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Does God Approve of War?

The Old Testament seems to say yes. The New Testament seems to say the opposite. This apparent contradiction must be understood within its historical context.

Old Testament Israel conquered the sinful Canaanites as part of God’s judgment. Israel was a theocracy — a nation-state in which God was King. But New Testament followers of Jesus Christ knew only the oppressive rule of the Roman state. Jesus introduced a whole new paradigm concerning violence, resistance and peace in his teachings regarding the kingdom of God. In fact, some early Christians did experience tension between loving one’s enemy and serving in the military, while others such as the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13 were encouraged by Jesus for their faith and their witness to those around them. At the end of the second century, soldiers began converting to Christianity, and by the time of Augustine (fourth century), Christians in the military were recognized as an essential component to carrying out warfare in a just manner.

In Romans 13:1-7, we read that God gives governments the right to bear the sword — the power of retributive justice to punish evildoers. Any nation has a God-given responsibility to exercise just and appropriate force to protect its citizens from evil. The Bible does not detail how this is to be carried out, but the principles of punishing wrongdoers and protecting the innocent are the basis of our system of law enforcement today, on both a national level (police, FBI, etc.) and an international level (the military).

This does not mean that God approves of everything that is done in the name of law enforcement or war (e.g. torture, wars of conquest, use of nuclear weapons). But the basic principles of punishing wrongdoers and protecting the innocent are in keeping with the character of God.