"The voice of a god
and not of a man!" (Acts 12:22). Herod believed the words of
his subjects. He fell for the grand delusion the belief that
those who rule are gods, independent rulers, walking on
earth. It did not take God long to remind King Herod and
the people that God rules in Heaven and earth and that
all rulers are subject to His sovereignty and Law. Herod
became a diet for worms: "And immediately an angel of the Lord
struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was
eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:23).
God is not against
rulers. He is not opposed to government. Indeed, He ordained
it! All authority is "established by God" (Romans
13:1).
What God works against
is man's assuming the role of God. God clearly says, "I will
not give My glory to another" (Isaiah 42:8). God does not
tolerate competition: "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am
the last, and there is no God besides Me. And who is like Me?
Let him proclaim and declare it; yes, let him recount it to Me
in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation.
And let them declare to them the things that are coming and
the events that are going to take place'" (Isaiah 44:6,7). The
First Commandment reminds us, "You shall have no other gods
before Me" (Exodus 20:3). William Penn once wrote, "Men must
be governed by God or else they will be ruled by
tyrants."
We are not to make
ourselves gods. Our parents are not to take God's place and
rule in the family independently of Him. Our teachers are not
to take God's place and teach as if there were no authority
that gives all the facts in the universe meaning. Civil
government is not to take God's place and rule independently
of His one government (Isaiah 9:6,7; cf. Romans 13:1-7).
Whenever any government oversteps its proper magisterium, "We
must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29; cf. Daniel 3:16-18;
6:10ff).
But don't we act as if
someone else is god? We want the state to educate our
children, to nurse us when we get sick, to establish homes for
us when we get old, to protect us from ourselves, to care for
the poor, and to support us when we are out of work. Man often
makes the state civil government into an idol. We might not
say that we worship the state, but the Bible says that we know
what people believe "by their fruits" (Matthew
7:20).
God is the ultimate
and only independent authority. This must be our starting
point as we discuss the role God takes in the affairs of men,
especially as His sovereignty relates to civil government. "By
Me kings reign, and rulers decree justice" (Proverbs 8:15).
When a ruler decrees either by words or by deeds that he is
independent of God's government or that justice is defined
according to his self-made laws, then God acts in judgment. We
might not see His judgment in the same way Nebuchadnezzar or
Herod did, but time brings all things to light. Choosing man
as the sovereign ruler, independent of God, inevitably leads a
nation into slavery. The self-made god will rule with an iron
fist. As Samuel Rutherford said, we have either Rex lex
or lex Rex.1 With these thoughts in
mind, we offer the following affirmations and denials to
enlighten the Church and the world about the principles of
government set forth by God in His inerrant Word, the
Bible.
Statements of Affirmation and
Denial
The Foundation of Governments
1. We affirm that the
Lord God is the universal Governor of all individuals and
nations because He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things
(Daniel 4:17; 5:21; Isaiah 9:6,7; 1 Corinthians 15:25;
Colossians 1:17).
We deny that finite,
fallible, fallen men and women have within themselves the
ability to govern in a thoroughly just and consistent manner
without inerrant Scripture as their governing
authority.
2. We affirm that "the
government" in the singular, used of ultimate government, must
refer to the Triune God, who alone has unlimited and
independent authority (right to govern), power (ability to
govern), and jurisdiction (sphere of government) (Isaiah
9:6,7).
We deny that any
individual, group, or human institution ought to claim to be
the government with the attendant implication of
independent and unlimited authority, power, and
jurisdiction.
3. We affirm that the
Bible is the authoritative and inerrant standard by which all
aspects of civil government are to be conducted and that God
holds man accountable to govern himself by that
standard.
We deny that any final
authority outside the Bible (e.g., reason, experience,
majority opinion, elite opinion, nature, etc.) ought to be
accepted as the standard of government for any individual,
group, or jurisdiction.
4. We affirm that God
is the Originator, Sustainer, and Judge of the government of
man by man.
We deny that true
government is established by man or sustained by any of his
activities except obedience to Biblical Laws and laws soundly
deduced therefrom.
5. We affirm that
Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords; that He has
all authority in Heaven and on earth; and that all governments
everywhere function by His permission and are obligated to
follow His Laws.
We deny that any form
of government that exalts the individual, the Church, or the
state above Jesus Christ is consistent with God's Biblical
standards for government.
Jurisdictions of Governments
6. We affirm that
God's government is independent and unlimited and that all
human governments are established or allowed within His
sovereignty (Deuteronomy 4:17).
