.. THECHRISTIAN·S POUTICAL RESPONS1B1UTY · 2019-08-01 · THECHRISTIAN·S POUTICAL RESPONS1B1UTY The Christian'sPolitical Responsibility(orthe Christianattitudeto the state by Mnyama

.. THECHRISTIAN·S POUTICAL RESPONS1B1UTY

The Christian's PoliticalResponsibility (or the

Christian attitude to the stateby Mnyama Sizwe*

In view of the present conflict betweenChurch and state and the allegationsmade by certain politicians that cer­lain church leaders have oversteppedtheir limits it has become necessary toexamine the New Testament materialthat has a bearing on the politicalresponsibility of the christian. Thepassage that is most commonly abusedby the government and its supportersis Romans 13:1-7.

Let every person be SUbtee110 Ihegovemingauthorities. For there is no authority exceptfrom God, and those that exist have beeninstituted by God.Thererore he who resists the authoritiesresists what God has appointed, lind thosewho resist will incur judgementFor rulers are not 8 lerror to good conduct.but to had. Would you have no fear of himwho Is in authority? Then do whal is good.and you will re<::eive his approval,for he is God's servant for your good. But ifyou do wrong, beafraid. for he does not bearthe sword in vain: he is the servant of God toexecute his wrath on the wrongdoer.Therefore one must be subjec1. not only toavoid God's wrath but also for the sake ofconscience.For the same reason you also pay taxes, forthe authorities life ministers of God, attend­ing to this very thing.

Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whomtaxes are due, revenue to whom revenue isdue. respect to whom resped is due. honorto .....hom honor is due.

We shall examine this passage sen­tence by sentence: "Let every personbe subject to the governing authori­ties": "Governing authorities" are gov­ernments. civil 8uthories (the state).hyperechusais (supreme) means thehigher grades of authority. (el. 1 Tim.2:2 en hyperochii ontes = "those inauthority").

hypotassestho = The verb hypolas­seslhai (used also in v. 5) is a key wordin this section. It is usually assumedIhat Ihis word means ·'10 obey", and itis in this sense tbat the governmentand its supporters use it. In the NewTestament it occurs thirty times and inthe majority of cases obedience is notthe predominant idea. In 1 Cor. 16:16 itis used to indicate the proper attitudeof a christian to the leaders of thechurch. But in Eph. 5:21, it is used toshow a reciprocal obligation: hypotas­somer alliHais en phob6 Christau. Sig­nificantly Calvin's Comment on Eph.5:21 reads:

"God hilS so bound us to each other, that noman ought to avoid subjection. And where

• Mnyama Sizwe is a prominent Methodist Theologian.

JOURNAl. OF Bl.AC", TlIWUX;Y IN SOUTII AFRICA

love reigns. there is a mutual servitude. Idonot except even Kings and governors. lorthey rule that they may serve. Therefore, itis very right that he should exhort all to besubject to each olher.'"

In a democracy there are areas of lifewhere the rulers subject themselves tothe will of the people. C.E.B. Cranfieldputs it this way:

" ... a King. il he be a christian, ought toregard his meanest sub)ect ilS superior tohimself in the sense of hilving iI greaterclaim on him ,hiln he has on himself, sincehis meanest subjec1 is Christ's representa­tive to him:"

Even if we restrict the meaning ofthe word hypotssesthai to mean thatthe subject must obey the rulers, it stilldoes not mean unconditional obedienceto the rulers. A responsible christianwill obey the rulers so far as suchobedience does notconnict with God'slaws. When it does conflict with God'slaws he will seriously and responsiblydisobey the laws of the state. Like PeteraDd the apostles he will say: "We mustobey God rather than men". Therefore,Tutu, Boesak, Chikane and a host oflesser luminaries are right when theytell this government: "We must obeyGod rather than men". Moreover, thechristian has a duty to see to it that thestate rules justly; and that every citizenhas a responsible share in governing,that is, in voting responsibly in par­liamentary elections. In order to usehis vote responsibly the christian willmake himself informed about govern­ment policies and political issues.Thus he will be able 10 support justpolicies and oppose unjust ones.

"For there is no authority axcept from God.and those that exist have bee'l instituted byGod."

