SCP JOURNAL 31:2-31:3
Conditional
Submission
By Alan
Morrison
The Christian's Relationship
With Earthly Government
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves." (Rom.13:1-2)
THE ISSUE
The Christian has a very special relationship with earthly government. It is not like the relationship that the unbeliever has with the powers which rule this world. For the believer knows that all government in the cosmos has been instigated by God for His own special purposes: "He removes kings and raises up kings" (Dan.2:21). As He says Himself:
"I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me." (Jer.27:5).
The believer knows that it is God who is the real Governor of everything, regardless of what atheistic or idolatrous human beings may believe about their earthly masters:
"For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another." (Psa.75:6-7)
Thus, the believer always looks to the Lord as his Governor and sees all those who are in earthly governmental power as mere agents and ministers of that divine government.
Because of this relationship and understanding
which the Christian has regarding earthly government, it would thus be impossible
for true believers to become lawless 
anarchists. Like their mentor, Jesus
Christ, they understand very well the evil which resides in the human heart
(Mark 7:20-23). Like Him, they know "what is in man" (Jn. 2:25) and they realize that such overarching
waywardness needs firm government and continual oversight.
It is here that we come to ask a number of questions:
- When did a global, divinely-appointed form of civil authority first occur?
- How and why did governmental nation-states come into being as administrators of civil authority?
- Is there any kind of civil government especially favored by the lord?
- What is the christian's relationship with civil authority?--i.e., do we obey no matter what?
Excerpt from the article......below
What is the Christian's Relationship with Civil Authority?
The relationship between the Christian and the civil authority is clearly laid down in Scripture. We must always be very careful to ensure that we really do understand what the Scripture says about such matters rather than merely going along with what has become a common but inadequate interpretation and body of opinion in the Christian scene.
It is important to realize that there are two ways of undermining Scripture. The first is to distort it completely so that it comes to mean something completely different from its original intention. The second is to fall short of the fullness of what the Lord intended in the Scripture, so that it no longer carries a three-dimensional message. Many otherwise well-meaning people commit this second form of misinterpretation. Usually this is because of some fear of the full implications of what the Bible teaches at that point. The outcome of both forms of misinterpretation is the same: the twisting of Scripture and an expectation that others will follow suit--those not doing so being labeled as "heretics" and "mavericks."
Allow me to elaborate on this a little with an examination of the text in Romans 13 and other texts. There are important issues at stake which many may not have considered. First and foremost:
WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD OVER ALL AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD
"There is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." (Rom.13:1)
Everything which comes to pass has been decreed by the Lord. Even leaders who are popularly elected have been so elected through His will.
However, this does not mean that He positively approves of everyone who rises to civil office. For here we must distinguish between God's Preceptive or Decretive will and His Permissive will.
God's Preceptive or Decretive Will involves those things which He has revealed as being good and pleasing to Him, such as in His commandments (precepts, decrees), etc. On the other hand, His Permissive Will involves those things which are not really pleasing to Him but which He permits to happen for a higher purpose in His providence even though they are actually sinful and wrong. For example, He "permits" (does not intervene) as people are bullied, raped and murdered on a daily basis, yet this is not indicative of His positive approval of such daily evils. Far from it.
God can permit bad things to happen
in order to fulfill things we cannot see or understand (e.g. Joseph being
sold into slavery by 
his brothers or even the Lord Jesus'
crucifixion.). He permits wars to be waged and leaders to come to power, yet
this does not mean that He positively approves of them. It would therefore
be a mistake to adhere to the following logical syllogism, which is a very
common way of Christian thinking:
First premise: God puts those in power whom He wills to be there.
Second premise: The election of our leader is God's will.
Conclusion: Therefore, we must obey our leader as if he was God's own mouthpiece.
If it could be positively shown that a leader had come to power because the Lord positively approved of Him, then we should indeed obey Him. If the voice of the Lord boomed out across the world saying "This president is my beloved servant. Obey Him," then our actions would be clear.
But we do not have that kind of confirmation about world leaders today, far from it. To be sure, their appointment is a reflection of the will of God, in the sense that people get the leaders they deserve, but this does not mean that these leaders deserve our obedience in all respects, as we will show.
