Advent Perspective: Weapons, Tools, and a Golden Rule

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Weapons, Tools, and a Golden Rule

In days to come

the mountain of the Lord's house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths."

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:2-4 (NRSV)

With God our Creator

Children all are we

Let us walk with each other

In perfect harmony

From "Let There Be Peace on Earth" by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller

as printed in The United Methodist Hymnal

St. Paul, in one of his letters, instructs his readers to "put on the armor of light" as they leave behind the "works of darkness" - according to a number of translations of the Bible including the New Revised Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New King James Version.  According to a more recent translation, the Common English Bible, Paul instructs his readers to take up the "weapons of light."¹  So is light something meant to protect us from the darkness, or is it something with which we are meant to fight back against the darkness?

Hoplon, the Greek word which is translated into English as either armor or weapons, depending on the Bible translation one happens to be reading, could also be translated as implement, tool, or instrument.  Paul uses this word earlier in the same letter, instructing his readers to use their body parts as "instruments of righteousness" as opposed to "instruments of wickedness."²

So what does the word hoplon really mean?  Any of the aforementioned translations of the word could be appropriate, depending on the context.³  What St. Paul really meant when he used the word, we don't truly know, so we are left to interpret the text as we see fit.

Perhaps the question is whether we should be thinking in terms of warfare or in terms of construction.

More than seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah spoke of a time in the future when people from all around the world will travel to Mount Zion to learn God's ways.  Isaiah claimed that, in those days, warfare will be a thing of the past, because God will settle disputes between nations.  Because there is no longer any need to fight, people will be free to focus on more constructive and life-giving endeavors.  As a result, Isaiah claims, people will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks."  Modern-day preacher Brian Zahnd asks, "Can we reimagine the world where tanks are turned into tractors and missile silos become grain silos?"⁴

John Calvin, whom I do not often quote, writes about Isaiah's prophecy,
[Isaiah] does not merely say, swords shall be broken in pieces, but they shall be turned into mattocks [plowshares]; by which he shows that there will be so great a change that, instead of annoying one another, and committing various acts of injustice, as [people] had formerly done, they will henceforth cultivate peace and friendship, and they will employ their exertions for the common advantage of all; for mattocks and pruning-hooks are instruments adapted to agriculture, and are profitable and necessary for the life of [humanity].⁵

So what would be God's standard for settling disputes between nations?  I will not claim that I actually know how God would settle our disputes, but I have a sneaking suspicion that some of us would not like it.

In January of 2012, one politician seeking his party's presidential nomination suggested, during a debate, that the nation should consider applying the Golden Rule to foreign policy.  In other words, he suggested that a nation should not do unto another nation what it would not another nation to do unto it.⁶  The suggestion should have been well received by the audience, considering the fact that the debate was held in the Bible Belt.  Some form of the Golden Rule existed thousands of years before the days of Jesus,⁷ but Jesus certainly endorsed it, even suggesting that it summarizes all instructions in Scripture.  His inclusion of the rule in the Sermon on the Mount is probably one reason the rule is so well known today.⁸

The audience didn't seem to appreciate the candidate's suggestion.  In fact, many peopled booed and jeered at it.⁹

Advent is a season when we look toward not only Christmas but also the day when God sets things right in the world, the day we can finally convert our weapons of war into gardening equipment.  If we don't believe that the instructions the Son of God gave us for living in harmony with each other are applicable when they actually matter the most, then I'm not so sure we're ready for God to intervene in the world.  Advent is a time of waiting, longing, and expectation, but perhaps, like Lent, it should also be a time of introspection and repentance, for we still have a long way to go.


Notes:

1. Romans 13:12
2. Romans 6:13 (Again, the word hoplon is translated as weapons in the CEB.)
3. Blue Letter Bible: Hoplon
4. Brian Zahnd.  "War Is Over (If You Want It)."  Word of Life Church podcast, 11/27/2016.
5. John Calvin.  Calvin's Complete Commentary on the Bible.
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGpXHYtkOS8
7. Wikipedia: Golden Rule
8. Matthew 7:12
9. Thank you, Pastor Jonathan, for bringing this incident to mind recently.

The sculpture pictured above was created by Lee Lawrie in 1937.  The photograph is public domain.