Our Citizenship, and Civil Disobedience - Romans 13:1-7
RO164-02

At some time after the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden, Satan achieved such a domination over mankind that human society became totally corrupt, and the earth was filled with violence. The earth suddenly became a terrible place to live, in contrast to the beautiful place that it was when God had put it together and created it in the first place. At this point in time, with Satan in enormous domination over every human being, human society had no system for controlling the sin nature in man, which therefore ran unrestrained in practicing evil, and in doing injury to others. People at that time, as you remember, would not respond to the preaching of God's truth by Noah, so the world became one big, lawless jungle. This was a design of Satan because it was Satan's intention, as it always is, to destroy the human race, particularly the godly element. And at this time, he was well on his way to succeeding. If he could destroy the human race, he would frustrate the plan of God.

At that time, people were very intelligent – more intelligent than they are today, because they lived closer to the time of Adam, and therefore had less genetic defect deterioration. The consensus of the intelligentsia, and the opinion-makers of the time, was that the vast majority of people could not be wrong about their religious beliefs, and about the points of view that they held about God. Their viewpoint was indeed directly opposite to what this Noah was preaching, that they dismissed Noah as simply a simplistic, superstitious kook. They could not believe that this kook could be right, and all the world could be wrong. But that was the case, because Noah had divine viewpoint information from an authoritative source – God Himself. The rest of them had their fallen mentalities to put together a religious system and, as is always the case, they came up with a false concept.

Human Government

Authorized Punishments

People were free, of course, to establish various forms of governments as long as those governments preserve freedom of personal volition through the enforcement of laws which were based on biblical morality. The Bible does not lay out a type of government. You can have any kind of government you choose, as long as that government does not hinder the volition of the individual to make his choices: for God, or against God; or, for truth, or against truth. Freedom is at the heart of all that God is doing. And human government was established to preserve human volition and human freedom.

Governments are Established by God

Romans 13:1 says, "Let every soul (every person) be in subjection unto the higher powers (referring to civil authorities), for there is no authority (there is no civil authority) but from God. Furthermore, the powers (the authorities) that are (the rulers that do exist) are ordained by God. So, we have a second step. The people who run those countries are in positions of governmental authority because of an act of God. Nobody gets elected to political office except by an act of God. Nobody is able to take power by a revolution or by some tyrannical method – some coup, except by an act of God. God uses governments and leaders of every kind to fulfill His decrees. Governments which make laws in keeping with Scripture are going to be a blessing to their people. Those which do not are going to be a curse. Rulers who are a blessing to their people are those who do things God's way as revealed in the Bible.

Therefore, when you have the freedom to choose your ruler, we, who are Christians, on the basis of this Scripture, know that the first thing we want to know is: what does this ruler know about Bible doctrine principles? How versed is this person in Scripture? How devoted and dedicated is he to the Bible as the voice of God? And what does he think of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preeminent one of all of God's plans, and of all of God's dealing with the human race? That's the thing you should ask. The average American is not that smart. He is not educated in the Bible. His perspective is all kinds of things that he asks about this political candidate, except the crucial thing that God says is, number one, because this man says, "I want to be part of the divine institution of government." If you want to be part of the divine institution of government, something that God has created, then you have to know how to be part of that to fulfill God's purposes for that institution. Otherwise, you end up as a curse upon the people.

God gives citizens who rebel against His Word the evil rulers they deserve. And that evil, I remind you, includes all the human good policies that disoriented political rulers impose upon a society – the things that human mentality, apart from the guidance of Scripture, and thinks that this is good for people.

So, we Christians are called upon to be exemplary citizens who preserve freedom in a society, and who enlightened that society with the divine viewpoint principles that the Bible teaches in order to enable us to live in Satan's world. And that's what this is all about. Human government is a way to enable people to live in freedom and to preserve the human race in Satan's world. Satan, who controls and dominates and runs this world, and runs it contrary to the principles and the purposes of God, and contrary to the direction that produces human blessing and well-being.

