Third
Outpost: The State (Civil Governance)
Prayer: Lord
God, heavenly Father, We thank You that unto this time You have
granted us peace and graciously spared us from war and foreign
dominion. We pray, graciously let us continue to live in Your fear
according to Your will, giving no cause for wars or other punishment;
govern and direct our leaders, that they may not hinder the obedience
due to You, but maintain righteousness, that we may enjoy happiness
and blessing under their government; through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now
and
forever. Amen.
Review
the Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer as well as the
Meaning and “What is meant by daily bread?”
A very popular American false
doctrine was authored by Thomas Paine in his book Common Sense. He
wrote “society in every state is a blessing, but government,
even in its best state, is but a necessary evil.”
But
God calls civil governance “good” even though the people holding
positions of authority are sinners, some believers, most
unbelievers—and even if an evil tyrant is the head of government he
is still to be revered as God's servant, prayed for, and obeyed (for
example, Consider Daniel, or God's use of the Medes Isaiah 13:17-22,
His use of Assyria to punish Israel Isaiah 9:8-10:20, and many many
more examples)
The
State, also called Civil Government, was the third outpost
established by God in this sinful world. Though civil government is
filled by corrupt sinful men,
and though the government itself may be corrupt and evil, the State is a good gift given by God for the purpose of serving His Christ and His Church.
and though the government itself may be corrupt and evil, the State is a good gift given by God for the purpose of serving His Christ and His Church.
Why did
God establish the Governmental estate?
Read
I Peter 2:13-14: God established civil government as His authority
for the purpose of curbing and punishing evil and for promoting good
in accordance with Natural Law.
Read
Romans 13:1-7: For this purpose the civil state, which is God's
authority, collects taxes, punishes evil even with death, and rewards
public good.
How did
God establish the Governmental estate?
Genesis
4: When the first family was broken by Cain murdering Abel God
prohibited others from putting him to death. Even so, Cain and his
family were exiled from the Godly family of Adam.
Genesis
9:5-7: After that first world was destroyed by flood, God gave
humans the responsibility of punishing evil even to the point of
death.
Read the
Table of Duties
Civil
Government
Citizens
Now,
remember the Thomas Paine quotation from earlier? Consider how his
false doctrine that government is a necessary evil contrasts with the
passages you have just reviewed.
We
can also be sure Thomas Paine's teaching was false based on his own
statement of faith. In his book The Age of Reason he
stated
The opinions I have advanced
... are the effect of the most clear and long-established conviction
that the Bible and the Testament are impositions upon the world, that
the fall of man, the account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God,
and of his dying to appease the wrath of God, and of salvation, by
that strange means, are all fabulous inventions, dishonorable to the
wisdom and power of the Almighty; that the only true religion is
Deism, by which I then meant, and mean now, the belief of one God,
and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what are
called moral virtues – and that it was upon this only (so far as
religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness
hereafter. So say I now – and so help me God
What are the responsibilities of the
Governmental estate?
Government is not a necessary evil, but a good
gift of God's providence. The Governmental Estate exercises the sword
to enforce civic morality, to curb evil and to reward civic virtue.
It extends beyond individual families. It is governed by Natural Law.
Read Romans 13:1-7
Read Martin Luther's Large Catechism the
Fourth Commandment
134-137, and 141-142
The Governmental Estate embraces not only the rule
over and curbing of wickedness but is also an estate where Christians
serve those outside their congregations and families.
The taxman is an agent of the government. He is
God's servant. Romans 13: 6-7 speak directly of our duty before God.
The Civil Estate is not the Church. It does not
select rulers or officers according to any rules of the Church in
Scripture. In what ever way civil rule is established, God's Word
says that as wherever the Civil Estate does not coerce us to go
against Scripture, we should submit. Whether our government is a
dictatorship, feudal estate, republic, hegemony, or anything else
submitting to civic authority is submitting to God. This becomes an
opportunity to trust God in spite of what our eyes and reason tells
us.
What if the Government is doing evil?
Consider the evening Jesus was arrested and his
trial.
Matthew 26-27:31, Mark 14-15:20, Luke 22-23:25,
John 18-19:16
How did Jesus treat
the civic authorities, Pontius Pilate, Herod, the soldiers. None of
the disciples saw the good that God was doing through the government.
But Christ did trust His Father's will through the civil government
that God's good and gracious will would be done through them.
Read John 19:7-16.
Read also Isaiah 53:10: We confess in the Creed the words of
Scripture that Jesus Christ “was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”
When Pilate gave the verdict that Jesus was to be crucified, who gave
Pilate that authority? In other words, “Who passed the judgment
against Jesus Christ that He should be crucified?”
To all appearances that judgment was unjust—it
was carried out by a sinful unbeliever at the pressing of a
rebellious and unbelieving crowd against an innocent man. What good
came from this judgment?
Persecution by evil government.
Some governments are themselves bent on evil. In
these cases a Christian may face the danger of punishment simply
because of his or her faith in Christ.
Exodus 1-2:10 records
the king of Egypt ordering that all male Hebrew children born should
be killed. (incidentally, recall that the same happened not just at
the birth of Moses but also at the birth of Christ in Matthew 2) The
Hebrew midwives “however, feared God and did not do what the king
of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” The king
then ordered all Hebrew boys to be thrown into the Nile, but the
mother of Moses put him into the Nile in a basket trusting to God's
providence. What good did God work through His providence in this
evil government?
Peter and the apostles
were arrested (Acts 5:17-42) by the authorities in Jerusalem. Making
their bold confession “We must obey God rather than men!” At that
time, in His providence God had them released. Peter would later be
arrested again and again. Finally he was crucified by the Romans on
account of his faith fulfilling the words Christ spoke to him in John
21:19.
Acts 8 Stephen was
brought before the ruling council gave his testimony and prayed for
those executing the sentence of his death, “Lord, do not hold this
sin against them.”
There are many more examples throughout the text
of the Bible, like Sampson, Naboth, Elisha, Jeremiah, the believers
in Jerusalem at the time it was first destroyed under Nebuchadnezzar
(see especially Lamentations 3), the Apostles James, John, and Paul.
Persecution of Christianity in the last 100 years
is at an all time high world-wide. Under governments like Nazi
Germany, Ottoman Turkey, the Soviet Union, the Khmer Rouge, Islam,
and others more than 45 million Christians were killed in the last
100 years.
Read Psalm 116:15;
Revelation 12:11; these are just a few of the many passages which
speak about the value of being willing to give up this sinful life
holding on to the faith of eternal redemption in Christ. Then see the
promise in John 11:21-27.
Civil Government is a gift of God for the benefit
of His Christ and His Church even when we cannot see clearly what the
end might be.
Issues of Church and
State will be covered in Study 8.
Issues of Home and
State will be covered in Study 7.
Prayer:
O almighty, eternal God:
we confess that we are poor sinners and cannot answer one time out of
a thousand, when You contend with us; but with all our hearts we
thank You, that You have taken all our guilt from us and laid it upon
Your dear Son Jesus Christ, and made Him to atone for it. We pray,
graciously sustain us in faith, and so govern us by Your Holy Spirit
, that we may live according to Your will, in neighborly love,
service and helpfulness, and not give way to wrath or revenge, that
we may not incur Your wrath, but always find in You a gracious
Father; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
