Thy Strong Word — Free-Text First Friday: Just War? The Sword, the Cross, and the Christian Conscience

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There is a time for peace and a time for war, according to God’s Word in Ecclesiastes. With American forces engaged in combat operations in Iran and many in our communities and congregations divided over the conflict, the question is unavoidable: Can war ever be just before God? Does He sanction the sword or merely tolerate it? And what about the Christian who puts on a uniform and picks up a rifle? Drawing on Romans 13, Augsburg Confession Article XVI, and Luther’s treatise “Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved,” we explore the just war tradition through the lens of the two realms, vocation, and the conscience of the baptized believer. We also ask the harder questions: What restrains us from bloodlust when our cause is right? How do we care for the veteran whose memories still trouble him decades later? And where does the cross fit when the sword has done its terrible, necessary work?

The Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann, Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to discuss “Just War.”