Is the Bible a weapon?

I recently read a post from a young minster asking whether he should officiate the wedding of a believer to an unbeliever. He was genuinely seeking advice.

Some of the responses were brilliant. They asked clarifying questions, they raised  important perspectives, and they bought the issue back to the Gospel. Overwhelmingly the answer (probably rightly) was no.

Other responses however were combative, aggressive, obtuse, and completely impersonal.

One of them read:

‘Hell no, haven’t you read your Bible!?!’

Another said:

‘Um, No! The Bible forbids Christians marrying non-believers.’

And yet another said:

‘Uneven yoke! Uneven yoke! Read it?’

Quite a few proof-texted that 2. Cor. 6:14 (the uneven yoke) verse as if that alone obviously answered the guy’s question. Forgetting for a minute that 2. Cor. 6 doesn’t mention marriage at all, the tone these messages was blunt, combative, and way off.

What came across is that the Bible itself was their justification for being rude and dismissive. Their Bible was their weapon, designed (in their eyes) to be wielded by the righteous to cut down the heretic, and dice up the false teacher.

But hang on, isn’t the Bible a sword?

Yes, but no, but yes, but no, but.

I’m a fan of my Bible! I believe it is the infallible word of God and useful for everything we need (2 Tim. 3:16-17). However, when we call it our ‘sword’, its possible that we’re not saying the same thing that the Bible does when it uses that word.

I remember visiting a youth meeting when the leader told the group to ‘draw swords.’ What followed was a room of young people (some with more indecent enthusiasm than others) pulling out their Bibles and winging them around while making light-sabre noises. It was cute, but was it helpful?

Yes… but no… but

What do we really mean when we say our Bible is a sword? Swords, after all, are weapons designed to kill people. Sometimes, as was the case in the comment section of the example above, the Bible is used in exactly that way: proof-texting passages to score points with the choir and ‘take down the heretic’ on the way to victory.

Is that what the Bible is designed to do? Is that what the Bible itself means us to do when it calls itself a sword?

Like with all things, an extra minute to challenge our baseline assumptions with a second look at the passages themselves will really help!

Eph. 6:17

‘Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’

Ok, so the Bible is a sword – sure. However, context is key, and v.12 tells us explicitly that our fight is not against people, but against ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’

This makes sense of the rest of the passage as every piece of armour is defensive and they are all different ways to describe just one thing. It’s all about being clothed in Jesus.

The ‘belt of truth’ gathers our worldview together with Jesus; the breastplate of righteous covers our hearts with the purity that Jesus provides; our feet are covered in the Gospel to guard our steps wherever we go; the shield of faith challenges lies with the truth of Jesus; and the helmet of salvation caps off our assurance in heaven.

You can overinterpret the individual pieces for sure – in fact I think we tend to – but what Paul is actually saying is ‘be clothed in the Gospel’ or ‘be covered in what Jesus has done for you.’ All the pieces of armour (sword included) are ways of telling us to live in the light of who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

There’s nothing about false teaching, heresy, debate, evangelism, correction or rebuke. Nada!

Heb. 4:1

‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’

If it is sharper than, then it is not. The nature of comparison is that if it is compared to then it is not the same as. If I am taller than Bob, then I am not Bob. So this means that the Bible is like a sword in that it is sharp. So the Bible – like a sword – can penetrate and divide, but its direction is inwards.

The sword-like Word of God in this passage is directed at ourselves to convict us of sin and help us be more like Jesus. It’s to lay bare the inner depths of our hearts before God for Him to judge (v.13). It is to make us see the depths of our need for Him, in His grace, to save us (vv.14-15), so we can have confidence in Him and not ourselves (v.16).

The sword-like word of God in this passage, just like in Ephesians, is a mechanism of assurance in the Gospel of Jesus – for us. It is not a weapon to be wielded against false teachers or imperfect, vulnerable, growing people.

What about correcting false teaching

Yes – absolutely! The Bible is a tool of correction and rebuke (2 Tim. 3:16), but this is not for point-scoring or cutting people down. Rebuke of believers happens in love and care, and of unbelievers with clarity, gentleness, and respect (2 Pt. 3:15). It is, after all, the Holy Spirit who convicts the heart (v.16).

Jesus does let the hypocritical Pharisees have it full-on from both barrels (Matt. 23), and Paul wishes that false teachers would be ‘emasculated’ (Gal. 5:12). In both of these examples however, Jesus and Paul were moved by a deep protective love of God’s children to push back against those who should have known better.

When we wield the Bible like a sword, are we primarily moved by genuine, overflowing love and motivated by a responsible sense of protection – or is that simply the justification we give to ‘be right’?

If our motivation is to fix people or pull people down then we too would benefit from reading the whole Bible in its given tone and context. Let’s end by looking at how correction should be done.

