For many Americans today, there has been a general waking-up from the comfortable idea that our government’s decisions don’t directly impact our lives. The topic of politics has always been a hot one, but today it’s become volcanic. The questions of how to vote, what cause to support, and which tribes to align ourselves with dominate our social consciences. For Christians today, many of us have gotten accustomed to dusting off half-remembered, sunday-school doctrines about submission to government and honoring the emperor (Rom. 13:1–7; 1 Pet 2:13–25). But does the Bible really teach us to support the government when it tells us to submit? Can these verses really apply to supporting a presidential candidate or even the American government at large? With a little digging, I think you’ll find the Scriptures, and the Church’s interpretation of Scriptures over the centuries, are saturated with God’s wisdom for His people living under ungodly governments.
I grew up in a middle-class Christian conservative home, and although my parents were vocal about their political views, I tended to maintain a hands-off approach to politics. From what I could tell from reading my Bible and going to church, some of the best wisdom Scripture had to offer about government and politics came from the epistles, which tell Christians to simply submit to the government. The pastor would often make an effort to translate this into modern American terms, talking about voting and paying income tax and so on. This wasn’t always very satisfying for me, but who was I to argue with what’s there in Scripture?
It wasn’t until recently—with the most recent election, Iran, Covid, the race-riots—that I began to wrestle with my posture towards the government as a Christian. Was my silence toward politics the Christ-like thing to do? On the other hand, was involvement in politics what Christ would do? The bottom line was I, like many middle-class American Christians, was comfortable with the life my government offered me, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to look at the mess behind the star-spangled curtain. So long as our nation’s decisions didn’t interrupt my personal peace and happiness, I was happy to “submit” and be silent.
But the fact remains, although I am free to ignore what goes on in our government and go about my normal life, others don’t have that privilege and are directly affected by the injustices and neglect of the most powerful men in our nation. This led me back to those verses which people throw at you when you talk negatively about government in most Christian circles: Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–25; and Titus 3:1.
I’m not going to argue that the biblical writers didn’t mean what they said when they wrote submit yourselves to ruling authorities, but I do assert that we make a certain interpretive fallacy when we imply from these verses that it is the Christian’s duty to support the government. In fact, I argue that these particular passages were actually meant to be understood as being subversive to worldly governments and that Scripture at large condemns the idea of human government from cover to cover. Sound backwards, doesn’t it? That’s because we’ve been raised on a half-baked theology of human governments, one which does not align with Scripture or the views of the Church of history.
What Scripture Says
So what does Scripture say about governments? To find out we have to go back—way back to Genesis. In the beginning, Scripture tells us, there was a world perfectly governed by God and His heavenly council. He plants a garden in Eden and gives it for mankind to rule over in His image, (literally His “imagers”: representations of His heavenly authority on the earth). Humankind, like all of God’s creation, was made to reflect His perfect will in creation.
Fast forward to Genesis 11. Mankind has fallen, choosing their own knowledge of right and wrong instead of God’s true and good knowledge of life. Now we’re living in a kind of half-life, without connection to God’s knowledge of how to live the right life. We are living in physical bondage to death, struggle, and disease. It’s here we see the first human government at the tower of Babel, springing up as a necessity for human life in a world threatened constantly by death. From a modern perspective, this infant nation had all the potential to become a utopia. With great communication between races, general safety and affluence, and plenty of jobs making bricks and building the tower, you have the building bricks of a healthy civilization. But God chooses to break up the party and send everyone packing. Why? This is where we see the beginning of a rivalry which threads its way through every page of the Bible.
Basically, God is mankind’s tree of life—He has what humanity needs to live eternally, if only they will submit themselves to live under His rule. This rulership of God—on earth as it is in heaven—is what the Bible calls: “the Kingdom of God”. On the flipside, you have what is present at the tower of Babel: a human, brick-made superstructure devised to cheat death and make humans the ones in the driver’s seat—the Kingdom without the King. This is present anywhere humankind plants its own flag in the earth and does what’s right in its own eyes—the rulership of the human will without God. This alternative, rebel kingdom the Bible calls by a few names, but most prevalently: “Babylon”.
Fast forward again to 1 Samuel 8. God has produced a single nation out of Babel called Israel. He did this through Abraham who was characterized by obedience to the will of God—which is the fingerprint of the Kingdom of God. However, Israel hasn’t exactly been a Kingdom of God poster child. They complain, doubt, insist on their own wills over God’s will, and generally exhibit all the symptoms of Babylon-relapse. Now we see them in the promised land, amid all of God’s promises being fulfilled, even having Samuel serving as the mouthpiece of God’s will. But Israel is discontent. They still insist on having a human ruler, “like all the nations” (v. 5). God tells Samuel to let the people have their way, not because it was right, but because “they have rejected me from being king over them”. God’s people willfully opted out of the Kingdom of God and chose Babylon instead. Although we like the stories of king David and the monarchy, remember this wasn’t God’s plan A. However, nothing could ruin God’s plan to establish His Kingdom perfectly on earth as it is in heaven.
