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Is God a Pacifist? (Part 2) by Dr. Steven Ingino

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Is God a Pacifist? (Part 2) by Dr. Steven Ingino Is God a Pacifist? (Part 2) by Dr. Steven Ingino In the previous post, we asked a number of questions that raise tensions for the Christian. Does the example of Christ’s suffering and love mean that Christians should never use force or engage in war? Does Christ’s death on the Cross for our sins and our salvation mean that Christians are forbidden from taking human life, since Christ’s sacrifice proves His love for humanity? And how do we reconcile God commanding war and He Himself destroying people in war in the Old Testament with what we see in the life of Christ in the New Testament? How can Christians reconcile God the Warrior, as we saw in the Old Testament, with God the Suffering Servant and Sacrifice in the New Testament? How can the God who ordered Israel to wage war and who said in Ecclesiastes 3 “there is a time for war,” be the same God who tells us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek? Precedents Last time, we saw a case for just war from the Old Testament. And, there’s an interpretive principle which says that a biblical precedent stands until directly removed by later divine revelation, such as when Jesus annulled the kosher food laws in Mark 7. So, we could say that nothing I shared last time is obsolete, if we can prove that nothing in the New Testament repeals it. For that, we’re going to look at most of the key passages people use to try to justify pacifism or a weak view of interventionary force. Let’s begin with Jesus’ statement about turning the other cheek and loving our enemies, in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount It’s very important to remember two things about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. First, Jesus was not attacking the Old Testament, but the Pharisees’ legalistic interpretation of the Old Testament. Jesus not only explicitly said that He had not come to abolish the Law, but He frequently said, “You have heard,” to emphasize that He was refuting the Pharisee’s teachings on the Law (or their traditions), not “what was written” in Scripture. What they heard versus what was written was the key issue. Jesus just quoted portions of the Old Testament which the Pharisees misused in order to explain the correct interpretation versus their traditions and faulty oral law. Second, it is very important to remember that Jesus is addressing personal ethics. That’s it. Nothing more. The sermon says nothing about whether the state can protect citizens with armed forces or execute a mass murderer. The sermon says nothing about church discipline, as Jesus speaks about some chapters later in Matthew 18, that the church leadership can discipline those who persist in unrepentant sin and can expel or excommunicate them from the church. Jesus is not addressing the government, the church (in terms of polity and discipline), parental authority (as you’ll see), situations 1 involving crime, international relations, war, or the like. He’s only talking about personal righteousness, personal ethics, personal morality. As Dr. Robert Morey put it, God gave certain ethical and moral responsibilities to the state that He denies to individuals. In other words, it is erroneous to assume that all the rules which govern personal ethics should also govern the state [and vice versa]. (p. 7-8) Jesus did not intend for the Sermon on the Mount to be applied to the government or our Defense Department. Jesus is only speaking about personal relationships, and this same Jesus inspired Paul to write Romans, in which the apostle wrote that the state has the right to bear the sword (capital punishment), and to punish crime, which lines up with all that we saw in the Old Testament, like Genesis 9 and Exodus 21. Individual and State Since Jesus absolutely never addressed the role of the government in the Sermon on the Mount, and was only talking about personal discipleship, it is completely erroneous to take anything from the Sermon on the Mount, like loving our enemies, and use it as a basis for civic or judicial matters, or national political matters. There is no contradiction between the saint turning the other cheek and the state executing a murderer because one has to do with personal spirituality, the other has to do with government responsibility. We don’t say that because Romans 13 says that the government can levy taxes, that now the individual can do so – let’s all tax each other. So, why do we say that because Matthew 5 says to believers to love their enemies, that the state has to do so? We are talking about two totally different spheres. The Christian is called to show mercy and grace. The state is repeatedly called to punish criminals and exercise justice, not mercy - two totally different domains, functions, and responsibilities. Jesus said in Matthew 5:38: 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:38-39) Eye for an Eye What Jesus is critiquing here is not civil justice. He’s critiquing the Pharisees’ interpretation that what applied to the courts should apply to the individual. The court can enforce retributive justice, an eye for an eye. But we don’t have the right to take the law into our own hands and take an eye. In the Old Testament, the victim never took an eye for an eye. They went to court and the court decided and enforced the just penalty. When God was speaking about this law of 2 lex talionis, or the law of retaliation in Leviticus 24, it was ultimately intended for the judges, not private citizens. Lex talionis just means that the punishment must fit the crime and was designed to prevent revenge, escalation, and the rise of vigilantes. Jesus was not undoing what the Law said about civil justice; He was merely telling His followers that the Pharisees’ application of that in personal matters was wrong. Only the government can punish crime, so don’t take revenge. And this is exactly what Paul wrote in Romans 12. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. (Romans 12:17) Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19) Don’t seek revenge, that’s what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5. He’s not saying that the government should turn the other cheek and the court should sweep every criminal act under the rug. And, remembering that the break between Romans chapter 12 and 13 is an artificial one, inserted centuries later, Paul says in Romans 13:3 that we don’t seek personal revenge because justice should be administered through the workings of the civil government1: 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. (Romans 13:3-4) God has given the sword to the government to punish evil, promote good, and preserve peace and that is why peace-loving nations will have to consider what they must do to stop the evil injustices perpetrated by ISIS and other terrorist groups, and how to stop them from spreading around the world. Romans 12 says to the Christian - leave room for the wrath of God. Romans 13 says to the state – you’re a minister of God, bringing wrath on those who practice evil. When looking at how Romans 12 and 13 relate to each other, one writer states, “’Vigilante justice’ is outlawed in the economy of God, since personal insult and injury are part of the cost of discipleship. The believer, therefore, is exhorted not to take justice into his own hands. In the hands of the governing authorities, however, justice is required.” (Demy, 263) 1 Grudem, Politics, p. 190 3 Resist an Evil Person When Jesus said, “Do not resist an evil person,” this is for individuals, not the government, and not even the church, because in 1 Corinthians 5 and in Matthew 18 and in Titus 3 and in 2 Thessalonians 3, churches are called to confront those who persist in unrepentant sin and in some cases, to revoke their membership and fellowship at the church. When Jesus says not to resist, He’s saying don’t retaliate – that’s actually a better translation. In fact, the Good News Bible translates Matt. 5:39 as: “Do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you.” That is the sense of “not resisting.” Arthur Holmes writes, What then does nonresistance mean? In Jesus’ context, it refers not to government or churches but to individuals. It means that as an individual I do not take the law into my own hands. Instead of carrying out my own private scheme of retributive justice, I turn the cheek and go the second mile.
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