Matthew 26:51,52
And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): By these words, Christ confirms the precept of the Law, which forbids private individuals to use the sword―But here a question arises. Is it never lawful to use violence in repelling unjust violence?
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): There are those who say that fighting is always wrong―the “taking of life,” they say, is “always wrong.” They therefore argue that no state should ever go to war, that war is always wrong, for every state, and every country.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Long have I held that war is an enormous crime. Long have I regarded all battles as but murder on a large scale…The question of the rightness of war is a moot point even among moral men. Among those who read their Bibles, the allowance of defensive war may, perhaps, still be a question.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): “I say unto you, that ye resist not evil,” Matthew 5:39. How do such words agree with going to war? Our Lord Jesus Christ has left us an example that we should follow His steps. Can we trace His footsteps into a field of battle? We are called to walk even as He walked. Is it walking like Him to go to war?
ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): I have always deprecated war as one of the greatest calamities, but it does not follow from hence that it is in all cases unlawful.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL (1635-1711): A war is lawful when enemies conspire to attack a nation that has not offended them, but which dwells quietly and peacefully—If the government of such a country then arms itself against such enemies, resists violence with violence, punishes them, and renders them incapable of returning violence, this is a righteous undertaking.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): As the sword must never be taken in hand without cause, so not without cause shown―the merits of the cause must be set forth. Even to the proclamation of war must be subjoined a tender of peace, if they would accept it upon reasonable terms.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The saints, of course, throughout the centuries, have always acted on this principle. You have had some very saintly men in the armies and navies of some countries, outstanding Christians, some of them. And you’ve had outstanding Christians, such as Oliver Cromwell and others who clearly give an answer to that statement that ‘killing is always wrong.’―The typical pacifist, of course, would say that, as it is wrong for the state to ever go to war, it is clearly equally wrong, if not more so, that any individual should ever partake in it.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: No doubt, there are many of the Lord’s beloved people in the army, but the question is not, “Can I be saved and be in the army?” Thousands have gone to heaven who have lived and died in that profession. But the real question for every loyal heart is―“Is it abiding with God or walking in the footsteps of Christ to go to war?” If it be, let Christians do so; if not, what then? You have only one question to ask yourself, namely, “Is the profession of arms one which a disciple of Christ can properly follow?”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There is no word from Him in any way that prohibits a man that becomes a Christian from being a soldier. But then someone says, “Haven’t we got certain specific statements by the Lord which really make this question of fighting and of killing quite impossible?” And the one, of course, that they immediately produce is from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel about “turning the other cheek,” and about not only loving your neighbour, but about loving your enemies…It always seems to be assumed that if a man is fighting in the army of the state to which he belongs against the army of an opposing state that he of necessity is hating his enemy. But surely that is a very false assumption. It is wrong to assume that every man who fought in the Second World War hated every individual German in the German army―it’s just not true. There is a difference between hating what your enemy at the moment stands for, and hating the man himself. It is possible for a man fighting for a principle, even to be sorry for the people against whom he is fighting, for their blindness, or for their ignorance, or for their sinfulness.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL: John the Baptist baptized soldiers, and rather than commanding them to forsake warfare, he exhorted them to be satisfied with their wages and not to be a burden to anyone, Luke 3:14. The centurion of Matthew 8 is praised for his faith and was not dismissed from his service. Cornelius the centurion, a godly man, was visited by Peter, and while Peter was preaching he received the Holy Spirit, Acts 10. There is no word of rebuke, however, nor of being dismissed from his service.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Much use is sought to be made of the fact that the centurion in Acts 10 was not told to resign his commission. It is not the way of the Spirit of God to put people under a yoke. He does not say to the newly converted soul “you must give up this or that.” The grace of God meets a man where he is, with a full salvation, and then teaches him how to walk by presenting the words and ways of Christ.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Here is a country going to war. What does the Christian do? He, now, is in duty bound to examine what his country is saying, and what his country is doing. If he is satisfied that it is an entirely wrong cause, he is perfectly justified in refusing to have anything to do with it, because the cause is wrong, it’s unjust―But what he’s satisfied that it is a just cause?
C. H. MACKINTOSH: We can only answer the question by a reference to Christ. How did He act? What did He teach? Did He ever take the sword? Did He come to destroy men’s lives? Did He not say, “He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword?”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: A man can be a conscientious pacifist―and I am talking about a Christian of course, and alright, I respect him. If he still feels that he cannot take part in war―then I wouldn’t hesitate to say that he is entitled to refuse to do so. He’ll have to bear the consequences of this, he may have punishment, he may be put in jail―if he prefers that, it is for him to decide. Ultimately, a man is left with his own conscience, and this is something the state must respect; that was why in the two World Wars, the position of the conscientious objector was always recognized. But he must never say that all Christians must be in his position―and the Christian who does fight in a war must not despise the pacifist.
