Are You a Victim?

The actual source of the word victim appears to be unknown, but in its original use in the English language, it pointed to a living creature that was to be sacrificed and offered to a deity. The word’s usage was broadened in the mid-1600s to include one who is hurt, tortured, or killed by another. It appears to have been broadened again in the early to mid-1700s to include the idea of one being oppressed by some power or situation. It is likely that none of these historical uses took into consideration the broadness of the word’s assignment today. To a great degree, the continual lowering of the standard required to obtain victim status has come in conjunction with its increasing popularity to be identified as such.

All conditions and definitions considered, the greatest victim to ever live was never in His lifetime identified as such, nor did He ever take up the title for Himself. If we add to that the fact that we often incorporate into our understanding of victimhood that the one victimized is, at best, INNOCENT and, at worst, UNDESERVING, we might well say that those attributes can and have only fully applied to one—the Lord Jesus Christ. That being said, if one truly wants to know how to define victimhood or how to behave should one be victimized, he would look no further than the Lord.


“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)