The Early Church on War, Peace, and The State

(The following is a transcript from the AnarchoChristian Podcast Episode 41)

Have you ever heard the phrase “the early church?” It’s typically used when referring to Christians during the years of AD 30 – 325. This is marked at the beginning with the death and ascension of Christ, and then the end with the first Council of Nicaea.

About the first hundred years of this period we have the Apostolic Age, which is thoroughly presented in the epistles of the New Testament. The letters from the Apostles to the first churches, and between themselves. The next 200 years rounds out with the legalization of Christianity under the Roman Emperor Constantine, then later becomes the official State religion under Theodosius the 1st, in the year 380.

During this time we see horrific persecution of the Christians, mainly from Rome. So its a relief to see the religious tolerance act put an end to it, but many trace the state’s influence on the church to this time as well.

So we’ve discussed messages from the apostles on the characteristics of a christian many times, but I don’t think we’ve mentioned many of the notable writers and writings from the early church. So, let’s jump into some notable voices from the early church. I’ve arranged most of these in birth order, but there are a few that are unknown so I’ll present them when it seems appropriate.

Our earliest writer is Ignatius of Antioch, born in 35AD and martyred in 108. He wrote many epistles just like the Apostles. In his letter to the Ephesians, he wrote,
“There is nothing better than peace, in which all warfare of things in heaven and things on earth is abolished.”

The next name you may be familiar with…
Justin Martyr, born in 100AD, and later beheaded in 165AD)
In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin said, “God called Abraham and commanded him to go out from the country where he was living. With this call God has roused us all, and now we have left the state. We have renounced all the things the world offers… The gods of the nations are demons.”

Later in the dialogue he simply states, “We do not wage war against our enemies.”

He also says, “We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools…now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the Crucified One… The more we are persecuted and martyred, the more do others in ever increasing numbers become believers.”

In his First Apology, Justin writes,
“We who formerly hated and murdered one another now live together and share the same table. We pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.”
Also, “We who formerly treasured money and possessions more than anything else now hand over everything we have to a treasury for all and share it with everyone who needs it. We who formerly hated and murdered one another now live together and share the same table. We pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.”

A pupil of Justin Martyr was Tatian, who was born 120AD and died in 180 or 185. In his Address to the Greeks, makes several bold statements that I think can strike a chord with believers today,

“I do not wish to be a ruler. I do not strive for wealth. I refuse offices connected with military command.”

Little is confirmed of Aristides, birth and death. However we have some tremendous statements believed to be delivered around the 130’s:
“It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God…. They show love to their neighbors. They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves. They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends. It has become their passion to do good to their enemies… This, O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life.”
Also, “Christians appeal to those who wrong them and make them friendly to themselves; they are eager to do good to their enemies; they are mild and conciliatory.”

Athenagoras was born in 133AD and died in 190. In his writing A Plea for the Christians, Athenagoras stated, “We have rejected such spectacles as the Coliseum. How then, when we do not even look on killing lest we should contract guilt and pollution, can we put people to death?”
And, “We Christians cannot endure to see a man being put to death, even justly.”

Clement of Alexandria has many short, to the point statements. Here is a compilation of some of his best:

“If you enroll as one of God’s people, then heaven is your country and God your lawgiver.”

“The Church is an army of peace which sheds no blood.”

“The soldiers of Christ require neither arms nor spears of iron.”

The Christian poor are “an army without weapons, without war, without bloodshed, without anger, without defilement.”

“Above all Christians are not allowed to correct by violence sinful wrongdoings.”

“We Christians are a peaceful race… for it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained.”

Tertullian is another recognizable name among thew early church.
In his De Corona Militis, Tertullian defends the actions of a soldier that, due to his Christian conversion, decides not to accept the military garland during a ceremony. This exposed the soldiers beliefs, and he was promptly arrested, which brought criticism from Christians that were afraid it would bring persecution to all them.

Here a few statements from it, 
“I think we must first inquire whether warfare is proper at all for Christians… Shall it be held lawful to make an occupation of the sword, when the Lord proclaims that he who uses the sword shall perish by the sword? And shall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law?…
“Shall we carry a flag? It is a rival to Christ…
“Of course, if faith comes later, and finds any preoccupied with military service, their case is different… yet, at the same time, when a man has become a believer, and faith has been sealed, there must be either an immediate abandonment of it, which has been the course with many; or all sorts of quibbling will have to be resorted to in order to avoid offending God.”

In his writing Of Patience, he firmly states,
“It is absolutely forbidden to repay evil with evil.”

In his writing Of idolatry, Tertullian had a chapter dedicated to military service. Here are some excerpts:
“But now inquiry is being made concerning these issues. First, can any believer enlist in the military? Second, can any soldier, even those of the rank and file or lesser grades who neither engage in pagan sacrifices nor capital punishment, be admitted into the church? No on both counts—for there is no agreement between the divine sacrament and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot serve two masters—God and Caesar…But how will a Christian engage in war (indeed, how will a Christian even engage in military service during peacetime) without the sword, which the Lord has taken away?… Christ, in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier.”

And a few more attributed to Tertullian,
“Learn about the incorruptible King, and know his heroes who never inflict slaughter on the peoples.”
And,
“The Christian does not hurt even his enemy.”
And,
“Only without the sword can the Christian wage war: the Lord has abolished the sword.”

