In this series of essays on the constitution of God's Kingdom upon earth we have been reviewing the Constitution of the Kingdom—which is found in Holy Scripture. We are seeking to set all this before us because we have a duty to work in the Kingdom as servants of the King—which is to say, we have a duty to pray and labour diligently to bring His Kingdom into greater and greater reality in the world.
Before we turn to the role of the State within God's Kingdom, let us review the core propositions we have discussed to date:
1. The Kingdom of God has come: it has been announced and established within human history by the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Kingdom is universal, and will extend its sway over every nation, tribe and tongue of the earth. All the nations of the earth are to be discipled unto Christ.
3. The King of the Kingdom is the risen, enthroned Lord Jesus Christ: all authority has been given to Him, and all enemies upon the earth and in the heavens are to be placed under His holy feet.
4. The essence of the Kingdom of God is the kingship of Christ Himself. His rule is both totalitarian and universal. He rules over the thoughts and intents of every human heart; over family;over the Church; over commerce; over health, education and welfare; over the courts of justice and the judges; over armies—over all human existence, individual, corporate and institutional.
5. The coming of His Kingdom involves the progressive self-conscious willing submission and service of all these institutions—even the whole creation—to His reign and service. As the Kingdom comes, all facets of human culture move from rebellion and unbelief to a willing submission and service to the King, so that each facet seeks to serve Him, adopting His goals, His motives, and His standards for all that they are and do.
6. The Kingdom of God, therefore, does not reflect minimal government, but maximal government by our Lord. However, His government (from a human perspective) is delegated to a wide range of human institutions and facets, from individuals governing themselves under Christ right through to the broadest institutions such as the Church or the State. Each has its roles and their responsibilities. Each has its duties and tasks. The foot cannot say to the eye, move over—we have no need of you. Each is to play the part that the Lord has assigned; as a consequence society under the Kingdom's realm ends up working cohesively and co-operatively together, “naturally”, so to speak.
The Family is complementary to the Church and the State. The Church complements the Family and the State. And the State, for its part, supports and complements the work and roles of both Family and Church.
7. The Kingdom comes gradually, incrementally, and by Spiritual means. It is only as the Holy Spirit works within hearts, families, churches, and other institutions that true and extensive obedience to Christ can occur. But this fact also ensures the inevitable progress and growth of the Kingdom, for none can stay His hand.
8. The Kingdom of God upon earth has three core institutions and many subsidiary and derivative institutions. The three core institutions, according to Scripture, are the Family, the Church, and the State.
9. The role of the Family is to be the institution which is the seed institution of all the other Kingdom institutions. It is our first church, state, school, and business enterprise. It mirrors the love between Christ and His Church. A prime duty of the Family is to bear and raise children as servants of the Lord. It is responsible for the care, provision, and nurture of all household members. It is focused upon nurturing and training so that all its members move from immaturity to maturity.
As the seed institution all the other parts of the Kingdom depend upon godly and disciplined families. When the Kingdom has powerfully in our families, both the Church and State will likewise become holy, righteous, and powerful. Neither the Church nor the State can rise above the holiness and discipline of our families. Nor can they substitute for or replace the vital and essential role of families in building and upholding God's Kingdom upon the earth.
10. The role of the Church is to bear the keys of the Kingdom. To the Church has been given the responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and teach the Scriptures with all the power and authority of Christ Himself. As it faithfully proclaims and administers the Gospel of Christ to the nations, the Church binds and looses upon earth what has already been bound and loosed in heaven.
The Church also has the responsibility to administer the sacraments of the New Covenant, which are the Lord's Supper, in replacement of the Older Covenant Passover, and Baptism, in replacement of the Older Covenant circumcision.
We will address the roles and responsibilities of the Church in greater detail in forthcoming posts.
The role of the State is, in one sense, very limited and narrow within the Kingdom. It is to administer both civil and criminal justice. It is vital that the State restricts itself to its God-given duties and forfends interfering in any of the duties which belong to Family or Church or their subsidiary institutions.
The reason is that the power and authority of the State is external force. If wrongly used, the State has the power to destroy and enslave. Because it is entitled by God to use force, it has within its grasp the means of attacking and enslaving both Church and Family--which cannot resist, because they have no weapons to match the force of the State.
The authority of the Family is limited by time: children grow to become adults, and they are commanded to leave their families and cleave to their spouses. The authority of the Church is limited to the Keys of the Kingdom: it proclaims and teaches the truth, but it cannot force it upon people. It cannot make people become believers: it remains utterly dependant upon the Spirit quickening the Word in the hearts of people, even as the Church proclaims it. But the State's authority is both perpetual and compulsory: if it does not carefully restrict itself to the administration of justice only, it will quickly end up attacking and devouring both Church and Family. The State is to be feared not only for the authority it bears, but for the evil which it can do.
Therefore, within God's Kingdom the State is both feared, but also fearfully proscribed and limited.
The State cannot change the heart, the inner man. It can only deal with outward actions; it can only administer outward restitution and justice. The State does not control the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven. It does not have the authority and power of parents to shape the minds, hearts, and lives of the children. Whenever it acts, because its instruments are blunt, external, and necessarily crude, it cannot redeem, it cannot heal, it cannot restore—it can only punish. The State cannot do anything without punishing someone or something. This is an inevitable result of being the institution of compulsion and force.
Of course the modern Athenian State has long since sought to crush both Church and Families and bring all under its Mordor-like sway. It has long since forgotten that even when it sets out to do so-called positive good, like provide education for children, it cannot make suggestions—it must compel, force, and command. Thus it punishes families which want to obey God and take responsibility—even as God has commanded—for the education of their own children. The State punishes such families by forcing them to pay twice: it extracts taxes to pay for its own ungodly education system; and requires them to pay again for their own children's education. This double-charge amounts to a fine levied upon those families who wish to serve God. Whenever the State does anything, it cannot avoid punishing someone, because its decisions and dictates are not suggestions, but dictates of force. If you disagree, or if you resist, you will be punished. The State, by definition, knows no other way.
However, despite having become a deformed gargoyle, the State bears great honour and dignity. The classical passage in our Constitution regarding the role and responsibility of the State is found in Romans:
Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behaviour, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it (the State) is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.
Romans 13: 1—4
Twice, Paul declares that the State is a minister of God Himself. (The word used is the same as we use for “deacon” or a “minister” in a Church). He asserts this minister administers (does its work) by force (the sword) which ultimately is the authority and power to kill the guilty and those who resist its authority. Its duty is to be an avenger of God's wrath upon anyone who practises evil. This is the only task and duty of the State within the Kingdom of God.
Within the Kingdom of Athens, the State has sought to do far more than administer justice to the wrongdoer or the practitioner of evil. In so doing, the State itself has become a practitioner and protagonist, not a punisher, of evil. In future posts, we will trace out just how corrupt, evil, and wicked the modern secular Athenian State has become. But for the moment, let us set to its record of indictment that the modern Athenian State has become a bribetaker, a corrupter of justice, a murderer of the innocent, an oppressive enslaver of its subjects, a master thief, and a corrupter of all good morals and godliness.
The modern Athenian State lives in open rebellion against the Lord, rejecting utterly that it is a minister of God. Modern governments must repent, before the whirlwind comes.
1 comment:
You will have to do a more thorough analysis of Romans 13 to prove that the state as we know it is a Minister of God.
See Understanding Romans.
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