Godly government 4

I vividly remember this presentation Ken Ham (of Answers in Genesis) used to give:

The foundation of civil government is religious and is thus established within Scripture. The Bible reveals that the manner civil governors are to rule is to be ministerial. This is the same for all forms/types of government (e.g. family, church and state). All governors (e.g. parents, pastors, senators, etc) are to define their duties, responsibilities and jurisdictions from the pages of Scripture. We must remember that no area of life is religiously void or neutral ( 1 Corinthians 10:31 ), all thoughts and institutions are either brought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5 ) or wages war against Christ, His people and kingdom. Civil government ideology either submits to Christ or it rages against Him ( Psalm 2 ). Over the coming months I will address the form (i.e. size, structure, power, duties and responsibilities) of civil government from a Biblical perspective in more detail. For now I will assert that the Scriptures present a structure that is decentralised in power and has limited authority. Even the Israelite kings were to have limited authority and power. I will continue to flesh this out in future articles.

Biblical salvation is “restoration to covenant fellowship and life with God based on the redemptive work of Christ. The Old Testament word for salvation, however, specifically focuses on restoration to the garden of Eden, in that it means literally ‘to put into a large, open place .’The name Joshua’ comes from this word, and Joshua was a savior in this sense indeed. Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, (i.e., to conquer all the places of the world), shows Him to be the Savior, and indeed the name ‘Jesus is simply the New Testament form of ‘Joshua.’ Thus, Biblical salvation entails not simply the establishment of the Church, but entails the restoration of the whole fabric of life, including social life.”[2] Thus, salvation has a broader impact than plucking souls from hell. It’s outworking is the bringing of every fabric of creation under the reign and rule of the ascended and enthroned Christ. Since the fall this idea is despised by man. Sinful men desire to have dominion and rule over God’s creation autonomously, with direct unaccountable authority. Fallen man desires to be like God, possessing absolute authority to dispense his will according to his own character/law. This was Satan’s lie in the garden; he presented the original statist framework to our first parents. He tempted them to disregard God’s Law when dispensing judgment and while shaping the world.

 “When God rules over a man, He provides him with his (external) Word, and influences him to obedience by His (internal) Spirit. When one man tries to rule another man, the situation is different. He [a man] provides him with an external word of command, but he cannot reach within his neighbor to influence him within. Thus, he must influence him externally, by force, by threat of violence. It is the state which is the repository of force, the threat of the sword. Sinful man, then, turns to the state to enforce his attempted sovereignty.”[3] The wicked understand the need for a type of salvation from the many problems (“evils”) in life and society. They desire the provision of their “daily bread.” Sinful men have turned to the state for salvation throughout the history of the world. Granting the civil state “unbridled” authority and power creates a society that is dependant upon her government for salvation. In other words, the statist civil government is Messianic. Babel encapsulated the Messianic nature of statism. Men banded together to make a name for themselves, they desired to be safe and have their daily provisions provided and safeguarded. The tower was the centre piece of a Messianic state, a government that usurped God’s sovereignty and imposed its own autonomous will upon the people. A sovereign civil government is the application of a religious framework. It asserts the autonomy of man over all of life. Australia is rapidly moving down the path of a federal government that has control over all of life (health, education etc).

What concerns me with the political environment in Australia is that there seems to be no Biblical alternative. Don’t get me wrong, there are a number of Christian political parties and candidates. However, there doesn’t seem to be a voice for small, non-intrusive government in this land. Our political structure of Federal and State governments (and the houses therein) was created to decentralise power (i.e. not one large government with all power and authority) in order to protect people from the implementation of a statist government. Socialism, communism, social democracy and any other form of statism is not faithful to the Scriptures. Giving to the poor and needy should not be at the threat of violence (e.g. redistributing income through Centrelink payments fed from an graduated income tax system). To me the issues of sodomite marriage, abortion, euthanasia and all the other “big ticket items” will always be there until we examine the foundations of civil government authority, power and jurisdiction from a Biblical perspective. This will only occur when God’s people take God’s Word so seriously that they are committed to live and die by it. This will take the work of the Holy Spirit moving peoples’ hearts. The foundation of government structure, authority and power is religious, Christians need to understand this and examine all things from the pages of Scripture.

End notes

[1] All information concerning King Alfred the Great was gleaned from Dr. Francis Nigel-Lee’s work: King Alfred the Great and our Common Law, cited 17/08/2010: http://www.dr-fnlee.org/docs6/alfred/alfred.pdf.

[2] Jordan, JB, The Law of the Covenant – An Exposition of Exodus 21-23 , Institute for Christian Economics, 1984, p. 240. You can download this book free in PDF here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/pdf/jjlc.pdf. 

[3] Ibid., Jordan, 1984, p. 241.