1 PETER 4:15—”MAKE SURE THAT NONE OF YOU SUFFERS AS A MURDERER …” 

1 Peter 4:15 actually says: “Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer …” Have you ever wondered about that verse?  Why would the Apostle Peter have to tell the young, suffering, zealous Christians to whom he was writing (1 Pet. 1:1; 2:2; 4:12.) not to suffer as a murderer? What?! Christians were in danger of being murderers?

There is a story behind this exhortation and the concern it expresses. I want to talk about that story below. Tragic news headlines now reveal why this exhortation must be taken literally, not just as a spiritual or devotional concept. Shockingly, a man in Minnesota who professed to be a Christian, went on mission trips, and had a wife and five children, has been revealed as a murderer. Because he hated abortion, he murdered two pro-abortion lawmakers and tried to murder many more. His name is Vance Luther Boelter.

Who is Vance Luther Boelter? I think the facts are clear. I do not think the media is making these facts up. BBC.com reports the following:

Mr. Boelter is a security contractor and religious missionary who has worked in Africa and the Middle East, according to an online CV. He once preached as a pastor at a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Facebook photos. He had travelled often to the nation, indicate posts from his LinkedIn account. An online video from two years ago seemed to show him addressing a congregation, adding that he has a wife and five children.

WSJ.com confirms:

Online posts paint a picture of Boelter as a devout Christian and pastor, who preached at LaBorne Matadi, a church in the Congo, according to photos on the church’s Facebook page. An archived website for his ministry described his global travels to preach, stating, “He sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”

Yes, it seems that professing Christians who go on mission trips and preach can become murderers. Yes, Peter was right to be concerned. Furthermore, I think that the things that caused Mr. Boelter to become a murderer in our day were the same things that caused the Apostle Peter concern in his day. It was a supercharged political situation which would blind the minds even of Christians to how a Christian ought to react to government oppression and wickedness.

This is pretty clearly what was going on in Peter’s mind in 2 Peter. He was afraid of the angry fretting which would fog and distort a Christian’s thinking and conduct and lead to evildoing. Remember the Psalmist’s warning about this?

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. ⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. (Ps. 37:7-8 NAU)

This is why the Apostle warns and commands Christians in the Roman Empire to hate civil violence and submit to their much less than perfect government.

¹² Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. ¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. ¹⁵ For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. ¹⁶ Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondslaves of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. (1 Pet. 2:12-17 NAU)

The Apostle Paul completely agreed with Peter. In Titus 3:1-2 he commanded Titus with regard to the Cretan Christians: “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.”

What was going on that forced both Peter and Paul to sound a drumbeat of warning against engaging in rebellion and violence—being rebellious subjects? Very much could be said in response to this question. But I think we must remember that the New Testament was written in the midst of a rising tide of Jewish nationalism and terrorism. Romans 13:1-7 begins with clear commands against rebellion and for subjection:

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. ² Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Romans 13:1-7 is the longest New Testament warning against rebellion and a lack of subjection to the civil authorities. The reason is probably that Rome had a significant Jewish population. These Jews lived in the very center of Roman power. Though the letter to the Romans was written mainly to the Gentiles, it is clear in all sorts of ways that even in the Christian communities in Rome there was a significant Jewish presence. This is why Paul is forced in that letter to deal at length in Romans 9-11 with the problem of Jewish unbelief. This Jewish presence is also evident in the instructions to and about the weak in Romans 14 and 15 who had typically Jewish foibles.

There is every reason to think, then, that Paul penned Romans 13:1-7 because of the danger of Jewish political opinions inciting Christians and especially Jewish Christians to become enmeshed in what we may call Jewish terrorism. This prospect filled the Apostle with massive concern as he foresaw the reproach that such involvement might bring on the gospel of Christ.

Paul’s deep concern must be shouted from the rooftops to American Christians in our day. Several important things follow from the apostolic directions.

• The commands of Peter and Paul make clear that we owe subjection even to governments that do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
• They make clear that there is not some mythical measure of civil righteousness to which the government must conform or lose its authority.
• They make clear that it is not our right to take the sword into our hands to combat the evil of abortion.
• They make clear that we must not go down the slippery slope of some Christian thinkers. They describe the very real duty to disobey (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29) as a duty to resist the government. And from this slippery word, resistance, they deduce the propriety of violently opposing the civil authorities. But clearly disobedience and violent resistance were two very different things for the Apostles. There is not a slippery slope between them but a chasm of distinction.
• They make clear that we must not take the situation in the Old Testament theocratic kingdom and use it as a paradigm to justify violence and revolution in our day. We live in divinely appointed Gentile kingdoms. The theocratic kingdom insofar as it exists has only an ecclesiastical form (in the church) and does not possess civil authority or the power of the sword.

Let us see all such arguments and reasonings for what they are. Sophisticated evasions of the plain New Testament commands to conduct ourselves as peaceful citizens of our country.

Someone will complain that I am teaching pacifism. Of course, I am not. But I am teaching the element of truth that is distorted into the false doctrine of pacifism. Christians are to be people of peace and gentleness. Is this not that to which the Apostle Paul called us?

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

I think it is pretty clear that terrorists and revolutionaries do not live tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity!

[For more on this subject, see my Political Revolution in the Reformed Tradition: An Historical and Biblical Critique published by Free Grace Press.]

Sam Waldron

Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.