When Paul wrote these words theEmperor, Nero, was ruling well, withthe help of his Provincial governors,magistrates and the army. He had notyet begun to persecute christians. Atthat time the government benefited thechurch. There was peace throughoutthe empire and christian workers,likeany other people within the empire,had the protection of the government.Christians admit that government is anorder of creation instituted by God forthe olderly running of human society.

Paul here was writing from the back­ground of the Jewish theocracy wherethe king {Saul, David, Solomon, etc]was appointed by God and anointed byGod's prophet. This includes evenpagan kings like Cyrus who is calledGod's "anointed" and is addressed byGod as "my shepherd:" Paul and thechristians of his day had to deal with apagan government but they still had toacknowledge it as divinely appointed.God who is Lord of human history isLord and ruler of all nations. There­fore, the authorities that do exist havebeen sanctioned by him for his ownpurpose. This does not mean, how­ever, that God under - writes aU thatgovernments do. Certainly the acts ofHitler, and Amin and the apostles ofapartheid cannot claim Cod's sanc­tion.

A point which is often over-lookedby the advocates of unquestioningobedience to the state is that being "in­stituted by God" puts a heavy respon­sibility on the shoulders of rulers.They are accountable to God for thetrust which he has committed to them.When they abuse this trust it is theduty of God's prophet to tell them so,and to point out to them the limits oftheir authority.

.."The stale exists for the sake of men,

women and children. nol they for thesake of the slale." The state exists toserve the best interests and welfare ofits people. especially the underpriv­ileged and the disadvantaged.

..... he who resists the ,uthoritie$ resis~

what God has appointed. H

This does not mean that to resist thegovernment is necessarily to resistGod himself. It has been slaled abovethat in certain circumstances obe­dience to God implies disobedience tothe laws of the land. According toJ,A.T. Robinson: "It is just when theslate becomes identified with thedemonic forces that it is not 10 beobeyed:" Such disobedience maysometimes mean active resistance 10the slate.

When a government is guilty oftyranny, when it denies human rights10 same of its people, and when it com­mands what is forbidden by God, orforbids what God commands, thenchristians may disobey or resist such agovernment knowing fully well whatthe consequences may be since gov­ernments have the power of life anddeath over their subjects.

"For rulers are no/a terror fa Sood conduct... For he is God's servant for yourgood ... faexecute his wrath on the wronSdoer."

The assumption here is that govern­ments always support good conductand punish the wrongdoer. No accountis taken of the possibility that the gov­ernment may be so unjust as to punishgood conduct and support the wrong­doer. There are instances in SouthAfrica at the present time where thepeace-makers are in detention and thekillers go free. It is worth rememberingthat both Paul and Peter were eventu-

TIlE QiRISTIAN'S POl..mCAL RESPONSIBILITY

ally condemned and put to death bythe Roman government for doing good.

"For /hB 58mB reason you also pay /axes ...Pay aI/ of them fheir dues, taxes /0 whomtaxes are due, revenue to whom revenue isdue, respect to whom respect is due, hon­our/a whom honour is due."

Because christians know the placeof governments in the divine purposethey pay taxes. They know also thatthey are under obligation to pay taxesto the state in return for the protectionand other amenities which the stateprovides. No state can function with­out financial support from its citizens.But, as Calvin puts it, governmentsought to behave in a way worth ofGod's "officials" and "to rememberthat all that they receive from thepeople is public property, and not ameans of satisfying private lust andluxury...• A citizen may, in certain cir·cumstances refuse to pay a particulartax.

That christians should pay taxesgoes back to traditions about Jesus.One such tradition is recorded inMatthew 17:24·27 who alone recordsthe incident when the collectors of thehalf-shekel tax went to Jesus' home inCapemaum and found Peter alone.They asked Peter if Jesus did pay thetax. Peter's reply was that Jesus did, infact. pay the tax. And when Jesus camehome he initiated the following con­versation with Peter:"Simon. what is your opinion? Who paysduties or taxes to the kings of this world?The citiwns of the country of the foreign­ers?"The foreigners," answered Peter."Well, then," replied Jesus, "that meansthat the citizens don't have to pay. But wedon't want to offend these people. So go thelake and drop in a line. Pull up the first fish

.. J.A-T. Robo..-: It"-'i..,-willt R<MNns..~.1'711. p.ln.~ CalYiJl: 0,. ell. p.214.

