Sunday January 16th 2022
rackets and emphases are mine.The biblical doctrine of civil government, as summarized in Romans 13:1-7, denies that the state has any right to represent the people: it must represent God.
(R.J. Rushdoony: The Politics of Guilt and Pity, p.336)
In commenting on Romans 13:1, John Calvin noted, "He calls them the higher powers, not the supreme." (John Calvin: Commentaries on Romans, p.400)
The means to office were various, but the same principle applied: their authority was of God in the discharge of their office, to be a terror to evildoers. Every de facto government has this duty, and the Christian has an obligation to be obedient to it as long as it fulfils in some sense this function.
(Rushdoony: op cit. p. 337)
Charles Hodge noted on Romans 13:2, along the same line of thought:
It was to Paul a matter of little importance whether the Roman emperor was appointed by the senate, the army, or the people; whether the assumption of the imperial authority by Caesar was just or unjust, or whether his successors had a legitimate claim to the throne or not. It was his object to lay down the simple principle, that magistrates are to be obeyed. The extent of this obedience is to be determined from the nature of the case. They are to be obeyed as magistrates, in the exercise of their lawful authority. When Paul commands wives to obey their husbands, they are required to obey them as husbands, not as masters, nor as kings; children are to obey their parents as parents, not as sovereigns; and so in every other case. This passage, therefore, affords a very slight foundation for the doctrine of passive obedience.
(Hodge: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p.641)
Rushdoony concludes:
To obey the state, therefore, when it enters into the domain of the church, whether to deny or to grant it the right of life, or of liberty of worship, or merely to regulate its existence, is to disobey God and to render to Caesar what belongs to God. This the early church refused to do. To obey the state when it enters into the domain of the family, school, business, and other like areas [other "governments"], is again to disobey God and to make a god of the state.
(Rushdoony: op cit. p. 337)
The Christian has certain duties towards civil government. First, he must esteem and respect civil magistrates as God's ministers (1 Pet. 2:13,14; Titus 3:1). The despisers of authority are denounced (2 Pet. 2:10; Jude 8). Second, this respect requires obedience in all lawful things (Rom. 13:1,2; Titus 3:1; 1 Pet. 3:13,14; 1 Tim. 2:1,2). Third, he must render service, military or tax, where service is due (Rom. 13:7). Fourth, he must pray even for hostile officers (1 Tim. 2:1-3), that they be blessed in their faithfulness and cursed in their lawlessness. Fifth, where a situation requires it, he must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).
/ (Rushdoony: op cit. p. 338)
In Primeval Saints, James Jordan write about rights and duties to the civil government:
The pagan stands his ground, guarding his own rights, but the Christian guards only the rights of God and, in doing so, he is willing to give up his own things in order to preserve peace.
(Jordan: Primeval Saints, p.11)
Respect for established order and authority is one of the cardinal keys to dominion.
(Jordan: op cit., p.53) [Jordan then goes on to cite the 5th commandment]
Rebellion and revolution against established order and authority is the quickest road to slavery ... Rebellion leads to slavery, and as the generations go by the slavery worsens ... As the centuries went by, the Canaanites' enslavement to sin became progressively worse until finally God destroyed them.
(Jordan: op cit., p.54)
This does not mean passive obedience, when the the wicked rule wickedly or usurp their area of sovereignty, i.e. rebel against God:
...the intensified curse mediated through the ground carried with it an implication that Cain's line would be sickly and weak because of sin. Why was Cain's line strong, then? How were they able to dominate the world - so much so that God determined to destroy it? By intermarrying with the mighty line of Seth! The Bible is teaching us that the wicked do not have strength in themselves. Only when the godly foolishly lend their strength to the wicked are the wicked able to prosper.
(Jordan: op cit., pp.45-46)
What then for Christians today, who are ruled by the ungodly in an ungodly society? A word of hope:
The story of Noah is a comfort for Christians today. Face with ungodliness on every side, we do not have rule or dominion. We live in a time of prophecy and Ark-building, warning the wicked and building the Church. In time, however, God will destroy the wicked, either through plague or conversion, and give rule to His people. The wine we drink in Holy Communion and the robes our church officers wear are our pledge that this is so. Like Noah, we must never shrink from our duty.
(Jordan: op cit., p.50)
Finally, Rushdoony again in condemnation of the anti-Christian totalitarian state usurping its place under God:
In the anti-Christian perspective, the function of the state, first of all, is to represent men rather than God. The state denies the sovereignty of God and, in the name of the people, it asserts its own sovereignty. Second, the modern state declares itself to be a human institution whose function is to promote human welfare. With this pretension that human welfare in the broadest sense is the state's concern, the state usurps the right of man to govern himself under God. The state becomes the totality of government, human and divine. Third, justice is now defined as meeting man's needs and wants. From the days of the Roman Empire to the present, the road to statism has been the assertion that "the health of the people is the highest law." In the name of the general welfare, the state institutes general tyranny and slavery. Justice is denied to the citizen and subject in the name of social justice meeting the needs of men en masse.
(Rushdoony: op cit. pp.338-339)
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