Is the God of Peace a God of War?: Reconciling the Older and Newer Testaments

I recently wrote an exegetical paper on the Ten Teachings, which can be found in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. For those unsure, an exegesis is a fancy way of saying I wrote an extensive interpretation paper of a passage of Scripture. What I found was that the 6th teaching, which is commonly translated "do not murder" or "do not kill" (the former commonly accepted as being the more accurate translation), is an all-encompassing kind of act against another human being. Under this category, exists the act of intentional killing out of hatred or force and the act of unintentional killing of another human being. It is, yet, that God allows and seemingly ordains conquest of war and siege warfare, which entails an array of violent and murderous acts against other people groups. We often gloss over passages that say that Israel "utterly destroyed" another nation. What we do not realize is that this language implies barbaric killing of both, soldiers and innocent civilians (men, women, and children alike), the destruction, including flooding and burning, of crops and livestock, and enslaving the enemy. It often was even the cause for famines that led people to eating bird droppings and their own children in order to survive (2 Kings 6; Lamentations 2). Now, on this occasion, it is quite difficult for me to reconcile not just the Hebrew Scriptures with the Newer Testament, but also the Hebrew Scriptures with themselves. God lays out one rule and seems to have broken it all at the same time. What are we to make of this? I will submit a suggestion.

In order to reconcile these seemingly contradictory passages, I will make three important points to consider: firstly, we must agree that our human minds are finite, and what might not seem right to us is seen very differently by an infinite being, who has perfect judgment and encompasses everything that is. This is to say that what God does and allows may very well be beyond our comprehension--God is just to do whatever he sees as right (this may seem like a generic cop-out, but it remains and must remain regardless. Our humble state is that which recognizes One infinitely greater than ourselves); Secondly, while God allows and seemingly ordains violence, he never desires it; and thirdly, God has chosen to reveal himself throughout time in a progressive manner ultimately leading up to his manifestation in Christ.

The first point stands alone. We recognize that if we can understand everything about God, including what he does, says, and allows, then we cannot rightfully call him God because he would then be no greater than us whom he created. The second point is that which suggests God never wanted and still does not want violence against his creation to happen. He always desires peace. When we consider the story of Noah's ark, the first thing that we recognize is that God has done something horrible. He has destroyed nearly all of creation. We ought to recognize, however, that this story stands out in the time it was written amongst other religious stories like it. God seems to be grieved by humanity. Why is he grieved? Because "every inclination of humanity's heart was all evil all of the time..." and there were all kinds of violence in the land. God could not take it when humanity, whom he created in his very image to be like him, became hateful and anti-creation. And when he restores the created order through Noah, he makes sure that Noah knows how valuable and even sacred human life really is (Gen 9:6). And not only that, but God also puts a bow in the sky. We understand this to be a rainbow, which it is. But what the rainbow is symbolic of is peace; it is to say that God himself is hanging up his weapon (a bow) because he does not want to fight with his creation anymore. He set the example for creation by hanging up his own weapon and hoping that they would also hang up theirs and stop fighting with him and all that he created. The world that God desires according to this passage is one of an all-encompassing peace. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom and the Greek word is eirene (pronounced ay-ray-nay), which constitutes wholeness or completeness that brings order in the midst of chaos and an inner state of tranquility that pervades every area of our lives. This is how God desired for the world to be: whole, complete, and in a state of perfect peace.

Another passage where we can see this theme is in Zechariah 9. In verse 6, God speaks of taking away and destroying the chariots and horses and the bows that were used in battles and wars--all because he desires for peace to be proclaimed to all the nations. While God desires peace, he is working with a people who do not. And this is what leads me to the final point. What God does has everything to do with what humans desire and what humans do. This is not to say that God is controlled by our actions; but it is to say that he takes us seriously enough to allow us to be free to do as we so desire. And accordingly, God chooses to participate in the ongoing drama of life. The way, then, that God chooses to reveal himself to humanity, given these conditions, is according to humanity's desire to know God. It is that God revealed the fullness of who he is in relationship to humanity in a progressive way throughout time. While he told humanity that war and violence is unacceptable, he had to work with a people who accepted it not only as a part of life, but as a way of life. God eventually not only desires this to be restored but he also acts in a way that causes humans to actually make love and peace a way of life rather than war and violence.

