For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to evil. – Romans 13:3a
Politics is a part of life. It seems
politics has become an obsession in our day. Everybody has an opinion. Everybody
has chosen a side. Everybody seems to have been tattooed with a label (some
literally!). Democrat, Republican, RINO (i.e. Republican In Name Only), Progressive,
Conservative, Alt-Left, Alt-Right, Communist, Socialist, Democratic, Federalist,
Republican, “Patriot,” “Traitor,” I could go on an on. We see divisions everywhere.
There are more and more political mobs and rioting. Political anarchists,
insurrectionists and revolutionaries are on the move. Actors and actresses (if
such gender declarative titles are acceptable to you), news casters, sports
figures, talk show hosts, those employed and those unemployed, young, old and
in-between, male and female and those in-between, everybody is expressing their
political views. Political statements are being made by activists dancing naked
in the streets or kneeling at a game. Law and order is being seen as a crime. There’s
fighting about immigration and citizenship. There’s serious issues with our
voting system. People are looking at the political climate and building family
bunkers and loading them up with at least six months of supplies for the coming
demise of society. It’s all bound up in the web of politics. It should be clear
and evident to all in our day, politics is significant. Politics affect life.
Politics is not the answer to life’s
questions or the solution to life’s problems. We have to keep politics in its
place. The only sufficient solutions to life’s problems and answers to life’s
questions are found in God. They are bound up in Jesus and revealed to us by
the Holy Spirit. You may disagree with that, but in the end, you’ll find it to
be true. But even if you accept God as your solution and answer, if you seek His
truth and will in the area of politics (and really for life in general), you’ll
discover He really doesn’t endorse isolationism or willful ignorance of this
area of life.
Even if we look to God for solutions
and answers to the topic of politics, we will find He has some important things
for us to consider. Abstinence from government is really in reality not an
option. There are those who choose to stand on the sidelines and are satisfied
to ignore all things political. But politics is in our face. It’s banging down
our doors. It’s creeping more and more into our lives. It does this through
taxation. Everything from the food and drinks we consume to the access to the
places we want to go, are taxed by those in politics. Our wages, property,
inheritance, education, communication, transportation, and just about
everything else are imposed upon with taxes. Politics also directly affects our
freedoms. Freedom to speak, freedom to worship, freedom to assemble, freedom to
have a say in government, and freedom to live like we want to live are all some
of the areas politics and government affect. Our right to privacy is being
directly affected by politics. More and more and in many ways, we hear the
warning, “Big Brother is watching you. Big Brother is spying on you.” Politics
is even coming into play with robots equipped with Artificial Intelligence that
one day may threaten our existence. We can’t avoid politics. But we can’t let
politics overwhelm us either. We can’t let politics enslave us. We have to find
a way to keep politics in its place.
Politics has to do with the
mechanics of government. There are all kinds of governments, all have their
warts and weaknesses. Really, no matter the government, because fallen sinful
people are involved, it is doomed to frustration, futility, and failure. We
won’t have a true right working political system of government until Jesus
returns to lead it. And that Jesus led government will reign gloriously for a
thousand years! But what do we do in the
political governmental systems we live in until then? God in His Word instructs
us.
Romans 13:3-4 - “For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and
you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good.
But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he
is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”
A righteous government “is God’s
minister.” A “minister” is a “servant.” True purpose and reason for being for a
government is found in their service to God. This presupposes a government’s
belief in God. And as a servant of God a government should seek God’s purposes.
Here in these verses, God’s purposes
for government are spelled out as encouraging “good” and being a “terror . . .
to evil.” If you do “good,” (Greek agathŏs)
or that which benefits others, promotes
wellness and joy, you have nothing to fear. If you do “evil” (Greek kakos)
or that which is defined by the words, depraved,
intrinsically worthless, injurious, harmful, bad, rotten or wicked, then
look out, government is there to expose it and put a stop to it. That is the
prime purpose of government according to God’s Word.
But it’s important to properly
define what is “good” isn’t it? Right away we can see by applying “good” and “evil”
to our society that what some people call “good” others would call “evil.”
