What is nonresistance and is it a command for the Christian? Why have so many churches lost this doctrine? As a Christian, I want to follow Christ. That’s the very definition of being a Christian, being a follower of Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:38-40′ “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.”
I think the verse, “but I say to you that you resist not evil” is where the term nonresistance would come from. It might not be the best description of what Jesus intended. I want to make it clear that as I understand what Jesus is saying to me, he’s telling me something different than
I want to give a working definition of nonresistance because I think it’s very helpful to understand what is nonresistance for us. If we’re going to be talking about the subject, to be able to know what we’re talking about. So I’m going to give my definition and second of all, I want to talk about how it fits into who we are as Christians because that’s when it gets really exciting for me. I want to talk about how nonresistance actually plays a big part in what it means to be a Christian in kingdom.
One of the key verses to understanding the doctrine of nonresistance is 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ).”
This captures what nonresistance is about. It’s not about not resisting, but it’s about the right kind of resistance. We’re in a kingdom and it’s actually not a pacifist kingdom. It’s an incredibly violent kingdom. But as we’re being violent, we have to know who our enemies are and we have to know how to fight against them. Otherwise we’re fighting a ridiculous war. So the first part is this, that nonresistance means I don’t physically resist evil. I think that’s what it’s talking about there.
Nonresistance is about fighting in a way that we’re destined to win because there’s a lot of ways to fight a lot of different things. Number one, we have to know who our enemies are. Number two, we have to know how to win as Christians. We’re in this battle of the ages and we are fighting for Christ, who is going to win the battle of evil versus good, and the Kingdom of darkness versus the Kingdom. We have to know how to win. That’s what nonresistance is about. Now in this verse, “the weapons of our warfare” compares two things. They’re not carnal, which is like fleshly. That’s the way the world does things, the way the secular world works in how to deal with evil. That’s the carnal weapons. Our weapons are not carnal, but they are “mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds.”
That’s thrilling. It’s thrilling because set in front of us is our pathway to victory. When we take the weapons that we were meant to fight with, spiritual weapons, we realize that the flesh and blood things around us that the world says are our enemies, but they’re actually not. When we realize those aren’t our enemies and we really recognize, (and that’s the next verse), what our weapons are, we’re going to be able to win this.
Matthew 5 says, “resist not evil.” If somebody slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other cheek to him. Then it goes on and gives what we should be doing. What we should be doing is blessing those who persecute us, pray for them. Do good to those who hate us. And that right there is is the definition of what nonresistance is. So we got to pick, we got to pick our true enemies here and take the weapons that God’s given us and we’re going to be able to fight the right battle.
Christianity is all about the Kingdom of God. If we miss the kingdom, we miss what the Bible is about. The Bible is about Jesus Christ coming into the world as the Messiah, the king over a new kingdom. Christians have the right and the incredible responsibility to enjoy being a part of this kingdom with the Messiah who comes. When we recognize where nonresistance comes into the picture because we have been given this place in the kingdom, as a part of God’s army and when we realize that we have our part in the Bible’s narrative about the kingdom, we can pick up this idea of nonresistance. Maybe I would better call it biblical resistance, of knowing who our enemies are and fighting these spiritual enemies.
If we really understand what we’re supposed to be doing right now, we’re able to fight our battles. In the Old Testament, of course, we have the theocracy of Israel, the nation of Israel, God’s representative here on the earth. It was a real earthly kingdom set up with the rule if evil is done against you, you’re expected to respond in kind.
With the advent of Christ, that changed and that change obviously changed the law, the moral law in a way that was radical and Jesus addressed this issue of resistance specifically in the Old Testament and how it was, how he superseded it. As Christians we’re to live above the law, but the default is living in the law. Again, if you think of a body of water as the law and us being above that as Christians, as soon as we drop below that we’re in the water. We’re in the law. I think it’s important for us to remind ourselves of that.
Many people tend to use that as an excuse for not living according to the law or living according to the spirit. This ties into that concept of Jesus superseding the law. He addresses specifically in Matthew Chapter Five, not to repay evil for evil. When we do, we’re resorting to the law. We’re going back to where Israel came from. As Christians, we’re called to a higher calling.
