--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The church is precisely that against…" description: "\"The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached -- and against which he taught his disciples to fight.\" — Friedrich Nietzsche" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg" --- # The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached… ![“The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached -- and against which he taught his disciples to fight.” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg) > “The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached -- and against which he taught his disciples to fight.” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Institutional religion is portrayed as the antithesis of Jesus' teachings, urging rebellion against dogma. **In simple terms:** Church opposes Jesus’ message. Key Takeaway Challenge oppressive institutions. Themes religion rebellion authority Mood critical provocative Type philosophical theological When to use this quote - activism - academic debate - personal belief - social reform - historical analysis Key Concepts philosophy theology critique Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of faith inspire you? - How can one reconcile spirituality with critique? A Different Perspective Not all religious institutions are monolithic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) [Disciple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disciple/) [Jesus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jesus/) ## Related quotes > [Jesus preached more and taught more about helping the poor and the sick and the hungry than he did about heaven and hell. Shouldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/jesus-preached-more-and-taught-more-about-helping-the-poor-and-the/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [“The teaching of godliness must be preached and taught in every available medium.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-teaching-of-godliness-must-be-preached-and-taught-in-every/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/jesus-never-taught-his-disciples-how-to-preach-only-how-to-pray-he/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [Where possible Paul avoids quoting the teaching of Jesus, in fact even mentioning it. If we had to rely on Paul, we should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/where-possible-paul-avoids-quoting-the-teaching-of-jesus-in-fact-even/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [Jesus sowed good seeds into the lives of the people He touched. His walk was humble, meek, giving, and forgiving, and He taught His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-johnson/jesus-sowed-good-seeds-into-the-lives-of-the-people-he-touched-his/) [Monica Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-johnson/) > [“Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/jesus-never-taught-his-disciples-how-to-preach-only-how-to-pray-he-2/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [“Him?' Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/him-jesus-never-taught-his-disciples-how-to-preach-only-how-to-pray/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [“One of the most significant lessons Jesus taught his disciples was to stop looking for God's life in the regimen of rituals and rules.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-colsen/one-of-the-most-significant-lessons-jesus-taught-his-disciples-was-to/) [Jake Colsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-colsen/) > [The good news as Jesus preached it is not just about the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ortberg/the-good-news-as-jesus-preached-it-is-not-just-about-the-minimal/) [John Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ortberg/) > [If we're not reaching the same people Jesus reached, then we're not preaching the same message Jesus preached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tullian-tchividjian/if-we-re-not-reaching-the-same-people-jesus-reached-then-we-re-not/) [Tullian Tchividjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tullian-tchividjian/) > [If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-ravenhill/if-jesus-had-preached-the-same-message-that-ministers-preach-today-he/) [Leonard Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-ravenhill/) > [I'm not afraid to say 'Jesus Christ,' and I'm not afraid to speak of those who worship him. After all, Jesus preached about love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-seltzer/i-m-not-afraid-to-say-jesus-christ-and-i-m-not-afraid-to-speak-of/) [David Seltzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-seltzer/) > [“From there Ari took her to the church which marked the place of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes a short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-uris/from-there-ari-took-her-to-the-church-which-marked-the-place-of-the/) [Leon Uris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-uris/) > [The kingdom that Jesus preached and lived was all about a glorious, uproarious, absurd generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright-2/the-kingdom-that-jesus-preached-and-lived-was-all-about-a-glorious/) [N. T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright-2/) > [“Jesus preached socialism and pacifism," I say, "which is wrong and un-American since it discourages entrepreneurship and doesn't support our troops, but I'm a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-marshall/jesus-preached-socialism-and-pacifism-i-say-which-is-wrong-and-un/) [James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-marshall/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What is life? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Church quotes > [While the 1963 Birmingham church bombing is the most historic, there also was a series of church burnings in the 1990s. Recognition of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthea-butler/while-the-1963-birmingham-church-bombing-is-the-most-historic-there/) [Anthea Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthea-butler/) > [If I had my brothers I think with just a little bit of the correct marketing, I'd like to be almost exclusively in small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-bozzio/if-i-had-my-brothers-i-think-with-just-a-little-bit-of-the-correct/) [Terry Bozzio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-bozzio/) > [Turn over the pages of history and read the damning record of the church's opposition to every advance in every field of science. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/turn-over-the-pages-of-history-and-read-the-damning-record-of-the/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [God is not calling us to go to church; he is calling us to be his church, the hope of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-groeschel/god-is-not-calling-us-to-go-to-church-he-is-calling-us-to-be-his/) [Craig Groeschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-groeschel/) > [The emerging church movement has come to believe that the ultimate context of the spiritual aspirations of a follower of Jesus Christ is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samir-selmanovic/the-emerging-church-movement-has-come-to-believe-that-the-ultimate/) [Samir Selmanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samir-selmanovic/) > [ T\]he church is not a place. It's not a building. It's not a preaching point. It's not a spiritual service provider. It's a people… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/t-he-church-is-not-a-place-it-s-not-a-building-it-s-not-a-preaching/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [There could be no more powerful argument against mixing religion and government than the success of independent African American churches in placing racial segregation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/there-could-be-no-more-powerful-argument-against-mixing-religion-and/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [Worship is not about personality, temperament, personal limitations, church background, or comfort. It is about God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wimber/worship-is-not-about-personality-temperament-personal-limitations/) [John Wimber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wimber/) > [A beggarly people, A church and no steeple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/a-beggarly-people-a-church-and-no-steeple/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [The minute you walk outside of your church on Sunday you're in mission territory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-barron/the-minute-you-walk-outside-of-your-church-on-sunday-you-re-in/) [Robert Barron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-barron/) > [I'm not ashamed of the things I believe and why I believe them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-huckabee/i-m-not-ashamed-of-the-things-i-believe-and-why-i-believe-them/) [Mike Huckabee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-huckabee/) [Browse all 9,430 Church quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached -- and against which he taught his disciples to fight.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-church-is-precisely-that-against-which-jesus-preached-and-against/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Church" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-church-is-precisely-that-against-which-jesus-preached-and-against/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/friedrich-nietzsche-15_church_the-church-is-precisely-that-against-whi_2773579.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The church is precisely that against which Jesus preached -- and against which he taught his disciples to…” — Friedrich Nietzsche", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The church is precisely that against...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-church-is-precisely-that-against-which-jesus-preached-and-against/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-church-is-precisely-that-against-which-jesus-preached-and-against/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```