Thursday, September 11, 2014

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, murderstrife, 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

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