Violence and war are major topics. I don’t pretend to treat them completely here. It’s imperative that Christians approach issues like war, capital punishment, domestic & self-defense with much prayerful thought & deliberation.
I’d like to begin with Jesus. “Love your enemies,” Jesus commands his followers. This is not an easy teaching. Is it one that we lay aside too often? Sure. But a lack of common obedience to this command does not diminish the seriousness of Jesus’ call. One familiar with the gospel will remember Luke 3:14, where Jesus speaks of a soldier being content with pay (no statement forbidding military service, cf. Augustine, sermon on the son of a Centurion).
Jesus was killed by the Roman government, an act of capital punishment. The Prince of Peace did not lead a violent life nor rally a radical revolution by the sword (tho’ certainly he did so by the Spirit!). Therefore, in order to support any form of violence, Jesus followers must be very careful in their rationale(cf. Aquinas, Summa Theologica, http://www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/SS/SS040.html).
The only argument which has persuaded me in favor of any violence (or war) is the theory of a “just” war (“Just” meaning right or just). If you like to chase rabbits, look up the English word “just” in the dictionary and count how many different ways we use – or abuse – that single word.
Just War Theory (JWT for the remainder of this article) states that the threat of innocent life (not property or other tangible concerns) must be the cause for which to wage war. I think of World War II as a just war.
Please know that I am not a veteran; I have never served in the military. I definitely respect the military. I am the proud son of a WWII Navy Vet. And I am painfully aware that I live – everyday – in a free country, a freedom that is never *free* but has been bought with a price, the lives of many who were brave enough to serve, fight and sacrifice.
Thanks be to God for the soldier.
Having said that, I return to the issue of violence as viewed from Jesus and the New Testament of the Bible
Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers”(Matt. 5). Indeed, Jesus practiced ultimate peacemaking in his own sacrificial suffering and death (a violent death, remember). So, nonviolent enemy-love is not a pie-in-the-sky ideal, but a reality Jesus lived in flesh and blood (and it cost him his blood)(Hays, 323).
Jesus did not choose to raise an army or to rule the world – a temptation he turned down when face-to-face with the devil (Luke 4:5).
Jesus also chose the cross over combat in the Garden the night before He gave up His life.
In the Old Testament, people claim tthat they see a violent God, commanding His armies to not only defeat enemies but to wipe out their communities (women & children). While this may seem horrific, Jesus teaches an ethic that surpasses the Old Testament laws.
“You’ve heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye…’…’love your neighbor and hate your enemy’… but I say to you, ‘love your enemies (Matt. 5:38-44).
Jesus’ teachings seem to undermine the Old Testament law’s * just * punishment for law-breakers. “An eye for an eye” was not cruel & unusual but a means of demonstrating equity in justice. “No more than an eye, if you lost an eye from someone else’s bad behavior.”
What Jesus does is not undermining but completely elevating (for both the law-breaker & the victim): “don’t retaliate with harm – as justified as it may be – but respond with love.”
Jesus himself says “I’ve come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17). What Jesus does is to raise the bar, heighten our moral standards.
- This is just a beginning… let me know your thoughts … more to come.
Worship Resources: R. Hays, “The Moral Vision of the New Testament” (above quote, 323).