By Shawn Nowlan … Until Jesus comes again, the church and each of us must confront the question: “What does it mean to be faithful as we live under human government?” In peaceful times, the question is less pressing, but it becomes vital in times of conflict.
As I see it, the Bible gives us guidance both for times of peace and of conflict. This involves two separate principles.
First, in Romans 13:1, we read: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” (NRSV) And in 1 Peter 2:13,14, 17, the writer urges us, “For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors, as sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. . . . Fear God. Honor the emperor” (NRSV). These verses from the New Testament seem very clear, but they have been abused by oppressive governments attempting to squelch resistance.
Therefore, and second, the Bible also presents a response to this oppression. In Acts, we see reported, “When they [the temple police] had brought them [the apostles], they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them . . . But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority’” (Acts 5:27, 29, NRSV). Earlier, we read, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let Him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up’” (Daniel 3:16-18).
Putting these two principles together, I think the wholistic biblical approach always puts God first. If there is a conflict, we serve God before we submit to human government.
The truly hard question flows from this wholistic approach. When do we know if our faithfulness to God is being compromised by our loyalty to human government? The answer to this dilemma often becomes clearer in hindsight than it is at the time events are occurring.
In 2020, Christians in the United States generally see righteous actions in both (a) the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (which required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate) and (b) the operation of the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves. That is, these actions follow those of Peter and the Apostles and those of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace. Christians in the 1850s, however, were much more split on the question—particularly since both actions clearly broke the law as it existed in the 1850s when they occurred.
Turning to 2020, one issue that now burns hotly is the US federal government’s response to undocumented immigration to the United States. The current federal administration is now doing its best to get rid of DACA (the policy of the prior federal administration), build a border wall, and apprehend undocumented immigrants already in the country. Some states and many cities and counties have adopted resolutions that discourage or prohibit cooperation with the current federal approach to undocumented immigrants. Some Christians support the federal government, and some support the cities and states.
What does our faith tell us about this 2020 controversy? How do we live faithfully?
Rather than give a final answer here, I think each of us needs to prayerfully consider and decide which approach is more consistent with our faith. In that decision, I begin with the starting place Jesus Himself gave us: The Great Commandment (a teaching so important that it is included in three of the four Gospels: Mathew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-31; and Luke 10:27). Here is how Matthew states it:
. . . and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (NRSV)
When I am following Jesus, I am prayerfully seeking guidance, wisdom, and discernment to follow the Great Commandment.
As a teenage Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I tended to see the resistance to human government Jesus required as almost always relating to the worship of God (as was the case with the three Hebrews and the fiery furnace). That is, I saw my obligation to protect the right to worship God on our Saturday Sabbath. In hindsight, this view only embraces half of the Great Commandment.
As I have matured, I realized more clearly that Jesus, in the Great Commandment, also told me to love my neighbor as myself (and He told the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what this means). Then I began to read about Ellen White’s strong fight for temperance—where she became a secular advocate for the issue, as well. (See “Adventists, Prohibition, and Political Involvement” by Jared Miller, published in Liberty Magazine.) Clearly, Ellen White saw temperance as an issue where she was called to intervene— and I think this call to intervene must flow from the second half of the Great Commandment.
Today, as I look at our world, I realize that I need to apply both halves of the Great Commandment as I live under human government. Using both halves, I propose that if we see our government (or governments) doing something clearly inconsistent with either half of the Great Commandment, then we should say, with Peter and the Apostles: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
–Shawn Nowlan is an attorney currently working for the federal government in Denver. He is a member of the Boulder Adventist Church. Email him at: [email protected]