The Bible and the War

Major fighting in Iraq is over. The United States must now engage in rebuilding the nation. As building peace goes forward, debate about the propriety of the war continues. Consider Romans 13:8-10.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Here God says loving your neighbor fulfills a debt. When you follow God's commandments, you pay your debt. Paul quotes the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy. We know this from the order he gives. Deuteronomy is a book of love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" (Deuteronomy 6:5). When you sum up the commandments, Romans 13:9, you get love. The debt is therefore the dept of love.

Negatively, loving your neighbor does no evil, including murder. Romans 12:19, part of the context, exhorts, "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." If you take revenge, you commit murder. You fail in your debt of love. So, in seeking punishment for evil, you must never take things into your own hands. Doing so is evil.

God however avenges evil using the instrumentality of civil government. Once again the context helps us. Romans 13:4 stipulates civil government "is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil." In other words, civil government may rightly avenge evil. In such cases, civil government actually fulfills the requirements of love.

What about mass murder? The unprovoked attacks against Americans on September 11, 2001 were acts of mass murder. They were acts of war. We may not act individually to avenge such murders. However, just war avenges such evil. A. A. Hodge puts it this way in his Commentary on the Confession of Faith. "In order to make a war right in God's sight, it is not only necessary that our enemy should aim to do us wrong, but also (1.) That the wrong he attempts should directly or remotely threaten the national life; and (2.) That war be the only means to avert it." It is this second point that was and that still is hotly contested.

Hodge goes on to say, "A war may be purely defensive in spirit and intent while it is aggressive in the manner in which it is conducted. The question of right depends on the former, not the latterÂ?upon the purpose for which, and not upon the mere order in which, or the theatre upon which, the attack is made."

But the Bible exhorts you to love your enemies. True enough. God loves His enemies in Christ. He avenges the sin of His enemies in Christ. Outside of Christ we stand condemned. Either way God avenges sin.

Putting all this together you may engage in and support just war. In doing so you fulfill your debt of love. You fulfill God's law. On the other hand, failure to do so is evil. With this in mind you may make a judgment regarding Iraq.