A Biblical Argument for Self Defense

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God gives temporal authorities the sword to punish wrongdoers. Joshua was judge of Israel, and instrument of judgment against the idolatrous Canaanites.

The news of this week is that there has been another mass shooting of innocent people. It happened in a Christian church near Fort Worth, Texas, during worship on the Sunday after Christmas. A gunman started shooting people in the church, and killed two people (including a security guard) before armed parishioners pulled out their own guns and shot and killed the murderer. This was a textbook case of how the freedom to carry concealed weapons by law-abiding citizens helps prevent more murders. But what does the Bible say about such things?

I should first say that I hate guns. I hate violence and the murder and injuries that are caused by guns. I believe that gun violence against people is evil and that the world would be a better place if no one ever used a gun to injure another human being. I am not generally a violent person, and I went into the ministry to save people, not hurt them. I do not own a gun, though I own a couple pocket knives that could possibly be used to save the lives of others, but more on that below.

When I was young and naïve, after the shooting of President Reagan, I was convinced to be in favor of some form of gun control. However, after further study and consideration I have come to reluctantly see the wisdom in the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. This limited “right” properly recognizes that we live in a fallen world, and there are times when violence and tyranny must be met by violence in order to protect the lives and freedom of innocent people. This freedom still makes me a little uncomfortable, but I am no longer in favor of broad gun control.

The nails and spear were not weapons which Jesus used against others, but He allowed them to be used on Him for our redemption.

As a Minister of the Gospel, I know that I am potentially a target for some evil person who is angry at God and has some murderous intent. I knew when I took my ordination vows that I was dedicating my life in service to God and to God’s people in the congregation where I serve. I also knew that if society changed (as it is in the process of doing) that I would be a prime target for those who seek to harm the church through violence. I pray that such a thing does not come to pass, but if it does I pray that I would stand firm confessing Christ as my Lord and Savior without fear of death, nor of anything that man can do to me. Christ is risen from the dead, and has promised to bring me with Him into His heavenly kingdom as His redeemed child. “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6)

There are some Biblical precedents for arming oneself for self defense and the protection of one’s neighbors. Abraham raised a small army and defeated several kings who kidnapped his nephew, Lot, and stole his property (see Genesis 14). Lot, and the others who were kidnapped with him were rescued and their belongings were restored. Also, in the Book of Esther, the Persian King who ruled over the Jewish captives in exile in Babylon, allowed the Jews to arm and defend themselves from those who sought to kill them. If you recall, the king had foolishly passed a law authorizing the killing of Jews, not realizing that his favorite wife, Esther, was a Jew. Even though the king was prevented by law from changing his foolish law, he issued another decree that the Jews could be well armed and fight to defend themselves against any who sought to destroy them (see Esther 8). This sounds like a recipe for civil war to have two opposing laws calling for violence, but it prevented a greater slaughter. The king also gave great honor to Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, who previously uncovered and foiled a plot against the king.

Jesus did not defend Himself at His trial, even though He was innocent. He trusted in God to judge Him and vindicate Him.

Generally, God-fearing people ought to flee violence and seek peace, but there are times when such things are unavoidable. Psalm 34:14 says, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Jesus also teaches that God-fearing believers ought to “turn the other cheek” when someone strikes you on the cheek (Matthew 5:39). Also Christ’s teaching in His “Sermon on the Mount” (see Matthew 5) shows that the Fifth Commandment (“You shall not murder”) also implies that we are to positively help support and protect our neighbor in his bodily needs, and not only refrain from murdering him.

Scripture doesn’t have a blanket command for self-defense, lest it be abused as an excuse to commit murder, but we are commanded to help protect our neighbor. As I mentioned above, I sometimes carry a knife, but I am not sure that I would use it to protect myself if I came under a threat. That could possibly seem to be self-serving, and just an excuse for murder, even though easily justified. I would, however, be much more inclined to use a knife or other weapon against someone who was attacking innocent people or those that I love, to protect their lives, if I was in a position to help in that way. Generally, though, I don’t view a knife as a weapon to be used against people. I am more likely to view it as a tool to open envelopes or packages or to cut things around the house or office that need cutting. Unlike a gun, a knife has many innocent uses around the home and the office. The only blood I have shed using knives is my own, when I have carelessly handled a sharp knife in one way or another. I hope never to see another’s blood by my own doing, whether for good or for ill.

