We are all affected by the waging of wars in our time. We are touched by sacrifices that are made by many and we are confused by the dark sides of injustice and violence. As disciples of Jesus one of our main concerns is to do what is possible to further the coming of the Kingdom of God in our times (as the Lord's prayer says: "Thy Kingdom come"). An essential step toward this goal is to come together as disciples of the One Master, reach over political and other divides and make the effort together to understand what we are to do. In the end we may (and will) draw different practical consequences, but we will know that we are standing on one firm ground and that we will express in a variety of different callings the one Spirit that is moving us and that will powerfully bring about the coming of the Kingdom of God.
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TH said:
The topic of war is EXTENSIVE in the Bible. I am really not sure how anyone could read the Word and not notice it, and also not notice God's hand in it. Here are a FEW of many starting places where people can go directly to the Word to find out. I will start at the beginning and give a VERY brief synopsis of this very extensive topic.
In the beginning, there was really only one commandment. "Do not eat from these two trees." (Genesis 2:17) EVERYTHING else was admissible to Adam and Eve. Their obedience to this ONE single commandment lasted all the way til Genesis 3 when Eve and later Adam were both tempted into sin. From this "original sin" mankind fell from grace, forever separated from God. Sin and death entered into the world--including the first murder when Cain slew his brother Able (Genesis 4).
Since sin is now in the world, man is UNABLE to do anything truly good anymore. (According to St. Augustine, sin, by definition is choosing a lesser good over one greater. In the beginning, God created ALL things good, but Adam and Eve, by their own free will, chose a lesser good by choosing to eat of the tree of knowledge rather than the greater good of keeping their right and Holy relationship with God. God, who is all good all the time, could never create anything evil. Therefore, the tree of knowledge was indeed good. But it was not the HIGHEST good, which is God himself. Therefore, to choose a lesser good over one greater, is sin by definition according to St. Augustine. This is true of all sin. Sex is NOT bad per se. On the contrary, it was created to be good. But it becomes sinful when willfully chosen outside the bounds of God's holy law. Sin and evil then, do NOT come from God who is all good all the time. On the contrary, sin comes from man's own freewill decision to act out of his own judgment instead of in right submission and obedience to the Lord. i.e. God says, "If you love me, obey me." Hence, there is evil in the world.) In any case, once sin entered into the world, it spread and became ever worsening--as it continues today. Now God, who IS love, needed a way to reconcile man to himself so he gave the LAW, as a means of reconciliation--foremost of which is the ten commandments. (Exodus 20). First, we must explore the divine attributes of God in order to understand why he gave the LAW as a means of justifying man.
The divine attributes of God--and love--are grace, mercy and justice. Notice, that the Biblical notion of love is NOT how we use the word today, as a description of feelings and emotions. On the contrary, love in the scripture is an ACT of the will. It is DOING THE RIGHT THING for someone, DESPITE the feelings and emotions associated with that often difficult act. Like disciplining your toddler when he is playing with an electrical socket. No good and loving parent is happy about spanking their child. Yet it is a difficult and necessary ACT of love so that the beloved child does not hurt himself or others. This necessary but difficult ACT of love is carried out DESPITE the loving parents' grief at having to do it--for what good parent WANTS to spank their child? Yet, for the right formation of the child, he must learn obedience for the protection of himself and others. "For God chastens whom He loves." (Proverbs and throughout the whole of the Bible). Therefore, God who is perfectly just and holy can not stand in the presence of someone who is unholy and unjust, for there is no union between good and evil. (Isaiah 5:20-21). Yet, God IS love so he gives the law in order to give us (the lawbreakers) a way to be reconciled to Him so that he can still be in relationship with us. Foremost, in our current discussion of war is the 6th commandment "Thou shalt not kill."
