To Submit or to Rebel against the State?

Seven Biblical Principles to Guide Christians Everywhere During an Age of Revolution and in the Struggle for Religious Freedom

De Young

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781630870003
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. With these words Jesus has impacted world history, the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and a Christian's submission to the rule of a state. But what should a Christian do when there is widespread rebellion against government, law, and morality? What recourse do Christians have when the state violates its divine mandate, and endorses abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, the lottery, and war? If the state disobeys natural moral law, should the Christian oppose the state? What can Christian resistance from the past teach us about the present? Is it wrong to pledge allegiance to the state? What is the limit to allegiance? Can morality be legislated? James De Young seeks to answer these questions as he weighs the issues confronting the Christian as a citizen of this world yet also a citizen of heaven. Carefully weighing texts such as Matthew 22:21, Romans 13, 1 Timothy 1 and 2, and 1 Peter 2, the author challenges Christians to follow the Bible in this age of revolution and in the struggle for religious freedom.

Part 1

Three Revolutions Stalk the Earth The Revolutions in Government, Law, and Morality

Introduction

Three revolutions stalk the peace of the world: the revolution in government or the state, the revolution in law, and the revolution in morality. These revolutions threaten the existence of civilization itself.

I have written the following pages to arouse the reader’s awareness of how pervasive these revolutions are. These pages lay the foundation for the following chapters in part 2 that set forth the principles that will rescue and restore a Christian vision of the state.

In this first chapter, I seek to show what the Bible says about the origin of the state and its nature and its purpose. Should modern circumstances, such as nuclear war, global politics, and religious fanaticism, alter the biblical witness? How does the witness of Scripture correspond to the witness of history regarding these issues?

1

The Revolution in Government

That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scat­tered them over the face of the whole earth.

—Genesis 11:9

These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.

—Genesis 10:32

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

—Acts 17:24–27

Worldwide Revolution

Throughout much of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, the winds of revolution have blown like a hurricane. Colonial rule is a thing of the past and people are seeking their own indigenous form of government. In some coun­tries, this has taken the form of violent, armed rebellions. Communist totalitarian regimes usurped control in various states, and still hold it in Viet Nam, China, North Korea, and Cuba. Extremist Islamic states have been established in Afghanistan and Iran, and threaten Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Indonesia, as well as other countries. In the Philippines, revolt led to democratic government. It is usually the “oppressed classes” who call for reform and revolution. And often it is religious people taking a leading role in espousing the revolution in government.

What is a Revolution?

The dictionary defines revolution as “a total or radical change . . . a fundamental change in political organization . . . the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler, and the substitution of another by the governed.” A revolution may not be an armed uprising; indeed, the dictionary makes no mention of armaments but does mention a “revolution in thoughts.”1

The central issue in a revolution is the goal, not the means of bringing it about. For many revolutionaries, the end justifies the means. It may take the forms of violence and war, the abrogation of personal rights, the destruction of certain institutions (for example, the church, the government, the family), but revolutionaries are willing to embrace all these means as necessary and acceptable if the desired end is achieved.2 Revolutionaries seek a change in the very nature of government itself. Nationhood would dissolve into international-hood (i.e., internationalism) of one form (religious) or another (secular). One government for the world is the goal.

Across Western civilization, there is a growing peace movement seeking to bring about a one-world government. Even now, after the acts of terrorism in the United States on September 11, 2001, there are many who demonstrate on behalf of peace and disarmament, especially in the form of nuclear arms. All of this is happening at a time when many warn that rogue nations, such as Iran and North Korea, part of President George Bush’s “axis of evil,” are pursuing nuclear arms. President Obama has expressed his concern for the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Resurgent Conflict Between the Crescent and the Cross

The association of religion with revolution is demonstrated in another way that could not have been imagined a few years ago. It can be said, without overstatement, that not since the time of the Crusades has the potential for conflict between Islam and Christianity (or Judaism) been greater.

This conflict has risen to the level where radical Islamists have targeted governments around the world to overthrow them and bring them all into compliance with religious Muslim law, known as sharia. The goal is to extend the universal rule of Allah across all national boundaries.

The most obvious example is the conflict between the Islamic Arab nations and Israel. The conflict with the Hezbollah in Christian Lebanon showed the extent to which terrorists will go. In addition, such countries as Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Indonesia have experienced ongoing conflict between their Christian and Islamic citizens. The goal of radical Islam is to create theocracies (Islamic states), as has been done in Iran.

The hostility has reached a new level of intensity since the events of September 11, 2001. Arab extremists, seeking to bring religious war (jihad) to America’s shores, died as martyrs, according to their understanding of Islam. This marked the greatest attack on America’s shores, and signaled the beginning of the “war against terrorism.” Only time will tell how far reaching this struggle will be and what will be the outcome. Al Qaeda and other extremist groups have as their goal, in the words of one observer, “the absolute destruction of America as we know it.”3

The Origin and Purpose of Government

Nationhood is God’s idea. Nations have a key role to play in the rule of morality and law in civilization. With their diverse languages and cultures, nations are ordained by God to restrain the power of evil in the earth.

God rules over all (Daniel 4:35), and on earth he exercises his will and program in a significant way through human governments. Scripture first mentions the existence of nations in Genesis 10. Apparently only families and clans and cities prevailed (Genesis 4–5) before this. Prior to the Flood there was a kind of collective evil that called forth judgment. The Bible records that “the wickedness of people was great on the earth, and . . . every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5; author’s trans.). After the Flood, the same evil began all over again. A common universal language facilitated the political and religious unity of mankind to join in a united rebellion against God.

The descendants of Noah and his three sons—in point, all of humanity—had been commanded to fill all the earth (Genesis 9:1), to populate it abundantly, and multiply in it (Genesis 9:7). God had made a pro­mise, an everlasting covenant, to all people that he would never again destroy the earth with water. In return, human beings were to exercise justice and punish evil, particularly murder, on behalf of God in order to restrain greater evil (Genesis 9:9–17). The universal scope of this covenant cannot be denied. It is impli­cit, if not explicit, in almost every verse of Genesis 9.

Yet people refused to disband and instead organized a conspiracy against God and his purposes (note Genesis 11:4b). The rebellion against the command to disburse is clear: “Come, let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The people were gathered into one city and began to build a tower to reach heaven and dethrone God.

This rebellious action brought forth God’s judgment. When the people built the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:5–9 (TNIV) records:

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower they were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Because God confused human speech and formed various languages (Genesis 11:1–9), people were dis­persed over the earth in accordance with God’s original command (Genesis 9:1, 7), and national boundaries were formed (Genesis 10:5, 20, 31–32).4 Each entity was characterized by families or clans, language, land, and nationhood (see Genesis 10:31–32). Hence the nations mentioned in Genesis 10 came into being only after the dispersal due to the confusion of languages described in chapter 11. In other words, the multiplicity of languages that arose in chapter 11 is the cause for the beginning of nations described in chapter 10.

The Tower of Babel symbolizes collective rebellion on the earth against God in heaven. Dispersal at the Tower represents the means whereby to limit this rebellion. So while the dispersion was commanded in the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:1, 7), and is anticipated there (9:19), only in Genesis 11:1–9 is it accomplished. The dispersion resulted in the formation of nations. Their formation represents the restraining of greater collective rebellion.

The Purpose of Government: Restrain Evil

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Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One: Three Revolutions Stalk the Earth
• Part Two: To Submit or to Rebel against the State? Seven Biblical Principles to Guide Christians Everywhere During an Age of Revolution and in the Struggle for Religious Freedom
• Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Bibliography