Lee Tracy: The Secular State vs. The Theocratic State

Royal Crocus by Holly Cawfield

The Secular State vs. The Theocratic State
Written by Lee Tracy and seen on Open Heaven Forums
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One of the most common misconceptions I come across is this idea that we are here to establish theocratic governments. This concept puts Christians into the position of being opposed to secular governments – essentially in a state of constant rebellion as they seek to establish what they term ‘a Godly government’ opposing any attempts and all attempts by the state to do what is ethically right but perceived as theologically wrong. This is wrong. It is against what the Bible teaches and puts us into the position of being not only wrong under secular Law (rebellion against the State if it goes far enough is termed sedition or treason) but wrong under God’s Law as well.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Romans 13:1-3

Paul’s admonition here is very clear – we are subject to the ruling authorities and that even those ‘ungodly’ secular authorities we feel we have to oppose are instituted by God. Remember Paul was writing to Christians in Rome. By all standards Rome was one of the most secular and corrupt governments of the day totally given over to the lusts of the flesh. In just a few short years Nero would be burning Christians and throwing them to the lions and yet Paul did not suggest opposition to this government.

But let me explain further why the concept of theocratic government is wrong Biblically. There is only one Biblically instituted authority – Jesus. He is the head over all. And there will come a time when Jesus will rule on earth, during the millennial reign of Christ when all rule and authority will be His, and everything will be put under His feet. Until then we are stuck with the rule of man, in a fallen world. Therefore it is wrong for us to elect, raise up, elevate a ruler saying ‘this man rules on behalf of God’ or this is a Christian government. This is usurping the role of Christ and is therefore wrong.

People say that Jesus opposed the authorities of the day and use this to justify their opposition of authorities. However this is simply not true. When confronted by the leading religious authorities (civilian authorities didn’t pay much attention to Him until His trial and crucifixion) He would answer them but He did not go out of his way to confront them. In fact often He would slip away from amongst them to avoid confrontation. It was His refusal to confront authorities that lead Judas to betray Him. Judas was a Zealot, a Jewish ‘freedom fighter’ against Rome. His concept of the Messiah was that Jesus would be the Jewish King come to lead the people in war against Rome. When it was abundantly clear that Jesus was not going to do this, Judas’ disappointment led him straight to the Sanhedrin who were only to ready to listen after Jesus upset the tables of the money changers. Aaah you say but Jesus did upset the tables of the money changers – but we have to ask why did He do that? Up to this point every time they came with an accusation He answered them in a way that led them to leave Him alone. Time and time again Jesus avoided confrontation but now He knew that it was His time. He came to Jerusalem precisely to provoke a confrontation. He had to give them cause to crucify Him. And what better way to cause profound offence but to hit them were it hurts the worst – in their pockets. He had been in Jerusalem on other occasions and the money changers were there then – it was ONLY when it was His time to go to the Cross that He provoked confrontation.

Early Christians did not confront the social ills of their day. In Ephesus there was a riot because the livelihood of the silversmiths was threatened by the growing Christian population – not because the Christians said or did anything against them but simply because they were not buying idols and objects of silver to give to the temple of Diana. Paul did not preach against slavery, another social ill. He told slaves to obey their masters. He told masters to treat their slaves well. If Paul was promoting social change then surely he would have said – slaves leave, masters free your slaves? The only social change that is ordered in the New Testament writings is that Christians are told to leave off behaving immorally.

So where does this leave us when we are confronted by changes in society we deem ‘evil’ or ‘ungodly? What is our role in government? What type of government should we look to establish?

Well first we must acknowledge we are subject to the ruling authorities:

Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work,
Titus 3:1

And secondly we owe them obedience, honour, taxes etc:

Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:7-8

We must separate once and for all in our minds the concept of a Christian state and the concept of a secular state. The concept of a ‘Christian’ state goes back all the way to the dim recesses of time when we had Kings who claimed to ‘rule by the authority of God’ making their word absolute. This was nothing more than man’s attempt to establish the kingdom of God on earth by his might and not in accordance with God’s Word or worse an attempt to legitimise the absolute rule of the King by making himself rule ‘by God’ and therefore incontestable. The Kingdom of God on earth will be established by Christ at the right time, and not by the works of man. I would also like to point out that the Kingdom of God is both a spiritual concept and a real physical one. There is the Kingdom of God within us, and the coming Kingdom of God when Christ will reign on earth.

There is a further problem, a theologically correct State, is morally wrong in a fallen world for one simple reason. It is, by its very nature, exclusionary. The Bible is unequivocal about right and wrong. A true Christian government ruling by the statutes and laws of God must perforce put into effect laws that are unequivocal about certain behaviours, certain beliefs, certain actions. However this cannot be so in a fallen world. You cannot force people who are NOT born again to behave as though they are. Apart from anything else they are not capable of adhering to the moral law of God. They are not filled and empowered and transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit to do so. Even so to make a law is not how God deals with us.