As mentioned in 2 Corinthians, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty. “When you look at the Old Testament example of complete annihilation of sinful societies and people, we take that precedent as a type and a shadow in the New Testament of complete annihilation of sin in our lives. Of taking the mighty weapons of our warfare, which is prayer, which is
In 1 Peter 2:19-24, Peter Talks about this very principle. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
The amazing thing is here how we talked of nonresistance in the context of not resisting evil. So when someone starts comes to me in an evil way, I should not resist in kind. Jesus’ example takes that a step further where he suffers injustice and responds with the ultimate blessing. That’s where it can get really challenging for us, not only do we not resist evil, but we respond in grace and with good. The example of Christ is a very clear reason for me when I look at nonresistance and living that out in daily life.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing because to this you are called, so that you may inherit a blessing. Now, if you think about it, what’s the alternative to returning good for evil? Our weapon is giving good. What’s the alternative? The alternative is if somebody comes against me with evil, he’s putting evil in the world. The bucket of evil in the world he’s putting into that bucket. So by returning evil back, I’m just increasing the evil in the world.
What happens when I return vengeance and I get even well, now listen, I have to be scared because he’s gonna come back after me again. And generations of feuding have gone on. And we’ve, we’ve heard stories of generations of, of problems you see in the Middle East, you see it in the south. I’ve heard stories of two different families that were feuding for generations, killing each other. That’s the alternative. So we don’t want that alternative.
Matthew 26:52, Christ said, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
We don’t want violence and fear. We don’t want to live in this fear. That’s not God’s way. God’s way is truly amazing. In Romans 12:20, it instructs us to the contrary, “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.”
And there’s different interpretations of what burning coals are. But I think of it this way, if I put good on that person who wants to do the evil, that makes him convicted. That’s where the burning coals are from, he will be convicted. God’s way is truly amazing.
Now, I do want to say this, that nonresistance does not mean pacifism. Pacifism seeks to exert its will by nonviolent means. Christianity seeks the Father’s will.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-36, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
When Jesus comes back, he’s looking for people who are going to straight away follow him, leave whatever they’re doing, and just go, if we believe in Jesus, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to turn away from what other people think about us and just follow Jesus. That’s where the reward is. If we haven’t got any flack, if we haven’t got any insults, and persecution, it is because we’re not at the battle line. And the battle line is where the war is. That’s what Jesus said. So why do I believe in notnresistance? I believe it because it’s the right way, because the alternative is bad because God’s way truly is what I want. I want God’s way.
The world has several ways to respond to evil. Different positions of response at times of conflict.
- The first one is called a preemptive strike. That means I’m going to do something evil to you before you’ve done anything evil to me. Make sure that you can’t treat me worse. That’s genuinely really looked down on in our
society, unless it’s done by the military. Military believes and promotes preemptive strikes where they attack a country before they’d been attacked, especially when they started talking about nuclear powers. That is not God’s way at all. That’s returning evil before evil has beencommited . - The next approach to evil is where you would “teach them a lesson.” So you took my pencil or you broke my pencil. I’m going to break two of yours. I’ll teach you a lesson. That’s the idea of revenge. Again, not God’s way.
- And then we can get to the idea of justice. Justice is more like, you broke my pencil, I’ll break yours. I return evil for evil. Again, God is just, but he is not looking to us to execute that justice. Scripture says we should not return evil for evil.
- The next level I would say is the at peace level. You broke my pencil and I’m not going to do anything back to you. That’s the idea of living at peace. That’s better than anything we’ve heard yet in this list, but the way of Jesus goes beyond that.
- Jesus teaches us, you broke my pencil, I will give you my pen also. We can do that from our hearts with love, caring for that person and for their needs. Then we have grasped what Jesus is asking me to do, returning good for evil, walking in the ways of loving my enemies, the ways of nonresistance.
