A Theology of Combat: Why Combat Exists

A good place to start a theology of combat is to explore the reason combat exists.  Before we explore this question, however, let's briefly define what I mean by combat.  For my purposes, let's define (physical) combat in the following manner: an active, physical conflict between at least two individuals, where at least one of them is attempting to inflict death or great bodily harm on another.  This definition can encompass military and police work, as well as two regular Joes who get into a serious street fight.  Now, the reasons and motivations behind combat can be many.  People engaged in combat can have righteous or unrighteous motives.  However, all combat, from Cain and Abel to the present, whether between individuals or nations, has one thing in common - sin.  There has never been, nor will there ever be, a single instance of combat where sin was not the cause.  Simply put, combat exists because sin exists.  More specifically, I believe Scripture shows that combat exists because man is at war with God and man is at war with himself.  Let me explain in a little more detail.

Man is at War with God 

After creating Adam and Eve, and the rest of the world, God looks upon his creation and is pleased (Genesis 1:31).  Harmony exists between God and man and between man and man.  Adam and Eve are "both naked and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25).  This was our world pre-fall, a world with no combat.  In Genesis chapter three, we have our first instance of spiritual combat.  The serpent tempts Eve to disobey God and the harmony breaks, resulting in the world we live in today, a fallen world, one where death and combat exists.  After Adam and Eve disobey God, the Lord pronounces his judgement on the serpent, the man, and the woman.  

As the narrative of Genesis unfolds, we see just how much devastation and misery this broken harmony creates. The story of Abel's murder by Cain shows that it takes only one generation for combat (assuming Abel made an attempt to defend himself against Cain) to show up in God's creation.  This is not an isolated incident, as the Old Testament has countless examples of warfare and combat.  Combat has been a part of our human condition since the fall.  

The whole of Scripture testifies that after the fall, man has a natural propensity toward evil.  The New Testament describes the natural man's (natural man meaning the one who is not reconciled to God through faith in Jesus) relationship to God as one of warfare.  In the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul describes how man rejected God and the subsequent judgement God placed upon mankind.  Paul says man is "full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness" (Romans 1:29, italics added).  Later in the letter, Paul says that, before reconciliation, believers are "enemies" of God (Romans 5:10) and that the mind of the unbeliever is "hostile to God" and cannot submit to God's law (Romans 8:7).  This propensity to evil may not manifest itself the same way in every person, but it is there in every human heart nonetheless.  It is this propensity to evil, in one or more of the parties involved, that accounts for why combat exists.

Man is at War with Himself    

There is also a war raging inside the heart of every man and woman.  In his epistle, James asks his audience, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?"  He answers, "Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder.  You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel" (James 4:1-2).  Now, James most likely doesn't mean murder in the sense of taking human life.  He understands the term murder the same way Jesus does in Matthew 5:21.  In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgement.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement."  What is Jesus' point?  James Montgomery Boice says, "Jesus teaches that men have broken the commandment [the sixth commandment, Exodus 20:13] even if they have only been angry with one another or called one another a fool" (Boice, The Sermon on the Mount, 2007, pg. 91).  

Think of the sin of murder as being on a continuum.  It starts in the heart, with unrighteous anger, and may not have any outward manifestations, so that the only ones who know of the sin are the individual who harbors anger in the heart and God.  This sin can move along the continuum to outward actions in the form of angry words, slander, or, ultimately, murder.  The anger in the heart may not be as destructive as the murder itself, but it is still a violation of the sixth commandant that one should not commit murder.  

When we consider James 4:1-2 in light of Matthew 5:21-22, we see that the root cause of murder is unfulfilled desires.  James says that the cause of the quarreling and fighting among his audience was that that their passions were at war within them.  He calls this quarreling and fighting murder- a violation of the sixth commandment, which, based on Matthew 5:21-22, encompasses unjustified anger at your brother.  Thus, when someone violates the sixth commandment, be it anger in the heart or murder, the reason is that their passions are at war within them.  They "desire and do not have" and "covet and cannot obtain."  

