The concept of nonviolent
resistance is well known and is often used in connection to such people as
Gandhi, Jesus, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They all advocated for nonviolent
resistance to bring about change in unjust power structures. This was certainly
true for all of these men, but to assign the same ideology and practice to
Jesus without understanding that what he actually advocated for and lived out
was something far more powerful, radical, and significant than nonviolence, is
to miss one of the main purposes of his life on earth. He lived and preached a
life of non-retaliation even to the point of his death, but also took it even
further to preach the revolutionary message of having love for ones enemies and
oppressors. It is only through this lifestyle of non-retaliation and loving one's enemies that
anyone who professes faith in him can be saved.
It is important to
understand the differences between nonviolence and non-retaliation. Nonviolent
responses can still involve seeking retributive justice through punishment that
isn't inherently violent. For example, people who are convicted in the courts
for their crimes are often sentenced to confinement and paying fines, depending
on the crime committed. Confinement alone, while it is a punishment, is not generally
in and of itself a violent one, though in the American prison system, it often
becomes so. In contrast to nonviolent reactions, non-retaliatory actions in
response to injustice demand much more than an avoidance of violent or
nonviolent means. Before and even during Jesus' ministry, the 'eye for an eye'
form of justice was common and expected, but when Jesus came and changed that, teaching
the 'turn the other cheek' message, he was teaching a radical message. As
Belousek discusses, this is a radical idea because it defies the very natural
human response to seek vengeance in response to injustice. He states,
Jesus' renunciation of retaliation
is thus a more restrictive, more radical ethic than nonviolence. More
restrictive because to renounce violence is to renounce only violent means of
retaliating against evil - which leaves open nonviolent means of retaliation. .
. Non-resistance calls us to renounce all means of retaliation, violent and
nonviolent. More radical because to renounce retaliation goes against the root
of the problem - the human desire for vengeance. Non-resistance leaves
vengeance where it rightly belongs, with God alone.[1]
Seeking revenge of any kind for any
manner of offenses is to participate in the same sinful power structures, natural
and supernatural, that dominate this world system that condones and perpetuates
retaliatory responses. It is not enough to react with nonviolence: he has
called his people to react with love, forgiveness, and even generosity. Jesus commands
his followers to "not repay anyone evil for evil,"[2] and
to, "Live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for
God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the
Lord."[3] To do otherwise is to bear false witness and exhibit
a decided lack of faith in his teachings, for to believe is to trust that he
will be faithful to his promise that he will repay the injustice. He instructs his followers to love their enemies and to pray
for people who are persecuting them. This is not only nonviolent, it is
non-retaliatory, and much more.
Not only does Jesus instruct his followers to not seek
revenge or retaliate, his most radical and challenging message is to actually
learn to love the enemy and to pray for them. To do that is to reject the evil
practices of the world which preach the opposite and lead only to death through
that sinful practice. This radical message was given in the Sermon on the
Mount.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye
for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil
person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek
also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your
shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you
to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one
who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, that you may be children of
your Father in heaven.[4]
This was a drastically different
teaching than what had come before and is the foundation of his non-retaliation
teachings. He says that to be his disciple requires the denial of self which
includes the desire for retaliation. In the gospels, he repeatedly says that to
be his follower requires daily self-denial and much of denying oneself is to
contradict expected human behavior.[5] To
seek a life of non-retaliation is to fully give oneself to God and to allow him
to seek justice as only he can. The pattern this world
promotes is to seek revenge, to take offense and to react with self-seeking
motives. "Do not conform to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."[6] Denying one's self-serving and self-protecting nature is to
not be conformed to the world's way of thinking and is to transform one’s
thinking to be more accurately aligned with his call to a life of
non-retaliation and love.
This seems to be a lesson that many professed followers of
Christ today have really missed. To read many articles, watch the news, or
raise the topic of firearms, to take a relevant and persistent issue, with
friends is to see an abundance of people who confess faith in Christ on one
hand and on the other tout their right to bear arms for personal and national defense
as a right given to them in the constitution and as such, one they wield with
retaliatory intentions. It's as if the Bible and the constitution somehow have
equal power and importance in their minds, or even that the 2nd amendment
somehow trumps the word of God. The importance of Christ's life which was lived
and given in unending, selfless, non-retaliatory love gets completely lost in
the deception of self-defense and the misunderstanding of how he instructed his
followers to fight and confront evil. "When we take up physical weapons of
merely human warfare, instruments designed to inflict destruction and death,
furthermore, not only does our struggle fail to take stock of the full reality
of evil, but we effectively place our very selves into the willing service of
the evil we fight."[7] As Belousek discusses at length, sin's purpose and end is
death so to take up a weapon, something created with the only purpose of
bringing about death, whether under the guise of protection and security or any
other excuse, is to give in to the sin and to join sin in causing death.
