How Did the Early Church Fathers View Military Service?

David Bercot has written a few books on early Christianity, the early church, and the early church fathers. I have real issues with Mr. Bercot and his methodology of research and presentation - you can read my review of his text Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up to get a full presentation of how he misrepresents the early fathers. This is an excerpt of that review where Bercot basically states that the early church did not support the Roman military. There is also a comment submitted by a CH101 reader with my response. One must remember that Bercot's main objective is to offer a critique of modern Protestant Christianity - and I agree with much of what he says. I want to give an overview of his mistake.

David Bercot does admit that “the early church made no law that Christians could not serve in the army…Neither Jesus nor the apostles ever strictly forbade Christians to serve in the military,” but he goes on to say that the empire was experiencing peace during the second century and soldiers were more like police officers. (p.97)

Here is the historical context: every 20 to 40 years Christianity would come under persecution and get slapped around. Pastors and bishops would be arrested, thrown in jail, and some would be executed. Laypeople would be tortured and forced to sprinkle salt on the altar to the empire at the risk of being thrown to wild animals in an amphitheatre. Roman soldiers were known for their cruelty in battle, but they were also known for their cruelty towards Christians during these times of persecution. Even during times of peace Roman soldiers had license to make harsh demands on average citizens.

With this context in mind, why would Christians be encouraged to serve in the military? The citations used by Bercot are each commenting on military service for Rome, not military service or warfare in general. I know a man who was a pastor in Cuba when Fidel Castro led the Communist takeover. He fled with his family, but many of his friends were ripped from their beds in the middle of the night, beaten, imprisoned, and some killed. Would it surprise anyone if Christians in Communist Cuba were discouraged from enlisting in the military after the takeover? You cannot compare military service in the modern-day army of the USA with the Roman empire. You might disagree with Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq; you might think the USA is imperialistic, but you simply cannot objectively compare soldiers in the USA to those in the Roman empire in this way.

Some of the early fathers discouraged military service (mainly Tertullian), but they also did not encourage believers to be involved in politics or acting. Overall, they speak negatively about politics. Does this mean that we should discourage believers from serving in the political arena as well? The problem with this is that the New Testament does not have this prohibition against military service or politics. As much as I respect the early fathers, the NT is our primary authority when it comes to the teaching of the apostles.

In fact, we are given a fairly positive view of military service in the NT.
- Jesus heals the daughter of the Roman centurion with no indication of displeasure for his military service - Luke 7:1-10
- Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius - Acts 10
- Paul refers to believers in the household of Caesar - Philippians 4:22
- Paul uses soldiers as a positive analogy - 2 Timothy 2:2-3; 1 Corinthians 9:7; Philippians 2:25; 2 Timothy 2:3-4.

But I want to further address Bercot's mistake. As with many other issues, Bercot only presents one side of the data. In his presentation he cites Tertullian's treatise The Crown where he tells the story of a Christian soldier who refuses to wear the appropriate headress laurel with his fellow soldiers. He is mocked, stripped of his commission, and imprisoned to await death. But this treatise itself shows that Christians were, in fact, serving in the military.

Eusebius tells us that Christians were serving in governmental positions and in the army long before Diocletian. (Church History 8.1) He mentions that some Christians were allowed to refrain from sacrifice (8.3) apparently being shown preferential protective treatment. Lactantius tells us that Christian attendants to Diocletian made the sign of the cross while fortune tellers were trying to divine the future for the emperor, thus causing the soothsayers difficulty. Diocletian demanded that these Christians be whipped. He also sent orders to his commanders that all Christians serving in the military be made to offer sacrifices or be dismissed from service. (Of The Manner in Which the Persecutors Died 10.6)

These examples show that Christians were indeed serving in the Roman military. Although Tertullian was against military service, the early church did not have a concensus view. This is typical of early Christianity - there is diversity of opinion and practice on many, many issues. Bercot fails to appreciate the evidence for this in the data or just fails to present this evidence to the reader.

