CAN WAR BE GOD’S WILL? (ROMANS 13:1-7)
MEMORIAL DAY, GCEFC: 5/30/10
a. Is it right and biblical for Christians to be involved in wars—directly or indirectly?
b. If the Bible commands us not to kill—how can we justify wars that kill?
c. If Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek—why don’t we?
d. If the Bible says: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord, why don’t we let the Lord avenge, as he says he will?
e. How can followers of Christ justify being involved in something that leads to such loss and devastation?
8. Though it’s been nearly 9 years since the 9/11 attacks, I don’t suspect the questions have gone away. And no one suspects that wars will be going away any time soon either.
9. These are questions that we as believers must ask and answer. If not, then our faith is not grounded in the real issues of life.
10. So on this Memorial Day weekend, I want to explore some questions about war. The Bible provides principles that will help us sort out how we should think about war that’s consistent with God’s purposes.
11. You may recognize some of the things I said back in 2002 on this subject. It would be very encouraging if you did—it would mean some things stuck.
12. But even if all of it sounds new, that’s fine too. It just means that you either weren’t here on that Sunday, or you can use the review.
1. To begin our understanding of this issue, we turn to ROM 13. Here are some principles of the role of human government in our society, and how it relates to the Christian.
2. ROM 13 provides the guidelines for how Christians are to live in a civilized society. The upshot of these verses is this: Christians are obligated under God to submit to the civil authority God has established.
3. Even though Christians are ultimately citizens of heaven, we’re also for now citizens of a country, and God expects us to acknowledge the authority he grants to the state.
4. If you’ll follow through the first 7 verses of ROM 13, I’ll point out the highlights.
a. V1: Submission to governing authorities is required of believers. Government is an authority established by God.
b. V2: Rebellion against the state is rebellion against God.
c. V3: Government should be feared by those who do wrong. Government should not be feared by those who do right.
d. V4: God has granted government the right to take human life when it involves:
(1) Keeping civil order and protecting innocent human life.
(2) Capital punishment for capital crimes.
(3) Waging war against other nations.
e. V5: Christian citizens should submit to the government for 2 reasons:
(1) To avoid punishment for not submitting.
(2) Because it’s right.
f. V6-7: Government is worthy of our support.
(1) We pay taxes to support government comprised of those who give full time to it.
(2) Honor and respect should be granted to the government appropriately.
1. There are 3 positions the Christian can take when it comes to war. There are Christians in all 3. Though I believe 1 position has more consistent biblical support than the other 2.
2. Some
believe it’s always right to participate in war if the government
commands it. Because God has ordained human government, and because we’re
commanded to submit to government—when the government requires us to go to
war—we’re obligated as citizens to submit to that order. This view is called ACTIVISM.
3. Is
there any biblical support for such a position? There is. We’ve already
considered ROM 13:1: Everyone
must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority
except that which God has established.
4. 1 PET 2:13 concurs: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
5. In GEN 9:6 God commands Noah: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. Here God gives the sword to the state, granting it the right to take human life when appropriate.
6. The ACTIVIST position is simple: God commanded us to obey human government. That government is commanding me to go to war. And though I’m opposed to taking human life, I submit to the government and obey it because God commanded me to do so.
7. This sounds consistent with the biblical text, but there’s a problem. Though we’re commanded to submit to the government—it’s not submission in an absolute sense.
a. For example, in EXO 1, the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah were commanded by the Egyptian government to murder all male Hebrew babies as soon as they were born, so a deliverer could not grow up to lead a rebellion.
b. They disobeyed that order. And we’re told that God honored and rewarded their disobedience—because the midwives feared God.
c. So isn’t this inconsistent? No—it’s not. We’re only commanded to submit to the government when government submits itself to God.
d. When we’re forced to choose our allegiance—human government or God—we must choose submission to God. Daniel refused to obey the Babylonian government when it ordered that no citizen should pray to any god or man but the king.
e. Daniel could not obey such an order because it was superceded by God’s law. He was thrown into the lion’s den because of his disobedience.
f. When Peter and John were commanded by the Jewish Sanhedrin to cease their preaching in the name of Jesus, they refused to obey. They said: Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.
g. As a rule we’re to obey the government and submit to its authority. But only when by doing so we don’t fail to submit to God’s authority—an even higher authority.
1. You
can probably guess there’s the opposite viewpoint the Christian can take when
it comes to war—that waging war is never right. This is known as PACIFISM.
2. The pacifist recognizes that government has an important place in society—but it’s a distant second to God’s place. God has established that taking human life is forbidden.
3. The Ten Commandments forbid killing: Thou shalt not kill. Jesus commanded us to turn the other cheek. In the Sermon on the Mount, we’re told not to resist evil, and to pray for our enemies. Christians are not to retaliate—vengeance is God’s business.
4. And again—Daniel, the Hebrew midwives, Daniel’s friends, Peter and John, are a good example of this truth. The pacifist says we’re not obligated to obey the government—we’re obligated to obey God!
5. We’re to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s—but human lives don’t belong to Caesar—they belong to God. And God has commanded that we not take human lives.