"Employing such weapons should be regarded as presenting our bodies to sin
as servants of wickedness. The reign of sin brings death by and for all those
enslaved to its power."[8] These violent and retaliatory actions couldn't be any
further from the love for the enemy, praying for your persecutors ethic which
Jesus taught. There can be no bearing truthful witness to Christ's faithfulness
at the hands of a weapon. Christ is completely holy and any act that isn't
holy, that is violent, retaliatory, and evil, is not of him and cannot be
connected with him. Taking up weapons against the ones Jesus commanded
believers to love, which is everyone, is to no longer accept his justice as
sufficient and is to embrace a lifestyle of sin.
Do not let
sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part
of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not
under the law, but under grace.[9]
These
futile attempts to defend oneself against sinful humans through violence and
retaliation is to also reveal ones ignorance of who the real enemy actually is.
Worldly weapons have no power to destroy or
defeat the enemies of Sin and Death but they do have the power to bring a
person under the dominion of Sin, the very power a person wielding a weapon
might seek to stand against. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."[10] Jesus defeated these powers of darkness by not engaging
with them and their attempts to bait him into acknowledging their power, because
to do so would be to give them that power. He bore the ultimate witness by
overcoming evil through his death and resurrection.
The degree to which Jesus lived out
this principle of non-retaliation and love resulted in his crucifixion. At any
point he could have chosen to defend himself physically or verbally against his
attackers. As the all-powerful son of God and one part of the trinity, his
power was unlimited and because of that, he could have done any number of
things to extricate himself from the crucifixion and death that was before him.
But what he did was to not retaliate in any way. To restate a point Sam Adams discussed in a recent lecture, Jesus didn't even
play the game, which was created and conducted by the evil power structures of
that time period.[11] To do so would have been to deny who he was. If he had
fought back against the ruling authorities he would have given them undue
credence. He would have been taking the outcome into his own hands and out of
God's hands, thereby participating
directly with the very systems of sin that he came to destroy. Even while he was on the cross, the ultimate act of
non-retaliation and love, he was still loving the people who put him there,
asking God to forgive them for their actions.[12]
God's gracious action in Christ
through the cross, by which we are justified and reconciled, renounces
retaliation for the sake of God's covenant loyalty and justice, which seek the
redemption of sinners beyond retribution for sin. The cross of Christ thus
demonstrates, not simply nonviolence, but God's retribution-transcending,
sinner-redeeming, enemy-reconciling love, justice, and peace.[13]
In denying
and defeating the power of death through his non-retaliation and consequent
resurrection, he defeated death, and provided the same victory to those who
choose to follow him.
Jesus Christ lived a life that
promoted love and compassion for friends and enemies, an ethic which goes
beyond nonviolence and even non-retaliation. This was a revolutionary teaching
in his day and is still revolutionary today. Injustices abound anywhere one turns
and learning to see beyond the moment and past the pain to a time when God will
fulfill his promise to repay the evil and redeem what was damaged takes
incredible discipline and abundant help from him. It is only through
non-retaliation that a person can learn to really love an enemy and where
heavenly justice can finally be achieved. "Christians are not to wage war
by human means for human ends, but rather are to wage war by holy means for
divine ends."[14] To not seek personal repayment for a debt or hurt incurred
out of a deeper love for that other person is to inch ever closer to Christ.
Doing justice work out of love for another and a real desire to see lives
transformed rather than out of a punishment mentality is to wage the war
against injustice by holy means.
Bibliography
Adams, Sam. "Christus Victor." Lecture, Bend, OR,
February 22, 2016.
Belousek, Darrin
W. Snyder. Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church.
Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2012.
[1]
Belousek, Atonement, Justice, and Peace, Grand Rapids, MI,
William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2012, 72.
[2] Rom
12:17.
[3] Ibid.
12:17-20.
[4] Matt
5:38-48.
[5] Matt
16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23.
[6] Rom
12:2.
[7]
Belousek, Atonement, 623.
[8] Ibid., 624.
[9] Rom
6:12-14, 22-23; emphasis mine.
[10] Eph
6:12.
[11] Adams,
Sam. "Christus Victor." Course lecture, Bend, OR,
February 22, 2016.
[12] Luke
23:34.
[13]
Belousek, Atonement, 73.
[14] Ibid.,
627.
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