Government: God's Gift
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"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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment" (Romans 13:1-2).During the government overreach of the COVID mayhem, we witnessed the limit of government jurisdiction and authority. In short, God never contradicts himself. We do not throw ourselves behind the support of all government edicts, with a sort of blind obedience, for then we might be guilty of obeying man but disobeying God himself. What COVID reminded us was that the Church by her very nature must meet together. It is essential and an apostolic command: "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together." Let no government silence the Church. Her Lord is not the State, but Christ.
We do see, however, the positive limits of government. Each human government is not only given God's blessing to make laws and uphold those laws; they are commanded by God to do just that. They are to establish laws and mete out justice as an extension of God's authority. What I mean is that government is not evil by nature. Some specific governments may be evil, but since the Fall and the beginning of civilization, government was given as a blessing to the world by God because human authority provides law and order to our societies. The worst form of government is no government: anarchy.
The Apostle's teaching on government is in lock-step with Jesus himself: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's; give to God what is God's." Respect and honor, therefore, your earthly rulers for they are God's instruments, even when they bring the sword to punish the lawless. Therefore, give them honor, respect, and your humble obedience.
I don't think enough Christians are talking about this. The Church can never resist the government on grounds that we don't feel like obeying. Calls to resist a President simply because he is enforcing a country's immigration laws are unbiblical and, at best, foolish. In times of rebellion and social chaos, like we saw in the "summer of love" (2021), the Church should have been calling on our government to use force to put down the anarchists, not silently hide in fear or in shame. Instead, so many in the Church have put personal feelings over biblical truth.
Whoever resists the governing authorities operating within their God-ordained boundaries resists almighty God.
In closing, take a lesson from history.
Martin Luther is sometimes viewed as an insurrectionist and one who incited the overthrow of governments. This, however, is unwarranted and a bad reading of the facts of history. In some (namely, one man named Thomas Muntzer), Luther's radical and biblical ideas were twisted and perverted into a call to overthrow the shackles of not only Roman Popery, but also the Dukes and the Emperor himself! The tension grew so thick that soon the Peasant's War was in full flame, fanned by the windedness of Muntzer's "preaching." It was Luther, however, who wrote to the rulers of his day, urging them to put down the rebellion decisively, obeying God's commands to maintain law and order with the sword if needed. The rulers answered boldly and directly, killing 80,000 peasants and sentencing Muntzer to execution.
By God's decree, there is an appointed place for human governments to rule and exercise justice under the sovereign rule of God.
While all human governments will fail to enact perfect justice, let us with hope look to the future when Christ will return as King, bringing with him the sword to put down once and forever all those who resist his authority - but bringing salvation to all who honor him as King of kings and Lord of lords. Bend the knee to Christ while you still have breath.
In the meantime, let us thank God for his gracious gift of human authority to restrain evil men and women in our fallen world.
The Apostle's teaching on government is in lock-step with Jesus himself: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's; give to God what is God's." Respect and honor, therefore, your earthly rulers for they are God's instruments, even when they bring the sword to punish the lawless. Therefore, give them honor, respect, and your humble obedience.
I don't think enough Christians are talking about this. The Church can never resist the government on grounds that we don't feel like obeying. Calls to resist a President simply because he is enforcing a country's immigration laws are unbiblical and, at best, foolish. In times of rebellion and social chaos, like we saw in the "summer of love" (2021), the Church should have been calling on our government to use force to put down the anarchists, not silently hide in fear or in shame. Instead, so many in the Church have put personal feelings over biblical truth.
Whoever resists the governing authorities operating within their God-ordained boundaries resists almighty God.
In closing, take a lesson from history.
Martin Luther is sometimes viewed as an insurrectionist and one who incited the overthrow of governments. This, however, is unwarranted and a bad reading of the facts of history. In some (namely, one man named Thomas Muntzer), Luther's radical and biblical ideas were twisted and perverted into a call to overthrow the shackles of not only Roman Popery, but also the Dukes and the Emperor himself! The tension grew so thick that soon the Peasant's War was in full flame, fanned by the windedness of Muntzer's "preaching." It was Luther, however, who wrote to the rulers of his day, urging them to put down the rebellion decisively, obeying God's commands to maintain law and order with the sword if needed. The rulers answered boldly and directly, killing 80,000 peasants and sentencing Muntzer to execution.
By God's decree, there is an appointed place for human governments to rule and exercise justice under the sovereign rule of God.
While all human governments will fail to enact perfect justice, let us with hope look to the future when Christ will return as King, bringing with him the sword to put down once and forever all those who resist his authority - but bringing salvation to all who honor him as King of kings and Lord of lords. Bend the knee to Christ while you still have breath.
In the meantime, let us thank God for his gracious gift of human authority to restrain evil men and women in our fallen world.
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