Nevertheless, we must begin with an acknowledgement of His supremacy in all things.
OUR SUBMISSION TO GOVERNANCE IS ROOTED IN THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." (Rom.13:1)
Because the Lord has put in place
civil authority in order to restrain evil and promote the welfare of the people,
believers should support those worthy principles of governance and set an
example by being law-abiding, caring citizens. This is something which we
need to understand well. For our support for good civil authority is really
a witness to our belief in the authority of the Lord and His restraining,
caring hand in this fallen world. However, the corollary of this must surely
be that if we are to be good witnesses to the Lord and His restraining, caring
hand in this fallen world, then we should not support evil civil government,
for to do so would be a bad witness. Many professing Christians do not appreciate
the importance of this fact. Their desire to be faithful to the Lord can be
overshadowed by the fact that they unquestioningly give support and credence
to bad governments as well as good because they assume that the mere existence
of a government is a sign of God's approval of, and support for, that government.
This brings us our next insight from
Romans 13:
OUR SUBMISSION TO GOVERNING AUTHORITIES IS NOT ABSOLUTE BUT CONDITIONAL
Our submission to governing authorities must therefore be seen against the background of the following considerations:
When a Government Does God's Work well, it is Functioning as God's Minister.
"For he is God's minister to you for good" (Rom.13:4).
He expects earthly rulers to be subservient to Him, as we have shown earlier. But what if they are not subservient to Him? What if they fail to keep good law and order, fall into corruption and do not really care for the welfare of the people? What are we to do then?
The answer is surely this:
When a Government Fails to Ratify God's Mandate, it Forfeits the Right to Obedience in Certain Respects from Faithful Christians.
All the ideas in Romans 13:1-7 assume that the civil authority concerned is fulfilling the Lord's mandate on civil government to maintain order and promote the welfare of the people. When such a civil authority is in power then it is indeed "God's minister to you for good."
However, we know very well that governments can fail to fulfill the Lord's mandates to maintain order and promote the welfare of the people (what if such a government turns against its own people by brutalizing them, even enslaving them?). At this point, we have to make important decisions.
For example, if our government decides to wage an unjust, expensive and bloody war, are we expected by the Lord to go along with it, participate in it or tacitly ignore it? Or are we going to refuse to fight and then expose the injustice as a good witness to the Lord?
If our government embarks on a policy of mass arrests and torture as a means of oppressing the people, are we going to keep quiet or are we going to try to ensure that such behavior is outlawed by a responsible body? If our government enacts a law which makes fellowship with other believers illegal, will we roll over and let them scratch our stomachs or will we organize underground meetings?
If our government commands us to identify ourselves with things "beastly" on pain of persecution and death, will we allow ourselves to be so identified or will we refuse to have anything to do with it?
It boils down to this: Will we make ourselves guilty of faithlessness towards the Lord or will we become guilty of civil disobedience in the cause of God's honor and truth?
At this point, some will say that maybe God has deliberately placed an incompetent and/or amoral leader in a position of power as His judgment on a nation and therefore we have to honor that and submit to it. Obviously, He may well have done so. However, whether or not God has done such a thing has no impact on whether or not we submit to ungodly laws or remain silent about atrocities committed by ungodly governments. That is another issue altogether. For, although the Lord may have brought a government to power as a judgment on a people, it is not indicative of His positive approval of that government or its actions.
The fact that God may permit a brutal tyrant to come to power for His own judgmental purposes does not mean that we must therefore approve of that tyrant's actions or that we must obey everything which that tyrant demands of us. On the contrary, if we are to be true to our Christian morality and values, we are distinctly called to civil disobedience under certain circumstances. At the very least, we are entitled to speak publicly and judgementally about the amoral actions of such a cruel, corrupt and rapacious government.
Of course, this does not mean that we are free to break any civil laws which are enacted by a corrupt government. We have to uphold the law of the land at all times if that law does not conflict with the law of God. We are only free to resist those civil laws which go against God's laws. In other words, we are called to obey God rather than men when there is a conflict between the law of God and the laws of men.
