(upbeat music) - Happy Friday, everyone. We are continuing our discussion on God, guns, and biblical manhood that we started back in episode 306 and picked up last time in episode 317. There's more to say about guns and biblical manhood, especially for those in law enforcement and the military. Pastor John, pick up your train of thought from yesterday's episode.

- Last time, Tony, I raised the question, is the possibility of someone going to hell, if you kill him, a sufficient warrant for not killing him? And I answered no. This question today is, is the New Testament commandment, not to return evil for evil, a sufficient warrant for a Christian not to be a soldier or a policeman?

And the reason that seems so relevant and several of our policeman friends asked it, is that the New Testament is filled with statements to this effect. This is Romans 12, 14. "Bless those who persecute you. "Never avenge yourselves. "Leave it to the wrath of God, "for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine.

"'I will repay,' says the Lord. "On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. "If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, "for by so doing, you'll heap burning coals on his head. "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Now, the question is, when a policeman reads that or a soldier reads that, should they say, "Well, I guess I've got the wrong job "because I'm not waiting for God to take vengeance.

"I'm involved in it right now. "I am returning evil for evil, harm for harm. "I am not turning the other cheek with my billy club. "I don't give to him who asks "to let him go on beating that woman. "I hit him and stop him." And so my answer to the question, "Do those texts prevent a person "from being a policeman or a soldier?" is no.

In fact, I would go further and say, God has arranged that the spheres that make society work, all of them have God-ordained situations in them that demand that we not turn the other cheek. The spheres I have in mind are the state, the family, business and commerce, the church.

God has built in to each of these spheres the necessary principle of justice, not just the principle of mercy, where you treat people better than they deserve. In other words, treating a person as he deserves, as well as sometimes treating him better than he deserves, is essential for the loving, just working of these spheres.

Let me just give you four biblical examples. The state, Romans 13, four, "He is the servant of God, an avenger, "who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." So he's talking about soldiers and policemen there who carry the sword. They don't turn the other cheek. They do strike in order to defend the fatherland or to defend the innocent citizen who's a victim of a crime.

So state. Number two, commerce, business. Paul said, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." That's not mercy, that is justice. The employer does not turn the other cheek. If a man doesn't come to work day after day and says, "I just don't feel like it," he gets fired.

He gets paid less. You can't run a business without the principle of merit, without the principle of a day's work for a day's wage. Thirdly, family. Fathers, bring up your children in the discipline of the Lord. Parents who only turn the other cheek and do not return spanking for insolence, breed brats, not pacifists.

And the Bible is so clear. Parents have the right to operate on the principle of justice as well as mercy. You have to spank your children, discipline your children. Number four, the church. Church discipline. 1 Corinthians 5:5, "You are to deliver the man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." In all of these, we're hoping for the good of people.

But in the short run, we are not giving to him who asks, we're not turning the other cheek, we are returning some measure of harm because of behaviors that were harmful or wrong. So the point is this, each of these teachings of the New Testament show that a just and loving society inside and outside the church requires more than not returning evil for evil.

It also requires, in the spheres where God assigns it, a principle of justice that returns what a person deserves. So my answer to the question is no. Is the New Testament commandment not to return evil for evil a sufficient warrant for Christian not being a policeman or a soldier?

No. Both of these, that is, treating a person according to justice and treating him according to mercy, are essential in bearing witness to our God. Just like I said last time, in our personal Christian readiness to suffer and be cheated without vengeance, we display something utterly crucial about God.

He's our all-satisfying treasure, and he will reward us fully in the end, and he will settle all accounts at the end of time. And secondly, when we function as a policeman or a soldier or a parent or an employer or a church elder, we also apply the principle of justice and display something else about God, namely, he has ordained that even in this world, even in the church, there be a limit to evil and a display of justice.

So there's just no doubt. I mean, I realize as people are listening to this, they're saying, "Whoa, those two principles are gonna collide." (laughs) They are going to collide in my life. And my answer is absolutely they're gonna collide. This way of living creates tensions. They bump into each other, and that's just the way it has to be, it seems to me, in a partially redeemed world.

- Thank you, Pastor John. I appreciate your thoughts. And this is the third podcast that we've done on guns. See episode number 306 and 317 for more. Please continue sending in your questions to us about guns or questions about any topic. You can email those to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

Well, Monday, we're gonna switch gears a bit and talk about New Calvinism, something you've been talking a lot about recently, Pastor John, and specifically, what's new about New Calvinism? That's coming up on Monday. Until then, I'm your host, Tony Reinke, wishing you a wonderful and worship-filled weekend. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)