Today’s blog posting is not about Donald Trump. It’s about something much larger. It’s about the nature of government itself. This posting is prompted by Monday’s 9-0 ruling by the United States Supreme Court in regard to the candidacy of Mr. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.
On a personal level, I am happy to see that our nation’s highest court can agree unanimously on any subject. That signals to me that the justices were seeking to make a constitutional decision, and not a political one. For me, this is welcome news. After all, that is always the primary task before SCOTUS.
In the aftermath of the unanimous decision, the public reactions have been fast and furious. So my sole intention is to clarify a few matters that – in my opinion – are widely misunderstood. These matters touch on the important relationship between church and state, and they raise issues of fundamental significance which ought to be understood by those who are called to serve Christ within our American context. I will limit my observations to 7 key points.
1. God ordained all human government for His glory, and for our good. It is a gift from God to us to provide, among other things, order and stability for society (Romans 13:1-7). With this foundation in mind at all times, we who follow Christ should seek to be model citizens. The Scriptures make allowances for civil disobedience when the laws of earth are in direct conflict with the laws of God, as we observe in the case of Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace (Chapter 3), but this is the exception rather than the rule. We recognize that the true Sovereign is always our Lord, and we make it our aim to display with consistency His kindness and grace in the public square. We understand that human government is a derived and limited authority, and we are grateful for the good purposes of God in it.
2. Our fundamental rights come from God, the true Sovereign. Our rights do not come from any government, or even from the Constitution itself. The Constitution enumerates some of our freedoms, but the primary intent of the Framers was that the Constitution would prohibit the government from taking away, or even eroding, our God-given rights. This passion was carried over from the Declaration of Independence (1776): “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it …”
3. Because the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and the like are ordained by God, they are inherent in any reasonable understanding of human dignity. We may love our Constitution, and we may be grateful for the First Amendment, but we must be careful never to forget that the documents only articulate the higher truth: God has granted these rights to people who are made in His image. That includes all of us (Genesis 1:26-27). This principle can be seen clearly in the First Amendment itself: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Make. No. Law. Notice what behavior is actually restricted – that of the government itself. It was the Founders’ intent to define and protect, specifically, the authority of the people.
4. If we misunderstand the proper role of government, we will look to the government to provide all kinds of things that the government is entirely incapable of providing. In fact, we will undermine the work of the church when it comes to taking care of persons whom we’re called by Christ to serve – in His name and with His love. When the government is viewed by the people as some kind of Santa Claus with unlimited resources, all kinds of social and political chaos ensue. (Like you, I’m observing this as I follow the budget-related deliberations of our Congress right now.) I think that we can safely say that the Framers of our Constitution viewed government itself as necessary but potentially dangerous (consider not just the 18th century, but Paul’s context – the Roman Empire – when he penned Romans 13), and so they wisely built into the engine of our nation as many checks and balances as they could envision.
5. For America’s Founding Fathers, the absolute bottom line was freedom. It was “self-evident” to them that self-government – in the form of a constitutional republic – could only be perpetuated by a people who understood themselves to be self-governed. Such a system would hold accountable all of those in public leadership, and would require the people themselves to stay informed and engaged in the political process. From the very first seedlings of the new government, freedom would outpace all other concerns, and the Founders would be required to risk their lives and livelihoods to secure and preserve it. I’ll quote the first and sixth governor of post-colonial Virginia, Patrick Henry: “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” This courageous and persevering spirit has made our American Experiment a beacon of light, even in corners of the earth marked by rampant political oppression, and has made our enshrined freedoms the envy of the world.
6. Freedom does not grow in a vacuum, but freedom flourishes where righteousness prevails. For every follower of Christ, this should be a sincere concern. President John Adams expressed it like this: “Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private virtue, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.” His predecessor in office, George Washington, used these words: “Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people.” But Proverbs 14:34 best establishes this truth: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” When the church is healthy and strong, and when the true gospel can be heard from the pulpits of our land, the nation is positioned for greatness in the eyes of our Creator. When it comes to the matter of morality, we should be concerned not only about the actions of our leaders, but about our own behavior and speech. In every season, one of our first assignments under God is to pray fervently for those who lead in our government (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
7. What we have come to know as religious liberty is a precious trust. It has been an essential component of American life and law since our very beginning. There is no other nation which has cherished this fundamental freedom to the degree that our nation has sought to protect it. And we have sought to protect it not just for Christians, but for all people. Because the ideals of religious liberty seek to protect the human conscience, religious liberty blesses even the nonreligious. A free church and a free state complement each other for the flourishing of society as a whole. We have afforded these freedoms imperfectly, as one might expect, but our efforts to allow all people to live, speak, and act according to their faith (their “sincerely held religious beliefs or practices,” to use the language of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) has been a bulwark of America’s many contributions to the world. In this generation, as in every other, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ must be wholeheartedly committed to keeping this flame of hope alive!
That’s my take on it, and I welcome your input on any of these points. May God grant each of us His marvelous wisdom for such a time as this (James 1:5).
Pastor Charles
Awesome commentary on our beginning as a nation “under God”!!