The Christian's Call To Nonviolence

Today, many blogs and websites are discussing the great work of Martin Luther King Jr.  One of my favorite bloggers discussed the nonviolent resistance of the Civil Rights movement.  As posted to the left, the books I have been reading heavily discuss nonviolent and political action.  Bonhoeffer and King were both big proponents of nonviolence.

A few days ago I shared a video that was used for the first class of our ethics series.  One of the books I have been using as my curriculum base is The Moral Vision Of The New Testament by Richard B. Hays (I highly recommend this book!).  As part of our ethics series we discussed the topic of nonviolence, peacemaking and war.  Today, I thought it fitting to post about this issue.  I particularly want to share our class’s conclusions and Hays’s vision of nonviolent ethics in the New Testament.

For our class this past Wednesday I asked,  “Is a Christian called to be nonviolent? Are there any circumstances when we need to be violent?”

As usual, I was impressed with the maturity of our group and the conversation went better than expected.  On an individual level our group felt compelled, even when it doesn’t come naturally, to resist acting out violently.  For Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: 39, “Do not resist the one who is evil…”  However, on a collective level (when there is a third party involved) they were more inclined to act out violently for the sake of others.

Here is one of the scenarios used in class.  Let’s say that you have a concealed weapon (don’t really know why, but just go with it) and a crazed maniac comes into the class and you know that he is going to kill everyone.  In that moment you have a decision to make; act nonviolently and everyone dies or shoot.  What would you do?

After great discussion we turned to the scripture to read various texts* that deal with some of the issues raised. Obviously there isn’t enough room here to discuss everything but I’d like to highlight a few passages.  I want to specifically use portions of Hays’s book to guide the remainder of the post.

Hays uses Jesus’ words from the sermon on the mount as the key text to support Christian nonviolence.  He references the beatitudes as a picture of the reality of God’s kingdom.  Jesus often uses this “upside down” reality to discuss how things are in the kingdom of God.  He uses verbiage like, “ you have heard it said…but I say to you”, which immediately tells us that realities that might make since to us in this world are counter to the realities of God’s kingdom.  Hays points out that Jesus calls us to live out this counter kingdom in our community by being “salt” and “light” and a “city on the hill”(Matt. 5:13-16).

Turning the other cheek is hard.  As stated earlier, it might seem counter intuitive.  The fight or flight response is a theory about the body’s response to perceived threat or danger.  When we feel threatened, we either remove ourself from the situation or fight back.  It is a survival response within all of us.  I am a fighter.  If I feel threatened I want to fight back.  Yet, I have to tell myself (and I often do) that in God’s kingdom I should resist evil.  Though it isn’t intuitive, it is necessary.

Most of us realize this is a reality we need to embrace (though it may be hard).  But what if there is more than one person involved?  What about war?  Is the rest of the Bible unified on this issue?

Many have asked about Soldiers.  What about Luke?  Twice in Luke (once with John the Baptist and once with Jesus) soldiers appear as characters.  Neither John nor Jesus suggest that they abandon their post.  John tells the soldiers to “not extort money… and be content with your wages.”  Jesus is impressed with the centurion’s faith saying, “…not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

What are we to do with these texts?  Many believe that this means that the NT endorses military service. Hays says,

This evidence, taken cumulatively, suggests that the New Testament writers did not see participation in the army as sinful a priori, nor was the question of military service a question being debated in their communities.  The role of these soldiers in the new Testament narratives, however, must be seen in proper context: precisely as Roman soldiers, they serve to dramatize the power of the Word of God to reach even the unlikeliest people.  They are set beside tax collectors (Luke 3:12-13) as examples of how John’s preaching reached even the most unsavory characters…  Even the righteous centurion whose servant is healed by Jesus serves as a foil, a surprising exception whose faith stands in paradoxical contrast to Israel’s lack of faith (Matt. 8:10-13).  The narrative and theological force of this story is analogous to that of the saying, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matt. 21:31); just as that saying does not necessarily commend extortionate tax-farming and prostitution as continuing practices, so these stories about centurions cannot be read as endorsements of military careers for Christians.  To be fair, however, there is nothing within the New Testament itself that explicitly excludes or forbids such careers.

Powerful.  Is the New Testament unified on this issue?  Do you agree with this?  What are your thoughts? 

*Here are the specific scriptures we referenced in class.   

NT – Matthew 5:38-48; Matthew 26:52-54; Mark 11:15-19;

OT – Deuteronomy 19:15-21; Deuteronomy 20:10-15

PAUL – Romans 12:14-21; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

SOLDIERS – Luke 3:14-15; Luke 7:1-10 

(Am I missing any that would have been good for discussion?  I am sure that I am.)