Many people who identify as Christian have serious grievances with governments. Some are so angry with government that they are ready to employ deceptive strategies and violence to overthrow current government leaders and replace them with new leaders who advocate policies more to the liking of the aggrieved Christians. Some are so angry about their government that they will pray that God will replace their government and its duly elected leaders with leaders that they follow. They do this ignorant of God’s attitudes about government and leaders.
Some of those who are ready to rebel against existing government leaders are convinced that rebellion is the righteous thing to do because they find justification for their beliefs in certain scriptures and they listen to religious and political leaders who urge them to take action against government. Christians fall for these deceptions because they wrongly interpret some scriptures and ignore other scriptures that conflict with their beliefs.
God is very mindful of the need for government to manage civil affairs in ways that provide for the wellbeing of everyone everywhere in the world. He is also mindful of the fact that most people misinterpret scripture by interpreting it literally. And he is mindful of the reality that people with political power are tempted to exploit that power for personal purposes unrelated to good government and loving their neighbor. This is why the bible lays out guidelines for leaders and their constituencies so that they have wisdom needed to conduct the business of government in an orderly way that does not cause injustice. These guidelines may be catalogued under the theme of loving your neighbor as yourself.
The sayings and scriptures below are God’s commandments regarding attitudes and behaviors about how to relate to leaders and administrators of laws and polices designed to enforce justice for all people at all levels of government: formal, informal, elected, public, private, corporate and household. God’s laws represent his minimum standards for loving your neighbor in the context of all complex relationship groups where injustices occur. It is critical that everyone understands these standards and apply them in their civic, religious, business and private lives. If those injustices are not corrected, the world will not become a better place.
COMMENTARY: These behaviors apply to everyone — including politicians. This command does not preclude open debate on policy issues but does not allow for argumentative behaviors, slanderous accusations, threats or violence. Rulers and authorities include anyone who holds a public office of any kind — including people who administer laws adopted by legislative bodies.
COMMENTARY: Christian Nationalists are famous for creating and reciting conspiracy theories. These are foolish, unprofitable controversies
COMMENTARY: These behaviors apply to everyone — including politicians. This command does not preclude open debate on policy issues but does not allow for argumentative behaviors or violence. Having nothing to do with divisive people includes avoiding their political and religious organizations. It also includes not voting for divisive political candidates. It is good to notice that the command includes warning divisive people about the reasons why their beliefs and behaviors are inconsistent with God’s commands.
COMMENTARY: Christian Nationalists are famous for creating and reciting conspiracy theories. These are the equivalent of false doctrines and myths which cause division.
COMMENTARY: Some politicians freely criticize other politicians and call them disparaging names. These are warnings not to speak, or even think bad things about political leaders. One reason is that whatever you say might somehow be reported to that leader. This creates more division which is destructive to the collegiality necessary for democratic government. Another reason is that bad reports about politicians create doubt about political leaders in the minds of constituents who may choose to vote instead for a Christian Nationalist candidate. The following scriptures go into more detail about attitudes toward government: Matthew 22:19-21 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” INTERPRETATION: Verse 19: This is Jesus speaking. Verse 20: Jesus asks who has created the coin and owns it. Verse 21: Jesus’ disciples say that Caesar owns the coin. Jesus says give back to Caesar whatever belongs to Caesar and to God whatever is God’s. Caesar and Rome are symbols of all governments that have legal authority to create money. Jesus is saying that the government owns the money it creates. If the government demands that people pay taxes to support the government services it provides to people, the people are obliged to pay for those services by giving the money back to the government because the government actually owns the money. This does not imply that people want the services or agree with how they are administered. Placing value judgments on these things is not an option when you are under government authority. Romans 13:1-7 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 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 you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. INTERPRETATION: Verse 1: This is a very clear and direct command to obey governing authorities of all kinds including parents, employers, teachers, police and government. Verse 2: People should not see these authorities as people but as God’s representatives. Disobedience to authorities, therefore, is equal to disobedience to God. Judgement can be any type of discipline the governing authority imposes on the offender. This discipline should be interpreted as God’s discipline for disobedience. Verse 3: Governing authorities will discipline those who disobey their laws. People who obey those laws have nothing to fear from the governing authority. Verse 4: The right way to view governing authorities is as God’s agents to bring judgment on people who disobey all laws administered by the authority . This includes good, just laws and bad, unjust laws. The one under authority does not choose which laws to obey. They must obey all laws. If they disobey, they will be judged and punished by the governing authority according to their laws. Verse 5: There is no room for appeal to God for laws that are considered to be unjust. All laws must be obeyed — not just to avoid punishment but also to maintain a clear conscience before God. A clear conscience reflects a pure heart that only God can see. Verse 6: People should pay taxes because God has authorized governing authorities to collect taxes. Paying taxes is a matter of obedience to God’s commands — not a matter of judging whether the taxes are legitimate or fair and not simply to avoid punishment for disobedience. God demands nothing from his people except obedience to his laws and the laws established by legal authorities. Paying taxes is one of his laws. Such obedience is not religion. Verse 7: This verse can be interpreted literally. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes to the government, pay your taxes. Regarding respect and honor, God expects everyone to respect and honor everyone, without exception. If you respect some and fail to respect others, you practice favoritism and partiality which God does not do. If you honor some but dishonor others, you practice favoritism and partiality which is sin. When you pay your taxes and honor and respect everyone — including tax collectors and legislators who pass laws about taxes — you fulfill the royal law of loving your neighbor as yourself. When you pay your taxes you demonstrate love and care for people who benefit from those taxes either as employees or recipients of government services. Proverbs 8:15 By me (i.e. God) kings (i.e. government leaders) reign, and rulers enact just (i.e. righteous) laws; INTERPRETATION: Religious people wrongly interpret this to mean that God somehow manipulates people and how they vote so that his chosen candidates win elections. Following this line of thinking, religious people believe that the laws these leaders adopt would always be just (i.e. righteous.) This result is obviously not true. Some government leaders are righteous and others are not. The righteous leaders enact righteous laws and unrighteous leaders enact unjust laws. Believing that God approves of their preferred candidates, they pray for his will to be done in elections. They do all this done under the delusion that they know what God’s will is regarding political leaders and government. The truth is that God never manipulates people. If he manipulated what people say and do, the world would be perfect. What God does do is change hearts. That is the only way he affects people. Both before and after their hearts are changed, people have free will to decide what they will do — including who they vote for. The difference is that when they have God’s laws written on their hearts, the things they say and do are acts of love because God’s laws reflect his character which is love. The scriptures listed in this page and elsewhere in Government leaders who have God’s laws written on their hearts are righteous and will enact righteous laws because the things they say and do flow out of their hearts. This is how God influences people to love their neighbor as themselves. Government leaders who do not have God’s laws written on their hearts are unrighteous and will enact unrighteous laws because everything they say and do is for personal gain. With this understanding, it is imperative that voters learn how to judge which leaders are righteous and which ones are not. The righteous ones are those who obey God’s commands about how to love your neighbor. The unrighteous ones have evil, impure hearts that are displayed in words, actions and government laws. they promote. Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. INTERPRETATION: See this link for understanding of how God sees time. Wisdom and knowledge that comes from God is written in the hearts of New Covenant disciples. Wisdom and knowledge that comes from God is very different from human/worldly wisdom and knowledge. God does not directly manipulate government by putting leaders (i.e. kings) in place and removing them as he chooses. If he did manipulate government, all governments and leaders would be righteous. The record of history shows clearly that, with few exceptions, governments have always been unrighteous. The only way that God influences people, including government leaders, is by writing his laws on their hearts when they repent of failing to listen to his voice and choose to listen with their heart. God indirectly removes and establishes kings (i.e. government leaders) when people who have his laws written on their hearts vote for people who show that they love their neighbors through words and actions. Daniel 4:17 This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’ INTERPRETATION: The kingdom over which God rules is not an earthly kingdom. God’s kingdom is the hearts of individuals who have his laws written on them. In terms of government, people who have God’s laws written on their hearts are the lowliest of men because they do not have titles and positions that elevate them above others. The bible calls these people New Covenant disciples. As they go about their lives, everything they say and do shows that God’s laws are written on their hearts. Everything they say and do conforms to God’s commandments about how to love your neighbor as yourself. What they say and do will be noticeable to others because what they say and do is different from people who do not have God’s laws written on their hearts. What they say and do may not be interpreted as love because people interpret love according their understanding of human love. Nevertheless, the things that New Covenant disciples say and do will be attractive and endearing to those who receive their love. Because the Godly love they receive is infectious, sooner or later they will replicate this love in their own relationships. This is how God works through New Covenant disciples to make the world a better place. John 19:10-11 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” INTERPRETATION: Because the only power God exercises is when people hear his voice in their hearts, this verse should not be interpreted to say that God gave power/authority to Pilate to crucify Jesus. Therefore, “from above” should not be interpreted as “from God” because God did not directly and independently give political/administrative authority to Rome or Pilate as a Roman administrator. Nor did he interfere with the politics of Rome or the religion of the Jews — even though the things they did were not beneficial to Jesus. People — not God — create government/political/administrative entities. People also create religious entities and religious authorities. In this case the Jewish religious authority delegated responsibility for crucifying Jesus to Pilate. This was a sinful thing to do but God did not stop the Jews from doing it. The one who handed Jesus over to Pilate is always wrongly interpreted to mean God. If God was the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate, God would have been guilty of the greater sin. God was not responsible for decisions that Jewish religious leaders made regarding Jesus. Jewish religious leaders had their own reasons for conspiring crucifying Jesus. The Jews, therefore, were guilty of the greater sin. The significance of this interpretation is that Jesus voluntarily submitted to Roman political authority. This submissive, non-combative attitude should be the attitude of so-called patriots who claim to follow Jesus. It is wrong, therefore, for Christians and Jews to conspire to challenge and overturn government with verbal or physical violence. The better way to make government better is to love your neighbor. That is what Jesus did. Titus 3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. INTERPRETATION: Rulers and authorities includes, but is not limited to, all levels of government. Exodus 16:8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.” INTERPRETATION: This is Moses speaking to rebellious Israelites who grumbled about Moses’ leadership. The main lesson in this story is that when you grumble about human leaders, God takes it personally. God wants his people to trust him for everything — even their human leaders. People who rebel against government, therefore, show that they do not trust God to provide for all their needs:
The primary application for this lesson is for people who rebel against government and try to overturn it and replace it with their preferred leaders. Their claims to trust God are lies. 1 Peter 2:12-17 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. INTERPRETATION: There are four spiritual principles here
These principles may be summarized as loving your neighbor as yourself. People who claim to love and trust God but grumble and rebel against government leaders are liars because they violate these principles.
Proverbs 24:21-22 Fear the LORD and the king (government leader), my son, and do not join with rebellious officials (i.e. political leaders), for those two (i.e. God and the king) will send sudden destruction on them (i.e. rebellious political leaders) and who knows what calamities they (i.e. God and the king) can bring? INTERPRETATION: Fear of God is often wrongly interpreted in human terms. Fear and love are not compatible terms. It is impossible to fear someone you love and impossible to love someone you fear. Fear of God is explained in Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride, arrogance, the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate. It is necessary, therefore, to interpret fear of God and kings as hating any form of evil (e.g. pride, arrogance, evil laws, perverted speech, etc.) that they may exhibit. Kings and government leaders should be feared because their evil behaviors will bring destruction. Therefore, this verse is a caution against joining rebellious officials and political leaders by supporting them in their campaigns and by voting for them. Colossians 3:18-25 18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. INTERPRETATION: These verses establish the general principles for obedience to government and other authorities. Verses 18-21 talk about how we should relate to one another in common relationships. These attitudes should also be present in all relationships — not just those listed here. To follow these principles in the relationships listed but not in government or jobs would violate God’s other principles of not showing favoritism, or partiality toward some people but not to others. Verse 22 talks about slaves. We do not normally think about relationships with government authorities and jobs in the context of slave and master. However, since governments and businesses establish laws that are meant to be obeyed by everyone in the legal jurisdiction of a unit of government or business, all citizens within that jurisdiction are subject to those laws just like a slave is subject to the laws of his/her master. Ephesians 6:5-9 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. INTERPRETATION: Verse 5: Slaves should not be interpreted in the classic sense of someone who has been involuntarily sold and is in complete bondage to another person. Slaves should be interpreted as anyone who has voluntarily put themselves under the authority of some person or a corporate entity such as a government, business, or political party. Authorities can include employers, teachers, police, political parties, cults, clubs, and public and private organizations of any kind that have rules that members must follow if they want to be members in good standing of that organization.
Verse 6: You choose to be obedient because your heart/conscience won’t let you disobey. It is not done for a reward. Favor can include payment for services rendered such as in a job or contract. Verse 7: Obey people in authority without grumbling, questioning or reservations. These are the attitudes you will have when you are obedient to God’s commands. Verse 8: The reward for obedience to God’s commands is a clean, pure heart that is full of peace and joy. Verse 9: A master is anyone who has authority over others. This includes parent, teachers, religious leaders, police and politicians. This authority should never be used to abuse or misuse anyone. People in authority should treat all people under their authority the same without preference for some and prejudice for others. Because God does not show favoritism or partiality for one person over another, we also should not show favoritism. If we do show favoritism toward some, we discriminate against others. Because it is against God’s nature to show favoritism/partiality, God calls it sin when people do it. |