Just War - How Christians must face WAR
The Word of God does not lack instruction and revelation on how Christians/the elect of God ought to view and act upon war.
Romans 12:
This chapter describes some marks of true Christians.
v1- Should you not present your living service towards others as your sacrifice to God? Not that such service is accepted by God through His mercies. We have otherwise no other way to reach the Almighty.
v2- We are not to be like the world, gearing up for self-protection, saving up self-gratification; reducing dignities of others in order to be lifted up dignified.
We are to be transformed rather than conformed or just reformed by the continuous renewing of our minds in order to observe the will of God to enable our performance which is the next step in serving God and His righteousness.
Christians are not just reformers or conservatives; but transformers.
All things have passed away. And lo! all things are new. Those who are dead in trespasses are born again into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
v9- Do you not love God first with all you have and listen to Him first? Do you love your neighbours as yourselves and love your enemies as well, doing good even to those who hate you?
Do you hate what is evil rather than just hating your enemies/opponents?
Do you right what is wrong rather than wrong what is wrong?
Is your good surpassing what you know as evil?
v10- Outdo one another in showing honor, rather than gaining honor. Uplift others.
v11- Know that Christian service is about serving the Lord God, not our own appetite.
v12- Rejoice in the hope we have rather than in our earthly gain which will pass away.
Be patient through suffering, as good characters will result from perseverance.
Know the need of prayerful hearts.
Have consideration for others.
Reject all curses reserved for persecutors and consider their welfare. Do good to them and think for them. Pray for them. (Weapons that do not shed blood or others' tears, or cause death)
v15- Experience where experience is.
v16- Associate with the lowly so as to share the blessings of God one another, and encourage the faint-hearted. Resist pride and selfishness.
v18- make peace when and where possible.
v20- Do good to your enemies whenever possible, and help their development of goodness.
v21- You will be assimilated into the commonwealth of evil if you think and work evil, seeking harm. Rather, overcome evil (it has to be bitten, though not with evil means) with good, kindness, friendship, help, and instruction of God.
Matthew 5 is often described as the sermon on the mount, the eight blessings of Godly men. It is the kind of teachings that even non-believers take its face value and superficial meanings for moral guide-lines and mile-stones for human standards; though they are hardly lived up to.
Some non-believers, thinking that they are moral, would take on the sermon on the mount as their emblem for good/upright living, only to fail them.
Matthew 5 v3:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven.
Many think of richness as a true blessing from God and count themselves luckly, better than the less fortunate ones.
Earthly richness does not gain citizenship of the kingdom of heaven. So it is not filled with all blessings.
Christians are not asked to be proud of their lofty spirit and overwhelming waring power.
The elect belong to the kingdom of heaven/God, and strive/work for the Way.
Being rich in heaven does not mean being rich on earth at the same time.
Under oppression of the world and all kinds of persecution, those who inherit the kingdom would appear poor in spirit, showing little dignity.
Matt 5 v4:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
You think God can really forget about you, and leave you in the dark without hope?
Do you put your trust in God, and Him alone?
Do you really believe he is the God of resurrection, able to raise the dead? He is the God of Life.
The Lord has not forgotten those who mourn, those who suffer wrong; and He will work deliverance, in His good time.
Blessed are those who have consideration for the sorrow and suffering of others, and be close to them in time of need and comfort.
Matt 5 v5:
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
See also, Ps 19 v7.
Christians are not asked to complicate their lives with all sorts of worldly gain.
Man may live by solely relying on the provision of God.
One slave cannot serve two masters. So serving God inevitably mean ignoring the service to the world, Satan, wickedness, lawlessness (SIN), and the SELF.
Those who are humble will inherit the earth. Instead of waiting and hoping for the new Jerusalem in the end, those who fear God will even inherit the earth.
Often, the humble are preferred as friends and neighbours even by the proud ones.
Matt 5 v6:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
How important is righteousness, as God is righteous. He is the standard of righteousness.