So, as I mentioned above, God gave the Israelites a teaching that they obviously did not live by--do not murder. We understand that God gave this law because he desired them to be a peaceful people made in his image. However, God also promised Abraham that he would have many descendants and that they would have a particular land. Well, the only way that anybody in the ancient Near East understood the blessing of land was that you gain land by conquering it. This teaching and this promise are opposing each other in the minds of the ancient culture. All of the ancient Near East cultures believed that divine conquest was the way to gain land. It was understood that if a nation went to battle and won, then it was because the gods wanted them to have the land. The idea of conquest was nearly always linked to not only a battle between people, but also a battle between the gods of the people. Furthermore, when the Israelites heard that God had promised them land, they thought that it was their responsibility to go to war in the name of their God. It was the only way that they knew. They even assumed that it was the only way to act faithfully upon the promise that God gave them. God could have given them the land in another way, but the Israelites would not take the land in another way.

Remember that the entire Bible is the story of God restoring a fallen humanity. And part of being a fallen humanity is that we don't always get it. The Israelites didn’t quite get this concept of all-encompassing peace. It was so foreign to them and their culture. Perhaps they understood that the peace of God was an inner state of the heart; and certainly, they understood that times of peace in the land were better times than those of war in the land. But they also were influenced by the cultures around them that said, “the gods will fight our battles for us if we have made them happy to do so.” Israel likely believed that if they hadn’t gone to battle, then their God would never be known amongst the nations of the world. When Israel won a battle, their enemies might have believed that Israel’s God won that battle for them. Somehow, God took something that he didn’t approve of and made something good out of it. The people defeated in the battle didn’t say, “why would Israel’s God do this to us?” Rather, they would have asked, “if Israel’s God is powerful enough, then why wouldn’t he have done this to us?”

Again, God was working within a very fallen culture created by humanity. He chose to work within the realm of human fallen-ness as a testimony to the freedom he has given us to co-rule over creation. He constantly reminded them that he desired peace and a non-violent created order even if they did not completely understand this concept. God worked with the Israelites little by little to bring them to the place of knowing what he desired for human life to be called sacred and not expendable; ultimately God chose to express this in a very tangible way—the person of Christ. As Christians, we understand Jesus to be the bodily manifestation of all that is God. Jesus, in many ways, is the remedy for a fallen humanity. We must understand that when it comes to difficulties reconciling war and peace in the Bible, Christ was God’s ultimate means of expressing his love for all of humanity, paving a way that brought an all-encompassing peace to those who truly follow him and his ways. When we act violently, we are acting anti-kingdom of God as revealed by Christ. When we go to war, we are failing to follow the Prince of Peace who was God’s ultimate reminder of the reality he so desired. I am not hoping to offend anybody by this post; I am hoping, however, to stir the minds and hearts of those who truly desire to heed the words and the way of Christ. Please consider this, rebuttal my thoughts, and ask the tough questions. This is a safe place to dialogue about these kinds of things.

