Jesus and Self Defense

As I have been writing on and discussing the Sermon on the Mount, the question of self defense has been ruminating within my mind. If Jesus says we should "turn the other cheek," "go the second mile," and "love our enemies," does this mean that we, as Christians have no right to fight off an attacker or defend our homes and families against a criminal? This is a very tough question to answer. I realize there are many Christians out there who hold differing views on the rights of a Christian to defend themselves. What I am offering here, is simply my opinion. I hope that it is helpful and that God will forgive me for where I get it wrong.

One thing I have discovered while studying the Sermon on the Mount is the context in which Jesus places his lessons. When he says "When someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also," what he is referring to is a back handed slap. In that context, according to William Barclay's commentary on Matthew, that was a very strong insult to someone. In the following verses, when Jesus says to give the man suing you both your cloak and your tunic, to give generously to all, and to love and pray for our persecutors, he is speaking within the same context. Notice, that none of these situations are extremely life-threatening or harmful to others. He does not say, "If someone has broken into your home and is trying to rape your daughter, let him have your wife as well." The context in which he is speaking these words is in the day to day life of his audience. As most of us realize, at our jobs, work, or social gatherings being insulted or mistreated is something that occurs quite often. Sometimes we are even the vessel for insults and bullying, sadly. However, what Jesus is saying, is don't retaliate to insults. As Christians, it ruins our witness if when someone insults us, we fly off the handle and respond with cursing, insults of our own, or physical retaliation. I believe this is part of what it means to deny ourselves and take up our cross. We must deny ourselves the enjoyment of repaying evil for evil, and instead try to be reconciled with our enemy. Our first and foremost priority is the Kingdom of God; we simply cannot afford to cause any sort of anger in someone against Christianity due to a personal dispute. Make peace with our enemies Christ says.

But what about in a life-threatening situation? Can we defend ourselves then? My personal belief is that we can. In Luke 22, Jesus urges his disciples to go out and buy swords. I do not imagine Jesus wanted his disciples to carry the swords around so they could chop weeds. It appears that Jesus was giving his disciples permission to defend themselves if they were attacked. Yet elsewhere, Jesus rebukes Peter for attacking the High Priest's servant, says that those who live by the sword will die by the sword, and says that his servants are not of this world and would not fight. What is he saying? Can we or can we not defend ourselves? I believe this is completely situational. While resorting to violence should always be our last resort, I believe we can use it when someone's life is at stake. If I am walking down the street and someone attacks me, I believe I can fight back rather than let them harm me. In the case of women especially, I believe they are justified in fending off an attacker. However, once again, this is situational. I would try to avoid a physical confrontation at all costs. If the attacker held a knife or gun to me and demanded my wallet, I would try to diffuse the situation by giving it to him. That's actually something they teach in martial arts; a few dollars isn't worth getting stabbed or shot over.

There is an excellent video on Youtube that John Piper does on this subject. He recounts the story of the martyrs in Ecuador during the 1950s who had the movie "End of the Spear" made about them. He says that when they were attacked by the natives, they had a gun with them, but fired it into the air to try to scare them away. They would not shoot their attackers because they knew those people did not know Jesus and would have gone to Hell if they died. The missionaries, Piper says, knew that they were ready to be with Christ if they died. That is one thing we need to remember when we need to defend ourselves. My attacker may not know Christ and will spend eternity in Hell if I kill him, whereas I will go to Heaven. When the attacker breaks into our home and threatens our family, we should make every effort possible to diffuse the situation without causing any bloodshed. I personally would make every effort to make the attacker lie down on the ground at gunpoint while I called the police, rather than shoot him.

There really is no cut and dry answer to this question. It is part of living in a world filled with violence and sin. We must do everything we can to work for peace and reconciliation, but this does not mean letting evil run rampant. Loving our enemies also includes stopping them from doing evil. We must be prepared at all times to sacrifice our lives for Christ and for others. We must also protect the innocent and the weak of this world. While we should do this through the means of Christ-like love and sacrifice, there may be a time when we need to physically fight off a mugger on the street or an intruder in our home. When doing this however, we must remember that our enemy is loved by a God who desires him or her to be saved. We must never relish any harm done to an oppressor, and only do what is necessary to avoid further bloodshed.