We find a less ambiguous, though ethically more exacting, picture in the New Testament. Nothing in Jesus' life or teachings can be "twisted" into support of killing and warfare. If, as we have seen, he gives us the absolute ethic of the Kingdom of God, it is at just the point under discussion that the demands are most stringent.
Not only must you not kill your enemy; you must not
even hate your enemy; you must love him.
Not only must you refrain from retaliation; you must pray
for your enemy with active good will.
Not only must you not be angry if someone slaps you; you
must "turn the other cheek" and let him slap that one
if he wants to. If somebody takes your coat away, you
must not get angry or go to court, you must give him
your cloak as well.
The people who will be blessed are the "peacemakers." They are the ones who will be called "sons of God."
The ethical outlook of Jesus is one of active, outgoing love, never counting the cost in terms of self, always giving unstintingly to the needs of the other person. He inculcates an attitude so far-reaching in its demands upon the self that the self will never make demands upon the enemy.
Paul displays the same concern for the fulfillment of the command to love. In a typical passage he says to let love be genuine, to live in harmony with one another, to bless those who persecute, to repay no one evil for evil, to live peaceably with all (as far as it depends upon you), not to take vengeance, but rather to feed the enemy if he is hungry and to give him drink if he is thirsty (see Rom. 12: 9-21).
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