We deny that man's
government is independent and unlimited, and that any
government can claim independence from God on the basis that
governments arise out of "social contracts."
7. We affirm that God
has established many governments; that He has given each its
own jurisdiction; that all are accountable to God; and that
among these are self government (which undergirds all
institutional governments), family government, ecclesiastical
(church) government, and civil governments (e.g.,
national, state, and local).
We deny that any human
government has ultimate jurisdiction over all or over any
other individual, group, or government (family, church, or
civil).
8. We affirm that the
various governments (including self, family, church, and
state) have different God-ordained jurisdictions that exist at
the same time and place, affecting the same people, and that
God desires that they respect each other's separate
God-ordained jurisdictions.
We deny that it is
possible to separate totally the jurisdictions of these
God-ordained institutions, since they constantly function at
the same time and place and affect the same people.
9. We affirm that
without self government all other governments are destined to
fail.
We deny that civil
government can be used to make evil men good, i.e., to
develop godly self government in sinful men and
women.
10. We affirm that
there is a jurisdictional separation between Church and
state.
We deny that there is
an absolute separation of Church and state, if by this
it is meant that God and His Word should be separated from
civil government.
11. We affirm that
Jesus Christ, supporting the jurisdictional separation between
Church and state set forth in the Old Testament, acknowledged
and supported the legitimate but divinely limited jurisdiction
of civil government when He commanded us to "....render to
Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things
that are God's" (Matthew 22:22).
We deny that the
Church ought to reject civil government and advocate a
church-controlled state (ecclesiocracy) in which the church
rules over the state.
12. We affirm that
ecclesiastical government, the church (as an institution with
rulers), has legitimate court powers within its jurisdiction
(1 Corinthians 6; Matthew 18), and that Christians should
settle their disputes within the Body of Christ, following the
procedures of reconciliation set forth in
Scripture.
We deny that
Christians should take fellow Christians to civil courts, and
that the state ought to usurp the legitimate and God-ordained
jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts.
The Nature and Duties of Civil
Government
13. We affirm that
there is a vital distinction between state (i.e., civil
government) and society, and that society encompasses all
governing institutions, of which civil government is
one.
We deny that the realm
of the state (civil government) is to be considered
co-extensive with society.
14. We affirm that God
holds civil governments everywhere responsible to protect the
God-ordained rights to life, liberty, and private property,
and to keep the peace by their legitimate powers.
We deny that life,
liberty, and private property are rights defined by man or
granted by the state.
15. We affirm that
civil government has the God-ordained power of the sword to
punish evildoers and to promote the good, and that this power
includes capital punishment.
We deny that civil
government is given absolute power or flexible jurisdiction
for the use of the sword to further its power and influence,
and that it may rightly refrain from use of the sword in
capital cases as described in Scripture.
16. We affirm that
civil government has the responsibility of administering
justice, which includes and is limited to the commendation of
those who do right, the punishment of evildoers by restitution
and retribution, and the preservation of peace against
domestic and foreign oppressors, and that the fulfillment of
this responsibility allows for the spreading of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and the application of the Word of God to every
area of life.
We deny that civil
government by its very nature is unjust and an enemy of
individual freedom.
17. We affirm that
nations have a right to maintain national
sovereignty.
We deny that it is
right or wise to work toward a one-world government under
which all nations would be asked to give up their national
sovereignty.
18. We affirm that
civil governments have the God-given authority and
responsibility to build up and maintain a strong military
preparedness to protect their citizens from foreign threats,
and that it is right and wise for them to do so.
We deny that absolute
pacifism, which would resist arming local policemen with guns
or maintaining a national standing army equipped with the best
weaponry available resources can provide, is
Biblical.
19. We affirm that
civil governments everywhere ought to follow a Biblical moral
order so that citizens can work out their callings under God,
and that they should treat all citizens as juridically equal,
i.e., equal in the eyes of the law.
We deny that civil
governments should use any method to coerce or aim for an
"egalitarian society" to make all functionally, positionally,
or economically equal.
20. We affirm that
civil government has the God-ordained authority to collect
personal taxes (not property taxes) to support its Biblically
stated jurisdictional duties.
We deny that taxes
should be collected to fund programs outside civil
government's Biblically delineated purpose.
21. We affirm that
individuals, families, churches, and voluntary associations
should care financially for widows, orphans, aliens, and the
truly needy through the tithe and offerings.
