Published by In recent years we have seen a judge refuse to obey the ruling of another judge and call it following God. We have seen a man executed for killing an abortionist who called it God’s mandate. I have seen people claim a church should not be 501C3. I have seen fear and mistrust of the government run rampant to the point of paranoia. We are to be wise but we are not to have a spirit of fear.
Let me set something straight. Our mandate is to follow Christ, not trump up causes that are not leading people to Christ. Any mandate from God for civil disobedience is paper-thin. The Bible records only a very few examples of civil disobedience and these are in very limited circumstances. The three men in the firey furnace refused to bow to an idol, they did not burn. Daniel prayed to God and the lions passed up an evening snack. The disciples refused an order to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. But look carefully at the examples. They were very limited in scope and more important they did not put others than those who took the stand at risk.
Let’s look at Jesus. He never sought to set up an earthly kingdom. Why then do we try? We are to follow him.
1 Cor 11:1
1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
(KJV)
Eph 5:1
1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
(KJV)
John 18:36-37
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
(KJV)
When Jesus was confronted with the church-state issue he handled it simply.
Matt 22:21
21 They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
(KJV)
There are things in the realm of God and some in the realm of the state. In His day, Caesar represented the state. All earthly government in his day ultimately had their base in Rome as far as the people in Judah were concerned.
Paul was confronted by this situation a few years later, it seems that Christians have been able to get on a high horse about this for two centuries. Paul, as usual, goes into more depth. Let us remember one thing about the two accounts. The first (and it is mirrored in two other gospels) is someone writing what people remembered Jesus said as He taught, some years after He was gone. Paul on the other hand is writing letters to the churches now to correct errors. He has time to set it down, write it, and reread it and see how it will come over. And he was able to cover it in more detail. Look at what Paul says about this.
Rom 13:1-7
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Whether we like it or not our government is allowed to operate by God. Leaders may not totally stay with the mandate but they are allowed by God. Go back and reread that statement when you think of civil disobedience. I hear the cries of people railing against the government, the social order, the business world when I read this. How long would any of these exist if God said, “Time’s up. You are toast?” Their life expectancy would be measured in milliseconds at best. The power He could summon makes all of the world’s nuclear weapons pale. I have questions in this arena like, “Why would God allow a man like Adolf Hitler to seize power?” I do not have an answer and I suspect if you have one that includes anything but the sovereignty of God, I probably will not buy it so don’t bother presenting it.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Who resists the power? Let me answer that. Anyone who resists the power of the state, local or federal governments with but a very few exceptions we will discuss later resists the power of God. If you fail to pay immoral taxes, that is wrong. Do you think Jesus saw morality in paying tribute to Caesar? Answer, yes. It was right to pay the tax. It did not say Jesus thought Caesar was right. We are to be salt and light to this world. How can we be that if we spend our time wrestling with flesh and blood? I’ll help you with the tough ones, we can’t. We say, “don’t pay taxes that fund abortion” or “Don’t pay taxes to fund the military.” Did Jesus say, “Don’t pay the tribute for Roman soldiers that hang Jews for no reason?” Again the answer is, “No.” There is no way we can justify not paying taxes by scripture. And since paying or not paying is covered by 501C3, how can we say God is against 501C3? The answer is simple. If we twist scripture, we can. If we let properly discern God’s word we can’t.
So then where do we stand and reject the rule of government? It is simple. When the order from the government is in direct conflict with a direct command from God. When it prevents our worship, not when it just places restrictions on how, where and when based on restrictions the government places on other groups. The government has the right to promote safety because it does so for our good. If the government restricts that use of a building or a place for safety reasons, and does it even handedly, that is a legitimate responsibility. If, for example, we violate occupation safety rules we err.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rulers are a terror to those who do the works of evil. Do you think Paul was thinking of giving a murderer a slap on the wrist or telling him that isn’t nice in this passage? The word terror says it all. He was to be in mortal fear. But he also says to do good and have the praise of the same. I’ve seen ministers of the gospel be honored by Mayors, Governors, Senators and even Presidents because of some good thing they were doing. And I have seen Christians so honored. One of the most decorated soldiers of WWI, Sergeant York was a conscientious objector medic who watched his unit being shot up and took up a gun to “keep them from killing his friends.” He refused to carry a gun and kill but he went as an unarmed medic, probably a more dangerous position. And if you know that story, he killed very few enemy soldiers that day. He got into a place that allowed him to capture about 100 of them. He objected to the law that he had to fight, he went as a medic, an alternative, and when the chips were down and someone had to do it, he did. This is obeying conscience and the state at the same time.
