The Problem Of War

Herman Bavinck (Translated from Dutch by Rev. Steven Voorwinde)
Trowel & Sword. Oct 1975

Preamble: It has often been said that there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. There is a third certainty that few would argue against – WAR.
God’s intervention at Babel to create division among the people of that time by confusing their language, created an environment where people were no longer united, capable of achieving anything their hearts desired (Gen. 11:6). Instead it led to the formation of separate groups, states and eventually nations constantly at war with each other; a state of affairs that has continued to this day. The question is: How do we as Christians respond to this constant warring between nations. This then is the question that Herman Bavinck sets out to answer. The article begins with a word of explanation by Rev. Voorwinde and is divided into two parts, beginning this week and concluding next week.

The Problem Of War

This article was first written by Herman Bavinck, Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam, in November 1914. Much of the material deals with political problems peculiar to the time of writing and has therefore been omitted here. However, Bavinck’s survey of the Bible’s attitude to the problem of war still merits the consideration of Christians today. After briefly mentioning the Pacifist argument that Christianity and war are directly opposed to one another, he reminds his readers of accusations levelled against church and clergy for their inability to prevent the war. Then he continues:

It is therefore surely worth the effort to try and answer the following questions:
What attitude is Christian ethics going to adopt towards war?
Does war have a place in the Christian world-and-life view?
Or must war at all times and in all places be condemned and opposed as a crime?
Does war make any ‘sense’, or is it never anything but gruesome injustice, brute force
and a work of the devil?

 In this investigation the Old Testament need not detain us for very long. For no one can deny that in it war is again and again referred to as a divine right. Throughout the centuries, from the time of the Exodus in the fifteenth or fourteenth century B.C. up until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Israel was involved in strife with the surrounding nations. This strife was looked upon religiously and ethically as a war waged by the God of Israel against heathen gods.

Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (1 Sam. 17:45), a warrior (Ex. 15:3), mighty in battle (Ps.24:8), who goes to war with His people (Judges 4:14), equips the judges by his Spirit (Judges 3:10), teaches David the art of war, girds his loins with strength and delivers his enemies to him for destruction (I Sam. 22:35f). Just as he sometimes ordains the defeat of His people for their chastisement and humiliation, so He also grants victory in battle by divine aid. In many a psalm or hymn, therefore, such help is invoked, or gratitude is expressed for victory (Ex. 15; Judges 5; I Sam. 22; Psalms 3,27,46,68, etc.). This is not only the people’s view of war, but also that of the prophets. Abraham took part in the battle against the despots of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 14). Moses and Joshua, the judges and the kings led Israel in battle against her enemies in and around Canaan. Deborah stirred up her countrymen for battle against Sisera, the Canaanite general (Judges 4:6,14). Samuel mustered the children of Israel against the Philistines (I Sam. 7:5f). An unnamed prophet encouraged Ahab to wage war against Behadad of Syria (I Kings 20:13f).

From Amos onwards the later prophets repeatedly proclaim that the great and terrible Day of the Lord shall be preceded by awful wars (Amos 5-7; Isaiah 13:6-18; Joel 3:9-17 etc.). But after that the kingdom of peace shall come – to Israel and to all the nations of the earth. Then they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Peace shall be so rich and abundant that even the animal world and nature will participate in it. The wolf shall lie down with the lamb and the lion shall eat straw like an ox (Is. 2:1-4; 9:2-7; 11:6-9; etc.).

All such peace shall accrue from the Messiah, who is the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:5; Mich. 5:5; Zach. 6:13), and to whose kingdom of justice and peace there shall be no end. (Ps. 72:17; Is. 9:6).

Now ancient Israel lived in circumstances completely different from those of the Christian community in the days of the New Testament. Hence its history cannot simply be our directing principle or example. Nevertheless, the Old Testament propagates the view that war is not of itself unjust and unlawful in every case. Moreover, in God’s hands it can serve as a means toward higher goals, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, war is temporary and at the coming of the Messiah shall immediately make way for the kingdom of eternal peace.

Now it is at this point that the New Testament picks up the thread. For it is the Messiah, who by this time has appeared in the person of Jesus, who brings peace on earth (Luke 2:14), guides our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79), and establishes a kingdom which consists of righteousness, peace and joy (Luke 19:38; Rom. 14:17). This peace is, of course, primarily religious in nature. Objectively it is the relationship of peace which Christ has established between God and man (Eph. 2:17). Subjectively it reveals itself in the blessed knowledge that we are reconciled to God and that no guilt will ever remove us from fellowship with Him (Rom.5:1). This peace is bestowed on the community by the Father, who is the God of peace (Rom. 1:7; 15:33). It forms the content of the Gospel which is called the Gospel of peace (Acts 10:36); Eph. 6:15), and even now believers enjoy peace as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22). However, this religious peace also has ethical results. For by his sacrifice Christ not only brought reconciliation and peace between God and man, but also between the various nations and peoples (Eph. 2:14f), so that there is no longer Greek or Jew, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, male or female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:28). Thus Jesus declares that not only the poor in spirit and pure in heart are blessed but also the peaceful or the peacemakers. He says that these shall be called sons of God (Matt. 5:9). In the Sermon on the Mount he exhorts his disciples not to be contentious, but to be kindly disposed to their opponents; not to resist him who is evil (Matt. 5:39); to love their enemies; to forgive until seventy times seven, etc. In the same spirit the apostles exhort us to pursue peace, and, as far as possible, to live at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18;  Heb. 12:14).