Peace to the One Whom Jesus Loved

I wrote the following quite a while ago, and if you have been on my facebook page, you may have read it; but I think it is something that we need to be reminded of from time to time, so I am posting it here. My hope is that we begin to take seriously the words of Christ, because that is when we begin to have ears to actually hear him. So hear are some of those words with the commentary of someone who is merely trying to figure things out:

I get so frustrated sometimes. I mean, I get so scuffed. I struggle deeply when others don't get it...When I don't get it...When we just don't get it…when we actually begin to believe that God is angry with us before he loves us. I was reading my Bible today, and I just finished reading the gospel written by the apostle John. It is quite a wonderful book, and it has caused me to think about some things in my own life and in the way I carry myself. A particular passage has struck my attention today, and I propose that we ought to think about this, and allow the passage to change our lives.
So, beginning in 16:33, Jesus says this to the disciples, "I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." This verse is the last thing that Jesus says to his disciples before he is arrested, tried, flogged, and crucified. Now let me jump ahead to chapter 20. What is the first thing that you might suppose Jesus says to the disciples after being raised from the dead? Well, 20:19 says this, "Peace be with you!" When the disciples realize it is Jesus, they are totally stoked, and Jesus says it again, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And it goes on to say "he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Again, when Jesus reveals himself to Thomas, who was doubting the disciple's witnesses of Jesus' resurrection. The scripture says that Thomas locked himself in the house, but Jesus some how came in, and the first thing that Jesus says to Thomas is "Peace be with you!"

Now put yourselves in the shoes of these disciples...Your leader, who you believed to be the one from God, who would save the world from death, has been utterly shamed by the cross--the most unhonorable death. Who ought you to follow now? You put all of your trust in him. You dedicated your whole life to being exactly like him. You followed him everywhere, slept where he slept, ate wherever he ate; you were troubled with whatever he was troubled with. You actually became homeless just to follow this guy, and ultimately you suck without him. You were a nobody before you met him. You were merely an average person learning from your parents how to make a living and get by in life, and he came along and told you that you were worth teaching and he made you into a completely new person.

Now he is gone, and you don't know who you are any more. Everything that you believed about him and the things that he told you were crushed. So, you hang your head in grief and despair; and you lock yourself in your house because you too are ashamed to be seen by anyone—for you might be seen as a nobody once again.

Sometimes we get so down. So low. We are dealing with so much crap in life, that we feel abandoned by everyone and everything that has ever been important to us. We have reoccurring doubt in God like Thomas had. Our home life has completely fallen apart, or a relationship with another has caused so much pain. Possibly, we are so ashamed of who we are or where we’ve been that we go home and lock the doors so we don’t have to deal with life’s curses anymore. And we think to ourselves at times, “I can’t go to God, he is angry and frustrated with who I am and what I have done. I always let him down. I am tired of asking for what I truly do not deserve—forgiveness.”

Here’s what Jesus says to you. It is not “I am so ashamed of you.” It is not “You need to get it together.” He says, “Peace be with you!” Even though you lock the doors and give up, he finds a way in, and he says again, “Peace be with you.” He looks at you and he breathes on you saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He remembers the day he created you; and just like he breathed life into Adam and Eve when they were created, he did the same when he created you. And now Jesus is breathing new life into you. It is life that brings peace beyond understanding.

I wanted to share this with you all because I have gone through so much of my life feeling like I have let God down, and that I could never live up to his sacrifice. But I am learning that Jesus truly gives peace. He does not desire for us to be burdened by our failures. If you are beating yourself up over your struggles or your failures, that is not what Jesus desires. Sure, you ought to be sorry, but Jesus’ ultimate concern is that you receive his grace, and spread it to others. He loves you, and he desires to have you as his own. I ask you not to shove away the love of Jesus, and the peace he desires for you to have. You must trust in that promise, and live by the grace of Jesus. He died to take away your sin, shame, and guilt…that is true love.

