Some quotations from reference books:
Those Known as Early Christians. Early Christians refused to serve in the Roman army, in both the legions and auxilia, considering such service as wholly incompatible with the teachings of Christianity. Says Justin Martyr, of the second century C.E., in his “Dialogue With Trypho, a Jew” (CX): “We who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike weapons,—our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into implements of tillage.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, p. 254)
In his treatise “The Chaplet, or De Corona” (XI), when discussing “whether warfare is proper at all for Christians,” Tertullian (c. 200 C.E.) argued from Scripture the unlawfulness even of a military life itself, concluding, “I banish from us the military life.”—The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1957, Vol. III, pp. 99, 100.
“A careful review of all the information available goes to show that, until the time of Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.], no Christian became a soldier; and no soldier, after becoming a Christian, remained in military service.” (The Rise of Christianity, by E. W. Barnes, 1947, p. 333)
“It will be seen presently that the evidence for the existence of a single Christian soldier between 60 and about 165 A.D. is exceedingly slight; . . . up to the reign of Marcus Aurelius at least, no Christian would become a soldier after his baptism.” (The Early Church and the World, by C. J. Cadoux, 1955, pp. 275, 276) “In the second century, Christianity . . . had affirmed the incompatibility of military service with Christianity.” (A Short History of Rome, by G. Ferrero and C. Barbagallo, 1919, p. 382) “The behavior of the Christians was very different from that of the Romans. . . . Since Christ had preached peace, they refused to become soldiers.” (Our World Through the Ages, by N. Platt and M. J. Drummond, 1961, p. 125) “The first Christians thought it was wrong to fight, and would not serve in the army even when the Empire needed soldiers.” (The New World’s Foundations in the Old, by R. and W. M. West, 1929, p. 131)
“The Christians . . . shrank from public office and military service.” (“Persecution of the Christians in Gaul, A.D. 177,” by F. P. G. Guizot in The Great Events by Famous Historians, edited by R. Johnson, 1905, Vol. III, p. 246) “While they [the Christians] inculcated the maxims of passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire. . . . It was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes.”—The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Vol. I, p. 416.
One more line of evidence is found in the parallel prophecy of Mat. chap 24 found at Revelation Chap 6. Jesus gave the signs of his enthronement in Mat. 24; the horses of Rev. 6 shows the fulfillment of this and what to expect. Notice v2, the rider of this horse a white horse signifying purity (#3022) was given a bow signifying a weapon of warfare, also he was given a crown which means he was made a king. The prophecy at Gen. 3:15 revealed that God’s seed (Jesus) would eventually crush satan and his seed, easily this king can be identified as Jesus at his crowning as king.
Notice what he went on to do as king, he went forth conquering and to complete his conquest. What was the result of this Rev. 12:7-9, 12 shows us. With satan cast to the earth, the rider of the red horse begins his ride. Is this rider a good person? No! He takes peace away from the earth; how, by an implement of warfare, the sword. As we seen earlier Christians have beat their swords into plowshares, so if a person hasn’t then obviously he is a servant of this horse. Remember it is the demons are gathering the kings of the earth for battle against the one sitting on the throne of God, Rev.16:14-16. And obviously then these armies will be wiped out Isa.34:2. Logically then anyone in those armies will be facing God’s forces upon Jesus’ return.
In conclusion then what have we learned? Initially God sanctioned some wars, when nations stood in the way of God’s people Israel doing the will of God. After God sent His son to the earth Jesus gave us a new commandment, namely “you must love your neighbor as yourself” found at Mat. 22:38. Jesus said to love your enemies, do to others the way you would have it done to you, especially to those in the faith. The apostles did not participate in the worlds wars, in fact they were no part of this world (John17:14) they put their faith in God and His kingdom as being the only solution to war, and all of man kinds problems, as do true Christians today.
Paul summed it up best when he got right to the point of Christians and war when he wrote at 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to [what we are in the] flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. Yes if a person wants to be a real Christian, not just a claimed one, he will truly follow scripture and not “wage war according to the flesh.”
