Biblical Perspectives on the Justification of Revolution
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Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves now there's no denying it we have no desire to deny it this is a very strong call to submit to governing authorities the governments that are over us. [00:03:46]
We never want to define submission as going along with something when we agree with it there really is something to be said for the principle that submission is not even really tested until there is disagreement among peoples when there is disagreement that's when if I'm supposed to submit to you and you and I agree on something it's nothing for me to submit to you. [00:04:54]
We do agree that there are many challenging areas of submission that the Bible requires requires us of in respect to government in the home at the workplace in the church family in the church body but it's never absolute God never expects us to submit absolutely to another human being we obey God first when the command of God contradicts the request or the law or the command of man. [00:07:23]
Many colonists in America in those days felt that the revolution was justified and many of them even believe that it was a duty before God now not all did by any means there were many colonists who remained loyal to England and to England's king and they thought it was wrong to rebel and some of those who thought it was wrong to rebel against the king and the government of England were motivated by their faith. [00:08:02]
They honestly believed that the American revolution was a defensive war that the king of England and his government were taking away things that they already had and let me say the American colonists had reason to believe that because they enjoyed a substantial amount of religious political and economic freedom before 1750 in the earlier part of the 18th century. [00:09:26]
Against the idea of the divine right of kings there were men like the Scottish pastor Samuel Rutherford who wrote a well-known book in the middle of the 17th century and that book was titled lex rex now in Latin that means law king and the idea was that the law came before the king it was law king lex rex it wasn't rex lex it wasn't king law the law comes before the king. [00:11:39]
The idea of the just war is something that had existed in Christianity for centuries uh the early theologian Augustine was someone who spelled out in some level of detail the ideas of the just war but to summarize it's the idea that there are times when war is biblically justified and it's even the right thing the duty the responsibility for nations and peoples to do. [00:12:52]
They believed that other means of appeal were exhausted they believed and this is important according to the just war idea they believed that there was a reasonable chance of success for their revolution and then finally they believed that their use of war would not produce a worse situation those last two things are important aspects of the just worth their they're not every aspect but two important aspects of the just war theory. [00:14:03]
Those christians who favored revolution did so for some of the reasons I stated and I would say I would agree with them but there were other christians who remained loyal to the english crown and they said this your reasons aren't compelling to me I think God still wants us to submit to the government now again if I wanted to speak in a theoretical sense I could make a case for either position. [00:15:47]
The Bible makes it clear that God gives individuals the right to self-defense I'm not going to go to the passages I'll just quote them and you can turn to them if you please Exodus chapter 22 verses 2 and 3 gives the right to use force in self-defense even in defending one's property now under the right circumstances Exodus chapter 22 and other Old Testament passages they do not give an unlimited right of self-defense. [00:19:52]
I think we can reason like this number one self-defense is a biblical idea God gives the right to self-defense not that that right can't be exceeded or abused it certainly can but but the right is there secondly Jesus and his disciples defended themselves with the appropriate weapons of their day namely swords therefore I would say that God gives us the right to defend ourselves our families and our property with the appropriate weapons of our day. [00:22:31]
The Bible tells us that there should be a separation between church and state in theology people sometimes call this the two kingdoms idea in other words uh there's the kingdom of God together with the church and then there's the kingdom of man that is typified or or finds its governmental role with the government uh the state king congress president prime minister whatever it may be. [00:43:22]
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We never want to define submission as going along with something when we agree with it there really is something to be said for the principle that submission is not even really tested until there is disagreement among peoples when there is disagreement that's when if I'm supposed to submit to you and you and I agree on something it's nothing for me to submit to you. [00:04:54]
We do agree that there are many challenging areas of submission that the Bible requires requires us of in respect to government in the home at the workplace in the church family in the church body but it's never absolute God never expects us to submit absolutely to another human being we obey God first when the command of God contradicts the request or the law or the command of man. [00:07:23]
Many colonists in America in those days felt that the revolution was justified and many of them even believe that it was a duty before God now not all did by any means there were many colonists who remained loyal to England and to England's king and they thought it was wrong to rebel and some of those who thought it was wrong to rebel against the king and the government of England were motivated by their faith. [00:08:02]
They honestly believed that the American revolution was a defensive war that the king of England and his government were taking away things that they already had and let me say the American colonists had reason to believe that because they enjoyed a substantial amount of religious political and economic freedom before 1750 in the earlier part of the 18th century. [00:09:26]
Against the idea of the divine right of kings there were men like the Scottish pastor Samuel Rutherford who wrote a well-known book in the middle of the 17th century and that book was titled lex rex now in Latin that means law king and the idea was that the law came before the king it was law king lex rex it wasn't rex lex it wasn't king law the law comes before the king. [00:11:39]
The idea of the just war is something that had existed in Christianity for centuries uh the early theologian Augustine was someone who spelled out in some level of detail the ideas of the just war but to summarize it's the idea that there are times when war is biblically justified and it's even the right thing the duty the responsibility for nations and peoples to do. [00:12:52]
They believed that other means of appeal were exhausted they believed and this is important according to the just war idea they believed that there was a reasonable chance of success for their revolution and then finally they believed that their use of war would not produce a worse situation those last two things are important aspects of the just worth their they're not every aspect but two important aspects of the just war theory. [00:14:03]
Those christians who favored revolution did so for some of the reasons I stated and I would say I would agree with them but there were other christians who remained loyal to the english crown and they said this your reasons aren't compelling to me I think God still wants us to submit to the government now again if I wanted to speak in a theoretical sense I could make a case for either position. [00:15:47]
The Bible makes it clear that God gives individuals the right to self-defense I'm not going to go to the passages I'll just quote them and you can turn to them if you please Exodus chapter 22 verses 2 and 3 gives the right to use force in self-defense even in defending one's property now under the right circumstances Exodus chapter 22 and other Old Testament passages they do not give an unlimited right of self-defense. [00:19:52]
I think we can reason like this number one self-defense is a biblical idea God gives the right to self-defense not that that right can't be exceeded or abused it certainly can but but the right is there secondly Jesus and his disciples defended themselves with the appropriate weapons of their day namely swords therefore I would say that God gives us the right to defend ourselves our families and our property with the appropriate weapons of our day. [00:22:31]
The Bible tells us that there should be a separation between church and state in theology people sometimes call this the two kingdoms idea in other words uh there's the kingdom of God together with the church and then there's the kingdom of man that is typified or or finds its governmental role with the government uh the state king congress president prime minister whatever it may be. [00:43:22]
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