God and Government

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter 2.

Intro: As the elections draw near, many people have a great deal of anxiety and fear concerning the outcome. In the past decade or so, our nation has become increasingly polarized and divided, and many Christians are also divided amongst themselves on political and social issues. While in times past you could count on news agencies to try to present the facts in an unbiased way—or at very least, to try to hide their biases—nowadays, the curtain has been pulled back and news agencies openly flout their bias.

For many people, Christians included, this political turmoil and tension causes a lot of anxiety. They don’t know who to believe, who to trust, or how to integrate their faith politics. It seems like Christianity grows increasingly marginalized year by year as our culture grows to resemble Romans 1 more and more.

Romans 1:21 ESV

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Some react in panic. “What will we do if (the other candidate) wins this election?!?!” Others react in anger and frustration, spewing hate and disrespect all over social media with hashtags like #notmypresident, #fakenews, and so on. Still others see conspiracies under every rock and think it their duty to expose the conspiracies and hold corrupt leaders accountable.

But, political tension, divisions, conspiracies, marginalization of Christianity, and the downward spiral of humanity are nothing new. In fact, the period of time when the NT was written was perhaps one of the most unstable, dangerous, and immoral times in history.

In fact, Peter’s first letter was probably written just shortly before an outburst of Christian persecution in the Roman Empire. Many scholars think that he wrote 1 Peter just a year or two before Nero’s intense persecution of Christians in Rome in the year AD64. Already, Peter and other Christians could see the signs of a more severe persecution on the horizons. Perhaps Carpenters and other tradesmen were struggling to find business because they refused to participate in emperor worship. Caligula, who had reigned as emperor in AD 37-41 had demanded to be worshipped as a god (he even tried to have an image of himself installed in the temple in Jerusalem) and Nero followed suit as well in AD 54-68.

The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament Chapter 20: The Book of Revelation

Inscriptional evidence demonstrates that the emperors Augustus and Caligula were considered gods. The use of the term theos (“god”), although rare, attests to the fact that worshippers esteemed emperors by elevating them to a status far above that of regular mortals. Often emperors were so closely associated with patron deities that the worshippers made no distinction between them. The cult employed all the trappings and paraphernalia of rituals common to any religious practice. Images of the emperor or his family members greeted worshippers in the form of massive statues.146 Some of these images included mechanisms to mimic lightning and thunder, reinforcing the emperor’s identification with the god Jupiter. Adherents offered prayers to these statues and sometimes carried smaller pocket-sized versions of imperial figures.148

Christians who refused to participate in such idolatry were marginalized. They were excluded from business opportunities, they were spoken ill of, accused falsely, taken advantage of in courts, and so on. Many, like Peter and Paul, had been imprisoned or beaten for their faith. Some had been martyred, but it would only get worse. Sometime shortly after Peter wrote this letter, a fire broke out in Rome. Many people suspected that Nero had set the blaze to make room for a more elaborate palace structure. So Nero needed a scapegoat, and he found it in the Christians in Rome. A brutal persecution broke out in Rome and Nero reportedly used Christians as human torches to provide light for his party guests.

In this context, with the threat of persecution breathing down their necks, with friends, loved ones, and fellow Christians already suffering financially and physically for their faith, Peter writes these words.

1 Peter 2:11–17 ESV

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Prayer for illumination

When we look in 1 Peter, we see a situation which is familiar, even if it’s not exactly the same as our situation today. We see Christians struggling to live out their faith in a culture that revels in idolatry and debauchery, that marginalizes and mocks Christianity; a culture whose government always seems one step shy of being completely given over to immorality. And we don’t even have time for me to talk about the rampant homosexuality, cult prostitution, drunkenness, and so on that plagued Roman society.

How is a Christian supposed to live out their faith in such a context? And, more specifically, how should a Christian relate to a government which is teetering on the edge of outright persecution of Christians?

Peter, probably writing this letter from Rome, the capital city of the Empire, gives us two main ways that we can demonstrate our faith to an unbelieving world.

Keep yourself free from sin. Why?

Because you are a foreigner in a strange country carefree living can destroy you(v. 11-12)

Peter is writing to the “elect exiles”

1 Peter 1:1 ESV

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Expatriate, exile, sojourner—all refer to people who are temporarily living in a place that is not their home country.

Expatriates have to be careful how they act--they stick out and people are watching them more carefully

They can’t walk around acting like they own the place; they live with an ever present consciousness that they are on someone else’s turf.

When expats act like they are in their home country, they usually end up in trouble.

Take this story about a young British woman named Asa Hutchinson (not the governor of Arkansas!) who got herself into trouble in Dubai:

A young British expat faces prison after witnessing a fight in a Dubai hotel lobby, a campaign group says.

Asa Hutchinson's friends got involved in a row with a drunk Swedish man who had fallen asleep on a sofa.

Detained in Dubai said the man reported it to police but as her friends had left the United Arab Emirates, the 21-year-old was being "victimised" because she lives there.

The Foreign Office said it had assisted Miss Hutchinson following the incident.

It added it was "ready to provide further help if requested".

Miss Hutchinson, originally from Chelmsford, Essex, faces charges of assault, theft and fraud following the incident which happened in 2016.

She said she "could not cope" with going to jail.

Detained in Dubai, which is representing Miss Hutchison, said the argument started after her friends took selfies with the man, aged in 50s, while he was asleep and he woke up.

He started punching them but they fled. The man called the police and the young men were taken to Bur Dubai police station.

