WE are wrong when we say that the Christian doctrine is concerned only
with the salvation of the individual, and has nothing to do with
questions of State. Such an assertion is simply a bold affirmation of an
untruth, which, when we examine it seriously, falls of itself to the
ground. It is well (so I said); I will resist not evil; I will turn the
other cheek in private life; but hither comes the enemy, or here is an
oppressed nation, and I am called upon to do my part in the struggle
against evil, to go forth and kill. I must decide the question, to serve
God or _tohu_, to go to war or not to go. Perhaps I am a peasant; I am
appointed mayor of a village, a judge, a juryman; I am obliged to take
the oath of office, to judge, to condemn. What ought I to do? Again I
must choose between the divine law and the human law. Perhaps I am a
monk living in a monastery; the neighboring peasants trespass upon our
pasturage, and I am appointed to resist evil, to plead for justice
against the wrong-doers. Again I must choose. It is a dilemma from which
no man can escape.
I do not speak of those whose entire lives are passed in resisting evil,
as military authorities, judges, or governors. No one is so obscure that
he is not obliged to choose between the service of God and the service
of _tohu_, in his relation to the State. My very existence, entangled
with that of the State and the social existence organized by the State,
exacts from me an anti-Christian activity directly contrary to the
commandments of Jesus. In fact, with conscription and compulsory jury
service, this pitiless dilemma arises before every one. Every one is
forced to take up murderous weapons; and even if he does not get as far
as murder, his weapons must be ready, his carbine loaded, and his sword
keen of edge, that he may declare himself ready for murder. Every one is
forced into the service of the courts to take part in meting out
judgment and sentence; that is, to deny the commandment of Jesus,
"_Resist not evil_," in acts as well as in words.
The soldier's problem, the Gospel or military regulations, divine law or
human law, is before mankind to-day as it was in the time of Samuel. It
was forced upon Jesus and upon his disciples; it is forced in these
times upon all who would be Christians; and it was forced upon me.
The law of Jesus, with its doctrine of love, humility, and self-denial,
touched my heart more deeply than ever before. But everywhere, in the
annals of history, in the events that were going on about me, in my
individual life, I saw the law opposed in a manner revolting to
sentiment, conscience, and reason, and encouraging to brute instincts. I
felt that if I adopted the law of Jesus, I should be alone; I should
pass many unhappy hours; I should be persecuted and afflicted as Jesus
had said. But if I adopted the human law, everybody would approve; I
should be in peace and safety, with all the resources of civilization at
my command to put my conscience at ease. As Jesus said, I should laugh
and be glad. I felt all this, and so I did not analyze the meaning of
the doctrine of Jesus, but sought to understand it in such a way that it
might not interfere with my life as an animal. That is, I did not wish
to understand it at all. This determination not to understand led me
into delusions which now astound me. As an instance in point, let me
explain my former understanding of these words:--
"_Judge not, that ye be not judged._" (Matt. vii. 1.)
"_Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not
be condemned._" (Luke vi. 37.)
The courts in which I served, and which insured the safety of my
property and my person, seemed to be institutions so indubitably sacred
and so entirely in accord with the divine law, it had never entered into
my head that the words I have quoted could have any other meaning than
an injunction not to speak ill of one's neighbor. It never occurred to
me that Jesus spoke in these words of the courts of human law and
justice. It was only when I understood the true meaning of the words,
"_Resist not evil_," that the question arose as to Jesus' advice with
regard to tribunals. When I understood that Jesus would denounce them, I
asked myself, Is not this the real meaning: Not only do not judge your
neighbor, do not speak ill of him, but do not judge him in the courts,
do not judge him in any of the tribunals that you have instituted? Now
in Luke (vi. 37-49) these words follow immediately the doctrine that
exhorts us to resist not evil and to do good to our enemies. And after
the injunction, "_Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is
merciful_," Jesus says, "_Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn
not, and ye shall not be condemned_." "_Judge not_;" does not this mean,
Institute no tribunals for the judgment of your neighbor? I had only to
bring this boldly before myself when heart and reason united in an
affirmative reply.
To show how far I was before from the true interpretation, I shall
confess a foolish pleasantry for which I still blush. When I was reading
the New Testament as a divine book at the time that I had become a
believer, I was in the habit of saying to my friends who were judges or
attorneys, "And you still judge, although it is said, 'Judge not, and ye
shall not be judged'?" I was so sure that these words could have no
other meaning than a condemnation of evil-speaking that I did not
comprehend the horrible blasphemy which I thus committed. I was so
thoroughly convinced that these words did not mean what they did mean,
that I quoted them in their true sense in the form of a pleasantry.
