Christianity teaches that the world is in a state of what it describes as ‘fallen’ disorder. There have been two classic attempts to understand why this is the case. The first, by Irenaeus, claimed that God intended it to be so that God's creatures could live lives of ‘recapitulation’ in which they constantly grew in grace. The second, by Augustine, claimed that human disobedience caused the disorder. Neither of these attempted explanations is satisfactory. Disorder and evil have to be lived with for the mystery they are. According to one biblical view, the state of conflict is represented by the ‘principalities and powers’ that are part of the created order (Romans 8:38), and they are variously described in the Bible and its translations. Although they were among the ‘all things’ redeemed by Christ's death (Colossians 1:20), they will remain in existence until Christ's return in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:24). Only then will the struggle cease. This is a biblical way of describing the world's disorder. Human beings are part of this. They are seen as fallen creatures. Though they were created in and still bear the image of God as an alien dignity, their propensity to sin manifests itself in all that they do. Nothing remains untainted. Human beings are, however, the agents of God's grace in the world, but at the same time they remain part of its essential problem.

All this requires Christians to live in ways that bring the powers of redemption that were wrought on the cross to bear on every area of practical politics, including and especially areas of human conflict and suffering. This is why they are enjoined to be active ‘peacemakers’ in the present and are not permitted to believe that peace will occur only in some messianic future. For this reason, peacemaking is a central Christian spiritual obligation. This alone explains its prominence in the New Testament and the contrast that that bears to the Jewish Bible in this respect. In this way, Christian approaches to war and peace are derived from its basic tenets.