Christian just war theory says it is morally permissible to wage war for a just reason. It says, for specific purposes and through specific means, indeed, for the betterment of the world, violence may be a permissible last resort. Just war theory has a long tradition within the church. It is not, strictly speaking, based on the teachings of Jesus. But it attempts to bridge biblical principles from throughout Scripture to modern contexts.
However, if weâ??re working within Christian just war framework, we must remember that the very Christian principles it uses are secondary to the primary, clear teachings of Jesus in Scripture. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, to see our enemies as human beings. He taught us that we not only arenâ??t permitted to hate our enemies or even call them names. He taught us that we must see our enemies as human beings created in the image of God, to strive for the redemption of our enemies and the reconciliation of our relationship to them. He told us that we must see our enemies as fully human because, even God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but wishes all persons to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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