Was this a principle of the Old Testament, to love your enemies? Was Jesus bringing something totally new, or was he teaching an Old Testament principal? In Exodus 23:4-5 it says, “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.”
In Romans 12:20, the Apostle Paul writes, “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.” This is not a command unique to the New Testament. It is actually a direct quote from the Old Testament.
Proverbs 25:21-22 “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.“
The Old Testament does not teach us to love our enemies but it teaches us to be kind to them. We can grasp being kind to our enemies, but Jesus goes a lot farther than that. He says, “Love Them. Pray for them.” The Old Testament, the law, the law can command what you should do. It cannot command the heart to change. Jesus speaks to our hearts and when he speaks to our hearts, when our hearts are full of him, full of his ways, what comes out of us will be the fulfillment of the law. We won’t need this book of the law to command us on how to treat our enemy. When you love your enemy from the inside, it comes out really easy.
Luke 6:27-36 “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
That’s how to apply the concept of loving your enemies. That is where we manfest that we are the children of the Most High. Not loving those who do us good, for even the sinner does that, but loving those who hate us. Bringing Christ’s love into the darkest places.
Would you be willing to kill someone who is not your enemy? Can you kill an enemy? If you forgive him? Will he still be your enemy? Can you hate someone that you have forgiven? Are you willing to be a pawn of a human government hating nations at their request? A pawn, a game piece in chess, which has very little value, but it’s just used, manipulated by the Chessmaster to protect more important pieces on the board. Will you be a pawn of human government hating nations at their request? Can you make war without hate, without prejudice? Is that possible? Where can you find an enemy today? Is there another nation that isn’t the enemy? Are the North Koreans your enemy? What about a different race or a different religion? What about a different denomination? Maybe it’s them or them.
Now as we look around us, we will see people selecting many different kinds of enemies. God wants to work in my heart so that I’m not holding anyone as my enemy. What about the idea of being prejudiced, where as soon as I see this kind of person, I know I’m not going to like them. Prejudice is something that God hates. That is something that he does not want in me at all.
He does not want to meet to write off the teenagers or the grandparent. What about the guy in the other car, the fellow that cuts me off in traffic? Would he be an enemy? Should I show love to him? What about next door? The guy who left his dog running on my lawn or whose cows are eating my corn or dumped the trash over the fence? We can find enemies all around us, but we are to love them. When we are kind to them, I believe that most enemies that you meet or feel or find can be turned into friends. I found it worked that way for me most of the time. When I have love inside of my heart, the walls of hatred, walls of prejudice, the walls of hate breakdown and love penetrates through there.
I’ve even seen and heard of church fights where people feel that people in their very own
This is just a testing place for me. I am just a pilgrim here. I’m passing through.
I would like to tell a story of some of Jesus’ disciples. He picked 12 disciples. Hey, pick quite some characters for his disciples. One was Simon the zealot. I don’t know if you know anything about the Zealots, but they are known as one of the first terrorist groups in the world. One of the oldest known terrorist groups. They were good at doing things against the Romans because they were zealous for the nation of Israel. Jesus picked him as a disciple. Jesus taught him the sermon on the mount. Jesus said to him the same verses I just read to you, love your enemies. James and John were two other of Jesus’ disciples. Got To love those guys. Sons of thunder was there a nickname. They must have been full of ambition and energy and decisiveness. In fact, when Jesus was ready to go to Jerusalem to be betrayed, and this is in the last month of his life, he’s been teaching these guys for years, he and his disciples pass through the country of Samaria. When Jesus sends some of them in advance and says, go to this village and see if we can find a place to stay for the night. They went to the village and the villagers figuring out that Jesus was Jewish and headed for Jerusalem, they said, “no, we’re not helping with that.”
James and John came back and said, “what are we going to do? Oh yes. Wait, remember Elijah? He called fire down upon the people that were unrighteous. Jesus, let’s call a fire down.” Jesus said, “no, no, no. You don’t know what spirits you’re of. The son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save, let’s go to another village.” Wow.
