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It is because they refuse to believe the evidence.

“Show me!”  This is the unofficial motto of the state of Missouri.  This pithy challenge means that “I will not believe it until I would see it.”  That is to say, “I will only admit a fact or an event to be true if I would have witnessed it myself first hand.  I will accept no fact or event, believe no promise, or trust no valid testimony, unless I would have witnessed it in person.”
This is an awful admission.  Think about it!

Yet this is, unintentionally, a sobering, unavoidable reminder of what the doubtful mind fights for and demands:  “I hate the promises of others.  I do not trust them.  I would have to feel something with mine own sensory perception before I eve will believe it.”
Just the same, our affiliations and commerce are not based on sensory perception, but are dependent upon trust as displayed in agreements and contracts, explicit or implied; from a handshake to a notarized document.

Moreover, this is also the way in which God will deal with sinful men.  He will give them a promise to trust so that they will have salvation.  This is the only way that they could have salvation.  This is God’s way:  salvation by promise.

To be sure, the Lord’s mental decision has already been made to declare the whole world to be righteous and able to enter heaven because of the ransom payment in blood by his Son on the cross.  This decision could not be witnessed by men; nor did God consider it necessary.  The Lord put his salvation into the form of a promise with the intent that men could thereby obtain salvation from him through that source; that is, so that sinful men could possess salvation simply by the act of faith, in which act God   would so power them and so move them wholeheartedly to believe his promise.  Thus God’s salvation is by promise, not by sight.

In light of this, the apostle would check the demands and the desires of the sinful flesh of his readers by asserting that we “walk” not by the unofficial state motto of Missouri, but by “faith” (2nd Corinthians 5:7).  As a result, the serious practical importance of this is immense.
For example, before his meeting at Worms in 1521, Martin Luther’s detractors had argued with him:  “All of these people all of these centuries have been wrong, and you alone are right?”  Yet Luther stood by what he had confessed.  Soon others admitted that Luther was right; namely, that a huge “falling away” from the gospel had indeed occurred in the church as Scripture had prophesied (2nd Thessalonians 2:3), and that it had continued for centuries.

In light of this, how many Lutherans today would have the same sentiment, and would declare, “I, too, would stand alone”?  “I would simply stand on the words of the Bible no matter how strong the peer pressure would be against me.”

Yet experience has taught otherwise.   For instance, few Lutherans today will obey Romans 16:17 and leave their unfaithful congregations or synods to go to another which would be faithful to the Bible in doctrine and practice.  Most Lutherans will simply remain where they have their church membership, possessing patriotism for their synod (synoditis), pastor, or congregation, and rationalizing their decision to do so.  This is simply another demonstration of the “Show me!” attitude.

Furthermore, how many Lutherans would have to confess:  “Whatever my synod has told me to believe, that is what I will believe”?  For instance, in regards to the question:  “What do you believe about the biblical doctrines of the church and of the ministry?” two doctrines which commonly are not known by the average layman, how many Lutheran respondents would simply turn to that page in their synod’s book of beliefs which treats of these doctrines, and reply, “This is what I believe” and would not research first what the Bible has to say, or what the Lutheran Book of Concord of 1580 confesses?  Nevertheless, we are to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2nd Corinthians 5:7).
There is still another example that demonstrates, given the contemporary facts, given the signs of the times, and given the opportunity, that American Lutherans with rare exceptions would rather walk by sight, and not by faith.  What would be your own response to the following matter:  faith, or sight?  If it would be pointed out to you that the same punishment of total devastating war that came upon Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nineveh, and Jerusalem, the latter city of whose citizens were scolded by the Almighty for not observing the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-3), would come upon America, would you walk by faith, or by sight?

Would you look at the signs of the times, that is, would you notice the immoral words and acts of our people, and see that by what they say and do the vast majority of our country rejects repentance of their sins and belief in God’s gospel of salvation?  Would you come to the biblically demanded conclusion that because of this unspiritual condition in our country, God must punish it as he repeatedly and emphatically has threatened to do in his Bible?  In the case of every other nation which had fallen away from the Christian faith after a gospel golden age, God kept his threat to punish it with a devastating war.  Should America be so privileged that God would never punish it?  Do you consider it possible that God’s criteria could never apply to America?  Would you believe, that is, would you walk by faith in the current signs of the times, something which the Almighty severely scolded the Sadducees and the Pharisees for not doing (Matthew 16:1-3), that God will certainly keep his threat and devastate this country with a war on its soil as a punishment for  falling away into unbelief?  What would be your answer?

If someone would suggest that he would need more proof, what would he accept as proof?  Think about that!
What is needed for the minds of Lutherans today is not more proof, but more trust in the signs of the times which already are sufficient proof.  The almighty Son scolded the Pharisees and the Sadducees for not rightly concluding from the signs of the times which they had in abundance before them (Matthew 16:1-3).  Moreover, he did not excuse them for having unregenerate minds.  All of the Old Testament prophets with the exception of three were raised up by the Almighty to scold the kingdoms of Israel and Judah for the same thing.  In spite of it, the established churches in both kingdoms refused to believe the evidence that God would ever punish them.  Amos even was called a traitor (Amos 7:10).  The established churches with their clergy and laity overwhelmingly walked by sight, not by faith.

So it is today.  What established church is there in America today that has believed the evidence, much less has had the will to give unpleasant news to its hearers, to scold America at large through its church papers and pulpits, in its seminaries and schools, and to tell them that God will punish this country?  As a result, when World War III would break out on American soil, God will start his punishment beginning with the Christian   churches.  “Judgment must begin at the house of God” (1st Peter 4:17).

Thus do not wait for the churches to tell you what to do!  They see no war coming.  They walk by sight, not by faith.  That is, willfully they refuse to see the current sign of the time.  Indeed, the exceeding danger about this sort of sign, which is the same kind about which the Almighty has warned (Matthew 16:1-3), is that you must act now to double your efforts to repent, to believe, to pray for deliverance, and to prepare.  If you would wait until you could see it (“Show me!”), it will be too late.

Act on your own!  Resolve to make the intent to do so with God’s help!  Homeschool and homechurch!  This is a time when your family’s lives and eternal souls are in serious jeopardy.  You have a duty to protect them.

Walk by faith, not by sight!

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It is simply this:  That America has broken God’s First Commandment by refusing to believe God’s gospel promise.

Where has God said this?  Repent, and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin!  Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!  For why would you die?  For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 18:30, 31, & 32). Repent, and believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

Yet Americans today no longer repent nor believe the saving gospel in the biblical sense as they did years ago.  Those who have declined to do this have left the church.  Those who have stayed within the church, however, commonly have followed man-made substitutes.

Throughout history this same sad story has been repeated.  This time history is repeating itself in America.  That story is this:

1. God will bring his gospel promise to a country:  The start of a golden age.
2. As a groundswell, God will move many people to believe his gospel pledge.  As a result, they will possess a place in heaven:  The rise of that golden age.
3. About the time of the third generation, the people will begin to fall away from believing his gospel pledge in a reverse groundswell:  The fall from that golden age.
4. God will call them back by sending them ever more severe punishments, for example, storms, floods, losses, and oppression.  Yet they will turn a deaf ear to them, will refuse to repent and to return to the faith, and will continue to inflict misery upon themselves through their immoral behavior.
5. Finally, after his patience has ended, the Almighty will bring a war on that country’s soil, and will annihilate or practically annihilate that people:  The end of that golden age.

The almighty Lord of heaven and earth went to great lengths to prepare America as a home where he could bless the people with his highest gift of all:  his gospel promise of salvation.  Though there had been gospel-believing settlers all along, God especially moved many Americans, beginning in the 1840’s, fueled by the waves of immigrants from northern Europe and Scandinavia a few decades later, to believe his saving gospel.  Then a golden age of Christianity flourished in America for about a hundred years.  After that, more and more Americans lost their love for the gospel, and quit believing it.  This was evidenced at that time not only by a continual loss in church members, but by the rapid decline in morality especially in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The following biblical passages will show what God thinks about America’s falling away.

God would have all men to be saved (1st Timothy 2:4).

If you would continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and would not be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:23).

How will we escape if we would neglect so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:3.)

What solution, then, could and should America apply?  It will be the simple solution which God has urged all along in his Bible:

1. That you must admit that you are a sinner;
2. That you must be sorry for it; and
3. That you must return to God by believing his gospel pledge of salvation.

In other words, ask yourself, “Morally, am I fit to face the Almighty on Judgment Day?  Do not reply, “I may not be as bad as some notorious criminals are”; or:  “All men have some good in them”; nor even offer the wishful thinking, “Everyone has done some good to land them in heaven,” for the holy and righteous God, the Almighty who gave you life, has handed down this ultimatum:  “You must be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2).  What is more, his unbreakable Bible convicts, indicts, and condemns you for your total failure to be this way, declaring, “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23).  As a result, “These will go into everlasting punishment…. Into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:46, 41), which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8), since “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11).

Face these facts!  Admit that you have grieved and offended the Almighty who will punish you out of anger!  If anyone should be sorry, you will be the one, and you ought to do it here and now!

Know, therefore, that Jesus is your sin-bearer, sin-remover, and sin-destroyer!  He was sentenced to Calvary’s cross in order “to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). On that occasion Divine Justice laid on the Lord Jesus “the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6) in order to affect your cleansing, and to release you from all your guilt and punishment; in order to establish your high pardon and complete innocence.  As a result, you have been restored to friendly terms with the heavenly Father, who is waiting to receive you into his heavenly home.

Thus declare: “I want to believe that Jesus has gotten forgiveness for me”!  Say it!  Mean it!

If America would do these things, then the Lord will keep his promise to bring peace to our land once more.

The following biblical passages will demonstrate this.

God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

Repent, and believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in Christ’s name among all nations (Luke 24:47) to open their eyes in order that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to that of God; so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and the inheritance among those that have been sanctified by faith that is in Christ (Acts 26:18).

If my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land (2nd Chronicles 7:14).

Return to me, and I will return to you! (Malachi 3:7).

What will God do to America since it has refused to apply his solution of repentance and faith?  In keeping with his threat in the Bible, as he has stated it clearly and carried it out consistently, the Almighty will lay upon America increasingly severe punishments, for instance, storms, floods, losses, and oppressions.  After America stubbornly would choose to suffer rather than to repent and to believe the gospel, God finally will bring a war to this land which will annihilate or nearly annihilate it.

The following biblical passages will demonstrate this.

God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11).

His soul hates the wicked (Psalm 11:5).

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity (Isaiah 13:11).

The nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined (Isaiah 60:12).

All nations that forget God will be turned into hell (Psalm 9:17).

They chose new gods, then there was war (Judges 5:8).

The Lord is a man of war (Exodus 15:3).

Unless you would repent, you will likewise perish (Luke 13:3).

What will happen to America in the future?  It will be what has happened consequently to those countries which fell away from the gospel and did not repent:  a war of punishment will be sent by the Almighty.

