Today, the Christian church still struggles to reclaim the uniqueness that differentiated the Jesus, his disciples, and the early church from the society they lived in. Jesus warned against salt that lost its flavor and against light hidden under bowls. When Christians cannot distinguish between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world then they mistakenly believe that God favors one nation over another, or one political party over another. They compromise their unique message by thinking “It’s my country, wrong or right” or otherwise excusing the ways in which their nation or party deviates from God’s standard of righteousness and justice. They self-servingly highlight scriptures from the Bible that support their partisan viewpoints while ignoring or misinterpreting those that might undermine their ideology. Moreover, they see the success of their nation or party as the success of God’s kingdom—and see their rivals as opposed to God’s kingdom. This view leads Christians to label nations or political opponents as “heathen” or as opposed to the kingdom of God. But, if they do that, then they misidentify their enemy. As Paul wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”[1] Like Jesus, Paul emphasized the otherworldliness of God’s kingdom—that it was not set up in opposition to earthly kingdoms, but rather existed on a completely different plane over and above them. In fact, Paul taught that all earthly governments are established by God and that earthly rulers wield authority as God’s servants.[2]
Earthly government has a proper place, according to Paul’s writings and life example. Paul taught that God establishes governments to maintain peace and order, and to enforce justice. Even though he was frequently jailed for the practice of his faith and eventually martyred under a cruel tyrant, Paul understood and respected government authority. Paul instructed the churches under his care to offer prayers for government leaders so that they could live peacefully.[3] He insisted on his rights as a Roman citizen, such as the right to a trial before flogging and an appeal to Caesar, a right he exercised when the Jewish leaders accused him before the Roman Governor Porcius Festus.[4]
In general, governments, political leaders, and nations can be relatively good or evil—that is, they can be relatively good or evil compared with one another. However, no earthly government can be measured as absolutely good compared against God’s absolute standard of justice and righteousness. And, contrary to Jesus’ teaching and example of submission and service, all worldly governments rely on subjugation and coercion to restrain evil. As Paul wrote:
“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”[5]
According to Paul, earthly governments wield authority punish wrong or immoral actions and can commend righteous actions, but they have no power to change people’s hearts for good. Indeed, capitalist, democratic forms of government tend to succeed because they do not rely on people’s better natures, but instead assume people’s self-interestedness, both as individuals and as groups of like interest. Capitalism harnesses people’s greed and selfish ambition to make society more productive. Much in the same way, modern democracy contains harmful natural tendencies through elaborate checks and balances in government, but does nothing to erase those tendencies. Politicians understandably pander to voters’ self-interest. After all, no one expects people to vote according to what is right for all mankind, especially when that might mean losing benefits for themselves. Winston Churchill famously summed up the advantages and deficiencies of democracy by saying, “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.”
Christians must understand the proper role of government and its inherent limitations. When an earthly government takes up Christianity as its own cause, it still operates according to the principles of this world, which are subjugation and coercion. This does not change even if Christians control the government and dictate all its policies. Certainly, Christians play a preserving role by advocating laws and policies that align with God’s standard, as shown in the next chapter, but they must not put their faith in these imperfect and temporary kingdoms. Instead, Christians must put their faith in God’s heavenly kingdom, which is established as believers yield their lives to God, operate according to His kingdom’s principles, and shine as examples of His righteousness and justice. One day, Jesus will return and replace all earthly governments with His eternal government. Till that day, Christians live as sojourners here on earth, act as salt and light to society, and secure their victory through submission and service, not subjugation and coercion.
[This post is an excerpt of my work-in-progress book on social justice in the Old Testament. Feedback is welcome! More on Learning to Do Right.]
2 comments:
Tyson,
The "Learning to Do Right" link at the bottom is broken.
Thanks for the head's up, Mike! The link is now fixed. :-)
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