Defending Your Land: Ethics of Christians in Military Service

Seminary Room N335

In 2014–2015 a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and following annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia, presented an acute dilemma for Ukrainians, to defend country’s borders or to let the land be taken away. Christian community became divided between “the hawks and the doves.” Some Christians were strongly advocating for standing up, picking up the arms and defending the land, while others were standing on the side of peaceful resolution, even at a cost of losing their land and maybe even losing their freedom. This study seeks to understand the ethical vision of the New Testament on the military involvement in defending of the land. The task is accomplished through the following steps. First, I briefly survey some cases of defending of the land in the Old Testament. Second, I examine and propose a fresh reading of some key “military” passages (Luke 3:14; Mark 6:35–44; Matthew 21:1–11; John 18:1–11) in the New Testament. Third, I present a synthesis of the ethical vision on defending of the land in the light of the New Testament and propose a possible solution to the dilemma of military involvement.