Fast forward once again to the prophets, at the threshold of the New Testament. Word’s been going around that God will send a perfect servant who will bring His Kingdom to earth. We’re given an eerie amount of detail about this coming Messiah, and we’re told that “the government will be on His shoulders” (Isa. 9:6). We’re told that He will be a suffering servant of God (Isa. 53), and that He will bring Jubilee, which is the emancipation of slaves and the returning of property to God’s people (Isa. 61). This Messiah would bring an end to all the oppression and injustice weighed against God’s people. In first century Israel, reeling under the imperial boot of Rome, nothing could inspire more hope than this coming political savior of Israel.
Then it finally happens. The Messiah appears, only not at all like the world wanted Him to appear. He’s born as a refugee and only narrowly makes it to His first birthday because of a human government that wanted to destroy Him. As He begins His ministry as a young man, something becomes quickly apparent—the world’s idea of a savior and God’s idea of a savior are very different. He teaches that the Kingdom of God has already come with Himself. He forgives people of their enormous debts to God and heals them of the consequences of their sins. He talks about the Kingdom of God as now and not yet, and interestingly he frequently uses fruit analogies to talk about God’s way to life—paralleling Eden. To top it all off, He promises to those who obey and follow Him eternal living, which only comes from the tree of life. Eden is back, and better than that, it has a future which cannot be tainted by sin or thwarted by Babylon.
But that’s just a little more than Babylon could tolerate, so they all got together and determined to publicly destroy and humiliate God and His Kingdom-bringer by nailing Him to a cross. This crucial act took Babylon out of the frying pan and into the fire, as the Son of God was raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven.
Now many of us would assume that was the end of the story, but the apostles and the early Church fathers knew otherwise. The resurrection and ascension of Christ meant a few very important things to the first followers of the Way which we tend to overlook today. First, it meant the Kingdom of God had come and now believers are able to live freed from sin and alive in the life-giving will of God with the Spirit of God dwelling in them and energizing them to be like Jesus (Phil. 2:12). Second, it meant that death was no longer an authority over the will of believers (Heb. 2:15)—their greatest joy would be to do the will of God, just like Christ, and if they were killed by Babylon their death only meant that they would be with Christ and the blood would be on Babylon to pay for. Thirdly, and most often ignored in contemporary circles today, Christ’s ascension to the right hand of the Father meant that He had been given authority over all earthly authorities and would hold them to account (Matt. 28:18). There is no longer this kingdom or that kingdom, either human nation or spiritual principality, there is only the active Kingdom of God and those who will face His wrath.
God’s Now Kingdom
But what does all this mean for us today? Obviously, you might say, if God’s Kingdom really had come, we’d have seen unparalleled peace and prosperity from AD 33 onward, right? First off, if you were looking for a brick-and-mortar Kingdom of God which would have human rulers and legislators, get in line with the Pharisees, Maccabees, Judases, and Constantines of history—as Jesus forebodingly said, “they have received their reward” (Matt. 6:2). Also, remember that Christ promised that His followers would suffer persecution, and that there would be wars and plagues and people would chase after their own wayward desires. Babylon would live on, wreaking havoc and trampling God’s servants.
This troubling fact has led many biblical interpreters to ignore Christ’s sovereign rulership and to make the critical error of saying the Kingdom of God will only come when Christ returns in power. The Kingdom of God is now and not yet (Jhn. 18:36–37; Col. 1:13; Rev. 12:10). We are to live as though the Kingdom is actively present, and that it will be completed at the climax of history with Christ’s imminent return. If this point is proving a bit of a stumbling block to you, I encourage you to pick up a little book called “The Gospel of the Kingdom” by George Eldon Ladd, an incredible theologian who revived the understanding of the “now and not yet” Kingdom of God for today’s readers of the Bible.
So, if we’re going to understand Christ as who He was prophesied to be and who He said He was, we have to agree that Jesus came to make the Kingdom of God available to His followers, but not to force it on the whole world just yet. So, in this interim time, Christ gives those who believe in Him the commission to learn from Him, obey Him, become like Him, and to finally be with Him. Ultimately, by following Jesus we are being led back to our original purpose as co-rulers and imagers of God on earth. This He commands with the understanding that He has “overcome the world” (i.e. Babel/Babylon) and that we are free to live in His Kingdom no matter who we are or where we live—we have one flag, and that’s the cross of Jesus.
This was understood principally well by the early Church fathers, such as: Clement, Augustine, Tertullian, and others. Evidenced largely in their writings is a conviction of Christ’s sovereign rulership over the world. At the same time, they lived in a world dominated by Rome (which the Apostle John frequently referred to under the moniker of “Babylon”). They read and wrote about the Scriptures for breakfast and had Christ’s words ringing fresh in their heads. They too wrestled with verses like Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–25; and Titus 3:1, though not so much as we do today, and their conclusions were often very far from our tacit political indulgence promoted among American Christians today. Here are a few key quotes regarding government from a few of these incredible men of God:
I owe no duty to the forum, the election-ground, or the senate-house….All the powers and dignities of this world are not only alien to, but enemies of, God; that through them, punishments have been determined against God’s servants; through them, too, penalties prepared for the impious are ignored (Tertullian).