I shall relate in detail how it was that all doubt with regard to the
true meaning of these words was effaced from my mind, and how I saw
their purport to be that Jesus denounced the institution of all human
tribunals, of whatever sort; that he meant to say so, and could not have
expressed himself otherwise. When I understood the command, "_Resist
not evil_," in its proper sense, the first thing that occurred to me was
that tribunals, instead of conforming to this law, were directly opposed
to it, and indeed to the entire doctrine; and therefore that if Jesus
had thought of tribunals at all, he would have condemned them.
Jesus said, "_Resist not evil_"; the sole aim of tribunals is to resist
evil. Jesus exhorted us to return good for evil; tribunals return evil
for evil. Jesus said that we were to make no distinction between those
who do good and those who do evil; tribunals do nothing else. Jesus
said, Forgive, forgive not once or seven times, but without limit; love
your enemies, do good to them that hate you--but tribunals do not
forgive, they punish; they return not good but evil to those whom they
regard as the enemies of society. It would seem, then, that Jesus
denounced judicial institutions. Perhaps (I said) Jesus never had
anything to do with courts of justice, and so did not think of them. But
I saw that such a theory was not tenable. Jesus, from his childhood to
his death, was concerned with the tribunals of Herod, of the Sanhedrim,
and of the High Priests. I saw that Jesus must have regarded courts of
justice as wrong. He told his disciples that they would be dragged
before the judges, and gave them advice as to how they should comport
themselves. He said of himself that he should be condemned by a
tribunal, and he showed what the attitude toward judges ought to be.
Jesus, then, must have thought of the judicial institutions which
condemned him and his disciples; which have condemned and continue to
condemn millions of men.
Jesus saw the wrong and faced it. When the sentence against the woman
taken in adultery was about to be carried into execution, he absolutely
denied the possibility of human justice, and demonstrated that man could
not be the judge since man himself was guilty. And this idea he has
propounded many times, as where it is declared that one with a beam in
his eye cannot see the mote in another's eye, or that the blind cannot
lead the blind. He even pointed out the consequences of such
misconceptions,--the disciple would be above his Master.
Perhaps, however, after having denounced the incompetency of human
justice as displayed in the case of the woman taken in adultery, or
illustrated in the parable of the mote and the beam; perhaps, after all,
Jesus would admit of an appeal to the justice of men where it was
necessary for protection against evil; but I soon saw that this was
inadmissible. In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, addressing the
multitude,
"_And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let
him have thy cloak also."_ (Matt. v. 40.)
Once more, perhaps Jesus spoke only of the personal bearing which a man
should have when brought before judicial institutions, and did not
condemn justice, but admitted the necessity in a Christian society of
individuals who judge others in properly constituted forms. But I saw
that this view was also inadmissible. When he prayed, Jesus besought all
men, without exception, to forgive others, that their own trespasses
might be forgiven. This thought he often expresses. He who brings his
gift to the altar with prayer must first grant forgiveness. How, then,
could a man judge and condemn when his religion commanded him to forgive
all trespasses, without limit? So I saw that according to the doctrine
of Jesus no Christian judge could pass sentence of condemnation.
But might not the relation between the words "_Judge not, and ye shall
not be judged_" and the preceding or subsequent passages permit us to
conclude that Jesus, in saying "_Judge not_," had no reference whatever
to judicial institutions? No; this could not be so; on the contrary, it
is clear from the relation of the phrases that in saying "_Judge not_,"
Jesus did actually speak of judicial institutions. According to Matthew
and Luke, before saying "_Judge not, condemn not_," his command was to
resist not evil. And prior to this, as Matthew tells us, he repeated the
ancient criminal law of the Jews, "_An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth_." Then, after this reference to the old criminal law, he added,
"_But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil_"; and, after that,
"_Judge not_." Jesus did, then, refer directly to human criminal law,
and reproved it in the words, "_Judge not_." Moreover, according to
Luke, he not only said, "_Judge not_," but also, "_Condemn not_." It
was not without a purpose that he added this almost synonymous word; it
shows clearly what meaning should be attributed to the other. If he had
wished to say "Judge not your neighbor," he would have said "neighbor";
but he added the words which are translated "_Condemn not_," and then
completed the sentence, "_And ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye
shall be forgiven_." But some may still insist that Jesus, in expressing
himself in this way, did not refer at all to the tribunals, and that I
have read my own thoughts into his teachings. Let the apostles tell us
what they thought of courts of justice, and if they recognized and
approved of them. The apostle James says (iv. 11, 12):--
"_Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth
the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but
a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who
art thou that judgest another?_"
The word translated "speak evil" is the verb [Greek: katalaleô], which
means "to speak against, to accuse"; this is its true meaning, as any
one may find out for himself by opening a dictionary. In the translation
we read, "_He that speaketh evil of his brother, ... speaketh evil of
the law_." Why so? is the question that involuntarily arises. I may
speak evil of my brother, but I do not thereby speak evil of the law.