To be sure, the people of those countries could and should have recognized that their national problem was one of immorality. Just the same, the overwhelming majority of citizens would not control it by repenting.  In their spiritual blindness and in their spiritual hardening of their hearts they would neither acknowledge nor remember the biblical teaching that the eyes of people have to be opened and that their hearts have to be changed by God’s powerful gospel pledges before the problems resulting from immorality ever could be recognized properly by them, and before the people ever could have the will to control their immorality properly.  In other words, in order to clean a muddy stream a person would have to go to its source, and clean it there, not dip out water along its banks. On the contrary, in their spiritual blindness and in the hardening of their hearts, the people of those countries, for example, commonly had turned to any political opportunist who would promise to solve their disputes without a need to change biblically their immoral hearts.  The American people, likewise, will attempt to solve their disputes without a need to change their immoral hearts, for they have shown no signs of doing differently by repenting.  Neither have they shown any signs of believing the gospel in order to escape the more serious eternal torment.

In addition, while no one may have ever articulated the following axiom, throughout history men have certainly carried it out in practice; and that is this:  In order to stop a neighboring country from committing even more evil, if its heart could not be changed, that nation plainly will have to be put to death.

Realize this!  Repent of your sins!  Believe the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Pray the following hymns!

Christ, by heav’nly hosts adored,
Gracious, mighty, sov’reign Lord,
God of nations, King of kings,
Head of all created things,
By the Church with joy confessed,
God o’er all forever blest;
Pleading at Thy throne we stand,
Save Thy people, bless our land!

On our fields of grass and grain
Send, O Lord, the kindly rain;
O’er our wide and goodly land
Crown the labors of each hand!
Let Thy kind protection be
O’er our commerce on the sea;
Open, Lord, Thy bounteous hand,
Bless Thy people, bless our land!

Let our rulers ever be
Men that love and honor Thee;
Let the powers by Thee ordained
Be in righteousness maintained;
In the people’s hearts increase
Love of piety and peace;
Thus united we shall stand
One wide, free, and happy land!

Henry Harbaugh, 1860

Almighty Lord, before Thy throne,
Thy mourning people bend;
‘Tis on Thy grace in Christ alone
Our failing hopes depend.

Dark judgments, from Thy heavy hand,
Thy dreadful power display;
Yet mercy spares our guilty land,
And still we live to pray.

How changed, alas! are truths divine
For error, guilt and shame!
What impious numbers, bold in sin,
Disgrace the Christian name!

O turn us, turn us, mighty Lord!
Convert us by Thy grace;
Then shall our hearts obey Thy Word,
And see again Thy face!

Then, should oppressing foes invade,
We will not yield to fear,
Secure of all-sufficient aid,
When God in Christ is near.

Anne Steele, altered

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In the following letter addressed to some Christians at Miltenberg, whose pastor had been run out, and whose prominent fellow Christians had been arrested and executed, Luther points out that they are to look for heavenly comfort and not for worldly comfort; for the first only will be effective, while the second one will not.  Moreover, physical revenge would not succeed, only godly patience and resignation to God’s plan will.

“It would be a worldly comfort, which could be of no benefit whatever, but altogether injurious to your souls and to the cause, if you and I should seek comfort in avenging ourselves upon the blasphemers by scolding and mourning over their impiety and wickedness.  And though we should even slay them all with our hands, or banish them, or had the pleasure and delight of seeing them punished by some one else on account of the suffering inflicted upon us, there would yet be nothing thereby accomplished.  For this is worldly revenge and comfort, and does not befit us; but it is befitting to our enemies, as you now see that they, having cooled their malice upon you and avenged themselves, are merry over it, and are wonderfully comforted.  But what sort of comfort is that?  Have they any hope?  Have they any patience?  Have they any Scripture?  Verily, instead of God, they have used their fists; instead of patience, they have shown revenge; instead of hope, they have given vent to their malice openly and have already received all the good things that they will ever have.  Whence comes then such comfort?  It does not come from God, and must therefore certainly come from the devil.  And so it does.  But what will be the end of the comfort that comes from the devil?  Paul says (Phil. iii.19):  ‘Their boasting shall come to a shameful end’.
“See now what a rich, proud comfort arises out of this for you!  In the first place, you are certain that it is for the sake of God’s Word that you endure their insolence and abuse.  What matters it that they call it heresy?  You are sure that it is God’s Word; they cannot therefore be sure that it is heresy.  They will not hear nor receive it; they cannot therefore prove it to be heresy.  Yet they go on slandering and persecuting, upon such uncertain ground, as St. Peter says (2 Pet. ii. 12), ‘What they do not understand’!  Hence they cannot have a good conscience in the matter; but you have a secure, certain conviction that you are suffering for God’s sake.  Now who can ever fully describe what a blessed, proud comfort it is, to be certain that one is suffering for God’s sake?  For who suffers?  Whom does it concern?  Who will avenge it, if we suffer for God’s sake?  Well does St. Peter say (I Pet. iii. 14):  ‘Blessed are ye, if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake’.  If one were the emperor of the whole world, he should not only be willing cheerfully to surrender his throne to secure such sufferings, but should even count it as dung, compared with such comforting treasure.
“You have really, therefore, dear Friends, no occasion to desire revenge, nor to wish evil to your enemies, but much rather to regard them with heartfelt compassion.  For you have in fact been already too highly avenged, to say nothing of that which yet awaits them at the end.  They have already suffered altogether too much.  To you they have done only a kindness, that you should be led by their raging to the comfort of God; to themselves they have done an injury, from which they can scarcely, and some of them never, recover.
“For what does it matter, that they have tormented you for a little while in your body and your earthly possessions?  That will soon be over.  And what does it matter, that they for a little while rejoice in their wantonness?  It cannot last long.  Consider, in the meantime, your happiness and their misery.  You have a good, secure conscience and a just cause; they have an evil, uncertain conscience and a blind cause, of which they do not even yet know how unjust it is.  You have therefore the comfort of God with patience out of the Scriptures in hope; they have therefore the comfort of the devil through revenge in visible wantonness.
“If now the privilege were given you to choose between their portion and your own, would you not run and flee from their side, as from the devil, even though it were a very heaven, and hasten to your portion, even though it were a very hell?  For heaven could not be joyous, if the devil reigned there, and hell could not be gloomy, if God reigned there.
“Therefore, dear Friends, would you avenge and comfort yourselves right well and proudly, not only upon your visible, bodily persecutors, but upon the devil, who rides them, then treat him thus:  Be right joyful, and thank God that you have been made worthy to hear and understand his Word, and to suffer for it, and be content to know certainly that your cause is God’s Word and your comfort from God.  Pity your enemies, who have no good conscience in their cause, but only the miserable, gloomy comfort of the devil through their insolence, impatience, revenge and earthly malice.  Believe assuredly that you will by such a joyful spirit, praise and thanksgiving, grieve their god, the devil, more than if you were to slay a thousand of your enemies.  For it is not his aim to comfort them and give you bodily pain, but he wants to make you sad and melancholy, so that you may be of no service to God.  Keep on, therefore, all the more, and mock him, that his scheme may fail and be given up in disgust” (August Nebe, Luther as Spiritual Adviser, translators Charles A. Hay and Charles E. Hay [Philadelphia:  Lutheran Publication Society, 1894], pages 79-83).

In a different letter addressed to some other Christians who were enduring “ridicule and reproach,” Luther reminds them that it is God’s will that if we would enjoy the high privilege of ruling with him for eternity in heaven, we first will have to suffer in this world.  The two cannot be separated.

“I could not and ought not to neglect to exhort you and to comfort you with the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God through his holy Word, in order that you may not only bear the present trial with patience, but also become vigorous and strong to await and to overcome yet greater things, although I do not imagine that you stand in need of my poor epistle.
“In the first place, Paul says (Rom. viii. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 12):  ‘If we would reign with him, we must also suffer with him’.  For, if we take pleasure in the Gospel and desire to become partakers of his unspeakable riches and his eternal treasure, we must also take into account his cross, and the tribulation that comes with it, considering that his riches and treasure are eternal and his tribulation temporal, yea, but momentary.  He has himself declared (Jn. xvi. 33):  ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace’.  If we would have peace in him, then we must have tribulation from the world.  The words of Christ can have no other meaning.  Remember my word, says he, which I have spoken to you:  ‘The servant is not better than his lord.  If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also’.  A slothful and unprofitable servant indeed would he be, who should wish to sit upon a silk cushion and live-in luxury, while his master was without, hungering and toiling and contending against his enemies.  That would be a foolish merchant indeed, who should throw away his gold and silver and have nothing to do with it, because it was tied up, not in silk and satin, but in rough, dirty bags and sacks; or who should become disgusted with his treasure because it was heavy, and not as light as a feather.  It is the very nature of treasures to be heavy and to increase in weight according to their value; and it is not customary to carry gold and silver in beautiful bags and sacks, but in black, rough, dirty cloth, which no one would otherwise like to have about his body….
“Therefore be of good cheer, my dear Masters and Brethren; it is well with you, and better times will come.  Only fall not away, out of the hand of God, who has now laid hold of you to make good, honest Christians out of you, that you may not in word alone, as I, alas! and others in your circumstances, but in deed and in truth, live according to the Gospel.
“It is written (Isa. lxiv. 8):  ‘We are his clay; he is our potter’.  The clay must not control the art and the hand of the potter, but must let itself be controlled and shaped.  Therefore the Gospel applies its square, which St. Paul has given it:  the word of the cross (I Cor. i. 8).  He who will not have the cross, must do without the word….
“You yourselves know very well, Beloved, that the Word of God is everywhere in the Scriptures represented as bringing with it in this world tribulation, shame and all manner of trials, but as setting forth at the same time also, for admonition and comfort, how very precious this treasure of our faith is, and how greatly its value is increased by such trials” (August Nebe, Luther as Spiritual Adviser, translators Charles A. Hay and Charles E. Hay [Philadelphia:  Lutheran Publication Society, 1894], pages 71-76.

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The following is an example of what the consequences will be if the civil authority would not be obeyed.  It is an incident from the life of Martin Pinzon, who served under Christopher Columbus as captain of the Pinta.  This excerpt is taken from Washington Irving’s Life of Columbus.

“On the very evening of the arrival of Columbus at Palos, and while the peals of triumph were still ringing from its towers, the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, likewise entered the river.  After her separation from the admiral in the storm, she had been driven before the gale into the Bay of Biscay, and had made the port of Bayonne.  Doubting whether Columbus had survived the tempest, Pinzon had immediately written to the sovereigns, giving information of the discovery he had made, and had requested permission to come to court, and communicate the particulars in person.  As soon as the weather permitted, he had again set sail, anticipating a triumphant reception in his native port of Palos.  When, on entering the harbor, he beheld the vessel of the admiral riding at anchor, and learned the enthusiasm with which he had been received, the heart of Pinzon died within him.  It is said that he feared to meet Columbus in this hour of his triumph, lest he should put him under arrest for his desertion on the coast of Cuba; but he was a man of too much resolution to indulge in such a fear.  It is more probable that a consciousness of his misconduct made him unwilling to appear before the public in the midst of their enthusiasm for Columbus, and perhaps he sickened at the honors heaped upon a man whose superiority he had been so unwilling to acknowledge.  Getting into his boat, therefore, he landed privately, and kept out of sight until he heard of the admiral’s departure.  He then returned to his home, broken in health and deeply dejected, considering all the honors and eulogiums heaped upon Columbus as so many reproaches on himself.  The reply of his sovereigns to his letter at length arrived.  It was of a reproachful tenor, and forbade his appearance at court.  This letter completed his humiliation; the anguish of his feelings gave virulence to his bodily malady, and in a few days he died, a victim of deep chagrin.

