Start Working on the Doctrine of War

Why Churches need to develop a theology of war

President Trump delivered on his threats to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros. Within 48 hours, the President of the United States followed up on his warnings to Columbia and Cuba, should they not get their house properly in order. Denmark and the European Union are all of a sudden raising their voices and telling Donald Trump to cease his rhetoric toward. Greenland. All in the meantime, blood is being shed in many parts of the world, and the Chinese Communist Party once again conducted large scale military exercises around Taiwan.

I’m not here to address political issues or to summon my vast experience in foreign affairs and diplomacy. There are more than enough keyboard warriors to fill our minds with junk and conspiracy. I would like to propose a subject that churches should start thinking about carefully. It’s a topic I have written about before and I think it is even more important now. The topic is one that churches need to consider by exegeting the Bible well, and by doing deep biblical and historical theology. It’s not that churches control the public narrative, nor do we find ourselves at their vanguard of foreign policy making. However, what churches understand and what Christians teach and suggest matters more for our society than we probably realise.

The world isn’t changing

In 2024, I delivered a sermon on a university campus here in Melbourne. Following the Bible exposition, there was a Q&A session. One student asked me what I believe are the most pressing issues that Christians need to be thinking about and addressing.

How long is the piece of string mapping out Australia’s boundaries?

There are many important social and ethical issues that fill our streets with fear, anxiety and concern: antisemitism, doctrine of humanity, contentment, and more. There are important theological and ecclesial matters that churches must tackle with faithfulness and wisdom. How often are our churches neglecting even the basics, like reading the Bible or meeting regularly every Sunday as people?

We have an intoxicated culture that provides every distraction and skin deep fascination. Like forgetting to apply sunscreen regularly, we forget to apply these basic spiritual disciplines and then wonder why people get burnt.

I digress, to answer the question, what are the most pressing issues, the answer should be obvious. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. People need to hear of the astonishing and undeserving message of Christ crucified. There is no newsworthy item more urgent and sublime and more transformative than God’s Gospel.

I then added another issue which I think surprised many students. I suggested that churches need to think long and hard about a theology of war. I wasn’t implying a return tot the old Protestant v Catholic orange wars or the Crusades or any such blemish on history. A few years ago, we were living in an age where war, for the most part, felt distant and unlikely. More than that, a certain type of tolerance has bred indifference. A certain view of social pluralism encourages apathy, such that defining certain agendas and ambitions as evil and unacceptable seems a bridge too far for many today, especially those under the age of 35. The thing is, the world doesn’t stop simply because we choose to live behind glass windows with the air-conditioning running. Virtues like duty, responsibility and accountability, and belief in ultimate right and wrong, have been largely absent from our vocabulary and normal life in the suburbs.

If we thought a global pandemic might knock us off our perch, think again. COVID didn’t change the world; it simply exposed motifs that were already present.

The reason for suggesting that a theology of war is one of the pressing subjects of our age is because war and bloodshed are relatively normative in human society. It should not be, but history demonstrates that warfare is relatively normal. We sometimes forget that Australia spent more years in the 20th Century at war than most other countries on the planet. In the 21st Century, we have once again sent troops into harms way, even if the numbers are relatively small and rarely touch day-to-day life here in Australia.

The thing is, whether it’s pronouncements made by President Xi Jinping or Putin or militia in dozens of countries, the world is not turning toward some utopian time of peace. The hegemony is a malfunctioning shapeshifter. The partial superficial peace plan orchestrated by the United Nations over the last 80 years, has been proven flawed and far too inadequate. Some will blame President Trump. For whatever we think of the American President, I don’t believe his rhetoric is the cause of global instability; it’s evidence of growing global fracture.

What should Christians think of war?

What should Christians think of war? Christians need to come to terms with what the Bible says and doesn’t say, and what Scripture permits and doesn’t permit, in regard to armed conflict. It’s not as though we build our thinking from neutral places; we might as well go back to the best God given material there is.

My original thesis is outlined in a short biographical treatment about my Great Grandfather’s war experience in the First World War. This was before Russia invaded Ukraine and the slaughter of Jews on October 7. Indeed this is prior to the growing instability we are witnessing from South Sudan to Myanmar, and from South America, to Taiwan. I will republish this short work, Symphony from the Great War’ later on.

Great tomes have been written on the subject of war. Christian theologians have offered careful and complex views on war and whether it is ever just and justifiable. Augustine’s Just War Theory is seminal and remains vital not only for churches but for any secular state and government choosing to do what is right. Oliver O’Donovan is a contemporary scholar whose volume, ‘The Just War Revisited’, is worth a careful read.

In contending that Christians need to revisit a theology of war, I wish to offer 12 short reflections here. Each one deserves a fuller treatment, but hopefully the offerings here have merit. The question I am seeking to address here is somewhat narrower, and that is, can Christians ever support war? Can participating in war be consistent with Christian faith?

Answering these questions is no easy task, partly because the Scriptures do not give us a definitive position, and partly because the rationale and particulars of armed conflict differ from one to the next. In addition, in every conflict, there are multifarious motives, aims, and experiences that when combined deny us the possibility of simple and obtuse theorems about war.