Biblical correction – as a pastor

In 2 Tim. 2, Paul gives very clear instruction on how to deal with false teachers as a pastor.

v.14 says to warn people against quarrelling over words as it holds no value and ‘ruins’ those who listen.

v.15 tells us to teach clear honest truth, demonstrated by handling the word correctly. This is to give a clear and solid alternative to false teaching. It doesn’t even need to target the false teacher – in fact it’s often more powerful if it doesn’t.

v.16 avoid gossip… yup!

vv.17-18 Paul does name and shame two false teachers, but that’s in the context of what God is able to accomplish in spite of them. Paul spends no more than half a sentence on these false teachers before reassuring Timothy of God’s ability to confirm His own word and protect His own people (v.19)

vv.22-23 going full circle, we should flee the ‘evil desires of youth’ and not get caught up in ‘stupid arguments’. I’m assuming the structure here means he is equating both together. It’s often a sign of inexperience and immaturity to want to score points and be right all the time. I’ve met quite a few – usually young Bible college students – who get a kick from being confrontational and controversial without any pastoral flock to protect, and without any evidence of being moved by love. Franky I’ve been there myself and it’s all too easy to slip into.

v.24 ‘the Lord’s servant’ must not be quarrelsome (especially not for quarrelling’s sake) but be kind to everyone. There is no exception made here for false teachers. As Jesus loves his enemies so we should always be moved by love. If you can’t love the one you correct – keep your mouth shut until you can… especially if you can’t point to a flock that God has put under your care to protect.

v.25 opponents must be ‘gently instructed’. It doesn’t say defeated, beaten, destroyed or owned. The hope is that they’ll repent and escape the devil (v.26). This is again moved by compassion and driven by the great commission to make disciples.

Biblical correction – as a brother or sister

If you’re not a pastor, then you too are called to be part of people’s journey of faith through gentle correction (Tit. 3:1-2). Your talk should be wholesome, and motivated by the desire to build up and not tear down (Eph. 4:29). Our speech should be gracious, especially in disagreements (Col. 4:6). We should treat our words with great prudence and care (Prov. 10:19; 17:9, 27-28; 21:23), and this is particularly true of gossip (Prov. 26:20).

Matt. 18 tells us that when a fellow Christian needs some measure of correction, we should go to them personally first (in the tone of the paragraph above) (v.15). Then we should bring another to be part of the conversation (v.16), then we should pass it over to the church (which should be to those with spiritual leadership over the person) (v.17). It’s then the job of the church – really the pastor – to handle it as in 2 Tim. 2 above.

So is the Bible a weapon?

When the Bible calls the word a sword, is it directed either at the evil one or ourselves. It is wielded by God, not us, and is used as a tool of precision, not an indiscriminate weapon of destruction. If we used a surgeon’s tool like we sometimes used the Bible, then we wouldn’t have many surviving patients!

We’re not called to score points, we’re called to love and protect. We’re also not called to be God, He can do that without us!

With false teaching, correction using the Bible should happen, but in gentleness and moved by love. Any other way is a distortion of the charge given to us in the Bible itself.

A gentle final poke to fellow controversy addicts…

Why do you want the Bible to be a weapon? Why do you want to justify rude, blunt, confrontational, quarrelsome, disagreements among brothers and sisters?

Do you get the buzz of addiction?

I’ve been on debate teams before and I was taught first by a Bible College deeply saturated in the Western traditions of analytical philosophy. I know how to ‘win’. I also know – really I do – what a buzz it is to feel right and win an argument. It’s a rush – and with it comes both a physiological release of dopamine, and an existential sense of worth and value.

It feels good – and it makes us feel good about us!

This is probably the same thing that makes us want to pull people down rather than build them up. It’s the thing that makes us reach for controversy over edification. It’s what makes us look for the problems with everywhere we go and every talk we hear. I know exactly what it feels like to ’emerge supreme’ from a debate.

It’s addictive, and as such it can replace ‘normal’ or ‘healthy’ human behavior – and surround us with a self-delusional air of justification.

Some of us – me included – love to poke holes in a position while building a watertight alternative. And there is some goodness in that when surrendered to God to be used in its right place. However, if that is not motivated by the great commission, moved foremost and uppermost by love for Jesus and people, and delivered in gentleness and prudence, then it counts for squat. It’s worse than nothing – it’s idolatry, making yourself the thing to be valued and praised.

If your overwhelming passion – if you’re totally honest – is to be ‘right’, then it might be that you need to take a personal inventory and rediscover your first love for Jesus. Or it might just be that this Christianity thing isn’t what you were looking for.

I say this as someone who has gotten this wrong far more than he has gotten it right. I’ve decided, however, to follow Jesus – this means I have to want Him to be praised and loved more than I want to be right. It’s a journey – but it’s the right one to walk.