“Let no one, however, indulge in harsh censures over the grave of Pinzon.  His merits and services are entitled to the highest praise; his errors should be regarded with indulgence.  He was one of the foremost in Spain to appreciate the project of Columbus, animating him by his concurrence and aiding him with his purse when poor and unknown at Palos.  He afterward enabled him to procure and fit out ships, when even the mandates of the sovereigns were ineffectual, and finally embarked in the expedition with his brothers and his friends, staking life, property, everything upon the event.  He thus entitled himself to participate largely in the glory of this immortal enterprise; but unfortunately, forgetting for a moment the grandeur of the cause, and the implicit obedience due to his commander, he yielded to the incitements of self-interest, and committed the act of insubordination which has cast a shadow on his name.  In extenuation of his fault, however, may be alleged his habits of command, which rendered him impatient of control; his consciousness of having rendered great services to the expedition, and of possessing property in the ships.  That he was a man of great professional merit is admitted by all his contemporaries; that he naturally possessed generous sentiments and an honorable ambition, is evident from the poignancy with which he felt the disgrace drawn on him by his misconduct.  A mean man would not have fallen a victim to self-upbraiding for having been convicted of a mean action.  His story shows how one lapse from duty may counterbalance the merits of a thousand services, how one moment of weakness may mar the beauty of a whole life of virtue, and how important it is for a man, under all circumstances, to be true, not only to others, but to himself” (Martin S. Sommer, The Voice of History [Saint Louis:  Concordia, 1913] pages 76-77.

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Today Lutheran congregations that once were staunch seventy years ago during the declining one-hundred-year golden age of Christianity in America, have become more lax in biblical teaching, and have relaxed their practice of the biblical commandments quietly and without fanfare, but intentionally. They have become worldly, and have rolled back biblical morality inch by inch.  Why?  It is because of peer pressure, or, as Scripture puts it:  of being a “men pleaser” (Ephesians 6:6).

Though Lutheran congregations commonly would resent this description, and would point to their biblical congregational constitutions, and declare, “This is our standard for belief and behavior,” it could be countered by pointing out, for instance, “Do you still consider gambling to be a sin?  When was the last time your pastor preached a sermon against this common sin?  Would you demand that a member of your congregation who sold lottery tickets at his privately owned business must cease and desist, just as he would in the sale of pornographic magazines?  Would you excommunicate him if he would refuse?  Would you bring church discipline against any member who would continue to visit a casino?”

Speaking of which, how many excommunications have there been in your own Lutheran congregation in the last fifteen years?  Check your church records of one hundred years ago!  Why were there more excommunications in those days than there are now?  Was it because your congregation   today is more pure than it was back then?  Would that be the reason?  Rather, would it not be that your congregation is more lax now than it used to be in its concern for unrepentant souls?

Things that once were considered to be sin years earlier, and rightly so, have now been placed into a gray area, where “we cannot tell” anymore, that is, where church members would no longer conclude that something would be a sin.  Indeed, some things have been passed through the gray area into the “no-longer-sin” area.

What if John the Baptist were called to one of our Lutheran congregations today?  If he were to say such things as:  “Bear fruits worthy of repentance!…. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”….  God’s “winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:8, 10, & 12), could the contemporary Lutheran congregation stand to hear such biblical things?  Would it not order him to leave?

In a Publisher’s Preface to a recent translation of a Lutheran devotional work from the 1800’s in America, the unsigned writer stated:  The author’s “comments about Roman Catholicism or Reformed theology or Methodism may sound harsh to the 21st century ear” (C.F.W. Walther, God Grant It, translator Gerhard Grabenhofer [Saint Louis:  Concordia, 2006].  Tell me why would comments that sounded normal to the 19th century ear “sound harsh to the 21st century ear”? The answer is:  Because biblical law and gospel preaching is out, speaking “smooth things” is in (Isaiah 30:10).  The simple explanation is there has been a “falling away” in the Lutheran church.  The current consensus of American Lutheran congregations is:  It is no longer necessary nor desirable to be faithful to biblical doctrine or practice.  “Every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).  A “horrible thing is committed in the land:  the prophets prophesy falsely…. And my people love to have it so” (Jeremiah 5:30, 31).

Just the same, congregations that call themselves the people of God and that have crosses on their roofs cannot continue on indefinitely with such impunity.  God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7).  At some point he must withdraw his grace, and keep his threat to punish such faithlessness, spiritual adultery, and prostitution, as he calls it (Jeremiah 3:8-9).

What must Lutheran congregations do?  They must address the contemporary question:  “If the Lord would be with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13), and apply the biblical answer. That is to say, to this end they must renew efforts at repentance and prayer, and petition humbly for the Holy Spirit’s help to open their eyes and to sanctify their intent.  They must begin an in-house reformation which would get rid of all man-made teachings and practices and return to Scripture’s teachings exclusively.

In addition, after each future Islamic assault on this country, or after every regional or national calamity, the Lutheran congregations could and should call for a day of humiliation, of prayer, and of fasting, urging their laymen to redouble their efforts at repentance, gospel belief, humbleness, and the fear of God.  They should have printed prayers, sermons, devotions, and supplemental material for classes and for home use in order that the laymen could and should know with biblical certainty why God is doing this, what he has said about it, and what is expected of the Christian!

Do not ask your congregation to do this, insist on it!  If it would refuse and give you specious excuses, begin to homechurch!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 25-What-is-Natural-Law

Definition.  Natural law is simply a remnant of the knowledge of God’s will with which man was created.

Background.  Man was created with a perfect knowledge of a moral will which the Creator had given to man to govern him.  That is, man had a perfect understanding of God’s moral will.  Simply put:  This moral law was the knowledge of right and wrong.  All souls that would be born into this world will have this same moral law “written into their hearts” (Romans 2:5), as Scripture puts it.

Indeed, after the Fall into sin, the descendents of our first ancestors were born with this moral law in their minds.  However, on account of the presence of inherited sin which was also in these same minds, the knowledge of this moral law was no longer perfect.  To be sure, it had not been erased, but it was obscured or blurred.  Out of his mercy God gave sinful man the Ten Commandments.  Then he elaborated further on these commandments throughout the Bible.

Hence natural law will have to be consistence with God’s biblically revealed moral law.  This moral law is the standard which natural law must follow.  God’s moral law is the clearer of the two.

Furthermore, not only is the moral law of God transmitted to every soul which is conceived, but every soul also receives from God a conscience.  In practice the conscience will act like a judge.  It will look at the moral law written in the heart, and then it either will condemn or approve of each moral act committed.

In Romans 2:14 the holy writer speaks of heathen people who had no knowledge of the Ten Commandments, but only of that moral knowledge which “was written in their hearts.”  He declares that though they had no knowledge of the Ten Commandments, at times they still would “do by nature the things contained in the” Ten Commandments.  That is to say, they still would follow this natural law.  Furthermore, in doing so they would demonstrate that there is a moral law of God “written in their hearts.”

Thus only the Bible could define natural law accurately, properly, and with divine assurance.  Men who would define natural law without the revelation of the Bible, at best could do it partly and without divine assurance.

Indeed, unregenerate men in their spiritual blindness reject the Ten Commandments and attempt to codify natural law based on their biased preconceptions instead.  As a result of this deliberately-biased process being forced through their intellect, such ideas as “the social contract,” “the consent of the governed,” and “the right to revolution” have been promoted, all of which contradict God’s moral law which is revealed in the Bible.

History.  “Church fathers, especially Latin, some of whom were deeply influenced by Roman law, shared this concept of natural law but identified it with the primitive natural revelation of God in man’s heart…. The Protestant Reformation generally accepted the patristic view of natural.  Martin Luther… followed Augustine of Hippo in regarding the decalog as the directly revealed codification of natural law.  But the Renaissance, especially in its humanistic aspects, deemphasized the divine and overemphasized the purely rational character of natural law.  As a result, in the age of reason… the concept of natural law was pressed into service as the ideological basis of ‘natural rights’, the ‘social contract’…constitutional government based on the consent of the governed, and the right of revolution.  In one form or another this is the view of R. Hobbes, J. Locke, T. Jefferson… T. Paine and J. J. Rousseau.  The most typical and political effective expressions of this view are the American Declaration of independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.”[1]

Jus naturale. “The natural law….This concept originated with the philosophical jurists of Rome, and was gradually extended until the phrase came to denote a supposed basis or substratum common to all systems of positive law, and hence to be found, in greater or less purity, in the laws of all nations.  And, conversely, they held that if any rule or principle of law was observed in common by all peoples with whose systems they were acquainted, it must be a part of the jus naturale, or derived from it.  Thus the phrases ‘jus naturale’ and ‘jus gentium’ came to be used interchangeably.”[2]

Jus gentium.  “The law of nations.  That law which natural reason has established among all men is equally observed among all nations, and is called the ‘law of nations’, as being the law which all nations use…. It was originally a system of law, or more properly equity, gathered by the early Roman lawyers and magistrates from the common ingredients in the customs of the old Italian tribes, – those being the nations, gentes, whom they had opportunities of observing, – to be used in cases where the jus civile did not apply; that is, in cases between foreigners or between a Roman citizen and a foreigner.  The principle upon which they proceeded was that any rule of law which was common to all the nations they knew of must be intrinsically consonant to right reason, and therefore fundamentally valid and just.” [3]

“This expression, ‘natural law’, or jus naturale, was largely used in the philosophical speculations of the Roman jurists of the Antonine age, and was intended to denote a system or rules and principles for the guidance of human conduct which, independently of enacted law or of the systems peculiar to any one people, might be discovered by the rational intelligence of man, and would be found to grow out of and conform to his nature, meaning by that word his whole mental, moral, and physical constitution.  The point of departure for this conception was the Stoic doctrine of a life order ‘according to nature’, which in its turn rested upon the purely supposititious existence, in primitive times, of a ‘state of nature’; that is, a condition of society in which men universally were governed solely by a rational and consistent obedience to the needs, impulses, and promptings of their true nature, such nature being as yet undefaced by dishonesty, falsehood, or indulgence of the baser passions.  In ethics, it consists in practical universal judgments which man himself elicits.  These express necessary and obligatory rules of human conduct which have been established by the author of human nature as essential to the divine purposes in the universe.”[4]

In light of the history and of these descriptions of natural law by Black’s Law Dictionary, the following is what it defines as moral law.  “The law of conscience; the aggregate of those rules and principles of ethics which relate to right and wrong conduct and prescribe the standards to which the actions of men should conform in their dealings with each other.”[5]

Confer also this definition of “imperfect obligation”!  “The duty of exercising gratitude, charity, and the other merely moral duties are examples of this kind of obligation.”[6]

Conclusion.  While unbiblical men could only imagine what natural law would mean, the Bible authoritatively and assuredly will reveal what it is.  Therefore, depend on what the Bible commands is God’s moral law for men!  Reject any prideful presumptions of natural law which men would promote which contradict the clear laws of God!

[1] The Lutheran Cyclopedia, editor Erwin L. Lueker (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1975), page 567f.
[2] Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West, 1979), page 773B.
[3]  Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West, 1979), page 772A & B.
[4]  Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West, 1979), page 925A & B.
[5]  Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West, 1979), page 909B.
[6]  Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West, 1979), page 969B.

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE,CLICK ON THIS LINK – 26-Should-deadly-force-be-used-by-a-Chrs-against-his-government

Should a Christian resist when it would be beyond a reasonable doubt that his government would seek his arrest either for imprisonment or for his death sentence, either by way of an unlawful action on the part of government, or by an action which has been accepted as being legal?  That is, should he rebel against his government either by using deadly resistance in his defense, or by using deadly force in a preemptive strike against his government?

Biblical examples of this will be the following.

When faced with credible governmental death threats after having violated neither the laws of the country, nor the moral laws of God, David fled the country, Elijah fled the country, and Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus fled the country.

While David had been anointed by God to be the next king, he did not resort to self-defense, when presented twice with a testing by God to do so (1st Samuel 24; 26), in order to defend himself against the government:  mad King Saul and his arbitrary, malicious, groundless, and needless death sentence against David.  Instead David fled, and kept on fleeing until he finally left his country (1st Samuel 27:1).

Though on one occasion God protected Elijah from his government’s groundless arrest by a miracle of destroying fire from heaven, on another occasion the Lord did not, and Elijah had to flee the country (1st Kings 9:2-3).

After the government, King Herod, groundlessly with malicious intent and fearing needlessly for his throne, sought the life of the infant Jesus, God commanded Joseph to flee the country.  God did not choose to protect his Son’s life by a miracle by sending down fire from heaven to destroy Herod’s soldiers, for instance.  Instead he commanded Joseph to flee the country, and to return after a few years.

When the tribe of Israel was enslaved by a political decision of the Egyptian government for hundreds of years, God did not command them to take up arms to resist it, or to overthrow the government. The all-knowing God expected them to be patient and to obey the government until a time when he would decide to free them.  After Moses prematurely and arbitrarily tried his hand at striking back at tyranny ( ), God did not bless his effort with success.

Centuries later, after the kingdom of Judah was practically annihilated in a punishing war by God, and the few survivors were resettled in Babylon by force, God told them through his prophet, Jeremiah, “to seek the peace of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7) of Babylon in their prayers to God, not to pray that such a tyrannically cruel government (2nd Kings 25:7; Daniel 2:5, 10-13) would be overthrown.  Neither did God command the captive Jews to organize an underground movement, to gather weapons, secretly to drill volunteers, to engage in sabotage, or to begin guerrilla activities.  They were to obey their new tyrannical government that had defeated them in war, and had resettled them by force according to God’s will and punishment.  Moreover, after Daniel and other Jews were ordered by the Babylonian government to serve in the administration, which king had his moments of cruelty, Daniel and the others did not decline or resist, but agreed.  What is more, God himself did not consider them to be traitors to the Jews.  He blessed them (Daniel 1:3-20).

In the New Testament, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter would provide defense for Jesus, who was innocent, to keep him from being arrested by the temple police sent by the High Priest for the purpose of trial and execution, Jesus scolded Peter, giving him the deadly warning regarding those who would rebel against authority, “Put your sword in its place, for all who would take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).

Later in the New Testament, in his high wisdom for the good of his church, God allowed the government to seize the apostle James and to put him to death for his religious beliefs, by which death he would glorify God (John 21:19).  Yet when the government would repeat the same action by seizing the apostle Peter, God miraculously freed Peter before his execution, after which Peter fled and hid from the government.

On the other hand, when it would be beyond a reasonable doubt that his government would seek the Christian’s arrest either for imprisonment or for his death after that Christian intentionally had disobeyed a civil law in order faithfully to obey a moral law of God, what could and should a Christian do?

He should obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), be willing to suffer the legal consequences for his non-compliance, and leave his future, either miraculous deliverance or suffering, in God’s hands.

Biblical examples of this will be the following.

After the Hebrew midwives in Egypt were asked to give an account before the head of the Egyptian government as to why, according to a newly passed Egyptian law, the male babies of the Hebrew mothers were not put to death immediately upon birth, representatives of the midwives did not merely withhold the truth of the matter from the Pharaoh, but intentionally lied to him in order to spare the lives of both the babies and of the midwives in the interest of obeying God’s moral law (Acts 5:29), to which the Egyptian law was opposed.  As a consequence of their action, Scripture intentionally relates the further information that far from punishing them for lying, God blessed them materially (Exodus 1:15-21).

Centuries later Jonathan, King Saul’s son, disobeyed his father’s anti-biblical law in order to spare David’s life (1st Samuel 20:1-9, 27-33), and thus followed the biblical maxim:  “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

After the servants of King Saul had been ordered to kill the high priests of God because the priests had showed mercy on David by feeding him, the servants refused to obey their king’s legal command (1st Samuel 22:17).  However, Doeg, subsequently, in the same incident, obeyed the king’s legal command, and killed the priests including their families (1st Samuel 22:6-19).

Years later King David’s advisor, Hushai, did not merely withhold the truth from rebellious and treasonous Absalom, which truth Absalom, in his rebellion, had no right to know, but knowingly and intentionally lied to him in order to spare the life of King David.  As a consequence, David’s life was spared (2nd Samuel 15:31-37; 16:16-19; 17:5-14).

Obadiah, who was a high governmental official in charge of King Ahab’s palace, despite the royal death sentences of the queen upon the prophets of the Lord, obeyed God rather than men by hiding and by feeding one hundred of these prophets (1st Kings 18:3-4).  Moreover, after Elijah told Obadiah to arrange a meeting with the king, and Obadiah was convinced that the king would put him to death in light of his attempt, Obadiah went ahead anyway, left his future in God’s hands, and let God’s will be done (1st Kings 18:7-16).

As Elijah was carrying out his duty of relaying a God-given prophecy about the impending death of his unrepentant king, that king gave a governmental order to two separate troops for the purpose of seizing Elijah for some act of retaliation.  After the commanders of each troop spoke with contempt for Elijah’s office, not only did Elijah not obey their order to surrender to their custody, but refused.  At this time God protected Elijah.  By God’s prompting and with God’s personal pledge of assistance, fire came down from heaven miraculously, and destroyed both troops (2nd Kings 1:2-12), just as on a later occasion, after mocking children asserted a similar contempt for God’s Word, they met with an immediate miraculous death (2nd Kings 2:24).

Though a law of government was passed maliciously and intentionally aimed at Daniel in order to kill him under color of law which prohibited prayer to anyone other than to the Persian king, Daniel continued his practice of public praying, that is, of public confession, and did not resort to private prayer which would have been a denial of his confession of faith.  Though Daniel was sentenced to death by the government as a result, God miraculously saved his life (Daniel 6:4-23).

Indeed, on other occasions God miraculously saved the lives of Daniel and of his companions (Daniel 2:16-19; 3:8-30).

The wise men disobeyed King Herod’s command to report back to him on the whereabouts of the Messiah after God had warned them not to do so.  They obeyed God rather than the government.  They avoided Herod, and returned to their own country (Matthew 2:7-12).

Later on in the apostolic age, after city rulers and citizens began reacting violently to the Christians because of their religious beliefs, not only infringing on their civil rights but threatening them with mob violence and with death (Acts 13:50; 14:4-5, 9; 16:19-23; 17:5-8; 19:28-29; 2nd Corinthians 11:25-26), the apostles did not command the Christians to arm themselves, to drill, or to study tactics for the purpose of self-defense, or for the resistance of or the overthrow of a tyrannical government.  The apostle Paul, for instance, would either leave town, or would be urged to leave town by fellow Christians.  Moreover, the Christians did not resist when they were arrested and thrown into jail though they had violated no civil laws (Acts 16:19-23).  In fact, God saw to it that the apostle Paul was released.

Later, during the Roman persecutions under the emperor Nero and his successors, in which Christians were sentenced to death for their refusal to throw a pinch of incense on a burning altar, and thus worship the emperor as God, the Christians did not practice self-defense individually or in groups against the Roman government, which government clearly was tyrannical.  As a result, such Christians were rounded up and herded, not into cattle cars and sent to death ditches, but into naval galleys and sent to death in the Coliseum arena.  Yet by such death they confessed Christ, and glorified God by their deaths (John 21:19).

For example, a legion of soldiers, consisting of about 6,000 men, were all Christians.  It was called the Theban legion.  Roman emperor Maximian ordered them to march to Gaul to assist in fighting against the rebels of Aquitania.  Before engaging the enemy Maximian ordered a general sacrifice.  He also commanded the men to swear to assist him in driving Christianity out of Gaul.

Each soldier of the Theban legion refused either to sacrifice or to take the oath prescribed.  This so greatly enraged Maximian that he ordered the legion to be decimated, that is, every tenth man was to be put to death.  When the surviving soldiers stood firm a second decimation was ordered.

By the advice of their officers the remaining soldiers sent a letter to Maximian, stating, “Our arms are devoted to the emperor’s use, and shall be directed against his enemies; but we cannot stain our hands with Christian blood; and how, indeed, could you, O Emperor! Be sure of our fidelity, should we violate our obligation to our God, in whose service we solemnly engaged before we entered the army?  You command us to search out and to destroy the Christians; it is not necessary to look any farther than ourselves; we ourselves are Christians, and we glory in the name.  We saw our companions fall without the least complaint, and though them happy in dying for the sake of Christ.  But nothing shall make us lift up our hands against our sovereign; we would rather die wrongfully, and by that means preserve our innocence, than live under a load of guilt.  Whatever you command, we are ready to suffer; we confess ourselves to be Christians, and therefore cannot persecute our brothers nor sacrifice to idols.”

In response the emperor became enraged, and commanded the whole legion to be put to death.

Just the same, these responses of the Christians were not foolish, nor against the command to preserve life according to the Fifth Commandment.  These Christians in Roman times did not submit to the government out of fear, or out of pessimism that “resistance to government is futile.”  Rather they served the living God by obeying that government, and not rebelling against it, which God had placed over them; which they obeyed as an act of worship according to his command (1st Peter 2:13; Romans 13:5).  They did not fear the worst which man could do to them, but feared him who could destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

Later the Roman emperors would have none but Christian bodyguards.  The Roman citizens would deal preferably with Christian merchants.  Roman parents preferably would have Christian slaves to care for their children because they could be trusted to do a conscientious job.

Conclusion.

