The Christian is a Soldier

A Soldier: Eph.6:10-18 The reading comes after a section that addresses particular sections within the church at Ephesus but in these verses Paul is speaking to the whole congregation as he concludes his letter and the language is that of warfare!

Text: 2Tim.2:3 Here Paul writes telling Timothy that he must conduct himself “as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”.

Are we supposed to understand that violence becomes the Christian as he seeks to follow his Master, the Prince of Peace? Are the armies of the Lamb to resort to force as they seek to propagate the good news of the Gospel?

In history at times this is just what some have thought – the Crusaders, for example, who travelled eastwards at the behest of several Popes to “liberate” Jerusalem from the muslims.

Such an understanding might be partially fuelled by some of Jesus’ own words when he encouraged his disciples to procure the means of self-defence eg. Lk.22:36-38 “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.”

Nevertheless Jesus very quickly made it plain to all to see that the interests of His Kingdom could in no way be furthered by adopting the means of violence:

Cf. Mt.26:51-54 “And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 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?”

Listen also to His words to Pilate – Jn.18:36 “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Notice then how Jesus goes on to declare just how His Kingdom does grow: v.37 “Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world––to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.””

Thus it is clear that if we are to understand what it means to be a “good soldier of Christ Jesus” we must not allow ourselves to be lead down a militaristic path such as the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and Southern Sudan and closer to home perhaps we must be careful that such attitudes of violence and force should not be allowed to determine our reaction to what is commonly perceived as the “muslim threat”.

The proper use of force is authorised in Holy Scripture but is reserved for civil authorities (Rom.13:1-7) for the maintaining of justice and order within society. The church must be careful not to try to confuse the church with the state – they operate by different means in different spheres!

The entire NT confirms the idea of a spiritual way of interpreting our warfare and our stauts as “soldiers”.

In Rev.12:7-9 “John draws back a little the curtain allowing us to perceive that much is going on behind the scenes of what we can see of human history. “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world––he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

If we only take into consideration the physical/material events that we can see then we will fail (as our politicians fail!) to understand why some problems seem so intractable and illogical. We are living in that period where Satan is active on the earth seeking desperately to counteract the glorious plan of our gracious God – in his opposition the church is inevitably caught up: our choice is not whether to participate in this war but rather how we will participate.

In 1Tim.1:18-19 Paul speaks of the need to “wage the good warfare” implying that there are indeed different types of warfare that we could be involved in. In these verses Paul already makes a link to faith – not paying careful attention some have shipwrecked their own faith! Later on Paul makes it patently plain that faith is involved when he tells Timothy to “Fight the good fight of the faith.” 1Tim.6:12.

Paul himself has done this – he’s not telling Timothy to do something that he himself wasn’t prepared to do: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2Tim.4:7.

Even if this warfare is not primarily physical this must not be taken to imply that there are no dangers involved and we will need to be in possession of certain qualities if we are to fight properly.

1.       Readiness to experience suffering 2Tim.2:3 “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

2.       Single-minded, concentrated 2Tim.2:4 “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” Some things that are maybe legitimate in themselves or for others may well need to laid to one side by those involved in this warfare.

3.       Obedience cf. Lk.7:8 “For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

4.       Becoming more and more skilled in his use of his weapons – the soldier stays on his guard, well-disciplined and well-trained so that he doesn’t simply lash out. 1Cor.9:26 “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.” Cf. David going out against Goliath 1Sam.17 – David couldn’t use Saul’s armour etc with which he was unused but he could use a sling and stones having become adroit in their use while defending his father’s flocks.

5.       The soldier rarely fights on his own – most usually part of a greater army. Notice how Paul travelled with companions and notice too how he described some of his friends eg. Phil.2:25 “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier…” and Phm.1-2 “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,to Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier…”

We must:

1.       Know our arms and have confidence in them

2Cor.10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” & 2Cor.6:7 “with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;” – offensive and defensive.

Our weapons are prayer and the Word of Truth – rendered powerful by God Himself – see Rev.12:11 “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.”

2.       We must know our enemy and not be misled here Eph.6:10-18 remind us that our enemy is not flesh and blood but the spiritual forces that lie back of sinful men and women and which have trapped and captured them. Eg. Jesus to Peter Mk.8:33 ““Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

3.       We must keep our eyes upon the Captain of our Salvation “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb.12:2

To learn more about the Christian's fight follow the link - Our warfare.