Our Citizenship is in Heaven

Christian Ambassadorship

As Heaven's diplomats, you and I may not approve the policy of the country in which we are stationed by our birth. But we do not try to interfere in the Paul says of that country by fomenting revolution to bring it down. That is a very important point. This is the same as our ambassadors from our country are often stationed in countries that they have no use for what that country does. They despise it. They have contempt for it because those things are evil. But our ambassadors are not sent there to create a revolution, and to take charge, and shake them up, and change them.

We have not been sent, as the diplomats from heaven, to take charge of this earth; to shake it up; and, to change it. The only change we've been called to make is the change that comes from within a human being who has been born again through the gospel. That brings about a change indeed in society. And the more born-again people you have in a community and in a society, the more elevated, and enlightened, and blessed that society does become. History is replete with examples of that.

I must point out to you that the apostle Paul did not urge the Christian ambassadors to try to gain control of the Roman government. Nor did he urge them to impose Christian principles upon unbelievers. You and I have to be very careful to distinguish between principles of morality which apply to believers and unbelievers – a set of principles like the ten commandments. Those are not exclusively for believers. They are again a code for preserving freedom in Satan's world. But there are many other things that are true of us, as Christians, that are pertinent to our conduct as Christians, that are not pertinent to the conduct of unbelievers. They can't even do them even if they wanted to. And it is not our calling to impose our Christian lifestyle upon unbelievers. We are ambassadors (we are representatives), and we may be representing a better way, but we cannot impose that upon the country in which we reside.

Our Calling on Earth

In John 15:18-25, in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, He tried to make this clear to us: While we are ambassadors in the country in which we live, the society to which we have come to represent our heavenly country will not be kindly disposed toward us. Jesus says, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own (that is, if you were part of Satan's world system). But because you are not part of Satan's world system, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore, the word hates you. Remember the Word that I said unto you: the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute also you. If they have kept My sayings, they will keep yours also. But all these things, will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not Him that sent Me." The reason we are treated like this is because these people do not know the true God.

"If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this comes to pass that the Word might be fulfilled that it is written in their law: they hate Me without a cause."

Jesus said, "I have come and I've given the people of Satan's world the information they need about God; about eternal life; and, about escaping the lake of fire. They have not received that. They have rejected that. They're also going to be prone to reject that message when you bring it. And because they have hated Me, they will hate you. But the terrible thing," the Lord says, "is that now they've got no cloak for their sin."

They cannot stand up before God and say, 'I never knew. You never told me.' Everyone you have evangelized, by giving them the gospel, or by handing them one of our booklets (and he reads it), that person cannot stand before God and have a single excuse. He will stand there silent because he rejected the message of the ambassador from heaven. We march to a different drum.

The Christians dual citizenship sometimes creates conflicts. When a conflict arises between our citizenship on earth and our citizenship in heaven, then we are forced to make a choice. This happened early on in the Christian church. And the decision on the part of the early Christians was very clear. They made it very easily. When there was a conflict with our earthly citizenship calling upon us to do something that violated the principles of our heavenly citizenship, we obey heaven, and not earth. In Acts 4:19-20, the Sanhedrin had just commanded these men that they must not teach in the name of Jesus anymore in the city of Jerusalem. Their response was: "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, you judge. For we cannot but speak of things which we have seen and heard.'"

These men have been proclaiming and preaching resurrection; salvation; and, all the wonderful things that come through the Messiah Jesus Christ. The Jewish authority said, "Stop it. Don't preach those things." The disciples said, "How can we be silent? God has given us a message. That message is true. And as His ambassadors, we must proclaim it. That's why we are here. Therefore, they chose to disobey the authorities.

Peter did the same thing in Acts 5:29: "Then Peter and the apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men." Again, they persecuted these men, and said, "Do not preach about Jesus."

Civil Disobedience

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

I just attended, a few days ago, a bullfight in Cancun. The bulls were very testy. They were very angry, and the more (swords) that were put into them, and the more they were made to bleed matter, the madder they, and the more forceful they were in their charging. And bulls really do put their heads down and paw the earth when they're mad. And finally, at some point, the bull has had enough, and he goes charging in, headlong, and puts those terrible-looking long horns down, and boy, he will really go you if you're there to be gored. But when the bull puts his head down, and decides he's going to resist what has been done to him, he must take into account the authority of the toreador (the matador), who takes his sword and gracefully stands on his toes, and holds it over his head, and rams that sword right between the shoulder blades, behind that bulls neck. And suddenly, that thing is wobbling, and that mass of weight crushes to the ground. It goes right into the heart – dead. The toreador does such a good job that they cut the bull's ear off, and he walks around the bullring magnificently holding this ear up while everybody yells "Ole" and cheers. The bull decided to go for civil disobedience. He paid the price.

Sometimes our price is just that severe indeed, as the early Christians found. It meant the sword. It meant their very lives. That was the price they had to pay.

However, Daniel's three friends said, "Heaven is our home. But we're not homesick that much right now. And we would like to stick around. But it's going to be in God's hands whether we go or not. But one thing we are not going to do is worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 3:13 gives us this splendid civil disobedience: "Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." By the way, those are their names there, and it's kind of hard to remember these sometimes: Shadrach; Meshach, and Abednego. But there's a little mental device that will help you. If you just remember the phrase, "Shake the bed; make the bed; and, to bed we go." That'll help you remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Then they brought these three men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, 'Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and, Abednego: Do not serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you be ready, that at the time that you hear the sound of the horn; pipe; lyre; sackbut; psaltery; and, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, if I had made, it is well. But if you do not worship, then you shall be cast the same hour to the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?' Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'No, Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you door in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up.'"

Here is an example of the fact that the institution of divine government was being abused in the hands of this tyrant Nebuchadnezzar, who made fun of God, and who took the attitude that these men did not have information from God. They could not make a declaration. They could not speak about some opinion from God by which they could judge what Nebuchadnezzar did in setting this idol up of himself and saying, "Worship me. This is your God."

So, very calmly, and very respectfully, they said, "King, we cannot do that. That violates the laws of God. And if you choose to kill us, we may die. But our God, you should know, is able to preserve us even from that. And if He does, good; if he does not, we leave that in His hands. But we're not going to worship your idol."

Daniel himself was faced, as you know, in the succeeding administration, with the Medes and the Persians, when they took over, with this same issue. They wanted him to stop praying toward the God that was in the east toward Jerusalem. And Daniel refused the civil law that forbad praying to the true God. So, he had to make the decision to go for civil disobedience.

Daniel 6:10 says, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed (the decree against praying to the true God), he went into this house, and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled down upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before God, as he did previously." This, folks, is civil disobedience. He did not even try to hide it. The windows were open and he didn't close them. He didn't say, "Well, I'll reduce it to one late-night prayer time. Nobody will see me." He did it three times a day. He did it openly, and he did it with thanksgiving. He knew that his life was now on the line, and he knew there was something also that was distinctive about a decree made by the Medes and the Persian Empire authorities. And that is that once they made a law, they never rescinded it. It was cast in concrete.

Therefore, he knew there was no way out for him. Even the king himself, he knew, could not excuse him from the consequence of what he was doing. He knew that he was going to be punished, as indeed he was. But in the midst of all that, he thanks God. What is he thanking God for? He thanks God for the fact that he has the knowledge of the truth concerning the importance and effectiveness of prayer. He refuses to yield to a government which is now going beyond the divine institution limits of government, which is to keep law and order in a society. That government has encroached upon his spiritual freedom. Therefore, he said "No" to them, and was ready to suffer the consequences.

Peter and John refused the law of the governing authorities about preaching Jesus Christ, as we pointed out in Acts 4:19-20.

So, we come down to this. We Christians love our country, but we love God more. So, we will resist the evil of government authorities. Daniel himself resisted government authority on another occasion, but he resisted it in a way that is exemplary to us. There is a way of doing civil disobedience in such a way that you gain nobody's respect, and that you come down with the iron fist that gets no sympathy and no consideration, because unbelievers are impressed with those who stand for integrity in principle; in belief; and, in practice. All of you, probably someplace along the line in your life, have had experience of finding what the reaction was at some crisis time when you were known for principles of integrity, reliability, and godliness. If you've been in the military service, you've probably had that experience on more than one occasion, when it was time to look to someone. To whom would they look, but to the person that had demonstrated that kind of integrity and reliability, and refusal to yield to what was evil? And that brought respect.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

One of the problems they faced was that the food they fed them violated the sanitary and dietary laws of the Mosaic code. Therefore, they had a problem of opening and eating this food – obeying the authorities, and then eating this food. So, here's what Daniel did about this: "Daniel purpose in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, 'I fear my lord, the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your age? Then shall you make me endanger my head with the king.'

