After last week’s posting of “the Elephant in the Room,” which was a look at what I believe the Bible teaches about a woman’s ministry
in the New Testament church, several readers cancelled their subscriptions. The posting was not a detailed study but just a brief survey of what I believe the Lord has shown me in my heart. That insight seems to be antithetical to today’s feminist culture and an unpopular position to a vast majority of today’s church-goers.
Surprisingly, I discovered I was fine with that! I realize that we are all on different roads on our journey to the City with Foundations, and no one has yet arrived, including me! I simply want to proclaim, naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU), what this octogenarian “little child” believes to be biblical truth, at this time in his journey,
From that perspective, today I want to investigate the third institutional weapon God has given us to use to fulfill our commission to “rule over the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28), the Civil Government. This three-pronged approach to man’s rule (family, church, and civil government), called “Sphere Sovereignty,” was first proposed by Abraham Kyper, a Dutch Reformed theologian/politician at the conclusion of the 19th century.
Just as with the other two weapons, today’s typical Christian doesn’t yet grasp the importance of doing our best to have a biblical civil government. It is crucial that we understand that all three of these institutions are vital and must be functioning biblically if the Lord’s Prayer is to be answered: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
There are three passages of Scripture in the New Testament, two written by Paul and one by Peter, that I believe give us great insight into what that biblical Civil Government looks like:
“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. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil (Romans 13:1-4)
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1, 2)
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13, 14)
All three of these passages were written while Paul and Peter lived under the reign of Nero, whose government bore absolutely no resemblance to anything they wrote! From these obviously divinely inspired passages, I want to look at the Civil Government’s task, its limitations, its methods, and then next week, some examples of what this would look like today.
Biblical Civil Government’s Task – I believe these three passages of Scripture enumerate only two tasks for civil government—PUNISHING law-breakers and PROTECTING law-keepers. All other activities by the civil government are encroachments upon the responsibilities, freedom and liberty of family, church and free-enterprise activities.
Biblical Civil Government’s Limitations – First, we must realize that sin and crime are not the same. Sin is internal, a matter of the heart. Crime is external only, a matter of physical action. There is no such thing as a “hate crime.” The civil government is not concerned with sin, only crime; sin that expresses itself physically!
The “punishment/protection limitation” means that education, the economy, road construction, communication, postal service, etc. all fall within the sphere of non-governmental activities. Police, Armed Forces, Fire Departments, and any other organization designed to protect us from attack or harm remain under government control.
Biblical Civil Government’s Methods – In Rousas Ruchdoony’s classic Institutes of Biblical Law he outlines the methods the Civil Government uses to perform this two-fold task. Rushdoony summarized the government’s methods of punishment, depending on the crime, as being RESTITUTION, PUBLIC FLOGGING, INDENTURED SERVITUDE and EXECUTION. He contended that incarceration was not a permanent punishment method, but only temporary until final punishment was decided.
Next week I want to look at what we must realize about where we are as a nation and then what we can do to help move our nation toward being a biblical one. Stay tuned!
