Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Civil Authority and God

"[T]here is no authority except from God" (Rom. 13:1) 

When we look at the subject of politics it is important that we remember that the authority that civil government has is fundamentally from God. The government is God's government and God appoints it to administer His Law. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He rules the nations with a rod of iron and all the nations are accountable to His standard of justice (Amos 1, Deut. 4:6-8, 9:4, Psalm 2, Jer. 46, 47, 48, 49, etc...). Authority comes from God. If it is thought to comes from anywhere else it is from a false god. Authority is a attribute of divinity. To say that authority fundamentally comes from some thing, is to say that that thing is god.

Governments throughout history have realized the need for divine authority for the authority for their governments. In ancient nations that had abandoned God, often the ruler was proclaimed as god. The story of the founding of the government was always tied into the actions of the gods. In our modern day our god and sovereign authority is often man, and thus government is said to receive its power fundamentally either from the sovereign individual or the sovereign mass of people (depending on which form of humanism you side with). Either we fall into the anarchy of the individual or the tyranny of the mass or in some cases the tyranny of the elites (scientists, corporations, college professors, etc). All of this leads to injustice and sin. When we abandon God as our judge and ruler, he will judge us. He can do this through many ways, but a direct way is simply through the the injustice of men and the unjust law system that we are driven to when we forget God.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
(Psalm 2:10-12)

3 comments:

Melody said...

Amen! R. J. Rushdoony said, "The source of law for any society is the god of that society."

Unknown said...

I'm curious, which form of anarchy/tyranny would you say we are under?
"Either we fall into the anarchy of the individual or the tyranny of the mass or in some cases the tyranny of the elites"

Peter Bringe said...

Ceria,

I think that we are currently under the tyranny of the masses, although you might say that the elites are leading the masses. All three are present in American politics and continue to struggle for power.

-Peter Bringe
Deo Vindice