The Ministry Of Civil Government

from The Christian Reader:

The Ministry of Civil Government


by Dr. Archie Jones



(This is Part Four of a series. Click here to read Part One.)



The author notes that it is “a most serious error” “that God has ordained any institution among men, or sanctions any, in which the promotion of His glory as the Supreme Law-giver, and the alone object of worship and religious homage, is not a chief end.” This points clearly to why Christians—and Christian ministers!—should be interested in, study, and teach about civil government.



It also highlights another important point made by the author and denied by too many Christians: the “good works” and “evil works” to which Paul refers have to do with “outward acts” prohibited by both tables of God’s law. The apostle’s reasoning leaves no room for justifying the omission of the First Table (laws concerning man’s relationship to God) and including only laws based on the Second Table (laws concerning man’s relationship to man). Besides, if we omit the First Table of God’s law we undermine the authority of the Second Table of the law. If there is no God, there are no rights. The Declaration of Independence makes this abundantly clear when it states that our “rights” are an endowment from “our Creator.” In a world without God, there is no murder or theft.



We need to study books like The Establishment and Limits of Civil Government and the Book of Books upon which it is based to retake Christ’s ministry of civil government for His glory and to put it to work for our own and our neighbors’ good.



That civil government is an institution ordained by God to serve His ethical purposes is sufficient scriptural warrant for the church’s interest in the ministry of civil government and sufficient reason to scrap the unbiblical and often inane excuses which Christians have given for evading their responsibility to study, teach about, and become involved in the ministry of civil government.



The God-ordained nature of the institution of civil government requires us to be obedient to it, but the God-ordained purposes of civil government do not require our obedience to the ungodly commands, laws, or regulations of evil, much less tyrannical civil magistrates who occupy positions of authority in the institution of civil government. The Rev. Willson’s careful reading of the passage rescues us from false interpretations of the text by Christians and non-Christians: (1) of those who say that it teaches unresisting, unquestioning obedience to civil government officials no matter how ungodly or tyrannical they are; (2) of those who advocate merely passive obedience and non-resistance to unjust laws and tyrannical regimes; (3) of advocates of monarchial absolutism and the divine right of kings—today’s equivalent being executive, legislative, and/or judicial absolutism and the “divine right” of the majority; and (4) secularist political thinkers who, seizing upon the misinterpretations of the above schools of thought, seek to portray the Bible as opposed to liberty. These errors are usually avoided, he notes, by dealing with the passage as a whole and not separating the first and second verses from their context. These false interpretations are still with us, doing their damage to truth and liberty. It is not surprising that anti-Christians would distort the teaching of the text, but it is amazing that Christian expositors who (quite rightly) have no trouble deducing the doctrine of the Trinity from Scripture are unable to comprehend that this passage does not teach that we must, not only for fear of the power of the sword used against us but also for a mature conscience’s sake, obey every ungodly command or law of wicked rulers. Perhaps if they included verses 8–10—which point directly to God’s law—in their study they could see that their “absolute obedience” position requires us to violate our consciences by violating God’s laws in order to obey civil government officials’ wicked laws and decrees! We are protected against such absurdities—and God’s wisdom, goodness and honor are upheld—by the Rev. Willson’s careful reading of the text and his refutations of these popular errors.



Beyond this, the apostle’s teaching, with that of the Scriptures in other places, implies (1) the right and duty of individual resistance against unjust laws and tyranny; (2) the right and duty of forcible resistance of unjust and tyrannical civil government officials, including the removal of such rulers from office and/or changing the form of civil government; and (3) the right and duty of resistance against foreign or domestic tyranny.



Other significant inferences which the author draws from this and related passages in Scripture are: that civil rulers should be God-fearing men; that civil government is instituted for the promotion of moral as well as social order among men; that civil rulers, “in their official character,” are imperatively obliged “to recognize the divine supremacy”; that civil government should extend its protection to every class of people, and especially to the weaker; and that many of the existing governments of the world “have no claim to conscientious acknowledgement.” Christians need to ponder these conclusions too.



The church today is like the church of Willson’s day, but more so. The vast majority of it has not enough biblical sense to keep its children out of the government schools—which are much farther advanced in unbelief, in hostility to Christianity, in the volume and seriousness of lies which they convey to their pupils, and in their techniques for behavioral manipulation of young minds than were the “public schools” of a century and a half ago. Thus they allow their children to be indoctrinated with the false doctrines of secular humanism, the established religion of the government schools; to have their morals perverted; and to have them programmed with the lies which compose the social, economic, and political agenda of the leftists who control the “public schools.” Many think themselves too holy to study civil government and politics, much less get involved in the two. Many deny that it is a legitimate duty of the church to study, preach, and teach about civil government and law—much less for Christians to devote their time, talents, resources, and energy to politics. Many would rather “play at church” than seek to protect the church—and our non-Christian neighbors—from “the power of the sword” in the wicked hands of the enemies of God who now dominate our civil governments. Rather than instruct their people in the Bible’s teachings about civil government, law, public life, the issues of the day, [1] the duties of civil magistrates, the duties of citizens, and the principles of obedience and resistance to civil rule, they preoccupy their minds with the events of the worship service, the excitement of the congregation, ecclesiastical issues, or preaching what most people want to hear. If they do minister by evangelizing men (and bless them if they do!), they do not instruct men in the things of the ministry of civil government. They do nothing to get Christians to influence, much less govern, God’s ministry of civil government. No wonder there are no public political sermons preached on official civil government occasions today!



Most church leaders today surrender the ministry of civil government to the enemies of God. They do nothing to defend God’s people or anyone else against the schemes and actions of evil men who claim absolute, arbitrary power for civil government, the authority to interfere in all areas of our lives, the authority to subject us to the rule of global governments, the authority to stifle what liberty remains to us, the authority to persecute Christians and opponents of the current regime; and, via government-controlled medical care, the authority to withhold medical care from many of us and our fellow citizens. Many Christians see the frightening trends but continue to interpret them as portending the imminent return of Christ (as some of them have done for more than fifty years); meanwhile, they violate His commandment to us to occupy until He returns (Luke 19:13), doing nothing to influence Christ’s ministry of civil government for His glory, and nothing to assure that civil government, by applying God’s law, fulfills the law of love, “love works no evil to his neighbor” (Romans 13:10).



The church today needs books like the Rev. Willson’s careful exposition of this crucial New Testament passage. It needs to read them, to study them, to measure them by the Scriptures, and to apply their sound teachings to influence God’s ministry of civil government for His glory, the protection of His people, the good of our neighbors, and, as much as God’s law will allow, the good of mankind.



Notes:

[1] Gary DeMar, ed., Passing the Torch of Liberty to a New Generation (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2009) and Ellis Sandoz, ed., Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730–1805, 2 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998).







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