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Paul goes further with this. Note the phrase “beareth not the sword in vain.” If that is not capital punishment, I don’t understand. When you use a sword on someone it is very likely that they may be killed. What does the phrase, “execute wrath on the one who does evil” mean? For the one who would do evil the officer represents the law. The officer is there to keep him in line.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
And here is the crux of it for the Christian. We are not to obey and give lip service when the officer is there and then go on doing our own thing but we are to obey for conscience sake. That means when the officer is not there too. Several years ago I was dropping off some tools in center city York for my son. I was focused on what I was trying to do and not my driving. I pulled up at a red light, looked both ways and went through, treating it like a four way stop sign. I was barely through when I realized the mistake and before I could go a half block there was an officer behind me. I pulled over and stopped. He came up to my car. I just sat there and shook my head. I told him I knew what I did, I knew it was wrong, it was just stupidity. By the way, if you want the full story of the stupidity, the Police Station is on the corner where the red light was! He was just coming out to go back on duty. He took my license, went to his car and then came back. He handed my the license and in an almost pleading tone said, “Mr. Brandt, could you try to be more careful?” I said, “Yes.” He responded, “I don’t see the value in giving you a ticket, but please for me, be careful and a little more attentive.” I later learned it was Big Gene, probably one of the toughest, most diligent and most honest cops on the York City Police force. He walked away. I knew I was wrong, if he had ticketed me he would have been right. Why didn’t he? I don’t know. Good driving record, maybe. But more likely it was the attitude I presented that I had screwed up bad and I knew it. From what I have heard of him, he is a good judge of situations. For conscience sake I could not have argued with him, even if I wanted to. And I would love to some day tell Gene that stop has made me more attentive. I remember that tough cop that handed back my license without a ticket when he had me with no defense.
6 For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
They are God’s ministers. I have a hard time seeing Mayor Charlie (the ex-mayor of York) that way, a man who as a cop in this city in 1969 raised his fist in a rally and yelled “White Power” and may have been the man who handed out ammunition to the men who killed a woman. I find it hard to see Teddy Kennedy that way, a man who contributed to the death of a woman in a drunken accident and then lied and covered it up. I find it hard to see William Jefferson Clinton that way, the draft dodging, pot smoking, womanizing liar. I find it hard to see Al Gore that way, the spineless, lying, traitor. But they were “God’s ministers” when they wielded the sword. They will answer to God for how they handled or mishandled that mantle. As an aside, so were George Bush, Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon and G. W Bush will be till January 2005 and more likely January 2009.
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
(KJV)
We are to render them all dues, tribute, honor, custom, fear, whatever.
Where are we permitted to break the law? Where can Christians justly violate the law of the land? Let’s look at where people in the scripture did and God indicated pleasure. I may not get all of them but I believe the sample here sets the tone.
1) Shadrack, Meishak, Abindigo. They were thrown into a furnace because they would not bow to the king’s image. They would not bow thus they would not burn. But their stand was not against the king nor did they dishonor him. Their stand was against the command he made that they were to bow to him, actually his image as Lord. We find a lot of places where people bowed before kings and honored them as king. Ester for one bowed when she came in to the king. That is not wrong in fact, I believe the last verse I cited from Paul is clear that if there is to be honor, give it. If the custom to give that honor is to bow, so be it. If I were to be given audience to the Queen of England, I would find out not only if as an American I were to bow, but when, how and where. I might not do it right but I would try. It is not out of worship but out of honor, not just for her but for that office. But we are never to bow to revere or pray to someone. These three men did not bow to an idol God. They did not burn. And the result was repentance and revival in the land. Compare their handling to those who rail out against our president, lie about him and call him every vile name. I don’t care if they oppose his policies this is wrong.
2) Daniel disobeyed the command to not pray. The lions didn’t eat him. I guess they didn’t want to get sick. They knew it was hard to keep a good man down. I note that when the king came to see Daniel the next morning Daniel did not rail against him but said, “Oh King Live forever.” This was a standard way to honor the king. Imagine honoring a king that just twelve hours ago threw you into a den of lions. But Daniel’s heart was right and he did what was right. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Those who call GWB a Hilter are showing their ignorance and their lack of objectivity.
3) The disciples disobeyed the religious authorities a few times. Their disobedience was to an order to not preach in the name of Jesus. But I think our mandate here is thin. We must stay on the track exactly. Our disobedience can only be in proclaiming Jesus not some idea or doctrine of our own. It can only be if we are PREVENTED from preaching the gospel. Not being allowed to do it the way we want to do it isn’t enough. There are those who defend David Koresh on legal and biblical grounds. I can find no biblical ground and his legal grounds are at best terribly shaky. And do not give me the story that if we don’t defend those who worship differently we will loose our right to worship. That is backwards to what Paul wrote above. If we are fighting with the “officer” all the time we become the target of his wrath. And do we put our name and the name of Christ on something despicable as we do when we defend men like Koresh, Randy Weaver and the like? God forbid.
