inappropriate Honor
But honor can be sought in improper ways. Again, this is a biblical concept. Actually, it begins as early as the Garden of Eden. It can be traced to the first lie ever whispered into a human ear: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5). The first temptation was essentially to take the glory and honor that are due God alone (cf. Isa 14:14; 42:8; Ezek 28:2, 12–17). The biblical examples of people chasing this lie are too numerous to include here, but two examples may prove helpful.
One example is King Nebuchadnezzar, who conquered and exiled Judah among many other nations. Walking on the roof of his palace, surveying the greatest kingdom the world had yet seen, he said to himself, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal house by the strength of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30, emphasis added). While the words were still in Nebuchadnezzar’s mouth, a different voice came from Heaven:
King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is said: the kingdom has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your place of habitation will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you know that the Most High is the powerful ruler over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever He wishes. (Dan 4:31–32)
Immediately this word was accomplished (Dan 4:33).[1]
After grazing like a cow for the appointed time, the king’s sanity returned to him and he issued a decree: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (4:37; cf. 4:1–3). King Nebuchadnezzar had sought the honor of his name, for he (like a host of others), chased the lie that he could be like God. But God put him back in his place.[2]
A brief second example of man improperly seeking his own honor is found in the New Testament. Herod Agrippa I was a powerful ruler too, reigning over Israel for the Romans from AD 37 to 44. In an attempt to appease Agrippa, the neighboring people of Tyre and Sidon came to him in Acts 12.[3] After he addressed the assembly with great pomp, the people cried out to him, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” (12:22). Herod stood before the crowd dressed in his royal attire, reveling in their praise. In Josephus’s parallel account, he writes, “He did not rebuke [the crowds], nor did he repudiate their impious flattery.”[4] The lie was not just whispered to Herod, it was shouted by the mobs, and he believed it.
The next verse in Acts reads, “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (Acts 12:23). Evidently, he suffered some sudden, final wreckage of parasites, perhaps the rupture of a cyst that had contained them.[5] At any rate, his pride, even more than Nebuchadnezzar’s, was humbled in the extreme. There is a difference between seeking biblical honor and seeking to be worshipped.
Appropriate Shame
Now because of sin, there is also the appropriate presence of shame in Scripture. Recall the definition we cited for shame in the first article:
Shame is a feeling and/or a condition stemming from a shortcoming in one’s state of being either before God or peers. . . . Just as there is legal guilt whether it is felt or not, and there can be felt guilt whether there is an infraction or not, so there is a tangible condition of shame whether it is felt or not, and there is a felt condition of shame whether it has an objective basis or not.[6]
Shame—in both its senses of feeling and condition—is a natural, God-initiated consequence to sin. This can be traced in Scripture from beginning to end.
After only two chapters in the Bible, sin is introduced into the world. Immediately after the tragic words “he ate” in Genesis 3:6, the consequences follow: “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (3:7). Adam and Eve each felt the gaze not only of the other person upon their “nakedness” but of God Himself. They felt ashamed for the very first time, as a divinely appointed consequence of their newfound guilt and fallen state (cf. 2:25). At once the two began trying to cover themselves before the other and then before God. As one writer has put it, “We are still hiding today.”[7]
God also actively induces a condition of shame upon sinners. In Hosea 4:7, the Lord said of Israel’s disobedience, especially of their priests, “The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame” (NASB).” In Isaiah 45:16, He says of the pagan nations who worship false gods, “They will be put to shame and even dishonored, all of them; the craftsmen of idols will go away together in dishonor” (LSB). In Habakkuk 2:16, the Lord responds to the sinful violence of Babylon with woes: “You will be filled with disgrace rather than glory. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory.” The imagery in all of these is that the Lord would douse the people with shame for their sin. In the words of Daniel, open shame is what sin deserves (Dan 9:7–8).
Shame as a feeling, however, within its correct, God-given context is intended to be a precondition for repentance.[8] In Jeremiah 3, the Lord had condemned Israel for her harlotry and utter pollution of the land, yet the Lord says, she “refused to feel dishonor” (3:3; cf. 6:15; 8:12). Similarly, in Zephaniah 3:5, the prophet cries, “The unjust knows no shame.” The refusal to feel the shame of sin is an active refusal to repent (cf. Prov 30:20). Even in the New Testament, Paul writes to shame the Corinthian believers for their lawsuits among themselves by verbally dismantling their pride (1 Cor 6:5).[9] But his desire in shaming them was so that they would repent (15:34; cf. 2 Thess 3:14–15).
