March,  2004

A CHRISTIAN’S CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS  CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC .

By Marvin L. Stewart 

Many Americans today, including many Christians, have fallen into believing that Christians should not be involved in civil government – that there should be some sort of a compartmentalization – that faith should be kept in one arena, real life in another, and the two should never meet. The Bible does not teach that; and our Founding Fathers and early ministers did not believe that.

Yet many critics today try to invoke what Jesus said in Matthew 22 as proof that Christians should not be involved; but this is a complete mischaracterization of that passage. Matthew 22:21 says that we are to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” But does this mean that God’s people are not to be involved with “Caesar”? Why did Jesus make this statement? He was asked whether it was right to pay taxes. In response, Jesus picked up a coin, asked whose inscription was on it, and when they said, “Caesar’s,” Jesus replied, “Then render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” That is, render your due to the government, and render your due to God – you have responsibilities in both areas. He clearly was not saying to avoid the governmental arena. Beyond the passage in Matthew 22, there are many other Biblical passages where God endorses the involvement of His people in the civil arena – an institution that He Himself created and ordained.

For example, in Romans 13:4-6, on three separate occasions, the Scripture declares that those who are in civil government are “ministers of God.” (Perhaps this is why so many ministers were involved in the civil arena during the Founding Era – they believed and obeyed the Bible.)

Hebrews 11 is the “Faith Hall of Fame” where the great heroes of our faith are held up to us as examples; in fact, Hebrews 12 declares that it is these heroes who are cheering us on. Yet, notice that the heroes of our faith listed in Hebrews 11:22-34 were involved in civil government. Why would God hold them up to us as examples to emulate if He thought it was wrong for His people to be involved in the civil arena?

In I Timothy 2: 1-2, we are told to pray “first of all” for all people- for our leaders and those in, authority. Notice: God tells us to pray for our civil leaders “first of all” – before we pray for ourse1ves, our families, or our churches. There is nothing else in the Bible that God tells us to pray for “first of all.” This must mean that God considers civil government important.

Recall the parable of the minas in Luke 19. The Master calls His servants together and gives them all a mina – a trust – a stewardship. The Master departs and then later returns to take account of their stewardship. One had taken the mina and turned it into ten; another had turned his into five; and another had taken his trust and not used it at all. The one who refused to get involved with what the Master had entrusted him was the one who got in trouble; but notice the reward for the other two. To the first, the Master said, “Well done good and faithful servant; I will make you a ruler over ten cities”; to the second he said, “Well done, I will make you a ruler over five cities.” Notice the reward of the Master for their faithful stewardship: he places them into civil government! Today, most Christians don’t think of being in civil government as a reward from the Master; maybe it is time to rethink our beliefs about civil government based on what the Bible says.

Despite the rich heritage of Christian faith and expression in America and the strong foundation that it has provided for our country, things have begun to change dramatically. Hundreds of years of religious freedoms have been erased by courts in only a few short decades. While there have been scores of horrible rulings, perhaps none is any more egregious than the ruling in a case that went to the U. S. Supreme Court: Jane Doe v. Santa Fe Independent School District.

Santa Fe is a small rural town outside of Houston, Texas; it has a long tradition of prayer at graduations and prayer at athletic events such as football games. Yet a handful of students in that school were offended by the practice; they did not want anyone else praying. So they went to a federal judge and asked him to force everyone else to stop praying.

The judge ruled that he would allow prayer to continue at graduations and athletic events – but only if students prayed the right words when they prayed. He warned:

The Court will allow that prayer to be a typical non-denominational prayer, which can refer to God or the Almighty or that sort of thing. The prayer must not refer to . . . Jesus. . . or anyone else. And make no mistake, the Court is going to have a United States marshal in attendance at the graduation. If any student offends this Court, that student will be summarily arrested and will face up to six months incarceration in the Galveston County Jail for contempt of Court. . . . Anybody who violates these orders, no kidding, is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this Court gets through with it.

Died as a child? If you pray the wrong words in a prayer, you are going to wish that you “had died as a child when this court gets through” with you?

This ‘ruling obviously angers most citizens, and the common response is, “What’s wrong with this judge? Can’t he read the Constitution? The Constitution says nothing about “separation of church and State”; that phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution; it was a policy enacted by the Supreme Court in 1947 in its efforts to compartmentalize faith and segregate it from public life. The Constitution specifically guarantees Americans the ‘free exercise of religion’! Can’t this judge read the Constitution?”

Sentiments like this reflect a basic misunderstanding. Most citizens believe that the Constitution governs America, but it does not. In fact, while the Founding Fathers were framing the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, there was a discussion over what the impact of the Constitution would be in limiting the misconduct of public officials. The discussion was best summed up by delegate John Francis Mercer, who declared:

 It is a great mistake to suppose that the paper we are to propose will govern the United States.

In other words, it is a major error to believe that the Constitution governs America. He continued:

It is the men whom it will bring into the government and interest [they have] in maintaining it that are to, govern them. The paper will only mark out the mode and the form. Men are the substance and must do the business.

