Throughout history many Christians have believed that the use of violence contradicts the heart of the Christian Gospel and so have rejected any use of violence or participation in war. How have they come to this conclusion? What is the biblical basis for this position? In this short survey we will work with some of these reasons, which can be the beginning for further study and reflection.
The New Testament never sanctions the use of violence by Christians. Rather, it quite clearly forbids it. There are many proof texts we could use like turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, returning to no one evil for evil. In fact, we could assemble quite an impressive list. Rather than proof texting, however, we will do better to examine the meaning of the Christian message itself and see the deeper theology behind these texts.
As Christians, we begin with our commitment to Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and master. Our loyalty and allegiance is to him. We desire to follow him regardless of what the consequences may be. Our actions are judged in light of his total life, teachings, death, and resurrection. A short survey of the mission of Jesus will show that his purpose was to save life, not destroy it. He came to bring redemption, reconciliation, and life. His whole mission and teachings are to be seen in this light. Here is the basis of a Christ-centered pacifism.
Jesus Christ is the highest revelation of what God's will is for all people. Rather than an irrelevant rural rabbi, Jesus is our norm and example.
The lordship of Christ extends over all of life. There can be no separation of personal from social ethics. Whether we are discussing sexuality, personal attitudes, politics, or war, our position is found in relation to the same Lord. We cannot have one standard in our personal ethics and another for our social ethics.
We seek to follow Jesus in every area of life. Discipleship involves a total lifestyle. The questions of violence and war are therefore serious matters of discipleship. In fact, one of the keys to the whole problem of Christian faithfulness is the renunciation of violence and war.
Discipleship is not to be seen as a work of righteousness, but as a fruit of the new birth. "If anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world. The old order has gone, and a new order has already begun" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Because we have been transformed by the power of God, we have been raised to a new life. We can no longer live as we formerly lived. A real change takes place in our lives. Rather than serving the kingdoms of this world we now begin to live in the new kingdom, which is coming and has already begun to become real in our own lives. We no longer live by the standards of the old age which is passing away, but by the new age which is coming. In light of that we have already beaten our swords into plowshares and seek reconciliation with our adversaries. We are not creating that new age, but our lives are being shaped by it. God's shalom is becoming a reality in our midst.
Biblical pacifism takes sin seriously. It has no illusion that if we are nice to everybody, everybody will be nice to us. Evil is real and must be dealt with head-on.
It is important not to confuse biblical pacifism with passivity or stoicism. The Bible does not tell us to grit our teeth and bear it, but rather to fight back, to even heap coals of fire on another's head. The true church is a militant church. We are in a war with the structures and powers of evil. We do not fight with carnal weapons, however.
We are most tempted to reject the Christian faith at the point where we are faced with evil. We then forget that God's ultimate way of overcoming evil is the cross. Isaiah 53 foretold the way. Suffering, redemptive love is the way to deal with evil. The way of the cross does not first of all seek effectiveness, but to be faithful even if that means death. We are willing to die for the kingdom, but not kill for it. We do not meet evil on its own terms, but on God's terms.
A biblically based pacifism does not mean a rejection of the Old Testament, but rather sees the Old Testament as fulfilled in the New Testament and to be interpreted in the light of Jesus Christ. This is true even for the bloody holy wars in Joshua and Judges; recent biblical scholarship has pointed out that the main point in these stories is that the victory is always God’s, not the result of superior firepower. In fact, the Old Testament clearly condemns trusting in military might. There is no biblical support for seeking military superiority or even preparedness. The point of the many wars was that we can trust God completely for the victory.
As Christians we are still engaged in holy war, but in the New Testament we are given quite explicit teaching on how to conduct the war against evil! It certainly does not include violence or carnal weapons. When we use violence against evil we seriously misunderstand the nature of evil. To believe that sin can be conquered by physical force is a naive optimism, not realism. That is the real utopianism. We need to be more skeptical about righteous causes which justify violence and seldom move beyond the TV western understanding of morality, the good guys against the bad guys. The use of violence assumes that I am good and the other is evil. We are all sinners and we will not destroy evil by force. We struggle against a monster that will not be destroyed by human hands. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).
The forces of death dominate our world. But we cannot defeat the forces of death. They have already been defeated. Christ did that on the cross. How foolish it would be for us to try to repeat God's victory on the cross! The powers we struggle against have already been defeated in the resurrection, and we are called to live in the light of that resurrection and victory.