Indeed, Isaiah spoke of a time when good and evil would be confused. “Woe to
those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). This
happened in Israel and it led to her destruction and captivity. It is a
principle that marks the condition of any nation. When you can’t tell “good”
from “evil,” you’re ready for destruction and captivity. Really, since good and
evil are diametrically opposed to each other, if we can define one of these
words it will give us a good start on defining the other by contrast. Let’s
focus on “good.”
What is “good”? The term “good”
occurs 652 times in the Bible. Whew! That’s a lot. [1]God
has a lot to say on what is good. And if we serve God, goodness is bound up in
what God says is good. Even if we don’t acknowledge God or choose not to serve
Him, God has given all humanity a conscience by which we can intrinsically know
right from wrong, good from evil. Our God-given conscience enables us to know
good from evil (Romans 2:12-16). For God, right and wrong are bound up in His
revealed Law (e.g. Exodus 20). To keep us from becoming legalistic or from
having a wrong view of the Law, God has reduced it to a simple but profound
principle of, “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment
of the law” (Romans 13:10). It is only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that
we can receive God’s implanted love in our heart to accomplish such law-abiding
living. It is when the Holy Spirit regenerates us and we are born again with a
second spiritual birth that such love is poured out into our heart. Such love
is not something generated by humanity but comes from God (e.g. Romans 5:5). The
world has its brand of love which is limited. God’s brand of love is unlimited
other than to be guided by the truth of His word (cf. Luke 6:27-36). This world
needs the love of the God who loves them so much (e.g. John 3).
God’s goodness involves grace and
compassion (Exodus 33:19). God’s goodness would involve the things He stands
for and revealed to us about Himself such as truth, faithfulness, love, and
justice, to name a few. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your
throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face” (Psalm 89:14). These are things we
should seek and promote and encourage wherever we find them.
A particularly important aspect of
God’s nature for government is that God is orderly (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:33 and 40).
We see His order in the design of the universe and creation. When God is
working we see order. Sin however brings disorder. We see this in the fall of
humanity (Gen.3). When Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast out of the beautifully
ordered Garden of God. They were cast out into a world where sin abounds. Thank
the goodness of God “that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans
5:20). That grace is realized in the words, “Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Sin and its disorder brings anxiety and
lostness. Salvation in Jesus brings order and peace.
Right and wrong are closely linked
to order versus disorder. This is a Biblical principle. Now, because we are
sinful we often get tripped up in the dirty socks of sin strewn about our life.
But the Holy Spirit has a way of pointing out the sinful disarray and then
bringing us back into His order. Sometimes, God’s order conflicts with our “order,”
but He has a way of straightening us out. He reconciles us when we get off
course. Government can be a part of that, especially when our disorder takes
the form of crime.
Government is one of God’s means to
maintain enough order that complete chaos associated with sin does not reign. A
good government provides orderliness by promoting good and fighting against
evil. Good governments have laws designed to maintain order according to godly
principles. Bad government uses law to give license to sin. That’s called
licentiousness or giving license to sin. That is very bad.
The good order provided by God
through government creates an environment where His truth can be shared.
Anarchy enslaves with fear. It leads to intimidating circumstances. It leads to
bullying in the extreme. There’s little more terrifying than the pillaging that
occurs during times of rioting. Good government liberates by promoting freedom
through law and its order. Our Constitution is an example of this. Government
is turned on its head when it works against such freedoms. When that happens,
like in our history, a Declaration of Independence may be called for:
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. [2]
Notice in this declaration the prominence
of “nature’s God,” and our “Creator.” God is at the heart of good government. Many
in our government have forgotten those precious words of declared independence.
And the consequence has been dire. Freedom is turned on its head when it is
used to promote sin. That is what has happened in our nation of late. Without
God and His truth nothing works properly for humanity.
A good citizen in a governmental
system, does “good” and receives “praise from the same,” or praise from the
government. If we do good, we have nothing to fear from the government seeking
to be pleasing to God. But really, we should first and foremost and primarily
be seeking praise from God. “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to
please men? For it I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ”
(Galatians 1:10). That is true of the minister of the Gospel. But that is also
true of others areas of life too, including political.
Most governments historically have
little to no appreciation for, let alone belief in, the God of the Bible. That is
simple and damning evidence that they are not fulfilling their God-ordained
purpose. They are failing and will ultimately fail. We need to be mindful of
that. Change wrought through politics and government is always going to fall
short. But that doesn’t excuse us from working for the good and yes, being
involved in politics.
