Pacifism and the Bible

This teaching is about pacifism and what scripture says about it. The presentation includes many scriptures on both sides: pacifism and force. They encourage viewers to check out the link for more information. The teaching will cover scriptures on peace, force, misconceptions, and provide a balanced view. Examples of pacifist verses include loving enemies and blessing those who curse you. Examples of forceful verses include defending the innocent and driving out those who defile the temple. It's important to consider all scriptures to have a well-rounded understanding of pacifism. So like I said, this teaching is going to be all about pacifism and what scripture has to say about pacifism. There's a lot of scriptures that we've included already in this drash itself. In fact, 98 or 99% of this whole drash is nothing but scripture, especially on the slides anyways. Now, there's a lot more that we did not include on the slides for sake of time, and there's still actually a lot more that we need to add to our notes. But if you'd like to follow along with us and go even further than what this video is going to teach you or present to you, click on the link down below in the description, and that'll take you directly to GodHonestTruth.com and the post there for this particular drash. You'll be able to find the video, both the live right now and the on-demand version once we're done. You'll be able to see the drash slides all for yourself and be able to go through at your own pace without my big head in the way. And you'll also be able to see the notes that we took for this subject. All right there on one page, and all that is through the link in your description box down below, and that's whether you're watching on video or listening through audio podcast platform. So yeah, like I said, it's going to be all about scripture and pacifism. And just to let you know the outline of how we'll be going through it tonight, we'll first be talking and looking at some of the scriptures that concern peace or the pacifism side of things within scripture, scripture verses that speak, we'll say, on the pacifist side of things. Then we'll be looking at scriptures that speak more on the force side of things. So we can get a good foundation of both sides of the coin and make a better decision at the end. Then we're going to go over a few of the misconceptions regarding this subject, and by a few of those, I mean a few of the verses, the scriptures that people often have misconceptions about. Then we're going to try and put everything into context so that we can get a more well-rounded and balanced view of what scripture says about pacifism. And then, of course, we're going to end up with a summary about that. So when you go through scripture, you come across things like this. Matthew chapter 5, verses 44 through 45. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those insulting you and persecuting you, so that you become sons of your Father in the heavens. Because he makes his son rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. So we hear something like this where it says, love your enemies and bless those cursing you. We tend to think of this as a verse in favor of pacifism. Also a passage like this, Matthew 5, verses 38 to 39. You heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the wicked. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. So these are two different passages already. So is it leaning towards pacifism? Well then you start looking at verses like this. Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 through 36. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, for I have come to bring division. A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies are those of his own household. So this is not sounding very peaceful at this point. That's why we're going to go through a lot of verses and get a more well-rounded understanding of what scripture has to say about pacifism. So like I said, our first section is going to be looking at verses that tend to be looked at and viewed in our own more of the pacifist side of things. So Matthew chapter 5, verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers because they shall be called sons of Elohim. Blessed are the peacemakers. Proverbs chapter 6, verses 16 through 17. These six matters Yahweh hates and seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands shedding innocent blood. That is one of the things that Yahweh hates, hands that shed innocent blood. Then we look at Luke chapter 6, verses 27 through 28. But I say to you who are hearing, love your enemies, do good to those hating you, bless those cursing you, and pray for those insulting you. So you have enemies, you have people who want to hurt you, insult you, shame you, all this stuff. Here we kind of get the idea of not retaliating, not taking force, but loving them, blessing them, praying for them. John chapter 15, verses 12 through 13. This is my command that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this that one should lay down his life for his friends. So here on the passivist side of things, it's going so far as to even give your life for someone else. Specifically here in this verse, your friends. Matthew chapter 26, verse 52. Then Yeshua said to him, return your sword to its place, for all who take the sword shall die by the sword. This is another one of those that people are fairly familiar with. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. Those who, in another way of putting it, those who live by force shall die by force, right? So again, why not have a pacifist stance towards life? If you flip that around, if you're good to people, then you shall live by good. Or if you live peacefully with people, you shall live peacefully. Just something to think about as we get into a more well-rounded understanding on the subject. So now we look at scriptures where we're more on the force side of things. Matthew chapter 24, verse 43. And know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Right off the bat, we've got something along the lines of using force, but it's not really specifically mentioning the use of force. However, this kind of relates back to another passage that comes from the Tanakh. Look at Exodus chapter 22, verse 2. If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there is no guilt for his bloodshed. So if an intruder is coming into your home and the intruder happens to die because you were defending yourself and your home and your family, then you're not liable. You have no guilt for defending yourself and your home and your family. That's what this scripture is saying here. Matthew 18, verse 14. Thus, it is not the desire of your father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should be lost. Now for full disclosure, this passage right here and the verses surrounding it are talking about the subject of lost and sent. Right? Talking about the shepherd who loses one sheep and leaves the 99 to go find that one sheep. But then he goes on to say that it's not the desire of Yahweh that even one of these little ones should be lost. But at the same time, we know the Father and Yeshua also doesn't want any of these little ones, children, the innocent, to not be harmed and lost. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 17. Learn to do good. Seek right ruling. Reprove the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. So here we have a verse talking about taking action, forceful action even, to defend the innocent and those who probably wouldn't be able to defend themselves. The fatherless, the widows, other women, not necessarily just widows, but here it says just widows. Jeremiah chapter 22, verse 3. Thus said Yahweh, do right ruling and righteousness and deliver him who is robbed out of the hands of the oppressor. Do not maltreat nor do violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. Now a couple things here, it says do right ruling and righteousness. That goes with, you know, judging and stuff like that, especially with legal and criminal stuff. But then it goes on to say deliver him who is robbed out of the hands of the oppressor. How do you do that? Well sometimes that requires force to be able to deliver them. And also notice the last part down here, it says do not shed innocent blood. Again, this is more on the force side of things as far as scripture goes, but we read another one where it says Yahweh hates those who shed innocent blood. Key word there being the innocent blood. Psalms 82, verses 3 through 4. Give right ruling to the poor and fatherless. Do right to the afflicted and needy. Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wrong. So nothing directly and specifically about force, but the way we read it, it kind of insinuates that where it says rescue the poor and needy. That instantly, especially right now, makes me think of that new movie, and it escapes me, Freedom Road, that, you know, rescues children and others who are victims of human trafficking, right? Rescue the poor and needy. Because that requires force to do good. Deliver them from the hand of the wrong. Then we look at Matthew chapter 21, verses 12 through 13. And Yeshua went into the set-apart place of Elohim and drove out all those buying and selling in the set-apart place, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, It has been written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. Now here we see Yeshua, our Messiah, himself, using force, okay? So for those who say that Yeshua was a pacifist, you can see here, there are times when he used force. This is probably the most famous one. He went into the temple, and he took a whip, a cat of nine tails, and drove out the people who were buying and selling inside the temple. Because they had made it a marketplace, a den of thieves. But this, you know, if you think that Yeshua was a pacifist, this incident really conflicts with what you think about when Yeshua says, Love your enemies and pray for them and bless those who curse you, and if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to them also the other. In this situation, did Yeshua turn the other cheek? We'll get into that more here in just a little bit, in another section. The main point is that Yeshua took force. You can see here, just from this one passage, that he was not a total and complete pacifist. Then we go to Luke, chapter 22, verses 36 to 38. And he said to them, But now, let him who has a purse take it, likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell his garment and buy one. And they said, Master, look, here are two swords. But he said to them, That is enough. Now this is fairly interesting. If you're someone who thinks that Yeshua was a pacifist and taught pacifism, then why is Yeshua telling his disciples to go out and get swords, right? Okay, maybe he just made an order on Amazon and he needs something to open the packages with when they come in, right? No. I think during this time, they didn't