In 1550, the city of Magdeburg, Germany was under siege. It faced a crisis of government because the army encircling the city was not a foreign army, but a domestic one.
The citizens of Magdeburg were subjects of the very Emperor whose armies encircled the city. He was there to enforce a law that they considered both ungodly and unjust. The city council faced an impossible decision. Should it obey the emperor, and allow the slaughter of innocent men under its protection? Or should it protect and defend Magdeburg’s citizens by taking up arms against its own emperor?
Either way, it seemed, would be a sin. The problem was both political and theological. The Magdeburgers were not so naïve as to think that Church and State could be separated. The very notion of obedience to lawful authority requires a belief that God Himself institutes legitimate governments. Without this foundation, there can be no notion of lawful and peaceful obedience. There is only the lex talionis—might makes right.
But if God puts rulers in place, then every ruler is “under God.” He is ultimately answerable to God Himself. This is not only true of the emperor, but it is also true of every lesser government official—from the head of a household to the mayor, to a faceless federal bureaucrat.
In short, all the candidates on Tuesday’s ballot are running for a divine appointment. They seek an office that is ultimately answerable to God. And God requires that those whom He elects to execute the office justly.
When any office holder defies the principles of right and wrong—whether they are written into statute, or only imprinted on the human heart—he is acting illegitimately. Citizens need not be constitutional scholars to judge illegitimate government actions. Right and wrong exist prior to Constitution, U.S. Code, state statutes, or bureaucratic rules.
That is why so many citizens today are troubled. Unjust actions are taking place at every level of government. They see abuse of office in the unequal treatment of citizens under the law. They see the huge disparity between the Department of Justice’s treatment of J-6 prisoners and the same department’s treatment of 2020’s rioters. They see last Monday’s raid on Mar-a-Lago in contrast to James Comey’s refusal to prosecute the public crimes of Hillary Clinton.
These two examples are only the tip of the iceberg, but they are enough to make the point. Openly unjust governance defies the very God who set the government in place. This is the natural and logical consequence of denying the existence of God. Those who do not acknowledge God at the foundation of government, are left with nothing more than Nietzsche’s “will to power.” This can never end well.
But how should godly citizens and officeholders respond to openly unjust rulers? The pastors of Magdeburg addressed this question head-on in a document called “The Magdeburg Confession.” The city council did not have the authority that God gave the emperor, but it did have its own God-given authority. The Magdeburg Confession explained the duties that these “lesser magistrates” had towards God and towards the emperor.
This document can also help us today. Injustice and tyrannical actions can goad people to overreact. That is both wrong and counterproductive. Not all tyranny is of the same type. Some can be borne without injury to the republic. Other types must be vigorously resisted. Thoughtful and godly citizens must know the difference.
The first level of tyranny is when the office holder’s personal vices harm others. Here, we should urge the official to a better way of life but otherwise bear the injustice. Tyranny rises to a second level when an official unjustly uses government power against a citizen or a lower office holder. In that case, God does not compel a person to obey an unlawful order, but He does permit him to bear with the injustice so long as it does not compel him to participate in the evil.
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When an unlawful command requires someone to sin, it has reached the third level of tyranny. At that level, a person is not only permitted, but required to disobey the unlawful order. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29 ESV).
The fourth, and highest, level of tyranny moves from the persecution of certain persons to the persecution of the very rights and principles themselves. The Magdeburg Confession sees this as a persecution of God Himself, who is the author of all rights.
We would do well to dust off this centuries-old document and study it anew. As “one nation under God,” there is much that we can learn from it. Faithful and well-informed citizens will want neither to overreact nor to underreact in a time of crisis.
I'm having trouble following the distinctions in the levels you listed. When we see others being harmed and do nothing, is that not a sin? If an official unjustly uses government power against a citizen, isn't bearing with the injustice, especially when it is unlawful, participating in the evil? Isn't doing nothing about evil sinning by omission? Romans 1:32 has something to say about those who approve of evil.
ReplyDeleteIt's rare that someone randomly persecutes another person. Generally, the persecution is due to the tyrant being offended by the rights and principles that person embodies. Thus, even level one implies this because the tyrant's personal vices are unlikely to be in line with the persecuted person's principles.
Sorry for the delayed response... Your points are, of course, correct. It is impossible to digest this very dense book in an 800-word format. For that reason, my main hope is that you will take up the book and read it for yourself. Answers become clear through its discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe entire thrust of the book is to think deeply and carefully about the vocation of various degrees of "lesser magistrates," and then to equip the reader to apply the vocational understanding to the challenges that arise in real time.
For instance: as a father/husband, how do I use the God-given duty/authority of home defense faithfully? "Suffering" in such a way that I allow my family to be slaughtered is no more Christian than picking off pimps and drug dealers with a sniper's rifle. Vocation is everything.