War
and
New
Testament
Ethics
Prof
Paul
Helm
Teaching
Fellow,
Regent
College,
Canada
Introduction
I
have
been
invited
to
say
something
about
how
Scripture
is
to
be
interpreted
in
respect
of
war,
and
especially
aspects
of
warfare
that
are
not
new,
but
have
come
to
prominence
in
our
current
situation,
particularly
torture
and
the
various
terms,
perhaps
in
some
cases
euphemistic
terms,
that
are
used
for
it.
We
shall
come
to
that,
but
not
before
we
say
something
about
what
I
shall
offer
as
a
framework
for
interpretation,
a
variant
of
the
Reformers’
doctrine
of
the
two
kingdoms.
And
then,
secondly,
to
look
at
how
the
Apostolic
writings
view
moral
reasoning
and
some
peculiarities
of
our
present
political
situation.
It
is
not
my
intention,
nor
is
it
my
brief,
to
offer
a
set
of
first-order
rules
to
guide
conduct
under
the
matters
to
be
discussed,
but
rather
to
look
at
the
methods
and
approaches
that
Christians
who
take
the
authority
of
the
Bible
seriously
ought
to
adopt.
The Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms
(Scripture)
The Two
Kingdoms (Luther and Calvin)
The Two Kingdoms and Waging of War
The Two Kingdoms and the Lordship of Christ
Differences Between our Situation and that of the Reformers
Reasoning About Morality, According to the New Testament
A Case Study–Torture (Looking at Grudem, Mohler, etc)
Conclusion
I have attempted to argue that in important respects New Testament ethics for Christians is different from Old Testament ethics for Israelites. Its governing question is not‘What commands or rules should we obey or follow?’but‘What sort of people ought we to be?’The centre of gravity of New Testament ethics lies in virtue, gift, grace, just as regeneration issues in a new“man”,a new person, a new nature. The ethics is from the inside out. I also suggest that such an ethic is congruent with the internationalising of the people of God in the New Testament era. Congregations of Christians may well find themselves in a wide variety of circumstances which call for different applications or emphases of the virtues of the Spirit. Christians in a time of just war may be called to act differently from when their country is engaged in what is widely regarded as an unjust war, or during a time of peace. In a similar way a Christians congregation which is socially deprived and low in attainment will need to have certain emphases made in the character of their Christian graces, while another which is affluent and fairly insulated will need others. Or, to bring this Conclusion nearer to what we have just been discussing, congregations in garrison towns may be under different pressures from run of the mill‘civilian’local churches. Finally, recognising the legitimacy of such differences among churches is one way in which Christian liberty and diversity may legitimately be expressed.
Questions
1) Is an evangelical church that held to conscientious objection/pacifism consistent with the New Testament?
2) Given the absence of teaching about war and peace, bearing arms etc. in the NT, are views about such matters simply a matter of Christian freedom?
3) Could a Christian consistently have a career as a spy, in MI6 say?
4) Is the decision to torture prisoners for a possible greater good just one more of the many hard choices that Christians may face, or is it in some way ‘special’?
5) ‘It is difficult to exaggerate the difference between OT Israel and the NT church on the question of the connection between the commands of God and waging war’. How fair is this?
6) ‘Christian churches which disavow the establishment principle are often as captive to the culture as an established church’. How far would you agree?
7) ‘The NT endorses/connives at slavery but is silent about issues of war and peace’. Is this true? If so, what is the significance of this?
8) Should churches pray corporately for e.g. the solution of the ‘Middle East crisis’? Is there NT warrant for this?
9) ‘The armed forces, the police and the prison service – they’re all in the same boat together’. Is this fair? If not, why not?
10)What bearing, if any, does 1 Cor 5:10 (‘then you would need to go out of the world’) have on whether a Christian should take up a career in the armed force?
1 comment:
Lots to digest here from all the papers from the Affinity conference. Thank you for sharing them with a wider audience.
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