Christians and weapons

13

1Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3For 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; 4for it is a servant 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 servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.

– Romans 13:1-7
(NASB® © 2020)

Those who advocate the participation of believers in war like to base their opinion on verses from Romans 13. Among other things, it says:

“Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. … But if you do wrong, be afraid, for they do not bear the sword in vain” (Rom. 13:2.4).

It is said that we must obey the authorities even when they call us to arms. The (possible) killing associated with this is not contrary to what we find in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. These passages deal with our personal behavior in everyday life. But when we serve in an army, we use the sword of the authorities, which God has not given them in vain.

The sword of the authorities

There is no doubt that death can be a “state” retaliatory measure: since Noah’s time, murderers are to be killed (Genesis 9:6).

But this is precisely where we get to the heart of the problem. The sword is explicitly directed against a murderer (whose guilt must, of course, be clearly proven). And that is not the case in war! The other soldiers cannot be regarded as murderers across the board, and the civilian casualties that always occur in modern warfare certainly cannot.

Let’s assume that a Christian is a police officer. He receives orders to go immediately to a pedestrian zone. There, he finds a gunman shooting people in rows. He fires at the mass murderer, and the latter collapses dead. Even though no one would want to be in such a situation, this would be a legitimate use of the “sword.” This is very different from a Christian having to fight against the supposedly “evil people” of another country.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that the authorities only have authority over the inhabitants of their own country. The sword should not be used across national borders, because it cannot be used to exact targeted retribution there.

The Christian and the military

John Nelson Darby once said, “It is clear to me that a Christian who is free in his actions could never be a soldier, unless his standards were very low and he was ignorant of the Christian position.”[1]

But suppose someone is forced into military service (perhaps under threat of death, as was the case with the Nazis). In that case, it is certainly a personal matter of conscience how strongly one emphasizes the negative side of war. But a Christian will certainly try, if at all possible, to stay out of active combat.

The true struggle of the Christian

A Christian is a pilgrim and a stranger on this earth (1 Pet. 2:11). His citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and his homeland is not to be found in this world (Heb. 11:14). Therefore, it cannot be his civic duty to defend his homeland with weapons. Why would anyone be so foolish as to risk their life for a country on this earth?[2] A Christian’s battle is not against flesh and blood, but against “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). He fights “the good fight of faith” (cf. 1 Tim. 6:12). Romans 13 tells us precisely what weapons we should take up: they are “the weapons of light” (Rom. 13:12).

Footnotes:

  1. J.N. Darby, Letters, vol. 2, no. 62, p. 110.
  2. Would it be conceivable, for example, that Paul and Peter would have entered into armed conflict with each other? Hardly. Peter had also heard the words of the Lord that whoever draws the sword will perish by the sword (Matthew 26:52).

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