A Primer on Governments and Authority

As we near the upcoming delight known as the United States election, I thought it might be good to provide a basic primer on how government and authority work from within the Christian tradition - and particularly the reformed Christian tradition. This will have the effect of telling you what bumper stickers to buy, which neighbors to harass and, hopefully, who to direct your angry electorate letter to. I specify the “reformed tradition” because the Anabaptists have their own take (its wrong, and frankly kind of weird - but prevalent in our day), the Catholics have theirs (its terrifyingly wrong), and the Anglicans’ theirs (its interestingly wrong). So here’s a swing at a relatively short explanation of it: 

Christians begin with a basic and yet all-encompassing confession: Jesus is Lord.

Jesus tells his disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. The announcement of the Kingdom of God is a claim laid upon all the earth, every nation and every sphere. Nobody and no institution is excluded from all of heaven and earth.  Everybody and everything is answerable to him, they have to obey him. 

To make it more explicit: You have to obey him. Your neighbor has to obey him. Congress has to obey him. The Supreme Court has to obey him. The mayor of Denver has to obey him. The Starbucks manager has to obey him. This is necessarily uncomfortable, but it is also unavoidable. There will be a god ruling over every particular thing - every government, every family, every individual. To deny that Jesus should be obeyed in all these spheres is to say that Jesus should be disobeyed in some of these spheres and that is a denial of the basic Christian confession: Jesus is Lord. 

Does this mean that America should be a “Christian nation”? Well, yes, now that you ask, it does. To deny this, is to say that God wants America to be a secular nation, to disregard his character, his laws, his justice, etc. To deny this, is to say that God wants America to find some other standard by which to evaluate its life. To deny this is to deny the commission of Jesus himself who told us to “Disciple the Nations.” What standard can we as Christians appeal to beyond the words of God? Some say “Common sense.” But there isn’t really much of that around anymore. Some say, “the will of the people.” But that’s terrifying. The will of the people has frequently led to some rather devastating horrors. A society that grows out of the worship of the triune God would reflect his character, his grace, his law and his love - and none of these things are in conflict. Every society will have a god. All laws are religious laws. The question is which god’s laws are they? And is that god a good one?

But I am getting away from myself. The main point here, is that Jesus possesses all the authority that is.

The Bible establishes other authorities underneath his authority. In the Scriptures we see three fundamental governments that are given authority over different areas of responsibility: the family, the church, and the government (or the magistrate). All three governments have their own lanes, their own particular responsibilities. All three governments are given tools by which to exercise their responsibilities in the world. All three governments are to explicitly obey Jesus as they do the things they’ve been called to do. 

The Family: The family is given the ministry of raising and discipling (education) children, the well-being and flourishing of people through healthcare, as well as the production of wealth and fruitfulness. The father is given responsibility to rule his home and to see it bear fruit (think raise godly children and work and produce wealth in the world.)  This government is to oversee work and child-raising. (Included here would be things like healthcare and education). As businesses in our world becomes increasingly complex, its helpful to see these entities as vast partnerships between families taking the raw materials of the earth to produce fruitful things. The charge of this government is to raise children to know and fear God, to grow up, get married and raise other children. And raise your children to work hard with their hands and their minds and bring fruit and wealth and life from the raw materials of this world. We do these things in the light of the gospel of Jesus and in obedience to God’s law. This means that generous hospitality (a key note describing the homes of God’s people) is integral to the life of this government whether around the dinner table or in the businesses started. The father and his family and the various businesses and institutions they produce answer to the rule of Jesus. 

The Church: The church is given the ministry of grace and peace, of word and sacrament. The church is charged with discipling the nations, bringing all the peoples of the earth to recognize Jesus’ Lordship, to trust in his death and resurrection and to do all that he commands. For this unbelievable task they are to bear the Word, the sacraments (water, bread and wine), and discipline. Elders are to bear this authority as the church gathers for worship and calls all the peoples to worship and obey God in every sphere of life. We declare the good news of what Jesus has done for us in his life, death and resurrection and testify to his ascension as King and Lord. In other words, the means the church is given for this gargantuan task is simply its worship. We worship the Triune God in Spirit and truth. We worship as His covenant people (in person, preferably without masks, with bread and wine and cleansing water) and the nations are transformed. The church and her ministers answer to Jesus.

The Magistrate (or the State): The government is given the ministry of justice. She bears the sword to punish evil-doers and ensure that the just are free to flourish. The heated arguments in our day about the definition and nature of justice are therefore really vital debates that Christians must engage in biblically. Good governments insure that people and their businesses and families are free to thrive and bear the kinds of fruit they are commissioned by God to produce. Different governmental systems are more or less effective at doing this. Studying U.S. civics will expose you to the rather marvelous way that the U.S. system was designed to do precisely this. Monarchies attempt this in other ways.But regardless of how the system is organized, the magistrate answers to Jesus. 

None of these three “bring the kingdom of God,” rather they testify and submit to the kingdom of God through their faithfulness in doing what Jesus commands in the sphere’s they are given responsibility over, and using the means that God has given them to do so. All three are accountable to defend and execute justice and mercy with the authority they’ve been given (the magistrate with the sword, the church with her discipline, and in family and businesses according to just balances.) The temptation is to always put too much stock in the ability of any one of these to do too much. Our age is particularly prone to believing that the magistrate might save us from poverty and disease and suffering. But this isn’t what the magistrate is designed by God to do. The family cannot function as the church. The church can only supplement the work of the family. When the church fails to be faithful to her calling or her gifts, she should be called to repentance. When the magistrate fails to be faithful to its calling (corruption) or when it reaches beyond its established boundaries (tyranny), it should be rebuked and called to repentance. 

The failure of any of these three effects the collapse of society. The faithfulness of these three can be used to aid the flourishing of the other two. Strong churches shape the life of the family and call the magistrate to faithfulness (think Reformation Scotland). Thriving families lead to thriving economies for everyone and can result in a healthy state and churches. While these three spheres have different lanes, the lanes are deeply interdependent. 

When we confess Jesus is Lord we are making a politico-religious-cultural statement. He rules everything. He forgives sin and he calls all people, all institutions to repent, to be forgiven and to submit to his reign in everything.