“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” -Romans 13.1-7
Recently we celebrated the 232 birthday of our country (at least those of you joining me from America did!) and to mark the occasion a discussion was brought up on the blog called Out of Ur concerning how we, as Christians, should view ourselves in respect to patriotism and allegiance to a national citizenship. Continuing on in discussion about this led to the eventual conflict and question of just how actively should Christians pursue to have biblical convictions translated into law. It is not my desire currently to flesh out my convictions on this subject here (though you may read a number of them in the comments in the Out of Ur thread), but in response to a question brought up as to how I would defend my stance as a Christian, I would like to link you guys to a sermon by Dr. John Piper which I believe accurately represents the totality of how I feel on this issue.
The message is the fourth in a series of four sermons concerning the balance between a Christian’s responsibilities to God and their responsibility to government, based on Romans 13.1-7. I would recommend all of the four messages, as I feel that, in typical John Piper fashion, the point gets hammered home in each, but, specifically speaking to my views on how a Christian should engage politics in an American-type democracy, I want to offer up this piece. Enjoy!
John Piper- “Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part 4″
July 11, 2008 at 4:09 pm |
I was actually pretty pumped that you were going through Jeremiah because I wanted to see how you handled the first half of ch29. Many would see it is political terms; I do not. I have posted a lot on this issue and just recently I linked to 4 posts by MacArthur which are phenomenal. I will give the Piper sermon a listen and post my thoughts.
July 31, 2008 at 10:09 am |
Toddicus,
So I finally got around to listening to the Piper sermon. I really enjoyed it and appreciate his emphasis on the importance of hermeneutics for society at large, which I think few people recognize. This is another example of how no one can hold to Postmodernism as a consistent worldview because we all demand consistency somewhere whether that is from our accountant or our boss, as in Piper’s example. I also appreciate how he explains that there are numerous examples of “legislating morality” that we do not view as such because all parties involved agree on that particular issue of morality. I also appreciate his emphasis on preaching, not force, as the means to conversion. This leads in to what I appreciate the most about his sermon, namely that society must be pluralistic and that the Constitution is designed to uphold and unite a pluralistic society.
On the flipside I still struggle with his emphasis on how we bring the moral law to bear on legislative and judicial action. In this particular area I would lean away from legislating morality and towards a pure preaching model. Earlier in his sermon he notes how we are not to use the sword to promote our perspective. I would argue that if legislating biblical morality against a society that stands wholly opposed to such morality would be a use of the sword; one that is similar to Constantinianism and the various persecutions by the church via the state. Rather than legislating this morality we must preach the gospel and allow it to transform men and the culture they create. Below is a link to my blog which includes several links describing a paradigm with which I am more apt to agree.
http://keithwalters.org/2008/06/13/2008-06-13-the-brief/
July 31, 2008 at 10:44 am |
Keith,
Thanks for checking out that sermon and sharing what you think.
As far as the issue you brought up, the way I understand him addressing this idea of bringing “the moral law to bear on legislative and judicial action” is by appealing to the common grace which we have been alotted. Granted, he mentions that he believes prohibiting same-sex marriage is a moral law which is common to all and revealed in nature, a conclusion which I am not totally sure on (though of course I oppose gay marriage), but I think the idea is solid.
I recently read a book which dealt with this also called “Is God on America’s Side?” It is by Erwin Lutzer and it is fantastic. He presents things in a very sober and balanced manner, probably the best handling I’ve ever seen of these questions. One thing I really liked about it was that he included the fact that no matter what we think of the candidates we still need to choose the best available from the options instead of letting our voice be silenced because we don’t have Jesus running for President (my words, not his). I thought it was so well written that I’ve asked our pastor for permission to lead a book study through it this fall. You should check it out. The book is not available on the open market yet but they have released an early printing for churches to use this fall leading up to the election. It is being published by Moody Publishing and you can probably obtain a single copy through Family Christian Bookstore if nothing else.
Just to let you know, I am to Jeremiah 29 right now so I will probably be posting my take on what is written after I work through it. Take it easy bud, I’ll talk to you soon.
August 8, 2008 at 11:45 pm |
Awesome, Lutzer is a solid writer, I will try to see if I can get a copy.