Radical Love, War, and Nonresistance — Clifford Schrock — Ep. 002

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Anabaptist Perspectives. And we're here with Cliff Schrock, who you're a teacher at Sherman Mack Bible Institute, and you do a class on non-resistance, or how, you know, Anabaptists approach the concept of non-violence. Can you just give us a really brief overview of what we mean when we use the term non-resistance, and what kind of situations do we feel that Jesus is addressing when he says those things?

First of all, we should clarify that it's different than classical pacifism. Okay. In the sense that we don't, we don't think that the government should not go to war, or that there's no place for capital punishment in those sorts of things that are more a part of classical pacifism.

Non-resistance, like you said, is drawn, the term is drawn primarily out of the Sermon on the Mount: "Resist not evil." And it, but it does encompass all of the believer's life. So whether he's in business or in church, or if he was involved in some sort of government job or government responsibility, it still encompasses all of his life.

A Christian's life is to be a unified life, not split into here's my secular life and here's my following Christ. So we follow Christ in all of our lives. Again, do we do that perfectly? Probably not. But that's the call, that's the vision to be like Christ and to live that calling in every area of our lives. Because a lot of people seem to think, well, that just means you don't go to war, which that's true, but it is a lot more than that, you know. That's the most publicly obvious part of it. Yeah. But it's definitely much more than it. Yeah. It's a lifestyle. Yeah. A way of living our relationships. The biggest thing with non-resistance is that it sounds kind of negative, like it's defined by the things that we don't do.

We don't go to war, we don't, you know, we do, you know, when someone strikes us, we don't strike back. Even the term itself, non-resistance, is a, using a negative of something.

Is that correct? Like, that's not really what Jesus was saying, was it? I mean, it's not defined by what we don't do, is it? Well, it's an interesting observation because the last time I taught this class, we talked a good bit about that terminology. Okay. And is there, is there better terminology to use? And some of the students didn't really like that non-resistance terminology because of what you described. One possible replacement would be radical love.

I like that. Yeah. Because that's really what we are called to do: to love our neighbor, to love our enemies.

And that becomes proactive. That becomes something we do. And it also takes us far beyond simply passive non-resistance, just backing out of the situation. And Jesus did not call us to simply back out of the situation and walk away.

He called us to do more than that. He called us to give a drink of cold water, to keep coals of fire on their head. The thing with non-resistance, there are, you know, some things where, yeah, we are, you know, we won't resist some things, but there's plenty of things in the Christian life that we will stand against too, you know, like someone attempting suicide or someone attempting to take someone else's life. We're not going to pass it, we're non-resistant, we won't resist, you know, we would do something to help.

And yeah, I've always kind of wondered about that term. It doesn't seem to really encapsulate what this is. It's a positive thing. It's not something that we don't do. Yeah, I really like the one radical love because that is what Jesus called us to.

Yeah, like you said, sometimes when we use the term non-resistance, we think we shouldn't resist evil. Yeah. And sometimes it's been taken that way and people have lived that way. And sometimes we've become too much the quiet in the land. That's a label that we've been given, the quiet in the land. Yeah. And that's not all bad, but sometimes it's gone too far and we haven't gotten in the way of evil, to use Val Yeuters' expression. And we need to link that, that message to this video because that sermon was kind of really on non-resistance in a way, but in a very proactive way. We're getting in the way of evil. We're not just passively, like, not going to do anything.

But the principles of non-resistance shape how we get in the way of evil. As followers of Christ and attempting to implement the principles he gives us in scripture, we don't petition, we don't protest, pick it, you know, try to force our agenda or force, force the government or other people to do what we want them to do. We can appeal, we can, we pray, but it shapes how we go about approaching those kinds of interventions.

And because a lot of people, their argument is, well, we need to get in the way of evil, so let's go to war and stop, you know, terrorists or something from killing innocent people, which that's awful what terrorists do. But yeah, you know, the thing of non-resistance does encapsulate the boundaries that we have set for how we will get in the way of evil.

And some people do seem to take it too far. What's the line? What's the practical way that we can live this out day to day and still be Christ-like? Well, first couple of scriptures where Jesus talks about the principles of non-resistance. The first one is Jesus from Matthew chapter 5, where he says, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

In doing that, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." So in doing those things, we become like our Father, which is really what the Christian life is all about. Yeah. So practical life, what does that look like? Well, I think it starts in at home, in our home relationships.

