What is the New Testament Church’s view of war?

First: Christianity is an invitation to love even enemies. St. Ambrose says, “The Law commands us to avenge one injury with another (cf. Ex. 21:23f). The Gospel invites us to return love in place of enmity, to repay hatred by good will, curses by blessings. It tells us to give assistance to our persecutors.”⁹¹⁷

Second: The New Testament is concerned with the inner life. Without ignoring the external reality in which the believer lives, the New Testament focuses on the inner person or the inner life, because inner transformation is what transforms not only the individual, but also his society. The Lord Christ declared to his disciples, “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), and the Christian is able to grant peace (Matt. 10:13) because the peace of God guards his heart (Phil. 4:7). The victorious Christ appears as a lamb (Rev. 5) as an example of victory with the spirit of inner meekness.

913 Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Joshua 15.1 (FOTC 105:138).

914 St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God 1.1 (NPNF I/2:2). 915

St. Augustine of Hippo, Against Faustus 22.74 (NPNF I/4:300–301).

916 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters 138.2 (NPNF I/1:481). 917

St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary of St. Ambrose on the Gospel according to Saint Luke . Trans., Ide M. Ni Riain. Dublin: Halcyon Press. 2001) 5.73: p. 141.

As the scholar Origen says, “If, therefore, we ought to be peacemakers with those who hate peace, we ought not use the sword against anyone.”⁹¹⁸ And St. Ambrose says, “This peace that shuts out the enticements of the bodily passions and calms the disturbances arising from them is nobler than the peace that checks the attacks of barbarians; it is a greater thing to withstand the enemy shut up within oneself than the one that is far off.”⁹¹⁹

Third: Military service was not mandatory. Until the year 170, this was not a problem for Christians, for the Roman state had not yet become a military state in the modern sense. The army represented a small percentage of the population, so there was no need to conscript Christians into the Roman army. Edward A. Ryan argues that in the early Church, there was no problem of military service for Christians since the Romans considered them to be a Jewish sect and the exemption from military service for Jews applied also to Christians.⁹²⁰

On the other hand, when the Jews raised a major rebellion against the Romans between 66 and 70 A. D., Vespasian and Titus responded violently, and the Christians crossed the Jordan to Pella and did not participate in the armed resistance defending Jerusalem due to their loyalty to the ruler; for the apostles emphasized the importance of obedience to rulers (1 Pet. 2:13; Rom. 13:1–7). Also, the Lord Christ had already forewarned them of these events and commanded them to flee.