God and Government

Biblical Principles for Today: An Introduction and Resource

Cornelis Van Dam

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781610973267
  9781498260145
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876050
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Ours is a time of rapid cultural change with new economic challenges. People look to their governments for leadership and solutions. But what can and should government do to meet the difficulties that beset a nation? What can citizens expect from their elected representatives? What is reasonable? And what should citizens do? What are their responsibilities? This book addresses such fundamental issues through the eyes of Scripture and against the backdrop of North America's dual heritage of Christianity and humanism. Government, politics, and the Bible do not seem like a good mix. But as this book aims to show, the Bible has much wisdom to teach us about the place and role of government and its citizens. Biblical principles work because God knows how his world and his servant governments are supposed to function. After all, he ordained the governing authorities, and the principles enunciated in his Word are timeless and remain practical. This book introduces fundamental biblical principles that apply to government and politics. The intent is to inform and to motivate the reader to get involved where possible in the political processes of the day. Our legislators need the input and help from their knowledgable Christian constituents.

1

The Heritage of the Western World

To understand the Western world and in particular our own country, we need to know its past. Unless we are aware of the forces that have shaped the present, we are unable think intelligently about the future of our nation. So, what basic influences have molded our nation, our political system, and our present culture? On what heritage has this country been built? And what are the present dynamics and dominant forces at work determining its future?

Two conflicting elements of our heritage as a nation warrant our attention: Christianity and secular humanism. Both have had a profound influence on how we view government and govern ourselves as a democracy. To try to understand our heritage and current situation, we will focus on three important areas: democracy, law, and freedom. This chapter will consider these areas first from the perspective of Christianity and then from that of secular humanism. Some concluding observations will follow.

Christianity

There is no denying the enormous influence of Christianity on all aspects of our Western culture. Such an impact is not surprising given the fact that political and church histories have been intertwined for much of the pre-Enlightenment period. When we speak of the influence of Christianity we really mean the influence of the Bible. Throughout the past centuries Christians have generally accepted the Bible according to its own testimony as the inspired Word of God. As such the divine Word had absolute authority and it revealed God’s will for mankind. It was like a lamp before one’s feet showing society the way to go (Ps 119:105). The principles taught in the Bible therefore also affected political issues. What are these principles? Are they still relevant for us today? These are some of the questions we will consider in the first part of this book.

Democracy

With respect to democracy, or rule by the people, it is commonplace to say that democracy originated in the city state of Athens during the fourth century B.C. This is true. It is not always recognized, however, that Christianity also contributed to the rise of democracy. The Bible, in its teaching about the nature of man, shows the necessity for democratic principles, and in its guidelines for governing in both state and church, mandates important democratic features. In other words, one can argue that important elements of democracy are compatible with Scripture and that Christianity has played a significant role in the realization of Western democracies.

With respect to the nature of man, Scripture makes clear that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and that the human “heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jer 17:9). If such is the human condition, then it follows that “the best form of government is one that prevents any one sinner from gaining absolute control over the rest; and if all are potential recipients of God’s saving grace, then the best government is the one that permits each person to contribute the most to the well-being of his fellows.”1 Democracy comes closer to fulfilling these requirements than any other political system.

Not surprisingly then, God stipulated a political system for ancient Israel that had significant democratic features. An important national body was the assembly of the elders of Israel which was accountable to the people because the people had a say as to who would belong to this assembly (cf. Deut 1:13;16:18). This body had both political and judicial powers. Politically it represented, among other things, the interests of the nation and tended to counter the centralization of power. It was this body of the elders, speaking for the people, that asked for a king (1 Sam 8:4–5) and saw to the anointing of the monarch (2 Sam 5:3). Although the influence of the elders waned during the monarchy, the national assembly could still have considerable influence as to who would be king (1 Kgs 12:20; 2 Chron 23:3) and the elders were on occasion still able to serve the king with their counsel (1 Kgs 20:7–8). There were also important democratic elements in the justice system. The people as a whole had the responsibility to purge the evil from their midst (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7; also 6:6–9; 16:19–20) and justice was normally administered through judges appointed by the people (Deut 16:18; cf. 1:1, 13).2