(1)  It would be wrong for a Christian to rebel against a tyrannical government for (a) Scripture makes no distinction between obeying an untyrannical government and a tyrannical one.  (b)  There are biblical examples of tyrannical governments in the Bible in which the Lord Jesus himself, his apostles, and other believers obeyed it.
(2)  The right or the privilege to own certain property, such as firearms or anthrax for self-defense purposes, is a political matter, not an ethical, moral, or biblical matter which God has commanded or promised under the Fifth Commandment.
(3)  Taking an action of self-defense against the government in which deadly force is to be used against the government is not something promoted, allowed, or defended by the Fifth Commandment.  That is, a person could not claim that God would allow, promote, or defend such an action.  Thus he would have no divine command or divine assurance from the Bible for such an action.  On the contrary, in regards to political matters, such as the ownership of certain property, Scripture clearly has told us to obey the government, whether that government would be legal or illegal; whether that government would be tyrannical or not tyrannical.
(4)  Tyrannical government, tyrannical laws, tyrannical citizens, and oppressive living conditions have been brought on and will only get worse because the American people have refused to repent of their sins and to believe God’s gospel promise of salvation.  All of this evil has come upon this country because God is punishing this country for fighting against him.  Moreover, if this would not stop, God will bring on a terrible war for the sole purpose of punishing this spiritual rebellion, rejection, and unfaithfulness.

See this!  Repent and believe, pray and prepare for the days ahead!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 27-Gods-Will-in-regards-to-the-Matters-pdf

The following excerpts will give additional biblically sound instruction regarding not only God’s will in the matters of government and of citizenship, but, at the end, also the biblical facts and pledges which Christian citizens could and should remember when they are mistreated by both evil government and citizens.

These excerpts have been taken from Frederick Gottlob Kuegele’s Book of Devotion: The Psalms with Prefaces, Summaries, and Prayers, for Family Use (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: American Lutheran Publication Board, 1895), pages 95-97, 136-137, & 70.

The page numbers of the quoted sections will be listed at the conclusion of each section in red print.

“Preface.

“A good and peace-loving government, by which full liberty of conscience is guaranteed all citizens to worship God according to his word and by which equity and righteousness is promoted, such a government is one of the greatest earthly blessings, one of the best temporal gifts. Such a government God gives to the people which he loves. Such a good and well ordered government God in his goodness has granted to our country and has preserved it since more than a century. Considering the good providence of God over our land we have great reason to say with joyful hearts: ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord’. [Ps. 33:12]. This our gratitude we should show by making the right use both of religious and civil liberty, according to the word of the Lord: ‘Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s’. [Matt. 22:21]. Using our liberty of conscience we should let the word of God in its fullness and purity dwell among us richly, causing the law to be preached in all its sharpness and the gospel in all its sweetness, and seeing that the sacraments are administered strictly in accordance with the Lord’s institution. In the house of God our faces should be familiar and in all things we should adorn the gospel of Christ with a pious life. By the government we should deal loyally and honestly, performing the duties of citizens, paying taxes, obeying the laws, and so we should show ourselves both good Christians and good citizens. An example of a good ruler we have in the sixtieth Psalm” (page 95).

“Summary.

“Here David gives thanks to God for giving him so noble a kingdom and so prosperous a reign under which the fear of God greatly increased. Under Saul tyranny and oppression had been practiced, the priests of the Lord were innocently put to death, the fear of the Lord diminished, the ark of the covenant was little regarded [I Chron. 13:3], and the kingdom was hard pressed by the Philistines. Where a tyrant rules and God is not at home there can be neither peace nor prosperity. Nevertheless God preserved them a banner, his covenant, tabernacle, and mercy-seat, from which he heard the prayers of the oppressed. Succeeding to the kingdom David brought the tabernacle to Jerusalem and greatly beautified the worship of the Lord introducing singers and instruments of music. He also subdued the surrounding nations and made Israel to rule from the borders of Egypt to the river Euphrates, wherefore he here enumerates various nations as being subject to him. This [sixtieth] psalm reminds us to pray for the spreading of David’s, that is Christ’s kingdom from sea to sea.

“Prayer.

“Praise and thanks be unto Thee, our bountiful Father in heaven, for all the good which Thou hast shown to us and our land. Preserve civil and religious liberty to us and our children, and grant peace and prosperity. Cause the kingdom of Thy Son to flourish among us and keep us in the true and saving faith. Amen” (page 96).

“Summary.

“This [sixty-first] psalm was a prayer for the king of Israel that God should be his strong tower and that his reign should be long and prosperous. Frequent changes of rulers are a misfortune to a land as Solomon [Prov. 28:2] says: ‘For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged’. The adage is true: A new king, a new law, and this is seldom for the better. From this psalm we should learn to pray for the stability of our government, that God may at all times grant us rulers who govern wisely in agreement with the fundamental principles both of the general and state government, and that our country be spared destructive revolutions and wars. This should be the petition of every Christian citizen, because blessed [is] the land having good, old, settled and stable institutions. By its peculiar wording this psalm reminds us of that King of Israel who sits on the throne of David for ever, the king under whose scepter we go in and out and find pasture for the soul. {John 10:9].

“Prayer.

“O God, Thou King of kings and Lord of lords, thanks be unto Thee, because Thou hast given to our land a good and a liberal government. Endow the civil officers with wisdom to rule this wide land and with integrity to seek the good of the people. Preserve the liberty which we enjoy to children and children’s children, and increase among us the kingdom of Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen” (page 97).

“Preface.

“Our beloved country and the world generally is full of tears, suffering, and misery. Neither can it be otherwise, because the land is full of sin and we are so thankless toward God who has given us his precious word, and has heaped so many blessings upon us. Surely we must confess, the Lord has favored us before many. He has planted us in a goodly land, has crowned our country with peace and plenty, and has given us full liberty to worship him according to his word, and surely we should be a God-fearing and virtuous nation. But alas! his word is despised, his precious truth is corrupted, his holy name is blasphemed every day; cursing is heard in our streets and the service of mammon and manifold vices prevail in the land. O that the merciful Father in heaven by his Holy Spirit would send an awakening on our people! O that he would cause one and all to repent and to be converted to Jesus Christ our Savior, and to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. [Phil. 1:11]. Doing this we shall be blessed in body and soul, in church and state, in house and field. But if we continue in stubbornness and will not obey the gospel of Christ we willfully bring ourselves into temporal calamities and eternal destruction. So let us lay to heart the warning contained in the eighty-first Psalm” (page 136).

“Preface.

“As just rulers and a good government are a noble gift of God, by which virtue and justice are protected, wickedness repressed, and peace with all its concomitant blessings is promoted; so tyrannical rulers and a corrupt or incompetent government are one of the scourges which God uses for the punishment of a people. Hence when God grants us a good government we should be thankful to him, praying for the continuance of this his gift, and we should improve quiet days to worship God and to build his kingdom according to his word and should practice all civil virtues as good citizens seeking the good of the land. But when it pleases God to scourge us with bad and corrupt government we should submit ourselves without murmuring against him. Least of all should we undertake to help ourselves by unlawful means, bearing in mind Solomon’s warning words: ‘My son, dear thou the Lord and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change; for their calamity shall rise suddenly’. [Prov. 24:21]. Yet as good citizens of a Republic we should use those means which the Constitution of the land and the commonwealth gives into the hands of the people to correct wrongs and to remedy abuses. Meanwhile a bad government should increase our longing for that glorious kingdom, where injustice and corruption are not known, where we shall follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Now let us hear the eighty-second Psalm.

“Summary.

“This [eighty-second] psalm is intended for the instruction of civil rulers, magistrates, and all in authority. Asaph calls the rulers gods, because they have an authority given unto them, but he reminds them that the Highest Judge sees them in their office, and they must die like other men and must come before the judgment-seat of the Supreme One. Hence he charges them not to favor the wicked who have money and influence, but to judge justly and to help the oppressed. This psalm should be heeded also by employers, overseers, masters, mistresses, and all who exercise any kind of authority. They all should remember, there is a Lord over them, and it shall be done to them as they do to others. At the end of this psalm reference is had to the kingdom of Christ who should inherit the heathen and possess the uttermost parts of the earth. [Ps.2:8]. Certainly a peculiar King, who does not punish sin and demand righteousness, but forgives sin and imputes righteousness. To this King let us hold.

“Prayer.

“Thanks be unto Thee, Thou Ruler of nations, because to this our native land Thou hast granted free institutions of government, under which we enjoy both civil and religious liberty. Protect by Thy mighty hand the government of this free Republic, and suffer it not to be overthrown by revolutions and civil wars; and always grant us honest and wise men for offices high and low. Amen.

“Preface.

“The true believers are and remain God’s beloved children, his hidden ones, even when he allows the enemies to torment and persecute them and behaves himself as though their affliction did not concern him. The Scriptures testify that judgment begins at the house of God [I Pet. 4:17], and whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. [Prov. 3:12]. As a true Father God is diligent in chastening his children that they should not be condemned with the world. [I Cor. 11:32]. If we but cling to him and do not let him go, it is indeed not possible for God to forsake us; his own faithfulness must prevent this. Therefore we can rest assured, when the need is greatest he will hide us from the enemy, as a hen hides her chicklings under her wings when danger is near. He that protected Moses and Aaron against the rebellious Israelites, He that hid Jeremiah and Baruch that they mighty in Judah durst not lay hands on them {Jer. 36:26], the same will also cover us with the shadow of his hand from spiritual and bodily enemies and in the very jaws of death. This comforting assurance is imparted in the eighty-third Psalm (pages 137-139).

“’When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel’. [Deut. 32:7, 8]. In all ages God has so governed the world that the great events of history worked together for the promotion of his kingdom. Often indeed the Lord suffered his people to be oppressed, year even sold them under the power of the heathen, but the very tyranny exercised against them was turned into a blessing. Was not the cruelty of Pharaoh the occasion for Israel to flee from Egypt and to become an independent nation? Did not Jews and Gentiles by their persecutions promote the spreading of Christianity and bring about their own destruction? Moreover the history of Hagar and many others shows that this same providence of God, by which he overrules mighty nations, extends also to the meanest fugitive and the lowliest on earth. Now God is the same today as of yore. He is not grown old and weak. His eyes are sharp to detect the distresses of his people, and his hand is as mighty to help as in the days of Joseph. Let our hearts trust and our lips praise his wonderful providence, as we are charged in the first part of the forty-fourth Psalm.

“Summary.

“Israel did not obtain the land of Canaan because it was so excellent a nation and worthy of God’s favor; neither did the children of Israel conquer the land by their own valor and superiority in arms. The Lord gave them this goodly land because he loved them, and he cast out the Canaanites because of the abominations which they practiced” (page 70).

“Preface.

