CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: PRECEDENTS AND PRINCIPLES FROM SCRIPTURE
Image via WikipediaSince Scripture commands believers to be subject to the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1), no Christian should disobey the government lightly. Christians are to suffer willingly for doing what is right rather than to dishonor the name of Christ for doing what is wrong (1 Peter 3:17). Believers are to be model citizens, adorning their profession of the Gospel with good deeds that are profitable to all (Titus 3:8). Civil disobedience is to be seen as a measure of last—not first—resort for the Christian conscience.
There will be, however, those instances in which the demands of the state come into conflict with the requirements of God. In such cases, what precedents and principles from Scripture should guide the Christian’s conscience?
First, the believer is not to obey the governing authority when the authority commands the believer to do that which Scripture forbids. We find a biblical example in Exodus 1. The Hebrew midwives refused to obey the order of the king of Egypt to kill the newborn male Hebrew children (Ex. 1:1–15). Scripture expressly states that God approved of the midwives’ decision (vv. 20–21). The king of Egypt considered the high fertility rate of his Hebrew subjects a potential threat to his political power. In this instance the king clearly overstepp
Image via Wikipediaed his God-ordained authority by commanding the midwives to commit infanticide, in violation of the moral prohibition against the taking of innocent human life (Ex. 20:13). The king of Egypt was not acting as the servant of God (Rom. 13:4) but had usurped the place of God by demonstrating disregard for human life and by forbidding the Hebrews from worshiping God in the way that God had commanded (Ex. 4:23). God honored the courageous resistance of the midwives, bringing judgment on an oppressive Egyptian government and its false gods through Moses and the plagues (Ex. 6–12).A modern parallel to this biblical account emerged when the leaders of the People’s Republic of China forced couples who violated the government’s one-child-per-family policies to have abortions. Whatever population problems the Chinese leadership faces, no human government has the authority to destroy innocent human lives made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–28). Such flagrant violations of fundamental human rights highlight the dangers of concentrated, unchecked political power.
Image via WikipediaDuring the Babylonian exile Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down before the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had erected (Dan. 3:1). Undaunted by the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace, the young men calmly stated, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up” (vv. 17–18). Daniel and his friends knew that in the matter of idolatry there could be no compromise (Ex. 20:3–5), and that under these circumstances they had “to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).The early Christian leader Polycarp, bishop of the church of Smyrna in Asia Minor, faced a similar situation in 156 A.D. The Roman authorities required him to swear ultimate allegiance to Caesar and the authority of the Roman government by publicly confessing the oath “Caesar is Lord” and by offering sacrifice. Polycarp refused, saying, “Eighty and six years have I served Him (Christ), and He has done me no wrong: How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Polycarp refused to compromise and was burned at the stake in the stadium, a martyr for his faith in Jesus Christ.
In the current American legal and moral climate, “gay rights” legislation conflicts with the biblical standards of sexual conduct under which churches are to operate. If, for example, the law were to be so construed as to prevent a church from disciplining an elder for homosexual practices, the chur
Image via Wikipediach’s obligation would be clear. Scripture requires church officers to be “above reproach” (1 Tim. 3:2); those who bear the name of Christ and who persist in flagrant immorality must be removed from the fellowship of the church (1 Cor. 5:11–13). If the law of the state conflicts with the law of God, the church must be willing to pay the price for obeying God rather than men.The second principle that emerges from a study of Scripture is that the believer is not to obey the governing authority when the authority forbids the believer to do what Scripture commands. Daniel faced such a situation during his exile in Babylon. His political enemies realized that they would not be able to find any fault with him “unless we find it in connection with the law of his God” (Dan. 6:5). They persuaded the king to pass a law which made it illegal, for a 30-day period, to pray to anyone except the king. Daniel continued his custom of praying three times a day, was arrested, and then thrown into the lions’ den, from where he was miraculously rescued (Dan. 6:19–24
Image by Getty Images via @daylife). God had rewarded Daniel’s faithfulness and courage.In the book of Acts Jewish authorities charged Peter and John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). This public teaching was in the wake of the dramatic healing of the lame man who had laid at the Beautiful Gate in the temple. Peter and John replied to the authorities, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (vv. 19–20). Peter and John knew with certainty that they were under a divine obligation to make disciples of all nations and to teach in the name and authority of the risen Christ (Matt. 28:19–20). They knew that they were to be Christ’s witness
Image by Getty Images via @daylifees, beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). They continued to preach, knowing that they had to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).Thus, when the governing authority either commands the believer to do what Scripture forbids, or forbids the believer to do what Scripture commands, in such cases a Christian must “obey God rather than men.” Because the disciple of Jesus Christ recognizes the divine obligation to submit to legitimate authority, civil disobedience for the Christian is never a course of first resort, and is done with a heavy heart. Nevertheless, the believer knows that ultimate loyalty and obedience is to be rendered not to Caesar but to God alone, and that the sovereign God will honor courageous and costly acts of Christian obedience in the future as He has in the past