Justice is love serving God only, and therefore ruling well all else, as subject to man (St. Augustine Of the Morals of the Catholic Church)
We are to scorn trying to ingratiate ourselves with kings or any other men—not only if their favor is to be won by murderers, licentiousness, or deeds of cruelty—but even if it involves impiety towards God, or any servile expressions of flattery and fawning (Origen).
We have been set free from the world. We have become citizens of heaven. This verse does not imply, according to John Chrysostom, that the apostle now wants us to be subject once again to earthly powers and to obey them. No, we are to obey them as free people, honoring the one who has delivered us and who has told us to do this for his sake. (Oecumenius Commentary on 1 Peter).
None of us offers resistance when he is seized, or avenges himself for your unjust violence, although our people are numerous and plentiful….it is not lawful for us to hate, and so we please God more when we render no requital for injury….we repay your hatred with kindness (St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage).
Just a short reading of all the Church Fathers have to say about the topic of government tells us that the orthodox view of worldly authorities is hardly a binary question. We are neither actively for nor actively against government in itself. Christians are not anarchists determined to tear down and build up governments for God, nor are we part of the system—we are something else entirely. We are members of “the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10), even as we live on earth amid nations, state governments, and institutions. The Christian life is not compatible with government (1 Jhn. 2:15).
What we gather from the Church Fathers is an understanding of submission to government which holds it continually against the backdrop of God’s rulership, both present and coming. There is no sense of turning a blind eye to government-sponsored injustices, rather they are boldly spoken against as incompatible with the will of God. Violence, gluttony, flattery, negligence to the disenfranchised, and all forms of vices are blatantly exposed and flagged by the Church—as if Christians, though in the world, are living in an alternate Kingdom which condemns these things. They played the role of the whistle-blower bravely, often leading to the loss of their property or to death.
All the while, they knew the commands of Christ by heart—knowing that the love of one’s enemies, the purging of one’s pride, and the mentality of a servant which comes with the formation of Christ in oneself (Gal. 4:19)—makes it so you cannot both be a follower of Christ and an active participant in the world’s politics. They were aware that the Christian’s race was not to climb the ladder or participate in Babylon, a system of sin that was destined for destruction at Christ’s return. Rather, the Christian’s race was and is to serve God and love Christ in the counter-cultural, alternative nation of the Kingdom of God.
What To Do About It
So what does this mean for the submission passages of Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–25; and Titus 3:1? It should be clear by now that, in light of Scripture and Church history, these cannot be blanket-verses to defend our predisposition to support government. I mentioned earlier that these verses were in fact meant to be understood as subversive to worldly governments, and I hope by now it’s clear why. These verses echo a trait of Christianity which led many early Christians to their martyrdom, namely that “Jesus Christ is Lord”, a phrase which symbolized denial of Caesar’s claim to divinity. The authority behind the earthly authority in these passages is the Lord Himself, not the king, and the kind of authority which is praised is the execution of justice and the keeping of the peace—something a Christian is never on the wrong side of.
Where the decisions of the state rose against the faith of the Church and the teachings of Jesus was where the line was drawn. Jesus summarized this principle neatly, when He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). God has the greatest claim on us as believers, and part of that claim is our loyalty and devotion to our nation—which is exclusively the Kingdom of God.
America’s laws and values may appear for now to align closely to the values of Christ’s teaching, but the American government—like all governments before it—is another Babylon at best and has no claim on us as citizens of heaven. So I challenge you, in light of what you’ve just read, to consider what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God for you as someone living in the United States. I sincerely believe if every professing Christian truly made an effort to put Jesus’ teaching into practice we would see the end of oppression and injustice in America. So why don’t we? You, as a believer in Christ, are cut from a heavenly cloth—you are a member of the only nation with real authority—the Kingdom of God. For Christians in America today I propose a third way, an alternative to political activism or political denial: call rulers to account. Stop thinking as if religion and politics are in separate containers, God is over them both and is grieved when any nation allows injustice. Refuse to be silent, and refuse to toe the party line—speak for the Kingdom of God on earth. Submit to authorities, bearing always in mind who is truly in authority, and what He says is right.
Ask yourself, have you allowed yourself to plug your ears to sin and injustice in order to support a political party or candidate? Do you have confidence that Christ is truly on the throne and commands your allegiance to His nation’s interests? I believe these are some of the most important questions to ask as a Christian in America today, because one day we may not have the luxury of ignoring them. Until then, I know for myself, there is no flag but the cross of Jesus.
To the Root: The Vicar and the Bat