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— "I say, not the Lord" [1 Cor 7:12]
— Is it Okay to Serve in the Armed Forces?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Mr. Camping, I have a question on I Corinthians 7:10 & 12, which says, "Not I, but the Lord," and in verse 12 it says, "I say, not the Lord." This seems to indicate that the second is more his opinion and that the first is in the way of a commandment.
HC: The question really is, what are we to do with I Corinthians 7:10, where we read, "To the married I charge, not I but the Lord," and then in verse 12, "To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if brother has a wife," and so on? Is this suggesting that there are two levels of authority in the Bible? If it's backed up by the Lord, is it more authoritative than if Paul has just said it?
First of all, we must remember that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for reproof, for doctrine, for training in righteousness, and so on. Secondly, the Bible says that holy men spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them. And so every part of the Bible has equal authority.
Of course it must be read in the context of the rest of the Bible, in order to discover what is really being said. But the whole Bible is the divine Word of God. Now in this particular passage Paul is making reference to the fact, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (remember, it is God speaking) that the Lord Jesus Christ had quite a bit to say about marriage. The fact is, you can read about this in Matthew 5, in Matthew 19, and so on. And so he is saying in verse 10: "To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord." That is, the Lord Jesus has already spoken about this. And that's a clue to us to search the Gospels to see what He talked to the disciples about.
And then in verse 12 he says, "To the rest I say, not the Lord," and now he's going to discuss an aspect of the marriage relationship that had not been expressed by the Lord Jesus when He was talking to His disciples. But what Paul is going to say is equally authoritative, because it is also under the inspiration of God Himself.
CALLER: Thank you. One more question, and I'll take my answer on the air. It's pertaining to war, and obeying the government. I know that above all we should obey God. But I'm not too sure exactly what God's law would be if a situation of war came up and I was called by the government to go into the infantry and fight.
HC: The question relates to the problem of what do you do if you are called upon to serve your country in the Armed Services, to fight? Now the Bible does teach in Romans 13 that we must be obedient to government in all things lawful. Secondly, when we search the Bible we don't find any place where the Bible says that we are not to serve as a soldier. There is no place where God teaches that it is wrong for a believer to be a soldier. You'll remember when the soldiers came to John the Baptist in Luke 3:14, it says, "Soldiers also asked him, And we, what shall we do?" he didn't say, "Now you'd better get out of the army as fast as you can." He said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation. And be content with your wages." When the Roman Centurion was saved, there's no suggestion that he was no longer to be a centurion. Now bear in mind, he was a captain in the army of Rome, which frequently would have to kill in order to put down insurrection, or whatever. And so there is nothing wrong in itself in being a soldier. If the war is an unholy war, an unrighteous war, the government has to answer for that. We are simply to be obedient.
Now of course if your Sergeant told you to go out and shoot some prisoners, that would be murder. That would have to be disobeyed. That's a different kind of a situation. But insofar as serving as a soldier and being a buck Private in the front ranks, that in itself is not contrary to the Word of God.
Now wonderfully, in some lands there are alternatives in the event of war. In the United States we have the alternative of serving in the Medical Corps or the Chaplain's Corps, perhaps. And thus a more efficient use of our time can be gained, and we won't have to face the matter of killing another person. But those who do not serve in these alternative corps, who must bear a gun, or as a policeman does today (he bears a gun, and sometimes he might have to kill), that is not contrary to the Word of God.