“In his word of truth God has promised grace and every blessing to all who trust in him and who under the cross and in the very midst of death persevere in faith, and this his promise God has always kept towards all his children. But flesh and blood is quickly discouraged in the day of affliction. It is ready to murmur and, notwithstanding all God’s promises, the flesh soon argues, God tarried too long or did not want to help. Seeing the prosperity of the wicked and the wrongs which they inflict on others the old Adam is prone to say: ‘Shall the ungodly enjoy blessing? Where is the righteousness of God who has said that the wickedness of the wicked shall not remain unpunished? Why does God forget those who call on his name, honor and praise him, and walk in his ways?’ This perverse inclination of our nature we should learn to know and should resist it accustoming ourselves patiently to wait for God’s appointed time to help, knowing this that his tarrying is but for a little while. [John 16:16]. It is well to remember the saying of Augustine: ‘Earthly prosperity is an indication of eternal damnation. If in this world thou wilt be without strife, thou shalt not rule with Christ in eternal life.’ Rightly does the poet sing: The greater cross the nearer heaven, who without cross is without God. Of this we are reminded in the latter part of the forty-fourth Psalm” (page 71).

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 28-Gods-Will-regarding-governmental-Authority-pdf

The following sources, as commentaries on the Fourth and the Fifth Commandments, will give additional and biblically sound instruction on God’s will in regards to the matters of government and citizenship.

Due to the fact that these sources are not easily available to the layman today either by purchase or by access through a library, they have been typed and posted here.

These excerpts have been taken from William Herman Theodore Dau’s “Materials for the Catechist,” Theological Quarterly, Volume XXIII, Numbers 1 & 2 (January & April, 1919 [Saint Louis:  Concordia Publishing House, 1919]), pages 19-49, 116-127.  At intervals the page numbers of the just quoted sections will be listed subsequently in red type.

The Fourth Commandment

“The persons concerning whom duties are here laid upon us are not merely objects of our love, but we are bidden to ‘honor’ them.  ‘Honor belongs to God alone; and now He bestows honor on father and mother’. (3, 1093.[1])  ‘Love is extended to our equals, as when two love one another, neither esteems himself superior to the other.  But honor is directed toward a superior, and is accompanied by fear, lest we insult the person whom we honor.  It subjects us to him as to a lord’. (3, 1101.)  God ‘separates and distinguishes’ the persons whom He set before us in this commandment ‘above all other persons upon earth, and places them next to Himself.  For to honor is far higher than to love, inasmuch as it comprehends not only love, but also modesty, humility, and deference as thou to a majesty there hidden’. We are to ‘regard these persons as, next to God, the very highest… as in God’s stead’ (Large Catechism, 405[2])….

“The basic thought, then, of the Fourth Commandment is recognition of divinely ordained authorities.  It refers to the relation of superiors and inferiors, of governors and the governed….

“With the increase of the human race social conditions became complex.  The parental authority which had sufficed for the regulation of family life in the first home had to be made applicable to new relations.  Large families and estates required servants; for the systematic education of a child teachers other than the child’s parents became necessary; in a growing community the common rights of many parents had to be so ordered as not to interfere with the individual rights of each.  Thus the parental authority and domestic government branched out. ‘All authority flows and is propagated from the authority of parents.  For where a father is unable alone to educate his [rebellious and irritable] child, he employs a schoolmaster that he may instruct it; if he be too weak, he obtains the assistance of his friends and neighbors; if he departs, he confers and delegates his authority and government to others who are appointed for the purpose.  Likewise he must have domestics, man-servants and maid-servants, under him for the management of the household, so that all whom we call masters are in the place of parents, and must derive their power and authority to govern from them.  Hence also they are called fathers in the Scriptures, as those who in their government perform the functions of the office of a father, and should have a paternal heart toward their subordinates.  As also from antiquity the Romans and other nations called the masters and mistresses of the household patres it matres familias, that is, housefathers and housemothers.  So also they called their national rulers and chiefs patres patriae, that is, fathers of the country, for a great shame to us who would be Christians that we do not call them so, or, at least, do not esteem and honor them as such’. (L.C., 410f.)  Scriptural precedence, then, caused Luther to insert in his explanation of the Fourth Commandment the words ‘and masters’.  ‘We have two kinds of fathers presented in this commandment, fathers in blood and fathers in office, or those to whom belongs the care of the family, and those to whom belongs the care of the nation’ (L.C., 413)….

“Secular, or political, government is declared to be of divine origin in Rom. 13:1-2.  Paul here speaks of exousiae hyperechousai, authorities which are high in standing, and of their correlates as people who must be under them (hypotassestho).  Such a relation between magistrates and subjects is divinely ordained; it does not exist apart from God (ei me hypo Theou).  And it makes no difference in what form the higher power exists; such as it is (hai de ousai), it is set up by God. ‘Thus Paul has certainly expressed the divine right of magistracy, which Christian princes especially designate by the expression “by the grace of God” (since the time of Louis the Pious).  And hai de ousai, the extant, actually existing, allows no exception, such as that possibly of tyrants and usurpers (in opposition to Reiche).  The Christian, according to Paul, ought to regard any magistrate whatever, provided its rule over him subsists de facto, as divinely ordained, since it has not come into existence without the operation of God’s will; and this applies also to tyrannical or usurped power, although such a power, in the counsel of God, is perhaps destined merely to be temporal and transitional.  From this point of view the Christian obeys not the human caprice and injustice, but the will of God, who – in connection with His plan of government, inaccessible to human insight – has presented even the unworthy and unrighteous ruler as the ousa exousia, and has made him the instrument of his measures’. (Meyer.[3])  When Peter (1 Ep. 2:13) calls magistrates ktisis anthropine, a human ordinance, he declares that the form of a government may be determined by men, and that the government exists for men.  But there is nothing in this text to contradict the statement in Rom. 13:1….  (pages 19-22.)

[The duties of civil governors, Romans 13:1-4]  “Three times in close succession Paul declares:  that a magistrate is a minister of God (Theou diakonos, v. 4, leitourgos Theou, v. 6).  ‘The thought in v. 4 that the magistracy is Theou diakonos is here, by way of climax, more precisely defined through leitourgoi (which is therefore prefixed with emphasis) according to the official sacredness of this relation of service, and that conformably to the Christian view of the magisterial calling.  Accordingly, those who rule, in so far as they serve the divine counsel and will, and employ their strength and activity to this end, are to be regarded as persons whose administration has the character of a divinely consecrated sacrificial, a priestly nature’. (Meyer.)  Now, these words were written with reference to magistrates, who were Gentiles, not Christians.  Even they are servants ministering to God, whether they realize it or not.  They should, however, be conscious of the fact that they are the ministers of God, in order to perform their office well.  Also pagan magistrates, when contemplating their authority over their fellow-men, – and what an awful authority it sometimes is! – must have a conception of the solemnity and high responsibility of their office.

“Luther has embodied v. 3 and v. 4a in his Table of Duties, evidently, because he held that the same truth is stated in v. 4b. – Magistrates have to do with the works (erga), not the intentions, of their subjects.  They regulate the open conduct of citizens, not their minds. – They are appointed to be a terror to evil-doers, and for that reason they have been given the awful jus vitae et necis, the power over life and death, which used to be, and still is, symbolized by the sword which they wore at their side, and which was in solemn procession borne before them.  This sword which the magistrate wears habitually (phorei is stronger than pherei) is not a personal ornament, an idle decoration, but by having been given the right to bear it the magistrate is become an executive of justice (ekdikos), unto wrath, that is, for making evil-doers feel the wrath of men whose sense of righteousness they have outraged.  Accordingly, the magistrate who is loath to use his vindictive power, or is indifferent to its exercise, who connives at wrong-doing, or openly shields and defends wrong-doers, belies his sacred office, and becomes himself a worse criminal than those whom he ought to punish.  On the other hand, the avenging power should not be taken away from magistrates by others. ‘Our passage proves (comp. Acts 25:11) that the abolition of the right of capital punishment deprives the magistracy of a power which is not merely given to it in the Old Testament, but is also decisively confirmed in the New Testament, and which it (herein lies the sacred limitation and responsibility of this power) possesses as God’s minister, on which account its application is to be upheld as a principle with reference to those cases as law where the actual satisfaction of the divine Nemesis absolutely demands it, while at the same time the right of pardon is still to be kept open for all concrete cases.  The character of being unchristian, of barbarism, etc., does not adhere to the right itself, but to its abuse in legislation and practise’. (Meyer.)  – Magistrates are appointed, furthermore, for the encouragement and advancement of every good work.  They should bestow praise, offer rewards, etc., for all enterprises that look to the common welfare.  A government which is cold towards the zeal, devotion, progressiveness of its public-spirited citizens, or frowns upon them, or seeks to hinder or thwart them, is not doing what God wants it to do…. See also the Theological Opinion rendered by Luther and Melanchthon to the Elector of Saxony, Whether Judicial Decisions are to be Rendered according to Moses or according to the Imperial Code (10, 352-359).  Luther’s opinion, in a nutshell, is:  ‘Every judge is obliged to render his decision in accordance with the laws of the country in which he lives.  For while we were in subjection to Gentiles, we were amenable to their laws and jurisdiction.  And this may be done with a good conscience, 1 Pet. 2:13’. (Seite 356.)   (pages 30-32.)

“Insubordination would be the word to express comprehensively the sins against the Fourth Commandment.  Insubordination is the refusal to recognize and adapt oneself to the relation which God has ordained between rulers and their subjects.  The sins against this commandment tend to the disruption of the three fundamental estates of the world:  the home, the State, and the Church, hence, to the overthrow of social order.
“The opposite of honor is contempt.  Luther has, therefore, rightly described the sin against the Fourth Commandment by the two verbs ‘despise’ and ‘provoke’; the former relates to the disposition of the heart, the latter to the expression of the contemptuous thoughts of the heart by gestures, words, and acts.
“This sin starts with the loss of phobos, fear, in the subjects, 1 Pet. 2:18, which ‘denotes the shrinking from transgressing the master’s will, based on the consciousness of subjection, cf. Eph. 6:5’.  Doubtless this shrinking is in the case of the Christian based on the fear of God; but the word phobos does not directly mean such fear, ‘but the anxious regard which should animate the inferior in his dealings with his superior’ (Meyer)….

“Insubordination occurs at home, where the parental authority of either father or mother, or both, is set aside by unruly and wayward children, Prov. 30:17, or the master’s authority by servants, 1 Pet. 2:18.  The master may be skolios, conducting himself, not in a right, but in a perverse manner, dealing unjustly with his servants.  But his perverseness is a fault which God has already marked, and for which the master will have to answer; it does not, however, justify disobedience on the part of the servants.  Besides, this text assumes that also ‘good and gentle’ masters are disobeyed.  Hence the duty to obey must not be derived from the quality of the master, or the good pleasure of the servant, but from God, who says:  This person has been placed over you; him you must obey; because I will that you shall….

“In Eph. 6:6 Paul warns ‘servants, hired men, and laborers’… against a sin common among them which he calls ophthalmodoulia, ‘eye-service’.  By such service they become anthropareskoi, ‘men-pleasers’.  ‘It is the service rendered to the eyes of the master, but in which the aim is merely to acquire the semblance of fidelity, inasmuch as one makes himself thus noticeable when seen by the master, but is in reality not such, acting, on the contrary, otherwise when his back is turned’ (Meyer)….