This means that every situation a police officer encounters that involves conflict between people is most likely rooted in the fact that at least one party is desiring and not obtaining.  This is true whether it is an argument between a husband and wife that got a little too loud, or an active shooter storming through the halls of a school.  Be it conflict between individuals or nations, unfulfilled desire is the root and cause of human conflict, and thus the root and cause of combat.

God's Response: The Ministry of the Warrior 

Combat exists because man is at war with God and within himself.  This is the world we live in.  What is God's solution?  His primary and ultimate solution is the Gospel- God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for his enemies so they can be reconciled to God (Romans 5:6-11) and gradually put to death their evil desires (Romans 8:13).  But this is not his only response.  There is a temporary response for this world.  Although I said above that all combat is rooted in sin, not everyone who engages in combat is sinning.  The conflict itself is borne out of someone's violation of the law of God, but others may willingly join in the conflict with righteous motives (in fact, as we will see, it may be sin not to join the conflict).  The next blog will look at the ministry of the warrior.

Other posts in this series:
A Theology of Combat: Introduction

A Theology of Combat: Introduction

I need to make a small caveat at the beginning of this post. This has nothing to do with the recent incident in Ferguson, MO, or the police shooting in St. Louis. However, in light of these events, I think I need to explain why I am thinking and writing about a theology of combat. I am a police officer. I am also a Christian. As such, I love Jesus, I love the Bible, I love reading, and I love theology. My desire as a police officer is to perform my job to the best of my ability, to the glory of God. My thinking about a theology of combat was born out of this desire. I have been thinking about this for a few months now (before Ferguson took place), and most of the Christian commentary on the police lately has strengthened my conviction that Christian police officers and soldiers need a theology of combat. It has also shown me that Christian leaders need a theology of combat for police work and military work if they are going to accurately discuss such issues and minister to those who have these jobs. I learn best and my thoughts are organized best if I write down what I am thinking about, thus this blog.

I recently finished the book On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace by retired Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. To say the book is great is an understatement. Not only does Grossman provide important insights and wisdom for the modern day warrior (military and police officers), but the book is extremely inspirational. The book is full of stories from warriors who have fought overseas and here at home in America as peace officers. I found the experiences of those individuals both motivating and edifying. I would recommend the book to any military man or woman or to any police officer, and the book will most likely continue to be a treasured source of wisdom and truth for me throughout my career.

However, for those of us who have called on the name of Jesus and have been born again to a living hope, I think the book presents some problems. I do not know if Lt. Colonel Grossman is a Christian or not (reading between the lines in his book, I suspect that he is), but the book On Combat (and the warrior culture in general) contains a good deal of unbiblical thinking and humanistic philosophy. Intentional or not, the book seems to present the warrior life as a comprehensive worldview- a framework for interpreting all the realities of life. However much truth and wisdom a book contains, it has the potential to be harmful if it advocates any understanding of the world that does not correspond to ultimate reality, and the Scriptures present that ultimate reality. Given the popularity of the book and the genuine common grace wisdom it contains, this presents a problem, as there are many believing soldiers, Marines, and police officers who may pick up this book and read it. It's not the reading of the book that is the problem (as mentioned above, I heartily recommend the book), but the adoption of the unbiblical ideas contained therein that can cause spiritual harm to these Christian warriors. As John Piper says, "behind most wrong living is wrong thinking" (Future Grace, 2012, pg. 2).

My purpose here is not to criticize the book On Combat, but to the pose the question, how should we, as warriors in the modern age who believe in Christ, live a God centered, Christ exulting life in these professions? How should we think about our job, and specifically the combat portions of our job, in light of our larger biblical understanding of the world? Paul said that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." This is true of all believers, including those of us who serve as soldiers or police officers. However, those of us in these professions may have to literally wrestle with the flesh and blood and not just with the evil cosmic powers behind the actions of the flesh and blood. Paul says we are to do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and for us, this may include (legally justified) fist fights and gun fights. How should we think biblically about these things?

What we need is a theology of combat. I am not talking about a just war theory. Just war theory is for helping one decide whether or not a conflict is righteous in the first place. But after we have agreed that a conflict is righteous and have decided to participate in that conflict, either from a military standpoint or a peace officer standpoint, how should we think and feel and act in and about that combat in light of the truths of Scripture?