Government

From Neoredemptive

If you read some Christian authors, you might start to think that Christians believe the Constitution of the United States is just short of holy writ in terms of its inerrancy, authority, and divine origin. We don't really buy that line of thinking. Governments may be instituted among men, but it is God who is the actor, and it is by His whim that nations rise and fall, not by any humanistic measure of a government's suitability, purpose, or legitimacy.

Biblically, governments in general exist to administer justice and retribution upon those who do evil. (I would say "evildoers", but the word has a bit of a buzzspeak or spinspeak sound to it right now.) The only particular government that existed by God's commission and charter to administer His special revelation was the monarchy of Old Testament Israel. There is no scriptural warrant for any other nation to take up that commission, and pretending to institute the "government of God" in any form which is not explicitly limited to the context of the willing community of God's people looks more like pride than biblical fidelity.

First Things

Obey the law.

Pray for all leaders, whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not.

Second Things

Don't choose your friends based upon political party. They all suck -- Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Constitutionalists, Whigs, States' Rights, Nazis, Conservatives, Liberals, Labor, Hamas, coalition parties, and all the rest.

Don't be belligerent toward those with different political views than yours. Correct gently, praying that God will give them wisdom, and only after you have prayed for God to wisely correct you.

Have some modesty about your political views. It is a fearful thing to presume to be a minister of God's justice, a presumption we take upon ourselves whenever we say "the government should be thus..."

What Matters

God's primary interest in matters of government is justice tempered with mercy. To obsess over whether our government should be a democracy, a republic, a feudal oligarchy, a monarchy, an anarchy, or a socialist utopia is to completely miss the point -- all of these are systems which can be abused by sinful people to withhold justice or used by righteous people to uphold justice.

In contrast with the liberal church's view of social justice, these are questions we need to constantly ask:

• Are the powerless being protected from unjust exploitation?
• Are the powerful being given leeway to harm others?
• Is the Imago Dei of every person being respected and honored?
• Is our application of justice sufficiently tempered with mercy, or has it become cruel and strident?
• Are those committing theft, assault, abuse, fraud, extortion, rape, or any other such crimes against anyone (rich or poor) being held accountable both to their victims and to the community?