JOURNAL OF BLACK THEOLOGY IN SOtrrn AFRICA

you hook, and in its mouth you will find acoin worth enough for my Iemple-tax andyours. Take it and pay them our taxes."

So as a citizen Jesus paid the tax andencouraged his followers to do thesame, Christians today have an obliga­tion to pay tax. But they also have anobligation to see to it that benefitsaccruing from the payment of tax arejustly distributed to all citizens whopay tax.

In South Africa all citizens are taxedon the same basis since 1984, but donol derive the same benefits from thepaying of tax.

For example, payment of pensions isbased on racially differentiated scaleswith Africans receiving the lowestbenefits. Social services, such asroads, sanitation, water, lighting etc,are the poorest for Africans. Moreover,Africans are taxed, without represen­tation in the central parliament whichmakes the executes laws for every­body. William Pitt told the British Par­liament that "taxation without rep­resentation is tyranny. ".

Paul must have known from tradi­tion the incident concerning the pay­ment of taxes to Caesar which isreported by all the Synoptic Gospels:(Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17;Luke 20:20-26): Clearly this was aburning issue at the time. Many Jewshad refused to recognize the legiti­macy of the authority of a foreign rulerover them, and therefore refused topay taxes to the Roman Government.Whether he answered the questionpositively or negatively he was sure tofall foul of either the Jewish masses orthe Roman authorities. As is well­known the reply of Jesus to their trickyquestion was:

This saying is often misinterpretedto mean that secular and spiritual mat-

ters should be kept apart. This was cer­tainly not the aim of Jesus who knewthe Jewish theocratic background,where there was no distinction be­tween the secular and the spiritual. Inhis life and teaching Jesus never madethis separation. What the saying meantwas that the Jews should pay theirtaxes to Caesar who was responsiblefor their welfare as citizens and givetheir ultimate loyalty to God who isresponsible for the whole of their Ii ves.The worship which some gave to Caesarin Emperor Worship rightly belongs toGod who alone is our object of wor­ship. Noteworthy also is the observa­tion of Tertullian that even Caesar ismade in the image of God.

Christians do not deny that theyhave a duty to respect and honour theirrulers. Thoughts similar to Romans13:1-7 are found also in I Peter 2:13-17:and Titus 3:1-2

In I Timothy 2:1-2 christians areurged to pray "for kings and all whoare in high positions." Christians havedone this from the early days of thechurch inspite of virulent persecu­tions by the Roman government. Asearly as 197 A.D. Tertullian wrote:

"We christians are always interceding forall the Emperors. We pray for them longlife. a SI,lCure rule. a safe home. bravearmies, a faithful senate an honest people. aquiet world ~ and everything for which aman and an Emperor can pray.'"

Unlike the Romans passage whichhas been subjected 10 a variety ofinterpretations, Revelation 13, hasgenerally been accepted as a condem­nation of the state. Nevertheless allpolitical power is the gift of God. Herethe Roman state has over-reacheditself. By demanding Emperor Wor­ship it abbrogates to itself that which

t. Qualed In C. de K. Fowler and G,'.). Smlt, New Hi.tory for Senif)#" Ct!r1ificllle and Matricul.lirm. Cape Town, n.d .. p.•? Quoled 'rom R. Oweo: II GuithtloRoman•• London. 191~, p.110.

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by right belongs to God. Therefore. it iscalled "The Beast", It has ceased to behuman and has become bestial.

To conclude then Christians acceptthat the state is part of God's arrange­ment for the well-being of human so­ciety. But not all government laws andpolicies are in line with the christianethic. When such laws and policiesconflict with the christian consciencethe christian has a duty to resist. As

THE CHRISTIAN'S POLmCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Martin Luther King once wrote: "Todisobey such a law is to show the high­est respect for law,"B Therefore. civildisobedience to unjust laws may be achristian duty.

During the American War of Inde­pendence an American wrote: "Rulersare bound to rule in the fear of God andfor the good of the people; and if theydo not, then in resisting them we aredoing God service. "9