Government has a mandate to oppose
evil. It states, “for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him
who practices evil.” The government is to identify, expose, and stop evil, “to
execute” or carry out God’s wrath on evil. Governments promoting deception and
dark ventures are operating counter to their perfect purpose and will be as
empty, impotent to change, and unfulfilling as any individual living in
deception and dark ventures.
Of course, governments led by sinful
fallen people have strayed far, far away from God’s ideal since Babel (Genesis
11). Some are worse than others. Our Federal Republic and constitutional
democracy began better than most governments. But we too have strayed. That is especially
true in the last 30 years. But I see changes for the better recently.
We see this scientifically as
sonograms unmistakably remove the veil of willful ignorance about the humanity
of children in the womb and consequently the atrocity of abortion. Our
government legalized abortion in 1973. As time goes on we see that this was
done on false pretenses. As sonogram technology improves and we see the
personhood of the baby in the womb, laws will change. We need to work for that.
Government corruption is being
identified and exposed. We see this in such activist movements as Project
Veritas as well as individually by such people as Julian Assange (perhaps not a
Christian but a part of this move nonetheless). And we see this in the stated
political platform of the present administration to “drain the swamp.” These
are all “good” things.
There is an effort today in our
country to root out evil that should be applauded and supported by those God
calls to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). All of this should have the Christian’s support.
James spoke of a sin of omission. He was inspired to write, “Therefore, to him
who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Christian, we have been inactive about supporting the “good” around us for far
too long. It is sinful. We need to get up off the couch and get involved. We
need to be salt and light. We need to
get involved. We need to infiltrate
this world and influence it for the glory of God.
But be warned, we should not be
enslaved to party affiliation but rather dedicated to the efforts to do good
and oppose evil whoever is promoting them. Wherever you find a party spirit in
scripture it is a negative. When we side
blindly with one group over another, it is sin or at least a sign of spiritual
immaturity and unbecoming carnality (e.g. Acts 11 and 15; 1 Corinthians 3;
Galatians 3:28). There is only One to Whom we give total allegiance, King Jesus
(1 Corinthians 3:11). He’s our President, Senator, Congress-Man and political
Representative above all others. Our prime citizenship is in heaven (Phil.
3:20). We serve the Kingdom of God first and guard against other allegiances
that tempt us to idolatry. We can be a patriot to our earthly nation, but only
inasmuch as its precepts and actions align with our heavenly citizenship. We
must be clear on that. We serve here to promote God’s truth and light, His
justice and impartial fairness, His mercy and grace, His sense of right and
wrong. We serve God by serving others the way God would have us serve.
In this effort, we should be wary of
and not surprised by the fact that the “father of lies” seeks to side track us
and confuse the targets of evil by way of deception. Today we see this in “fake
news” and anti-God indoctrination and misguided education. All of this needs to
be exposed. Falsehoods need to be exposed by the light of the Lord which is
most clearly seen in His Word. Using God’s word as a refence point for truth
and justice used to be a common practice in the early stages of our nation. We
need to get back to that.
This is how Christians in all nations
should live as salt and light. In every nation, regardless of government
system, we act as agents of light; we cut through deception and support those
who act in this common cause. We speak God’s truth in the powerful love of the
Spirit (Eph. 4:15). Imagine if all Christianity united internationally across
their government systems in support of one another to expose evil with God’s
light? It just might lead to a revival, another Great Awakening.
Practically, we expose the darkness
and seek good through means such as prayer, evangelism, teaching and discipling
others with God’s word, and being informed and getting involved in society
politically. We fulfill God’s call on us as we infiltrate and influence the
world around us for the glory of God.
All of this doesn’t mean we see
ourselves as necessarily or primarily, part of government. Some will be called
to participate in government systems and politics. Some will run for office. If
they do, I would only counsel them to run with Jesus. Walk as He walked (1 John
2:6). There is a great need for this today. But not everyone is called into
politics. What is meant here is that we see government as a means to the end of
encouraging good and discouraging evil. It means we get involved. We always
serve with undiluted undivided loyalty to the Kingdom of God. We keep politics
in its place.
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