The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum War??

It is difficult to discuss war in the context of a sola scriptura ethic, because Scripture says little about the actual ethics of warfare. It does recognize war as a result of sin, specifically,

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel (James 4:1).

The consummation of history is a time of peace, not war (Isa. 2:4, 9:6-7; 11:6). Until then, Scripture gives special honor to those who seek peace (Ps. 46:9; 120:6-7; Matt. 5:9). Though he was a man after God’s own heart, God did not permit David to build the temple, for he was also a man of war (1 Chron. 22:18-19; 28:3). The temple anticipates God’s final peace. Its builder must be a man of peace, David’s son Solomon, whose very name means peace. So, Jesus the fulfillment of the temple, is "Prince of peace" (Isa. 9:6):

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isa. 9:7).

Under the new covenant, the kingdom of God is not to be advanced by war, though Christians have not always understood this principle. Jesus has withheld the sword from his family (Matt. 26:52; John 18:1-11). There is a war to be fought by Christians, but it is a spiritual war, a war not to be fought with physical weapons (Eph. 6:10-20). Those weapons have no power against spiritual enemies, Satan and his troops. Only truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer can vanquish Satan’s armies. So, war is an important metaphor for the life of the Christian (2 Cor. 10:3; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 2:4; 1 Pet. 2:11).

Scripture also teaches that the gospel will provoke violence among people, much as we may seek to avoid it (Matt. 10:34-38; Rev. 11:7; 12:7, 17; 13:7; 19:19). There will be persecution for those who honor Christ (2 Tim. 3:12). But such warfare is initiated by opponents of Christ. The individual believer is not to take the offensive. We may defend ourselves and others against physical attack, but our overall mandate is to return good for evil (see Chapter 35). We should be lovers of peace (Ps. 34:14; 1 Pet. 3:11; Rom. 12:19, 21; 14:19). Even those conducting a lawful war should not delight in killing others. God judges Edom because of its lack of compassion in war (Amos 1:11; cf. Ps. 68:30).

Nevertheless, Scripture recognizes that warfare is sometimes necessary in a fallen world. As we have seen, God has given the sword to the civil magistrate (Acts 25:11; Rom. 13:4). The sword is an instrument of bloodshed and death. God is the one who enables the devout warrior to prevail (Ps. 144:1).

Scripture respects the military vocation. John the Baptist told soldiers not to rob others, but not to leave the army (Luke 3:14). Roman centurions tend to be positive models in the New Testament (Matt. 27:54; Luke 7:9; Acts 10:2, 22, 35).

In the Old Testament, Abraham rescued his nephew Lot by raising a military force (Gen. 14:13-16). Later, God commanded Israel to make war. Deuteronomy 20 distinguishes two different kinds of war. One is against the Canaanite tribes within the land of promise, the other against "cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here" (verse 15). The first kind of warfare 11 is sometimes called herem warfare, from a verb used in Deut. 7:2 (cf. Ex. 22:19; Lev. 27:29; Num. 21:2-3). 12 Herem, sometimes translated "ban," is a war of total destruction:

But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction,1 the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God. (verses 16-18, cf. Deut. 7:1-5)
Obviously, God ordained herem warfare for a specific situation, the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham, to give the land of Canaan to his descendants (Gen. 17:8). God does not command us to continue these practices beyond the time of the Israelite theocracy.

The other form of warfare mentioned in Deuteronomy 20 is war against "cities at a distance." Here, the treatment of Israel’s opponents is a bit more lenient, but still severe by modern standards. Israel must offer peace, and if the city accepts that offer, Israel must allow the people to live, but in slavery (verses 10-11). 13 If the city does not accept this offer, Israel will kill all the males, but take the women and children (presumably as slaves) and enjoy the plunder (verses 12-14; cf. Deut. 21:10-14.)

It is important to remember that even this second kind of warfare is holy war. All of Israel’s wars are holy. Before the battle, the priest proclaims a divine promise of victory (verses 2-4). 14 The people are to be ritually clean (Deut. 23:9-14). Then the officers grant liberal deferments: to men who have built new houses, planted new vineyards, been recently married (verses 5-7). Even cowardice is ground for deferment (verse 8)! (Cf. Deut. 24:5.) For God wants it to be plain that Israel gains its victories, not through numbers, but through God’s power. God has not made a similar covenant with any modern nation and has not given to anyone today a promise of victory in war. So, neither of the forms of warfare described in Deuteronomy 20 provides a ethical model for modern war.

Nor to my knowledge is there any other Bible passage that provides explicit ethical criteria for entering and waging war.