We have well covered that God’s ultimate goal is relationship, and that morality is governed individually through that relationship (Read my post God is Good if you have not already). That brings Matthew 22:21 / Luke 20:25 into a much more precise focus.
Throughout Scripture, God’s opinion of man’s leadership is worth considering. I see three realms of leadership. The first is morality, which we have already covered. Morality is through God and God only, individually through the Holy Spirit. Then there is what I will call civil leadership. I believe God has entrusted humanity with the task of regulating that. For example, standards like weights, measurement, currency, etc., and things like land management, traffic, regulations about the earth and animals fall into that. The third one, I would say, would be a gray area: protection or military. God did, at times, have to raise someone to protect His people, usually someone no one expected, but He did it when necessary. To some degree, that leadership is both something God establishes when needed and something I would say is partly man’s leadership. When God said, “Do this or that,” and they listened and did it, they had protection; if they did not, the protection was not there. There is also more going on in the spiritual realm, as 2 Kings 6 points out with Elisha.
God’s interaction with government began with the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. People were not following His command to “fill the earth” in Genesis 1:28, so He interrupted their plans and scattered them. Funny thing is, He had to do this twice — again in Acts 8:1 — when the believers were getting comfortable in Jerusalem, and they must have forgotten what Christ said in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples in all nations and to spread out, so God caused persecution to get that to happen. God seems to like to keep people moving.
As we saw in my previous post, Pete and Repeat, God wanted to be Israel’s King (1 Samuel 8:7~20), but He gave an interesting warning: a king would oppress them; if they kept God as King, they would have more freedom. They chose being in bondage instead. Although God did direct the kings at times, the people were oppressed, especially during Solomon. (1 Kings 5:13, 10:14,15).
As we have seen, God has interacted with kings and leaders, but there is something you will not find. None of the interactions in Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, did God ever command or tell a king or leader to regulate morality. Some did out of respect, awe, or conviction, like Josiah in 2 Kings 23, or how several of the Babylonian kings reacted like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, and the lion’s den in Daniel 6, where Nebuchadnezzar commanded worship because he was just in awe of God — also, Jonah in Nineveh, where the leadership repented (Jonah 3). What we find instead is God working through ordinary people and those who are called to Him, despite the pagan culture around them. This is very clear in the New Testament.
One thing that is strikingly clear but often not mentioned is how much Christ and the early Christians had nothing to do with the political system. Jesus in Matthew 22:21 / Luke 20:25 said it very clearly that He (and God) makes a distinction: we are to follow God for the things of God (morality), and the world’s leadership for the things of the world (civil). Be reminded that during the time of Christ, the world was exceedingly immoral, bribery was the way of the Romans, tax collectors exploited their own people for money, many worshiped idols, temple prostitution was common, and, were you aware that if a Roman father did not want a child, he could order the woman to abandon it in a field and let it die of exposure, also the fate of many babies born from temple prostitution. There was a lot of wickedness going on, and yet Jesus never once attempted to do anything through the political system to change it. All He did was tell those who listened and believed to be fair and just, as an individual like Zacchaeus in Luke 19. The same goes with all the believers throughout the New Testament. Some were public leaders, but none said they used their positions to impose their beliefs on others.
Acts 5:29 is a common phrase people use to justify government regulation of morality. “Obey God rather than man,” but they forget to read the entire story. First, they were not talking to the government; they were addressing the Jewish spiritual leaders. Second, it was a direct command from Christ to spread the word. The Greek/Roman government did not regulate religion or belief unless it directly affected the government’s sovereignty. That is why Pilate had such a difficult time with Christ and Paul with Festus, as the Jews here were persecuting them over belief, and that did not directly affect the sovereignty of Rome. We see the Jews had to come up with lies to get them to think that they were speaking against Rome. (Luke 23:2) This shows God has no interest in having a human leader regulate morality.
This puts our current state of affairs in the US in a different light. The Founding Fathers established the US to end religious control. They said they based it on God, but I do not see where they established to regulate morality. Odd thing is, although you can consider my personal views conservative, I am not at all in favor of government regulating moral issues. According to Scripture, perfect government does not enforce morality; God does (Deuteronomy 32:41,35; Psalm 94:1; Proverbs 20:22; Hebrews 10:30; Romans 12:19, and more).
So, is there harm in enforcing morality? Actually, there is. Other than the obvious reason that we are not told to do so, doing so reinforces the incorrect idea and image of God. First, morality does not save anyone. The pounding pulpit preachers’ damning people for sin is entirely wrong. It’s backwards: we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:9; Matthew 7:21-23, Luke 13:26-27). God will judge by works (1 Corinthians 3:11-15), but only for believers. Acceptance is only by who you know, not what you do (Matthew 7:21-23, Luke 13:26-27). So, falsely saying to people they are going to hell based on a behavior, action, or lifestyle is entirely wrong. Take the thief on the cross as an example (Luke 23:39-43).
This is rather heavy. It may take some time, thought, and prayer to really get the whole picture. Seeing Scripture through the lens of covenant is far-reaching and changes every aspect of how you look at not only Scripture but also life, the church, and yourself. Once you lay the foundation and start building, it all comes together, though not always in the way you thought or even expected it would.
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