In our own day, it seems the empires of the world have devised a plan to usher in a totalitarian world government by stealth. Along with successive previous governments, they have murdered, lied, waged wars and attempted to govern by fear in order to effect this New World Order.
As useful accomplices to this political plan, church leaders have been involved in a plan to usher in an interfaith global religious consensus, a "New Spirituality" which completely destroys the claims of Christ. The New World Order and the New Spirituality are two sides of the same coin, two beasts in their late adolescence, the one political, the other religious, each interfacing with the other. The evidence for all this is inescapable. Yet the majority of professing Christians, it seems, would rather play at being ostriches and ridicule the Noahs of our time than face up to reality and make themselves unpopular.
However, Scripture calls us to "discern the signs of the times" and to avoid taking "the mark of the beast." To engage in those two processes immediately brings us into conflict with the civil authorities; and if we refuse to go along with the lies and activities of mendacious, murderous governments, out of faithfulness to the Lord, we will become guilty of civil disobedience. The Lord will not count us guilty, but the governments will. So be it! For this is may become our calling if things keep progressing.
When the rulers of Israel "strictly commanded" the apostles not to teach others about the truth of Christ, they responded by saying "We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) This is what we can call a "control text" in terms of Rom.13. Good Bible interpretation means that we not only take verses in their context but that we also view them in the light of other texts elsewhere in Scripture which shed some light on, or expand on, or clarify the original text.
By doing a comparison between Rom.13 and Acts 5:29, we can see that when men make ungodly laws, we do not have to submit but we must obey God rather than men. Our duty under law and in matters of civil authority or governance is first and foremost to God.
If a government makes decrees or passes laws which are not in accordance with the laws of God, then we have a right--if not a duty--to become disobedient to the ungodly laws of that government.
To put it even more forcefully, we have a moral duty as representatives of a good and holy God to become a thorn in the side of a wayward or evil government.
When the Apostle John warned us not
to "take the mark of the
beast" (Rev.14:9-11), he was essentially
warning us not to be ensnared by the deceptions of evil governments, with
an eye on the ultimate deception by the ultimate world government under the
imperium of the ultimate fallen man. Taking "the mark of the beast" is a personal
action which has enormous spiritual implications for our souls. To throw
in one's lot with a corrupt antichristian government is a personal action
which has serious fallout in one's spiritual life and for which one must
take responsibility. This is what so many fail to understand today. It is
our duty to look beyond the masks of modern government and to penetrate the 
reality which lies behind the facade.
It is the duty of the Christian to expose and to stand up against corruption in all walks of life. It is certainly one's duty not to endorse, give credence to, or tacitly allow the corruption of civil authorities. As the conservative theologian John Murray put it so succinctly:
"To declare the whole counsel of God in reference to political matters, as well as other matters, is definitely an ecclesiastical function ... If it [the church] is to be faithful to its commission it must make its voice heard and felt in reference to public questions. The church may not supinely stand aside and ignore political corruption, for example, on the ground that to pronounce judgment on such issues is to intermeddle in politics. Political corruption is sin, it is public sin, and the church denies its vocation if it does not reprove it."4
Most Christians seem to think that such civil disobedience or the reproving of civil authorities is not for them but only for those believers who they picture will be around at the time of the end when the Antichrist is in power. However, this is not the case at all. For antichrist with a small "a" is the driving force behind the governmental powers long before the actual "Antichrist" comes onto the world stage. The early Christians faced something similar under the Roman Emperors Nero, Caligula and Domitian and large numbers paid with their lives.
Civil Disobedience in Scripture
Many in Scripture committed acts of civil disobedience in the face of an oppressive governmental power.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego engaged in civil disobedience in Daniel, chapter 3 when they refused to follow the king's command to bow down and worship a gold image. They had God's approval for their refusal to obey the king's order.
Similarly, in Daniel chapter 6, we
read that the prophet refused to obey a governmental decree not to pray to God by praying immediately after the decree had been
signed by 
the king. That too was civil disobedience
but it too had God's approval.
In the Book of Acts, we read that the rulers, elders, and scribes called Peter and John "and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.'" (Acts 4:18-19)
That was blatant, in-your-face civil disobedience. The truth is that if all these faithful people had not committed civil disobedience, it would have been a sin. The Bible clearly shows that it is a serious sin to go along with human law or the will of the people, instead of standing up to them, when those laws are contrary to the law of God (1 Sam.15:24).