If, however, I _accuse_ my brother, if I bring him to justice, it is
plain that I thereby accuse the law of Jesus of insufficiency: I accuse
and judge the law. It is clear, then, that I do not practise the law,
but that I make myself a judge of the law. "_Not to judge, but to save_"
is Jesus' declaration. How then shall I, who cannot save, become a judge
and punish? The entire passage refers to human justice, and denies its
authority. The whole epistle is permeated with the same idea. In the
second chapter we read:--
"_For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;
and mercy is exalted above judgment._"[2] (Jas. ii. 13.)
[2] Count Tolstoi's rendering.
(The last phrase has been translated in such a way as to declare that
judgment is compatible with Christianity, but that it ought to be
merciful.)
James exhorts his brethren to have no respect of persons. If you have
respect of the condition of persons, you are guilty of sin; you are like
the untrustworthy judges of the tribunals. You look upon the beggar as
the refuse of society, while it is the rich man who ought to be so
regarded. He it is who oppresses you and draws you before the
judgment-seats. If you live according to the law of love for your
neighbor, according to the law of mercy (which James calls "_the law of
liberty_," to distinguish it from all others)--if you live according to
this law, it is well. But if you have respect of persons, you transgress
the law of mercy. Then (doubtless thinking of the case of the woman
taken in adultery, who, when she was brought before Jesus, was about to
be put to death according to the law), thinking, no doubt, of that case,
James says that he who inflicts death upon the adulterous woman would
himself be guilty of murder, and thereby transgress the eternal law; for
the same law forbids both adultery and murder.
"_So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no
mercy; and mercy is exalted above judgment._" (Jas. ii. 12, 13.)
Could the idea be expressed in terms more clear and precise? Respect of
persons is forbidden, as well as any judgment that shall classify
persons as good or bad; human judgment is declared to be inevitably
defective, and such judgment is denounced as criminal when it condemns
for crime; judgment is blotted out by the eternal law, the law of mercy.
I open the epistles of Paul, who had been a victim of tribunals, and in
the letter to the Romans I read the admonitions of the apostle for the
vices and errors of those to whom his words are addressed; among other
matters he speaks of courts of justice:--
"_Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them._" (Rom. i. 32.)
"_Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for
thou that judgest doest the same things._" (Rom. ii. 1.)
"_Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance?_" (Rom. ii. 4.)
Such was the opinion of the apostles with regard to tribunals, and we
know that human justice was among the trials and sufferings that they
endured with steadfastness and resignation to the will of God. When we
think of the situation of the early Christians, surrounded by
unbelievers, we can understand that a denial of the right to judge
persecuted Christians before the tribunals was not considered. The
apostles spoke of it only incidentally as an evil, and denied its
authority on every occasion.
I examined the teachings of the early Fathers of the Church, and found
them to agree in obliging no one to judge or to condemn, and in urging
all to bear the inflictions of justice. The martyrs, by their acts,
declared themselves to be of the same mind. I saw that Christianity
before Constantine regarded tribunals only as an evil which was to be
endured with patience; but it never could have occurred to any early
Christian that he could take part in the administration of the courts of
justice. It is plain, therefore, that Jesus' words, "_Judge not,
condemn not_," were understood by his first disciples, as they ought to
be understood now, in their direct and literal meaning: judge not in
courts of justice; take no part in them.
All this seemed absolutely to corroborate my conviction that the words,
"_Judge not, condemn not_," referred to the justice of tribunals. Yet
the meaning, "Speak not evil of your neighbor," is so firmly
established, and courts of justice flaunt their decrees with so much
assurance and audacity in all Christian societies, with the support even
of the Church, that for a long time still I doubted the wisdom of my
interpretation. If men have understood the words in this way (I
thought), and have instituted Christian tribunals, they must certainly
have some reason for so doing; there must be a good reason for regarding
these words as a denunciation of evil-speaking, and there is certainly a
basis of some sort for the institution of Christian tribunals; perhaps,
after all, I am in the wrong.
I turned to the Church commentaries. In all, from the fifth century
onward, I found the invariable interpretation to be, "Accuse not your
neighbor"; that is, avoid evil-speaking. As the words came to be
understood exclusively in this sense, a difficulty arose,--How to
refrain from judgment? It being impossible not to condemn evil, all the
commentators discussed the question, What is blamable and what is not
blamable? Some, such as Chrysostom and Theophylact, said that, as far
as servants of the Church were concerned, the phrase could not be
construed as a prohibition of censure, since the apostles themselves
were censorious. Others said that Jesus doubtless referred to the Jews,
who accused their neighbors of shortcomings, and were themselves guilty
of great sins.
