Monday, March 11, 2019

How are Christians to Relate to a Secular State?


How are Christians Commanded to Relate to a Secular and Corrupt State?

Any Christian who seeks to keep up with current events has likely pondered recently, “how should I respond to the secular age in which I live?”  Legislation to offer women greater choices regarding their pregnancies seems to be legalizing infanticide.  Movements to promote fair and just treatment of all persons regardless of race or gender now seem often to promote a sexual lifestyle incongruous with the Bible.  How should Christians respond?  Should we leave it to politicians?  Should we take up signs and protest?  Does the Bible have anything to say generally about how to live as heaven citizens in our earthly citizenship? 
In answer to the last question – yes!  What follows is a brief sampling of Scriptures that speak to the subject – how are Christians commanded to relate to the secular state or to a corrupt generation?  These verses are not meant to be exhaustive in their treatment, but helpful and relevant.  Overall, the Bible says Christians must be subject to governing authorities and not speak corruptly in a corrupt generation, while seeking to be faithful witnesses for Jesus, including the task of exposing false doctrines that oppose the Gospel.


·         Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear,” (Ephesians 4:29).[1]  Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:14-15).
o   The context may be primarily the church, but the verse in Ephesians has implications for the world as well.
o   It is assumed that much of the world’s talk is not going to impart grace to those who hear, does not build up, and is corrupting (away from God and godliness).
o   Therefore, Christian speech should be opposite not only of the world’s immoral content, but of the world’s immoral character. 
o   When Christians speak, it should be graciously, well-fitting to the occasion, and good for building up.  We must speak of the things of God well. We must speak from the Bible as it relates to the world with an aim to both glorify God and to bless our hearers.
o   As such the following methods would be inappropriate in Christian speech: name-calling, coarse-joking, unfair complaints (especially rants on social media), misrepresenting opponents, lying, deceiving, spreading hatred, vindictiveness, and generally uninformed speaking.
o   Christians must embrace the image of light-bearers.  As such, like a good light, we expose the sins of the world and point toward the only Savior – Jesus the Christ.

·         And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation,’” (Acts 2:40).
o   Peter’s sermon and invitation in Acts 2 is summed up as a call to be saved from the current and crooked (not according to God’s straight rule for moral living) generation.
o   As such, Peter was fulfilling the charge from Jesus to be His witness (Acts 1:8).
o   It would seem that perhaps the most positive and particular way Christians should relate to the secular and corrupt state is to call individuals to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life.  Evangelism is our main aim in relating to a corrupt generation.
o   This MUST be maintained as the primary goal of Christians interacting with the secular state – we speak first as witnesses of Jesus who seek to persuade individuals, according to the revealed Scriptures, to repent and to believe in Jesus Christ.

·         “But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith…Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” (Acts 13:8-10).
o   Here is an incredibly instructive encounter.  Paul and Barnabas were on Cyprus at Salamis, and had an audience with Sergius Paulus to share the Gospel.
o   During this encounter a pagan magician nicknamed Elymas openly opposed the Gospel. He likely did so by twisting Paul’s words, misleading the proconsul, and lying.
o   Without resorting to any kind of “corrupting talk” Paul continued to exhort Sergius Paulus to turn to Jesus in part by forcefully speaking against Elymas.
o   Paul called Elymas out for his underhanded and deceitful tactics.  He did not misrepresent Elymas, but did expose what the man sought to do – “turn the proconsul away from the faith,” (Acts 13:8).
o   God was even pleased to provide a sign that Elymas was opposing God and made Elymas blind.
o   Paul’s words and the blindness of Elymas combined to convince the proconsul: “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord,” (Acts 13:12).
o   While I do not think God calls us to pronounce blindness on our opponents, we can learn from Paul that there is a time for the sake of others like the proconsul, when we must tactfully expose the deceit and lies of opponents, especially as it relates to the Gospel.
o   Notice that Paul did not launch into a discussion of every false idea he had heard about the Gospel but dealt with the one in front of him.  As such, proximity plays a helpful role in determining when we need to speak forcefully against false doctrine.  What I mean is that Paul was obligated first to deal with false doctrine in front of him in order to be a faithful witness for Jesus to Sergius Paulus.  Christians should learn from his example and deal with those false doctrines that occur nearest or in closest proximity to them by speaking openly and fairly.
o   Finally, notice that Paul encountered this opposition when trying to lead a man to faith in Jesus Christ.  This is perhaps the greatest lesson for most believers.  Elymas had to be dealt with because he directly hindered (or at least attempted to) the faith of Sergius Paulus.  In the context of our commission as witnesses for Christ we will be opposed, as Jesus warned: “you will be hated by all for my name’s sake,” (Matthew 10:22).  What the world cannot stand is a Christian who seeks to persuade others of the Good News of Jesus: there is one God who demands our perfect worship, but we have all rebelled in sin and cannot remedy the ensuing divide between God and man, so God in His gracious plan sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for sin and to rise victoriously from the dead, and now we must respond by turning from our sin and to Jesus alone in faith to be saved from God’s just wrath against our sin.
o   When the Gospel is opposed, we must speak up as faithful witnesses of Jesus.

·         “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment,” (Romans 13:1-2).
o   Paul here was speaking to churches in Rome, who were ruled by Caesar who ruled over the Roman Empire.  Few could claim to have faced ruling authorities more opposed in worldview to Christianity than Christians living in first-century Rome.
o   And, Paul told these Christians, living in a very secular state, to submit to governing authorities.
o   The verb Paul used for “be subject” is defined as recognizing “an ordered structure of the entity to whom appropriate respect is shown.”[2]
o   This should also serve to generally orient the Christian in his or her relationship to the secular state. 
o   Generally, Christians should be law-abiding citizens, working for the good of the worldly state in which they live (remembering our primary citizenship is in heaven).
o   “Be subject to” does not mean we adopt every view of the secular state, but that we generally seek to obey the laws of the land.
o   Would it have been difficult to respect Caesar?  Sure.  And yet, here Paul was commanding them to do just that – and to respect him with obedience.
o   While this does not remove the command to be witnesses for Christ, including exposing the lies of the opposition, it does provide a guardrail against unrestrained zeal. 
o   Jesus neither needs nor requires our anarchic opposition to worldly powers.  Instead, he calls us to live as obedient citizens, speaking against evil in a godly way, and seeking to persuade any to turn to Jesus Christ for eternal life, being ready and willing to expose false doctrines that oppose the Gospel.



[1] English Standard Version (ESV), and all subsequent citations.  The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
[2] “ὑποτάσσω“ in Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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