COVID 19 | Submission to Authority
/
This was originally written by Ben Arnold as a letter to Soma Tacoma. I found it to be a thorough and Biblically informed response to the current reality we all find ourselves in. I pray it encourages and equips you to see how the gospel applies to our submission to authority.
COVID-19 has brought us into a new reality, with daily challenges, opportunities, and questions that are unchartered territory for most of us. As we attempt to navigate this time as God’s family, one of the issues that affects us daily is how we should respond to Governor Inslee’s stay-at-home order. For many of us, these emergency laws have brought to the surface concerns, fears, questions, and an array of emotions fueled by how the law affects our daily life.
As you wrestle through this issue with your family and as you gather with your MCs and have discussions with one another, we want to encourage you to engage with humility, compassion, and a heart of submission to King Jesus. While these conversations may cause tension, they are another God-given opportunity to see the gospel applied to everyday life. We must take a posture of humbly listening--yes, to each other’s voices, but ultimately to God’s voice.
Thankfully, at its core, the question of submitting to the government’s authority is not a new one--Christians in every age have had to wrestle with it. The New Testament church lived under Nero, one of the most tyrannical and corrupt Roman emperors of the time. In that context, both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter (who was ultimately put to death by Nero) wrote letters to the church that give us a very clear starting point for how to respond to the government’s laws. In both Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:11-17, they address the issue with clarity: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1, NIV) and “submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority” (1 Peter 2:13, NIV). Our unequivocal starting point as God’s people should be a very counter-cultural posture of humble submission to our government. Even when laws seem unreasonable, annoying, and inconvenient (see 1 Peter 2:18), we are called to follow Jesus in sacrificial submission and obedience.
It is significant that our obedience to the government is “for the Lord’s sake.” That reason for obedience is both encouraging and sobering. It’s encouraging because it means that obeying our state’s laws, even those we feel are unreasonable, is ultimately an act of service and allegiance to our true King, Jesus. Because Jesus is for us and delights in us, we are free to obey with glad submission and not just begrudgingly or with bitter resignation. On the flip side, knowing our obedience is ultimately to King Jesus is sobering, because it also means that if we don’t submit to the government’s authority, we are actually disobeying him. In Paul’s words, “whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted” (Romans 13:2, NIV).
While these commands to obey are the starting point for us, there is also one clear exception in Scripture. In Acts 5, the apostles, even in the face of arrest and prison, refused to obey the presiding government’s command not to preach in the name of Jesus. Peter’s response to the restriction was clear and definitive: “we must obey God rather than human beings” (v. 29 NIV). Therefore, when the government commands us directly to disobey God, and especially when that restriction is clearly motivated by an attempt to stop the gospel message, we have God-given authority to disobey.
As followers of King Jesus, we have to wrestle with the implications of these clear texts in our current situation. Again, this is not new territory for the church. In the 17th century, English pastor Richard Baxter reflected on the Bible’s call to submit to authority and concluded, “if the magistrate for a greater good, (as the common safety,) forbids church assemblies in a time of pestilence [e.g., a pandemic] . . . it is a duty to obey him,” but if they prohibit gathering “as a renunciation of Christ and our religion; it is not lawful formally to obey them.”
Baxter’s conclusion largely reflects where we believe Soma Tacoma should land as well. In short, we must obey the laws of the government as an act of service to Jesus, unless those laws clearly contradict Jesus’ clear commands to the church and are clearly motivated by animosity towards the gospel message or a desire to slow its spread. Apart from this exception, to disobey the law is to disobey Jesus. Such obedience, even if it means great sacrifice or even suffering on our part, is actually a significant part of being on mission. As we obey, the world sees our “good deeds and glorifies God” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV). Such obedience glorifies God because it ultimately reflects Jesus’ willingness to submit to authority. He obeyed, even in the face of injustice and suffering (1 Peter 2:21-24).
Although God’s word is very clear on the starting point for obedience to the government, we also acknowledge that there are legitimate concerns about economic collapse, government overreach, politicalization of news and information, and whether or not the science behind the stay-at-home order is well-reasoned. We believe there can be healthy disagreement and discussion on all of these issues, and that we can even personally disagree with the rationale behind the government’s laws, yet still humbly and sacrificially obey those laws with our eyes fixed on King Jesus. In our concern, we must pay attention to our hearts and be aware of when our questions of and reactions to governing authorities are driven by sinful fear and unbelief. And we must be aware of and resist the devil’s schemes to use these disagreements to divide the Church in a time when unity is crucial. Remember that the one walking with us through this is the all-knowing, never-perplexed, completely-sovereign, deeply-compassionate King. The grip of conspiracy, angst of political divide, pride of position, and fear of the future all lose their controlling power in his presence.
Besides these fears and concerns, we also understand that the laws affect many of us deeply and for many are not simply an inconvenience. We all long for the connection of close community and the freedom to gather together again. Despite the virtual tools to help, we feel the effects of isolation. Others are even more deeply affected: loved ones are prevented from being at the bedside of dying relatives, domestic abuse and child abuse are predicted to be much more prevalent, depression and suicide rates are higher, many have lost their jobs temporarily or permanently, and those on the frontlines are daily being asked to put their health and lives at risk. Obedience in these cases is admittedly hard and costly. And so while we continue to obey in faith, we should not be afraid to lament losses, grieve brokenness, and cry out to our Father, who sees and knows, while also moving towards advocating for the vulnerable and alleviating these losses when we can.
Our desire for Soma Tacoma is that we would be unified around what’s clear in God’s Word and that we would be humble listeners around what’s not. We’ve provided additional resources below to help delve more deeply into these issues. If we can serve you and your MC as you work through these questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Resources
Doxa Devotions: Gospel Unity, Jeff Vanderstelt
Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You, Brett McCracken
A helpful guide for living with a counter-cultural spirit of sacrifice, humility, and patience, while also appreciating the nuances of the issue and maintaining unity in the church.
Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, John Piper
Specifically focuses on when and how Christians should engage in civil disobedience.
Too Many Evangelicals Fall for Conspiracy Theories, by Ed Stetzer and Andrew MacDonald
An editorial published in the Dallas News, hence the provocative title, but helpful considerations for how to respond to conspiracy theories as followers of Jesus.
