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| We battle against dark systems and powers that threaten us all. |
Then I noticed that the Greek pronouns used in the text are all plural, applying to the entire community of faith to which this pastoral letter is addressed.
This led me to read the text in a different way, as a set of instructions a general might give to troops on the eve of battle. Except our enemies, of course, are not the human beings arrayed against us, but the dark and powerful isms, ideologies and influences that influence and motivate people to perpetuate evil systems that help maintain their power.
Here is where we are called upon to use the non-violent spiritual weapons of prayer, proclamation and persuasion to bring light to darkness and injustice and hope to the suffering and oppressed.
In the words of Menno Simons:
"O dear Lord, how many principalities, cities and countries have they (our persecutors) destroyed to the ground? How many fires have they set? How many hundred thousands have they dispatched? How have they robbed, skinned and plucked of his goods the poor peasant who would have gladly kept the peace, and was entirely innocent of the contentions of the princes? What beastly, inhuman, hellish tyranny did they commit and continue to commit?
"I am well aware that those tyrants who boast themselves to be Christians justify and make good their abominable warring, their sedition and bloodshed, with a reference to Moses, Joshua, etc. But they do not reflect that Moses and his successors have served their day with their swords of iron, and that Christ has now given us a new commandment and has girded us with another sword (I am not speaking of the sword of justice, for that is a different matter, but I speak of war and sedition).
"For we have, by the grace of God that has appeared to us, beaten our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks, and we shall sit under the true vine, that is, Christ, under the Prince of Eternal Peace, and will never more study outward conflict and the war of blood... We use no other sword than that which Christ himself brought to earth from heaven, and which the apostles plied with the power of the Spirit; namely the one that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord... With this sword and with no other do we desire to destroy the kingdom of the devil, to reprove all wickedness, to plant all righteousness..."
Here is where we are called upon to use the non-violent spiritual weapons of prayer, proclamation and persuasion to bring light to darkness and injustice and hope to the suffering and oppressed.
In the words of Menno Simons:
"O dear Lord, how many principalities, cities and countries have they (our persecutors) destroyed to the ground? How many fires have they set? How many hundred thousands have they dispatched? How have they robbed, skinned and plucked of his goods the poor peasant who would have gladly kept the peace, and was entirely innocent of the contentions of the princes? What beastly, inhuman, hellish tyranny did they commit and continue to commit?
"I am well aware that those tyrants who boast themselves to be Christians justify and make good their abominable warring, their sedition and bloodshed, with a reference to Moses, Joshua, etc. But they do not reflect that Moses and his successors have served their day with their swords of iron, and that Christ has now given us a new commandment and has girded us with another sword (I am not speaking of the sword of justice, for that is a different matter, but I speak of war and sedition).
"For we have, by the grace of God that has appeared to us, beaten our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks, and we shall sit under the true vine, that is, Christ, under the Prince of Eternal Peace, and will never more study outward conflict and the war of blood... We use no other sword than that which Christ himself brought to earth from heaven, and which the apostles plied with the power of the Spirit; namely the one that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord... With this sword and with no other do we desire to destroy the kingdom of the devil, to reprove all wickedness, to plant all righteousness..."
- from The Complete Works of Menno Simons (Herald Press), p. 603-4
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"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
- Ephesians 6:12-17 (NIV)
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