Distinction Between Government and the Church
Imagine your kid sees a story on the news of illegal immigration and asks, “Dad, God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, so why don’t we want to allow people to come into our country if they want to or are going through a hard time? That is what I would want my neighbor to do if I were them.”
What would you say? How would you respond? In times like these it is helpful to remember that Scripture makes a crucial distinction between God’s sovereign purposes for human government and His commands for His Church.
What is the purpose of the government?
A good summary can be found in the Baptist Confession of Faith, in its description of the role of “civil magistrates” (government officials): “God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates, to be, under him, over the people, for his own glory, and the public good: and, to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers.”
This is a summary of what Scripture teaches (Rom 13:1-4, 1 Pet 2:13-14). The primary purpose of the government is the punishment of evil and the defense and encouragement of good citizenship.
What is the purpose of the Church?
The Church on the other hand exists to worship God, nurture the saints, and go in mission to the lost. In his book “The Church” Edmund Clowney argues that the means by which we accomplish this purpose is the Word & prayer, order, and mercy.
What does this mean?
Understanding this distinction in purpose means that our votes ought to be principally rooted in the biblical purpose of government, but our citizenship ought to be principally rooted in the biblical purpose of the Church. In other words, a Christian can vote for the rule of law to be enforced, and yet be involved in ministry to those who have broken them.
Now this is an oversimplification, but it is almost as if God’s purpose for the government has a distinct legal feature: it reveals man’s error and gives the punishment he should receive. And God’s purpose for the Church has a distinct grace feature: it reveals Christ, who came to save those who do not deserve it. God has ordained both of these institutions.
What you think you are accomplishing with your vote reveals where you place your hope.
Consider this quote by C.S. Lewis in his famous work The Screwtape Letters, the fictional letters between an older demon and his apprentice nephew, Wormwood, training him how to tempt humans away from the Enemy (God): “About the general connection between Christianity and politics… we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything – even to social justice. The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice…. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop.”
Our votes are not going to bring about another great awakening of the gospel in America. But, they will to some degree affect the upholding or dismantling of the principles by which God has ordained human government to function.
May the Lord help us if we think our votes are God’s means of gospel renewal in America. At the same time, may the Lord help us if we think that voting does not matter. Voting is one way we can uphold and promote the biblical purpose of the government and thus another way we can seek to honor God.
Shrewd and Innocent
This means we must be shrewd in our listening and following; we must not be led by charlatans who make demands of us in their attempt to use God for their own ends, even if they claim the Christian label.
We must also be innocent as well; do not attempt to use God for your own political desires.
Christians may grieve or rejoice with election results, but we ought not fear. We do not fear because as the Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:24-27, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”
So, teaching our children the differences between the Church and the Government is important. And through such teaching they will see –
- Some good news: God instituted nations so that man would seek God.
- Some bad news: Man does not seek God.
- Some great news: Through Christ, God has sought after those who do not seek Him, now that is amazing grace.
Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministry