Jesus dealing with soldiers? Shouldn’t the Church be against war?

An addendum to Nigels recent talk on June 29th:

COMMENTS ON MATTHEW CHAPTER 8 VERSES 5 - 13, Jesus and the Roman Centurion.

Jesus, dealing with a Roman soldier? The Church has had a chequered relationship with the Military in the past. For the first 2 centuries Christians were pacifist. And this is perhaps understandable as one looks at Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, which Tony Baker looked at in detail at our Parish Conference last month. Matthew 5: 43- 48 is called the pacifists’ stronghold. ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

With this strong New Testament emphasis, it is no surprise that the early Church was generally pacifist - so much so that one Church historian claims that until Constantine, no Christian approved of Christian participation in battle. Justin Martyr, who lived from around 100 to 165 AD, when he was killed for his faith, was one of the first Christian apologists. He argued that Isaiah’s prophecy about turning swords into ploughshares and spears into sickles had been fulfilled as a consequence of Christ’s coming. So he was pacifist. When Celsus complained that if all people took this attitude, the Empire would fall to the barbarians, Origen (184- 254 AD) wrote that Christians were doing more by their love and prayers to preserve the Empire than any Army. He argued that Christians “fought” on behalf of the Emperor by forming a special army - an army of piety offering prayers to God. He wrote:

“The Christian lawgiver nowhere teaches that it is right for his own disciples to offer violence to anyone, however wicked, or to allow the killing of any individual whatever. Christians have adopted laws of so exceedingly mild a character as not to allow them to resist their persecutors.” ((“Against Celsus” 3.7, quoted in Atkinson, 1985: 39).

At the same time Hippolitus (circa 170- 236 AD) argued that a soldier who wanted to join the Christian fellowship, must refuse to kill even on command of his superiors, and that a catechumen or baptised person who sought to enlist as a soldier must be cut off from the Church.

Critics of this pacifist policy of the time argue that the Roman army was officially committed to the cult of Emperor worship, with an obligatory oath of allegiance laid on soldiers. This would have been idolatry to both Jew and Christian. Also Romans forbade Jews from serving in the imperial Army (except as a punishment in some circumstances). And there was evidence of great brutality shown against Christians in the first Centuries AD, which would have caused an emotional resistance to the military. The combination of these three factors meant that Christians were bound to be pacifist at this time.

In 314 AD, the Synod of Arles did give Christians the freedom to serve in the Army. But historically, it took the conversion to Christ of the Emperor Constantine in AD 316 under the influence of his Christian mother, to initiate a paradigm shift in Christian thought different to pacifism. For the first time Christian faith was acceptable to state authorities and for the first time the state was interested in producing laws which bor4e Christian teaching in mind. So suddenly Christian leaders had to think on a state level, not just a personal ethics level. In so doing Ambrose, Bishop of Milan from 374- 397 AD, took up Roman legal ideas and introduced the idea of the “Just War” to the Christian Church. He was a famous preacher and freely used Old Testament heroes who fought in war as examples of godly men. David, who killed Goliath, later became king and used the Military to defend his kingdom. In the Bible God also called him ‘a man after my own heart’. So not everything in the Bible is against soldiers. Ambrose introduce the idea of Just War Theory when he said, ‘I consider that, in the matter of war, care must be taken to see whether wars are just or unjust.’ (Ambrose, De Officiis: I.35). Similarly Augustine (354- 430 AD), a very famous theologian, showed how Christianity could think on a state level about war. For instance, he wrote this,

“To be just, war must be waged only by the proper state authority. And its conduct must be just - keeping faith with the enemy, fulfilling promises, avoiding unnecessary violence, looting, massacre, vengeance, atrocities, reprisals” (Augustine, quoted in White REO, 1981: 111).

Critics of this ethic say that the influence of Christian faith is nullified. The arguments of Augustine and Aquinas are replacements of the simple teaching of the New Testament by a combination of Old Testament, Greek philosophy and Roman law, in each of which there was an upholding of the principle that states can go to war if appropriate.

Nevertheless the ethic has been a significant contribution to world peace. In modern times it has helped to provide the theoretical basis to international controls on war in such treaties as the Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Non Proliferation Treaty by means of an addition to the “traditional seven” Just War criteria of an eighth: Actions within and without war will be subject to International Law.

All this might seem very interesting to John Marsh or Jenny Reed who are thinking of studying to become ministers. But I suspect that the rest of you are quietly snoozing already. What has it got to do with a service of dedication and even the story of the centurion?

I actually have no problem with the apparent conflict between the pacifism which Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount and the fact that it can be a Christian duty to defend a state – or even, as today, to defend democracy. Christian faith affects our personal ethics – which makes us peace lovers in relationships with others – and state normative ethics – which encourage a state to follow Just War principles. So it is surely significant that this story of a Roman Centurion coming to Jesus on behalf of his servant comes so quickly after the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ teaching there to love our enemies. As the centurion comes to Jesus, Jesus does not say, ‘Hey, haven’t you heard what I have just been saying? Didn’t you listen to my teaching on the Mountain? Did I give all that teaching for nothing? I’ll listen when you have resigned from the Army!’ No. Rather Jesus is concerned for you whether or not you are in a profession that others question, even despise.

Nigel