have swords just for putting butter on their biscuits, okay? Probably very difficult, but anyways, swords were used for force, for self-defense. It's like our modern-day equivalent of concealed carry, right? That's why he was telling them to get a sword, for self-defense, because he did not want them just to be overrun and oppressed and killed for no reason. But there are nuances to that that we'll get into here a little bit later. So there's some common misconceptions real quick. And again, this is going kind of fast compared to our previous droshes, but there's a lot more scripture information on their notes page, as well as links to videos and websites that go on both sides of the aisle to help give you an even more well-rounded understanding of the subject. But this section is about misconceptions. We're going to start out with Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 through 36. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to bring division, a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies are those of his own household. Well, is Yeshua saying that he's really bringing a sword to his believers, especially for those who have a family? That when you come to Yeshua and you're saved, that you're to get a sword and start swinging around at your family? Now that you're saved, that's how you prove you're saved? No. Now, the key word right here is division, and that's what he means by bringing a sword is the division part of it. The parallel passage in Luke says something a little bit more clear. Luke chapter 12, verses 51 through 53. Do you think that I came to give peace on earth? I say to you, no, but rather division. For from now on, five in one house shall be divided, three against two, and two against three. Fathers shall be divided against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. So, no, what Yeshua was saying back in the book of Matthew is that you don't take a sword towards your family once you get saved. But that following Messiah, following scripture, could create and cause division. He is the truth, right? He is the way, he is the life, and following the truth sometimes brings you at odds with other people, and especially with people in your own family. That's what he means by this. I'm sure a lot of you out there know firsthand exactly what we're talking about here. Because when you come to the messianic way of thinking, and you stop considering Sunday to be Sabbath, you stop doing Easter and Halloween and Christmas, you stop eating unclean meats like shellfish and pork, stuff like that, people think you're weird and might even oppose you, right? And say that, oh, you've joined some cult, you know, when you go and drink your Kool-Aid, right? That's just an example. But this is the kind of division that Yeshua was talking about. Now, hopefully, those family members will see the light and see the truth and come on with you, but that's what he was talking about, not waving the sword at your family members. Now this all, both the passage in Matthew and the passage in Luke, have echoes and shadows of something that was said back in the book of Micah in the Tanakh. Micah chapter 7, verse 6, her son is despising father, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the enemies of a man are the men of his own house. Sound familiar, right? And it wasn't just Yeshua that spoke some things regarding pacifism and also exemplified times to use force. All the apostles followed around or followed Yeshua, learned from him, and taught his ways and, you know, the things that he taught them. Another person that came right before Yeshua was John the Baptizer. So John the Baptizer would have understood the same way, I'm sorry, John the Baptizer would have understood pacifism and the use of force in the same way that Yeshua would have understood it. Let's look at Luke chapter 3, verse 14. And soldiers asked him, John the Baptizer, saying, and what shall we do? And he said to them, do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely and be satisfied with your pay. Now, if scripture is all about teaching pacifism, then why not here, this would be a perfect opportunity for John the Baptizer to tell these soldiers to leave the military, sell all your possessions, and go work at a charity. He doesn't tell them that. What does he tell them? He tells them not to intimidate anyone, don't accuse anyone falsely, and be satisfied with what you got paid. Not once did he tell them to leave the military, to stop using force against other nations. Nothing like that. And this would have been a great place for him to tell them that, but he didn't because there are nuances there. Matthew chapter 5, verse 38 through 39. You heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, do not resist the wicked, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. Now, when people start thinking about peace and pacifism and doing good to even your enemies and stuff like that, this is one of the main verses they think about when they think about pacifism. That if someone strikes you to, you know, let it go and turn them the other cheek, right? But is it really that simple? Are we understanding that correctly? Because as we already saw, Yeshua did not oppose the use of force. So why here is he saying, turn the other cheek, where at the temple, he did not turn the other cheek. Well, we have to understand a little bit of the culture at the time so that we properly understand it today. What he was speaking about was more along