In just the same way, the shame that Adam and Eve felt was not given to demoralize them. Otherwise, God would not have then mercifully clothed their nakedness (Gen 3:21). Rather, their eyes were opened so they would see their spiritual nakedness and ultimately put their hope not in themselves but in the one who would crush the serpent and remove their guilt and disgrace forever (3:15).
Inappropriate Shame
Nevertheless, just as there are improper pursuits of honor in Scripture, there are also inappropriate times for shame. Shame becomes unbiblical when it hinders obedience and defers to the will of man.
Sadly, the Bible is full of men who let the fear of being shamed bend their will away from obeying the Lord. King Saul is an unexpected example. He might be the last person one would anticipate struggling with the fear of being shamed. He was tall, powerful, and impressive (1 Sam 9:2), exactly the king Israel was seeking when they rejected the Lord from reigning over them (8:5, 19–20).
Yet Saul was crippled by the fear of man (1 Sam 10:20–24). And it was not his enemies that he particularly feared but his friends; Saul was afraid of being an unpopular king. Not long after ascending the throne, he transgressed the command of the Lord in order to seek favor in the eyes of men (15:1–9; cf. 13:8–14). How do we know this was his motive? He admits it: “Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; I have indeed trespassed against the command of Yahweh and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (15:24, emphasis added; cf. 13:11). The words of Solomon are keenly pertinent: “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (Prov 29:25 NASB). As a result of this misplaced fear—a fear of shame rather than of the Lord—the kingdom was torn away from Saul and his name now lives in infamy (1 Sam 15:26–28).
A second example can be found in the New Testament. In response to Jesus’ ministry, many of the religious rulers of the day were believing in Him. Yet there was much to be lost in following Jesus. John writes, “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42–43 NASB). Shame can thus hinder obedience when we begin to be consumed with our appearance and honor in the eyes of those around us rather than in the eyes of God.
Biblical Application for the Church
Now that we have examined appropriate and inappropriate cases of shame and honor in Scripture, we can begin to answer another question: How can churches in shame-honor cultures obey God at the points where their culture deviates from Scripture? The answer is to have a kingdom-focused Christian culture that takes precedence over earthly culture, that is, we must obey God rather than men when our culture conflicts with God’s Word (cf. Acts 5:29).
Shame-Honor Culture Revisited
Recall our definition of culture: “the distinctive beliefs, values, and customs of a particular group of people that determine how they think, feel, and behave.”[10] We must also remember that “the human ability to develop God-honoring culture was damaged by the fall in Genesis 3.”[11] God’s mandate for man to rule over creation still stands (Gen 1:26–28; 9:1–7; Ps 8). But as MacArthur and Mayhue put it,
The complete fulfillment of this expectation awaits Jesus’s kingdom in the “world to come” (Heb. 2:5–8). Culture in this fallen world is infested with sin, so there must also be a purging with fire of all negative remnants of a fallen world, including fallen human culture (2 Pet. 3:8–13). On the new earth, culture will always point to the glory of God.[12]
In the meantime, all Christians everywhere live in this world cross-culturally in a sense. We are sojourners here; our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:17–21; 1 Pet 2:11–12). That is why it is important for believers to be aware of cultural influences upon them that run contrary to Scripture.
Whenever we identify deviations, the biblical response is to recognize them as rebellion against a holy God, to turn from them, and to implement a kingdom-focused Christian culture in their place. A kingdom-focused Christian culture comprises values, beliefs, and practices that are in accordance with God’s Word. It further implies that any values, beliefs, or practices that are contrary to God’s Word are avoided at all costs. When we have this perspective, we can maintain those aspects of the culture that are neutral, recognize and forsake unbiblical manners of thought, and replace them with a biblical mindset. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:20–24:
But you did not learn Christ in this way—if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, to lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
He also commanded in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
For believers in a shame-honor culture, the core value that needs to be put off and replaced by values conformed to the Word of God is ungodly fear. Desiring peace and harmony with our neighbors and working hard to avoid damaging relationships with others is a godly desire. But these desires can cause us to sin if they are motivated by a fear of circumstances and fear of man instead of a fear and trust in God.
Fear can be a healthy, God-given response to things like danger, emotional pain, grieving or dishonoring God, or harming others (e.g. Exod 20:20; Prov 14:16; Luke 12:4–5; Rom 11:20–21; 1 Tim 5:20). But when the fear of shame causes us to take our eyes off Jesus—or as Ed Welch put it, to make people big and God small[13]—then we sin. For we have disobeyed His clear prohibition from fearing man more than God (Isa 2:22; Matt 10:28; cf. Deut 1:17; Ps 118:6; Prov 29:25; Isa 51:7).
