SPECIAL TOPIC: PEACE AND WAR

I. Introduction

A. The Bible, our sole source for faith and practice, has no
definitive passage on peace (see Special Topic: Peace [OT] and Special Topic:
Peace [NT]). In fact, it is paradoxical in its presentation. The
OT may be alluded to as an approach to peace which is the absence of war. The NT,
however, puts the conflict into internal spiritual terms of light and darkness
(i.e., Eph. 2:2; 6:10-17).

B. Biblical faith, as well as world religions of the past and present,
sought and still expect, a golden age of prosperity which is absent from
conflict.

1. Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:6-9; 32:15-18; 51:3; Hosea 2:18; Micah 4:3

2. Biblical faith prophesies the personal agency of the
Messiah, Isa. 9:6-7

C. However, how do we live in the present world of conflict? There have been
several Christian responses which have developed chronologically between the
death of the Apostles and the Middle Ages.

1. Pacifism – although rare in antiquity, was the early
church’s response to the Roman military society.

2. Just War – after the conversion of Constantine (a.d. 313)
the church began to rationalize the military support of a “Christian state” in
response to successive Barbarian invasions. This was basically the classical
Greek position. This position was first articulated by Ambrose and expanded and
developed by Augustine.

3. Crusade – this is similar to the Holy War concept of the OT. It developed in the Middle Ages in response to the Muslim advances in the “Holy
Land” and ancient Christian territories such as North Africa, Asia Minor, and
the Eastern Roman Empire. It was not on behalf of the state, but on behalf of
the Church and under its auspices.

4. All three of these views developed in a Christian context
with differing views on how Christians should relate to a fallen world system.
Each emphasized certain Bible texts to the
exclusion of others. Pacifism tended to separate itself from the world. The
“Just War” response has advocated the power of the state to control
an evil world (Martin Luther). The
Crusade position has advocated that the Church attack the fallen world system so
as to control it.

5. Roland H. Bainton, in his book, Christian Attitudes Toward
War and Peace, published by Abingdon, page 15, says,”The Reformation precipitated wars of religion, in which the three historic
positions reappeared: the just war among the Lutherans and the Anglicans, the
crusade in the Reformed Churches, and pacifism among the Anabaptists and later
the Quakers. The eighteenth century in theory and in practice resuscitated the
humanist peace ideals of the Renaissance. The nineteenth century was an age of
comparative peace and great agitation for the elimination of war. The twentieth
century has seen two world wars. In this period again, the three historic
positions have recurred. The churches in the United States particularly took a
crusading attitude toward the First World War; pacifism was prevalent between
the two wars; the mood of the Second World War approximated that of the just
war.”

D. The exact definition of “peace” has been disputed.

1. For the Greeks it seems to refer to a society of
order and coherence.

2. For the Romans it was the absence of conflict
brought about through the power of the state.

3. For the Hebrews peace was a gift of YHWH based on
mankind’s proper response to Him. It was usually put in agricultural terms (cf.
Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-28). Not only prosperity, but divine security and protection are
included.

II. Biblical Material

A. Old Testament

1. Holy War is a basic concept of the OT. The phrase “kill
not” of Exod. 20:13 and Deut. 5:17 in Hebrew refers to premeditated murder (BDB
953; see Special Topic: Murder), not death by accident or passion or war. YHWH is even seen as a warrior on
behalf of His people (cf. Joshua, Judges and Isa. 59:17, alluded to in Eph.
6:14).

2. God uses war as a means of punishing His wayward
people – Assyria exiles Israel (a.d. 722 ); Neo-Babylon exiles Judah (586
b.c.).

3. It is shocking, in such a militaristic atmosphere, to read
of the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53, which can be classified as redemptive
pacifism.

B. New Testament

1. In the Gospels soldiers are mentioned without condemnation. The Roman “centurions” are mentioned often and almost always in a noble sense.

2. Even believing soldiers are not commanded to give up their
vocation (early church).

3. The New Testament does not advocate a detailed answer to
social evils in terms of political theory or action, but in spiritual
redemption. The focus is not on physical battles, but on the spiritual battle
between light and dark, goodness and evil, love and hate, God and Satan (Eph.
6:10-17).

4. Peace is an attitude of the heart amidst the problems of
the world. It is related solely to our relationship with Christ (Rom. 5:1; John
14:27), not the state. The peacemakers of Matt. 5:9 are not political, but
proclaimers of the gospel! Fellowship, not strife, should characterize the
Church life, both to itself and to a lost world.