Nowhere a word about human institutions, about tribunals, to show how
they were affected by the warning, "_Judge not_." Did Jesus sanction
courts of justice, or did he not? To this very natural question I found
no reply--as if it was evident that from the moment a Christian took his
seat on the judge's bench he might not only judge his neighbor, but
condemn him to death.
I turned to other writers, Greek, Catholic, Protestant, to the Tübingen
school, to the historical school. Everywhere, even by the most liberal
commentators, the words in question were interpreted as an injunction
against evil-speaking.
But why, contrary to the spirit of the whole doctrine of Jesus, are
these words interpreted in so narrow a way as to exclude courts of
justice from the injunction, "_Judge not_"? Why the supposition that
Jesus in forbidding the comparatively light offence of speaking evil of
one's neighbor did not forbid, did not even consider, the more
deliberate judgment which results in punishment inflicted upon the
condemned? To all this I got no response; not even an allusion to the
least possibility that the words "to judge" could be used as referring
to a court of justice, to the tribunals from whose punishments so many
millions have suffered.
Moreover, when the words, "_Judge not, condemn not_," are under
discussion, the cruelty of judging in courts of justice is passed over
in silence, or else commended. The commentators all declare that in
Christian societies tribunals are necessary, and in no way contrary to
the law of Jesus.
Realizing this, I began to doubt the sincerity of the commentators; and
I did what I should have done in the first place; I turned to the
textual translations of the words which we render "to judge" and "to
condemn." In the original these words are [Greek: krinô] and [Greek:
katadikazô]. The defective translation in James of [Greek: katalaleô],
which is rendered "to speak evil," strengthened my doubts as to the
correct translation of the others. When I looked through different
versions of the Gospels, I found [Greek: katadikazô] rendered in the
Vulgate by _condemnare_, "to condemn"; in the Sclavonic text the
rendering is equivalent to that of the Vulgate; Luther has _verdammen_,
"to speak evil of." These divergent renderings increased my doubts, and
I was obliged to ask again the meaning of [Greek: krinô], as used by the
two evangelists, and of [Greek: katadikazô], as used by Luke who,
scholars tell us, wrote very correct Greek.
How would these words be translated by a man who knew nothing of the
evangelical creed, and who had before him only the phrases in which they
are used?
Consulting the dictionary, I found that the word [Greek: krinô] had
several different meanings, among the most used being "to condemn in a
court of justice," and even "to condemn to death," but in no instance
did it signify "to speak evil." I consulted a dictionary of New
Testament Greek, and found that was often used in the sense "to condemn
in a court of justice," sometimes in the sense "to choose," never as
meaning "to speak evil." From which I inferred that the word [Greek:
krinô] might be translated in different ways, but that the rendering "to
speak evil" was the most forced and far-fetched.
I searched for the word [Greek: katadikazô], which follows [Greek:
krinô], evidently to define more closely the sense in which the latter
is to be understood. I looked for [Greek: katadikazô] in the dictionary,
and found that it had no other signification than "to condemn in
judgment," or "to judge worthy of death." I found that the word was used
four times in the New Testament, each time in the sense "to condemn
under sentence, to judge worthy of death." In James (v. 6) we read, "_Ye
have condemned and killed the just_." The word rendered "condemned" is
this same [Greek: katadikazô], and is used with reference to Jesus, who
was condemned to death by a court of justice. The word is never used in
any other sense, in the New Testament or in any other writing in the
Greek language.
What, then, are we to say to all this? Is my conclusion a foolish one?
Is not every one who considers the fate of humanity filled with horror
at the sufferings inflicted upon mankind by the enforcement of criminal
codes,--a scourge to those who condemn as well as to the
condemned,--from the slaughters of Genghis Khan to those of the French
Revolution and the executions of our own times? He would indeed be
without compassion who could refrain from feeling horror and repulsion,
not only at the sight of human beings thus treated by their kind, but at
the simple recital of death inflicted by the knout, the guillotine, or
the gibbet.
The Gospel, of which every word is sacred to you, declares distinctly
and without equivocation: "You have from of old a criminal law, An eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; but a new law is given you, That you
resist not evil. Obey this law; render not evil for evil, but do good to
every one, forgive every one, under all circumstances." Further on comes
the injunction, "_Judge not_," and that these words might not be
misunderstood, Jesus added, "_Condemn not_; condemn not in justice the
crimes of others."
"No more death-warrants," said an inner voice--"no more death-warrants,"
said the voice of science; "evil cannot suppress evil." The Word of God,
in which I believed, told me the same thing. And when in reading the
doctrine, I came to the words, "_Condemn not, and ye shall not be
condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven_," could I look upon them
as meaning simply that I was not to indulge in gossip and evil-speaking,
and should continue to regard tribunals as a Christian institution, and
myself as a Christian judge?
I was overwhelmed with horror at the grossness of the error into which I
had fallen.