Pacifism Pt 1

This week we will look at pacifism. It’s widely accepted  that Jesus taught this. Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29 are examples where Jesus says to turn the other cheek. What was He saying?!?

The concept of pacifism was popularized through the writings of a guy named Leo Tolstoy. Pacifism has not been, nor is it a part of Jewish belief. The idea from writings such as Sanhedrin 72a is that it is permissible to kill in order to defend oneself.

Could it be that Jesus is the first and only Jew to teach pacifism? I believe that is unlikely. Even some of the disciples were armed in Luke 22:39 & 22:50, not to mention that once Jesus even suggest they buy swords Luke 22:35-37, we start to ask ourselves did Jesus really teach pacifism? Pacifism is a theological misunderstanding that comes from mistranslation of several things that Jesus said.

The first common mistranslation is Matthew 5:21. Many English versions say “Thou shall not kill”. This is a quote of Exodus 20:13. The Hebrew word used here is murder / ratzach not kill / harag. These words have very different meanings. The first word, murder, means premeditated murder while the second covers everything from justifiable homicide, manslaughter, killing accidentally and taking the life of an enemy solider during war. The commandment clearly prohibits murder, but not the taking of a life in defense of oneself.

One wonders how the English translators got this wrong since the Greek has two different words for murder and kill. The Greek word used here also means murder. Even with no knowledge of Hebrew the English guys should have been to correctly translate it.

Another passage which pacifism is based on is the first part of Matthew 5:39 commonly translated “Do not resist evil” or “do not resist one who is evil”. Did Jesus really say this to his disciples? If he did then we have a contradiction with other passages in Scripture. Such as Romans 12:9 “Hate which is evil” and James 4:7 “Resist the devil”.

Once again Hebrew provides us  with the answer. When this verse is translated back into Hebrew we can see Jesus is not creating an new saying but quoting a well know proverb from the Old Testament. It appears with some slight variations in Psalm 37:1-8 and Proverbs 24:19, one could say it this way in today’s English ” Do not compete with evildoers”. In other words don’t try to rival or vie with a neighbor who has wronged you.

Jesus is not teaching that one should lie down or submit in the face of evil rather He is teaching that we should not try to “get back at” or “take revenge” on a neighbor that has wronged us. Proverbs 24:29 “Do not say, I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay each according to his work”.

Well I’m not finished yet, more to come in Pt 2

blessings………mark

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