6. Government may be sovereign over us, but God is sovereign over government. So we must obey God rather than man.
7. For this reason, a pacifist believes all wars are ungodly and sinful. That no follower of Christ should ever fight in a war—or support a war in any way.
8. So how biblical is pacifism?
a. First of all, when Jesus commanded believers to: turn the other cheek, he wasn’t talking about warfare, self-defense, or the protection of human life. He was talking about personal retaliation for personal insults.
b. Remember what Jesus said you should do if your eye causes you to sin? Pluck it out! And if your hand causes you to sin? Cut it off! Does that sound harsh?
c. We know Jesus didn’t mean we’re to literally pluck out our eyes or cut off our hands. If so—none of us would have any eyes or hands left by now.
d. His figure of speech illustrates that we must deal with what leads us to sin, and deal with it ruthlessly.
e. Jesus was saying we don’t need to get back at someone just because they got at us. We can rise above it and not retaliate. We can let God handle it.
f. When Jesus was on trial before the high priest in JN 18, he was struck on the face himself. He didn’t turn his other cheek. Nor did he retaliate. That’s what it means.
g. Pacifists also claim that killing is forbidden by the Bible—but that’s not true. The word for kill in the Ten Commandments means murder.
h. In fact, a few chapters later, the law of God teaches that if someone breaks into your home and they’re killed while defending yourself—you’ve committed no crime.
i. The Bible doesn’t forbid the taking of human life. It forbids the murder of human beings. There’s a huge difference.
j. Pacifists also claim that taking human life can never be a loving thing to do. But this is not true either. If someone broke into your home in the middle of the night, and they’re about to murder your family—would it be loving of you to let them do it?
k. Or would it be more loving to defend innocent life—even if it meant taking the life of the lawbreaker? JAMES tells us: To know the right thing to do and not do it is sin!
l. The Bible teaches that one of the duties of godly people is to defend the rights of the defenseless. To defend justice and righteousness.
m. We honor our war dead because they died defending innocent human lives. That’s not a bad thing—it’s a good thing.
n. One of the ironies of pacifism is that pacifists are able to be pacifists because people died to secure that right and freedom for them! Without men/women fighting and dying in wars—the pacifist wouldn’t have the freedom to be a pacifist!
1. So we see there are problems with both the ACTIVIST and the PACIFIST viewpoint on war. The Bible says there’s a time for war and there’s a time for peace—and there is.
2. This brings us to the third view, known as SELECTIVISM. Activism says it’s always right to kill in war if your government commands it. Pacifism says it’s never right to kill in war—even if your government commands it.
3. The Bible teaches they’re both wrong. If there’s a time when you should disobey the government’s command to fight. And there’s a time when fighting is actually a legitimate option—there’s only one view left.
4. The view that some wars are right and should be fought—while some wars are wrong and should not be fought.
5. If a war is fought for the right reasons, it can actually be an expression of God’s purpose. But the war must meet certain criteria, based upon larger biblical principles.
a. The war must be just. The war must be defensive and not aggressive. It must be to secure justice, or remedy injustice, or protect the innocent, or secure human rights. It must not be for revenge, or to acquire property/wealth, or to oppress a people.
b. Second, the war must be declared by a nation—by an ordained government—not by vigilantes. The sword belongs to the government—not to individuals.
c. Third, the war must be a last resort. War should be fought only when peaceful negotiations have failed. War is not the first solution—it must be the last resort.
d. Fourth, there must be a realistic expectation that the war can be won. If not, then it’s simply mass suicide. War is to save innocent lives—not cause innocent deaths.
e. Fifth, the war must be waged justly. Some things are too atrocious even for war. Even wars must be fought justly. That’s why we have the Geneva Convention, and the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. That’s why the Nuremberg Trials were held.
f. The most insidious aspect of the war on terrorism is that terrorism is an attack on non-military targets. Wars are to be fought between armies—not between civilians. And even prisoners of war have certain rights that should be honored.
1. The pacifist and activist positions are too easy. Governments are not always right—nor are they always wrong.
2. Although God is sovereign, he’s granted a measure of sovereignty to human government. As long as government recognizes its proper role, that it stands as an agent of God—not in place of God—then we’re required to submit to its authority.
3. Some wars are just and should be fought. Some wars are unjust and should be opposed. It’s simplistic to think all wars are good, or that all wars are evil.
4. May God help our country and other nations to recognize that wars should only be fought to secure the rights of the oppressed, to protect innocent lives, or for national defense.
5. When this is the case, we haven’t violated God’s will. But because war is so destructive—we must be very certain before we wage war.
6. Death is an ugly part of life. Yet death has an important place in God’s plan. God himself has used death to accomplish his purposes.
7. When human beings first sinned—death was the curse God chose. When the state of man became sin continually—the Great Flood brought death on an unprecedented scale.
8. God instituted the sacrificial death of animals as a picture of redemption and to show the depth of human sin. And God said that death was not only an acceptable, but an appropriate punishment for one who took the life of another.
9. And though we shrink back from the reality that our redemption required the death of God’s Son—it was his death that brought us life.
10. In fact, it is Jesus’ death that we come to the Lord’s Table to remember and to celebrate.