“The insubordination of subjects is called antitassesthai, ‘resisting’, Rom. 13:2, and is described… as a refusal to render to the government its due honor and support.  Sedition, mutiny, rebellion, revolution, are terms for describing this sin…. But a question of moment to Christian consciences is whether the Bible, for instance, in Rom. 13:2, forbids revolutions.  It has been observed in the preceding remarks that the apostle in this text refers to a de facto government of a tyrannical character, and yet urges submission, not as an expediency, not as a policy, – the Christians were branded as disloyal to the state and as secretly plotting against the government, – but as a religious principle.  ‘From this point of view the Christian obeys not the human caprice and injustice, but the will of God, who – in connection with His plan of government inaccessible to human insight – has presented even the unworthy and unrighteous ruler as the ousa exousia, and has made him the instrument of his measures.  Questions as to special cases – such as how the Christian is to conduct himself in political catastrophes, what magistracy he is to look upon in such times as the ousa exousia. As also, how he, if the command of the magistrate is against the command of God, is at any rate to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), etc. – Paul here leaves unnoticed, and only gives the main injunction of obedience, which he does not make contingent on this or that form of constitution’.  So Meyer.  His American editor, Timothy Dwight, adds: ‘Hai de ousai refers to the then existing authorities, but suggests the same thing as relating to all times and places.  Civil government is ordained of God.  It should be recognized and obeyed by the subject of it as divinely instituted.  The apostle is not discoursing or philosophizing on civil government, however, as if for the sole purpose of unfolding its true theory.  He is in the midst of practical exhortations which bear upon the daily living of his readers.  Consequently he moves in his expression within the sphere of their life, calling attention to the actual magistrates under whom they were placed, to the functions which these magistrates exercised, to the powers which they possessed, to the duties and obligation owed to them, the evil of resisting their authority.  What he says, accordingly, is to be interpreted (and to receive its proper limitations also) in view of this fact.  The opinion entertained by some writers that he denies here the right of revolution is entirely without foundation.  There is no reference to this subject in this passage.  This right, if it exists, under any circumstances, is like that of self-defense, and the discussion of the question of its existence is altogether outside of the sphere of his present thought’.  This we regard as a correct exhibition of the apostle’s immediate thought in this passage.  The ‘right of revolution’ has nowhere been codified, and cannot be profitably debated in the abstract.  Each revolution, just as each war, and each act of self-defense will have to be decided on its own merit with a proper regard for all attending circumstances.  The Christian must always hold to this rule, that he may suffer wrong, but never do wrong.  If he has to resist his government, he must show a divine reason for his resistance, Acts 5:29.  That a government whose acts defeat the very ends for which it has been instituted may be removed and replaced by another no Christian denies.  The question only is to what extend he may become instrumental in such an event, and that question must be settled locally and temporally in each instance.  Luther has explained the careful conduct of a Christian in regard to this matter in his Faithful Admonition to All Christians to Avoid Tumult and Rebellion. (10, 370 f.) – Under this head belongs also the disrespect shown the magistrates by subjects.  Our political campaigns are frequently filled with slander:  the persons holding office are treated as dishonest, those without office seeking to appear as the honest people, and elections are for the purpose of ‘turning the rascals out’.  Wanton criticism and contempt of the government, too, in the discharge of its functions is rampant.  These practices are defended as the exercise of the right of free speech and unlimited debate; but that is not infrequently only a cloak for malicious intent.  A Christian soils his conscience by participating in these practices….

“Rebels are told, Rom. 13:2, that they ‘shall receive to themselves damnation’, krima, that is, a penal judgment here, which may be the preamble of the eternal judgment.  It was this reflection which made David’s grief over the death of Absalom, 2 Sam. 15, so keen and bitter.  If a person ‘despises and resists authority or rebels, let him know that he shall have no favor or blessing, and when he thinks to gain a florin thereby, he will elsewhere lose ten times as much, or become a victim to the hangman, perish by war, pestilence, and famine, or experience no good in his children, and be obliged to suffer injury, injustice, and violence at the hands of his servants, neighbors, or strangers and tyrants’ (L.C., 412)….  (pages 35-38, 40.)

“From the commandment proper Luther has transferred to his explanation the idea of honor, but has expanded it into its true meaning… The English ‘given them honor’ is not an adequate rendering either of Luther’s words or thought, which rather means ‘to regard them habitually and constantly as being objects that deserve to be honored’.
“This expansion is justified by the fact that the commandment lays down a rule for the entire life of those to whom it is addressed.  It demands of inferiors not occasional expressions of reverence and homage, but an attitude of the mind, the heart, the affections, which continuously faces the superiors with awe and respect.
“The true reason why superiors should be honored is that they are ‘God’s representatives’….

“The duty of serving obedience suffers a limitation that is, indeed, self-evident, but, because of the perplexities which it creates, deserves to be noted specially.  As the authority of our human superiors is secondary to that authority from which it is derived, God’s, obedience rendered to men must never be at the sacrifice of the faithful primary and absolute obedience which God requires for Himself.  When the apostles declared:  Peritharchein dei Theo mallon e Anthropois,Acts 5:29, they applied this limitation to a tyrannical and unwarranted ordinance of the representatives of the theocracy at Jerusalem. – This limitation is implied in Rom. 13: when Paul derives the powers of established governments from God, he posits the metes and bounds of the authority of the State at the declared will of God; for it is inconceivable that God would grant to any one the authority to supersede Himself…. This text [Matthew 22:21], which teaches so plainly and so forcefully the separation of Church and State, and declares the mind of our Lord and Savior on a matter that is ever dear to the heart of every Lutheran and American, may be properly inserted at this place. – The limitation is again implied in Col. 3:20, where neither Luther’s nor the English translation brings out the true force of en Kyrie [in the Lord], which is to be understood in the same manner as in v. 18, as denoting Christian character, in which, and as proceeding from which, the disciples whom Paul addresses are to perform whatever they do.  Thus the sweeping kata panta [in all things] in this text is seen not to imply absolute obedience.  They could never expect to please Christ by doing the opposite of what Christ had taught them, and no appeal to the obedience which they owed Caesar would avail them at the tribunal of Jesus, who placed God above Caesar.  That Christian martyrdom which makes the supreme sacrifice arises – and in fact can only arise – on the occasion when the powers that be clash with the Power that was, and is, and ever shall be.  The dei [God] in Acts 5:29 makes such a martyrdom a sad, but still a glorious act of obedience.  When this necessity arises in a given instance, must be established from the attending circumstances; there is also a false martyrdom, which arises from ignorance or conceit.  Beyond explaining the general principle expressed in Acts 5:29, the catechist should not attempt to settle cases in casuistry beforehand….

“The duties of subjects to their government are comprehensively stated in Matt. 22:21….’By the ta kaisaros [things of Caesar] we are not to understand merely the civil tax, but everything to which Caesar was entitled in virtue of his legitimate rule’.  The context, moreover, shows that our Lord meant to teach His cunning inquirers that no worshiper of God can compromise his religious faith if he discharges his political obligations.  He would sin by surrendering to Caesar the affairs of his heart and conscience, over which God rules supremely; but he would likewise sin by not yielding to Caesar his entire physical life and earthly estate which he holds under the protection of Caesar. – The statement of Christ is infolded in detail by means of Rom. 13:6, 7, where the apostle summarizes practical duties of the citizen, and tells the Romans that, in general, they must render to all magisterial persons their due, and, in particular, to tax officers, customs officers, judicial and other functionaries of the State the peculiar duty and deference which their office requires. – In 1 Tim. 2:2, the apostle enjoins upon Christians prayer for the basileis, that is, the highest authorities in the State, and their deputies, all who hold the office of magistrate anywhere (the same distinction occurs in 1 Pet. 2:14).  ‘The prayer is… not for the conversion of the heathen rulers, but for the divine blessing necessary to them in the discharge of their office’. (Meyer.)  The old Christian liturgies show that this injunction of the apostle was literally carried out. – All this service is to be rendered dia ten syneidesin, on account of the persons’ conscience, Rom. 13:5; ‘for the Lord’s sake’, 1 Pet. 2:13.  With the Christian citizen loyalty to the existing government, even to a pagan government, is a religious sentiment, a principle of faith, a divine duty….

“In all the catalog of known expressions of the divine will the Fourth Commandment enjoys the distinction of being the first with a promise….
“The promise contains two distinct elements:  prosperity and longevity, both temporal blessings, and hence subject to the dispensations of a conferring or withholding providence of God as may best suit the case of each individual.  In honoring the obedient enactors of this law God honors this law and encites to its more general and thorough fulfillment, because its application ramifies to every phase of our earthly life, and makes that secure and enjoyable.  In 1 Tim. 2:2, ‘the quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’ is virtually a restatement of the promise attached to the Fourth Commandment.
“This promise is hinted at in Col. 3:20:  ‘for this is well pleasing unto the Lord’; 1 Tim. 5:4:  ‘that is good and acceptable before God’; Heb.13:17 (per contra):  ‘that is unprofitable for you’; 1 Tim. 2:3:  ‘this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior’; 1 Pet. 2:14:  ‘for the praise of them that do well’; Rom. 13:3:  ‘thou shalt have praise of the same’; Eph. 6:8:  ‘knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord’; 1 Pet. 5:5:  ‘giveth grace to the humble’; v. 6:  ‘that He may exalt you in due time’.  Thus the promise with appropriate variations recurs in many passages addressed to men in all ranks and stations in this life….

“’Here, then, thou hast the fruit and the reward, viz., that whoever observes this commandment shall have good days, happiness, and prosperity; and on the other hand also, the punishment that whosoever is disobedient shall the sooner perish, and never enjoy life.  For to have long life in the sense of the Scriptures is not only to become old, but to have everything which belongs to long life, as, namely, health, wife and child, support, peace, good government, etc., without which this life can neither be enjoyed in cheerfulness nor long endure’. (L.C., 409.)  (pages 41-43, 45, 48-49.)

The Fifth Commandment

“Life has been declared the highest earthly blessing of man.  As the statement of an absolute truth this assertion will hardly pass.  Scripture does not make such a statement.  It is a mere human sentiment, and it is not shared by all men.  Conditions have arisen in the lives of men when they wished for death as a greater fortune than the poor chance which they had for living.  But life is a very great blessing, and, as a matter of fact, ‘life every man holds dear’.  That God wants us to have a high regard of life is shown by this commandment….

