Day 23: On Christian Pacifism

I think all Christian believers balk at following Jesus at some point. They may say, "First let me bury my loved one," or transact some important business that will make me a lot of money, or complete some task I have started. then I will follow Jesus.

There is something distinctly challenging about following Jesus. It is a fearful prospect. That is unless we redefine "following Jesus" as simply going to church on Sunday morning, sporting a fish decal on the bumper of our car, and repeating supposed Christian memes on Facebook about how unGodly the libs are.

But really following Jesus, we may naively commit ourselves to such a way ("I will follow you anywhere, Jesus") but soon Jesus will make some demand, even simply a demand upon your way of thinking, at which we balk. We may walk away sadly like the rich young ruler, or we may surround our balk with theological or simply practical rationalizations. This latter response is the most common in our day.

I say this as one who has "balked" many times and in numerous ways in my Christian life. This balk, which we usually don't even recognize or acknowledge, is a tacit recognition of the cost of discipleship. The good news here is that God is patient with his children and merciful. For this I am deeply grateful.

I wrote yesterday about the Christian's role as an ambassador for the kingdom of God here in this fallen world, where the kingdoms of this world have their reign. The post was prompted by an online conversation I had with an old friend about, as I saw it, the strange Christian attitude toward war. While we talk a good game about our opposition, say, to wanton murder (including the murder of the unborn) or the deleterious effects of pornography, when it comes to our nation's wars, we set aside our high-minded concerns and decide on purely political and practical/pragmatic grounds whether we shall support or oppose war in a particular case. Mostly, in the name of patriotism, we choose to support.

In other words, we balk. Because it is very clear to me that war is the option presented by Satan. War is from below. As people who represent, as ambassadors, a kingdom of peace, we can have nothing to do with it. 

This is my view, and I think it is Biblical. After a lengthy back and forth with my friend on this subject, I noticed that, as usual in these kinds of exchange, my friend's reasoning was entirely practical. War would accomplish something valuable for our nation or for another nation. It would depose a dictator, it would establish freedom in some hitherto unfree place, it would protect American interests in some way. 

In the decision to support or oppose a nation's war-making, there is a choice that equates to the narrow way, and one that equates to the broad way. History shows us that war is a broad and crowded way. Many choose it, to their own regret. War is the worldly way of worldly kingdoms. War is a product of the Fall. War is sin. War is from below. 

Which brings to an excellent article on the subject of Christian pacifism. It's lengthy, but I highly recommend it. the authors, after detailing some various historic Christian arguments against pacifism, goe on to list 4 Biblical themes that provide "the foundational theological rationale for Christian pacifism."

I want to mention those 4 themes in brief. Again, I highly recommend you read the whole thing if this subject interests you.

The 4 foundational themes are:

1. The "love command" as a summary of the Biblical message. I think this is indisputable. the authors cite many Scriptural passages, and conclude with this: "The love command provides the central building block for Christian pacifism—both in the positive sense of establishing love as the highest ethical standard that can never be secondary to some other possibly violence-justifying ethical value and in the negative sense of providing the basis for rejecting the participation in war as a morally acceptable choice."
2. An alternative politics. Their explanation here is particularly needed, I think. I'll just leave this brief snip: "Jesus articulated a sharp critique of power politics and sought to create a counter-cultural community independent of nation-states in their dependence upon the sword." I think the author's present a particularly profound summary of the Biblical witness on this point.
3. Optimism about the potential for human faithfulness."When he said “follow me,” he clearly expected people to do so—here and now, effectively, consistently, fruitfully." This largely undermines the common critique of pacifism which says, "You speak much about the kingdom of God, but don't you realize that we live in the tension of the now and the not yet of the kingdom?" The suggestion here is that until Jesus returns to establish his kingdom, not only will there be sin in the world, but we Christians will have no choice but to choose the broad away instead of the narrow at times. The "not yet" of the kingdom does not excuse us from following Jesus now. Jesus never suggested, I know you won't be able to follow in the narrow way when it comes to loving your neighbor in a time of war. These precepts of mine are only ideals, not actual commands.
4. The model of the cross."The powers that be, the religious and political institutions, the spiritual and human authorities, responded to Jesus’ inclusive, confrontive, barrier-shattering compassion and generosity with violence.  At its heart, Jesus’ cross may be seen as embodied pacifism, a refusal to turn from the ways of peace even when they are costly.  So when he calls his followers to share in his cross he calls them to embody pacifism.