At their root, sinful fears come from a focus on self, which is idolatry. These fears lead us to become more concerned about people honoring us than we are about fearing and honoring God. Men and women whose highest value is being liked or honored will find themselves doing whatever is necessary to maintain their good standing in the eyes of others, even if it means tolerating sin to avoid conflict. That leads us back to the ways in which ministry can be hindered.
Appointing Elders Revisited
Using the earlier examples of appointing elders, let us re-examine what God’s Word says about this matter and consider how that truth can be applied in a shame-honor culture.
Paul made the requirements for eldership clear in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9. These passages provide a precise list of required character traits, skills, and prohibitions for elders. To ensure that aspiring leaders possess these qualities, it is implicit and imperative that the appointing elders have a close relationship with them and so have opportunity to affirm that the requirements are patterns in their lives. Close relationships bring obligations in the Filipino culture, such as loyalty, deference, and returning favors.
Yet while a shame-honor culture can cause elders to feel pressured to affirm an unqualified man to the office, there are at least four reasons they should not: (1) supreme loyalty to people is disloyalty to God, (2) avoidance of godly confrontation does great damage, (3) truth told in love is infinitely better than lies told in self-love, and (4) we worship what we fear.
Supreme Loyalty
First, our loyalty to God must be far greater than all other allegiances. Having broken relationships and being considered disloyal as a result of prohibiting an unqualified man from eldership is better than grieving God for failing to protect His church. That is why Paul commanded the elders, “Do not lay hands upon anyone hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself pure” (1 Tim 5:22). The Lord’s church can be greatly damaged when the wrong men are allowed to lead it (cf. Acts 20:28–31; 3 John 9–11).
While some Filipinos are tempted to overlook the shortcomings of an aspiring elder out of loyalty to him, they end up being disloyal to God. The prophet Hosea gives us an idea of how important loyalty to God is; it is more than religious practice: “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice” (Hos 6:6 NASB). Leaders in Filipino churches must remember that they “will give an account” (Heb 13:17) for their shepherding of the church to the One who demands our supreme loyalty (cf. Deut 6:4; Matt 6:24).
Godly Confrontation
A second reason to embrace a kingdom-focused Christian culture is that it will cause us to lovingly confront when we must. Fearing men more than God causes us to neglect the biblical command to confront other believers (e.g., Matt 18:15–20; Gal 6:1; Eph 5:11; Titus 1:9–11; Jas 5:19–20). It also leads us to minimize or ignore the damage that can be done if we do not love God’s people enough to speak the truth to them.
Confrontation is not easy in any culture, but it has several benefits. It can facilitate restoration in damaged relationships. It allows us to love other believers by seeking their best. It also gives us the opportunity to show our love for God and His glory by risking our own comfort and reputation for His sake.
In the context of restoring a sinning believer to fellowship, Matthew 18:15 says, “Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother” (LSB). If the response is positive, then a broken relationship, whether with men or God, has been restored. It is selfish and unloving, and it robs God of glory if we allow relationships to remain broken because we fear confrontation and are desperate to save face, avoid shame, or lose the approval of men (cf. Prov 3:12; 27:5–6).
Speaking Truth in Love
Third, kingdom-focused Christians tell the truth in love (Eph 4:15). In matters of sin, doctrinal immaturity, and unbiblical philosophies of ministry, Filipino elders must fearlessly speak the truth for God’s glory, the sake of the church, and the sanctification of His people. To do this, they must remove the idol of self and speak what is necessary for every man and woman to be “complete in Christ” (Col 1:28). Paul made this clear when he told the believers in Ephesus, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor” (Eph 4:25, cf. Zech 8:16; Col 3:9).
Being less than direct and clear in this area can lead to falling short of telling the truth. MacArthur comments, “More than simply telling direct falsehoods, lying also includes exaggeration and adding fabrications to something that is true. Cheating, making foolish promises, betraying a confidence, and making false excuses are all forms of lying, with which Christians should have no part.”[14] Filipino ministers must fight against the temptation to avoid conflict and shame by softening the truth in these ways. Our aim should be honest words “for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29 NASB). We must remember that God’s Word is inerrant and profitable not only for teaching but also for reproof and correction (2 Tim 3:16–17).