You cannot bring condemnation on people because of their fallen state. It is not our job either by word, or deed or the establishment of ‘Christian’ government to bring condemnation. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring CONVICTION of sin (conviction is not the same as condemnation) and thus bring people to repentance. This work of the Holy Spirit goes on in the saved – Paul tells us ‘work out your salvation’ meaning precisely this process of purification and it works through us into the fallen world to bring people to the foot of the cross in repentance.

If you have a system of government based on God’s laws then we are also guilty of turning the clock back to the Old Testament when we were under The Law. Jesus came to set us free from The Law. He fulfilled the Law so that we might be free – why then do we want to re-establish the Law in the form of Christian government? The Bible makes it clear – The Law cannot save. The Law brought death because none can uphold the Law. Why then do we want to establish a new law that will have precisely the same effect?

Make no mistake – the result of ‘Christian’ law – will be no different from the Law of the Old Testament – it will bring into being a state of condemnation and lawlessness because even Christians will not be able to uphold such a Law because we can only uphold ALL the Laws of God, when we are made in perfect in Christ, and who among you can say that they have achieved that?
We must also not confuse the establishment of the Kingdom of God with government. The Kingdom of God bears no resemblance whatsoever to any existing political system. Any attempt to make current political systems fit our concept of the Kingdom of God is foolish and doomed to failure. During the millennial reign of Christ, there will be ONE authority only – Jesus – His word will be the incontrovertible Law that will be upheld and no man will counter it. Until then we must allow men to rule as wisely as possible.

Secular government must do what is ethically and morally right for a fallen world. This means a system of freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom from oppression, freedom from prejudice. People must be free to practise whatever beliefs they deem good in their sight. We must not oppose such moves towards freedom and restriction of prejudice by secular governments, rather we must encourage and support all movements to greater freedom, and less prejudice under the Law. It is only in a State of religious, political, moral freedom that we are free to fulfil our role as Christians.

We must be there when the weary, broken, hurting world turns to us in desperation.

We must be there to welcome in the weak, the sick, the broken-hearted, the down-trodden, the sinners.

We must be ready to do good works, to support the elderly, the widows and the orphans, to reach out to the hurting.

We must offer the world that which is lacks – salvation. But we can only do this when we are free to do so. And if the government that protects our freedom, also protects other freedoms it is only right that it should do so. We cannot impose our will on others. God does not IMPOSE His will on us therefore we cannot impose our way on others either. If this was the right way then the Bible would tell us go out and establish governments. But it doesn’t!

It is not ‘our way’ vs ‘their way’. Remember we are in the world but not of it. So then we must leave the world to govern itself as best it can while we fulfil our role to be there when it fails.

Does this mean we must abandon “God’s Law” in how we govern altogether? No of course not because there are some basic laws of God that are common to all. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not murder are two that immediately come to mind. However it must be tempered with tolerance, and what we know is right.

I have spoken quite theoretically so let me give a solid example. Let me take a ‘hot topic’.

A very ‘hot topic’ guaranteed to get most people hot under the collar is the legitimisation of Gay marriages. And I don’t know if I am being very brave or very stupid by using this as an example.

Gay marriage, gay rights, gay anything … Let us first examine the fruits of the intolerance to gay people the Church has shown in the past.

1. Gay Christians, instead of being led to freedom in Christ, have rebelled against the established Church and formed ‘Gay’ Churches. What an abomination that is in the sight of God.

2. The gay community perceives Christians as being intolerant, prejudiced, narrow-minded, ignorant and pretty much the last place on earth they will turn to for help.

So if we are known by the fruit – our attitude of intolerance hasn’t produced very good fruit has it? We have driven people to form churches where abomination is openly encouraged, sanctioned and deemed pleasing to God, in direct opposition to scripture leading to further sin because the inerrancy of scripture is questioned. And we are perceived as the ‘enemy’ by the larger community. In what way is this pleasing to God or helpful? In what way is this being a light in the darkness to these profoundly hurting people. I have known quite a few gay people and believe me, these people HURT. They have suffered rejection their entire lives, more rejection, even if it is ‘righteous’ is not what they need, not what will help, not what will draw them.

Let me be very clear. I oppose homosexuality. It is against the natural order established by God of a relationship between man and woman. However let me be equally very clear – intolerance won no heart. And no gay person will hear a word of intolerance from me until such time as they are seeking the truth and ask me to tell them the truth, because it is more important to me that they can come and ask than it is for me to hammer them with words of condemnation.

