THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT

THE PILGRIMS:  
The Pilgrims are basic to America. They are the founders of our society, our culture, our republic. The Pilgrims were concerned with civil government. They had just fled a tyrannical civil government which had denied them the free expression of their Christian faith. When they came to these shores their concern for the problem of proper and just civil government led them to the declaration of the Mayflower Compact. As George Bancroft has stated:

“This was the birth of popular constitutional liberty. The middle age had been familiar with charters and constitutions; but they had been merely compacts for immunities, partial enfranchisements, patents of nobility, concessions of municipal privileges, or limitations of the sovereign power in favor of feudal institutions. In the cabin of the Mayflower, humanity recovered its rights, and instituted government on the basis of ‘equal laws’ for ‘the general good.’" 

THE SOURCE OF GOVERNMENT:  
The source of all government lies in God. God is the creator and governor of the universe. His sovereign rule, his eternal decree, his predestinating will, his gracious providence determine every detail of time and eternity. Now man was made in the image of God. Thus man has within him a capacity to rule and to exercise government. Adam was given dominion over the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and all the animals of the earth to subdue them and to rule over them. God ordained that a man should be the head of and rule over the family. God has also ordained that human civil governments should rule over nations. At all these levels of government, God the supreme governor demands total accountability to himself. All governmental authority is ordained of God; all governmental power is derived from God; and all governments must exercise their responsibilities in light of God's purposes in establishing government. Scripture gives us several clear examples here. In Daniel chapter 4 we have an account of how God dealt with Nebuchadnezzar when the latter forgot that God had established his throne and his kingdom for God's purposes and God's glory rather than Nebuchadnezzar's. After humbling that mighty pagan emperor to the position of a beast of the field for seven years what a testimony God draws forth from the mouth of this repentant king! 

“And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?…Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” 

In John chapter 19 we have another illustration in the nature and origin of governmental authority relating to the confrontation between Christ and Pilate. Amazed at Jesus' refusal to defend himself and his inexplicable silence in the face of his accusers Pilate said: "Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that l have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" Christ's unforgettable answer was, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above—Christ’s answer stunned Pilate. It reminded him that the source of his just vaunted power was from heaven. It reminded him of his own accountability to "the Judge of all the earth" and scripture testifies that "…from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him." Clearly the government that will not judge according to God's standards will meet the judgments of those standards. 

THE FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT:  
What is the just and proper function(s) of government? That is the $64,000 question that men have been asking since time immemorial. Needless to say the responses have been varied. Plato in The Republic conceives of a government by elitist philosopher kings with no limit to their power, authority, and scope of activity. Ancient Babylon conceived of rule by law where even the king was himself under law and subject to it (Dan. 6:14-16). The Stuart monarchs of Britain argued for a Divine Right of Kings to rule as they pleased accountable only to God. Modern totalitarian liberals seem to advocate electing some type of representative democracy, a temporary dictator who can do as he pleases for four years. Ruling by edict, executive order, regulations, etc. and increasingly less with due process and constitutional limitations, every phase of an individual's life is brought under the coercive eye of government while the people have no recourse except to choose another man to do the same thing at the next election. Others such as Locke, Mill, and Bastiat have countered these views with contrary opinions. Some conservatives have argued that in representative government citizens can only delegate to their representatives in government those authorities, responsibilities, and functions that the individual citizen himself possesses. However, this does not allow for any divinely ordained institution of human government nor does it solve the question since the determination of what the individual can properly delegate becomes the next battleground. Obviously, all this leaves us in the quagmire of human opinion rather than on any sure foundation. 

Our founding fathers were in no such quagmire and the political order of which they were the architects was a masterpiece—a masterpiece not so much of human genius as of scriptural insights into the nature of government. In Romans chapter 13 we find the Apostle Paul clearly articulating the ONLY JUST, PROPER, and LEGAL function of government. We read in verse 4: 

"For he (government) 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.” 