I do not know if any of the members of my congregation bring a gun to church. If there are any who do, I would want to be assured that they are well trained and disciplined in its use. I would worry more that a child might accidentally get hold of someone else’s gun and hurt himself or others. However, if a gunman came into our church hell-bent on murder, then I would thank God for anyone who would put a stop to the murderous act. I don’t want any of the members of my congregation to kill anyone, unless they have to, but I would absolve the person who stopped a murderer, as long as it was clear that the murderer was the one who attacked first. Preemptive attacks on people who may or may not be contemplating violence are not justifiable, and are properly punished. Taking the life of someone is something that cannot be reversed, and should only happen if there is no other choice, like when a murderer is intentionally hurting innocent, unarmed people. There are consequences which affect the lives even of trained police officers and soldiers who must take the lives of others in the fulfilling of their duties. I would, without hesitation, comfort and absolve those who had to take someone’s life while protecting innocent lives and preventing more murder and injury.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

King Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:7 “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” This happens because God’s law is good and for our benefit, and because God created us, He made us to benefit from His goodness and we are always better off when we keep to God’s law. If we love our enemies as God has loved us all, then even our enemies will have to acknowledge the righteousness of our actions, and they will no longer be our enemies, but our friends.
 
Saint Paul writes in Romans 12:18-21 “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” God is a truly impartial judge, and we are all accountable to Him in the end. If there is going to be punishment, we ought to leave it to God, or to His servants here on earth. God has established the proper authorities to punish wrongdoers, and to keep the peace. If we seek vigilante justice ourselves, we are almost certain to take it too far.
 
Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We cannot make ourselves holy, but if we aspire to be sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit, we ought to strive to be holy in all we do or say. This should be the guiding rule when it comes to self-defense. We should love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). That means we ought to be hesitant to use violence against anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. Murderers are our neighbors, too, and if we can stop them without killing them, then they may be be brought to repentance and be saved. Jesus died to pay for the sin of murder, also. However, there is still temporal punishments for the sin of murder. After the great flood, God said to Noah, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)

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For further reading, see my December 2017 article on Anger.

 

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Justice at Christmas

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for justice and for the benefit of God's people.

Justice means to act in accordance with what is good and right and in accordance with the law. This is especially true with God’s Law (summarized by the Ten Commandments), but also worldly, human laws which conform to God’s righteous commands.

Justice seems hard to come by by in our sinful world. The rich and powerful seem to pervert justice for their own profit and the accumulation of more power for themselves and their friends, while honest, hard-working people pay the price of injustice – sometimes with their lives. In 2019 it is even worse than that since there is a fad called “social justice” which purposely seeks injustice to further some imagined “greater cause” which no one has ever heard of before. Blatant racism is called “racial justice”; nearly every sexual perversion is given protected status in social norms, if not in law; and fascist violence is called “anti-fascism” and those who promote it commit violent destructive acts as the police stand by and watch. There is likely more, besides, but that is what I can think of off the top of my head. Those who promote “social justice” really aren’t interested in justice, but in destroying the foundations of society so that they can get away with doing what they want to do without fear of the punishment which they so richly deserve.

In the United States of America, President Trump is doing great work to appoint federal judges who promise to rule justly according to the law, and not make up new laws as they go along. This is an answer to prayer, as the Judicial branch of our Federal Government has been the most unjust of the three branches for many decades. There is no guarantee that even the best judge will give the best judgment in every situation because if they rule according to bad laws made by evil people they will return bad results, and also some judges can be corrupted by money and bad influence, but the problem with judges making up laws is that the citizens do not know from day to day what is legal and what is illegal because it changes on the whim of the false judge. So we are glad that we can have better judges who we hope will rule according to law, and not according to another unelected authority.

However, in the 2018 elections, the Democrats gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and immediately began to try to impeach President Trump even though there has never been evidence of any crime he has committed, much less an impeachable treasonous offense. President Trump has been amazingly open in his administration, but even when the documents are released to the public which exonerate the President’s actions, the Democrat leaders openly lie about what the documents say, even though we (who are able and willing to read) can clearly see that they are lying. The injustice is insane, though those who perpetuate the lies do so as if they don’t care who knows what they are doing. Their boldness is even more concerning because it shows how much lies are a part of their daily life.

A quick search of the Bible shows eleven dozen verses which speak of “justice” and more which similarly speak of “righteousness” and other synonyms of justice. God is greatly concerned with justice, and He is angry with those who pervert justice.