Comments and Questions sent by a CH101 Reader:

These are all good questions regarding important issues, but I am afraid that you are conflating several issues. I will try to answer your questions while also sorting out some of the details.

The relationship of the early Christians with the Jews.
It is true that the Christians did not attempt to defend Jerusalem against Titus. They did heed the words of Jesus and (according to Eusebius) a prophetic call to flee the city. But you must also understand that Romans were not attacking Christian faith in 69-70 AD - they were coming against Jewish zealots who were trying to throw off Roman rule. Many early Christians felt strongly that the destruction of Jerusalem was the judgment of God, thus they would not have defended the city in any way.

Pacifism in the Early Church
You cite the words of Jesus to Peter, but you also need to realize the context of that command. Jesus not only opposed the Jewish leadership, but he opposed the radical Zealots who wanted to overthrow Roman rule. During the second century the Romans consistently persecuted Christians. It is correct that second century Christians did not resist with force, but historical context is important. They refused to defend themselves not because they were pacifists - they rather embraced martyrdom as a quick way to assure their salvation. There was a deep sense that to refuse martyrdom compromised your standing with God. You can read more about this issue of second repentance.

Although there were pacifists in the early church, it was not a universal position. By the third century we know that Christians were serving Rome in governmental/administrative positions as well as in the military.

You said, "...it was Constantine who united the religions by paganizing it in order to expand his empire."
This comment on Constantine is just not true. All you need to do is read Eusebius, Lactantius, and Sozomen to realize that Constantine was not ONLY acting from a political motive. What Constantine DID was to pronounce religious freedom for all Roman citizens in the Treaty of Milan in 313 AD. This treaty marks an historic moment for the Christian faith. It is decreed that all Roman citizens would have religious freedom - the ability to worship however they wanted without interference from the empire. It did unite his empire and he did want this to happen. He wanted peace and he was not happy with the persecution of Christians (his father had not joined fully in this persecution before him).

Was Constantine a military officer and did he participate in war? Certainly. Did Christians support any emperor? Yes, Christians served in the military BEFORE Constantine. There were periods in time when Christians laid down their military uniform and thus were imprisoned and/or executed. This typically happened when soldiers were commanded to make a sacrifice on the altar and proclaim that "Caesar is Lord," or when they were called upon to persecute or kill without mercy. But this did not happen ALL the time.

I do not know of any record of Christians being executed for being neutral during a military conflict. Christians were martyred for refusing to proclaim the supremacy of the Roman emperor.

Ghandi and MLK Jr were good role models. But neither were fighting against military expansionism - they were fighting against racism. There were many early Christians that did indeed fight against Roman persecution with intense pacifism. There were also many Christians throughout history that did use forceful defense and/or attack. Among these would include both sides in the Arian conflict, and for Reformation-based (anti-Catholic) believers: John Knox and his followers, John Calvin and the leadership of Geneva, and other Reformers. You can simply say "they were not true Christians," but you would be forcing your personal opinion. The biblical text does indicate a stance of pacifism, but there are no biblical prohibitions on serving in the military. Nowhere does the biblical text condemn military service.

To answer your final questions:

While I personally would NOT want to join an army like the crusades, it should be remembered that many of those who joined in the Crusades were not acting as Christians, but as paid soldiers, and for various reasons. It was also in response to Christians being forced at the tip of a sword to either convert to Islam. The forces of Islam had moved through entire regions forcing "Christians" to convert - it could be argued that many did not take a great amount of pressure, but some were pressured. While this does not justify the crusades, it is a fact seldom mentioned.

Should Christians ever be involved in military operations? Difficult question. Should Christians have strongly opposed WWII and joined the fight against Hitler? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a leading Christian theologian in Germany, ran an underground seminary and finally was involved in a plot to kill Hitler. He was arrested and was executed on the last day of the war. In letters written from prison he laments and questions whether he should have participated in this plot. He never gives a clear answer.

Showing the love of Christ IS the supreme command. If I come home and find an intruder attacking and trying to kill my family, do I use force or simply pray? I would use force, deadly force if I had to, then I would pray.
Good questions. No easy answers from me.