Last time on Scripture Comes to Life I wrote about Romans 12:2. I shared why this Scripture has been so central to my walk with Christ, and I elaborated on its continuing relevance in our lives as believers. We daily are presented with a choice: to conform to the ungodly tone and trends of our cultural surroundings or to allow the Lord to renew our minds and transform us. As I wrote, our choice makes all the difference to our faith, our growth, our witness to unbelievers, and our fruitfulness as participants in Christ’s kingdom.
Now I come to Romans 13.
After Paul’s majestic spiritual and ethical treatise in Chapter 12, he instructs us in Chapter 13 to obey the governmental authorities who rule us, because they have been “established by God” and are God’s servants. We only need to fear them if we are doing wrong.
This seems contrary to our experience. It is a major dilemma these days. I would like to address it and in the process, expound a bit on the concept of civil disobedience.
Before I go further, I must say that I am not writing this to express a specific set of political positions. My purpose is to share in a general way how we might respond to life’s issues and events from a consistent and solid biblical belief system. My mission as a writer and teacher of Scripture is to help Christian disciples navigating a troubled culture to better discern and apply biblical wisdom in their everyday lives.
So then, I ask, how are we to respond as disciples of Jesus Christ when ungodly, unjust cultural movements become codified into laws, and obeying those laws would violate the commandments of God and our own consciences?
This is not a new dilemma, not at all. In the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and many others fought battles against colonialist tyranny, racism, and injustice. In the 1800’s, Henry David Thoreau wrote extensively about the need to resist governmental intrusion into private affairs. He is often credited with coining the term civil disobedience.
Here is a definition of civil disobedience from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
“Civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies (Rawls 1999, 320). On this account, people who engage in civil disobedience operate at the boundary of fidelity to law, have general respect for their regime, and are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions, as evidence of their fidelity to the rule of law.”1
Notice the words non-violent, conscientious, fidelity to law, respect, and accept the legal consequences of their actions. These descriptions apply not only to conscience-driven protests of recent centuries. They have strong biblical precedents. Let us look at some examples. I’ve emphasized some phrases in bold font because they especially exemplify aspects of the concept of civil disobedience.
Biblical Role Models of Civil Disobedience
Hebrew midwives. This biblical example of civil disobedience speaks loudly today. The Hebrews in Egypt had multiplied so rapidly that the Pharaoh feared he would lose control over them. At the time of the birth of Moses, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all male infants as soon as they delivered them.
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. (Exodus 1:17).
Because these courageous women feared God more than they feared Pharaoh, “God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own (v.20-21).
Mordecai and Esther. Both of these characters in the Book of Esther practiced civil disobedience against pagan King Xerxes and his evil sidekick Haman. Haman convinced the king to enact a law requiring all citizens to kneel and honor Haman when he walked by. Mordecai, a devout Jew, refused to bow to any man. Mordecai didn’t do violence or scream in protest. He simply refused to comply. As a consequence, Haman was so enraged that he convinced the king to pass a law sanctioning the extermination of all of the Jews in Persia.
This is where Queen Esther, Mordecai’s relative, was moved to respond with her own righteous disobedience. It was common knowledge that no one, even the queen, was permitted to come into the king’s presence without invitation. However, when Mordecai confronted her with the extreme threat to the lives of her people, she sent him this reply:
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).
Esther continued to show graciousness and respect toward the king even as she risked her life to approach him. She was willing to accept whatever consequence ensued. We know that because of this, the Jews were saved from Haman’s evil plot and the king’s edict became null and void.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, Jewish exiles in Babylon, serve as bold examples of obeying conscience over law and accepting the consequences for their choice. In Daniel’s case, when told that he was prohibited by law from worshipping or praying to anyone other than Nebuchadnezzar,
…he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before (Daniel 6:10).
The penalty for this disobedience was to be cast into a pit of lions. But, as in the case of the midwives, God protected and blessed Daniel for his obedience. Afterward, he reported to the king,
“My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in your sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king” (6:22).
The case of Daniel’s three friends was similar. They were required by law to bow down to an image of Nebuchadnezzar and worship with musical instruments when it passed by. They quietly and non-violently refused to participate, famously stating their position before the king:
“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
As the consequence of their disobedience, they were thrown into a furnace to be incinerated. Again, God rescued them because they were innocent. Even Nebuchadnezzar was convinced:
“Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God…no other god can save in this way” (Daniel 3:28, 29).
The courageous civil disobedience of these young men moved the heart of a king and changed the law of the land, giving honor to the God of Israel.
The Apostles. These first disciples of Jesus must be included here. Though the opposition they faced was mostly religious rather than civil, their courageous stand resembles the civil disobedience we’ve observed in these other cases.
Because the gospel of Jesus Christ was deemed by the Sanhedrin to be disruptive to their religious authority, they ordered the apostles to cease speaking to people about Jesus. They jailed them and beat them and commanded them again not to “teach in this name” (Acts 5:27). When the apostles were released, this was their bold declaration:
“We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:29-32).
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Having considered these numerous examples of civil disobedience, I’d like us to consider some scenarios we might face. How will we respond if and when:
- Our leaders enact laws that forbid us to preach the gospel or teach about Jesus Christ?
- Our leaders enact laws that forbid us from worshipping God according to our own consciences?
- Our civil or religious leaders exert pressure upon us to support social norms we consider ungodly and perverse?
- Our leaders require us to support laws we consider cruel, evil, or unjust—toward the preborn, children, the elderly, ethnic minorities, families, the poor, the disabled, etc.?
- Our leaders persecute and discriminate against some citizens solely because of their beliefs?
In many places, some or all of the above are already happening. Men and women of conscience face severe persecution and even death because they refuse to comply with laws and expectations that violate their consciences. Some are martyred when they will not renounce their faith.
In the United States, though we don’t yet experience this with the same level of severity, it is overtly and covertly creeping into every aspect of our lives.
When confronted with evil, or pressured to violate our consciences before God, are we ready to state our position peacefully, respectfully, and honorably? Are we ready to stand courageously in the face of “arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5) and not give in or compromise ourselves?
Will we obey God rather than the dictates of a troubled and sin-addicted culture if our lives and livelihoods are at stake?
I’ll end with the testimony of Hebrews 11. This passage commends men and women throughout all generations who pleased God; they kept their faith in him despite every force arrayed against them, and God declared them righteous in his sight. These were people who:
through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them.” (Hebrews 11:33-38)
God commends those who are unmovable in their faith do not give in to fear. I pray that we don’t have to experience the very hard things faced by this cloud of witnesses. But know, beloved, that we will be put to the test sooner or later…probably sooner.
I impart to us this unusual blessing:
May we live in such a way that this world is not worthy of us….
1) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/
