Non peccasse eos qui Deo auctore bella gesserunt
Wars Waged at God's Command
Augustine argues that those who wage war at God's command do not sin, because lawful authority and divine order make killing an act of obedience rather than murder.
Augustine, in the book mentioned earlier (book I, chapter…), says that those who waged wars at God's command did not sin. I, c. 21): 'Certain exceptions were made by divine authority itself, so that it is permissible for a person to be killed.' But except for those whom he orders to be killed — whether by a law given, or by a command expressly directed to a specific person for a specific time — the one who owes a duty of service to the one who commands does not himself kill, just as the sword is an instrument for the one who uses it. And so those who waged wars at God's command did not act against this precept at all, by which it is said: You shall not kill (Exod. XX, 15), those who waged wars at God's command, or those who bear the person of public authority, according to its laws — that is, the command of most just reason — punished the wicked with death.
Abraham and Jephthah: Obedience Tested
Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac and Jephthah's vow concerning his daughter are presented as cases where obedience to God's command overrides the ordinary prohibition against killing.
And Abraham was not only not blamed under the charge of cruelty, but was even praised under the name of piety, because he was willing to kill his son — not wickedly, but in obedience (Gen. XXII). And it is rightly asked whether, because of God's command, what Jephthah did in killing his daughter — who met her father as he was returning from battle as a victor — should be accepted, since he had vowed to sacrifice to God whatever first came to meet him (Judic.
Samson and the Limits of Exception
Samson's self-destruction alongside his enemies is examined as a possible exception, and the chapter concludes by restricting all justified killing to cases where just law or God Himself specifically commands it.
11). And Samson, too, isn't excused on other grounds for crushing himself along with his enemies when the house collapsed — unless it was because the Spirit had secretly ordered this, the same Spirit who worked miracles through him (Judges 16). With these exceptions, then — those whom either just law in general, or God himself, the fountain of justice, specifically orders to be put to death — whoever kills another person, or himself, or anyone at all, is guilty of the crime of homicide. ”
Read the original Latin
Non peccasse eos qui Deo auctore bella gesserunt, Augustinus in praefato libro (lib. I, c. 21): « Quasdam exceptiones eadem ipsa divina fecit auctoritas, ut liceat hominem occidi. Sed his exceptis, quos occidi jubet, sive data lege, sive ad personam pro tempore expressa jussione: non autem ipse occidit qui ministerium debet jubenti, sicut adminiculum gladius utenti: et ideo nequaquam contra hoc praeceptum fecerunt, quo dictum est: Non occides (Exod. XX, 15), qui Deo auctore bella gesserunt, aut personam gerentes publicae potestatis, secundum ejus leges, hoc est justissimae rationis imperium, sceleratos morte punierunt. Et Abraham non solum non est culpatus crudelitatis nomine, verum etiam laudatus nomine pietatis, quod voluit filium nequaquam scelerate, sed obedienter, occidere (Gen. XXII). Et merito quaeritur utrum pro jussu Dei sit habendum, quod Jephte filiam quae patri occurrit occidit, cum id se vovisset immolaturum Deo quod ei redeunti de praelio victori primitus occurrisset (Judic.
XI). Nec Samson aliter excusatur, quod seipsum cum hostibus ruina domus oppressit, nisi quia Spiritus latenter hoc jusserat, qui per illum miracula faciebat (Judic. XVI). His igitur exceptis, quos vel lex justa generaliter, vel ipse fons justitiae Deus specialiter occidi jubet, quisquis hominem, vel seipsum, vel quemlibet occiderit, homicidii crimine tenetur. »
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