The Bible on War
Psalm 82
24th April 2022

Introduction

​

The night before President George Bush Senior declared war on Iraq in 1991 … Billy Graham stayed the night at the White House.  President Bush was no doubt seeking advice from a religious leader … who was also a close family friend … over the legitimacy of declaring war.  And this is the topic we’re looking at today; what does the Bible say about war?

Now I chose to preach on this topic in October last year … long before the war in Ukraine began.  The timing of this sermon is all GOD’S doing.  This sermon comes in a series of sermons we’re doing across 2022 … looking at the Bible’s views on particular hot topics.  So in the January holidays we looked at the Bible’s view on predestination and then abortion.  We’ll be looking at slavery in the mid-year holidays.  And I thought a timely topic for the Anzac Day weekend would be the Bible’s view on war.

And there’s a wide range of views in Christendom as to the Bible’s teaching on war … stretching from extreme warmongering at one end … down to absolute pacifism down the other.  Now I did a fair amount of reading on the topic of war for an essay I did while at Bible college.  And what I found is that the Bible is way more nuanced than those 2 extreme views.  The topic of war is very complicated.  But it’s also very important.  There are few issues in our world today … that cause more widespread devastation when we get it wrong … than the topic of war.  It is of utmost importance to the protection and flourishing of human life.  And thankfully … God has not left us in the dark as to what he wants from his creatures when it comes to the topic of war.

And I’ve got 4 points to help us unpack the Bible’s view on war today … as your sermon outline shows.  We’re going to begin by looking at just how horrifying war is.  Now widespread death and destruction is bad enough as it is.  But because war is always waged by sinful humans … excessive sin will ALWAYS ensue.  So our first point is simply titled (i) War is evil.  We’ll then turn to our Bible passage for today … Psalm 82 … to see that God has placed justice in the hands of his creatures.  He expects humans to uphold justice … including on a national scale … which means war.  So I’ve titled our second point (ii) War is sometimes a necessary evil.  We’ll THEN look at how God wants war to be waged … if it comes to war … which I’ve titled (iii) How to conduct war without evil.  And we’ll conclude with some practical application about what you and I … as regular everyday folk … can do about war … which I’ve titled (iv) How to deal with war in an evil world.

Now this is a topical sermon … which means 2 things.  Firstly … it’s not like our regular sermons.  To be honest it’s probably more like a seminar than a sermon … as we jump around the Bible a bit.  And second … it’s unlikely I’ll be able to cover EVERYTHING about this complex topic in the next 20 minutes or so.  So as is my custom for topical sermons … I’ll open it up for questions at the end.  But how about I pray … and then we’ll dive in and look at the Bible on War.

​

Prayer

​

Lord of hosts … God of Armies,

We live in a sinful and fallen world … in which evil men commit evil acts upon others.  Guide us this morning we pray … as we look to what your word commands regarding how you want us to uphold justice for the oppressed … including when injustice reaches a national scale.  And we pray this in Jesus’ precious name.  Amen.

​

War is evil

​

Well I want to begin today by making it very clear that war is to be avoided at almost any cost.  If there is any way in which we can stop violence that doesn’t entail going to war … we should totally pursue that way.  Diplomacy … sanctions … you name it.  And the REASON war should be an absolute last resort is because war NECESSARILY involves violence and death.  That’s what war is.  But that’s not what’s evil.  What’s evil is that war ALWAYS involves significant wickedness and sin OUTISDE the killing and destruction.  As any historian will tell you … there has never been a war in all of human history in which BOTH sides haven’t committed serious crimes against humanity.

Now the reason for this … is PARTLY fallen humanity.  At the absolute best of times … ‘sinners gonna sin’ … right?  But the REAL reason is that war exposes people to the type of violence humans were not designed to deal with.  This is why soldiers are trained to NOT process their emotions during war time.  If you can’t switch that off … you won’t survive long as a soldier.  Humans were not designed to deal with violence of that scale.

Yet being exposed to violence of that scale … or being asked to carry out violence of that scale … desensitises a person to violence.  And when we become desensitised to violence … our conscience shifts.  That LINE in our head … that is supposed to separate appropriate behaviour from inappropriate behaviour moves.  What we know of the brain is it gets rewired when exposed to things humans were not designed to be exposed to … like pornography or trauma or violence.  And that rewiring affects our behaviour.

So there’s an episode in 1 Samuel 25 where a young David sends his men to a rich neighbour … named Nabal … during the sheep shearing festival … to ask for some food.  David and his men had basically acted as security guards for Nabal … by ensuring his servants and flocks were not harmed or stolen.  And so David asks Nabal if he would be so generous as to provide some food for David’s men.  Nabal instead insults David … and sends his men away with a rebuke.  David responds by getting 400 of his men armed for battle … and heading off to kill Nabal and every male in his household.  Now thankfully … Nabal’s wife Abigail grabbed 50 shopping bags worth of groceries and rushed off to meet David … begging him not to attack.  She says may David not have the … quote … ‘staggering burden of needless bloodshed’ … the ‘staggering burden of needless bloodshed’ on his conscience.  And he relents.

