One of the most disturbing things in our day is the apparent breakdown of law and authority. There is an awful lot of foolish talk by otherwise intelligent people who condone it. Some of them try to condone it under the guise of American tradition by saying, “Our nation was born out of violence and will progress by violence.” How foolish can you get?
I like the answer of philosopher Sidney Hook. He said, “Someone should tell them we’ve already won the American Revolution … that we have already had our Boston Tea Party. And we had them because, at the time, there did not exist the political institutions by which we could settle grievances peacefully.”
Today we settle our political grievances through the vote, and not through violence.
Others say that Jesus was himself a freedom fighter. That is nonsense! Jesus never broke any civil law. All he violated were the religious traditions of the Jews. When he was taken before Pilate, the civil governor, Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man.” He was saying, “He has broken no laws so far as I can tell.” There were freedom fighters in Jesus’ day. They were called Zealots. Violence was their trademark, but Jesus neither sanctioned nor participated in such movements. Jesus and, in fact, all the New Testament teaches respect for law and constituted authority.
In Romans 13:1-5, Paul said it is the Christian’s duty to be subject to the higher powers. Government is ordained of God. It is a part of his plan for man so that he may have an orderly and peaceful life. It is an instrument, a minister of God to punish evildoers. Only those who are evil need to fear it. This is no isolated teaching. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 we are told to pray for government officials so that we might lead a “quiet and peaceful life.” In Titus 3:1 we are advised to be subject to the powers that rule and obey them. In 1 Peter 2:13-17 we are again told to submit to governmental authority.
This does not mean that there is no room for lawful dissent. There is! More on that in my next essay.