A Theological View of Israel, Iran, War, and Politics

Three keys for thinking through the Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program.

Jun 13, 2025

Israel has launched a direct and devastating strike on Iranian nuclear development sites and leaders. Noah Rothman of National Review summarizes it like this:

Acting in simultaneous concert with the hundreds of Israeli aircraft that executed dozens of strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israeli intelligence and special forces on the ground inside Iran disabled the country’s air defense systems. The operation reportedly relied on the use of drones and missiles launched from inside Iran…early reports indicate significant success.
Israel has so thoroughly penetrated the Iranian security and intelligence establishment that it was able to target and neutralize much of Iran’s military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership within the first minutes of the operation.

In response, Iran has begun firing missiles into Israel and the city of Tel Aviv.

As Americans, and as Christians, this conflict feels both far away, yet quite close to home. To help us think through this situation, I want to talk about three key considerations.

The History of Israel

After the assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, I wrote a reflection on five points Christians should consider about Israel.

Both victims and villains are made in the image of God.
Some things are truly evil, and we can’t “both sides” every situation.
We live in a world of interconnected ethnicities that aren’t the same as nation-states.
God’s people are a new “ethnicity” by faith, yet a special reverence for ethnic Israel remains through the gospel.
Christians view the world through the lens of dual citizenship: heavenly and earthly.

Specifically, on the relationship of ethnic Israel to the modern-day nation-state of Israel, I said:

I would argue that they are related but not identical. You only have to hear the longing in the voices of Jewish friends and neighbors when they talk about Israel to know that we can’t completely separate them. Israel (the nation) and Israel (the people) have a deep connection. That said, we should not assume that the promises of God for Israel apply directly to the modern nation-state. We should be careful not to use Israel (the modern nation) and Israel (the people of God) as synonyms. This demands important care and clarity.

In the Israel-Iran conflict, we find deep resonance in the biblical stories of Ishmael and Isaac, thousands of years of geographic, political, religious, and military tension and conflict.

The Complexity of Modern Politics

But in the Israel-Iran conflict, we’re not just dealing with historical or theological issues, but contemporary political ones. A few years ago, I outlined seven principles for a Christian view of politics that can inform this discussion.

The primary political commitment of a Christian is that Jesus is Lord.
God has ordained human governing, political power to preserve order, justice, and peace.
Satan and sin have corrupted human government and political power.
Human governing, political power can do good and evil and will answer to God for both.
God establishes his kingdom in and through the gathering of the local church.
The scattered church should seek the political order, justice, and peace of the earthly city.
Jesus will be Lord. One day all of the political power-playing on earth will give way to the prince who will rule in order, justice, and peace.

In our earthly citizenship, we should seek the order, justice, and peace of the neighbors and nations around us. But rather than this leading us to condemn Israel’s action, we can assess the regime of Iran and the government of Israel in terms of their commitments to order, justice, and peace.

Our theology allows us to be realistic about any government’s faults, while still seeing with clear moral conviction. Israel has the moral high ground here. It is a David in a sea of Goliaths who want to wipe it from the map. Our earthly citizenship reminds us that Iran hates what America represents. Iran targets civilians. Israel doesn’t.

We can clearly stand with Israel, especially with reports of America’s defense of Israel against Iranian missiles, and reports of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion striking precisely against nuclear targets that intentionally avoided unneeded casualties.

All of that leads into the third key consideration.

Some Wars are Just

Earlier I tweeted, “Call me Augustinian, but preventing bad guys from building bombs seems like a just cause.” Sorry, it’s a niche and unfunny little statement, but the point is this: some wars are just, as Augustine taught us 1600 years ago.

As I said in a piece on this theme:

The Just War tradition maintains a more strong fidelity to the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:7), realizing that Christ taught and lived suffering and peace and justice and retribution. God has given earthly governments authority to bear the sword against injustice, and the New Testament instructs Christians to be subject to these government insofar as such subjection does not compromise loyalty to Christ (1 Pet 2:13; Rom 13:1). Ultimately, the Just War view conforms itself more to Christ’s ultimate standard of loving God and loving our neighbors. We should pray for peace, and ultimately, when required, fight for peace as well.

As I read on the app formerly known as Twitter (in a post I can’t seem to find again): if Iran was close to developing nuclear weapons, and if Israel destroyed them, then Israel has not just defended itself—but the entire world.

We pray for peace. We fight for justice.

And we look forward to that day: