Faith Community Group Bible Study
Week of: Jan 28 - Feb 3, 2007
Gazing on the Face of God (5 of 6): The State
Last week we looked at the social sphere of labor and we learned that God provided work as a tool under His authority whereby mankind serves God and one another. Stewardship, labor and creativity are activities of God and so being made in His image, we humans follow suit.
Today we will explore God’s order and purpose of human government. In Scripture we see three social institutions created by God: family, church and state. In this triune organization of the human race, each institution serves the other, just as each member of the Trinity serves and loves the other without competition. There are clearly defined spheres of authority and with authority comes submission within each sphere.
The challenge we face in our world today is that the state has outgrown its God-ordained sphere. As Del Tackett wrote, “Human governments are capable of error and transgression and must be held accountable to a higher ethical law if they are to be prevented from wreaking havoc in the lives of the citizens entrusted to their oversight and care.” This is how the church serves the state, by upholding God’s moral law and God’s ultimate authority over the state. In our republic, we citizens have an unique right and responsibility to help conform our government to God’s designed order.
Sphere of the State
Read the following passages and on the corresponding blank line fill in how each member relates with the other:
1. Romans 13:1
2. Deuteronomy 17:19
3. Deuteronomy 17:19
4. 1 Peter 2:13
5. 1 Peter 2:14
6. 1 Peter 2:14
7. 1 Peter 2:17
8. 1 Peter 2:17
9. Psalm 22:28
10. Isaiah 33:22
Discussion Questions:
1. James Madison wrote: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Do you agree or disagree and why?
This quote is consistent with the biblical teaching of human nature, which is fallen and sinful and explains why we have a separation of powers in the U.S. government.
2. The sphere of the state includes God who delegated authority to the “king” to rightly govern the citizens. Similarly the church includes God who delegated authority to the leaders to rightly shepherd the flock. What do you see are the major differences, then, between the church and the state?
The central difference is that the state is an agent of God’s justice and so it bears the sword; the church is an agent of God’s grace and so it bears the sword of the Spirit (God’s Word). The church gives the state moral guidance and the state protects the church’s rights.
3. What areas of life do you think the state must control and what areas must its control be quite limited or non-existent? For the limited areas, what other spheres or institutions need to provide leadership? Must: legislation, law enforcement, judiciary, military (areas like public works can be under gov’t control, but don’t have to be); Limited: parenting, church teaching, education, labor, social welfare, medicine. Here the family, church, business and self-organized society play the major roles.
4. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to some fellow ministers from a Birmingham jail: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. [A just law] squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law...is out of harmony with the moral law.” How did Dr. King live by those convictions? He led non-violent demonstrations to bring attention to the unjust laws and practices in our land and faced jail time for his civil disobedience.
5. Are there unjust laws in our land right now (or being proposed) that we need to oppose, or even disobey? In Canada you can’t speak against homosexuality even from the pulpit. California is proposing to make spanking your children illegal. In Massachusetts the Catholic adoption agency closed its doors because the state forced them to provide adoptions for gay couples. Some states force pharmacists to sell the “morning-after pill” even if they are morally and religiously against it.
6. Practically speaking, what can individual Christian citizens and the church as an institution do to promote law and order in society, while also countering the ever expanding role of the state? We need to obey the law and uphold God’s moral law. If the church was more involved in meeting the social problems of our day, the state wouldn’t need to get involved. We need to vote for politicians who understand the God ordained and limited role of government.
Challenge for the Week: Read Daniel 4 for a graphic example of God’s rule over human government.