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THE CHRISTIAN’S CIVIC DUTY
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Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, 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 men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
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This text addresses our attitude and responsibility to authority, particularly or specifically governing authority. It has something to say about the way we talk about our leaders, especially the President. It says something about the anti-authoritarian spirit of our time. It speaks to what Christians owe government. It addresses the proper God-ordained function of government. It even covers the whole matter of whether there is right and wrong that serve as a foundation for government.
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THE COMMAND
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The first thing it does is issue a command. Believers are to submit to every human authority, and the context reveals that Peter is referring to civil authority because he mentions the king as the supreme authority and then governors. In those days governors served directly under the Roman emperor and were responsible to see to it that the specific regions entrusted to them carried out the demands of the emperor.
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| The concept of submission is not a popular one because to most people it suggests a loss of freedom and dignity. It implies being oppressed and forced to do things you do not want to do. Of course it does not have to mean this at all. Take for example a football team. When the team is on offense all the players on the offensive side voluntarily submit to the quarterback because they know this is their best chance of advancing the ball toward a touchdown. They listen carefully to the play the quarterback calls when he lines up behind the center and then they faithfully try to execute the play once the ball is snapped. There is nothing demeaning to the other players about submitting to the quarterback. It does not imply that they are insignificant to the team. It is nothing more than a simple recognition that in order to score touchdowns they must submit to his authority. |
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| Now granted, submission to a quarterback is not quite the same as submission to a governing authority, especially if that authority happens to be wicked and oppressive. What we know from Peter’s example in the book of Acts is that there is a limit on how far Christians are to take this command to submit to governing authorities. When ordered by the Jewish authorities to stop speaking or teaching at all in the name of Jesus, Peter, John, and the other apostles refused to do so on the grounds that they were obligated to obey God rather than men (Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-29). |
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| By taking this position the apostles were acknowledging that the governing authority is not the highest authority; God is. And Christians owe ultimate allegiance to God, not to the governing authority. But it is important to emphasize that except when the governing authority commands Christians to sin, Christians honor God by submitting to the governing authority. |
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| So, while it is true, as 1 Peter 2:11 states, that Christians are "aliens and strangers in the world", this does not mean they have no obligation to human government. As Paul makes clear in Romans 13:1-2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." Here Paul makes clear why submission to government is such an important thing for Christians to do. If they refuse to submit then they are not just in rebellion against the government, they are in rebellion against God. That would be a helpful thing to keep in mind the next time you are tempted to break the speed limit. You need to slow down not simply so you won’t get a ticket, but because by obeying the speed limit you are honoring God. That is true for anything else the government asks of you. By obeying the command to submit to the government, you are, in reality, submitting to God. |
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Does this mean we cannot fight to change laws, especially if they are unjust, oppressive, or immoral? Of course it does not mean that. In our society we are blessed to be able to participate in government and taking advantage of this privilege is a part of what it means to be a faithful Christian. History reveals that Christians have a long track record of being involved in government to make society more just for all. Such involvement was clear in the civil rights movement, and farther back it was present in the effort to abolish slavery. There are many other examples, but surely one of the most obvious is the effort to defend the unborn from abortion.
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THE SPIRIT
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| This brings us to another point this text emphasizes which, in my view, desperately needs to be underscored in our day. Not only do we who are believers need to submit to governing authorities, we need also to do it in the right spirit. Too often the voices being heard from the Christian community have been so combative and hostile in tone the only thing they have succeeded in is offending those that disagree with our point of view. Some Christian voices have, to be quite honest, done more harm than good for the cause of Christ by their mean-spirited approach toward those with whom they disagree. |
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On the other hand, it should also be underscored that many other Christians—perhaps the majority—have done virtually nothing to improve the role of government in society. If verse 15 means to the vocal minority that they need to temper their activity with goodness, it means to the silent majority that they need to do something. We silence the ignorant talk of the foolish not by doing nothing, but by doing good. Christians are not called to be apathetic any more than they are called to be obnoxious and ungracious. And merely sitting around complaining about how things are and yet never bothering to do anything to change them is no solution either.
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| THE APPLICATION |
| Let’s try to think through the ramifications of all this just a bit more carefully. |
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| 1. First of all, since it is true that "the authorities that exist have been established by God" (Romans 13:1), it follows that we need to be very careful about the way we talk about those God has placed over us. Peter says in verse 17 that we owe the king honor. That means the President in our case. It is your right as a citizen of the United States to disagree with your President, but as a Christian you owe him honor. The word honor refers to holding someone in high esteem, of respecting that person, of treating that person as someone of great worth. I hope you will always do that with everyone, including your President. And that should hold true no matter how you feel about his policies. |
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2. Second, notice that the governing authorities are to punish the wrong and commend those that do right (v.14). This is simply to say that the government rests upon a moral foundation. As much as people may want to deny absolutes of right and wrong, in reality governments simply don’t function that way. The battle is not really over whether or not there are moral absolutes. The battle is really over whose values will prevail. Today we call this the culture war. What Peter says here about doing good in order to silence the ignorant, living as servants of God, honoring all, loving the brotherhood, and fearing God are where we need to place our energies. If the church would do more of this and less shouting at and belittling those that disagree with us, we would attract many more to Christ than we currently do.
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3. If there is anything else I would like to add to this it would be that Christians need to keep in mind that something bigger than the culture war is at stake. Too often believers act as if the worst thing that can ever happen is if the secularists, the humanists, the atheists, the homosexuals, the abortionists, the evolutionists, and others get their way. Regrettably, we have lost sight of the bigger picture, which is two-fold. First, we are citizens of heaven before we are citizens of the United States. Obviously we should love our country, but we should not see it as something we have to save at all cost. If we think we have to disobey a specific command of God in order to save the country, we are badly mistaken. Second, everything we do is "for the Lord’s sake" (v.13). We must always "live as servants of God"(v.16). We must "fear God"(v.17). This is to say that everything we do in relation to the government is done under God and for God. That means we must always be thinking to ourselves, “How will what I do or say impact my witness for God?” Obviously we cannot control how others interpret our actions and words, but we can try hard to represent God the best we can. God would have us be good citizens; model citizens.
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As you can see, the chief concern must always be the glory of God. Our calling as Christians is to so represent God that even if others reject him, at least they have seen him accurately conveyed in us. That calling is very humbling. We are commissioned by God to correctly represent him to the world. That responsibility applies in the area of government just as in every other area of life. Who is adequate for such things? No one is. Only through humble dependence and willful submission will we begin to make progress in this. But if we love our country, if we love the lost, and if we love God, we will strive to do it.
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God bless
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Bro. Craig
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December 17, 2008
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