The Church in War and Peace

Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 13:1-7

GOLDEN TEXT: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.”—Matthew 5:9

ONE who has fully accepted the leadership of Jesus, and who is consecrated to follow in His footsteps of self-sacrifice, cannot be in sympathy with the taking of human life. A true Christian is not governed by hate, or malice, or jealousy, or by any of those revolting elements of the fallen human nature which cause men and women to kill each other, He endeavors to he like Jesus, who was kind, sympathetic, and loving; who was willing to die for all mankind, but would do nothing to injure anyone—not even His enemies.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went far in advance of the ethical codes considered standard at that time. Fearlessly He contrasted His own teachings with what “hath been said.” “It hath been said,” He reminded His hearers, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”—Matt. 5:43,44

This perfect standard of love reflects the character of God, Jesus said that we were to strive for this standard in order that we “may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

The best evidence of God’s love for those who are out harmony with Him is His gift of Jesus to be the Redeemer of all mankind. All were alienated from God through wicked works. Millions have blasphemed, other millions still blasphemed His name. He was under no obligation to do anything for them, but He did. He loved the race and “gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”—John 3:16

It is only reasonable, then, that those who are benefited by God’s love should endeavor to become like Him in character. To believe in Jesus implies obedience to His new commandment of love; and only those who believe will receive the full benefit of God’s gift of love. This is true of the church class now, and it will also be true of the world of mankind during the thousand-year Kingdom period when Christ and the church are reigning for the enlightenment and blessing of all nations.

Isaiah 2:2-4 teaches that the nations during the Kingdom period will want to learn the Lord’s ways, and when they do, they will learn war no more. Learning the Lord’s ways and putting them into practice, will mean the beating of swords into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks—a genuine disarmament program. How glad we should be that the Prince of Peace is to reign supreme, and that war is to he outlawed because it is contrary to God’s law of love!

There can be no question about God’s viewpoint of the wanton taking of human life. Jesus also made Himself very plain on the subject. As envy, jealousy, malice and hatred are displeasing to God, so the physical manifestation of these sinful elements in the act of murder is likewise out of harmony with His will for the Christian. Paul’s instructions in Romans 13:1-7 do not abrogate these fundamental principles of the Divine will. These instructions, however, do raise the question as to the exact dividing line between loyalty to God and loyalty to the government under which we live. There is no evidence, however, that when writing these instructions Paul had the war issue in mind. Verses 6 and 7 seem to show that the point of obedience involved was that of paying taxes. If the apostle had been discussing the war issue he doubtless would have spoken more specifically so that no one would have had any doubt as to the proper application of his instructions. Probably it was in God’s providence that the matter was left for each individual follower of the Master to work out for himself, as a test of his sincere and proper loyalty to both God and man.

This is not really a very serious problem in English-speaking nations of today, because they have all given official recognition to the right of individual conscience in the matter of taking human life. In America, for instance, one can be obedient to the government and at the same time be loyal to his Christian conscience. This is something for which we should all be thankful. In the drafting of the Constitution of the United States the legislators recognized the right of all to worship God according to conscience. But the general public, made up of all shades of religious beliefs and prejudices, is at times inclined to look with disfavor upon those who claim the rights of conscience under the provisions of the law. This disrepute may well be accepted as a part of Christian trial.

In times of war and peace Christians should be ideal residents of the country in which they live in the sense of being obedient to its laws which are intended to administer justice and equality. They should be honest, sincere, promoters of good will, ready to help the needy; and above all, should let their light shine that others may know of God’s great Messianic Kingdom plan for establishing universal and lasting peace.

QUESTIONS:

What did Jesus teach concerning a Christian’s proper attitude toward his enemies?

Will the time ever come when the nations will learn war no more?

Need Christians in America be disobedient to the government in order to be loyal to their conscience?

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