"Daniel said, 'Listen, we don't want to eat this food. It violates our religious code. It's not good for us.' The eunuch said, 'I'm sympathetic with you guys. You have been no problem to me. You've treated me right. I'd like to help you out. But if you begin to look unhealthy, then the king is going to take off my head, because I'm responsible for you. And I can't permit you to wither away here so that you don't look as good as the rest of these men who are in training.'"

Verse 11: "Daniel said to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 'Test my servants, I beseech you, ten days, and let them give us vegetable seed and water to drink.'" Forget all that special kind of food that violates our code. And forget the booze (the wine) to drink. Just let us have the straight, good-quality stuff: "Then let our countenance be looked upon before you, and the countenance of the youth that eat of the portion of the king's food. And as you see fit, deal with your servants." Let's go for ten days. If you think we're not looking up to par, then we will yield.

"So, he consented to them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youth who did eat the portion of the king's food. And Melzar took away the portion of the food and the wine that they should drink, and gave them vegetables." Daniel had won his point. And their civil disobedience had gained the preservation of the things that God had taught them, so that they were true ambassadors of heaven.

Now in the blessings of a constitutional republic, such as the United States in which you and I live, we have legitimate means of protest, and legitimate means to resist the evil actions of our government, of which there are many. Christians, however, do not break just laws in order to protest unjust laws. When you do that, that's terrorism. And you have to be careful not to be breaking just laws in order to correct something that is unjust. Civil disobedience, if it is biblically justified, and it is properly conducted, becomes divine obedience. Don't forget that. Civil disobedience, when it is biblically justified and properly conducted, becomes divine obedience. What we do in civil disobedience is to show our submission to God. We do not do it to show our defiance of government.

The state is ordained by God, and therefore, it is entitled to respect. But the state, at the same time, is not God. And that's the difference we make. It is established by God. It is entitled to respect and obedience, but it is not God. The United States is one nation under God, as are all nations.

The Family Unit

You can take the biblical family: a father; a mother; and, children (all who live in one household). If you can split them up so that you have only one parent in the home, you've undermined the family unit. If you can counter a father who is the breadwinner, and a mother who is the homemaker – if you can just that, you've undermined the family situation. If you can get a society, as ours is today, where most of the mothers are off someplace else earning money while their children are being reared by good people and bad people alike, but not by themselves. That means that they're looking into the eyeballs of those children, hour-after-hour, listening to their little talk, and being in their presence hour-after-hour during the day. That's what that means. It is not that the children are being taken care of OK. If you can get that to be the pattern of a society, you have played into Satan's hands. You've gained benefits that are going to be very costly, and for those children, perhaps for all eternity.

The family unit is the divine institution which forms the basis of government, because the family unit is the first community in which a person learns subjection to properly constituted authority. That's where you learn obedience to authority. If you don't learn it in your family, you're not going to learn it anyplace else. And we who are in the business of Christian education know this all too well. We can spot that kid who walks in, and right off the bat, he is a resister. Right off the bat, he is a problem to us. And right off the bat, we know that, at home, this kid has not learned subjection to authority. Right away we know that we have had placed in our hands a child whose parents did not have the divine understanding that the first thing they must do with their child, from his earliest days, is to break his will. And because they have not broken the will of that child by teaching him subjection to authority, now all of society has to suffer with this willful creature.

There is a difference between breaking the will and breaking the spirit. You do not break the spirit – that enterprising creativeness and inquisitiveness, and all that's connoted by the spirit. But you do break that natural old sin nature rebellion toward authority. It is the family that teaches commitment to God. It is the family that teaches a set of moral standards. It is the family that teaches an attitude of duty toward others, or self-centeredness. All of these come from the family.

National Daycare Centers

So, we are confronted with disrupted family units as God has established them. And when that happens, that leads to disorder in society, and to ungovernable citizens. No society can govern its citizens which has not had those citizens trained in a normative family unit. And when that becomes the majority kind of people we are producing, this society is going over the hill.