Yet we know that Cain ALREADY killed and that the sin of murder, therefore, is already in the world at the time the law was given. We also know that sin, is ever spreading and getting worse and will continue to do so until Christ comes at the end of time to destroy evil. That said, in the beginning, there was only one commandment. By the time we get to the Exodus there are ten. But we see that with man's ever increasing sinfulness, he becomes more and more unjust and more and more sinful so God has to give more and more laws in order to reconcile man back to Himself. Hence, there are hundreds of additions (we might call them amendments) to the original ten commandments. As man became more and more unjust and sinful, God created more and more of these in order to reconcile us back to Him. In all, there are something like 613 or so extra "amendments" added to the ten commandments to help us combat evil and be justified before the Lord--who is perfect justice. These other laws are contained in the first five books of the Bible called the Torah--namely the laws are mostly contained in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Among these Torah laws, God knows that His people must be able to protect themselves from the murderers in the world so he makes an amendment to the law (in particular the sixth commandment on killing) where He distinguishes between killing and murder. This clarifying amendment on the sixth commandment in contained in Numbers Chapter 35. (Please read Numbers 35 particularly verses 16-34). In this chapter, we see God distinguishing between killing and murder so that His people can tell the difference. We also see God establishing the office of police/soldiers (as avengers of blood) to hunt down and kill the murderers. These offices are God-ordained offices and from this point in the scripture on, we see multiple instances where God commands his people to go to war. NOT because God is ever happy with war. He is not. But unfortunately, since man is fallen from God, and Satan is ever present in the world and ever seeking to enslave and destroy the whole of humanity by possessing the hearts of men, then unfortunately there will always be murderers who must be hunted down and killed for the protection of the body. Unfortunately, there will also always be tyrants who must have Godly armies raised against them to usurp their power. Notice, that God makes this distinction between killing and murder at the time that He is commanding His children to raise an army and go to war for Him in order to possess the holy land which He has promised them. (the preceding chapters of Numbers tell the story of Moses leading his children in the wilderness for 40 years and Joshua and Caleb's reconnaissance of the land in preparation for battle). Not only are civil authorities including police and soldiers God-ordained, this chapter reveals that it is actually the MORAL RESPONSIBILITY of these civil authorities to oppose murderers and tyrannical governments for the protection of God's children, the establishment of God's justice and ultimately for the furthering of God's kingdom. (Notice in all the war stories of the Old Testament, anyone who repents and acknowledges the one true God, is spared and brought into God's chosen people--including the harlot Rahab who helped Joshua and his spies in Joshua 2. The harlot Rahab is in the line of Christ.)
Now, the Old Testament is FULL of instances where God's children have gone to war on His behalf and slain murderers for His glory. The criteria, is that we NEVER act out of VENGEANCE, for vengeance belongs to the Lord. The criteria, both for war and for the slaying of murderers is JUSTICE--i.e. the upholding of the law, so that we can remain rightly reconciled to God who is perfectly holy and just. Hence, the God-ordained establishment of civil governments to include local police forces and militaries. This is done for the PROTECTION of God's children and the upholding of God's law. The Old Testament is pretty clear on this but a lot of modern Christians, particularly since the 1960s, tend to believe that Christ's crucifixion on the cross, somehow changes the Old law. This is NOT true. While it IS true, that man had become so sinful, that the Old Law was no longer sufficient to reconcile us to God, so God sent His only son to die on the cross and forever pay our penalty. He ransomed us from Satan and death for all eternity, freeing us both from sin and death, and from the letter of the law, as the letter of the Old Law was no longer sufficient to save us. Yet this is NOT because there was anything wrong with the Old Law. On the contrary, the Old Law came from God, who is all good all the time. Hence, the Old Law was perfect. It was MAN who had become so sinful that we could no longer understand the intent of the old law nor were we anymore capable of keeping all the hundreds of amendments to the Old Law. God knows this, so because God IS love, He sent His only son to pay our penalty once and for all. Our sins had become so deep and we became so evil and far from God, that no amount of sacrifice and obedience to the Law on our part could possibly reconcile us to God. It would take a HOLY sacrifice in order to stand in the gap. So God sent his son, that whosoever believes in Him, might have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Yet to do this great act of love, God does NOT contradict the Old Law or throw out His own justice. On the contrary, the Old law was from Him and was therefore perfect. But man had become so sinful, that we no longer understood the intent of the old law. For instance, both the Pharisees and Satan himself continually tempt Christ from the death dealing letter of the Old Law. In each case, Christ (seemingly) disobeys the Old Law NOT in order to break the law, but rather to UPHOLD the law in the spirit of its right intent. Hence, Christ's healing on the Sabbath, after the Pharisees pointed out to him that it was unlawful to work on the Sabbath. If the Pharisees had really known the old law--as Christ does--they would have gone back to the Torah and saw that among the 613 or so amendments to the original ten commandments, there were also amendments regarding the 4th commandment to honor the Sabbath. Exceptions to this commandment are for the preservation of life which included the continuance of Doctors healing their patients on the Sabbath and also for Soldiers and Police to continue to carry out their duties of protecting God's children from murderers and tyrants. With these amendments to the 4th commandment in mind, Christ goes ahead and heals the leaper on the Sabbath. The Pharisees think that Jesus has disobeyed the law so they continue to falsely accuse him of being a heretic. On the contrary, Christ has preserved life so he has actually UPHELD the law. Likewise, many modern misguided Christians seem to think that Christ and the New Law of the New Testament somehow usurp, destroy or contradict the Old Law. This is NOT true. Christ was perfectly sinless and therefore PERFECTLY kept ALL of God's previous commandments in exactly the way that God intended for them to be upheld.