Detained in Dubai said Miss Hutchinson's friends managed to get their passports back and have flown home.

When the man found out that Miss Hutchinson lives in the UAE and is still there, he transferred the charges to her, the organisation said.

Miss Hutchinson, an account manager for a global transportation company, has been bailed and a court date is yet to be fixed.

Radha Stirling, chief executive of Detained in Dubai, said: "In Dubai, if two parties are in dispute or arguing, the first person to speak to the police is usually the one who is believed. Often it is a race to get to the police first."

She added: "It is clear in this case that Asa was a bystander, not involved with the fight and is only being victimised because the alleged culprits have left the country."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-42170203

We can sympathize with poor Asa. She didn’t do anything deserving of prison time. In fact, the drunk man seems to have done much more wrong than she. But, she failed to recognize that she was in a strange place. She did what she would have done in New York. But she wasn’t in New York, she was in Dubai.

Many American Christians today live and act like they own America. They tout their rights, their religious freedoms, demand that everyone in America submit to God’s law. They say “America is a Christian nation, it was founded on biblical principles.” Well, perhaps it was. But look around you! Does it feel like a Christian nation today? We are NOT the majority anymore. We are exiles. Our true citizenship is in heaven.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be involved in trying to bring about change.

But it does mean we need to change our attitudes and how we bring about that change. Pride and anger are not effective means of displaying the gospel, in fact, they display the opposite!

When I’m in a village in Papua New Guinea and a tribal fight breaks out, I don’t just throw my hands up and say, “Well, that’s just how they do it here. It’s not my problem to intervene in tribal fights, that’s their business.” No, I do try to make change. But I have to do it humbly. I recognize that I’m out of my element. I’m outnumbered. I have no power to force change—even Jesus himself didn’t do that!--so I have to quietly model what a Christian response looks like, teach and disciple those who will listen, and be patient for God to bring about the change in their lives.

Change in America will not come about by forcing the pagans around us to submit to our moral code, but only through “keeping our conduct honorable among the Gentiles”

Because our lives either serve to reinforce what we say we believe, or detract from it. (v. 12)

The way we live should give no excuse for criticism from unbelievers.

People will always spread rumors about people they don’t know well

Many pagans thought that Christians engaged in cannibalism during their communion services, because they were held in private and there was a misunderstanding of Jesus’ “eat my flesh” command

But, through their consistent testimony and lives that were honorable, these lies were eventually exposed.

When you go out to eat, do you treat your server well?

Do you flip people off on the highway on the way to/from church with a Jesus fish on your bumper?

Do you speak harshly about people on the opposing side of the political fence? And that brings us to our second point...

Submit to human governments

Remember, Peter is telling us “This is how you ought to live your lives in a way that is consistent with the gospel, and that extends even into the realm of politics.”

‘for the Lord’s sake’--Our faith demands that we acknowledge God’s sovereignty over human kingdoms. (v. 13)

Paul gives us a fuller explanation in Romans 13:

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

1 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Remember, Paul and Peter are saying this not in the context of a “Christian nation,” or even in an Old Testament context—they’re saying this about Nero and Caligula!

Even the most immoral, unworthy, evil rulers have no power except what God grants them

And that means that ALL government rulers have been instituted by God

When Christians refuse to submit to human governments, speak ill of their leaders, refuse to pay taxes, and obey the law that communicates:

first, a lack of submission to God’s authority, since that government is an extension (however imperfect) of God’s authority

second, a lack of trust in God to provide for them under imperfect or even downright bad leaders.

When Christians quietly submit to human rulers, pray for them, pay their taxes, and obey the law that communicates:

first, a humble submission to God’s authority, since that government is an extension (however imperfect) of God’s authority

second, a deep faith in God to provide for them under imperfect or even downright bad leaders.

Do not use freedom as an excuse for evil (v. 16)

Some in Paul’s time argued:

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Throughout history, people have tried to use their Christian freedom as an excuse for sin.

Some Christians refuse to pay taxes because they don’t want to “support sin”

You don’t think that Roman taxes went to support sin? Temples, executions of Christians, parties, etc.

Kent Hovind*

Argued that the government’s authority “stops at the door of the Church”

Refused to incorporate his church and ministry as a 501(c)3 organization

Refused to pay taxes

Was sentenced to 10 years prison on 58 felony counts of tax evasion and fraud in 2006

Subsequently divorced, on his third marriage.

Honor the emperor, but fear God

Note that Peter says to give honor to the emperor, as you give honor to everyone, but he says to fear only God.

Our rulers are worthy of our respect, but not our fear. We should only fear God

Don’t live in fear of conspiracies

Is. 8—conspiracy between Assyria and Israel

Isaiah 8:11–15 ESV

11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Do not be consumed with fear about politics and conspiracies. Place your faith in God and don’t worry about what men may scheme.

Conclusion

As Christians, how we relate to government and politics ought to flow naturally out of our faith in Christ. We live as exiles in this world, not flouting our freedoms and demanding our rights, but humbly showing the world around us a better way to live. We rest in the confidence that regardless of what happens in the political arena, our hope is in God who is sovereign over all.

Bibliography

Köstenberger, Andreas J., L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L Quarles. The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016.

BBC News Online. “British expat faces Dubai jail for 'witnessing' hotel row,” last updated 29 November 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-42170203

O’Reilly, Peter J. Forbes Online Magazine. "The Trials Of Kent Hovind - An American Tragedy,” last updated May 5, 2015. https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2015/05/05/the-trials-of-kent-hovind-an-american-tragedy/#61a2c24b5e9b