Clearly Paul felt that God had ordained government for just one purpose, namely to PUNISH SIN, to ENFORCE GOD'S LAW, and to be God's minister—a MINISTER OF JUSTICE, temporally administering the scriptural justice of God. Clearly the scriptural functions of divinely ordained government are severely limited—limited to God's purpose in establishing government and to those duties that God has entrusted to it. God is a jealous God who has said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  Governments are out of order and in a state of rebellion against God when they assume to themselves unscriptural powers. Governments are increasingly seeking to play God and to usurp unto themselves the very prerogatives of God. Since God alone is sovereign all governments clearly must be limited in nature and scope and must be under and accountable to that sovereign God. The judges that ruled over Israel were clearly limited in their activities and when the people murmured for a king, Samuel's harsh warning (I Sam. 8:10-18) is a clear reminder of the blessings of limited government. Yet in spite of the fulfillment of Samuel's prophecy, the Kings of Israel were still quite limited. Witness the story of Nathan and Ahab in their dispute over Nathan's vineyard (I Kings 21). Nathan was a free man who knew his rights and Ahab was a sad king who knew the limitations of his proper authority. His wife Jezebel subverted him, however, with the pagan concept of a god-king who ruled as he pleased when she taunted Ahab with "Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?" Nonetheless, they had to resort to treachery and conspiracy to obtain the vineyard—a tribute to the fact that proper limited government is incapable of tyranny in spite of the wickedness of the rulers. This is exactly the point. Men are sinners and the old Calvinist doctrine of total depravity hits the mark. Sinful men are scarcely fit to rule over their fellow men and when permitted to do so must be severely limited. Lord Acton said, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," and he was thinking of Jeremiah who said, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. " Jefferson said, "Bind them down with the chains of the constitution." God alone is sovereign and God alone is righteous and worthy to rule. 

REPEALING GOD'S LAW:  
The tragedy of the hour is that our government, clearly ordained and called of God to enforce his law, has set itself to the task of repealing and abolishing the commandments of God. Even a superficial examination of present legislation compared with the Ten Commandments reveals the enormity of the betrayal by government of its Biblical responsibilities. The following is a list of a few commandments and comments on the parallel activities of our government today. 

Thou shalt have no other gods before me: The shortest, most concise and most devastating thing that can be remarked here is that our government has consistently sought to abolish all public recognition of God, from the denial of simple prayer and Bible reading in the nation's public schools to the outlawing of a manger scene in our nation's capitol! 

Keep the Sabbath day: The government is fast in the process of repealing all laws restricting the use of the Lord's Day and has long since ceased to enforce those statutes that they have been unable to repeal. We now have unrestricted business and pleasure as usual on the Lord's Day complete with horse racing, gambling, night clubs, etc. to say nothing of crowded shopping centers and empty churches. 

Honor thy father and thy mother: Our government has long waged war on the family which is ordained of God and is under the protection of this commandment. Social Security is a clear attack on the family. God has entrusted the care of the parents in their old age to the children. The government has said pay your taxes and leave it to us. When the Pharisees operated in a similar manner Christ accused them of "…making the commandment of God of none effect" (Matt. 15:6). Inheritance taxes are another unscriptural assault on the family—destroying the economic independence of the family unit and undermining the allegiance of the children to the parents and transferring it to the state. The most serious breach of the family, however, is when the government legally kidnaps the children from the parents, who are scripturally charged to raise and educate them in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord, and subjects them to twelve years minimum of statist indoctrination without the benefit of God's word the Bible. The increasing governmental taxation, fiscal irresponsibility, and inflation mount economic pressure against the family tempting more and more mothers to work—further destroying the family as the government counters with another thrust against the family in the form of Day-Care-Centers. 

Thou shalt not kill: The general legalization of ABORTION on demand and the attendant Supreme Court ruling striking down every other legal protection extended to the unborn speak volumes of the government attitude toward sanctity of life. Here again government is in rebellion against God, has repealed God's commands, and has usurped the prerogatives of a sovereign God who alone can create and take life on his own terms. All this is to say nothing of the moral implications of those 50,000 American boys who died in Viet-Nam in a no win war, under amazing restrictions imposed by their own government while that same government extended aid, trade, credit, strategic materials, and diplomatic recognition to the nations involved in murdering our sons on the battlefield. 

Thou shalt not commit adultery: In the light of Christ's statement, "That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," all pornography must be equated adultery and recognized as a breach of the seventh commandment. The supreme court rulings striking out all state legislation prohibiting pornography, as well as all anti-abortion laws (which has the effect of protecting adulterers and fornicators from the consequences of their sin), coupled with the increasing tendency of governments to legalize adultery, sodomy, and even prostitution is ample evidence that once again the law of God has been trampled by the laws of men. 