Government is Limited

When governments decide to help those who are in need, it only creates more need. Ever since our government has created the war on poverty, we now have (I think my last report was) about twice as much poverty as we had when that program began. As any simple student of economics knows: when you subsidize something, you get more of it. If you subsidize tobacco, you'll get more tobacco grown, to cancer out the human body. Our government does that. When you subsidize the dairy industry, you'll get more dairy products than you can possibly use. When you subsidize poverty, you get more poverty. It's just a fact of life.

So, government, by God's order, is to keep people free to prosper. And then God burdens godly individuals for the responsibility of helping those in their immediate family (back to the family unit) to take care of their needs, and the circle of those who are within an area close to them: in their church; in the circle of their city; and, on a local close basis, such that people help people. Government is to protect the voluntary efforts of people to shape society for good while protecting the weak and the powerless from exploitation in that society. Yes, government has to come in with a strong arm to protect the weak, and to protect the powerless from exploitation.

The anti-biblical tyranny of the state may, of course, in time, leave us with no recourse but to overthrow the state by an act of its citizens. That's what happened to the Americans when we were part of England. The time came when the tyranny of King George was so great, over a ten-year period, where Americans who did not want to separate from England, and who were not eager to abandon their honored role as part of the British Empire, and as part of the great Anglo-Saxon people – they were not interested in doing that, and they did everything they could to avoid it. But the time came when the tyranny was so great, and personal freedom was so undermined, that there was no recourse but to separate and establish a government that respected the biblical principles.

There was a time when England, of course, did not care about the colonies at all. The colonies were privately owned. You know that. The king just arbitrarily said, "Yeah, there is this big place (this country here – this North American continent). You can have a chunk here on the map, and I give it to you as proprietor." And they were privately-owned enterprises. It's when they became prosperous, and they became attractive plums, and they became centers that operated on reformation theology heritage, and therefore the colonies prospered, that England said, "Hey, I want to eat that plum." And that's where the tyranny began. England suddenly became part of the player on the field rather than the protector of the colonies, and their freedom, as she had been up to that time.

So, anti-biblical tyranny of the state sometimes pushes us to the wall. And, at that point, indeed, as our Declaration of Independence indicates, we must then change the government. But that is not revolution. And at the heart of what we have seen here, you should understand that the Bible is anti-revolution. The Christian is not to be a revolutionary.

So, the apostle Paul has put down some very firm perspectives. You and I both wish that he had explained it a little more. We wish that he had told us what to do when you had this kind of a government. I want to remind you that he's talking about this right after they had beaten him up at Philippi. It was shortly after this that he wrote this. The government had taken him as a Roman citizen. And Paul was so hopping mad about that, that when they found out the next morning that they had whipped a Roman citizen, which was a grave violation, they said, "Turn him loose." The jailer came with the key in hand and said, "We made a mistake. Sorry. We want you to leave." And Paul said, "You're sorry? You come here and you whip a Roman citizen? And you're sorry? And you want us to leave? We're not leaving. We want the authorities responsible for this insult and this infamy to come down here." And, boy, they scooted down. They did not want the ire of the Roman Empire, because the Roman Empire operated on laws. And the violation of this law at the hands of the apostles as Roman citizens was something that Paul would not tolerate.

So, government is limited. Government is to respect the rights of the individuals to their personal freedom. And anti-biblical tyranny has to be stood up against. But Paul wrote this when he had received that kind of treatment at the hands of that government. Yet, he is telling us: "Your basic attitude is to obey the government. Why? There is no government in the world that God hasn't set up. Furthermore, there's no political leader in power that God hasn't put there.

So, now can you tell me who is going to choose the next president of the United States? Think about that all week, and see if you can figure out who is going to make that decision through a human agency. But I already know who's going to make the decision. I haven't yet received the information on the results. I have put in an inquiry about that, and hope to get it soon for you.

God has a system for protecting us in the devil's world. The divine institution of government is provided for that. We have to respect it, and to delight in it, but to see that it is used in God's way.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1988

Back to the Romans index