For today’s post will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Is God warlike or peaceful?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:
God is warlike
““The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name” (Exodus 15:3)
“He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” (Psalm 18:34)
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1)
God is peaceful
“Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” (Romans 15:33)
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,” (Hebrews 13:20)
“for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” (1 Corinthians 14:33)
“Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11)
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- The three passages the skeptic quoted to demonstrate that God is warlike (Exodus 15:3, Psalm 18:34 and Psalm 144:1) do support the point that God is warlike in the specific sense that He is a warrior and that He help His people in times of war. But its not just warlike for the sake of being warlike; specifically these verses shows us that God is a protector. There’s no dispute about it from those passages so the remainder of this post we will examine more carefully the topic of God as a God of peace. A closer examination on peace would reveal that we do not have a Bible contradiction here.
- There are different shade of meaning to the word “peace” that we must consider.
- The Greek word for peace is εἰρήνη. As one can gleam from Strong or even more technical lexicons, there are different shade of meanings the term has.
- While the term peace both in the English and the Greek can mean the absence of war, nevertheless we see that in the Greek the word εἰρήνη doesn’t always carry the meaning of absence of war. In fact all the verses the skeptic cited to demonstrate that God is peaceful have nothing in the context that suggests absence of war as the focus and that is an important observation to make since these verses are not trying to say something about war or lack of war concerning the attribute of God. It would be irrational to make this out to be a Bible contradiction concerning the topic of being war-like or not being war-like when there’s one entire set of verses that aren’t even about war.
- Also the skeptic cited 1 Corinthians 14:33 as proof that God is a God of peace. Contextually 1 Corinthians 14:33 contrasts “confusion” with “peace” and the subject matter is how church service ought to be conducted in a manner that reflect God’s nature and desire. Thus “peace” in this context has the sense of orderly. But orderly worship and God being a physical protector of His people from physical harm are not logically incompatible. We must not use 1 Corinthians 14:33 as a verse that proves a Bible contradiction.
- We must also not forget that in Christianity there is a different kind of peace that is in view. The night before Jesus Christ was crucified He explicitly stated that this peace from Him is different than anything else previously: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Later in Colossians 1:20 Paul explained further the relationship of Christ and this spiritual peace: “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” This idea of spiritual peace seems to be the more likely sense that is used when God is called a God of peace because of the spiritual emphasis of all the epistles and the lack of war with the Pax Romana of the time. So we do not have a Bible contradiction here because the set of verses that the skeptic gathered that talk about God being warlike is focusing on God as physical protector of His people from their enemies while the verses on God being peaceable is about spiritual peace. These verses are not Bible contradictions because they are talking about two different domains.
- Even if the Bible does talk about God being a God of peace in the sense of the absence of literal war, we still do not have a Bible contradiction.
- Don’t forget Ecclesiastes 3:1 which teaches us “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven” which includes “a time for war and a time for peace” (v.8b). So even if there are times when God is warlike while other times He is not warlike technically we don’t have a Bible contradiction because they are not two mutually exclusive truths being held simultaneously true at the same time.
- Also God being warlike and peaceful are not mutually exclusive since one can be victorious in war in order to bring about peace which is the end of war.
- This is what we see God will do as prophesied in Zechariah 9:10= “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the [a]River to the ends of the earth.“
- As a human example in 2 Samuel 10:19 we see God’s Word record the making of peace after Israel’s military victory over her enemies.
- Consider Melchizedek in Hebrews 7:1-2. Verse 1 certainly describes his warlike side for among other things it tells us of his “slaughter of the kings.” Yet verse 2 tells us he was “king of peace.” Melchizedek is an exemplar of the King being warlike in order to attain peace. We also know Melchizedek is a type for Christ. Why wouldn’t we expect Christ as our Triune God to be able to be a God of peace and a warlike God in the same manner that’s not contradictory?
There’s no Bible contradictions here. It’s time the skeptics say “Peace out!” to this so-called Bible Contradiction.
The Domain for Truth 
[…] via Bible Contradiction? Is God warlike or peaceful? — The Domain for Truth […]
That line is classic!