To lay aside the commandments of God and meekly follow the traditions of men is likely to get you labeled as a "hypocrite" by the Lord (Mk.7:6-9). On pain of hellfire, we are specifically commanded to become dissidents who practice civil disobedience when the government makes demands of us that would result in us being unfaithful to the law of God (Rev.14:8-13).
This costly obedience is something which is not widely understood or accepted in Christian circles except as some kind of vague notion connected with the Great Tribulation in the future. In fact, any kind of civil disobedience is distinctly frowned upon and those who suggest it are written off as "rebels" or "anarchists."
In our own day, we have seen millions upon millions of professing Christians give vocal public support to governments which practice mass murder and innumerable acts of corruption. Worst of all, they then label those who do not go along with them as being "faithless," "rebellious" and "ungodly." This is a terrible travesty. We could even go so far as to say that it is a sign of apostasy.
I believe that there are a number
of identifiable reasons for this 
misplaced rejection of civil disobedience
and slavish conformity to unbiblical governmental actions and decrees.
Allow me to expand on this.
WHY DO MOST CHRISTIANS MISTAKENLY OPPOSE THE IDEA OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE?
Many seem only to have skimmed through the admonitions in Romans 13 and concluded that submission to civil authority must be total and unquestioning, without ever having thought through the implications of what that might mean when they come under persecution. They seem to be ignorant of the many instances in Scripture where God's faithful servants have had to disobey civil authority in order to remain faithful to the Lord.
This brings us to another reason that Christians might oppose all forms of civil disobedience:
A RELUCTANCE TO GIVE UP EASY AND COMFORTABLE LIFESTYLES
Many go to church and automatically become passive spectators. "Seeker sensitive" mega-churches put almost no demand on such believers who are weaker in commitment and understanding than they care to admit. The idea of making any kind of stand is repugnant to them.
In their experience, becoming a Christian provides a place that they can fit in and conform to a bouquet of norms invented by men, all the while assuring themselves that they are doing fine.
In short, they have bought into "religion in its silver slippers," as Bunyan put it, in his classic novel, The Pilgrim's Progress. This is a fitting description for much of Christianity today. When Bunyan's "Christian" asked the hypocrite, Mr. By-Ends, about himself, he replied:
"My wife is a very virtuous woman, the daughter of a virtuous woman; she was my Lady Feigning's daughter, therefore she came of a very honorable family, and is arrived to such a pitch of breeding, that she knows how to carry it to all, even to prince and peasant. It is true we somewhat differ in religion from those of the stricter sort, yet only in two small points; first, we never strive against wind and tide; secondly, we are always most zealous when religion goes in his silver slippers; we love much to walk with him in the street, if the sun shines, and the people applaud him."5
Most professing Christians today would never dream of striving against wind and tide (even though that is their true calling, Rom. 12:2; Jn. 15:19; 17:14; Gal. 1:4; Jas. 4:4; 1 Jn. .3:13; 5:19) and want only showy, ear-tickling and entertaining religion which the world would never despise. Such people plainly would not become involved in any kind of civil disobedience as it may lead to discomfort and unpopularity and undermine their advancement in the social strata of their adopted church. They are reluctant to give up the comfortable life.
A third reason that most Christians might oppose all forms of civil disobedience is because of
AN UNDERSTANDABLE BUT MISPLACED DESIRE TO MAINTAIN A GOOD REPUTATION
Obviously, one wants to preserve the reputation of Christians and the church as blameless before the world. However, if we are forced to become supporters of evil in order to do that, then we have lost our focus and have created a dichotomy between our expressed faith and our actions.
It would better serve the reputation of the church and the cause of Christ if Christians were seen by the world to oppose evil or corrupt government rather than supporting it, either tacitly or expressly. To oppose such things would be in keeping with our moral and spiritual stance.
The fourth reason that most Christians oppose civil disobedience is because of
THE CONFUSION OF
PATRIOTISM AND UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE TO THE STATE WITH GODLINESS
END OF EXCERPT