The article delves into these 4 points at length, whereas mine is a cursory summary. It is all well worth reading, and I am tempted to simply quote long passages verbatim 

Like this:

The powers that be, the religious and political institutions, the spiritual and human authorities, responded to Jesus’ inclusive, confrontive, barrier-shattering compassion and generosity with violence.  At its heart, Jesus’ cross may be seen as embodied pacifism, a refusal to turn from the ways of peace even when they are costly.  So when he calls his followers to share in his cross he calls them to embody pacifism.

This:

 Jesus’ cross points to pacifism as his style of life; it also points away from trusting in the swords and spears of empires and institutional religion, the very structures of human social life that killed Jesus.

 Or this:

Revelation holds Jesus’ pattern up as the model for his followers.  The ones who God heals are the ones who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4),” the ones who refuse to kill with the sword (Rev 13:10).  Those who “conquer” in God’s way in Revelation conquer with suffering love.  Those who “conquer” in the Beast’s way, conquer with violence.

 The article from which I draw all these quotations (found here) is called "Christian Pacifism in Brief" and was the originally published as the prologue for a collection of essays called A Pacifist Way of Knowing: John Howard Yoder's Nonviolent Epistemology.

"Ain't gonna study war no more"

The Olivetree Bible app, which I highly recommend, includes a lot of different daily reading plans. One of them is a 14-day "teachings of Jesus" plan, which I started yesterday. The first entry is chapter 1 of Luke.

Luke 1 ends with Zechariah's song. He sings about his newborn son, John, and about the one who will follow John, the one for whom John "prepares the way." It is John who will bring to his people an understanding that salvation is available through the coming on. That coming one, called the "Dayspring from on high" in the KJV, will "give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." (v.78a)

This is pretty great, is it not? This is a promise of relief from the ultimate curse.

The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Ps. 90:10)

This wonderful promise of God is not the end, though. The promise comes with a purpose. There is a reason God wants to save his children from "the shadow of death." It comes at the last, and it is a momentary vision of the restored kingdom of God, given to Zechariah at that moment when his tongue was loosed after months of enforced muteness.

. . . to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78b)

I repeat:

. . . to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78b)

I take this to mean a comprehensive kind of peace: peace with God and peace with one another (both of which were broken and lost at the Fall). So then, the word "peace" is nutshell summation of the restored creation. The peace of the Garden was lost, but will be restored. In this nutshell insight into the nature of the restored kingdom, it is the concept of peace that Zechariah chooses to highlight.

In chapter 2 of Luke the angels who come to the shepherds in their fields sing a blessing of peace as they announce the birth of a savior. And what does Simeon say when Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the Temple?

. . . he took [the baby] up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word." (Luke 2:29)

And let us not forget Isaiah 9, which lies behind much of this that we read in Luke. Isaiah's prophetic song in that chapter begins, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." This sounds familiar, does it not? And a little bit later, speaking the coming savior (the same that Zechariah would later prophesy in song:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6)

The pattern is pretty clear. Jesus, the Christ, is going to be all about the restoration of peace. This simple idea is always among the first thing said about him, whether it is angels speaking, or prophets, or simple Christians testifying about their own salvation.

I'll make a bold statement here: we don't talk enough about peace. Peace is a kingdom attribute. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Peace is the promise of the Father. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God," but we live in a world that does not know "the way of peace (see Romans 3:17)." Interpersonal conflict began with Adam and Eve at the Fall (see Gen. 3:16 in particular), and the first generation to be born outside the Garden was marked by interpersonal bloodshed. Click over to any reputable news site, check out the local news from any city or state or nation you like, and you will see that what started between Cain and Abel continues apace.

My point: I pledge to be a seeker of peace. I pledge to dig into the Word for all that God has to teach me about peace, and I will try to be an ambassador for Jesus' coming kingdom of peace.

Lloyd-Jones on the Peacemaker Beatitude

I'm now reading two books about the Sermon on the Mount. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jonathan Pennington's The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing. I will no doubt be sharing many quotations from both of these books in this space. Here is Lloyd-Jones on Peacemaker Beatitude (p.100):

Here, then, we are reminded once more that the outworking in the Christian of the Christian life is altogether and entirely different from everything that can be known by any man who is not a Christian. That is the message which recurs in every one of the Beatitudes and which, obviously, our Lord desired to emphasize. He was establishing an etirely new and different kingdom. As we have seen in all our previous studies, there is nothing more fatal than for the natural man to think that he can take the Beatitudesand try to put them into practice. Here once more this particular beatitude reminds us that this is utterly impossible. Only a new man can live this new life.