Thou shalt not steal: This commandment was given in defense of private property and in that light theft must be defined as any breach of the right of private property. That the socialist welfare state that is presently ruling America, in accordance with the Marxist dictum of "abolition of all private property" is currently waging war on property rights there can be little doubt. All redistribution of wealth via the graduated income tax, welfare programs, etc. is an unscriptural, unconstitutional violation of property rights and an attempt to substitute the providence of God by the providence of the welfare state. All regulation and restriction placed on the use of private property from building codes to zoning regulations, culminating in the presently proposed national "Land Use" legislation is another phase of this assault on God‑given property rights. Privately owned business is increasingly confronted with confiscation of its property rights through such federal agencies as the Dept. of Labor, National Labor Relations Board, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency, etc. Ultimately we must either accept that "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof"; accept that all things are God's private property; accept God's providence and distribution of his gifts; and ac­cept God's enforcement of his distribution via property rights; or we must accept the Marxist welfare state; the abolition of private property; and the distribution of all goods by the state "from each according to his ability to each according to his need." Our government is committed to the latter. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness: Lenin said that promises, like pie crusts, were made to be broken. This seems increasingly to be the function of contemporary political promises and platforms. Franklin D. Roosevelt ran in 1932 on one of the most conservative platforms ever offered by the Democratic Party and then went on to institute the radical, socialist New Deal. In the 1968 election the disparity between the promises and the performance of Richard M. Nixon demonstrated an equal disregard for his pledged word, commitments, and vows. Increasingly politicians who are sworn into office with their hands on the Bible, taking oath to uphold the constitution, demonstrate disdain and disregard for both. President Kennedy's press secretary, caught in a lie, proceeded to openly defend the right of the government to lie in its own defense. That was ten years before Watergate.

Thou shall not covet: Gambling is an exercise in coveting. Any government legalizing gambling or operating a state lottery is in the business of teaching, inducing, and permitting their citizens to violate the tenth commandment. Socialism and the modern welfare state with its emphasis on "welfare rights," "your fair share," "guaranteed annual wage," "tax the rich," and "class struggle" teaches people to covet. Socialism is based on the "RIGHT TO COVET"! 

And this is the government that Billy Graham, the White House chaplain and the confident of presidents has made a career of endorsing. Unfortunately, Graham is far from alone in his betrayal of Christianity for the praises of men. 

THE SOVEREIGN STATE:  
As we have seen, a sovereign God ordained a "limited government" for the limited purpose of enforcing his sovereign law. Not only has government totally failed to execute their only God‑given function, but it has proceeded to set itself up as sovereign, to usurp the very prerogatives of God and to do all those things that it is expressly prohibited from doing. Crime is flourishing in America because crime pays, and crime pays because crime goes unpunished. Our government is involved in every conceivable sphere of activity, all illegal, unconstitutional and unscriptural, but has abdicated its only proper activity—that of punishing sin and administering justice. We have the departments of Labor, Transport, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, etc. We have H.E.W., F.C.C., F.A.A., E.P.A., O.E.O., O.S.H.A., I.C.C., etc., etc., but we no longer have simple justice or safe streets. Rather than being one nation under God and under God's law as administered by limited government, America has become a nation under an unlimited and coercive federal bureaucracy. Truly a nation is either ruled by God or a dictator. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty," and conversely the people that deny God and his law are on the road to slavery and bondage. 

OUR RESPONSE:  
In the light of all this, what is a Christian to do? What is a Christian's attitude and relationship to government? More specifically, what is a Christian's relationship to ungodly, unscriptural government? In Romans 13 Paul says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers," and "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation," and "Wherefore ye must needs be subject." Paul's injunctions seem abundantly clear. Does this mean, however, that the Stalins and the Hitters of this world ought to be obeyed? OBVIOUSLY NOT! Scripture also says, "Resist the devil," “Have no fellowship wish the unfruitful works of darkness, rather reprove them," and  “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?" There is no contradiction in the word of God. Paul was commanding obedience to the kind of government he was describing. A government ordained of God and enforcing the laws of God demands and deserves our complete obedience. Those who resist godly government are resisting God and God's law and deserve the threatened damnation. Christians are not revolutionaries, neither does Paul allow for the "civil disobedience" of a Martin Luther King. Both the governors and the governed move not in terms of their own law but in terms of God's law. When human governments move against God's law Christians rather than being subject ought to resist. Scripture gives us ample case histories that we ought to "OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN."

