Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] In this chapter it might seem we should also settle the question of military service, which falls between rank and power. But the question now under debate is this: whether a believer may turn to military service, and whether military service may even be admitted to the faith — even the rank-and-file soldier, or one of even lower standing, who is under no necessity of performing sacrifices or capital judgments. [2] Divine allegiance and human do not agree, nor Christ's banner alongside the devil's banner, nor the encampment of light alongside the encampment of darkness; one soul cannot be owed to two masters, to God and to Caesar. Moses, too, carried a rod, and Aaron wore a clasp; John is girded with a leather belt, Joshua son of Nun leads an army into battle, and the people went to war — if you care to play that game. [3] But how will he go to war — indeed, how will he even serve in peacetime — without the blade, which the Lord has stripped away? For even though soldiers had come to John and received the rule for their conduct, even though a centurion had come to believe, the Lord, by taking away Peter's weapon afterward, disarmed every one of his soldiers. Not a single garment counts as permissible for us once it has been put to some forbidden use.
XX.