Likewise, the distinction between killing and murder from the Torah also carries through to the New Testament. We see in Romans Chapter 13, which pastor Marc preached about not too long ago, that the God-ordained establishment of civil authorities, including police and soldiers, continue to be in play in the New Testament. Further, we as Christians are COMMANDED to obey these authorities. (Please read Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13-25). We see also that the craft of soldiering and by extension, the act of warfare, are still just as relevant. The very first gentile officially accepted into the Christian Church is the ROMAN SOLDIER Cornelius. (Please read Acts Chapter 10). In this chapter, we see that Cornelius has several strikes against him which make him seem like the unlikeliest of Christians. Among them 1) He is a soldier. 2) He is a soldier in the ROMAN and therefore, the OCCUPYING army. And 3) that he is a gentile, a people normally thought to be outside of God's testimony. Yet in this chapter, we see revealed God's TRUE purpose in sending Christ to die for our sins--i.e. He wanted ALL people reconciled to him, not just his chosen people anymore. The NEW TESTAMENT is NOT a contradiction of the Old. On the contrary, God is a promise keeper and not a promise breaker so the New Testament is an EXPANSION of the Old Testament WITHOUT in any way contradicting the Old law. While man is ever becoming more sinful, God counteracts that evil with His infinite love which is likewise ever expanding. In the New Testament, God's love is expanded through the death of His son to reconcile ALL repentant sinners to God, including gentile soldiers and people from EVERY nation and tongue. Notice in Acts chapter 10 that Cornelius is described as a devout and righteous man. Notice, that Peter, who is obviously scared to death of Cornelius, has to be convicted THREE times by God in order for him to finally relent and go minister to the apparently very intimidating Roman soldier Cornelius. Yet no where, does God admonish Peter to tell Cornelius that he has to give up his craft in order to be saved. On the contrary, we already know that Cornelius is a devout and righteous man. One who loved God with all his house. This story then, is NOT about the sinfulness of Cornelius. Indeed Cornelius is revealed to be the righteous and God fearing one. On the contrary, this story is about the spiritual inadequacies of Peter who is obviously still struggling with his sins of fear and to this point has failed to accept Cornelius for exactly who he is--a soldier, a gentile, and also a devoutly believing Christian. Why would God be adamant that the first gentile officially accepted into the Church would be a gentile soldier? Do you suppose God anticipated that Christianity would continue to be persecuted until Christ comes at the end of time to destroy evil? Do you suppose God knew that he would need soldiers to protect His precious children so that His word could be spread to every nation and tongue just as the book of Acts commands?
Now, we must be careful what we say here so that we do not digress into hateful political discussions. Certainly the Bible does not say that ALL soldiers are good or that ALL wars are righteous. Only that there are indeed SOME and that we CAN know good from evil. As evidence of this, the soldiers in the New Testament, as with those in the old, are a mixed bag. Not ALL are good and Godly. Of the twelve sent out to reconnoiter the holy land in the Old Testament, only two (Joshua and Caleb) are found to be Godly men. But these stories reveal that there are indeed SOME and that God uses such men to fulfill His purposes in war in order to establish His justice for His own glory. Likewise in the New Testament there is still a mixed bag when it comes to soldiers. On the one hand, you have the soldiers gambling and casting lots for Christ's clothing while mocking him. On the other hand, you have the image of the soldier standing at the foot of the cross after Christ's death saying "Surely this was the son of God" revealing that he has become a believer. You also have the seeking soldiers inquiring of John the Baptist what they should do to be saved. He responds that they should do violence to no man and be content with their wages. (Luke 3:14) In other words, once again, do NOT act out of vengeance but out of God's justice and do not carry out your craft greedily seeking money as mercenaries do. But John the Baptist rightly includes them in the promise of salvation just like the publicans and all the others mentioned in Luke chapter three. In fact, the ONLY craft I am aware of that is not accepted into the kingdom of heaven is harlotry, because adultery and fornication are sins against the body, which is Christ's holy temple. But that does NOT mean that harlots themselves can not be forgiven. On the contrary both the Old Testament and the New reveal otherwise as with the case of Rahab in the Old Testament who precedes in the line of Christ and with Mary Magdalene in the New Testament who becomes one of Christ's most powerful witnesses and stays with him at the cross while his disciples left him. Yet virtually every other craft--including soldiering--is accepted into the kingdom of heaven. We ALL have a place in the body of Christ.