I have just one last closing thought. Allow me to jump around the text once more. Throughout the entire gospel of John, there is this anonymous guy mentioned. He is referred to as the “other disciple” sometimes, or the “disciple who was with them” other times. But the name that this guy is given throughout the gospel is “The one whom Jesus loved” or the “Beloved disciple.” And now, when we think about it, we think…did Jesus love this guy more than he loved the other disciples? Or we might be tempted to think that this guy was better than the other disciples in some way shape or form. Maybe he did something that was great, or he understood concepts of truth to a fuller extent than any of the other disciples, or…We could go on and on. But as we read at the very end of the gospel, this is what John says about this anonymous character: “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down.” This guy that John leaves anonymous throughout the entire book ended up being John! Now, if this is John, then we kinda get a picture of how he views himself—he believes that he is “the one whom Jesus loved.” He knew it. He claimed it. He could not get away from it. He identified himself fully in Jesus’ love. That is how he wanted people to know him. When will we be so bold in our faith in Jesus Christ that we claim to be “The one whom Jesus loved?” Find your identity in Christ and live grace. In closing, I will say to you on behalf of Jesus, “Peace be with you!”

--The One Whom Jesus Loves

The Angry Christian

Welcome friends, today’s sermon will focus on the passage of Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 through 26. It says,

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny (NIV).”

This is a hard passage for us to contemplate because most, if not all of us, have been angry with another person. We have been angry with our parents, siblings, co-workers, and even people in this church. Sometimes we can be hard on ourselves when we are angry, because as a Christian we are supposed to love everyone and never be angry…ever. Well friends, today we are going to try to figure out this passage together and try to make sense out of it.

First, we must look at our example, Jesus. Did Jesus ever get angry with anyone? Let’s take a look at John chapter 2 verses 13 through 16.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market (NIV)!”

Here we see Jesus getting angry about the selling of sacrifices in the temple. The temple was supposed to be a place of worship, but it was changed into a marketplace. So the Jesus who said, if we were to be angry at our brother or sister will face judgment, is the same Jesus who got angry with those in the temple. If we continue to read this passage in John, we do not see Jesus reconciling with those men. In fact, the bible does not say if he did or not. How do we view this? There are two ways we can go from here. One way we can see this is that Jesus contradicted himself or the other way is that we have been misinterpreting Jesus’ preaching on murder.

Looking at different English translations of this passage, most of them are similar to the NIV. However, the ones that are different have the words, “without cause” in regards to anger. It made me think that sometimes we get angry at someone and there is no cause for the anger. When I was younger, I had anger issues. I can remember times when I would get mad at a classmate and try to pick a fight with them without recalling any reason why I was mad at them. Sometimes I would get mad at someone because a friend was mad at them or I just did not like them. If we look back to biblical history, God would get angry at the Israelites because they would worship other gods and would not recognize God as their one and only god. Jesus got angry at those men selling sacrifices in the temple because they turned a place of worship into a marketplace. I think that it is okay to get angry as long as there is a legitimate reason for the anger. However, there is the second half to this teaching.

When we are angry at someone, it is extremely important to be reconciled with that person. The writer of Matthew wanted to emphasis that believers must strive to be reconciled with fellow believers so that the church can be a community of love.[1] Imagine a church where everyone was angry, frustrated, and hurting one another; would this be a Christian community that you would want to be a part of? The church should be a safe place for believers to worship God and to be comfortable with each other. It is also important that we reconcile things with those who are not Christians. One day, my dad was at work and had a heated conversation with another co-worker. During that conversation, he said some unkind things to that person. After the conversation my dad was working and realized what he had said and felt bad about them. He went to the co-worker’s office and apologized and asked for forgiveness. The co-worker though it was weird that my dad wanted forgiveness from him, but he forgave him anyway. I believe that it is important to reconcile things with both believers and non-believers because it shows the love of Christ to them.

Some of us in this room has been hurt or has hurt someone. Maybe it was another believer. Maybe it was someone who does not know Christ. If you can relate to this then you must reconcile things with that person. If not, then God will judge you, plus you will also store up a lot of negative feelings in you which could damage you physically, mentally, and spiritually. So while the music is playing, I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to search you and help you reconcile things with someone you have affected.

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[1] Reginald H. Fuller, Matthew, Harper’s Bible Commentary, James L. Mays, Gen. Ed. (San Fransico: Harper & Row, 1988), 957.