The Church Meeting in Jesus’ Name
602 Oak Knoll Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78228
Epistle
January 2015
Event Calendar
January 9 – 18 Revival Conference
With Bro. David Spurgeon
Every night at 7 pm, both Sundays at 11 am (with regular Sunday school at 10 am), and ending Sunday the 18th with the evening meeting.
April 18 Women’s Meeting
June 15 – 19 Vacation Bible School
July 19 – 26 World Evangelism Conference
October 16,17 Men’s meeting
November 29 Thanksgiving meeting
Dinner on the grounds
Resistance to Government
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Romans 13
Government is coercion. The purpose of government itself is force. Force implies resistance. Without resistance force would not be necessary. In physics without resistance force would vanish, unable to focus, incapable of exertion, impossible to detect. I don’t intend to give a lecture in physics, but the fact is, force invariably co-exists with resistance, and must have resistance to exercise itself at all. The force of gravity uses inertia to counter momentum (which is also inertia), just like you plant your feet on the ground to lift a box. The point is that resistance is automatic, inevitable, understandable and even reasonable, whether we are talking physics or political science. People naturally resist being governed, even when they know it is right.
The concept of human government, or human coercion, was not only tolerated by God, and even justified by God, the very concept of coercive government was actually instituted by God, right after the flood. This was the Noahic dispensation:
6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. Genesis 9
Notice that God delegated to man the authority, and the responsibility, to execute murderers. That means some people are authorized by God to exercise force over other people for the deterrence of evil and the furtherance of right living. Any society taking this responsibility seriously will predictably develop rulers, and laws and government. Of course any attempt at any type of government must inevitably be flawed to some degree, resulting in unfairness, and even tyranny. But tyrants eventually destroy themselves, so that by an unwritten law of governmental progression, successful societies eventually form established law, and this law is for the most part righteous. Thus government is established to force people to follow a minimum of righteousness. When this minimum righteousness breaks down, society is destroyed, and government is overturned. Nations rise and fall, societies prosper and decay, and people rejoice and suffer. But all things considered, government is usually not the problem. Resistance to government is the problem.
Why do people resist government?
Coercion is necessary. People naturally will not do what they ought to do. It’s not just that we don’t want to be told what to do. We naturally will not do what we ourselves know we ought to do. What we demand of others by the force of pure reason, we find ourselves incapable of accomplishing consistently without the force of outside power, or the dread of forceful penalties. The impulse, the innate willingness, even eagerness, to do what we know to be wrong, is the essence of our sin nature. It affects all people from the moment of conception. That is what government is for. Government is our neighbors forcing us to do a minimum of right living.
So it isn’t a question of why we resist. We resist naturally, and government itself is our imperfect solution to our resistance. The only perfect solution would be to stop resisting, which would require a change in our very nature. So when someone justifies resistance to government because of flaws in the government itself, they are probably deceiving themselves. If government were perfect people would still resist, because if people didn’t resist government, it wouldn’t be government. We resist government because we need to be governed, but we need to be governed because we resist government.
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 2 Peter 2
But surely Paul does not object to resistance to oppressive or tyrannical governments, or governments that oppose God and the gospel. It is true, that even though all governments are flawed, some are hopelessly so. Tyrannies abound, despotic dictators, ruthless oppressors, godless autocracies that indoctrinate our children against our beliefs, and don’t forget the greedy politicians, violent husbands, heartless bosses, unfair teachers, corrupt policemen, lazy bureaucrats. Don’t these merit resistance? Don’t we have to stand up to tyrants?
Indeed. But resisting a tyrant is not the same thing as resisting government. Resisting a tyrant is actually a demand for good government. Like our patriot forefathers argued, submission to government is demanded by the apostle because rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. So that if the ruler be corrupt, and become a terror to good works, he ought to be resisted. But the American forefathers also understood that such resistance must be done under the auspices and authority of established government. So in their case, legitimate authorities representing the people, after failing to correct the problem within the existing government, formed a new government, which then formally resisted the alleged tyrant. They didn’t resist government itself, they established government, and then their government resisted tyranny (if indeed taxation without representation is tyranny).
But even without justifying the cause of American independence, the difference between resisting tyranny and resisting government is important to recognize, and many don’t. It’s a fact that many Americans have exalted civil resistance (and even terrorizing and destructive protests), as if it were a virtue, when it is often simply rebellion to lawful and decent government.
But what is worse, many devout Bible-believing Christians have committed the grave error of resisting our government, justifying such behavior by pointing out the sins of our society, or the crimes committed by some within our government. I’m not talking about dissent, or voting against incumbents – perfectly legitimate activities. I mean that some preachers stockpile weapons, waiting, maybe even hoping for Armageddon! Many others have committed tax evasion, using dubious tax schemes to avoid payment, and “structuring” transactions to cover the paper trail and to hide the money from government auditors. And some are in federal prison for such crimes. Yet they justify this because of flaws they see, such as tax funded abortions, Nato bombing of Yugoslavia, US membership in the United Nations, and the unconstitutionality of the progressive income tax.
Perhaps most notable among the rationalizations for Christian anti-government attitudes is conspiracy theories. Accusations circulate that the government is controlled by nefarious organizations, or the party in power is secretly undermining the constitution, or the IRS is preparing to confiscate your hidden food supply, or some other such suspicion. The fact that these theories are impossible to prove, or substantiate, or even explain coherently, should disqualify them. But even when a conspiracy seems likely, the impulse to resist all coercive force being so constant in us, and being the reason for government itself, should cause us to doubt our own motives. Just the awareness of our own covetousness should admonish us to promptly pay whatever taxes are imposed without complaint. Jesus himself justified unfair taxes, and the use of tax funds for unrighteous causes, when he pointed to the Caesar’s image on the penny (Luke 20:25).
It should also be noted that the American system of government has been up to now one of the fairest and most upright governments in the history of the world, so that if its current sins justify resistance, or even a critical attitude toward taxes, then all resistance to government in the world is largely justified. This flies in the face of our text.
Perhaps the best reason for Christians not to resist government, especially our government, is that fighting Caesar over taxes and such distracts us from fighting the Devil over souls. Of course the government is flawed, even wicked in some of its decisions. Yes it is too big, too costly, too inefficient, too godless and often unfair. But all governments are, or something worse. When a preacher finds himself in court over taxes, or regulations, or even non-discrimination ordinances, zoning laws and picket lines, he should consider whether that is indeed his calling. Because if the Devil can’t disqualify a Christian by sin, and can’t discourage him through weariness, and can’t destroy him by force, I suppose his best remaining strategy is to distract him by useless causes. And replacing our government strikes me as the mother of all useless causes.