Christian pacifism
Christian pacifism is the theological and ethical position according to which pacifism and non-violence have both a scriptural and rational basis for Christians, and affirms that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith. Christian pacifists state that Jesus himself was a pacifist who taught and practiced pacifism and that his followers must do likewise. Notable Christian pacifists include Martin Luther King Jr., Leo Tolstoy, Adin Ballou, Dorothy Day, Ammon Hennacy, and brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan.
Christian anarchists, such as Ballou and Hennacy, believe that adherence to Christianity requires not just pacifism but, because governments inevitably threatened or used force to resolve conflicts, anarchism. Most Christian pacifists, including the peace churches, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and individuals like John Howard Yoder, make no claim to be anarchists.
Origins
Old Testament
Roots of Christian pacifism can be found in the scriptures of the Old Testament according to Baylor University professor of religion, John A. Wood. Millard C. Lind explains the theology of warfare in ancient Israel as God directing the people of Israel to trust in him, not in the warring way of the nations, and to seek peace, not coercive power. Stephen B. Chapman expresses the Old Testament describes God's divine intervention, not human power politics, or the warring king, as key to the preservation of Israel. Lind asserts the Old Testament reflects that God occasionally sanctions, even commands wars to the point of God actually fighting utilizing the forces of nature, miraculous acts or other nations. Lind further argues God fights so that Israel does not have to fight wars like other nations because God delivers them. God promised to fight for Israel, to be an enemy to their enemies and oppose all that oppose them. Pacifist God, John Howard Yoder explains, sustained and directed his community not by power politics but by the creative power of God's word, of speaking through the law and the prophets. The scriptures in the Old Testament provide background of God's great victory over evil, sin and death. Stephen Vantassel contends the Old Testament exists to put the issue of war and killing in historical and situational context.The role of war is developed and changes throughout the Old Testament. Chapman asserts God used war to conquer and provide the Promised Land to Israel, and then to defend that land. The Old Testament explains that Israel does not have to fight wars like other nations because God delivers them. Starting with the Exodus out of Egypt, God fights for Israel as a warrior rescuing his people from the oppressive Egyptians. In Exodus 14:13, Moses instructs the Israelites, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." The miraculous parting of the Red Sea is God being a warrior for Israel through acts of nature and not human armies. God's promise to fight on behalf of his chosen people is affirmed in the scriptures of the Old Testament.
According to Old Testament scholar Peter C. Craige, during the military conquests of the Promised Land, the Israelites fought in real wars against real human enemies; however, it was God who granted them victory in their battles. Craige further contends God determined the outcome of human events with his participation through those humans and their activity; essentially, that God fought through the fighting of his people. Once the Promised Land was secured, and the nation of Israel progressed, God used war to protect or punish the nation of Israel with his sovereign control of the nations to achieve his purposes. Yoder affirms as long as Israel trusted and followed God, God would work his power through Israel to drive occupants from lands God willed them to occupy. The future of Israel was dependent solely on its faith and obedience to God as mediated through the Law and prophets, and not on military strength.
Jacob Enz explains God made a covenant with his people of Israel, placing conditions on them that they were to worship only him, and be obedient to the laws of life in the Ten Commandments. When Israel trusted and obeyed God, the nation prospered; when they rebelled, God spoke through prophets such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, telling Israel that God would wage war against Israel to punish her. War was used in God's ultimate purpose of restoring peace and harmony for the whole earth with the intention towards salvation of all the nations with the coming of the Messiah and a new covenant. Jacob Enz describes God's plan was to use the nation of Israel for a higher purpose, and that purpose was to be the mediator between all the peoples and God. The Old Testament reflects how God helped his people of Israel, even after Israel's repeated lapses of faith, demonstrating God's grace, not violence.
The Old Testament explains God is the only giver of life and God is sovereign over human life. Man's role is to be a steward who should take care of all of God's creation, and that includes protecting human life. Craige explains God's self-revelation through his participating in human history is referred to as "Salvation History." The main objective of God's participation is man's salvation. God participates in human history by acting through people and in the world that is both in need of salvation, and is thus imperfect. God participates in the human activity of war through sinful human beings for his purpose of bringing salvation to the world.
Studies conducted by scholars Friedrich Schwally, Johannes Pedersen, Patrick D. Miller, Rudolf Smend and Gerhard von Rad maintain the wars of Israel in the Old Testament were by God's divine command. This divine activity took place in a world of sinful men and activities, such as war. God's participation through evil human activity such as war was for the sole purposes of both redemption and judgment. God's presence in these Old Testament wars does not justify or deem them holy, and instead is interpreted as serving to provide hope in a situation of hopelessness. The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" and the fundamental principle it holds true is that reverence for human life must be given the highest importance. The Old Testament points to a time when weapons of war shall be transformed into the instruments of peace, and the hope for the consummation of the Kingdom of God when there will be no more war. Wood points to the scriptures of Isaiah and Micah that express the pacifist view of God's plan to bring peace without violence.
Ministry of Jesus
appeared to teach pacifism during his ministry when he told his disciples:Early Church
Several Church Fathers interpreted Jesus' teachings as advocating nonviolence. For example, Justin Martyr writes, "we who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ," and, "we who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike weapons,—our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into implements of tillage,—and we cultivate piety...". Tatian writes that, "I am not anxious to be rich; I decline military command Die to the world, repudiating the madness that is in it"; and Aristides writes that "Through love towards their oppressors, they persuade them to become Christians." Hippolytus of Rome went so far as to deny soldiers baptism: "A soldier of the civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath. If he is unwilling to comply, he must be rejected for baptism." Tertullian formed an early argument against statolatry, "There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters—God and Cæsar," also writing, "the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away?" Origen, whose father Leonidus was martyred during the persecution of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the year AD 202, writes, "Jews were permitted to take up arms in defence of the members of their families, and to slay their enemies, the Christian Lawgiver altogether forbidden the putting of men to death He nowhere teaches that it is right for His own disciples to offer violence to any one, however wicked." Further examples include Arnobius, "evil ought not to be requited with evil, that it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it, that we should rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another, an ungrateful world is now for a long period enjoying a benefit from Christ"; Archelaus, "many were added to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and threw off the belt of military service"; Cyprian of Carthage, "The whole world is wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, is called a virtue when it is committed wholesale"; and Lactantius, "For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare"; while Gregory of Nyssa conveys the spirit of anarchism, "How can a man be master of another's life, if he is not even master of his own? Hence he ought to be poor in spirit, and look at Him who for our sake became poor of His own will; let him consider that we are all equal by nature, and not exalt himself impertinently against his own race."Saint Maximilian of Tebessa was executed by the order of the proconsul Dion for his refusal to serve in the Roman army as he thought killing was evil; he became recognized as a Christian martyr. However, many early Christians also served in the army, with multiple military saints before the time of Constantine, and the presence of large numbers of Christians in his army may have been a factor in the conversion of Constantine to Christianity. Marcus Aurelius allegedly reported to the Roman Senate that his Christian soldiers fought with prayers instead of conventional weapons, which resulted in the Rain Miracle of the Marcomannic Wars.