“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

~ Jesus

What if Jesus meant what he said?

Like so many of you, my eyes have been glued to news reports coming out of the Middle East and Iran. I’ve read and listened to reports. I’ve paid attention to the locations of the attacks and kept an eye on those who have lost their lives. I was blown away by the images of Israeli and Iranian people dancing together in the same crowd. These flags and these people, we’ve been told, are diabolically opposed to one another. And here they were celebrating and dancing together. 

Like so many of you, I’ve caught glimpses of reports and videos from the aftermath of the attacks. Fact-checking everything my eyes see is not a default setting—it is a learned behavior and these last few days have felt like I’m cramming for a test. 

I make no claim of being a geopolitical expert. I don’t know the ins and outs of military strategy or the priorities for the Middle East region. And, I struggle to speak into the politically divisive narratives that exist in our country on a normal Tuesday, let alone one in the aftermath of a military action.

What I do know a little about is Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said “love your enemies…” He meant what He said—love them. But, how? Especially when injustices and atrocities are perpetrated by our enemies—what do we do then? How do we “love your enemy” when they are really bad? I hope to help unpack these 3 simple words that are anything but simple in real-world applications. And, I hope to unpack some of the thinking the church has developed around these simple words, especially as it pertains to “wars and rumors of wars (because Jesus talked about this element as well).

Augustine of Hippo and the Just War Theory

While Just War thinking was a school of thought prior to him, Augustine of Hippo is the architect that built the house. He didn’t create a checklist criterion, but he paved the way so others could. And, the biggest thing Augustine wrestled with was how to take seriously Jesus’ call to love your enemy while also facing the evils of this world. How can you love while the state also has a mandate to restrain evil (this mandate is scriptural as well, see Romans 13)?

This was the logical step that he made; it is at the heart of this school of thought still. Love sometimes requires restraint. The expression of love is not the full embrace of others’ actions—especially if they are evil. Love seeks the good, and there are times when it is a loving act to stop people from doing bad. We understand this reality on the smaller scale. The surgeon cuts into you in order that you may heal. A father disciplines a child to help her grow and mature. A judge sentences a criminal to prison. Augustine, and those since, expand this in extreme cases to include justifiable acts of war.

Here are some important distinctions that Augustine and others have identified. War is never morally clean. At best, it is messy. And, for the Christian soldier and public official, how one engages in war matters. Not just in the techniques used, but more precisely, how one protects and purifies the heart. War, even justifiable war, becomes sinful when it is driven by hatred, lust for domination, seeks glory, or is draped in cruelty. To maintain a clean heart in war, one is called to protect the innocent, grieve the necessity of the conflict, and work towards the restoration of peace. 

In short, the object of our love matters, even in conflict. Love may in fact lead to restraint. However, it is a pretty significant leap to claim that you can kill an enemy as an act of love. Not everyone buys it. However, Augustine was not trying to create some clean and tidy justification. Instead, he was helping Christians to seriously wrestle with their role as elected officials in a government system that makes decisions about force. The truth is, there is evil in the world. And, the Lord calls us to resist evil and elevate the good. The Just War Theory has developed to help Christian disciples to wrestle with the implications that we are called to shine light in a dark world—and there are some people that really like the darkness. 

I think this is an important element as well. The concept of Just War is not exclusive to the church. It is the common language used anytime conflict erupts. It is a litmus test and has become an easy way to dismiss the political agendas of our two-party system. In fact, it is really hard to put our own “American-ness” on the back burner even in reading this. But, that is an invitation for each of us as we read the criteria below. Don’t look at them as a disciple of America but as a disciple of Jesus. Filter them through this lens and let it inform your thoughts.

As it has developed, a series of criteria have developed. They fall in two general categories: Justice for Going to War and Justice for Waging War.

Justice for Going to War

• War may be fought only for a just cause.
  • The offense that leads to war must be actual and done intentionally.
  • Can be conducted to recover what was wrongly taken; governmental atrocities; attack against allies; attack against innocent subjects; punishment against grave evil.
  • The goal is restoration of peace and restraint of evil.
• War may be waged only by a legitimate authority.
  • A properly elected/appointed ruler.
  • Excludes war by private citizens, bandits, and mercenaries. 
  • Only soldiers under oath and under the command of the sovereign can fight.
• A war may be fought only with the right intention:
  • Restoration of peace—that is, the creation of a total world state of affairs better than what would be obtained without the intervention.
  • Unconditional surrender is an inappropriate demand.
  • Love for the victims of the aggressor.
  • To show mercy after winning—though this is an impossible criterion prior to it. But this intent is significant.
• A just war must be a last resort—all other avenues have been exhausted.
• The entire war must be proportionately prudent (to cause less harm than the harm it seeks to prevent).
• The war must be winnable.

Justice in War can be understood as “fighting justly.”

• Do what is necessary, no more.
  • Unnecessary combat is to be avoided.
  • Wanton destruction and unnecessary death must be avoided.
• Means must be proportional.
  • The damage caused must not be more than the damage prevented.
  • Proportion is measured on every level: a given weapon; a tactic, strategy, or given battle. 
  • A costly battle that may win the war versus a moderately costly battle after the war is already lost.
• The means must respect the immunity of the innocent.
  • No deliberate slaughter of the innocent.
• The means must respect the dignity of humankind as rational and social.
  • No slander.
  • No unnatural cruelty.
  • No lying.
  • Give quarter if an enemy surrenders.

Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive. There are books and books written about this subject, and chapters and chapters written on each bullet point above. In all of it, the invitation is to wrestle with the question—how do I love my enemy and resist evil, especially when they push against each other? Again, I invite you to read through this list as a citizen of heaven. Wrestling with these questions and criteria still leaves plenty of room for patriotic pride. It absolutely gives honor to our brave men and women in uniform. And it informs the nuance of conflict. 

Why is this helpful today? I think it gives us healthy gauges as we witness the ongoing realities unfolding in Iran. This criterion can help us in our faithful discipleship of Jesus as we read, listen, and reflect upon what is unfolding. War is gut-wrenchingly awful. It is evil. But sometimes it is a necessary evil. This criterion helps us to make it the least evil possible. And it helps to ensure that when we choose to wage war, we do so with our eyes wide open.

I share this with you today because I think it helps us to break through all the rhetoric we hear from news outlets and politicians. It gives us critiques to offer for those who have only positive things about what has happened in Iran. And it gives us critiques to offer for those who have only negative things to say. And, ultimately, it is way too early to determine where this conflict falls. 

But, it is never too early—nor is it too late—to drop to our knees in prayer. For those impacted directly by these events. For our military and that of our allies. We are called to pray for our enemies—specifically that their eyes might be opened and they may move away from their tyrannical rule. We pray for those who have lost their lives and for those who love them. And we pray for leaders, our elected officials and those of lands far away. For wisdom, for measured responses, for clarity. And finally, we pray for peace. Not the absence of war—but the peace that Jesus promises and brings. We pray that the fullness of God would dwell among us and call us to be the light on the hill that shines bright His love.

*With thanks to John Howard Yoder and his work in Just War Theory for significant help in writing this, especially the criteria