Fearing (Worshipping) God
Fourth, a kingdom-focused Christian culture demands that we fear God. In essence, fearing God means worshiping Him (Deut 6:13; 10:12–13; Pss 2:11; 5:7; 33:8; Rev 14:7; 15:4). In both the Old and New Testaments, the terms meaning “fear, terror, alarm” often also mean “respect, awe, reverence.” This includes a dread of punishment. Yet “ultimately, our fear is to be transformed into worship when its right and proper object is God.”[15] That is what leads to the refrain in Scripture that “the fear of Yahweh is to hate [or turn from] evil” (Prov 3:7 LSB; 8:13; 14:16; 16:6, etc.). For the person who believes in Jesus, being assured of God’s love, the dread of punishment is cast out, but the reverence remains (1 John 4:15–18). Thus, as Ed Welch summarizes, a healthy fear of God “means reverent submission that leads to obedience, and is interchangeable with ‘worship,’ ‘rely on,’ ‘trust,’ and ‘hope in.’ ”[16]
Fear of anything else above God—people, rejection, harm, and death—stems from a worship of self, which is idolatry. When culture drives us to fear people more than God, and thus to disobey His commandments, we worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25; cf. Prov 29:25).
The remedy is found in fearing the Lord by knowing Him through His Word (Ps 119:38; Isa 66:2). As this knowledge increases, our fear and reverence for Him grows, our worship becomes deeper, and our desires to obey and live for Him develops into a passion for His glory. As Filipino pastors feast on the Word of God, their passion for His honor, even at the expense of their shame, will result in godly leadership and a biblical ministry that is devoted to Him above all else.
Conclusion
In this second article, we have seen that shame and honor have a biblical basis. God bestows both and has been doing so since creation to order believers’ lives and to bring sinners to repentance. But we also saw that both can be sought and served in this world in an unbiblical manner. Inappropriate ideas of shame and honor have led to great personal destruction—and we have biblical examples as warnings.
Then, we revisited shame-honor culture in light of Scripture, and specifically, we re-examined the scenario of appointing elders. How ought churches and individual believers apply Scripture to navigate cultures with such a system of values? How can they be faithful to Scripture but sensitive to their culture of ministry? The answer was to pursue a kingdom-focused Christian culture.
Recall from the first article that the majority of the world lives in shame-honor cultures like the Philippines. These cultures desperately need Christians who will wrestle past their fear of shame, their fear of man. They need Christians who will glorify Christ in their homes, churches, and communities by standing for the truth, “despising the shame” (cf. Heb 12:2). This will not happen if believers are paralyzed by a fear of conflict. Therefore, they must consciously reserve their supreme loyalty for God alone, obey His commands to confront the sinning brother, speak the truth in love, and fear (i.e., worship) God above all else.
Churches in the Philippines and every member of God’s universal church must assess the cultures in which they have been placed and strive to have a kingdom-focused Christian culture, embracing the elements of a culture that reflect the glory of God. But where we find our cultures in conflict with God’s plans for making Himself known and building His church, we must stand against them. Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matt 16:18)—and we must be prepared to resist our culture whenever it attempts to prevail against her.
[1] The modern psychosis here would be clinical lycanthropy—but it was from the Lord. See discussion in Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, New American Commentary 18 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 133–35.
[2] Royal annals were extremely averse to recording such humiliating episodes. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, “the Babylonian records are almost totally silent on the years when such an affliction is most likely to have happened: the last decade of his life.” Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 496–97.
[3] Josephus (Antiquities 19:343–44) says it was at Caesarea Maritima on a feast day. Apparently, it was to celebrate the games that Herod the Great, Agrippa’s grandfather, had instituted in honor of Caesar, who was worshipped as a god in the Roman cult. Bruce Chilton, The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021), 199.
[4] Josephus, Antiquities 19.345–46.
[5] See discussion in John F. MacArthur Jr., Acts, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1994), 327–28.
[6] Bruce Thomas, “The Gospel for Shame Cultures,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 30, no. 3 (July 1994), accessed July 8, 2025, https://missionexus.net/1994/07/01/the-gospel-for-shame-cultures/.
[7] Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1997), 24.
[8] Philip J. Nel, “בּוֹש,” New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 1:622.
[9] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 7 (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 119–20; Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 434.
[10] Marvin J. Newell, Crossing Cultures in Scripture: Biblical Principles for Mission Practice (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 17.
[11] MacArthur and Mayhue, Biblical Doctrine, 446.
[12] MacArthur and Mayhue, Biblical Doctrine, 449.
[13] This is the name of Welch’s excellent book, When People Are Big and God Is Small.
[14] John F. MacArthur Jr., ed., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 1810.
[15] “Fear,” Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, ed. William D. Mounce (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 355–56.
[16] Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small, 97. Emphasis origin