Regarding gay marriages – this is one of those areas where we have to separate very clearly between what is right and what is right. That sounds like a contradictory statement but it is not. It is not right that people are denied rights every citizen enjoys because of their sexual orientation. The legal state of marriage brings certain rights and protections to the partner, particularly with regard medical care and after death. If two people, whoever they are, wish to enter into the legal contract of marriage they should be permitted to do so by the State and should enjoy the rights and benefits of said contract. It is ethically right that this should be so. The rightness of this in the eyes of God is an entirely separate issue and they should not be made the same issue. When we make them the same issue the fruits of our intolerance are once again proof of the wrongness of our attitude.

If a gay person in a gay marriage becomes born-again the Holy Spirit will convict them. We must be there to minister truth and healing to them when that happens but it will NOT happen if we are perceived as the ‘enemy’. We must be seen to be tolerant. We must be perceived to be a place where hurting people can turn. This is one of those examples where Paul was talking about when he said:

But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble. For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images? And so, through your knowledge, you are the cause of destruction to your brother, for whom Christ underwent death. And in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ. For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.
1 Cor 8:9-13

and

Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good. Whatever meat may be had at the public market, take as food without question of right or wrong; For the earth is the Lord's and all things in it. If a Gentile makes a feast for you, and you are pleased to go as a guest, take whatever is put before you, without question of right or wrong. But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong: Right and wrong, I say, not for you, but for the other man; for the fact that I am free is not dependent on another man's sense of right or wrong. But if I give praise to God for the food which I take, let no man say evil of me for that reason. So then, if it is a question of food or drink, or any other thing, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Cor 10:24-31

The principle Paul was applying here is that there is that there is a difference between what is right and what is right. If we have a truth that others cannot understand and in applying it we cause them to stumble in their faith then even though what we did was right it was still wrong because it caused another to stumble.

Our intolerance of homosexuality may be Biblically correct but it is still wrong because it drives people away from the very thing their souls cry out for – salvation.

To get back to the whole issue of government: Freedom in all shapes and forms is the result of the work of God bringing wisdom and knowledge to the mind of man. Throughout the ages God has worked through the minds of men to bring about enlightenment and change society from oppression to freedom. In this way we have seen slavery abolished, prejudice and bias on the basis of race or sex abolished (in law anyway if not entirely in our hearts), people given rights of protection in the work place, child labour abolished, all people given the right to vote and too many other changes for the good of society to mention. And if you start opposing one freedom you oppose all of them. Repression breeds oppression.

This is not the true freedom we experience in God but a form of it the world can understand and tolerate. It may SEEM to be opposed to the Word of God, in some areas, but it is not. In God there is total freedom, as Paul wrote there is “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28) but the world cannot understand, nor live in that truth until that day when we are indeed all made one in Christ. Until then God gives us a form of this freedom to enjoy. Remember He makes the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous. Freedom, in all its forms, must be enjoyed by all or it is enjoyed by none. We only have to look at political systems that are oppressive to see the truth of that statement. Under oppression no one is free, including those who oppress.

It is oppressive, repressive and intolerant political systems that are opposed to the Word of God not free ones. Give thanks to God for systems of politics/governance that espouse greater freedoms of all kinds, including the freedom to do things that are Biblically wrong, because under them you are free too, and you are free to do the work God has called you to do. Our job is to be light in the darkness and be conduits of the Holy Spirit into the world to change the hearts of man. Do what God directs you to do and leave the rest to Him. Let us not fall into the trap of doing what seems right but is in fact wrong. Let us work to establish greater freedom and rights under a secular system for all because it is this freedom that will bring greater salvation in the end.

(If you don’t understand what I mean by that last statement then let me elaborate just a little. God gives us the freedom to go our own way, knowing that we will eventually be brought to our knees before Him. A parent allows a child to wilfully do as they want, at times; knowing that the lesson learned the hard way is learnt well. In the same way we MUST allow people the freedom to go their own way in sin because when they are brought low they will turn to God. It is love of the hardest kind to allow others freedom even knowing what they do is wrong. It is love, for a fallen world, that says let me step aside from appearing prejudiced to you EVEN if my condemnation is right because your salvation is more important to me than anything else. It is love that says let me give you freedom, so that I too, can be free to help you when your ‘freedom’ fails you. It is love that says, as Paul did, let me be all things to all men so that they can be saved.)

Just one thing - the only exception I make to the concept of freedom in society is that there is a moral imperitive to also protect the weak. Therefore freedom must be tempered by laws to protect children, the elderly, anyone within the society who is vulnerable in anyway. Freedom does not include the right to cause harm.