In short, the Constitution gives citizens the power to elect leaders; but if the wrong kinds of leaders are elected, the Constitution will be absolutely worthless in their hands – as it was in the hands of the judge in Santa Fe, Texas, and so many other judges and elected officials.

This same lesson had been taught in the Scriptures long before it Was applied in America: was there any nation in the history of the world that had better civi1laws than Israel? Certainly not, for God Almighty had given their laws. Yet, how good were their God- inspired, God-given laws when they had rulers such as Ahab and Jezebel, or Manasseh, or Jeroboam, or Rehoboam, or other wicked leaders? Despite the fact that their laws were from God Himself, those superb laws were completely disregarded under corrupt and deficient leaders.

The Founders understood this, and one of the most frequently quoted Bible principle invoked by the Founders is the one set forth in Proverbs 29:2:

When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

The key to good government is not how good our documents are or how good our laws are; rather it is how good our leaders are. In America, whether the righteous rule, or whether the wicked rule depends totally upon the will of the voters: we have our choice.

In recent years, Christian voters have not taken their voting stewardship seriously. In elections from 1992-2000, Christian voter turn- out fell by forty percent. There are sixty million evangelicals in America, but in the most recent presidential election, only fifteen million voted. In fact, twenty-four million of those sixty million evangelicals were not even registered to vote!

To have been given the power to determine the quality of our government and its leaders, and then not to use that power, is reminiscent of the servant who received a trust from the Master and decided not to do anything with it – not to get involved. None of the servants asked for the trust that they received from the Master; but the Master gave it to them anyway; and they became responsible to the Master for what they did with that trust – despite the fact they had not asked for it. Similarly, we did not ask to be born in America; we did not ask to be given a government of which we are the stewards; nevertheless, the Master has given it to us; and He will call us to account for our stewardship of this important trust.

If our culture is moving the wrong way in America, it is because of Christian non-involvement. James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, pointed this out a century ago.

President Garfield was a minister of the Gospel. In a handwritten letter, he recounts personally preaching the Gospel nineteen times in a revival, with thirty-four people coming to Christ and thirty-one being baptized. Of course, this type of activity and background is not usually associated with our Presidents in the minds of most Americans today, but several of our Presidents were involved in Christian ministry.

Notice what President Garfield reminded Americans a century ago:

Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . [I]f the next centennial does not find us a great nation. . , it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.

 It is safe to say that we who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation today have done little to control its political forces. Consequently, our national policies do not accurately reflect the values of the nation at large.

For example, 78 percent of the nation supports prayer in schools; 74 percent of the nation wants the Ten Commandments back in the classroom; 68 percent wants creation taught in public schools; 66 percent opposes partial-birth abortions; and there are similarly high numbers in numerous other areas involving faith and values. Yet despite the overwhelming support among the people on these issues, our public policies do not reflect these high numbers. In fact, the support on these issues is not nearly as high in Congress or in the courts as it is in the public. Why? Because Americans who embrace these values simply are not voting, and therefore are not electing to office leaders who embrace those same values. Members in the Body of Christ must come of the knowledge of the Biblical mandate of shaping our culture, by seasoning this tasteless society. 

Salt and Light

 To begin with, we Christians should be more courageous, more outspoken in condemning evil. Condemnation is negative, to be sure, but the action of salt is negative. Sometimes standards slip and slide in a community for want of a clear Christian protest. Denunciation and Proclamation go hand in hand when the gospel is truly preached…too often evangelical Christians have interpreted their social responsibility in terms only of help the casualties of a sick society, and have done nothing to change the structures, which cause casualties. Just as doctors are concerned not only with the treatment of patients but also with preventative medicine and public health, so we should concern ourselves with what might be called preventative social medicine and a higher standards of moral hygiene. To try to improve society is not worldliness but love. To wash your hands of society is not love but worldliness.

 Today’s society is decaying, and the darkness of secular life grows. In circumstances like these, the witness of Christians should be noticeable, and it is quite natural at times that it will be controversial. If it is not—if Christians are coasting along in perfect contentment with the state of things or blissfully ignorant of current events—then Christ’s powerful metaphors of salt and light mean nothing to them. They miss the full scope of what it means to be a Christian. This is particularly true in an era like our own, when the preserving chemistry of salt and the illumination of divine light are so desperately needed.

 Endnotes

“The Role of Pastors & Christians In Civil Government” (2003) p. 32. , by David Barton.

Jane Doe v. Santa Fe Independent School District, Civil Action No. G-95-176 (U.S.D.C., S.D. TX. 1995),

court transcription of verbal ruling by federal judge Samuel Kent, pp. 3-4.

Madison, Papers (1840), Vol. p. 1324, on August 14, 1787, by John Francis Mercer.

Madison, Papers (1840), Vol. p. 1324, on August 14, 1787, by John Francis Mercer.