Government, War, and the Christian

etc.

Introduction

Many refer to Matthew 10:34 to argue that Jesus’ message of peace was not absolute.

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Taking this verse out of context, it appears very damaging to the Christian pacifist position. Once the verse is seen in its proper context, however, the meaning becomes clear consider it in its proper context:

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.¹"

Looking at the verse in context, we see that the sword referred to is a figurative sword symbolizing personal conflict and division within families. In fact, this passage is paralleled in Luke 12:51, but in Luke the word sword is replaced with the word division:

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

The word sword is used symbolically often throughout the scriptures. For example, in Ephesians 6:17, the word of God is referred to as the sword of the spirit, and in Hebrews 4:12, the sharpness of the word of God is compared to that of a sword.

Of course the Gospel brings division! Jesus’ message has been dividing families, communities, nations, and, in fact, the world for nearly 2000 years. The fact that some will accept our message and others will oppose it is summarized nicely by the Apostle Paul:

"To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?²"

Additionally, Jesus warned of the same:

"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.³"

In conclusion, examination of this verse within its proper context reveals the intended meaning. Certainly there will be division. Certainly Christians will face opposition, but how we respond to those opposing us is the true issue. Today we as believers are faced with choices; choices that impact how we live and respond to those round about us. Many Christians today have made the choice to fit in with society, and allow our governments to redress the wrongs we see. I ask you to consider Is this what we are instructed to do. With a war in two countries, and a government that continues to take away our freedoms we must seek out what the Scriptures teach. Please keep an open mind as you approach this study. It will change your life!

¹ Matthew 10:34-37

² 2 Corinthians 2:16

³ John 15:20

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Part 1

The Believer and Government

1 Corinthians 6:1-7

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

Human Governments

Jesus’ Temptation

We read of the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter four and Luke chapter four. In these scriptures we see Satan pressuring Jesus to carry out sin through the course of specific temptations. One of Satan’s temptations is recorded as follows:

"And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.⁴"

Satan’s claim, to be sure, is very disturbing when given a moment of reflection. The above passage is really saying that all the authority and power of all the kingdoms, of all the governments of the world belong to him (Satan). He gives this authority to who he wishes. Those who hold political power, in some sense or another, receive it from Satan. But was Satan telling the truth? In order to really understand the validity of Satan’s claim we need to consider the word delivered in verse six. Thayer in his Greek Lexicon says the following:

Greek - paradidōmi

to give into the hands (of another)

to give over into (one’s) power or use

to deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage

to deliver up one to custody, to be judged, condemned, punished, scourged, tormented, put to death

to deliver up treacherously

by betrayal to cause one to be taken

to deliver one to be taught, moulded

to commit, to commend

to deliver verbally

commands, rites

to deliver by narrating, to report

to permit allow

when the fruit will allow that is when its ripeness permits

gives itself up, presents itself

This word then is poignant with meaning. We can go all the back to Genesis one where we read:

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.⁵"

Genesis tells us God had given the authority (dominion) of the earth to Adam and his wife. They were to rule on planet earth over the earth. We know the sad tale of how they sinned and were cast out of the Garden of God. Luke  gives us further information on what happened. The authority over planet earth had been given into the hands of another. Literally the dominion of planet earth had been transferred to Satan. This is confirmed when we consider Jesus’ response:

"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.⁶"

We read many instances in the Gospels when Jesus was faced with liars and hypocrites. Direct, open, and honest, Jesus condemned these people and called them what they were, liars and hypocrites. Jesus does not, however, call Satan a liar in regards to this temptation. He does not dispute Satan’s claim. Instead, Jesus asserted that he will not worship Satan, even though Satan is offering Him the authority of all the world’s governments. If Satan did not truly control the governments of the world, Jesus would have known this, and would not have been tempted by the offer. Instead, Jesus knew Satan’s offer was legitimate, and was in fact tempted (tested) by it. Choosing to worship God and serve him only," Jesus rejected the offer.⁷"

Further Scriptural Evidence

A plethora of scriptural evidence exists to confirm the above conclusion that Satan is in control of human governments and all worldly authority. For starters:

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience⁸"

According to Paul, the world is under the control of Satan, (just as Satan himself claimed during Jesus’ temptation), and that world has a course set by Satan. The implication in this verse is that the unbelievers are still walking according to the course of this world. A constant theme throughout the Apostle Paul’s writing is the warning against becoming too involved with Satan’s world. The earthly world is identified as Satan’s realm, while Believers are called to reject the world and follow God. The following are just a couple of such passages:

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.⁹"

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.¹⁰"

We see that this theme is also true in the New Testament writings committed to Israel:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.¹¹"

Rather than following earthly authority in the form of human governments, which derive their authority from Satan, Believers are called upon to follow God’s authority. We are called to be ambassadors for our heavenly government to these present earthly governments.

Ambassadors for Christ

In Matthew 20 (and in a similar passage from Luke 22) an argument broke out amongst the disciples, who were accompanying Jesus to Jerusalem, concerning who would hold positions of power in Jesus' kingdom. They misunderstood the nature of Jesus' kingdom, and Jesus corrected them, explaining the true nature of his kingdom:

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you…¹²"

It must be noted that Jesus made no distinction: all national rulers exercise authority over their people, an authority which the Jewish followers of Jesus must reject. There are many reasons for this, but of particular concern for this study is the simple fact that governmental authority is derived from Satan. Followers of Jesus should not take part in human governments nor give them any support. Instead, all energies should be focused towards the promotion of the kingdom of God. This is where our allegiance lies. It will be restated to these Jewish believers by the writer of Hebrews this way:

"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.¹³"

The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Body of Christ nowhere changes this understanding, but rather he adds to it.

"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead...¹⁴"

"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ¹⁵"

The word conversation in Philippians 3:20 is an interesting word. It is the Greek word politeuma, and means "the commonwealth of citizens.¹⁶ It is interesting that in the English language we take our word politic from this Greek word. The political language used here, to be sure, is no coincidence. Israel has no city here on earth, no earthly government to which they belong. In like manner, the Body of Christ has conversation (citizenship) in heaven. As citizens of heaven, while on earth, we serve as Christ’s ambassadors. An ambassador is defined as a representative from one government to another. The government the ambassador lives under is not his own and he does not take part in it; he represents his home government while living under the foreign government. Paul’s use of the term ambassador" to describe the role of Believers was an excellent choice. We live under a foreign government - the human governments which are controlled by Satan. Just as earthly ambassadors do not take part in the governments they reside under, Believers should not take part in earthly governments. Instead, recognizing that our citizenship lies in heaven, we should serve as representatives to those around us; we should serve as ambassadors for Christ.

Jesus vs. Satan & Human Governments

The Greek Scriptures inform us that, as ambassadors here on earth, our adversaries are the devils who set up the puppet human governments we live under¹⁷:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.¹⁸"

"The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.¹⁹"

Additionally, the end-time prophesies in both the Old and New Testaments show that in the final battle between God and Satan, Satan will use human governments to fight for him.

"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.²⁰" (In context God’s army in this passage is angelic and contains no people.)

"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.²¹"

Revelation is about the most anitmilitaristic book in the Bible as it never once encourages any humans, never mind Believers, to take up arms or to support any human government. Rather it encourages them to pray and be spiritually prepared to suffer for their faith. A theology of suffering and becoming victors through martyrdom, not through killing, is enunciated in this work. The author would find shameful the way this book has been used in the Left Behind series and by many of the televangelists.²² Christ, of course, will ultimately gain victory over Satan, the kings of the earth, and their armies.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.²³"

"The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.²⁴"

And once these Satan-controlled human governments have been defeated, they will be replaced by the kingdom of our God.

"Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.²⁵"

A Rejection of God

The Mosaic Law recorded in the Old Testament governed the nation of Israel and it did not, in any aspect, resemble the human-run governments of the modern world. The scriptures describe this system of laws as one directly dictated by God to Moses. Repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, the Israeli people reject God and His laws in order to worship other idols. One striking example of this rejection of God is the following passage from the book of 1 Samuel:²⁶

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of