As evidence of this, we can observe Christ's own interactions with the faithful soldier in Matthew Chapter 8:1-13, which Christ himself says is the MOST FAITHFUL person he has witnessed. Even more faithful than the Old Testament profits. Why is he counted so faithful? Because he is SUBMITTED to Godly authority and therefore acts out of perfect obedience and faith. Does Christ admonish this soldier to give up his craft in order to be saved? On the contrary, this is EXACTLY the kind of person Jesus WANTS serving in civil authorities and protecting His precious children from murderers and tyrants. According to this chapter, we will see this very soldier seated with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob next to God himself when the kingdom of heaven comes. He is even more faithful than the men of faith of old. (for Justice submits to God; consistent with St. Augustine--"City of God.")
So while the coming of Christ and the expansion of love to EVERY nation and tongue including those normally considered outside of God's testimony in the New Testament certainly narrows the gate in which we can act in war, it does not shut the gate completely. God's justice is still in play in the New Testament just as it was in the Old. The criteria is still the same because God is not a liar. That criteria remains that we act justly rather than out of vengeance. Romans 12:19 admonishes us to never give way to wrath because vengeance belongs to the Lord. But does this shut the door on opposing evil altogether? No, because the verse just before that, Romans 12:18, tells us that if it be possible, live peaceable with all men--rightly indicating that there will be times when even we as Christians will NOT be able to live peaceably with all men. From this, we can see that blanket statements of unconditional pacifism--particularly since the 1960's--simply are NOT scriptural; neither from the Old or New testament. In fact, they are CONTRARY to scripture, both Old and New Testament. Are there times when we turn the other cheek? Yes of course. Whenever possible we should do so. Yet are there also times when we should take up arms against evil in order to uphold God's just laws? Yes of course. For everything there is a season--including killing and war (Ecclesiastes 3:1-10). What is the criteria? That we are acting according to the law of scripture and rightly re-establishing God's justice as we rightly seek to overthrow tyrants who bind God's children in slavery under the shackles and chains of murder, rape, torture and tyranny. We NEVER surrender to evil. To do so, would indeed be evil as it would be a gross misunderstanding of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. Jesus did NOT surrender to evil. On the contrary, by being obedient to BOTH God's law AND civil authorities, Christ's perfect sacrifice effectively swallowed up evil. In this way, Christ's sacrifice was a pre-emptive strike against Satan. When Christ overcame evil with good, Satan already lost the war, he is just to proud and rebellious to admit it. From the moment of Christ's crucifixion forward, Christians have been free in Christ to ever oppose evil. In fact, we are called to do so and SHOULD do so on every front.
This is how anti-abortion activists are justified in disobeying civil authorities--because while God DOES ordain civil law and authority, we are allowed to rebel when the laws of that civil authority conflict with God's own law. God's law ALWAYS supercedes civil authority as with Daniel in the Lion's den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo and others. The same is true in the New Testament and today. Yes, God-fearing Christians will have to submit to civil authority if they are arrested, just as Christ submitted to Pontius Pilate. But they will be justified in their actions by their strict obedience to God's just laws. Further, their persecution for obeying God's law as they rightly oppose evil is GLORIFYING to God, as God ALWAYS sides with the innocent. Hence it is right and good to defend the unborn. This is how Dr. Martin Luther King rightly led legions of God fearing Christians to practice formal civil disobedience in the face of their unjust white oppressors. Hence it is right to fight for the freedom of ALL people from every nation and tongue. God desires ALL of his children to be free--black, white, Muslim, Christian or otherwise. This is a tautology. True of the very nature of God and love. God desires ALL of his children to be free, because free will is the image of God we are created in. Since God is perfect love, he created us to be free to choose him--or not. Hence ALL forms of tyranny contradict the very nature of a just and loving God. Hence Christians SHOULD take up arms against murderers and tyrannical governments. That is why these civil authority positions remain rightly ordained by God in the New Testament (Romans 13) just as they were in the Old (Numbers 35). Not only should we establish police and militaries under civil authority to go after these murderers, but according to scripture, it is our MORAL OBLIGATION to oppose murderers. It is glorifying to God to oppose evil; even in the face of great persecution and possible death for doing so. This is exactly what Christians are called to do.
