Christian Self-Defense and Luke 22:36

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Peter cuts off the ear of MalchusRecent world and national events have brought increased attention to issues of the right to bear arms and of personal defense. These important issues deserve discussion.

Many Christians cite one particular passage from the Gospel of Luke as a means to justify personal defense and counterattacking attackers. Good Bible exegesis requires us to look at verses in their context and to resist the tendency to build an entire theology from a lone Scripture. (Going forward in this post, readers will need to agree that such a philosophy is wise or else we will have no common ground from which to work.)

The Bible demands we understand its contents in context, which ranges from the entirety of the Scriptures down to “scenes” within the biblical narrative. Get too granular and context is lost. I would go so far as to say misunderstanding context is the major error committed with biblical texts. This happens, in part, because we mistakenly reduce the Bible to chapters and verses, artificial points of organization that were added in the 16th century, long after the canon was approved. The original text contains no chapter and verse numbers. Chapters and verses compartmentalize the text, and this works against understanding a broader context.

Before we exegete the Luke passages, a personal disclosure: My father was a lifetime NRA member, and I grew up with guns in my household. In my youth, I won marksmanship awards. Later, I taught marksmanship and gun safety. I am experienced with personal firearms. Readers should know this because I want the Scriptures to stand by themselves and not on me as a biased interpreter.

Take time to read the Luke passage in its entirety below:

And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance.
—Luke 22:35-54 ESV

The setting comes at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He will soon be crucified. He is gathered with His disciples in the Upper Room, having celebrated the Passover meal and having dismissed Judas, who will return with the Jewish governing authorities that will arrest Jesus.

Jesus begins by referring to His earlier sending out of 72 disciples in pairs, which included the apostles, to minister to people in the region (see Luke 10:1-23 for details).

Highlighted in the Scriptures above is the contentious verse, Luke 22:36:

He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one….”

Many people stop right there. That’s not good exegesis, though. This is especially the case because Jesus isn’t finished talking yet! He goes on in verse 37 to explain why He says this:

“…For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”

With all that will go down in the next few days, why get a sword right that moment? For personal defense months after Jesus is gone? Or to fulfill in the next few hours a specific prophecy about Jesus as Messiah?

The prophecy in question comes from Isaiah 53, which is the great Old Testament foretelling of the personal work and characteristics of the Messiah. I would recommend reading the entire chapter for best context, but this is the passage cited:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
—Isaiah 53:10-12 ESV

The sword-bearing company of the Messiah puts Him among the transgressors, men of violence, which we will soon see played out.

Then, in verse 38 of Luke 22, Jesus and His disciples further discuss His statement about swords:

And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

What does Jesus mean by “It is enough”? Enough swords to arm each of them for personal defense? No, there were 11 disciples now. Enough swords to provide self-defense for pairs of them, as they had been sent out earlier with the others? No, since there were only two swords for five and a half pairs.

No, the two swords were enough to fulfill the prophecy of Jesus being numbered among the transgressors.

Jesus and His disciples then move to the Mount of Olives. Jesus warns them not to fall into temptation. What might that temptation be? To fall asleep at a time when Jesus needs their comfort is certainly one case. But what else might a band of armed men be tempted to do? What is the human reaction to an upcoming confrontation that might go from temptation to action?

After the disciples did succumb to the temptation to sleep, Jesus said this in verse 46:

“Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

They already failed to stay awake. but Jesus continues to refer to temptation. Why?

Then the government party arrives with Judas to arrest Jesus, and the disciples say this:

“Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

Transgression. Violence. Notice that Jesus did not give an affirmative response to the disciples’ question. We know from parallel accounts of this incident in Mark 14, John 18, and Matthew 26 that the impetuous Simon Peter was the attacker, who took it upon himself to provide an answer. Did he give into the temptation to use violence to resolve the issue from his limited perspective? Notice what Jesus says in verse 51:

“No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.

Jesus rebuked Peter’s action against a perceived attacker. Further, Jesus demonstrated the proper counter-response to violence: healing.

The Matthew parallel passage expands further:

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
—Matthew 26:52-54 ESV

Several notable revelations here:

1. All who take the sword will perish by the sword. Jesus does not see the sword as an answer; it will boomerang on those who use it.
2. Supernatural options greater than the sword exist. In this case, angels. Solutions exist that are unseen by those who are blind to them.
3 The sword was wielded so that the Isaiah passage about transgressors might be fulfilled.

