Government (31)
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Upon their king's death, it was the Persians' custom (I am not saying it was laudable) to grant everyone liberty for five days to do whatever they wanted. The unbridled lust was so great that it made the people long and pray for the installment of their next king. In this way it endeared government to them. Blessed be God for law and government, for using them to curb people's raging lusts, and thereby procuring rest and comfort for us in the world!Triumphing over Sinful Fear, 22-23
We have no reason or obligation to obey the State when they redefine the rule of law contrary to divine law, and create law which is antithetical to the justice God has declared to apply to all men. Rather, men have a duty to resist and oppose unjust or immoral law.Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates, 52
Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.
It is the great end of government to secure the people from the abuse of power.
Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.
The insistence among some that only the ordained may administer baptism and conduct the Lord's Supper demonstrates the persistence of the sacramental view of ordination.
It is an immensely profound truth that no special priestly or clerical class in distinction from the whole people of God appears in the New Testament.Eldership, 112
for the future; I beseech you be careful to sense God's glory from being trampled on, and advance him in this Kingdom by wholesome Laws; Blessed be God for those we already enjoy;https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Glimpse_of_Gods_Glory/FDg3AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
the lesser magistrate does not need any support from the people in order to act. He can and should act when warranted because he has the right and duty in the sight of God to do so. Nevertheless, the people should (and do) -by their action or inaction -play a role of immense importance when it comes to the effectiveness of the lesser magistrates' interposition against tyranny.Lesser Magistrates, 58-59
Remonstrance is an archaic word rarely used today. But it is exactly what the people are supposed to do in order to fulfill their role in combating tyranny. To remonstrate means to present strong arguments against an act, measure, or any course of proceedings.Lesser Magistrates, 55
Let a thing here be noted, that the prophet of God sometimes may teach treason against kings, and yet neither he nor such as obey the word, spoken in the Lord's name by him, offend God.Selecting Writings, 165-166
I do confess myself one of the old-fashion professors, that covet 'to fear God, and honour the king.' I also am for blessing of them that curse me, for doing good to them that hate me, and for praying for them that despitefully use me , and persecute me.
Such is the appointed end of every political or religious system that ignores God and His truth, and seek after material power and prosperity as the chief objects of life. Let a nation lose her faith in God - let her drive truth, virtue, love, and righteousness from her heart and life, and what will she become? Can she become anything else than a habitation of devils? Can she become anything else but the seat and prey of demon-like passions?Biblical Illustrator: Revelation, 534
what occurs so often in Christian organizations is the opposite. Instead of drawing unbelievers by how we conduct our affairs, including how God supplies abundantly for our needs, so many organizations import methods from the world, and rely upon government money grants. This is a subtly dangerous relationship from which it may be almost impossible for an institution to extricate itself - the proverbial fly caught in the spiderweb.Deep Discipleship, 132-133
By virtue of the principle of sphere-sovereignty the state does not grant the right of existence to any non-political societal entity, it only acknowledges the legal interests entailed in its existence
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The covenant of the Ten Commandments founded the modern principle of constitutionalism, or rule of law, by a perpetual written and binding law. Britain's submission to the rule of law was institutionalized with the Magna Carta (1215), founded on common law, tracing to the code of Alfred the Great. The Mosaic code was the foundation for such legal codes in the West. One-third of Alfred's "Dooms" (AD 893) quoted biblical law while collating the laws of three Christian kingdoms. Ultimately the Word of God was the basis for law and government
pagan philosophy was essentially statist; substituting God, it saw the state as the incarnation or locus of the divine in history. This had been the view of all the great ancient realms, including the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, where the rulers were viewed and worshipped as godsMission of God, 4.1
A new generation now drifts without purpose and vision, with little confidence that they have a future, leaving us vulnerable to a growing religious vision of state power and authority that sees its total regulation and control as the only solution to the collapsing social order.Mission of God, 25
The government may not, according to God's ordinances, force the ethically free man to accept physical treatment in any form. The ethical person alone is appointed by God as the keeper and caretaker of the body
The civil government, as all of life, stands under the Law of God...but when any office commands that which is contrary to the Word of God, those who hold that office abrogate their authority and they are not to be obeyed. And that includes the state.
I long for the day when the precepts of the Christian religion shall be the rule among all classes of men and all transactions. I often hear it said, 'do not bring religion into politics.' This is precisely where it ought to be brought and set there in the face of all men as on a candlestick. I would have the cabinet and members of Parliament do the work of the nation as before the Lord
So soon as God had set up political government among his people, Israel, he gave them a body of laws for judgment, both in civil and criminal causes. These were brief and fundamental principles, yet withal so full and comprehensive as out of them clear deductions were to be drawn to all particular cases in future times.Massachusetts Code 1648
May the Lord grant the shepherds of his people the gift of not wanting to seem wiser than God, or more clement and humane, so that they may at length see what a pleasing sacrifice it is to God and how necessary and how effective a remedy against the deadly disease of mankind it is to impose just punishments on godless, criminal, and wicked men.
But since no one can describe an approach more equitable and wholesome to the commonwealth than that which God describes in his law, it is certainly the duty of all kings and princes who recognize that God has put them over his people that they follow most studiously his own method of punishing evildoers.
The biblical tradition rediscovered during the Reformation viewed theocracy and democracy as necessary compliments: human rule flowed from God's rule.The Mission of God, 121
Jesus' answer exceeds the exact limits of the question asked him. His addition, "give to God what is God's" (v. 25), is essential to his understanding of political authority. If ultimate authority belongs to God, then political allegiances must also be subordinated to God. In v. 25 the unmistakable exousia, or authority, of Jesus again emerges. Caesar and God vied for ultimate authority in the political and religious climate of Jesus' day, yet Jesus presumes to speak for both. That ultimate authority resided with God is clearly implied in Jesus' use of "image" (v. 24; Gk. eikÅn), the same word used in Gen 1:26 of humanity's creation in God's image. If coins bear Caesar's image, then they belong to Caesar. The Greek verb apodidonai (v. 25) reinforces this point, for it means to give back to Caesar what already belongs to him. But the same verb is also applied with reference to God. Humanity bears God's image. Humanity must therefore render ultimate submission to the God in whose image it is made.Pillar Luke Commentary (Luke 20:24)
Jesus echoes the OT that God is sovereign over all human affairs, including political affairs. The response of Jesus implies that there are duties to governments that do not infringe on ultimate duties to God, but it also denies that governments may assume total claim over their citizens, "as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church's vocation as well."Pillar Luke Commentary (Luke 20:24)
The reply of Jesus does not echo the politics of the Zealots, who were bent on armed combat with Rome; or of the Sadducees, who accommodated to the state; or of the Pharisees, who followed an independent course indifferent to the state. Nor does the judgment of Jesus advocate a separate and perhaps even contrary sacred order within the larger secular society. Both Jesus and his followers situate themselves within their respective political and cultural milieus and advocate service of the common good within them. This political order, according to the early church, could be served irrespective of the rulers' and magistrates' religious beliefsPillar Luke Commentary (Luke 20:24)
In vain do you complain of magistrates and ministers, while you that are householders are unfaithful to your trust. You complain that the world is in a bad state: what do you do to mend it?A Remedy for Decaying Religion
The church, therefore, exercises no sway over government; neither does government over the church. Every Christian, contends Luther, is a citizen of both domains, with responsibilities in each. This is a departure from medieval thinking, which had tended to conflate the two.War, Peace, and Christianity: Questions and Answers from a Just-War Perspective. Crossway
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