This is how the United States was justified in entering into World War II. Germany never attacked the United States. Japan did. But seeing the connection to justice and freeing God's chosen people from the Nazi regime, the United States rightly acted against Hitler's armies. This, in contradistinction to the majority of Germans and French who had adopted an unscriptural philosophical position of blanket pacifism and wrongly surrendered their weapons and themselves to the minority Nazi socialist party--thereby not only effectively surrendering to evil, but also in fact, joining the wrong side because they were afraid to oppose evil as the scripture rightly calls Christians to do for one another. The United States made a different decision because Christians here--all the way back to the American revolution--had a different understanding of the gospel. One that accepts the WHOLE truth of God's law, not just part of it. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for another." (John 15:13) So we rightly joined the war. And none too soon either as over SIX MILLION of God's chosen people were wrongly wiped off the face of the earth by a ruthless white supremacist tyrant pushing the Nazi socialist party and the Arian nation to take over the world. Part of the responsibility for this tragedy against God lies also with the Jews who clung to only part of the law--the part that says "thou shalt not kill." Hence, they walked like lambs to the slaughter into Hitler's gas chambers and concentration camps with almost no resistance. As Christians, we knew better. We knew that we were free in Christ to ALWAYS resist evil for the sake of God's justice. This is how Christians were justified in going to war over the issue of slavery during the civil war. Because God ALWAYS sides with the innocent and desires ALL of his children to be free. Free to choose Him--or not. This Christian principal is fundamental to our founding as a nation. This is how our founding fathers were justified in rebelling against the British empire during the American revolution. ALL 13 colonies were various communities of Christians. ALL saw the right Biblical connection between freewill and authentic Christianity.
We have not always remembered this important truth. Forgetting this fundamental truth is how Christians FAILED to oppose Communism in Vietnam as secular pacifists and Communists passing themselves off as Christians here in the United States, levied only part of the gospel--the "thou shalt not kill" part--in order to sway Americans to oppose the Vietnam war. It worked. The U.S. pulled out of Vietnam and the Communists rolled in slaughtering FOUR MILLION of God's Asian children in the wake of our departure. These people are no longer free to choose God--or not. Those who were not murdered, now live under the Godless system of Communism. I am afraid we may make the same mistake again today as we fall ever farther from God into ever deepening sinfulness and lawlessness. And we are still preaching the same lies of "make love, not war." This modern touchy-feely notion of love misuses the word as a description of feelings and emotions rather than the scriptural use as a concious ACT of the will to DO THE RIGHT THING for one another. With this misunderstanding of love, we spiral into ever deepening sexual and relational immorality as Godly love is reduced to nothing more than feelings and emotions. This is NOT love. It is lust, which is really only hate disguised as love. As people fall farther away from Godly love, divorces will continue to rise as they have since the 1960's. All forms of sexual deviancy will continue to manifest. Children out of wedlock will continue to rise. Abortions and the slaughter of the innocent will continue to rise. All over the world, tyrants will ever continue to gain power and enslave the innocent as deceived Christians will fail to take up arms against them and rightly oppose evil. On the contrary, in our selfishness, we will remain at home in the comfort of our own precious freedom selfishly pursuing our own private self-willed interest rather than remaining submitted to God and loving our neighbor as ourselves in TRUE Christian love.
This is only a brief synopsis of the VAST topic of soldiering and warfare in the Bible. There is MUCH more. Again, I just do not know how anyone could read the Bible and not see it. The scripture, both Old and New Testaments, is simply PERMEATED with the subject. And both Old and New testaments are CONSISTENT on the subject. Is war ALWAYS right? No. But there are times when it is indeed our moral obligation to engage in warfare. Are ALL soldiers just and holy? Certainly not. But SOME are. The craft of soldiering IS accepted in the body of Christ. That means that Christian soldiers WILL in fact, be called to war for the protection and preservation of the body of Christ, for the furthering of God's kingdom to nations who do not know Him, and for the re-establishment of God's justice in the wake of tyranny.
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