If Jesus Christ controls history, and not us, then we approach the problem of violence from a completely different viewpoint. Christians should accept nonviolence not because it works, but because we understand the victory of Christ over the powers of death and violence. We are not called to make history come out right, but serve the God who will make history come out right. A Christian pacifist position is rooted in the resurrection, not in any belief in the goodness of human nature. We need not act desperately if we believe in the sovereignty of God. The way of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe in the resurrection, but we see it as the way of salvation. God can turn defeat into his victory.
It is significant that the only point that we are commanded in the New Testament to imitate Jesus is to take up the cross. On the cross God took the suffering and sin of the world upon himself and overcame that sin through suffering love. God gave of himself so that sin could be overcome. Biblical pacifism is based at the heart of the New Testament doctrine of the atonement. On the cross Jesus expressed the love and forgiveness of God for his accusers, even as they hammered the nails into his flesh. Here is our example.
For this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:21-24).
Christ's victory and power are in his weakness, in his emptying himself of all power, in his self-sacrifice and suffering love. Violence and coercion only harden the evil-doer's heart. Only the love of the cross can overcome evil.
The way of the cross is unconditional and undiscriminating love. We love not only the loveable, the reliable, the honest. We do not prefer our neighbor's life over the life of the foreigner, the life of the innocent over the life of the guilty. Even as Christ loved us and gave his life for us, so we give our lives for others. It is significant to recognize that the context for the command to be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48) is Jesus' teaching regarding love for our enemies. How can I communicate this love of God to someone if I consider that person my enemy and violently resist that person?
Christians are not called to use force against God's enemies to force them to do God's will. Vengeance is God's, not ours to repay. We cannot use force to get rid of sin. God gives us the freedom to rebel against him. We must let the world be the world even as God allowed his son to be killed. Christians do not have a better cause for which to manipulate people, but a cause which prevents us from using or exploiting anyone. The question of violence is directly tied to the task of evangelism. Since we cannot proclaim the Gospel to people by killing them, violence and war cannot be participated in by Christians. We can relate to "enemies" only in such a way that God's love is proclaimed to them.
At stake also is the nature of the church, which may not be divided by any human boundaries. There cannot be any institution, nation, or value more important for us to preserve than faithful obedience to Jesus Christ and his church. Never can this be suspended for some other obligation.
In modern war almost always there are "Christians" on each side killing each other. For a Christian to kill other Christians on the basis of nationalist goals is a serious offense against the unity of the body of Christ. To put nationalist aims ahead of Christ's church is even more serious. For a Christian to drop a bomb on another Christian is to do violence against Christ's body.
We are not to be rebellious against civil government, but as Christians we make it clear that our loyalty is to another kingdom. We put that loyalty ahead of any loyalty to the kingdoms of this world. If any conflict develops between the two, our decision is clear.
We give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but since our lives belong not to Caesar but to God, we do not render our bodies to Caesar. We do not owe two years of our lives to our country, at least not in any way that would compromise our undivided allegiance to Christ's kingdom. We render only to God what belongs to God.
A persistent argument against pacifism is "being responsible." But should we accept any responsibility before we examine it? "Being responsible" often becomes self-justifying and idolatrous. By what norm do we judge responsibility? Biblical pacifists believe that our responsibility is not to the old order that is passing away, but to the new order that is coming, the
It is important to keep in mind that Christian ethics are for Christians. We cannot expect unregenerate people to live by the standard of the Gospel, but we can expect born-again Christians to do so. Although we wish that all would follow Jesus' teachings and actually call everyone to do so, it is those who respond to Christ's kingdom who are given the new life in Christ.
Christian ethics are not based on what is workable for all of society, but on what God reveals to us in Christ. We do not ask if the whole world will accept an idea before we will be ready to accept it. Christian ethics demands behavior which is impossible, except by the power of God working within us.
To reject the use of violence, even in the face of severe suffering, is not unrealistic, as testified to by the nonviolent martyrs. God gives us the strength to obey his word. Just as the New Testament view of sex and marriage is not only an ideal, so the New Testament teachings concerning our relationship to violence and "enemies" are not impossible ideals. They are concrete expressions of the new life in Christ.
If we see the church as a prophetic minority rather than the upholder of the "Christian" state, the ethic of nonresistance which the early church taught again becomes an option.
Art Gish, a much-traveled speaker and itinerate preacher, was a Post American contributing editor when this article appeared.
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