It is curious how people take things out of context. The skeptics tell us not to take the Bible literally, as if the knew how to read it. Meanwhile they take verses completely out context just to prove a point.
Citizen Tom I think you pointed out a great point: “he skeptics tell us not to take the Bible literally, as if the knew how to read it. Meanwhile they take verses completely out context just to prove a point.” Thumbs up to the point you made.
We must remember that there are many different interpretations of the scriptures by different Christian groups and we can add to this the fact that some lay greater stress on certain scriptures than others. I point this out not to ridicule anyone’s faith which would be very wrong but each of us must form there own conclusions.
Each of us will form our own conclusions. Whether we must is another question.
When we evaluate a work like the Bible, many factors are involved. The most important, i think, are our starting assumptions. By definition, what the skeptics have in common is that they do not respect the Bible enough to believe it. That lack of respect tends to result in some rather strange interpretations.
When you speak of different “Christian groups”, that covers quite a bit of territory. Many people who refer to themselves as Christian don’t actually believe the Bible. In the past, most Americans, if they had read anything, had read the Bible. Books were sort of scarce, but many people had become literate just so that they could read the Bible. Unfortunately, because the public school system wants as little to do with the Bible as it can manage, kids now grow up thinking it unimportant.
Given the history of West, the notion that the Bible is unimportant is absurd, but if we have never read the Bible it is easy enough to believe such a thing, and that is the stance of many so-called Christian groups. Here is an example:
https://www.uua.org/beliefs
“Meanwhile they take verses completely out context just to prove a point.” Right.
Good analysis, Jim. Thanks! I remember as a young Catholic really struggling with the difference between the seemingly angry, warlike God of the OT and the sweet, loving, gentle Jesus of the NT. This misconception was based on second-hand information because we were never encouraged to read the Bible for ourselves. When I understood from Scripture through the ministry of the Holy Spirit that God is altogether holy, just, and loving, it all fell into place.
It is the grace of God we can undersrand, what a reminder Tom
God’s basic nature is that of peace–shalom–more than absence of strife, but a universe of harmony. When people rebel against him, though, God does not sit back and let them do as they wish. He is, as you say, a warrior, protecting what is good from the rebels. J.
Good point J about how the term peace in Hebrew, Shalom has a much more richer meaning than merely absence of strife. I think the New Testament often is building on the meaning of Shalom in light of the Greek Septuagint use of the Greek word for peace to translate Shalom. Very good point J, hope your summer is going well with all your projects? Can’t believe its mid-summer already.
[…] Is God warlike or peaceful? […]
You are quite right we often settle on a conclusion with out proof but absolute proof is an elusive animal and we may wonder in an agnostic country for a lifetime.
Some of those Christian groups you claim that don’t believe may well object very strongly to such an assertion, once again belief is difficult to define I have heard may interpretations of the word.
There are big – bang Christians who are very sincere and the Pope himself could well be one of those. There are also some small fundamentalist groups who isolate themselves claiming they are the chosen ones.
The Bible belongs to us all what ever we believe about its contents .
Amen
[…] Is God warlike or peaceful? […]
[…] Is God warlike or peaceful? […]
[…] Is God warlike or peaceful? […]
Funny ending! “It’s time the skeptics say “Peace out!” to this so-called Bible Contradiction.”
I skimmed this and went back to read that!
The skeptic need to retake elementary school reading comprehension
Facts trumps the lies of the devil
[…] Is God warlike or peaceful? […]
I don’t usually bother with contradictions because they aren’t particularly bothersome for me since I still have good reasons to believe. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that all of the Sacred text came directly from God so if the unbeliever is arguing the bible isn’t inerrant, they’re contradicting the Bible and will be exposed for their misinterpretation of the Bible, like what happened here with your post.
The atheist likes a beating don’t they
Despite saying they are open minded the skeptic is actually quite one sided
These skeptics must be hurting real bad to come up with such horrible hit piece. Those guys need to be in a real Bible study rather than teaching nonsense!
If the subject was anything but the Bible such as English literature or French modern philosophy the skeptics be laughed at and ridicule with what they pass off as scholarship
Sam Anita
You answered this better than I can