the lines and the context of being shamed or insulted, okay? Back then, well, let me read you these quotes real quick so you get a better understanding. This is about shame and honor in the first century and how people in the Mediterranean region viewed shame and honor. And it says here, honor refers to the public acknowledgment of a person's worth granted on the basis of how full that individual embodies qualities and behaviors valued by the group. First century Mediterranean people were oriented from early childhood to seek honor and avoid disgrace meaning that they would be sensitive to public recognition or reproach. This comes from the Dictionary of New Testament Backgrounds. One more. And this is from Walter Wink in his book, Engaging the Powers. And there he points out that this act of slapping someone on the right cheek referred to a person in a superior position of that society backhanding someone in an inferior position. It was meant to either insult the person or to put the person in their place or to admonish him. Wink suggests that turning the other cheek robs the oppressor of the power to humiliate. So now, kind of making a little bit more sense, right? So when Yeshua says that if someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to him also the other. What he's referring to here is that if someone insults you, if they bruise your ego, so to speak, that that's not the time for forceful retaliation. Someone speaks against you, calls you a bad name, you don't forcefully retaliate. Now back then, one of the ways they did that was by slapping them in the face, right? We just saw that from historical quotes and even today in some cultures, I forget the president who had this happen to him, but in the Middle East, if it's considered a extreme insult to take your shoe off and throw it at someone, right? Here in America, if someone took their shoe off and threw it at you, you'd think they were crazy and maybe we need to call mental health or something. But in certain cultures, that is a grave insult. But Yeshua is saying that when someone insults you, if your ego's damaged, turn to him the other cheek. Let it go. It's not a time for forceful retaliation. And we can see from the life of Yeshua that a lot of times in his ministry, when he's interacting with the Pharisees and other people, that they come against him verbally, right? And he does not forcefully retaliate. But when the money changers were in the temple, they were coming against his father. They were coming against Yahweh. So it wasn't an attack on Yeshua, it was an attack on Yahweh and the house of prayer, the temple. Then Yeshua used force. Okay? So there's nuances there that we need to understand and take into account when we think about pacifism and the use of force within scripture. So in context, let's try to put this all together. And I think Ecclesiastes does that beautifully. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1, 3, and 8. For every matter there is an appointed time, even a time for every pursuit under the heavens, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for battle and a time for peace. So there's a time for both sides of the coin. There's a time for pacifism and there's also a time for force. Proverbs chapter 24, verses 10 through 12. If you falter in the day of distress, your strength is small, deliver those taken to death and hold back those stumbling to the kill. If you say, see, we did not know this, would not he who weighs the hearts discern it? He who watches over your life, would he not know it? And shall he not repay man according to his work? So if you see someone in distress and you don't know anything about it, there's no getting out of it. There's no, well, we didn't know it. Yeah, you did know it and he always sees your heart. He knows what you knew and you be judged accordingly. Romans chapter 13, verses 3 through 4. For those ruling are an object of fear, not to good works, but to evil. Do you wish to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good and you shall have praise from it. For it is a servant of Elohim to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid. For it does not bear the sword in vain. For it is a servant of Elohim, a revenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So here, Paul is talking about governmental authorities and how they bear the sword, right? It's a use of force and they do it against those who practice evil. So there is a legitimate use of force to protect the innocent, to uphold laws, stuff like that. Again, 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 13 through 17. Be subject to every institution of man because of the master, whether to the sovereign as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of doers of evil, and a praise for those who do good. Because such is the desire of Elohim that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free, yet not using your freedom as a cloak for evil, but as servants of Elohim, respect all, love the brotherhood, fear Elohim, respect the sovereign. So here Peter's saying pretty much the same thing that Paul said back in Romans, that the authorities use the sword, use the power of force to combat evil, or it's what they're supposed to do anyways, right? So there is a time for the use of force, military, law enforcement, things like that. Romans chapter 12, verses 17 through 21. Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, on your part, be at peace with all men. Beloved, do not revenge yourselves, but give place to the wrath for it has been written. Vengeance is mine, I shall repay, says Yahweh. Instead, if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him a drink, for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now in our study and our learning here on the subject of pacifism in the scriptures, and thinking about both the use of pacifism and the use of force, here is a very good thing to take note of and remember. It says that if possible, if possible, on your part, be at peace with all men. So try to live at peace. Try to do the pacifism thing if possible, but he's not saying be pacifist no matter what. He's saying if possible, live at peace with all men. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14, pursue peace with all and pursue a partners without which no one shall see the master. So again, there's that reinforcement of try to be peaceful and live at peace with everyone. Here it's saying to pursue peace. So try the peace thing first and foremost, but sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes force is necessary. Some people take the pacifism thing to an extreme, to be pacifist at all times. Even so far as if their own life was in danger, they would not fight back. If another person's life was in danger, they would not interfere or try to do anything to stop it. That's how far some people go with this pacifism thing, and that's not scriptural. Yahweh does not want you to sacrifice your life for nothing. He doesn't want the innocent to be afflicted and abused and killed and raped and beaten. Like that old example goes, if you're walking down the street, maybe you're like in a bad part of town, say Washington DC for example, but you walk down the street and you see a woman that is about to be raped by a guy, what do you do? Do you just keep on walking? Do you just stand there and stay out of the way? Try to be a pacifist? No. You know in your heart of hearts, even deep down in your soul, that you have to stop this. You have to save that woman from this evil that's about to be committed upon her. Even when it comes to loving your enemies. That example was loving that woman, right? Because it would not be an act of love to allow her to undergo this evil. That would not be an act of love. And as far as loving your enemies, for an example, we as Messianics or we as Christians, we would probably consider like another religion like Islam to be, metaphorically speaking, like an enemy religion, right? Because they teach drastically different things. It's a different God, all that other stuff, right? So if you see, again, walking down the street, you see two Muslims arguing. Say one's a Sunni, one's a Shiite. And they're intensely arguing, yelling at each other. And then all of a sudden, one of the Muslims starts beating the other one mercilessly. How would you apply the love your enemy in that instance? Do you do nothing to enforce your view of pacifism at all times? Is that loving the aggressor by not interfering? Well, it's certainly not loving the victim. Or do you love the victim by stopping it and using force? Well in that case, I would say that loving your enemy, in this case, the metaphorical enemy religion, right? They're both Muslims. The victim Muslim is the one you would help because the aggressor Muslim is going to be the one committing the greater evil at that moment, right? He has a higher degree of evil. So you would stop him using force. And by doing so, you're loving your enemy. It's not an act of love to let someone be killed senselessly. It's not an act of love to allow a child to be beaten. It's not an act of love to allow a woman to be raped when you have the ability to stop it. So even in the act of love, force can be used. Force can be an act of love. We just went over a couple of examples. I'm sure you could probably think of a lot more. Another great example, World War II. Nazis are taking over Europe, trying to expand over the whole world. They're killing Jews by the multitudes in an act of genocide. The pacifist stance would be to not do anything, to allow the Nazis to kill the Jews, and of course other people too, but mainly Jews. Is that an act of love towards the Jewish community to allow them to be slaughtered Or would it be an act of love to stop the Nazis and do everything you can to protect the Jews? No, it would be an act of love to use force against the aggressors, the Nazis in this case, to protect the Jews. So an act of force can be an act of love. But if all possible, pursue peace. So in summary, but anyways, first and foremost, like we said and like we saw from scripture, peace should be the priority whenever it is possible. But sometimes peace is not always possible and then you have to use force, and force is appropriate when it's required. But force should not be the go-to. And to answer the question, does scripture teach pacifism, well it doesn't teach utter and complete pacifism, but as we saw, it does teach us to try and pursue peace, but when necessary and when required, we can use force to defend ourselves, to defend the innocent. Force is appropriate when required. But if at all possible, first priority should be peace. And that's just the God Honest Truth. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We hope that we have been of service to you and if you have any feedback, then please reach out to us by email. And make sure to visit our website at GodHonestTruth.com for more information, resources, and contact. God Honest Truth.