Sermon Tone Analysis

“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 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 on the one who practices evil.”

[1]

Roger Williams was a graduate of Cambridge University, where in order to receive his degree he was forced to sign articles declaring that the king was by right the head of the English Church, that worship according to the Book of Common Prayer and church government through bishops were lawful, and that the official creed of the church expressed true doctrine.

[2]

Later, his open and bold Separatist convictions got him into trouble.

Upon being compelled to leave England for Massachusetts colony, Williams wrote, “It was bitter as death to me when Bishop Laud pursued me out of this land, and my conscience was persuaded against the national church and ceremonies and bishops.”

[3]

To his dismay, Williams discovered that the religious climate was not much better on this side of the Atlantic.

His ideas of freedom and worship were contrary to those in the established church of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

He curtly turned down the invitation to be the teacher of the largest church in the colony because the people were “unseparated,” that is, the people of the congregation were not distinctly Christian and they were clearly undistinguishable from their non-Christian neighbours.

The smug, strait-laced fathers of the colony were infuriated when Williams went among the Narragansett Indians.

The Puritans did not count the Native Americans whom they called “aborigines” as among God’s elect.

To their dismay, Williams told the Indians that the Great Spirit was the Creator of us all, and that like a parent the Great Spirit cared for his children.

The Great Spirit wanted men and women to treat one another as brothers and sisters.

[4]

Rather than allow himself to be deported back to England for his convictions, Williams left Salem for the wilderness.

Leaving his wife and two daughters, Mary and Freeborn, to trudge through the bitter cold and snow of the New England winter of 1636, he negotiated the purchase of land from the Indians on a site adjacent to Narragansett Bay.

There, he established what would eventually become Rhode Island Colony.

Williams named his settlement Providence Plantation, because he believed the providence of God led him there.

In Providence, he organised the first Baptist Church in what was to Europeans the “New World.”

Roger Williams is remembered as a man who stood against the illicit power of the state exercised against the conscience of those who would worship God according to the dictates of their heart.

He stood for religious liberty, and we remember him for his stance to this day.

This example from Baptist history in the New World reminds us in dramatic fashion that government—especially government that is allied with church—bears considerable power to compel agreement with its will.

The message today seeks to understand the power of government over the citizenry and the role of Christians before the power of the sword.

In previous studies we discovered that the power of government is not absolute—there are limits to the submission that can be rendered by conscientious Christians to governmental dicta.

In the verses before us this day, we encounter what I believe to be the most difficult portion of this entire passage.

Paul seems to take no account of the possibility that government may be tyrannical—that it may reward evil and suppress good.

It would be but a few years after Paul penned the words of this book that Nero would launch a pogrom against the people of Christ.

Multitudes would lose their lives, paying dearly for their Faith.

During the ensuing years, various emperors would lash out against Christians unleashing repeated waves of persecution that stretched over two centuries.

Persecutions came not because of the Christians’ good works, nor even directly because of their Faith, but rather, as Stifler observes, because of “the mistaken notion that the peace and safety of the state were imperilled by the Christians’ refusal to honour the Gods.”

[5]

THE POWER OF GOVERNMENT TO ENFORCE ITS WILL — Preaching on the matter of relations between church and state imposes the need for thoughtful contemplation for each of us.

In the message two Sundays past, I gave my understanding of Scripture.

I taught you from Scripture that a Christian is obligated to resist giving obedience to unjust laws.

Those laws which proscribe evangelism, pervert morality, distort ethics, restrict the freedom of peaceable assembly, limit the freedom of speech or regulate the freedom of worship must be resisted by the conscientious Christian.

Among the specific examples of resistance to unjust laws that are provided in Scripture, civil disobedience is approved, even expected, when the law forbids worship of God [EXODUS 5:1].

Christians must conscientiously resist when the law commands believers to practise idolatry [DANIEL 3], or commands believers to receive permission before praying [DANIEL 6], or when the law commands believers to worship a man [REVELATION 13].

The law must be disobeyed by all who believe the Master when it commands the murder of innocent lives [EXODUS 1:15-21] or when it commands that God’s servants be killed [1 KINGS 18:1-4].

Finally, believers must refuse to obey any law which forbids propagation of the Gospel [ACTS 4:17-19].

As an example of such resistance, I cited the examples of Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller, each of whom was imprisoned because of resistance to the encroachments by and injustice of the Nazi State.

I was very careful as I crafted the message to avoid advocating anything more than civil disobedience.

However, I must note that Bonhoeffer did join an attempt on the life of Adolph Hitler.

I wonder whether my cultural background has gotten the best of me.

Though I struggle to find specific permission in the New Testament to engage in active resistance, even against a tyrannical government, and though I am cautious not to encourage a church as a congregation to engage in active resistance—even against a tyrannical government—I confess that in light of the teaching of this particular passage of the Word of God I would have difficulty not participating in active rebellion.

