Romans 13, verses 1-7. Let us hear God's Word. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." That sends a reading. of God's holy and inspired Word. This Lord's Day morning, we return again to our series on systematic theology. We come this Lord's Day morning to the 36th message, or the next to the last message in the 7th of 10 sections. We've looked at the doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of God, of man, the covenant of grace, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, and we've been spending a number of weeks Christian ethics or the law of God and topics related to it. And so this morning we'll consider civil government. Next week, Lord willing, we'll consider marriage and divorce. And then we will move on to the last three sections of our series as we consider the doctrine of the church, the means of grace, and then the doctrine concerning the last things eschatology. So, this morning we come to consider the civil magistrate or civil government. I want us to consider this morning the place of civil government, the duty of civil government, the distinction between civil and church government, and then the Christian's duty toward civil government. This is really the way the Westminster Confession is laid out. And again, as usual, we'll use the Confession as a guide to help us in consideration of this topic. So first, the place of civil government. Paragraph 1 of Chapter 23 of the Westminster Confession says, 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 evil doers." So, we have here in this paragraph that civil government is an ordinance of God. And then we see that it's an ordinance of God unto God's glory via the promotion of the public good. God the Supreme Lord and King over all the earth or world hath ordained civil magistrates. We saw that in verse 1 here of Romans 13. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for or because there is no power but of God. There's no authority but of God. The authorities that be are ordained of God. Consider what's written on Christ's vesture and on His thigh as we read in Revelation 19, 16. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, what is taught here is what has often been called in Reformed theology, sphere, sovereignty. That is, that God has established three spheres. The civil sphere, the family, and the church. It's very interesting here in the Confession. Chapter 23 deals with civil government. Chapter 24 with the family. 25 with the church. The family is the building block of the church and the state. There are three spheres. All three spheres must submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God is Lord over all three, not just the church. And so that's what's being taught here. It's contradictory to what Rousseau taught concerning the social compact theory or Locke. It's also contrary to what is a very prominent religion of the day, even though you won't find any buildings with the Marquis saying it, but it is Statism. Not Satanism. Statism. That is believing the state will solve all your problems. The state will give you your daily bread and provide all your needs for you. So, in distinction from that, the Scriptures teach that the state is under Christ's Lordship. Another thing we have to say about Scripture regarding this is that there's no one form of government, civil government, explicitly taught in the Scriptures. Now, there are some of us, obviously, that are patriotic and want to think that our government is the best that's ever existed or it's the closest aligned with Scripture. And in many senses, we could say that may be true, but the fact is God ordained a monarchy in the Old Testament. So, we need to be careful to suggest that monarchy is somehow deficient form of government if God was pleased to establish a monarchy as a picture of His kingdom. Christ is certainly a monarch. So, we need to be careful there. We need to also recognize that God has allowed for diversity of the forms of government all to be carried out within His Consider 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14. There Peter says, "...submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well." So here Peter summarizes what Paul has said in Romans 13, 1-7. But what he says that's a little bit different than Paul is that instead of saying, as Paul did, that all these authorities are ordained of God, which Peter certainly believes, he's prepared to also call these things that are ordained of God ordinances of men. So, what he's saying is God's put these people and these powers in place, but they have of their own accord chosen actual form of government and how their government is to be worked out. And nonetheless, Peter says, though that's the case, you're still to submit to the king or his governors, those that are intermediaries between him and you. So, civil government is ordained of God. Secondly, it's ordained to glorify God. in the promotion of the public good. We see that particularly in verse 4 of Romans 13. God has given the civil magistrate or the civil government the sword, the power of the sword to restrict or to discourage and punish evildoers. It was Augustine that said civil government is a necessary evil made necessary because of evil. Because of sins come into the world, there is the necessity of a civil magistrate. And the magistrate, or civil government, was established after the fall. So, we've seen the place of civil government in the wisdom of God. Now, let's consider the duty of civil government. Confession goes on to say in paragraph 2 concerning the duty of civil government, it is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto. So those civil governments are ordained of God in His decreed will and established