It’s a difficult time to be a Christian. The expectations for living the life Christ calls us to has never been easy. In every age there have been circumstances that pull people away from being true followers of Christ. Yet, in my opinion the current age presents unique challenges—particularly if you live in the United States.
There has always been tension between loyalty to God and loyalty to secular authorities. The persecutions the church underwent in the first centuries of its existence were brought about because the emperor demanded to be treated as God. Any worship of a god, any god, that didn’t put the emperor first, was considered a threat to the Roman empire.
Over the centuries, the distinction between loyalty to God and loyalty to secular authorities became fuzzy. It was an attempt to be clear that secular authorities were under the command of God that resulted in the doctrine of the “divine right” of kings. The scriptural basis of the doctrine was the writings of Paul in the letter to the Church in Rome. “13:1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.”1
When Paul wrote this, I don’t believe for an instant that he suggested people obey the emperor, or any secular leader, when they were told to offer sacrifices to the king and pray to the king. He never intended to say that secular law could have more force than God’s law.
However, all secular authorities have as a primary concern: their own survival and thriving. As a result, those authorities either quickly twisted the meaning of what Paul wrote to say people had to obey no matter what, or interpreted other scripture to make it sound as if the secular authority was actually doing what God said should be done. People seeking to follow the teachings of Jesus have struggled with this ever since.
Jesus made it clear what was to be the guiding principle: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”2 Anything that diminishes these two commandments is to ignore the commands of Jesus.
Of course, the accuser (devil) being who he is, people begin to twist the meaning of the commandments in other parts of scripture to allow them to somehow avoid these two commandments. The easiest thing to do is take something that was given to people in a particular cultural setting and claim it applies to every culture in any time without understanding what was behind the command.
To avoid this easy, but meaningless, way of sidestepping the commandment to love God and love one’s neighbor, we need to be constantly asking ourselves, “How does what I’m doing (or what a secular authority wants me to do) reflect God? If we are going to love God, we will only do those things that reflect who God is. Another way of asking this is, “How does what I’m doing reflect the life of Jesus?” Jesus was “Immanuel” or “God with us.” Are we acting as Jesus acted? That isn’t easy.
Today, we need to look at the actions that are being taken in our nation and ask if those actions reflect Jesus. Do the attacks on Iran reflect Jesus? Are we treating immigrants, here legally or illegally, in a way that respects their dignity and shows how we as a nation respect the rights of all people? Do we treat those who have violated our laws in a way that you would expect Jesus to treat criminals? Is it a reflection of Jesus to deprive people of food, shelter, and other necessities while spending that money on glorifying a secular leader and building monuments to the secular government? You can expand on these questions with just a little thought.
I will write more on what it means to love God with everything we have in a future letter.
Peace and Health,
Ross T Lucas 