Category Archives: Politics

Christians are Good Citizens

Posted on by
Reply

In case you have not noticed, Christians are not in heaven yet. Though our place there is assured, in the meanwhile, God’s people live under the shadow of less than perfect Government.

Outside of the Kingdom of God, there is no perfect form of human government. As Winston Churchill once remarked, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

If ever this was true, it was true for those to whom Paul was writing. At the very epicenter of Roman rule, it is fair to say that there were tensions for the Christians in Rome.

In seeking to outline the one true Gospel, he would have been negligent if he did not also address the concerns and questions of the Roman Christians, such as:

How can someone live holy in an Unholy Empire?
What should be our attitude to those who rule over us?
Should we defy their every suggestion, question their authority, resist them with all our might?
How are we to live in this world?
If we are not of this world, why should we pay taxes to those who are of this world?

The Apostolic Message – Serve Christ in the world that is, not what you wish it to be.

The Gospel works under every form of political government. Whether it be in a democracy or a monarchy, under Marxist communism or the heel of Islam, in the west or the east, the north or the south, Christians are called to be good citizens.

Background: Written sometime between 54 AD and 57AD

The faith of the Roman Christians was well known (1:8), and Paul had desired to visit them for some time (1:13). We know there were great tensions in the city. Claudius had thrown out the Jews from Rome in 49 AD. This was how Aquilla and Priscilla had first met Paul – they had been amongst those thrown out of the city. Christians were regarded as simply a sect of the Jews. The Roman historian Suetonius tells us that the reason for Claudius’ action was rioting “at the instigation of Chrestus” (whom most scholars of antiquity believe to be a reference to Jesus).

Later on, in 58 AD, shortly after Paul writes this letter, there was a revolt against the new taxation.

In the middle of all this, Paul writes to the Christians at Rome these words: (Chapter 13:1-7)

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

The principle of Scripture is this: we are commanded to obey the civil authorities unless they command us to do something that God forbids or forbids us from doing something that God commands.

The question to ask is this: If I obey the Government in this matter, am I going against the revealed will of God found in Scripture? If not, then I am commanded to obey.

Sometimes (on rare occasions) it is indeed right to disobey government. Three Scriptural examples:
Continue reading →

A Theocratic or a Secularist State? Or Neither?

Posted on by
Reply

My friend John Hendryx writes:

Until the Lord Jesus Christ returns and establishes justice (Rev 6:16, 20), Christians are to advance the kingdom of God through proclaiming his word with love and persuasion. Aside from the secularist hysteria about the dangers of Christian theocracy, the vast majority of Christians actually have no more interest in establishing a theocratic Christian state, than in establishing a purely secularist state. Both are equally loathsome to us. Here is why. The secularist mullahs are just as dangerous as the Christian ones. Too much power in the hands of anyone, including certain denominations of Christians, is dangerous because man is corruptible. That is why limited government and a balance of power is a reasonable idea, because it understands the sinful limitations of human beings, whether they be secularist, Christian, Muslim or Buddhist.

Even though Christians know the only truth, they also know themselves too well as sinners to be without the restraint of law or a balance of power. So when Christians speak of separation of church and state we include all ideas under this umbrella, including secularism. One thing many secularists fail to realize though, is that neither they nor their ideas are religiously neutral. Yet they seem to have convinced themselves that they are neutral…. even though (ironically) the secularists want to vigorously impose their own moral code on society, ideas which have both affirmations and denials about the nature of good and evil. Even in the face of this obvious truth, the secularists amazingly still want to exempt themselves from the separation of church and state clause. It is amazing to me that they do not see how very exclusionary of all other ideas this is and leaves power in the hands of secularists alone. They think, “others are forbidden to speak in the public square because they are religious but WE CAN because we are not religious.” But if, on the other hand, we understand the separation clause more broadly, wherein all views are included under the separation of church and state (that is NO religion can be established, including secularism) then ALL religions and worldviews can speak freely in the public square and compete in the free market of ideas… That is closer to true liberty. Remember, we live in a secular country, not a secularist country.

So because of the sin nature a good Christian should never be anti-government (because all government is established by God) but he should believe in a limited government and rule of law so as to promote the most good by avoiding the tyranny of any one group, including his own. Let’s say Christians did get power. Which Christian denomination will you trust to impose laws on the USA? If you know yourself and the nature of man well, you will answer that none should have such power. The Lord alone has the omniscience to judge right and wrong and do it with absolute justice and equity when He comes. For now we are to win people’s hearts and minds through the gospel, which God uses to change hearts, and which ALONE will make people eager to follow God’s laws. He can gather people for his kingdom under any type of government. Some of the biggest revivals in world history have taken place under the most inhospitable of regimes. So we fear no man or law for what can he do beyond kill our body? Nothing.