As we have seen, Nebuchadnezzar was ruling by permission from God. He was ordained of God to be the power over the Babylonian Empire, yet when he commanded three young Hebrew men to worship a golden image they refused saying, "…we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."  Scripture testifies that rather than being damned for "resisting the powers that be" God vindicated their disobedience and miraculously preserved them from the burning fiery furnace. Similarly, when Darius the Mede instituted a law that no man might petition God or man save the king for thirty days, Daniel disobeyed the legal government and prayed to the Lord God of Israel. Again God blessed disobedience to evil rule and delivered Daniel from the lions' den. In the New Testament when Peter and John were commanded by their legal government to stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ they resisted saying, "Whether if be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye."  When the apostles persisted in discharging their divine commission and Peter was cast into prison God sent his angel to deliver Peter. Clearly, it pays to obey God rather than men. Clearly, if these men were blessed for their disobedience they would have been cursed of God if they had obeyed that which was evil. Only God our Creator has a claim to our unqualified obedience. Only Christ who purchased us with his blood has a claim to our blind allegiance and loyalty. Our obedience to all others is qualified by the requirements of God's law. EVIL GOVERNMENT OUGHT TO BE RESISTED AND EVIL COMMANDMENTS MUST BE DISOBEYED. Our founding fathers justified their resistance to the British crown on these grounds, establishing the legality of the War of Independence which they fought to a victorious conclusion by the vindication and blessing of Almighty God.  God only blesses obedience to himself and to none other for he is a jealous God. 

THE NIXON-FORD ADMINISTRATION:  
That the present administration in Washington is part of the continuing process of repealing God's law and usurping the prerogatives of God has been established. That type of government does not deserve the support, or the commendation, or the allegiance of the Lord's people. Rather, such a government should be exposed as another "unfruitful work of darkness." The Nixon administration deserves the righteous rebuke of the Lord's people. The ungodly and unscriptural activities of this administration should be resisted. Paul appealed to his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar; Our forefathers appealed to their feudal rights as free Englishmen; Americans can appeal to their constitutional rights. In communist nations where there is no legal redress of grievances, and no resistance to the state is tolerated, the only recourse is to force.  ALL COMMUNIST GOVERNMENTS SHOULD BE OVERTHROWN!!! 

THE TRAGEDY:  
During World War II in several European nations such as Holland and Germany the church leaders, quoting Romans 13 out of context, advised the Christians to submit and obey the powers that be. If Hitler is ordained of God, he must be obeyed. When the war was over the churches that took such a position were thoroughly discredited and Christianity was subject to a new wave of disrespect. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening in America. Billy Graham is far from being the only one to implicitly or explicitly endorse the current administration. Time after time one fundamentalist leader after another has apologized for Richard Nixon. We hear that Nixon is conservative, that he has appointed good men to the Supreme Court, that he has given us peace with honor in Viet-Nam, and we hear that age old chorus that the powers that be are ordained of God and deserve our unqualified obedience. And most INCREDIBLY we hear "Schuler said he had held revival meetings in Nixon's home church. Pat Nixon was chairman of the personal worker's committee, he stated adding, 'l have seen her deal with those who came forward to receive Christ. I have never personally seen Dick lead a soul to Christ, but l know he is a saved man"' (Christian Crusade Weekly, 1-27­71). If the churches of America are going to identify with Richard Nixon, if the Christians are going to hang their fortunes on the political fortunes of Richard Nixon, then they are far removed from the sure foundation that Christ established for his church. If Nixon is identified with evangelical Christianity as he persistently has then before Watergate is over evangelical Christianity will be thoroughly discredited in America. Let Billy Graham and the New Evangelicals go down with the president that they have consistently endorsed. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Let the Christians build on that, redeeming the time, resisting the devil, exposing the unfruitful works of darkness and occupying till Jesus comes. AMEN.