That government is said to “bear the sword” implies force.

God has given to government power to conduct its affairs.

It is easy enough to think of countries like North Korea or Iran operating by force.

We think of Canada as a free society, and compared to countries such as these, we suppose ourselves to be quite different.

Really, we are not so very different in that each form of government must use force to rule.

Examples of the coercive power of the state abound.

I need not be specific, as generalisations will suffice to demonstrate the point.

[6] For example, like all western democracies, we have a system of “voluntary self-assessment” of income tax in this nation.

When you fill out your income tax forms each April you can read how we are a unique nation in that we “voluntarily” assess our own tax and “voluntarily” pay all those funds which keep our governments (both federal and provincial) operating.

Isn’t that wonderful?

It sounds very civil to speak of voluntary taxation.

However, “voluntary self-assessment” is not really voluntary.

Should you refuse to pay your income tax, you will be billed for the amount owing, plus interest.

If you, however, refuse to pay after being billed, you will be arrested and your assets seized to pay the delinquent taxes.

Paying taxes is not voluntary at all.

It is mandatory, and the proof that it is mandatory is that government bears the sword to accomplish its will.

Another example might be provided by those who operate a business in this country.

Suppose your business becomes bogged down by the increasing number of governmental regulations for your business.

You are required to collect GST or HST and remit it to the government, care for employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions for your employees, meet health and safety regulations, obey the Workers Compensation Board requirements, and so on and so forth.

You have so much paper work to attend to that you decide you just will not bother to work for the government in these areas any longer.

Of course, you will be arrested and your business shut down.

The only logical conclusion is that government does bear the sword.

However much we may dislike the coercive power of government, it is a power granted by God.

Ideally, this power is given to ensure peace for the citizenry as that which is good is encouraged in society and that which is evil is held in check.

CIVIL AND SOCIAL POWER — There must be constraints to the use of the sword.

We have already discovered that government is restricted by God’s higher law, and Christians are responsible to distinguish between what is right and what is evil.

It may be beneficial for us to think carefully about the limits of government’s authority and power.

The limits, when defined, will also assist each of us to determine the point at which the conscientious Christian must engage in civil disobedience.

Paul says that civil government is “God’s servant,” and officials are “ministers of God.”

What can we say concerning the ministry or service which God has assigned to government?

It should be obvious from our studies that this service has to do with good and evil.

This service is essentially for the physical protection of the citizenry when it is wronged.

In the previous chapter of Romans, Paul warned Christians against seeking revenge when wronged.

In fact, Paul said that any vengeance belongs to God alone [ROMANS 12:19].

Thomas Schreiner has cogently observed, “Even though believers are not to avenge themselves, it does not follow from this that the government abstains from punishing those who violate the law (cf.

S. Porter 1990b: 118–19).

The ruling authorities have a responsibility to correct those who practice evil, so that society is peaceful and spared from anarchy.

ROMANS 12:17–21 has already shown that God will execute his vengeance upon unrepentant sinners on the last day.

Nonetheless, civil authorities also have a responsibility to impose penalties on those who carry out evil.” [7]

The statement concerning government officials, “he does not bear the sword in vain,” refers to government’s powerful authority to punish evil to the utmost.

The phrase can refer to both capital punishment and to the making of war when attacked.

In this statement, Paul is clear that individuals do not have the authority to execute punishment, but that government, which is established by God, does have that authority.”

The late John Stott, writing of the distinction between the role of the state and that of the individual, says, “We may perhaps say that individuals are to live according to love rather than justice, whereas the state operates according to justice rather than love.”

[8] The statement is not precisely true, since it attempts to set love and justice in opposition to each other, and they are not exclusive.

It should be clear, however, that even though the state attempts to show love and compassion, it must keep as its primary concern, justice.

Returning to the focus of our study, the state is given power to defend its citizens from enemies outside the state and evildoers within the state.

That is, the state has the power to engage in war.

Within this recognition is justification for creating an armed force, conscripting citizens into those forces, taxing the citizens for the war effort and moving the economy to support the war effort.

These are legitimate powers for the state, and they are justified by the need for the common defence.

The power to regulate the economy and the power to tax the citizens may not necessarily carry over into peacetime.

Within this context, we live in a nation which has historically permitted conscientious objectors to perform alternate service in time of war.

Those who truly believed war to be a violation of their Christian duties were exempted to perform other duties.

One could not simply evade responsibility; but one could serve in alternate ways.

The state has the power to defend the citizenry from evildoers within.

The state has received responsibility to provide for and maintain the social order.

This means that individuals who would threaten the state through fomenting civil unrest must be held in check.

One reason we Christians are to pray for “all who are in authority” is so that we may live “a peaceful and quiet life” [see 1 TIMOTHY 2:1, 2 NET BIBLE].