And then there was Peter. Peter was always saying something and so he’s easy to pick out because he had a lot of things to say. I remember the time when he came to Jesus and he said, “you know, Jesus, this thing about forgiveness, he says, I’m willing to forgive my brother seven times. How’s that? That’s a pretty good, right?” And Jesus says, “no, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” So Peter starts out with the idea of a limited forgiveness to forgive a little but not too much, not too much, but Jesus wants us to forgive to the uttermost.
And then there was a day when the Jews came to arrest Jesus. Peter knows what to do. He whips out his sword and tries to take the guy’s head off his neck. He manages to clip the fellow’s ear off. Jesus rebuked Peter and says, “Peter, Peter Puts your sword back end.” He takes the ear and heals it.
A few chapters later in the Bible, the Holy Spirit descended and touched Peter and made him a person like he never was before. Chapter five of Acts, Peter is there saying, we have to obey God, not men. Suddenly these things are falling in place in order for him. In Acts Chapter 12 is Peter is ready to be executed. The next day they’re going to take his head off and what’s he doing? He’s sleeping apparently peacefully, so peaceful. He thought he was dreaming well. His fear of death was gone now. That’s a different Peter than we saw in the garden.
In 1 Peter 2:19-24, Peter Talks about this very principle. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” We are to follow in Christ’s steps. We are to live a life unto righteousness. We cannot be righteous if we seek vengeance. We cannot receive mercy if we seek justice when we are wronged.
God wants to bless you. Why do I believe in loving my enemies? Why do I believe in nonresistance?
There’s two concepts that come through the Bible that speak that strongly to me. The first one is God’s kingdom is not of this world. Luke, chapter six, we read, if you want to be just like the sinners, return evil for evil or good for good. God calls us to something higher. His kingdom is not of this world. In fact, that was the discussion between Pilate and Jesus.
John 18:33-37 “Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
Jesus was talking about what just happened in the garden. My kingdom is not here. If my kingdom was here, Peter and all the rest would fight for me, that I would not be delivered to the Jews. He was specifically speaking about being freed from the Jews there. My kingdom is not of this world.
We as Christians are ambassadors and ambassadors are in a foreign country solely to represent their native country and they do not involve themselves in local politics. In fact, there was a lot of noise about this in the last election, about the Russians influencing the election somehow, but none of the Russian ambassadors cast any votes. It is illegal in the US, for the federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting. You’re not from here. You’re not. You’re not one of us, so you don’t make the decisions. Here we are ambassadors on this earth as Christians, our native kingdom is not here. It is in heaven, and so as ambassadors, we are calling the people in the country we are in to be reconciled with God. The king of our country would like you to be reconciled with him. He would like to take you to his country as well.
Hebrews 11:13-16 speaks of several Old Testament saints as it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
The second concept that teaches me to be nonresistant is the concept that vengeance belongs to God. Vengeance belongs to God.
Deuteronomy 32:35 God states, “To me belongeth vengeance and recompence.”
Romans 12:17-21 “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.”
The reason being again, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him drink for in so doing you will. You show heap coals of fire on his head. Be Not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. When my enemy does something against me and I do something bad in return, I believe that’s being overcome by evil. I’ve just been drawn into the same evil actions. Instead, overcome evil with good is a call from scripture. And the reason is vengeance is mine. I don’t need to take vengeance for myself. God has it all under control. He will do it in the best way. I don’t have to get my hands dirty. I don’t have to get my heart dirty. I can love from my heart without being plagued with bitterness and unforgiveness in there.
To quote Shane Claiborne, “You can’t carry a cross in one hand, and a weapon in the other.”
We can learn from the bloody pages of history. The more vigorously we try to root out evil by force, the more evil will escalate. For every Muslim extremist killed, another is created. Likewise, the more passionately we love our enemies, the more evil will diminish. This is also the story of the martyrs. For every Christian killed at the hand of evil, another would rise up, converted by their faithful self-sacrificial love. And historically Christianity spreads most rapidly when we are killed at the hands of evil doers without retaliating.
We are called to build Christ’s Kingdom. We do that by loving our enemies. Showing them Christ that they may also join the kingdom.
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