We have been looking for some time now at Jesus’ call to love our enemies and to return good for evil. We have also talked about how he overcame evil with good on the cross and how we are not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good as well.
Today we raise the question – What about Hitler? And I do this, not because there is an easy answer. There isn’t. That’s for sure. I raise it as a way of talking about how we as Christians can fight evil in the world.
Let me begin by looking at the question in a different way. It usually goes like this – if Christians don’t kill their enemies, doesn’t this just allow a Hitler to continue to do evil? The lesson that is taken from this is that there are times when we must fight and kill. But here is a different way of looking at it. If Christians in Germany had refused to kill, Hitler would not have been able to do any evil. They made up his army. So it seems to me that the question German Christians could ask is – What if we had followed Jesus and not killed? There would have been no WWII. (Richard Hays).
Also, just to note, the lesson that Americans draw from this – that there are times when Christians must fight and kill – is what Hitler used to gather his armies and prosecute his war, to correct the perceived injustices of WWI. In other words, the logic of killing to stop evil is the same logic that evil dictators use to get people to kill for them.
I point these things out to give a different perspective. But since most Christians will not listen to what I am saying and since there can be a Hitler in a non-Christian context – the issue is still before us. How should we respond to such an evildoer?
God uses nations to put down nations
I do believe that God works in the realm of the nations of the world to accomplish his sovereign will. God raised up Assyria to destroy Israel. God raised up Babylon to defeat Judah. God raised up the Persians to destroy Babylon. As you can see with Babylon, just because God uses a nation in this way doesn’t mean that it won’t be judged later. Nor does it mean that the nation is righteous. Assyria and Babylon were full of evil themselves.
The point here is that I accept that God used the Allied armies to destroy Hitler. They were God’s servants in this. Jesus and the nations work in two different ways. The nations operate by the standard of harm for harm, Jesus by the higher standard of loving enemies. These are two different systems or ways of responding to evil. My position is not that the nations of the world should do nothing, it’s that followers of Jesus should follow Jesus. That’s all.
But lets also recognize that though war can “work,” in that you can kill a Hitler, it comes at a great cost.
- It is estimated that 60 million people were killed in WWII.
- Millions of these were innocents – noncombatants – women and children. It is estimated that the Allied forces (the good guys) killed 1.6 million civilians. So there is a moral cost. It is not like you can just take a gun and kill Hitler. You have to go through many others to get to him.
- Also, since you don’t break the cycle of harm for harm, war often leads to further conflicts, just as WWI set up WWII, and WWII set up the cold war and the nuclear arms race.
Let’s also acknowledge that war doesn’t always work. You can go to war and lose and then there is, at least potentially, more death and suffering than if you hadn’t gone to war.
This brings us to what I want to focus on –
What can Christians do as Christians to overcome evildoers like a Hitler?
Anyone can take up a gun and kill someone. But what can we do as Christians, based on our faith in Jesus; based on his teaching and his example on the cross?
As a start, we have to realize that people are not our enemies. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” We also have to realize that we have weapons of God. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
So lets look at this from a German Christian perspective. Besides not fighting for Hitler, what could a Christian do?
1. Pray. As we see in Ephesians there are spiritual powers of evil. And these are connected to human nations, as the book of Daniel portrays. And our prayers, like Daniel’s, are tied up in the unseen spiritual struggle that determines what happens on the earth. Paul calls it “wrestling” with spiritual powers.
So we pray for God to defeat evildoers; to take away their power. And this has an effect in the realm of the spirit and on earth. I believe that even the warfare of the flesh is decided by the spiritual warfare that goes on unseen by believers. And that this was true in WWII. The outcome of any war is not based on who has the most armies or the most weapons. It is in God’s hands and our prayers are heard by God. Do we take prayer this seriously? It is what determines the course of history.
2. Confront evildoers. We speak in the name of the Lord to call out and expose the evil that is being done. And we warn of God’s judgment just as the biblical prophets did.
Most of the churches in Germany went along with Hitler. They bought into the nationalism and the patriotism. The confessing church, however, did not go along with Hitler. They spoke out prophetically to condemn what was going on. And they were persecuted and some were killed.
3. Act in love for those who suffer. Risk your life, not to kill, but to save. Many did this in Germany, hiding Jews and others from Hitler. Israel now officially recognizes 14,000 “rescuers” but there are estimates of up to 250,000, who may have saved up to 250,000 Jews. This was done at great risk to themselves and their families.
4. Suffer and then let God give you justice. We have looked at this idea twice now – in the handout on nonresistance and in our lesson on overcoming evil with good. But this is not just a personal strategy for overcoming evil and an evildoer. It can be applied more broadly.
If you confront evildoers and act in love, you will suffer. So, endure the suffering, without getting caught up in the cycle of harm for harm; returning evil for evil. We have looked at this many times. Here are two examples:
- Romans 12:17 – “Repay no one evil for evil.”
- Romans 12:18 – “Beloved, never avenge yourselves.”
(Romans 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9).
Then, call on God to act for justice, to stop the evildoer.
- Luke 18:7-9 – Jesus said, “Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.”
- Romans 12:19 – “. . . leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
(Psalm 103:6; Deuteronomy 32:43; Matthew 5:6; 1 Peter 2:23)
And God will act. Certainly on the final day when evildoers will receive exactly what they deserve. But God also acts even now to judge and stop evildoers, especially when his people are involved. Here are some examples –
- The children of Israel brought down the powerful Pharaoh of Egypt in this way. They suffered and God acted for them. This was by supernatural intervention.
- David endured the oppression of Saul, returning good for evil, and King Saul was judged. God used the Philistine armies.
- God overthrew King Ahab and Jezebel, in part, because of Naboth’s innocent suffering (I Kings 21:1-24). This was done by means of Jehu.
- Israel’s suffering at the hands of Babylon brought judgment on Babylon. This was done through the armies of another nation.
- Jesus’ death brought judgment on Jerusalem when it was destroyed in 70 A.D., just as he predicted (Matthew 23:32-24:2). God used the armies of Rome.
- Herod was struck dead after killing the apostle James – Acts 12. This was a supernatural intervention.
As you can see these are powerful, evil people, and even whole nations and empires. In the case of Egypt the Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelites and was oppressing them and was killing all their male children. And yet God acted to destroy Pharaoh and deliver his people. Does God still do this? Or is this something that only happens in the Bible? Well, God hasn’t changed!
What I am saying is that, as Christians we do not fight according to the flesh or with the weapons of the flesh. But we can fight in what is a holy war, with weapons that have divine power to tear down strongholds, as Paul says.
This way of responding to evil is based in Jesus’ teaching and his example on the cross. It is based in the belief that suffering love is more powerful than evil, and that love is the only way that we will truly overcome evil. Just as Jesus did.
Final thought
Evildoers will never cease in the world. So we can do all this and God can act to overthrow an evil ruler. But the next one might be just as bad. Ultimately our hope looks to the day when Jesus will return in power and make all things right. That is when evil will be dealt with fully. Until then, things will be difficult and painful in this broken world.
