Gov't

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.” - I Peter 2:13-14
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” - Acts 5:29

How much detail does the Word of God go into regarding the role of civil government?  I didn’t give much thought to that question until the last few years.  I was taught throughout my childhood that as servants of God, Christians are to obey those whom God has put in government as long as they won’t be disobeying God’s law in the process.  Beyond that I wasn’t interested.  You know what’ll make you carefully re-evaluate your understanding of an issue and also give you an interest in subjects you gave very little thought to before?  Becoming a parent, and realizing that it’s your job to accurately teach your children Scripture’s truth in those areas.  Yes, we should do what we can to develop a right and biblical perspective in any given area of our lives simply because it will help us to more fully honor God in that area, but if you’re like me, you sometimes need some extra providential encouragement in that direction.  My responsibility to my boys often becomes that encouragement.

I’m learning that any time I’m tempted to say, “The Bible doesn’t really have much to say on that subject,” chances are, I’m just revealing my ignorance of all the Bible really does say on that topic; if not explicitly, then at least by implication or in principle.  I’m learning that the role and responsibilities of civil government are actually laid out quite sufficiently in Scripture.  For example, in the books of Moses (those books that we’re sometimes tempted to skim over or skip altogether) God gives His people the laws that are to govern their lives, and then lays out the punishments that were to be administered when those laws were broken.  God established a plurality of rulers, the judges, authority to carry out those punishments.  Even though we New Testament-era believers are no longer required to hold to all of the Jewish ceremonial practices, we should still be able to see the wisdom of following God’s model for government structure.  Besides Moses’ instruction to the Hebrews, God speaks of governmental authority as far back as Genesis 9:6, where God declares to Noah that murder is a crime punishable by execution.  Later passages clarify that the civil government is the institution responsible for carrying out that punishment (see Romans 13:4).  The New Testament isn’t silent on the subject either; Jesus spoke regarding our duty to pay taxes in Mark 12:17; in Romans 13 the apostle Paul speaks about our moral obligation to obey the law of the land; and Paul’s brief argument in II Thessalonians 3:10-12 should alone be sufficient to convince us of the welfare system’s unparalleled ability to produce laziness rather than help those who are “less fortunate.”

If God is the One who established government rule and gives it the authority to protect law-abiding citizens by punishing law breakers and rewarding those who do well, it follows that it is also that government’s responsibility to ensure that it goes no further in its law-making than the Bible allows either by direct instruction or inference.  For example, the government should certainly be able to punish those who steal from their fellow citizens by evading their taxes (Romans 13:6-7); but at the same time, it should be careful to only require of its citizens the taxes necessary for the support of biblically-justifiable endeavors (i.e., the keeping of police forces, court systems, a military, etc.).  From what I  understand in Scripture, the civil government’s responsibilities and jurisdiction are really quite narrow–protecting its citizens from those who would do them harm.  Educational systems, healthcare systems, and any other industries not related to the protection of its people are biblically out-of-bounds; and our freedoms (not to mention our financial resources) are slowly being eaten away as governments seek to wrap their fingers around so many facets of society that they have no God-given prerogative to touch.  Now we have a country where it seems you can hardly get from one end of a work day to the other without wondering if you’ve unintentionally broken a law or violated a regulation somewhere along the way.

This is not to say we shouldn’t feel obligated to honor the “king” because he’s dishonest and power hungry, or to pay our taxes because the government misuses the funds; it’s just to point out that many Christians’ views of government (including my own) need some serious reforming.  The government is the way it is today because the pool of people from which government leaders and workers are chosen is ok with it being this way.  I’ve come to cringe every time someone says, even in fun, “That should be illegal!”  We seem to think it’s a good thing for there to be some kind of law against anything and everything unpleasant that might possibly occur (think gun control or mandatory vaccinations).  How sad when the citizens of a nation world-renowned for its freedom cry to the government to save them from not just criminals and terrorists, but from themselves (think seatbelt or bike helmet laws)!  I ask God–daily–to save me from my foolish self, but I won’t ask it of the government.  When we start looking to our leaders for things God says He’ll supply, that’s when we’ve got ourselves an idol we’ve got to deal with.  May God help us to look to Him alone when we should be looking to Him alone, and to His “ministers” (Romans 13) only when His Word so directs.

We need to do our part to hold our civil servants accountable, whether it’s by writing to them, signing petitions, voting only for politicians who deserve that vote, maybe protesting, or even getting vocationally involved in government.  Most importantly, and most immediately, we need to be in prayer for them often, that they would each see their own need of a Saviour, that God would put men into authority who will honor Jesus as Lord, and overall, that God’s good, perfect, and sovereign will be done in our country, even if it involves waking the church up through persecution.

[P.S.  A year or two ago, I came across the website for Highlands Ministries, a ministry organization founded by R.C. Sproul, Jr.  On the site’s blog, government issues–such as the role of government, the current sad state of government, and how Christians should interact with the government–are frequently examined (the contributors cover many, many other areas of Christian life as well, not only government).  They write with their American government in mind, but most of what is said corresponds well to our own here in Canada.  I’ve grown immensely in my understanding of government and economy since finding their blog.  If you get to reading their stuff and anything sounds eerily similar to what I’ve written, I don’t mean to plagiarize, I’ve just taken in a lot of what they write, and what goes in....  In fact, you can probably bet that if there’s anything good said on the topic of government on my blog, they’ve already said it better on theirs–www.highlandsministriesonline.org.]