These democratic elements in Israel were carried over into the Judaism of intertestamental and New Testament times. The Christian church also had important democratic elements in its governance. The congregation participated in determining who its ruling and teaching elders would be (Acts 14:23 NIV text note).3 These elders had the oversight of the flock (Acts 20:28) and would deal with matters that needed their judgment. However, the first line of responsibility for maintaining justice and righteousness rested with the congregation (Matt 18:15–18). When the congregation was unable to resolve the matter, it would go to the elders, the official address of the church (Matt 18:17). Also among the churches, there was a desire to reach consensus on difficult issues by having representatives of the churches meet together in a council to discuss the issues and come to an agreement (Acts 15).

It should be stressed that these democratic elements need to be understood within the context of both ancient Israel and the early church. In both cases the people who were entrusted with what we would call democratic privileges were in a covenant relationship with God. This had at least two obvious implications. First, the will of the people and decisions made were always to be subject to God’s wishes. Some of the implications of this truth will become clear under the next heading when we consider the West’s indebtedness to principles of law and order derived from the Bible. The second implication of having democratic privileges while being in covenant with God is that God himself wanted his people to be involved and ready to assume responsibility for the direction of their society and the maintenance of righteousness and justice in the land. His people were not to sit on the sidelines. Indeed, God intended that they be a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:6; cf. 1 Pet 2:5). It is, for example, telling that the detailed Levitical legislation was addressed, not just to the priests, but to the entire nation (e.g., Lev 1:2; 4:2). Every individual had to understand and be involved in the running of society and that included being knowledgeable even of what was expected of the priests. This was in stark contrast to the ignorance in which other nations kept their people.4

While the democratic principles derived from the New Testament are applicable in the first place to the life of the church, those deriving from ancient Israel can have implications for society at large. After all, ancient Israel was not just the chosen people of God, but it also functioned politically and judicially as a nation among other nations. For this reason, principles such as the democratic involvement of the people in the political and judicial processes for the well-being of their nation have continuing relevance today.

It would take us far beyond the scope of this introduction to relate in detail how democratic principles have come to us today mediated and facilitated in part by the Old and New Testament Scriptures.5 History has shown that Western Christendom undoubtedly provided the womb within which the democratic system and vision gestated. The gestation period through the first Christian centuries was complex, but by the time of the Reformation new ways of thinking about the state were triggered by the desire to reform the church. Luther’s emphasis on the priesthood of all believers countered the accepted hierarchical mind-set in the church. However, this emphasis also had vast implications for the role of Christians in matters of state.6 Calvin’s contribution to democracy can perhaps be shown with reference to two key teachings: the absolute sovereignty of God and the right of rebellion against unjust rulers. God’s sovereignty meant among other things that man’s chief end was to live for God and his glory. If a ruler claimed absolute sovereignty and prevented the true worship of God then resistance to such rulers and their overthrow was justified. This struggle against tyranny was a powerful catalyst for the development of democracies in countries influenced by the ideas of Luther and Calvin.7 We will be returning to the right of rebellion later in this chapter. Calvin himself seems to have favored a mix of aristocracy and democracy. Important for him was the preservation of liberty.8

Factors other than those just mentioned undoubtedly played a role as well in the development of democracies, but it is nevertheless striking that in all the varied history and circumstances of the nations involved, it was the Protestant rather than the Roman Catholic nations that first saw the creation ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Part A: Background
• Chapter 1: The Heritage of the Western World
• Part B: Basic Principles
• Chapter 2: The Origin and Task of the Civil Government
• Chapter 3: Church and State
• Chapter 4: Human Rights, Moral Norms, and Toleration
• Part C: Some Current Issues
• Chapter 5: Life and Death
• Chapter 6: Marriage and Family
• Chapter 7: Work and Rest
• Chapter 8: The Environment
• Chapter 9: Multiculturalism
• Part D: Working for Change
• Chapter 10: Getting Involved
• Chapter 11: Resources: A Selection of Helpful Organizations
• Questions for Further Discussion
• Bibliography