10 Truths - 3 - Christianity Gives Guidance to Govern.

10 Truths – 3 – Christianity
Gives Guidance to Government
cinops be gone Friday, September 5, 2008

Separation of Church and State in the Bible: continued, 31-34 - (Coral Ridge M.)
Jesus acknowledged the separation of Church and State when a few of his adversaries tried to corner him by asking if it was lawful for an observant Jew to pay taxes to Caesar. Christ saw their true agenda and answered them by pointing to a Roman coin which bore the image of Caesar.
“Render to Caesar the things of Caesar’s,” he told his questioners, “and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17).

Along with showing the image of Caesar, the coin in Christ’s hand bore an inscription that was “virtually an ascription of deity to the reigning emperor….” The blasphemous Roman requirement to worship Caesar, which was indicated on the coin, was a “thing” owed to God, not to man. Christians, then, are obligated to obey the state when it acts within the limits of the “things that are Caesar’s.” But when Caesar invades the sanctuary and exceeds his authority, Christians have a duty to resist.

Duty to Obey and to Disobey:
Paul instructed Christians in Rome to “be subject to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1) and pay their taxes. Those who disobey the state, resist “the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2)
However, the Bible also demonstrates that unrighteous decrees are not to be obeyed. The Hebrews midwives feared God more than the king of Egypt and disobeyed his cruel command to kill newborn Hebrew boys. God blessed them as a result: “And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that he provided households for them” (Exodus 1:21).
Shortly after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Jewish authorities grew troubled at the growth of his followers and strictly instructed Peter and the other apostles against teaching about Christ. The apostles refused, telling the high priest, “We ought to obey God rather than men”(Acts 5:29).
Along with the duty to disobey unrighteous commands, the Bible indicates that God’s people have a duty to confront political authorities who stray from God’s moral standard. The Old Testament often recounts how the prophets confronted the Jewish Monarchs with God’s verdict upon their unrighteous behavior.
The prophet Samuel announced God’s judgment on King Saul for his disregard of God’s word to him (1 Samuel 15:22-23). Elijah challenged wicked King Ahab over his Baal worship and was called the “troubler of Israel” for his effort (1 Kings 18:17). Nathan confronted David for his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 12).

Besides confronting evil and refusing to go along with it, there is another role outlined for the saints in both the Old and New Testament – to be “salt and light.” God, through Jeremiah, told the Jewish exiles in Babylon to “seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:7). The exiles were not to withdraw from their ungodly environment into a cultural enclave, but rather to seek its peace or shalom – a Hebrew term also translated as “welfare.”…

George H. Kubeck, Duplicate and translate into Spanish and Vietnamese.