Those Known as Early Christians. Early Christians refused to serve in the Roman army, in both the legions and auxilia, considering such service as wholly incompatible with the teachings of Christianity. Says Justin Martyr, of the second century C.E., in his “Dialogue With Trypho, a Jew” (CX): “We who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike weapons,—our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into implements of tillage.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, p. 254)
In his treatise “The Chaplet, or De Corona” (XI), when discussing “whether warfare is proper at all for Christians,” Tertullian (c. 200 C.E.) argued from Scripture the unlawfulness even of a military life itself, concluding, “I banish from us the military life.”—The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1957, Vol. III, pp. 99, 100.
“A careful review of all the information available goes to show that, until the time of Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.], no Christian became a soldier; and no soldier, after becoming a Christian, remained in military service.” (The Rise of Christianity, by E. W. Barnes, 1947, p. 333)
“It will be seen presently that the evidence for the existence of a single Christian soldier between 60 and about 165 A.D. is exceedingly slight; . . . up to the reign of Marcus Aurelius at least, no Christian would become a soldier after his baptism.” (The Early Church and the World, by C. J. Cadoux, 1955, pp. 275, 276) “In the second century, Christianity . . . had affirmed the incompatibility of military service with Christianity.” (A Short History of Rome, by G. Ferrero and C. Barbagallo, 1919, p. 382) “The behavior of the Christians was very different from that of the Romans. . . . Since Christ had preached peace, they refused to become soldiers.” (Our World Through the Ages, by N. Platt and M. J. Drummond, 1961, p. 125) “The first Christians thought it was wrong to fight, and would not serve in the army even when the Empire needed soldiers.” (The New World’s Foundations in the Old, by R. and W. M. West, 1929, p. 131)
“The Christians . . . shrank from public office and military service.” (“Persecution of the Christians in Gaul, A.D. 177,” by F. P. G. Guizot in The Great Events by Famous Historians, edited by R. Johnson, 1905, Vol. III, p. 246) “While they [the Christians] inculcated the maxims of passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire. . . . It was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes.”—The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Vol. I, p. 416.
One more line of evidence is found in the parallel prophecy of Mat. chap 24 found at Revelation Chap 6. Jesus gave the signs of his enthronement in Mat. 24; the horses of Rev. 6 shows the fulfillment of this and what to expect. Notice v2, the rider of this horse a white horse signifying purity (#3022) was given a bow signifying a weapon of warfare, also he was given a crown which means he was made a king. The prophecy at Gen. 3:15 revealed that God’s seed (Jesus) would eventually crush satan and his seed, easily this king can be identified as Jesus at his crowning as king.
Notice what he went on to do as king, he went forth conquering and to complete his conquest. What was the result of this Rev. 12:7-9, 12 shows us. With satan cast to the earth, the rider of the red horse begins his ride. Is this rider a good person? No! He takes peace away from the earth; how, by an implement of warfare, the sword. As we seen earlier Christians have beat their swords into plowshares, so if a person hasn’t then obviously he is a servant of this horse. Remember it is the demons are gathering the kings of the earth for battle against the one sitting on the throne of God, Rev.16:14-16. And obviously then these armies will be wiped out Isa.34:2. Logically then anyone in those armies will be facing God’s forces upon Jesus’ return.
In conclusion then what have we learned? Initially God sanctioned some wars, when nations stood in the way of God’s people Israel doing the will of God. After God sent His son to the earth Jesus gave us a new commandment, namely “you must love your neighbor as yourself” found at Mat. 22:38. Jesus said to love your enemies, do to others the way you would have it done to you, especially to those in the faith. The apostles did not participate in the worlds wars, in fact they were no part of this world (John17:14) they put their faith in God and His kingdom as being the only solution to war, and all of man kinds problems, as do true Christians today.
Paul summed it up best when he got right to the point of Christians and war when he wrote at 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to [what we are in the] flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. Yes if a person wants to be a real Christian, not just a claimed one, he will truly follow scripture and not “wage war according to the flesh.”