through the will of men sinful men, many men not Christian, yet the Scriptures teach Christians can enter into that government and serve the Lord in that sphere. Romans 13, 1-4 certainly would inform us that if these things are ordained of God, and that civil magistrates are ministers or servants of God as they serve the people and do the public good. So, obviously it's a place that God's people can serve. Consider Proverbs 8, 15 and 16, By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. So even here, the Westminster divines are countering the radical reformers who had denied involvement in the civil government, who had denied that it was right to serve in the military or serve as a civil magistrate. And those that are in Calvin's line are saying, no, that is inaccurate. The Bible teaches that the Christian can serve in the governmental structure. They go on to say that those that do serve in the government should maintain piety, justice, and peace. They say, in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth. They just said that the end of the civil magistrate's service is to glorify God in the public good. So, what is formed in the civil government is a common wealth or a public good is the end of the organization of the civil government. Here they say that the civil governors, those in civil government should maintain piety. This is something that the American Presbyterians have altered in their confession. But consider Psalm 2, 10-12. Does God not tell magistrates, be wise, serve the Lord, kiss the Son? God's Word is explicit that it's a duty of civil magistrates to kiss or pay homage to the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord. They are to honor their Supreme Lord. They are to recognize that they aren't the fountain of authority. That they are but an under-authority under God and His supreme authority. That's why I believe in 1 Timothy 1 and 2 when the church is told to pray for magistrates. that we are to pray for them that we might lead lives in all godliness and honesty or piety and justice. In other words, the civil magistrate should enforce all ten of the commandments. Not just the last six, but also the first four. Consider 2 Samuel 23. There we read, "...he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God." That's why our state constitutions as well as, I believe, the federal constitution originally established that those that would rule had to be professing Christians. Most of that has certainly left our culture, but it was there in the origination of our states. Notice also that it says that the civil magistrate must establish or must maintain piety, justice and peace according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth. In other words, what they're saying is the civil magistrate is to rule under Christ. but they are to rule under Christ under the law in which they've taken an oath to be a servant to. So it informs us that the law is over them. Not just God's law, but also the law that they have taken an oath to be a servant in. That they're submitting to the laws of the commonwealth when they take office. That they're not free to be a law unto themselves. We do see that set up in our own civil government where the president is not the legislature and he is not the judicial branch. He doesn't make the rules and execute justice concerning them. There's a separation of powers. If the law is over the president, the president still must follow the law. There have been obvious times in our history where presidents have thought they were above the law. But in fact, the Scripture says that is not the case. They're certainly not above God's law, nor are they to be above the law of the commonwealth in which they serve. Lastly, in this section concerning the duty of government, the divines go on to say, for that end, they may lawfully, in other words, for the end of promoting the commonwealth, They may lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions. So, what the divines want to affirm is that the Scripture does not teach absolute pacifism. It's a place for just war. So, they're just carrying out what has been known as just war theory. probably, obviously originated from Scripture, but probably the first great theologian in church history that enunciated it was Augustine. And the medieval theologian Aquinas took it even further. In the Augustinian tradition, Calvin found himself and held this position and so those that came in his line held it as well. So this is again opposed to the radical Anabaptists or the pacifists. Probably a group that I'm familiar with that still exists in this day are the Quakers. You probably don't run across a lot of Quakers in South Carolina or North Carolina, but in the Philadelphia area there still are friends meeting houses and there are still people that profess being Quakers. And they are radical pacifists. But consider the scriptural support regarding legitimacy of just wars. In Luke 3.14 it says, "...the soldiers likewise demanded of Him, of Jesus saying, What shall we do? In other words, they're asking Christ, how should we behave as soldiers? This is what Jesus says to them. And He said unto them, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. He doesn't say get out of there as fast as you can. Don't fight. But what He says, don't do violence to anybody, don't accuse falsely, be content with your wages. Kind of lays out three prominent temptations for soldiers. Something that any Christian soldier ought to consider. They have some authority. It's very easy for someone in military or somebody that wears a badge as a policeman to take it upon themselves to potentially execute justice. on someone, to do violence to someone, to be the judge and the jury