We deny that civil
government has a duty to care financially for widows, orphans,
aliens, and the truly needy through a coercive tax system,
unless the primary providers totally fail to fulfill their
responsibility to do so.
22. We affirm that
civil governments must maintain just weights and
measures.
We deny that any civil
government ought to overturn its obligation to maintain just
weights and measures by issuing any type of fiat
currency.
23. We affirm that it
is the duty of civil government to protect the Church of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
We deny that civil
government should always be neutral toward Christianity and
treat it as equal with all other so-called
religions.
Christians' Relations with Civil
Government
24. We affirm that
Christians everywhere ought to pray for their civil leaders
and to honor the offices they hold.
We deny that citizens
should show disrespect toward those who hold political
office.
25. We affirm that all
citizens have a duty to pay a tax because of the services
rendered by civil government, and that the Church, the Bride
of our Lord Jesus Christ, is tax-immune and not merely
tax-exempt (the latter of which might imply authority in the
state to grant or withhold the status, making the state
sovereign over the Church).
We deny that the state
has any right or authority to tax the Church, and that the
state should tax citizens to perform tasks that are unbiblical
in nature or unwarranted by our Constitution.
26. We affirm that it
is the responsibility of Christians to seek godly influence on
the many civil governments, confronting all of them with the
Gospel and Law of Christ, and that for Christians to "stay out
of politics" or the political process is to disregard our duty
to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16) and dooms
society to corruption and judgment, at least in the political
sphere.
We deny that
Christians ought to "stay out of politics" or the political
process.
27. We affirm that it
is the duty of Christian citizens to keep informed of issues,
candidates, and trends in their civil governments at all
levels.
We deny that local
churches are fulfilling their responsibility to be salt and
light in their society if they are not systematically keeping
their members appraised of the threats to their people and to
the continuance of their churches' ministry that
come from such evils as encroaching stat-ism, moral decay,
media manipulation, and communism.
28. We affirm that
Christians in general and church leaders in particular, like
the prophets of old, have a mandate from God to declare
society's accountability to God through and according to His
Word in every sphere of a nation's activities.
We deny that God is
concerned only with private morality.
29. We affirm that the
people of God, no matter what their national ties, constitute
a "holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9).
Limitations on Governments
30. We affirm that
those who govern, whether in the family, the Church, or the
civil realm, are ministers of God and are thus subject
to God's Laws.
We deny that it is
moral for earthly governments to establish laws that run
counter to God's Biblical principles, and that it is moral for
earthly governors to govern independently of those
principles.
31. We affirm that,
wherever citizens are capable of self government, the power
and bureaucracy of civil government should be kept as small
and localized as possible.
We deny that it is
wise or beneficial to citizens for governmental powers to
become increasingly centralized.
32. We affirm that,
because man is created in the image of God and therefore has
God-given worth and dignity, civil governments exist for the
benefit of their citizens, not vice
versa.
We deny that
individuals exist for the sake of the state.
33. We affirm that
civil government is established in part to protect the
freedoms granted to people by God.
We deny that civil
government has legitimate power to subordinate the individual
to the ultimate wishes of the state.
34. We affirm that
systematic and deliberate attempts to tyrannize people, such
as occur in Communism, ought to be opposed by all Biblical
Christians through prayer, speaking out, and taking whatever
action God directs one to take.
We deny that
Christians whose thinking is controlled by Biblical categories
can have a neutral or positive stance toward communism,
Nazism, or any other human tyranny.
35. We affirm that God
defines justice, and that the ultimate, authoritative
understanding of justice is to be found in Biblical revelation
alone, to which the understanding of justice found in general
revelation must always conform.
We deny that justice
is to be redefined by the state, and that the state may
rightly force ever evolving and increasingly arbitrary
definitions of justice on society.
36. We affirm that
civil servants should be held accountable for their sins, and
that there is a relationship between righteousness in one's
personal life and one's ability to rule (1 Timothy
3).
We deny that anyone's
personal life should not be taken into account when he seeks
or occupies public office.
37. We affirm that the
Triune God is the ultimate Governor for all institutions in
all societies, and that all forms of government that exalt
either the individual (anarchy) or the state (socialism and
communism) as ultimate are contrary to Biblical
revelation.
We deny that either
the individual or the state is ultimate.
The above affirmations
are used with permission of Coalition on Revival, http://www.reformation.net/.
Please
follow up with some of our other articles:
Value
Your Vote Campaign Our
Duty as Citizens... and as Christians We
Have the Votes! The
Future of America... A
"Call" To Mobilize Our Voters!
|