We Hold These Truths

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. 

Thus begins the American Declaration of Independence. We Americans consider this a sacred text and it is, in a secular sort of way. But this declaration is not holy, nor is it godly. In fact, two of the major premises on which it is based run counter to Scripture. Yet there is a trend among conservative American Christians to use this document and our Constitution to wage holy war against our countrymen – and sometimes, without recognizing it, to diminish Christians in other parts of the world.

Peoples in all times and places have grievances against their governments – some for far better reason than others. Christians in some parts of the world suffer death for their belief. Others are tortured and hounded from their homes. Yet we Americans consider ourselves persecuted if someone objects to a cross in a public place. All the while, we are free to gather as we choose, when we choose, to worship our God unmolested – even at the foot of a flag pole on a Thursday in May. That right, among others, was hard fought for in a bloody revolution. Do these persecuted and murdered brothers and sisters in Christ elsewhere have a similar God -given right to rise up and overthrow their governments?

There is a movement in the United States to oppose government at all levels and to oppose all forms of taxation. The aim seems to be to render the government helpless while at the same time forcing it to abide by the will of a narrow few, regardless of the consequences. Aside from the political folly of their thinking and the leap of logic that keeps them from recognizing that governments are necessary and God ordained, there is stronger reason for Christians to avoid these types of causes. Yet conservative Christians seem to be in the spearhead of the movement.

The question is this: Do we as Christians have the right under God oppose government, any government, and to work for its subjugation to the will of a few? What does God say about this?

If ever there were Christians with a grievance against government it was the Christians of the First Century A.D. For Christ’s sake they were being “killed all day long” and “accounted as sheep for the slaughter”. (Rom 8:36, KJ21) Yet there are two curious things to note about how God counseled these Christians. First, He inspired Luke to write a two volume work on the life of Christ and the history of the early church to explain to the Romans why Christianity was not a subversive movement.

Later, when Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome itself, he addressed the issue of a Christian’s relationship to government directly:

 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained by God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and those who resist shall receive for themselves damnation.

 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Therefore ye must be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Rom 13:1-7 KJ21)

“The powers that be are ordained of God.” How often we forget this. This phrase applied to the Roman Empire included Nero, who was killing Christians daily. In later times this phrase was called the Divine Right of Kings to Rule. That thinking was directly challenged in the Declaration of Independence. Yet Paul makes it clear that to oppose the "powers that be" is to deserve “damnation”. However politically expedient the opposition to government may be, and even desirable from a world point of view, we must never confuse it with service to the cause of Christ or doing the will of God, though opposition may be that in an unintended sort of way.

In the Prophets, God makes it clear that all kingdoms and realms are subject to His will. They rise and fall by His command. Assyria, the Persian Empire, the Greek and Roman Empires were all put into place and taken down by God Himself. The same can be said of Hitler’s Germany and the Soviet Empire. They existed because God willed it and in existing they accomplished His ends though we may never understand His reasons. Nor did any of these empires or their rulers ever understand their place in God’s plan. They all believed they were pursuing their own ends.

So, indeed, the revolutionaries who wrested the United States from England were doing the will of God, but not in any way they intended. Each in his own way, was pursuing his own ends which at times were at odds with others around him. It was not their intent to create a Christian country beyond the understanding that all European countries were Christian countries. They did not envision America as a resurrected Israel. Indeed the founders were not even united in their understanding of religion and God. But none-the-less, they were carrying out the will of God.

One of the reasons behind the Revolution was opposition to taxation without representation – which some of our more strident political dissidents now use for a rallying cry. Paul addressed that, too, in his letter to the Romans. In his day, all taxation was without representation except for the privileged few. God’s desire is for us to pay taxes wherever they are due, fearing those we should fear, honoring those we should honor, without protest. We, as Christians, should be subject to those who rule, justly or unjustly, and support them with taxes, fair or unfair.

The only self-evident truth in Scripture, the only area in which indeed “all men are created equal” is not in the area of life, or liberty, or pursing happiness, but in our unworthiness before God and the need of a savior. As Paul reminds the Romans, “there is none righteous, no not one” and “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” before God. We are all in need of repentance and all in need of salvation by grace because we are all incapable of pleasing God otherwise. That is the only self-evident truth of the equality of man.

In seeking a better world, our duty as Christians is to bring as many as possible under subjection to Christ, not through political action, nor legislation nor compulsion of any kind, nor by opposing governments, but through the power of Christ Himself through grace. Only then can anyone really be free.