and the executioner. It's also easy to accuse someone falsely, to be convinced somebody's guilty, to pin them with it. And also, quite often, soldiers and the police force aren't adequately paid for the dangers that they place themselves in quite routinely. And it could be very easy as all of us are tempted to think we're worth more than we earn. How much more people that put their life in danger day by day. So clearly Jesus is not telling them to get out. Also consider Matthew 8, 9 and 10, the centurion. The centurion with great faith. Jesus doesn't question his faith or his profession because he's a centurion. Nobody honors Him. We see also here in Romans 13, verse 4, concerning the magistrate, "...he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." So, there's a place for the sword in the nation itself, but also potentially upon those outside of the nation who might wage war against us. Consider Ecclesiastes 3, 1 and 8. The wisdom of Solomon. Ecclesiastes 3, 1. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. There's the general principle. Then Solomon begins in this poetical portion to give some of those times. But in verse 80 he says, a time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. He says there's a time for war. Now in Reformation thought generally the position was offensive wars ought to be highly suspect. Defensive wars are obviously mandated. You have to defend yourself and it's right and it would be sinful to not defend yourself or your family defensively against those that are on the offense. I've got to do a little bit more study in this, but it was interesting in R.C. Sproul's work on the Confession, he said this is why our nation up until the Vietnam War supported and allowed for conscientious objectors. Not just for those who held some form of radical Protestantism that were pacifist, but also allowed more mainline Protestants the position of being an objective or, excuse me, a conscientious objector, not from a biblical perspective, but from a prudence perspective. In other words, not that war itself is illegitimate in all cases, but that it's illegitimate in this case. That this is not a just war, therefore, I don't have to serve. But he brings up the point in history that in the Vietnam War, there was such an outcry because the war itself was questionable, but also the culture, the culture of the 60s existed, so you had both things warring against it and created such a large mass of conscientious objectors that the government said, no, we're going to have to put a lid on that and not allow that. And so that's why guys like Sergeant York would have been allowed to serve in some kind of capacity in the Army that didn't require shooting the enemy. It wasn't until he became convinced that he had a legitimate biblical right to do so that he was placed in the front where he could actually begin to defend his country using his gun. If any of you have ever seen that original movie, Sergeant York, it's very accurate and very profitable, I think. Just a thought there about just war. Now let's move to paragraph three or section three and think about the distinction between the civil and the church government. Distinction between the civil and the church government. I won't choose to read this whole paragraph. You might want to do that at some point. But it seeks to guard between what could be called Erastianism, which would be the government, the civil government being over the church. But it also guards against the thought that the church is over the state. So, it's already sought to describe the fact that the state is under Christ's Lordship. And what it says is the state and the church are both under Christ's Lordship. The church is not over the state. The state is not over the church. They are two distinct spheres. So what we have to understand is there's a distinction between the two spheres. But we also have to understand that there's no absolute separation between the two spheres. Which is what's being promoted in our day and age. The separation which really ends up being the absolute separation of the church and the state. The church over the state or Erastianism, that's what's practiced in England. The church of England is under the rule of the queen. She's the protector of the church. King James recognized that if there's a presbytery, there'll be no king. So that's why he wasn't supportive of bringing Presbyterianism and the Westminster Confession into play in England. It would undermine the whole governmental system. Not so much the monarchy itself, but the way the monarchy had been set up and that the church was under the state. But this also contradicts the Roman Catholic position, which is that all the states are under the Pope. That the Pope reports to Christ and then everybody else reports to the Pope. So they report to Christ only through the Pope. Where the bishops and cardinals in the Anglican Church report to Christ through the Queen. See the difference in the organizational structures? So we believe there's a distinction between the spheres and so neither of those positions is biblical. Some biblical support. In 2 Chronicles 26-18 we are told that the priest withstood Uzziah the king because he trespassed. Uzziah the king in his latter days was a great king, a long-standing king. a king who brought great prosperity to God's people, but he decided in his latter years he would go into the temple and offer sacrifices as a priest. And he failed to recognize the distinction between his role in the civil government and the role of the priest in the church government. So, even in a theocracy, even in the Old Testament, there was a distinction between the king and the priest and the prophet. And it's Christ and Christ alone that holds all three offices. Consider also Matthew 16, 19. There Jesus tells Peter and through Peter and the disciples, the church and church rulers throughout the ages, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, in distinction from the power of the sword, The church has the keys of the kingdom. The civil magistrate has the power of the sword. So, we see this distinction between the two spheres and their roles. But we need to make sure we understand that there's no absolute separation between the spheres because both of them are under God. And therefore, the state is to enforce and promote piety and the keeping of the Ten Commandments just as the church is. Because the Ten Commandments are the transcript of God's holiness. And so therefore, what's taught in section 3 is what's been known as the establishment principle. That it's right and just for a civil government to encourage the true religion. In our day of pluralism, it's hard to believe that because we don't see it. And the few times in history that it's been attempted, it's utterly failed because of the sinfulness of men. But, we don't see Daniel telling Cyrus when Cyrus decided he was prepared to fund the rebuilding of the temple We don't see Daniel saying, no, don't do it. Or Zerubbabel, no, don't do it. You ought to just promote religious pluralism. But they supported it. Some say, well, the First Amendment goes against this principle. I don't believe that's so because the First Amendment didn't seek to undo the rights of the states to establish and promote the form of Protestantism that they desired to promote. And so Virginia did support Anglicanism. And Massachusetts and Connecticut did support Congregationalism. Probably the proof text, the primary text in which we I gather some of these principles. One of the dominant ones is Isaiah 49-23 where in a prophecy concerning the New Testament era, we're told, Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed. that wait for me." They were told that in the New Testament era, kings would submit to Christ's lordship and would thus help the church. And that is still true today even in our own government to some degree. Not as fully as in others like in Scotland during the period of the establishment of the covenants but there are still certain privileges that are granted to Protestant churches today that our government provides. So, what we see is there's not absolute separation. As I mentioned once before, we are still obligated today to follow certain laws of the land even as we assemble today. We have free access of assembly, but we are not allowed to violate laws, fire protection laws that are in place for this given facility that we are in. We were not free to violate any other laws of the land that are imposed upon us at this point. But at the same time, we need to understand that there's that overlap and that as we are actually practicing our religion and serving the Lord, we're still under certain laws of the land. We also need to understand that God in the spheres that He has established, has established the church to be the vehicle of the speaking of His will to the family and the state. In other words, the church's job is to be His prophetic voice to the other two spheres. And so, it's right for the church to speak to the state concerning what God's will is. Now, we've looked at the place of civil government, the duty of civil government, the distinction between the civil and the church governments. Now, let's consider the Christian's duty toward civil government. Paragraph 4, the last paragraph of chapter 23 on the civil magistrate or civil government. The Westminster divines say this, it is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands and be subject to their authority for conscience sake. Then they go on to say, Infidelity or difference in religion does not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to them, from which ecclesiastical persons, as church officers, are not exempted, much less have the pope any power and jurisdiction over them in their domains or any of their people. and least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives if he shall judge them to be heretics or upon any other pretense whatsoever." So here in the beginning of this paragraph, they specify some of the basic duties that we have towards our civil magistrates. And notice it says it's the duty of people. They don't say it's the duty of Christians. They said this is non-Christian's duty as well. Whether they agree with it or not, God will hold them accountable to do these things. These are God's will. First prayer. 1 Timothy 2, 1 and 2. I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority. that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. That we should pray for our magistrates that they might promote piety or godliness and justice or honesty in our land. Because those things promote peace in our land. So, the first duty is prayer. Second, honor. Peter says in 1 Peter 2.17, Honor all men Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King. In the midst of showing honor to all men created in God's image, loving uniquely the brotherhood of the Lord, those that are in Christ, and professors, fearing God, Peter's willing to put in a fourth duty honoring the King. An attitude of honor towards those in authority. For their place in authority. That's why we need to sometimes make a distinction between honoring the office and honoring the person. Sometimes there are very wicked people in honorable positions, though they may be dishonorable. We need to be able to make that distinction. We're not called to honor someone that's dishonorable, but we are called to honor the office that that dishonorable