Hippolytus, born 170 AD is another prominent figure from this era, that had some strong language for Christians in roles of authority, in his work, Apostolic Tradition, before dying in exile in 235AD.
“The professions and trades of those who are going to be accepted into the community must be examined. The nature and type of each must be established… brothel, sculptors of idols, charioteer, athlete, gladiator…give it up or be rejected. A military constable must be forbidden to kill, neither may he swear; if he is not willing to follow these instructions, he must be rejected. A proconsul or magistrate who wears the purple and governs by the sword shall give it up or be rejected. Anyone taking or already baptized who wants to become a soldier shall be sent away, for he has despised God.”

Origen is one of the most well known figures of the early church. He was born in 185AD, died in 254, and published over 2,000 manuscripts.
His work Contra Celus contained these three uncompromising statements.
“To those who ask us whence we have come or whom we have for a leader, we say that we have come in accordance with the counsels of Jesus to cut down our warlike and arrogant swords of argument into ploughshares, and we convert into sickles the spears we formerly used in fighting. For we no longer take up ‘sword against nation,’ nor do we ‘learn war anymore,’ having become children of peace, for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader, instead of those whom our fathers followed.”

“You cannot demand military service of Christians any more than you can of priests. We do not go forth as soldiers with the Emperor even if he demands this.”

“It is not for the purpose of escaping public duties that Christians decline public offices, but so that they may reserve themselves for a more divine and more necessary service in the Church of God – the salvation of men. And this service is at once necessary and right.”

Around the time that Origen was born, an event known as the Scillitian Martyrs occurred. On the 17th of July 180AD, the first African Christians were executed. Of the twelve men and women in the group, Speratus was the spokesman. Even though they lived quiet, moral lives, and paid their dues, when told to swear by the name of the emperor, he replied “I recognize not the empire of this world; but rather do I serve that God whom no man hath seen, nor with these eyes can see.”

St. Cyprian (born in 200AD and died 258AD) stated this axiom in a letter to Donatus Magnus, that sounds strangely contemporary, “When individuals commit homicide, it is a crime; it is called a virtue when it is done in the name of the state.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (born 293AD and died 373AD), who is believed to have written the Athanacian Creed, also said this in his writing On the Incarnation, “Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer.”

There have been several comments we’ve read from the early church figures that proclaims a Christian cannot stay in military service. In 298 AD, Mercellus the Centurian, either followed them, or developed the conviction of his own, and stated this as he left the army of Emperor Diocletian, “I serve Jesus Christ the eternal King. I will no longer serve your emperors… It is not right for a Christian to serve the armies of this world.”

Similarly, Martin of Tours, (born 315AD and died 397AD) became the bishop of tours after he left military service, stating, “Hitherto I have served you as a soldier; allow me now to become a soldier to God. Let the man who is to serve you receive your donative. I am a soldier of Christ; it is not permissible for me to fight.”

John Chrysostom was born 347AD and died 407AD. He wrote many Homilies, and in one of his on the Gospel of Matthew, he made this comparison,
“That they may now understand that this is a new kind of warfare and not the usual custom of joining in battle, when He sent them with nothing He said: And so, marching on, show forth the meekness of lambs, although you are to go to wolves… For certainly it is a greater work and much more marvelous to change the minds of opponents and to bring about a change of soul than to kill them… We ought to be ashamed, therefore, who act far differently when as wolves we rush upon our adversaries. For as long as we are lambs we conquer; even when a thousand wolves stand about, we overcome and are victors. But if we act like wolves we are conquered, for then the aid of the Good Shepherd departs from us, for He does not foster wolves but sheep.”

He also made another statement that is as relevant today, as I find St. Cyprian’s statement,
“I am a Christian. He who answers thus has declared everything at once—his country, profession, family; the believer belongs to no city on earth but to the heavenly Jerusalem.”

So it is interesting to note that the vast majority of these men are staunchly, anti-state, anti-war, and pacifists like the Apostles. It wasn’t until the adoption of the state power that we start seeing voices like St. Augustine justifying war, and even violent, forced conversions.

A statement I found interesting concerning these early church writers comes from Francis Schaeffer. I’ve mentioned him before on episode 32, as we went over statism from his, and RC Sproul’s perspective. In Schaeffer’s book a Christian Manifesto, after laying out what are the biblical and legitimate functions of a state, he had this to say about the men we just spent the last few minutes reviewing.

“But what is to be done when the stat does that which violates its legitimate function? The early Christians died because they would not obey the state in a civil manner. People often say to us that the early church did not show any civil disobedience . They do not know church history. Why were the Christians in the Roman Empire thrown to lions? From the Christian’s viewpoint it was for a religious reason. But from the viewpoint of the Roman state they were in civil disobedience, they were civil rebels. The Roman State did not care what anybody believed religiously; you could believe anything, or you could be an atheist. But you had to worship Caesar as a sign of your loyalty to the state. The Christians said they would not worship Caesar, anybody, or anything, but the living God. Thus to the Roman Empire they were rebels, and it was civil disobedience. That is why they were thrown to the lions.”

So, were any of these quotes new to you? Do they give you comfort, or relief that the church wasn’t always jingoistic?

(The preceding is a transcript from the AnarchoChristian Podcast Episode 41)