Historically, Christians have come to different conclusions regarding the practice of war. We cannot ignore the fact that there have been times when, ‘in the name of Christ’, many anti-Christ acts have been committed. Sins of commission have stained history blood red, and perhaps so have sins of omission. Christians must not build their theology of war from either Gandhi or Napoleon, but from the belief that God is the Lord of history and that he has given a book that speaks truth and wisdom, even in the 21st Century.

Here are 12 propositions that deserve careful inspection and reflection:

Continuity

1. The God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament.

Christians are not Marcionites. God is not honoured by the fallacious suggestion that the God of the Old Testament is a different God to the New Testament, or that his character has changed, or that in the Old Testament God was wrong to make war. God’s character is eternal and unchanging.

2. God is holy and just. God’s acts of violence are described as God’s just judgements on sinners. He is a holy God who cannot tolerate sin. Should God tolerate rape? Should God tolerate people sacrificing babies to Molech? Should God tolerate the greedy stealing from the poor? God did not sanction all the violence and war that was exercised in the Old Testament, however, he did oversee and lead some war.

3. God has an understanding of justice that no person or group of people possess. He also has the ability to always do right, which no Christian can achieve.

Discontinuity

Christians cannot read the Old Testament except through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the fulfilment of all the Scriptures – “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).

4. The Old Testament has a geo-political centre that is removed by Jesus in the New Testament. Whereas God’s people in the Old Testament were a nation, God’s people are now from and in every nation. God’s Kingdom is of a different nature, As Jesus said to Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’.

5. God’s anger is demonstrated supremely in the cross of Jesus, where Christ died to satisfy God’s righteous wrath. History has a cross dividing it, such that there is no longer any moral or theological support for Holy War this side of the cross. God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his propitious death brings peace to all who believe. This once-for-all all death has an efficacy for disarming hate, anger and greed:

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-15)

6. The Kingdom of God grows through the proclamation of the word of God, and not through political or military means. Christians believe in war, but it is a spiritual war, one that is engaged by putting on the armour of God (faith, righteousness, truth, etc) and by using the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) and undergirding it all with prayer. If the power of God for salvation is in the Gospel of Jesus, then it is erroneous to believe that Christianity will extend through war. Not only that, it suggests that coercion is an effective means to grow the Church, whereas the Bible speaks nothing of coercion but it does speak of persuasion through speaking truth and living out God’s love to all.

7. The Bible nowhere teaches that a Church can engage in war, and it gives us no room for supposing that armed conflict can aid Christian progress. However, it does leave room for the possibility for the State to engage in war.

The State is not the Church. In Romans ch.13 the Apostle teaches,

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.”

i. Governments are not beyond the rule of God, even though they may reject his dominion.

ii. Governments have a value in and for this world, for the good of society, which includes collecting taxes to pay for civic needs and to judge and punish those who do wrong.

iii. At the very least v.4 refers to law enforcers and the judicial system that exists within a nation, but it is likely that Paul also has in mind the exercise of military action. Even if Romans 13:4 does not speak of war and only of civic responsibilities, the point is nonetheless unavoidable, Paul affirms that there is a place for Governments to use the sword in punishing wrongdoing.

Further Principles

8. There is a difference between turning the cheek and loving our neighbour. If one saw their neighbour being attacked, it would be immoral to stand by and do nothing, and it would be right to come to their aid, to defend them and fend off the attacker. While Christians ought to pursue peace, even at great personal cost, loving our neighbour may necessitate military intervention.

9. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 13:18).

10. The Bible discounts many of the reasons that have been used in history and in contemporary global and sociopolitical scenarios for waging war: for conquest, for profit, for revenge, and for religious advantage.

11. When Christians engage in war it should not be under the banner of Church or Gospel, but as expression of submitting to the Government and loving our neighbour.

12. People should not go against the conscience, except when their conscience violates Scripture.

Can war ever be just? Ultimately, the answer to that question is no, because even on a good day people are prone to sinful desires. War is never fully just but it may be justifiable. Occasions of crisis may arise where more action is required than simply prayer and good wishes. It is a loving act to lay down one’s life for a friend, and even more so for a stranger who is being oppressed by a militaristic or terrorist regime.

Should Christians fight in war? Often the answer will be no. We ought to be reluctant. But there may be circumstances where the Government decides to go to war, and should the reasons be congruent with a Christian’s understanding of the Bible, participating in that war is permissible. Indeed, in some instances military action is the necessary response to an existential threat against the nation.

War, however, is not the ultimate solution to evil in the world; only the Gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful enough and pure enough and sufficient enough to do a penetrating work in the human heart. The world lives in the epoch of peace, where God is manifesting his patience and grace, calling men and women to repentance and reconciliation. While millions of people are coming to realise and experience God’s shalom, there remains much that is wrong in the world, such that even the most laudable acts of human kindness and justice can not overcome. Christians, though, believe that God remains holy and he promises a day when he will judge the living and the dead. Many injustices may escape our attention, but they will not elude God:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

King of kings and lord of lords.” (Revelation 19:11-16)