“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” – 1 Peter 2:16
When there is a conflict between God and government, what do you do? How can you live as both a good resident of your nation and a faithful citizen of God’s Kingdom? Civil disobedience is defined as a public, non-violent, and conscientious act contrary to the law, usually done with the intent of bringing about a change in the policies or laws of the government. Civil disobedience happens in two ways.
- The government commands you to do something God forbids.
- The government forbids you to do something God commands.
When considering civil disobedience, we must be careful not to base our decisions on misinformation or disinformation. So many wild, inappropriate, and erroneous things are shared on the internet, and this includes both left- and right-wing conspiracy theories. We must learn to discern what is true and false, and if we do respond, we must respond in a way that rightly represents our faith.
American culture is trending against faith, freedom, and family. As Christians, we need to avail ourselves of legal, right, and honorable ways of affecting cultural change.
Scripture offers many stories of godly civil disobedience. Below are a few examples:
- The Hebrew midwives refused to take innocent human lives and practiced civil disobedience by allowing the males to live, including Moses, who would eventually deliver God’s people out of slavery.
- Rahab hid the spies on her roof under bundles of flax, lied about their whereabouts, and helped them escape. Lying is almost always a sin, but when you are preserving human life, it is an act of civil disobedience and worship.
- Jesus’ earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, practiced civil disobedience by moving to Egypt to escape Herod who put a death sentence on a whole generation of firstborn Hebrew boys in an attempt to murder Jesus who threatened his authority.
- Jesus Himself practiced civil disobedience. In day, the highest pledge of loyalty was to the state: “Caesar is lord.” But Jesus couldn’t say that because it wasn’t true, and His followers wouldn’t say it either. They proclaimed, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and for that, they were harassed, arrested, and martyred.
There are times, however, when God and the government have different demands, and a person is forced to consider if they should flee, work through the system for more just laws or new political leaders, or simply disobey the government in obedience to God.
- Titus 3:1-2: Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
- 1 Peter 2:13-17: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
To faithfully understand the Bible, we must examine not just what the authors said but also what they did. These statements from Paul and Peter, at face value, seem to state that there should never be civil disobedience against the government. However, we know that both men were jailed by the government for breaking godless laws.
In the days of the New Testament, there were four primary ways that religious people responded to their godless government, which we will examine in next week’s devos.
Would you be willing to engage in civil disobedience to honor God over government?
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