Author: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett
In the wake of the collapse of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, American and Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes against targets in Syria. Specifically, they went after existing military infrastructure and influential Islamist groups there. The tactical strategy was not mere opportunism.
The aim was to ensure that whoever comes to power in Syria does not get their hands on the stockpiles of advanced weapons built up by Assad’s regime. Also, with the Syrian government down and abandoned by their Russian protectors, Washington and Jerusalem were presented this opportunity without fear of conflict with Moscow.
The nation of Syria has been in perpetual conflict since the “Arab Spring,” with three sides fighting within the country and three parties intervening from the outside. Russians were fighting American allies, Americans were fighting Russian allies, Turks were fighting allies of both, and all three were fighting ISIS. Though the fighting has stopped for now, there’s still grave concern, not only for the entire region but specifically for the fate of Syrian and Assyrian Christians under a new government. With hundreds of thousands dead and millions exiled, it’s still likely that, as bad as Assad was, the new management will be worse.
War is always tragic, but especially when not justly waged. Even at its most “ideal,” war involves image bearers of God killing other image bearers of God. Far more often, of course, moral corners are cut, and the innocent targeted.
Historically, most Christians have accepted some form of Just War Doctrine, in line with the claim from Ecclesiastes that there is a time to kill. Others have embraced pacifism. For example, the church father Tertullian claimed, “The Lord, in disarming Peter, ungirded every soldier.” Augustine of Hippo was the most famous theologian to address the issue. In his violent age of Caesars and barbarians, he understood the temptations of force and violence yet argued that peace was a proper goal of a just war. Once asked by a Roman officer if he could continue as a soldier and a Christian, Augustine replied,
Therefore, even in waging war, cherish the spirit of a peacemaker, that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back to the advantages of peace.
Over 1,000 years later, Martin Luther wrestled with war in his book, Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved. He elaborated on both the horror of violence and the need for restorative force:
[W]hen I think of a soldier fulfilling his office by punishing the wicked, killing the wicked, and creating so much misery, it seems an un-Christian work completely contrary to Christian love. But when I think how it protects the good and keeps and preserves wife and child, house and farm, property, and honor and peace, then I see how precious and godly this work is.
A masked stranger hacking off a limb is horrific, but if that person is a surgeon saving a life, it’s just. Likewise, it is not wicked or even unloving to stop a burglary or an assault. Nor is it righteous to stand by and let a criminal have his or her way when there is something that can be done.
Force is often necessary in a broken world. Evil must be restrained. The innocent should be protected. Of course, the effects of the fall on creation, people, and nations will never be wholly erased until Christ’s return. Until then, as Ecclesiastes observed, there is indeed a time to kill. It should always be deep with regret and great care, but God has given the sword to the proper authorities as His servants. A just war is an act of restoration in the face of evil.