The New Testament ethical standard is so high that in practice it seems to be in no way applicable. These words of peace and the gruesome reality of war stand in such sharp contrast that reconciling them seems to be impossible. Christ commands us not to resist him who is evil and to love our enemy, but in war the very opposite is required: murder, burning, plunder, destruction and everything that contributes to the enemy’s ruin and downfall. The antinomy has been felt in the Christian church since ancient times and has led to varying attempts to solve the problem. Some have dismissed the world as the domain of Satan and have, either in isolation or in small groups, sought to apply the fundamentals of Jesus’ teaching. Others have reversed this and have rejected his teaching as thoroughly impractical and – at least in public life – have denied its value completely.

Still others have struck a compromise by distinguishing between higher and lower ethics, between counsels and commands, between clergy and laity.

(Bavinck then gives historical examples of movements and men who held to an uncompromising pacifism and of others who extolled the virtues of war. Of the former he names the Anabaptists, the Quakers and Tolstoi. Included in the latter group are men such as Hegel, Spencer and Bismarck.)

Neither of these sentiments, however, can be harmonised with Christianity. The champions of peace do indeed at all costs like to appeal to Jesus’ utterances in the Sermon on the Mount.

Yet by so doing they forget other truths which also find expression in the Gospel. The Sermon on the Mount is not to be equated with Christianity, and the problem of war is not so simple that it can be resolved by an appeal to a single text. It is much rather part of a wider issue which touches on the relationship of Christianity to natural life as a whole, to the entire sinful world and all it contains.

At this point it must immediately be said that although passive morality is in the foreground in the New Testament, an active and positive element is by no means lacking. The virtues which were then recommended to the Christian (vis. patience, long-suffering, forbearance, meekness, submissiveness) all played a large part. What else could be expected at a time when Jesus’ disciples were few in number, small by the world’s standards and without any influence on public life? But it is all the more striking that Christianity is devoid of all asceticism and from its very beginning took on a positive relationship to the world at large. This fact is principally found in the statement that God loved the world and that Christ came not to destroy the world but to save it. From this focal point lines are drawn in all directions to indicate the place Christians are to occupy and the attitudes they are to have in this sinful world. They must not withdraw from the world, but being in the world they are to keep themselves from the evil one. Nothing is unclean of itself. All God’s creation is good and nothing is to be rejected if it be accepted with thanksgiving. Marriage is honourable among all. The government is God’s servant and is entitled to obedience and respect. Whoever becomes a Christian is to remain in the calling to which he was called. The prayer of Jesus’ disciples is that God’s name be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. All this points, not to an avoidance, but to a sanctification of the world.

In this connection it is significant that the New Testament never disapproves the military profession as such. The soldiers who came to John the Baptist did receive an order not to take money by force, etc., but not an order to leave the service (Lk.3:14). Jesus expressed his amazement at the great faith of the centurion at Capernaum and healed his servant (Matt.8:5f). Later the centurion Cornelius and his whole household were baptised and admitted to the church (Acts 10). Without having any scruples about it, Jesus, in one of his parables, speaks about a king who before going to war sits down and considers whether he with ten thousand men is able to meet his opponent who has twenty thousand (Lk.14:31). Similarly Paul takes pleasure in using military imagery to describe the life of the Christian (Rom. 6:13; I Cor. 9:7; Eph. 6:10-18; I Tim: 2:3, etc.). Even more striking is the fact that Jesus explicitly forbids the use of the sword for his defence, as the weapons of believers’ warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God (Matt. 26:52; 2 Cor. 10:4). Yet he is just as definite in affirming that he has not come to bring peace on earth but a sword, that is, to cause discord between people, even between the members of one family (Matt. 10:34,35). Therefore, when the disciples are presently to go out into the world to preach the Gospel, they are to expect persecution and hate from the world. Then they will not only need a purse and a bag but also a sword, i.e., they must be completely ready to engage in spiritual warfare against the world (Lk. 22:36).

To be continued.

We look forward to receiving feedback about any of our posts. We also encourage you to share our posts with family, friends and acquaintances; in fact anyone you think may appreciate and/or benefit from the knowledge and wisdom handed down to us from the past.   To view previous posts visit our website at www.tsrevisited.com