Those who seek to be righteous have to be eagerly longing for it.
They do not gain righteousness by putting others down, killing them off, and warding off all forms of advancment.
Matt 5 v7:
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
War makers are hardly regarded as merciful towards their enemies.
Murderers/soldiers are not regarded as merciful towards their oppositions, their butchered ones.
We being in sin and guilty of much trespasses need mercy. Do we not feel the need of our fellow men, that they too need mercy for their many wrong.
When are soldiers trained to forgive, to uplift the enemies, to serve their adversaries? Yet Christ has set an example on the cross to forgive and to die for ones enemies. To serve rather than served.
Matt 5 v8:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
To rely on God rather than on men.
God is hardly seen nor reached when we are clouded with all sorts of worldly gain and self-righteousness, dignity, self-centered.
Self-imposed threats can be very threatening, causing the heart to faint.
Should the God-fearing turn to God, those who are heavy-laiden, and He will give them rest.
Matt 5 v9:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
This does not mean warmakers are equally blessed. It is the exact anti-thesis to war-craft.
Matt 5 v10:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Christians are taught to bear persecution. This is not a defensive stance, neither is it any offensive stance taken by warmakers.
The kingdom of heaven does not belong to the persecutors; rather to the persecuted.
For in weakness lies the full strength of power.
At the time when Christ is delivered into the power of execution, He said that from then on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the POWER of God (Luke 22 v69, Matt 26 v64).
Matt 5 v11:
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
It is good to share a life of obedience with Christ. And Christ obeyed even to death.
To obey is better than sacrifice.
Better than sacrificing your lives to any (viewed by the carnal) just course.
Do all these offenses warrant war and extermination of the enemies to protect ones dignity? Yet should we not forgive, forbear, and persevere, and pray seeking the will and glory of God?
God could have crushed them if this was His will. But no! Character is built through sufferings and perseverance.
Matt 5 v12, 13:
Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Rejoice rather than be sad. Your reward is not earthly ones. Place your hope in the future, in heaven, in what is to come prepared by our loving God.
The prophets set examples for us, in that they did not kill off their adversaries, but obeyed God and lived out their calling and lives, even unto death. No prophet is branded Warrior King. But Christ is the Prince of Peace. Moses and Elijah did not led armies. John the Baptist did not advocate resistance against invaders and foreign rulers.
Christians are the salt of the earth. The taste enhenser unlike the tastless things of the World. The objects of dependence rather than the depended. Godly struggle is not against flesh and blood, but a spiritual one.
1 Cor 6 v7:
... Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
Paul in the Spirit taught that there is indeed merit in being wronged.
Bearing the mistakes of others is not shamful, but acceptable in the sight of God. And Christ bore the sins of the World and overcome death. That God will not abandon His Holy One to sheol.
Suffering and being wronged is not the end of all.
Who can be against you if God is with you? Who can touch your soul? Who can take away your crown of life given by God for the sake of the lamb?
Christ in you is to live (more than just life, but the actual living out), and to die is gain.
For in Christ, we are more than conquerors. Better than the world can conceive.
Psalm 17 v2:
Look for ones judgment from God and not from men. Equity is from God.
The judgment of God is fair.
Ps 18 v3:
...I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
God tested the heart
Not just the hands, even the mouth is held from transgression against God and men.
Ps 18 v10:
The sinners even closed their unfeeling heart and speak proudly with their mouth; a dignity and self-centredness that transgressed the Lord; not giving glory to God.
If feelingless is bad, adding shields over the unfeeling heart is even worse, being highly cut off from any outcry of feelings, praises, righteousness and warning.
No one stands before such vision. Totally exclusive. A godless nature.
Ps 18 v 16, 17:
Ps 18 v18-20:
Ps 18 vv 47-48:
Ps 20 v1:
Ps 20 v7:
Ps 22 vv4-5:
Ps 22 vv7,8:
Ps 22 v9:
Ps 22 v21:
Ps 22 vv24-26:
Ps 22 v29:
Ps 27:
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