18 · War, Peace & the Use of Force
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." — Matthew 5:9
The Church follows a Lord who is called the Prince of Peace, who told Peter to put away his sword, and who died forgiving his executioners — and yet it lives in a world of tyrants, genocides, and aggressors, where the innocent are slaughtered and someone must decide whether and how to stop it. Few questions have divided sincere Christians more sharply, or more painfully, than the use of violence.
This chapter will not pretend the tension away. It declares what the whole Church can affirm — that Christ is our peace, that the shedding of blood is always grave, and that we are called to be peacemakers — and then it lays out, fairly, the two great traditions by which faithful Christians have tried to obey: just war and Christian nonviolence. Both hate war. Both love peace. They disagree about what love requires when peace has failed.
Declare
Where we are
War has not gone away; it has only grown more capable of horror — from conventional invasions to terrorism, drones, cyberwar, and weapons that could end civilization. And the Church remains tempted, again and again, to bless the wars of its own tribe: to wave the cross beside the flag, to dehumanize the enemy, and to call killing holy. That temptation is its own kind of idolatry.
Against it stand two honest Christian witnesses. One says: precisely because life is sacred, force may sometimes be used — reluctantly, within strict limits — to restrain evil and defend the defenseless. The other says: precisely because life is sacred and Jesus is Lord, his people renounce killing and witness to another way. The Church has never fully resolved this. What it must refuse is the third option both traditions reject — the casual, flag-draped enthusiasm for violence that asks no hard questions at all.
What Scripture says
Jesus blesses peacemakers and calls his followers to love even enemies.
Matthew 5:9NIV Matthew 5:43-44NIVHe refused the sword for his own defense and rebuked Peter for drawing it.
Matthew 26:52NIV John 18:36NIVYet Scripture also grants the governing authorities a real, limited role in restraining evil and protecting the innocent — the "sword" of justice.
Romans 13:3-4NIVVengeance is reserved to God, never to us; our calling is to overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:17-21NIVAnd the hope toward which we live is the end of war itself, when swords are beaten into plowshares and the nations learn war no more.
Isaiah 2:4NIV Micah 4:3NIVDiscern
Here are the main traditions by which Christians have sought to be faithful. Each is held by serious believers; each carries a caution.
Just war
Force may be used only as a tragic last resort, under strict criteria: a just cause (defending the innocent), legitimate authority, right intention, proportional means, and reasonable hope of success — never targeting civilians. Caution: the criteria are demanding and easily abused as a rubber stamp; most wars fail them.
Christian nonviolence
The way of the cross renounces lethal force; the Church witnesses to the Kingdom by refusing to kill, trusting God, and pursuing active, courageous peacemaking (the conviction of the early Church and the historic peace churches). Caution: must answer honestly what love owes the victim of aggression, not merely keep its own hands clean.
Peacemaking as vocation
Whatever one's view of force, all are called to make peace actively — reconciliation, diplomacy, relief, restraining vengeance, caring for war's victims — not merely to debate it. Caution: peacemaking is costly and risky, not passivity or the mere absence of conflict.
A test against the war-fever
The surest sign the Church has lost its way is when it celebrates killing and hates the enemy God commands it to love (Matthew 5:44NIV). Whether you hold to just war or to nonviolence, you should grieve every war, doubt your own side's propaganda, and pray for your enemies by name.
Reflect
Jesus commands us to love and pray for our enemies. Picture a real 'enemy' — national, political, or personal. What would it cost you to genuinely pray for their good? Try it now.
Peacemaking is active, not passive. Where in your life is there a conflict you have avoided or inflamed? What would it look like to be a courageous peacemaker there this week?
Self-check
What do the just-war and nonviolence traditions agree on?
What are the basic criteria of just-war thinking?
Go deeper
- Read next: Work, Rest & Sabbath.
- Connect back: This chapter depends on The Kingdom of God and guards against the idolatry named in Nationalism, Kingdom & Dominion.
- Scripture for a week: Matthew 5:1–48; Romans 12.
- See the Glossary for just war, pacifism / nonviolence, and peacemaking.
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