A Guide to Self Defense and Gun Use for Christians

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Can Christians own and use guns for self defense?

“There’s nothing wrong with owning a gun for self-defense.” “You can kill in self-defense.” I have heard both of these statements from a very young age. In my experience priests, pastors, and preachers have all said the same thing. They were and are teaching people that Christ believed use of a weapon against others was okay. Many of us want to believe that, so we don’t question it. We go about our lives thinking that retaliation in the form of self defense has God’s stamp of approval. All it seems to take is one line about Christ telling us to sell our possessions and buy a sword.

 Luke 22:36
“But now,” he said, if you have a wallet or a pack, take it; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your robe to buy one.”

 That one verse seems to be more than enough to convince many Christians that owning a gun and using it for self-defense is acceptable. It wasn’t until I began reading the Bible on my own that I noticed how out of context that verse is being taken. If you just read through verse 37, you get a completely different perspective and a broader understanding.

 Luke 22:37
For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’ has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.”

 He wasn’t telling everyone to go buy swords. He was telling the apostles to buy swords because they would be with Him at the time of His capture and they needed to be seen as transgressors in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. There was no intent for the swords to be used on people in the form of self defense or otherwise. This is revealed to us just a little bit further on in Luke chapter 22. It’s also echoed elsewhere in the Gospel.

 Luke 22:49-51
When his followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we use our swords?” One of them struck at the slave of the cohen hagadol and cut off his right ear. But Yeshua answered, “Just let me do this,” and, touching the man’s ear, he healed him.

 Matthew 26:52
Yeshua said to him, “Put your sword back where it belongs, for everyone who uses the sword will die by the sword.

So, if that verse isn’t telling them to buy swords for self-defense, then are there any other pieces of scripture in the New Testament promoting self-defense? From what I have read, there aren’t. The only other verse I’ve found that might be able to be taken out of context is from the book of Matthew in which we’re told that Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34 in case you want to read it on your own).  That is expanded upon immediately though (See Matthew 10:35-36). Jesus is referring to how people will turn against each other. Even families will be against each other because some will believe in Christ and others won’t.

 There are many pieces of scripture that tell us not to retaliate against others. The one I hear the most is “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:38-39). Lately though, it seems like many Christians claim that there are limitations to scripture. I saw an article in which the Christian author wrote “’turn the other cheek’ has its limits.” We’ve gotten into the habit of adding exceptions to everything. Why follow scripture if you’re going to abandon it when life gets tough? “Well, ‘turn the other cheek’ can only go so far because we only have two cheeks and it was really only meant for the little stuff.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. The people following Jesus while He walked the earth were, in many cases, put to death. Even up to that point, they were still told not to retaliate.

How many times do we need to be told to forgive and to leave vengeance to God? Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 32:35, Psalm 94:1, Proverbs 20:22, Proverbs 24:29, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30 The list could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point. We see throughout the Bible, not just in the New Testament, that we are meant to leave vengeance to God. Even in the heat of the moment (ie someone is currently attacking you), you’re supposed to leave vengeance to God. Not only are we supposed to leave vengeance to God, as Christians, we’re called to LOVE our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48, Luke 6:27, Romans 12:20-21).

 As Christians, we need to leave vengeance to God and help those that intend to harm us. It may sound foolish to some, but it is what we’re called to do.

Matthew 5:9
How blessed are those who make peace! For they will be called sons of God.

 Let us all try to be sons of God.

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