The World of Religion

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23595, 2 March 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

The World of Religion

By PHILEMON WHAT exactly did our Lord mean when He said—"Resist not him that is evilV' It is an urgent question for many and the answer does not lie upon the surface. The words have been taken to express an absolute command permitting of no exception. Tolstoi, for instance/ ho regarded them. Jll his "Letter 011 NonResistance" he discusses the case of a robber found killing or outraging a child, which can he saved only by resisting tho assailant. The Christian, ho says, lias 110 option. He may use persuasion, or intcrposo his own body to intercept the blows, but he must not offer violent opposition; nor presumably, may.the child, so far as it is able, attempt physical injury upon tho offender.

In timo of war those who take this extreme view refuse, not merely combatant service, but every form of assistance, direct or indirect, to those engaged in action against the enemy. They decline to minister as chaplains, they refuse to aid the sick or wounded as members of a medical corps, women aro known who will not knit a pair of socks for a brother on military duty. It is difficult not to feel that an interpretation or our Lord's words which leads to such extreme refusals of humanity must bo utterley wrong. More is taken out of His injunction than it was meant to convey.

Terrible Whip of Words Wo arc confirmed in this view when we set the words in question in the light of our Lord's instructions and actions at other times. Wo then find that He who claims to bo "meek and lowly in heart" was capable of strong reaction against certain forms of wrongdoing. He expelled the dealers from the Temple with accompaniments of force, overcasting their tables and scattering their money. With a terrible whip of words He scourged the Pharisees and their kind, calling them "vipers" and threatening them with "the judgment of Gehenna." At His trial, when struck by an officer, there was no turning of the other cheek but the swift rebuke—"Why smitest thou 111 c?"

And further, there were times when Jesus enjoined upon His disciples the most vigorous protest against evil. When sent forth to proclaim the Kingdom, they were bidden, if ill-received, to go out into the streets and cry—"Even the dust of your city, that eleaveth to our feet, we do wipe off against you,"—a remarkable display for the emissaries of a teacher of absolute non-resistance. Nor may we overlook our Lord's directions for tho treatment of an erring brother. He is first to be spoken to privately, and if this fails he must be brought before the Church; but if he refuse the direction of the Christian community—"Treat him as a pagan and a tax-gatherer," is the Master's emphatic word. And again, it can never be forgotten that some of the most appalling words ever uttered about the divine resistance of evil were spoken by our Lord. Tolstoi may forbid violence against the miscreant who would outrage a child, hut Jesus said —"Better were it for him to be cast into the sea with a milestone about his neck!" It was Jesus, too, who pictured a judgment in which it should be "more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon" than for the cities against which His messengers had shaken off the dust of their feet. It was Ho also who forecast an "eternal punishment" for some at the bar of God.

Divine Resistance to Evil Seemingly our Lord would have been the last to eliminate from the New Test a men i the apostolic phrase —"the goodness and severity of God," or to excise the alarming words —"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Cod." There is a body of teaching here about the divine resistance to evil that cannot be explained away. In the light of these considerations it is reasonable to conclude that in the words "Resist not him that is evil" Jesus is not promulgating a law, but setting forth a principle of guidance which the enlightened believer is to apply as occasions arise. He offers, lor instance, no pronouncement on war or on the administration of justice in the State. The permissibility of employing force to restrain the anti-social individual in the community is not in mind.

He is guarding His followers against petty personal spites and retaliations, against the spirit that demands its pound of flesh and cannot rest till it has got even with an offender. The literalist who declines this view finds himself controuted with the remarkable illustrations which accompany what lie regards as a rigid rule. They cannot on his interpretation be figurative and optional. He must make a second blow easy, must magnanimously hand his overcoat to him who claims his coat, must empty his purso indiscriminately at the door. But where do wo find a man prepared to carry his literalism so far ? These questions have great relevance to-day, when civilisation is menaced by a demoniac tiling—calculating, relentless, secretive as to its ultimate ends. We are witnessing a throw-back to the most tyrannous and cruel ages. An American refugee from Poland, writing in the Manchester Guardian, describes how he saw an airman machine-gun a mother and her lour-year-old child who were fleeing across an open field. He missed the child the first time and swooped back to complete his murderous work. Ruthless Crime

It is but a single instance in a vast catalogue or ruthless crime. None will surely deny that if ever the course of evil might be arrested by the force and courage of determined men the hour is upon us to-day. No clearer case for resistance can be conceived, and this it is which gives pause to many who have hitherto hesitated to approve the use of force. Among these Canon Peter Green of Manchester, while still retaining the pacifist ideal, finds himself confronted by a situation which compels its modification. Ho tells lis how he has to keep in touch with men absent on service, to welcome them home on leave, to cheer their wives and mothers. "I want theni to feel my sympathy and help," ho writes, "but how could they do so if they knew that I thought what they were doing was contrary to the mind of Christ?" And ho adds tho significant words—"But I do not think so." It is to this point that tho deseperate urgency of the hour and tho righteousness of the national cause have brought innumerable waverers.