Justice means the Law applies equally to everyone.

In the days of Moses God gave His people just laws to live by so that they could live in peace with Him and with one another. For example, in Exodus 23:2-3 God says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.” Similarly, Leviticus 19:15 says, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” This shows that justice is a two way street. A just law applies to everyone equally. We ought not go along with the crowd or the "mob" just because they want a certain outcome, nor should we show favoritism to either the rich or the poor. Our tradition says that “justice is blind” in that it ought to treat everyone equally under the same law. There is not one law for the rich and another for the poor. There is not one law for the ruling class and another for the governed. We ought not to have a favored class and a disfavored class, nor a favored race, and an unfavored race – especially where what is favored changes as the wind blows.

God goes on to say in Exodus 23:6-7 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” A large part of justice is that the guilty are punished and the innocent are free to go about their lives and conduct business as they please. Honesty and integrity are virtues which ought to be rewarded while dishonesty and lies ought to be strongly discouraged by proper punishment. Furthermore, Exodus 23:8 says, “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.” Also, Solomon tells us in Proverbs 17:23, “A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.”

Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong … for he does not bear the sword for nothing. Romans 13:3, 4

Immigration and slavery also falls under the application of justice. Exodus 23:9 says, “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.” This is also a problem in the 21^st century. President Trump is seeking to control our borders so that we know who is coming in to our country. This is vitally important so that we can keep out those who seek to harm our citizens, and also that those who come in to work are not taken advantage of by those who would enslave them under the threat of reporting their illegal presence to officials who would deport them. Here the 21^stcentury Democrats are going back to their 19^th century roots as those who would take advantage of the underclass for their own power and profit. Here also some Republicans are not very helpful either. There are some Republicans who also seek to take advantage of slave labor from illegal aliens, and block the government from taking the necessary action to deal with the invasion crisis. However, we call these liberal Republicans “RINO” or “Republican in Name Only.” They are part of the problem, also. Likewise, Deuteronomy 27:19 tells us, “Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.” When people are in our country illegally they cannot receive justice, as they could if they were legal visitors.

Christmas shows the justice of God in action. God’s justice is true justice, but it contrasts with the justice of the world. In some respects it seems unjust and strange that the God who created and sustains the universe would condescend to become one of His creatures so that He could suffer and die in our place so that we might be saved from the just punishment for our disobedience and rebellion against God. Yet, this shows God’s mercy and love, as well as His justice. It shows God’s justice in that “the soul who sins is the one who will die.” It is people who sin against God, so if we are to be redeemed from our sin, our redeemer must be a person just like us, except without sin. Since we are all corrupted by sin, the only person who could be our redeemer is God incarnate as a man. God didn’t have to do that for us. He would have been perfectly justified and right in condemning us all to die, and we could not rightly say anything against that judgment. But God loves us, and wants us to be saved and sanctified that we might live with Him in righteousness and purity forever in His new creation. The only way that this could happen is if God became a man and did the work of salvation Himself for us.

The birth and life of Jesus shows God’s love and justice in action.

Jesus fulfilled God’s justice in two ways. First, He lived a perfectly obedient life as a man, and kept all God’s laws perfectly His whole life in His thoughts, words, and deeds. Second, Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice in payment for the sins of the world. Jesus, in effect, said, “Punish me instead, and let my brothers and sisters go free.” This was acceptable to God, the Father, and this is how Jesus won our salvation, so that everyone who believes in Him as their savior from sin is forgiven and has eternal life. Those who reject Christ’s forgiveness have still been forgiven, but they don’t benefit from the gift because they have rejected it by their unbelief. In this way we see how salvation is completely Christ’s doing, for which He is praised forever, and the damnation of the unbelievers is entirely their own doing and fault, for which they will regret forever.

In the justice of the world either you get what you deserve, which is punishment for your sin, or there is no punishment at all for sin, in which case sin and violence and death are rampant because there is no threat of punishment to curb the wickedness of sin. Neither of these situations is desirable. They both sound like hell to me. God’s merciful way of salvation is much better in every respect.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 28:5 “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.” It doesn’t make sense that God would die for His rebellious creatures, but love doesn’t always make sense. Yet, Jesus lived and died as a man out of love for all sinful people, that they all may be rescued from the punishment for their sin. It is wonderful and praiseworthy that Jesus would suffer and endure all the wrath of God for the sins of the world so that we might be saved from our sin and could live with Him in Paradise forever.