person holds. That's why we are not free to make wisecracks and derogatory statements towards those that are in public office. Whether they're in our party or they're in the party that we're opposed to and their policies are opposite of what we would desire. So we're to honor our civil governors. Also, we're to pay tribute to them. Romans 13, 6, and 7, I've already read. For this cause, pay ye tribute also. that they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." Now, I'd love to spend more time in Romans 13. You do in Romans 13 get a picture of what the sphere of church government, I mean, not church government, civil government is. It's justice, so it requires a judicial system. It requires a legislature, judicial system. It requires a police force. It requires an army. But it doesn't talk about being involved in energy and industry and education and all those things. So I don't think we have to say we're for smaller government or for bigger government. We're for government that's right sized to the scope that God has ordained it to be involved in. That's the size the government needs to be. If it's carrying out the duties properly before it, it'll be the right size. And the taxation of the tribute will be the right number based on that size. If it's efficient in carrying out its tasks. We live in a day and age where our government has taken on many tasks that God has never called it to take on and it's floundering in the tasks that it has been called of God to take on. Any of you that have ever been involved in the judicial system know the difficulties that exist because of it being overtaxed. Because a failure to actually carry out justice is not discouraging sinful behavior. And so when sinful behavior becomes so great and crimes are so great, but the government is involved in so many other things than administering justice, it can't administer justice. Fourthly, obedience and submission. These could be separated, but we'll put them together for the purpose of this study. Obedience and submission. Romans 13.5, Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Here Paul says you need to submit so you don't get hurt. So the minister of justice doesn't come down on you, but also for conscience sake because it's right before God. That's why you should subject yourself to the magistrate. Not just because you might get harmed by him, but because God's not going to be pleased with it ultimately ought to be the issue. They go on to quote Titus 3.1. We'll look at that in worship today. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. Now we're to submit to magistrates as they submit to the Lord. That is why we are called to obey their lawful command. If a magistrate gives us a command that contradicts the law of the land or contradicts God's law, then we are not to carry out that command. We're to obey God rather than men. But having laid out the duties towards civil government and those that hold office in civil government, they also want to help us understand the scope. And they tell us that it's everyone's duty to submit to the civil magistrate. We're told that it is even if the civil magistrate's an unbeliever. 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14 again. Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Whether they're Christians in that position or not. They go on to say, Not only are we to submit to civil governors, even if they're not believers, but we're to submit to them even if we're church officers. Even if we hold office in the church sphere, that doesn't give us a right to deny their unique place in the civil sphere. Consider Romans 13.1, let every soul be subject under the higher powers." In other words, no one's exempt. Church governors aren't exempt from submitting to the civil government. And then they go on to say, even the Pope's not exempt. I want to make that very clear. So here, they're being very anti-Roman Catholic. They're addressing the sins of the Roman Catholics in the medieval period where the Pope would think that he could excommunicate a leader of a government if he wasn't carrying things out the way he wanted and then call him a heretic and encourage everyone in the church to ignore his rule. It's very interesting, the verse that they use, one of the verses they use to support this position is 2 Thessalonians 2.4. So obviously they believe this prophecy of Paul in 2 Thessalonians to refer to the Pope. It says there in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, "...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself." that He is God. You see, the Roman Catholic position is that the Pope is the vicar of Christ. That everybody on earth reports to Christ through the Pope. And that He is the unique mouthpiece of God. And He alone can speak ex cathedra. When He is on the chair, He can speak with absolute perfection the will of God. And so they say that this verse of Paul, this prophecy must refer to him. That by doing that, by calling himself the victor of Christ, he's basically saying, and Rome is saying logically, that he is God. He's behaving as God. And they go on to say, since every soul must submit itself to the civil government, even the Pope isn't free to ignore the laws, of the land, that he has no right to have his own sphere in the center of Rome, but he actually should be submitting to the laws of Italy and the laws of Rome, the place where he is geographically located. So we've seen in this chapter a pretty thorough explanation of the place of civil government, the place of the duty of civil government, the distinction between civil and church government, and then our duty uniquely, the duty of all men to the civil government that God has established in His providence for us.