Jesus ends the Luke passage with His statement in verses 52 and 53:

“Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

By their actions, what did the governmental authorities consider Jesus and His disciples? Robbers, transgressors. Later, who did the people choose to free instead of Jesus? Barabbas, a robber. Who was Jesus later crucified between? Robbers.

Isaiah prophecy fulfilled: The Messiah, Jesus, was numbered among the transgressors.

Now that we have explored this passage from Luke 22, what should we ask ourselves?

Are transgressors considered to be “good people”? In what ways should Christians aim to be transgressors or not?

According to Jesus, what is the end of those who take the sword?

According to Jesus, are there other options beside the sword? What might they be?

In what ways are Christians tempted to respond to difficult situations with human solutions rather than spiritual ones?

Is Luke 22:36 a proof text for Christians to take up arms in self-defense? Why or why not?

In closing, I offer this passage on the role of the Christian to this world as the representative of the King within the Kingdom of God:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
—2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV

Killed All the Day Long

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Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
—John 11:25-26

As a younger man, my favorite book was The Journals of Jim Elliot, the personal writings of the famed missionary/martyr. Elliot was always a hero of mine. He and four others were speared to death by aboriginals in Ecuador, people they were trying to reach with the Gospel.

Only recently, They didn't fire their guns...though, did I read an interesting fact: Elliot and his companions carried guns, yet they chose not to fire them in self-defense. Instead, they took the spears and died.

The simple question: why?

Many believe that Elliot and his friends chose to die rather than kill others who, not knowing Christ, would be doomed to hell. They gave up their perceived right to life to keep others  from eternal death. They loved strangers more than they loved their own lives.

When I look around the American Church, I don’t find that mentality. If anything, we are Americans, first and foremost, and our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness trumps any idea of forgoing that right to save another from the lake of fire. Our enemies deserve to burn in hell; they’re our enemies, aren’t they?

Yet the Kingdom of God has different rights than the kingdoms of this earth. For instance, here’s one of the realities of the Kingdom of God:

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
—Romans 8:36

Paul then notes that this reality makes us more than conquerers.

But we don’t think that way. Our view is that retaliation against our enemies and those who intend to harm us is our right as Americans. Yet Paul says it is for God’s sake that we lay down our lives.

An eye for an eye was most definitely the Old Testament way, as was the sword. But I struggle to find any evidence that the New Testament incorporates that same thinking:

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
—Matthew 26:52

When the inclination is to pick up the sword rather than the cross, then we live by the sword. And we in America most definitely live by the sword because we see it as our right to wield it.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
—Matthew 5:11-12

Persecuted didn’t just mean opposed, unless Isaiah’s being sawn in two can be considered mere dissent on the part of those who  “persecuted” him.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
—Matthew 5:38-39

What part of “Do not resist the one who is evil” do we not understand?

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 5:44

Isn’t “Hate your enemies and counterattack those who persecute you” more the way we live? Don’t most of us think a chromed Dan Wesson .45 with a walnut grip a better response to one’s enemies than prayer? Don’t we all smirk when someone offers that we  should “kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out”? Well?

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
—Luke 6:40

And how were Christ’s disciples like their teacher? Nearly all died deaths at the hands of those who reviled them. What’s more, the Bible hints that they welcomed such a death. (“My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”—Philippians 1:23 / “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”—Revelation 12:11)

“And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
—Mark 13:11-13

Was Jesus ignorant of how those trials would end?  What retaliatory plans did He offer His followers in the wake of their sentencing?

Here’s a good example of one such trial:

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at [Stephen]. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
—Acts 7:54-60

I believe some would have preferred that Stephen, doing his best Chuck Norris, pull out a couple of AK-47s and dust every last person holding a rock. Yeah, man!

Instead, Stephen died praying for his enemies because he knew that vengeance belongs to the Lord alone.

Paul wrote this:

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
—Philippians 1:21

In that spirit, I offer this scenario (not for the fainthearted):

One day, your enemies come for you and your Christian family. Instead of reaching for your shotgun, you attempt to share the love of Christ with them. Their response? They force you to watch as they rape your daughter, then slit her throat. Then they put a couple slugs into your wife’s face and do the same to you. For a finale, they set your house to flame to ensure that your young son, who is hiding somewhere inside, doesn’t make it out alive.

A few months later, one of those enemies, having heard the life-filled testimonies and seen the holy martyr deaths of enough Christians,  gives his life to Jesus.

I believe that one of the reasons that such a response on our parts seems so inconceivable is because we don’t really live as if a mansion in glory awaits us. The question of Jesus to Martha that opens this post receives an answer of yes in our heads, but no in our hearts. We love this life too much because it’s the only thing that seems real to us. We can’t see the value in giving that up willingly. Only fools, weaklings, and cowards would do such a thing. Better that we go down with a pistol in hand than be thought impotent against our enemies’ attacks.

Yet Jim Elliot’s holstered gun speaks long after its owner took his last breath.

As an American, all this is foreign to me. It’s not the way I have ever thought or even think now.  I encounter an Elliot or a Dirk Willems and such people exist outside my own worldview box. No, I would prefer to think that Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom pulled out a couple Walther P38s and sent a dozen Nazis to hell before they and their family and their boarders were hauled off to the concentration camps. That the Apostle Paul yanked out a secreted knife and gutted his executioner before the Romans managed to strap him down and remove his head.

But when the room is quiet and it’s just the Lord and me, I realize I think that way because my mind is not as Christlike as I would believe.

So I ask, when they finally come for you and me, will we go down fighting like men who don’t believe in the world to come? Or will we kneel in prayer and die like Christians?

Wicked Systems

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Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have little patience for attempting to run churches by business principles. That’s been weighed in the scale and found wanting every time it’s been attempted.

Last evening, as I was prepping for an interview I was to conduct with a supply chain expert for one of the world’s most notable companies, I brushed up on William Edward Deming.

Deming had a handful of adherents here in the States, but he was practically deified in Japanese corporations. While his ideas on efficiency and productivity were toyed with elsewhere, the Japanese latched on and rode Deming’s ideas to the top. Acceptance of Deming is why Toyota has thrived, while rejection of his principles is epitomized by GM execs groveling on Capitol Hill.

Deming’s theories include 14 main principles, all of which are intriguing. To me, none grabs like this one:

Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

Translation: If the system is broken, it’s a waste of time asking more from the laborers. Instead, fix the system.

I look at this statement of Deming’s not as a prescription, but as an astute observation. Therefore, we can learn from it as Christians without trying to run our churches by it.

When I watch the American Church in action, what passes for leadership is little more than slogans, exhortations, and targets tied around the necks of people who cannot possibly meet leadership’s criteria because they labor in a broken system. Yet who is tackling the broken system? Who is that brave?

You would think Christians, of all people, should be, right?

I believe the singular failure of Evangelicalism in our lifetimes can be tied to its leaderships’ inability to speak to broken systems. Those leaders did not address economics, justice, relationships, work, politics, or anything else from a systemic perspective. As a result, despite the fact that our God is a consuming fire, we have brought His powerful Truth to bear on the fringes, not on the core presence of wicked systems. It’s like using a sword to clean under one’s fingernails, or wielding a napalm-based flamethrower to toast marshmallows. The sword and the flamethrower are intended to do battle with dire enemies, not with a clod of dirt or the raw middle ingredient of a s’more.

The culture wars are one example of the resulting massive failure. For instance, teen pregnancy is a serious issue, but have we addressed it systemically? Or have we fought  it with slogans, exhortations, and targets?

Sadly, our leaders neither waged that battle on a systemic level, nor did they even bother to ask the right questions. (Why? Because those tough questions beg for tougher answers, ones that may ask much of the askers.) In the case of the teen left unsupervised at home after school, why not question why both mom and dad are working? Or ask what it is about the way we work that may make for more children born to teens? Instead, unwilling to tackle the systemic issues of why our society labors as it does, Christian leaders opted for the path of least resistance—and least success.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Christianity provides a unified answer for the whole of life.
Francis Schaeffer

I have always enjoyed reading Schaeffer because he tried to speak to the Church about more than just eliminating defects in the individual or boosting spiritual productivity. Francis SchaefferHe understood that Christians must address broken systems. Unless the Christian brings truth to bear on systems, most larger changes will be superficial—or nonexistent.

Kingdoms are built on systems. The world has its kingdom system and God has His. In the clash of kingdoms, systems must be overthrown for one kingdom to displace the other. Yet where are the Christian leaders who are waging war against systems? Where are the Schaeffers of 2009? It’s been nearly a quarter century since he died, and as far as I can tell, he’s had no successors. And the Church continues to suffer for this lack.

Want to truly change the world for Christ? Start asking tougher questions about the way the world systems work, then bring the Gospel light to bear on the very heart of their darkness.

Now, who out there is going to do just that?