But why would David even think of doing such a thing in the first place?  Why would David return an insult with killing every male in that household?  Firstly … David is deeply sinful … like the rest of us.  But second … the Bible calls David a ‘man of blood’.  His years of war had desensitised him to violence.  And that’s what happens in EVERY war.  Stories are emerging from Ukraine of widespread raping of women and girls … of soldiers shooting civilians indiscriminately in the street … and of civilian shelters being bombed.  Add to that the NORMAL outcomes of war … like thousands who are starving right now … because they can’t go to their local Coles for groceries … AND the millions who are displaced … and we see just how horrifying war is.

Friends the first thing we need to know about war is that War is horrifying.  But in a sinful fallen world … war IS evil.  And we would do well to avoid such evil.

​

War is sometimes a necessary evil

​

Sadly … war is sometimes a necessary evil.  The reason being … we cannot control other people.  People will sometimes commit serious sins.  And the Bible says God has put into the hands of humans … the job of stopping such evil … and bringing such evil to justice.  We see this in the passage set down for today.  In Psalm 82 … God says this to his people Israel:

Psalm 82:2-4 (NIV) "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? 3Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

So this is God crying out ‘how long’.  Usually it’s HUMANS crying out ‘How long, O Lord’.  But in Psalm 82 … God is crying out ‘how long’.  And he’s doing so because his people are not fulfilling their God given role of administering justice.  Those of us blessed enough to grow up in Australia actually have no idea what it’s like to live with serious injustice.  Praise God that OUR justice system is doing what God wants.  And what God wants is for wickedness and evil to be brought to justice.

But here’s the thing.  When injustice reaches a national scale … like for example a sovereign nation illegally invading another sovereign nation … the only way to administer justice … is on a national scale too.  And what this means is … while war is ALWAYS evil in a sinful and fallen world … it is sadly sometimes a necessary evil.

When Saddam Hussein sent 100,000 Iraqi soldiers to invade Kuwait in 1990 … there were proven cases of systematic raping of women and girls … widespread looting of houses … and murder.  And when 100,000 soldiers overrun a country … and systematically commit crimes against humanity … the ONLY way to stop that wicked oppression is with another army.  Iraq invaded in August 1990.  The UN spent 5 months trying every diplomatic approach to get Saddam to withdraw … before sending in troops in January 1991.  In my opinion … they waited 3 months too long.  5 months of raping and pillaging is horrifyingly worse than 2 months of raping and pillaging.

Now pacifists would say they should have waited longer.  Some pacifists claim we should only use NON-lethal means when dealing with criminals or tyrants.  The problem is … they can’t actually come up with alternatives that work.  At some point … diplomacy simply becomes inaction.  And as Edmund Burke famously said ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’.  As Ps 82 says … God does not want his people doing nothing.

​

How to conduct war without evil

​

So … while evil will ALWAYS occur during war … from BOTH sides … war is sadly a necessary evil at times.  The next question is … how to conduct war in a righteous manner?  If it does come to war … how do we conduct war without evil?  Well like I’ve argued … it’s actually impossible to in a sinful and fallen world.  It’s just like it’s impossible for you and me to go through the rest of TODAY without sinning.  We can’t.

However, just like the Bible gives us the norms we are to aspire to today … to not sin … so too does the Bible give us the norms to which God’s people are to aspire to in war.  These norms were first discussed by Augustine … that great Christian theologian of the 4th century.  And they’ve come to be known as ‘Just War Theory’.  Just War Theory is a collection of 7 principles … all on your outline … that MUST be followed … if we are to conduct a war in a just and righteous way.  So at the risk of oversimplifying war … the difference between the goodies and the baddies in any conflict … is which side adheres to these principles.  So let me run through them … before we try to apply all of this:

The first principle of Just War Theory is what is called a Just Cause.  What this means is the sword can only be taken up against those who deserve it on account of some fault.  Going to war because you want someone’s land or resources … or because you want to force them to convert to your religion … is not a just cause.  The Crusades for example … did not have a just cause.

Preventing the Rwandan genocide on the other hand … IS a just cause according to the Bible.  Sadly it doesn’t count according to the UN.  China and Russia keep blocking the UN from introducing humanitarian issues as a legitimate cause for war.  I wonder why?  But liberating a country from invaders is a just cause.  And stopping a madman who is threatening to use weapons of mass destruction is a just cause … according to the Bible AND the UN.  But a just war needs a just cause.

Second … a just war must have Legitimate Authority.  What this means is a society can ONLY be taken to war by the governing body that society is lawfully subject to.  Terrorists can NEVER engage in just war … because they’re not legitimate governments.

Third … a just war must have a Right Intent.  Your REASON for engaging in war must be to pursue good … pursue peace … or pursue justice.  Greed or power are NOT legitimate grounds for war.

Forth … a just war must have a Reasonable Chance of Success.  Ordering platoon after platoon to storm the trenches at Gallipoli … knowing they would be cut down by enemy machine guns was not just.

