Bible Synapse
Is God a God of war or of peace?
Hard question · Who God is · raised by 4 of the lists sceptics circulate
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After the crossing of the Red Sea Israel sings, “The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.”
The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.
God, who stirs up the sea, says, “The Lord of hosts is his name”: the Lord of the armies of heaven.
But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.
Before the crossing: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Paul’s blessing: “Now the God of peace be with you all.”
Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
God “is not the author of confusion, but of peace”, said of orderly worship.
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
“The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
The objection
Exodus 15:3 calls the Lord “a man of war”, and the prophets often call him “the Lord of hosts”, the Lord of armies (Isaiah 51:15). Yet Paul calls him “the God of peace” (Romans 15:33) and says he is the author not of confusion “but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). It seems God cannot be both a warrior and a God of peace.
The answer
The titles describe one God from two sides: he fights against evil and oppression, and the goal of his fighting is peace. Exodus 15 is the song Israel sang after the Red Sea, where God fought for a people of slaves who could not fight for themselves; Moses had told them, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:14). ‘Lord of hosts’ in Isaiah 51:15 names him as commander of the armies of heaven, and in context it is a word of comfort to exiles: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you” (51:12).
Romans 15:33 and 1 Corinthians 14:33 speak of the peace God gives: peace with God through Christ, and the order and harmony he wants in the church’s worship. Paul brings the two ideas together at the close of the same letter: “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). The prophets look forward to the day when the warrior God ends war itself, when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation” (Isaiah 2:4), under the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). In the Bible, peace (Hebrew shalom, wholeness and well-being) is not indifference to evil but what follows when evil is overcome.
From the classic commentators
"Jehovah is a man of war:" one who knows how to make war, and possesses the power to destroy His foes.Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on Exodus 15:3 (1857–78), at Bible Hub
he is here styled "the God of peace", because of his concern in that peace which is made between him and his people, by the blood of Christ.John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Romans 15:33 (1746–63), at Bible Hub
Sources
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on Exodus 15 (1857–78), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Romans 15, at Bible Hub