We attempt to teach our children to do that, to not hit back, you know, to do something nice instead. That's hard. Yeah. That's hard. It's not natural. It goes across our natural grain. As believers and as Christians, we're empowered by the Spirit to respond in those sorts of ways. It's not natural to do these things.

Well, we all encounter these kinds of situations, even within the Christian body. Sometimes people do things that hurt us. So how do we respond? Christ would call us to respond with grace, with love, with blessing, to give the benefit of the doubt, to believe in their goodwill instead of to respond with evil. So it's those practical things that we face every day. It's not just, well, what are you going to do when the madman comes into your house with a gun and he's going to kill your whole family? How will you respond? That's the classic question. What are you going to do? Are you just going to sit back and let him do it?

Well, that's a hypothetical question. Yeah. But what about the real questions, the real situations that we do face every day? Yeah. Another passage is Paul writing in Romans 13, Romans 12 rather, the end of Romans chapter 12, "Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep." So very practical.

What if somebody wins the prize that you wanted, or they get the gift that you wanted, or they have the dress fabric that you always wanted? Do we respond with envy, jealousy, harsh words, cynicism, or do we respond with joy, rejoice with those that rejoice?

Or what about when somebody we don't really like, something negative happens to them? Do we give way to the urge to say, well, kind of served them right, or, you know, feel that little bit of satisfaction that he got what he deserved?

Or do we weep with those that weep? "Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.'" So the New Testament vision of Christ for his kingdom followers is to not, is not to overcome evil with bullets and bombs. He wants to overcome evil with good, with kindness, with love.

That all comes back to doing it how Jesus lived his life, full of grace and truth, but, you know, Jesus was incredibly merciful, obviously. And that's, that's the Christian's example. I love how you're taking this from this big, big picture concept of these teachings of Jesus and bringing it down to, you know, every day we're faced with some of this stuff. Yeah, I know a lot of, a lot of my friends or some people that I would know would, would think of non-resistance only in the context of, well, we don't go to war, which is true, but it's so much bigger than that. And it's also much more difficult too, you know, in a way.

Yeah. You mentioned that it's about following the mind of Christ and trying to be like him. Yeah. Yeah. Again, that's what discipleship is. That's what Christian is, little Christ.

But Jesus wasn't only mercy. He's also truth. And he's also justice. So, so Jesus does want us to speak truth. He does want us to confront sin when it needs to be confronted. And Jesus is justice. But it's also clear from this passage here in Romans chapter 12 that he is the one who wants to retain that authority of justice.

Vengeance is his. He will repay. God will repay. There is, there is justice. So in an atheistic worldview, there's really no ultimate justice.

Because Hitler dies and he's dead and gone like a dog. And there's, he escaped justice.

But in a Christian worldview, there is always justice.

Either the individual will face justice at the end of life, or Christ paid the penalty of the justice. Christ met the justice. And then Jesus, when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Yeah. But in the New Testament vision, Christ's vision, he does not call his followers, his children, to be the ministers of justice. He wants us to be ministers of truth and grace, and he is the minister of justice.

And interestingly enough, here in this passage in Matthew, in Romans 12, where he's calling us to not be the ministers of justice and vengeance is his, and we are to not recommend pence to evil, evil for evil. Immediately following that, he talks about the role of the state in the beginning of chapter 13. And they are the ministers of justice.

They don't bear the sword in vain.

And then following that, he again comes back in verse 10 of Romans 13, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." So he's talking about love. He's talking about how we respond to evil in our lives.

He is the minister of, God is the minister of justice. The state is his minister of justice within this world. But then he comes back around and says, "It's not our call to do that. We are called to love. And love is the fulfilling of the law." So we have a very high calling.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That, that is such a much more complete picture of what we mean by the doctrine of non-resistance. And it really saddens me that a lot of people misunderstand it. I really like the phrase radical love. I think that sums it up nicely. Yeah. I think maybe part of the reason people are, some are abandoning the principle is because they don't understand it. Yeah. Maybe so.

I think the summary of this is it's about following the principles of Christ. You know, look at the word, study the word. You don't have to go by what we say or what we teach at SMBI or something like that. Look at the word, see what it says, and let it speak to your life and follow Christ.

That's what it's all about. Okay. Well, thank you again, Cliff, for doing another episode with us. And thank you all for watching. And yeah, we put out new videos every week. So if there's something you'd like to see us cover, let us know. We'll do our best to make an episode on it because we want to hear from you. Yeah. What did you think of what Cliff shared? Let us know in the comments. And we'll see you guys in the next video.