Fifth … war must be a Last Resort … as we’ve already discussed.  BUT … as we’ve ALSO discussed … entering ANOTHER round of peace talks while atrocities continue … at some point becomes a miscarriage of justice.

Sixth … just war must be conducted with Discrimination.  This means not targeting non-combatants.  Now exactly WHO non-combatants are is a complicating factor.  Army doctors and nurses are non-combatants … even though they wear a uniform.  Whereas the guy who programs military targeting systems cooperates directly in hostilities.  So it’s complicated.

Having said that … there will ALWAYS be collateral damage in war.  We just don’t possess the technology to ensure innocent people don’t get killed in war.  A JUST war will do everything in its power to minimise civilian casualties.  So bombing civilian shelters … carpet bombing … or dropping nuclear bombs … are ALL examples of a LACK of discrimination.  They’re out.  A just war … which I’m proud to say the West follows these days … means targeting of military objectives only.

And the 7th and final principle of Just War Theory is Proportionality.  The methods deployed in open warfare shouldn’t exceed the initial problem.  If a foreign nation bombs one of your buildings … you don’t respond by leveling one of their cities.  You have a proportional response.

Now as I’ve said … no nation or army has ever followed these 7 principles perfectly.  There’s no such thing as perfection in a sinful fallen world.  But the difference between the goodies and the baddies is … the goodies will do whatever it takes to follow these 7 principles … whereas the baddies will generally do whatever it takes to win.

​

How to deal with war in an evil world

​

So … with all that in mind … let’s try and put some wheels on this thing.  What do you and I … as regular folk … do about all this?  Well unless we’re a member of parliament … or a member of the armed forces … we are unlikely to ever have to employ the 7 principles of just war theory.  So what I want to do is close with 4 things Christian civilians can do with regards to dealing with war in an evil world:

And the first is … don’t be a warmonger OR a pacifist.  Don’t SEEK war.  Even if conducted in a perfectly righteous manner … war always brings untold misery and suffering to millions.  Actively pray for the avoidance of war.  Pray that the war in Ukraine will end soon.  Do everything in your power to avoid war.  But at the same time … don’t be an absolute pacifist.  It’s actually impossible to argue for pacifism from the Bible.  God commands his OT people to go to war on many occasions.  And it is always to bring about justice.  In Genesis 15 God tells Abraham that the 4th generation of his descendants will conquer the Promised Land.  Why the 4th generation?

Genesis 15:16 (NIV) … for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

The reason God commanded Israel to conquer the Promised Land was because the sin of the Canaanites … a.k.a. the Amorites … had reached full measure.  Add to that the fact both John the Baptist AND Jesus respected soldiers for the roles they played.  And the Apostle Paul says governments ‘bear the sword’ for administering justice (Rom 13:4).  So avoid warmongering.  But also avoid absolute pacifism.

Second … we can sign up to help.  It is a good and noble thing to serve in your government or your armed forces.  It’s also a good and noble thing to design weapons … or work for weapons manufacturers.  The reason being … they are how you maintain peace and prosperity for a nation.  That old adage is true.  Si Vis Pasum … parabellum.  If you want peace … prepare for war.  And our government has been dropping the ball on this of late … as have most western governments.  But please know … it is a good and noble thing to work towards securing the peace and prosperity of your country.

Third … as a western democracy … we have the ability as citizens … and the obligation under God … to keep our government and armed forces accountable.  What that means is … if our government takes us to war … we are to respect their decision … but we can ask them to justify it.  Alright.  We must submit to their decision.  The armed forces have to submit to their decision.  If they DON’T … then the armed forces are ruling the country … not the government.  But we can ask them to justify their decision … to show us this is a just war.  And we must also keep our soldiers accountable.  Their job is to fight injustice … not cause it.  Being desensitised to violence is no excuse for war crimes.  So our soldiers must be held accountable for their actions too.

But forth and last … our soldiers are to be honoured.  The only reason we enjoy western democracy is because our ANZAC soldiers did what they were told … risking and sometimes giving their lives for their country.  And as Christians … we know more than anyone … that such sacrifices should be honoured.  Jesus says in:

John 15:13 (NIV) Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Yet the fascinating thing about the cross is it’s not JUST Jesus loving us.  It’s Jesus administering justice.  Our sin MUST be held to account.  It is UNJUST of God to not punish sin.  The cross is where God administered justice … by taking the punishment for sin upon himself.  And friends … that’s similar to what soldiers are doing.  They are administering justice … for us … to protect our freedoms.  And they’re doing so at the risk of their own lives.  Such sacrifice should be honoured.  The treatment the US soldiers got returning from Vietnam was utterly shameful.  May we rather honour our soldiers … who risk … and sometimes give their lives in the service of their country.

​

Conclusion

​

So there you have it.  The Bible’s view on war.  War is horrifying … and ALWAYS evil in a sinful fallen world.  Yet war is a necessary evil … when wicked men reach the top levels of government.  If it does come to war … God wants war conducted in a just way.  And we as God’s people are to use whatever means at our disposal to ensure that is done … and honour those who fight … and sometimes die … for us in that.