“In Gen. 9:3,4 God gives man permission to slay any beast for food, provided only that in doing so he avoid savagery:  not part is to be taken for food from an animal still alive.  In vv. 5, 6, however, the slaying of a human being is strictly forbidden, for this reason:  man was made in the image of God.  Human life, then, is peculiarly sacred in the eyes of God because He chose to express some idea of Himself when He created man.  The murderer wipes out a splendid memorial of God in the world, which exists somehow even in fallen man, when he destroys a human life.  God has not renounced a certain kinship with man even when man renounced God.
“But does not God Himself destroy human life?  Yes, He decreed death to the very first transgressors of His will, and Gen. 9:6 was spoken to mortal men, who in their first ancestor already had forfeited their life.  Moreover, in this very text in which God forbids killing, He commands the taking of human life.  He does this in order to express in the most emphatic manner His abhorrence of murder.  In Rom. 13:2 He speaks of His ‘wrath’ against the murderously inclined.  But it is to Himself alone that He reserves the right to take away a man’s life.  He says:  ‘I kill’, just as He asserts for Himself alone the opposite right, when He declares:  ‘I make alive’.  Deut. 32:39.  The beginning and end of human life are subject to His disposing or permissive providence.
“This sovereign right over a human life may be delegated to other men who take God’s place (Fourth Commandment; Gen. 9:6; Matt. 26:52; Rom. 13:4), but it is God who acts through them.  He alone has the right to dispose of that life in which He revealed traits of Himself.
“Lynch law is not law, but lawlessness.  It infringes on the supreme authority of God and on the delegated authority of God’s representatives on earth.  Moral indignation does not justify it.  Peter had the best reason for moral indignation, but what does the Lord tell him?  Matt. 26:52.  ‘This is a judicial sentence, but also a threatening warning.  In the former light it rests upon an absolutely universal principle.  The sword is visited by the sword in war; the sword of retribution opposes the arbitrary sword of rebellious sedition; and the sword taken up unspiritually in a spiritual cause is avenged by the certain, though perhaps long-delayed, sword of historical vengeance.  Peter was in all these three aspects in a bad position and the representative of wrong.  The warrior opposed himself to the superior force of the legions of Rome, the rebel to the order of the magistrate, and the abuse of the sword in the service of religion provoked, and seemed to justify, the same abuse on the part of the world.  Peter had really forfeited his life to the sword; but the Lord rectified his wounded position by the correcting word which He spoke, by the miraculous healing of the ear, and by the voluntary surrender of Himself to the authorities.  But Peter had not only with willful folly entered on the domain of this world, he had also brought his Master’s cause into suspicion.  Indeed, he sought to bring his fellow-disciple, and his Lord Himself, into this wrong position, and to make his own Christ a Mohammed.  Therefore the Lord so solemnly denounced his act, pronounced an ideal sentence of death upon his head, which, however, was graciously repealed.  The Lord’s word from that hour became a maxim of Christianity (comp. Rev. 13:10); and it was probably spoken to Peter with a typical significance’ (Lange-Schaff [4])….

“The sacred regard which God wants men to have for human life justifies not only executions of murderers, but also acts of self-defense and defensive wars; for those who attack us come with the purpose of taking our lives, and must be dealt with as murderers….

“Gen. 9:6 imposes the death penalty on the homicide; Ex. 21:12; Lev. 24:17 reinforce this law.  The next of kin to the murdered, the goel hadam (‘demander of the blood’) carried out the judgment.  Num. 35:19, 21; Deut. 19:12. – To Matt. 26:52 Luther adds this gloss:  ‘Those “take the sword” that use it without authority’.  In Rom. 13:2 the sword of the magistrate is the official token of the jus vitae et necis, and when using it officially, the magistrate is a diakonos Theou [servant of God].  The ‘wrath’ which he ‘executes’ is not his own, but God’s wrath.
“’Yes, indeed’, said Luther to a guest who had asked him whether he would defend himself when attacked by robbers, ‘in that case I would be judge and ruler, and would not hesitate to wield the sword, because there would be no one near to protect me’. (Erl. 62, 206[5].)

“Every righteous war is a war of self-defense; wars for conquest are wicked.  As wars are planned and declared often without the full knowledge of its causes and objects on the part of the subjects, it is usually difficult for the subjects to determine whether the war is just.  It is a question whether a wholly just war has ever been waged, just as it may be questioned whether the so-called ‘righteous’ anger, for instance, of a father or a teacher, is ever altogether righteous.  Even our good works remain hopelessly imperfect while we live in the flesh, and must be covered up with the perfect righteousness of Christ and deposited in the Fifth Petition [of the Lord’s Prayer].  It may likewise be questioned whether there ever has been a war of the righteousness of which every one participating in it had full knowledge.  It is the duty of Christians to inform themselves on this point as far as they can, in order that they may not go into the war as murderers in God’s sight.  They cannot sacrifice their conscience to any human authority.  But they must not mistake sentiments for convictions; and whatever they do not fully grasp in any strange dispensation of Providence they should commit to God in prayer, and be ready to do their duty in war when that duty is painful to them.  On the expedition of Abraham against Chedorlaomer, Gen. 14, Lange-Schaff has these interesting glosses:  ‘The first well-defined appearance of war in its different aspects.  A war of the world against the world – the kings – the alliances – the conquerors – the rulers and their revolted vassals – the prominent leader (Chedorlaomer) – the attack – the victory and defeat – the plunder, and service of the captives – of the hard destiny of those who dwelt quietly in the land (Lot) – of the wide-spread terror, and the rebuke of that terror, before the true heroism with which the true hero of faith opposes a defensive and necessary war, to the attacks of the confident and haughty prince.  The children of God find themselves unexpectedly involved in the wars of the world, as the history of Abram, Lot, and Melchizedek proves.  The destructive nature of war, so far as it is the fruit of human passions, and the providential overruling of it unto salvation. – The fearful overthrow of the Sodomite pentapolis in the vale of Siddim and the wonderful rescue by Abram, the man of faith, wrought weakened and enervated by their luxury, nor even any gratitude towards Lot, for whose sake they were rescued. (Cap. 19:9.)  Hence the lost battle and the terrors of war in the valley of Siddim became a portent and sign of their later overthrow. – It did not enter the thought of Abram that the princes against whom he went out to war were for the most part descendents of Shem, and indeed the people of his former home, and that those whom he rescued, and with whom he connects himself, are descendants of Ham.  The motive of the war was to save Lot, and the alliance for the right, against the alliance for wrong, was decisive for him.  The love to his brother, the Hebrew, has special power.  Brotherly love.  Every Hebrew, in the best and highest sense, must help others as his brethren.  But in “the Hebrew” here the important thing is that he “comes from across the river,” not as Delitzsch holds, that he is descended from Heber’.  (Kurtz has pointed out another motive impelling Abram to this war:  ‘His march and victory have another and a higher reference in the object of the history.  Even here it is not to glorify Abram, but rather the wonderful providence of God over His chosen, through which all here enters in immediate connection with the divine plan.  Abram is the designated possessor of the land; it is his concern, therefore, to guard the land from all assaults, and to avenge its injuries; it is the part of God, who has designated him to this, and to give him the victory’.[6]  So Jacobus:  ‘His title to the land involves him in the war.  He must defend that which has been given to him.  He is no sooner confirmed in his title than the land is invaded by a confederacy of hostile kings.  Thus the kingdom of God is no sooner set up anywhere than there is a rallying of the world-kingdoms against it’.)  ‘Abram has not only, in his faith, a heroism and self-sacrifice which overcomes the world, he has also the heroic strength and spirit.  His servants are men trained to arms.  He knew that, in an evil world, one needs defense and weapons, and must be armed.  In his war with the world he does not despise an honorable alliance with those who, in a religious point of view, may have different ways of thinking from himself.  Indeed, he acts throughout in the true hero-spirit.  The rapid, instantaneous onset, the well-ordered and irresistible charge, the outmarching and flanking of the enemy, the falling upon him by night, the fierce pursuit to the very utmost, to the completed result, these are the original, fundamental laws of all intelligent warfare.  And it does not admit of question that Cromwell learned these fundamental principles of warfare from Abram and other Old Testament heroes, and it is probable that Napoleon, in these, as in many other points, was an imitator of Cromwell, as it is certain that Gneisenau and Bluecher have learned from the method of Napoleon.  In the spirit of prayer Cromwell, the invincible, was greatly in advance of Napoleon; the heroes of the times when freedom triumphs place victoriously the joyful longing for deliverance of the people over against the demoniac lust of conquest of the murderers of the people’. (Ad locum.) – In Luther’s writings the following are of incisive importance to the student of the relation of a Christian to war:  Whether Soldiers Are in a Blessed Estate (1526), 10, 488 ff.; Theological Opinions on Self-defense by Luther, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Jonas, Spalatin, and other theologians, also of jurists of Wittenberg, 10, 532-577…. (pages 116-120.)

“Accordingly, the magistrates to whom God has delegated the awful authority to take men’s lives, the governments who have been given the right to declare war, bear a tremendous responsibility.  Theirs is the most hideous form of murder because they can dress it up in the garments of righteousness and virtue.  The Hebrew midwives Shiprah and Puah would not soil their consciences with authorized murder, Ex. 1:15.  There is no doubt that executions have taken place on this wicked earth which put the poor victim in heaven and his judges and executioners in hell.
“In his explanation of the Fifth Commandment Luther does not refer to the gross form of killing at all.  Killing in this form is relatively rare.  But over and against ancient and modern Pharisees our Lord has shown that the purpose of the Fifth Commandment is really defeated by a literal interpretation of its terms.  The God who uttered these words, ‘Thou shalt not kill’, saw real murder when human eyes would not perceive them, and by the comprehensive terms which He employed denounced murder in any form and degree.  There are subtile ways of killing a person….

“’We must not kill either with hand, heart, mouth, signs, gestures, help, or counsel’ (L.C., 416.)….

“Vengefulness, an accompanying feature of anger and hatred, Rom. 12:19.  Vengeance is not wrong in itself.  Elkdikesis literally means ‘righting’, viz., a wrong.  Vengeance is the final and drastic assertion of a violated right.  But the person who is angry and hates is not a fit judge of his own right and the other’s wrong.  His desire for revenge becomes a cloak for his intent to hurt and harm his neighbor.  Therefore Scripture couples ‘revenge’ with ‘wrath’ in Rom. 12:19 and forbids both.  The plain assumption in this text is, that the party seeking revenge has actually suffered wrong.  Even in that case man’s wrath must yield to God’s wrath.  Accordingly, when the constituted authorities slay and punish, they are preservers of life; they remove from the community elements that destroy, embitter, and shorten lives.  Whoever has suffered injury can afford to wait for God’s hour for righting his wrong.  God has said (Deut. 32:35):  ‘I will repay’.  That is a sufficient guarantee that there will be a proper retribution in due time.  And when God adds:  ‘Vengeance is Mine’, He warns all not to trespass on forbidden ground by taking vengeance into their own hands.  Human vengeance is ever imperfect and often a sorry travesty on justice.  ‘This commandment insists upon it that no one offend his neighbor on account of any injury, even though he have fully deserved it…. Since this inheres in every one by nature, and is a matter of ordinary experience, that no one is willing to suffer at the hands of another, God wishes to remove the root and source by which the heart is embittered against our neighbor, and to accustom us ever to keep in view this commandment, always as in a mirror to contemplate ourselves in it, to regard the will of God, and with hearty confidence and invocation of His name to commend to Him the wrong which we suffer; and thus let our enemies rage and be angry, doing what they can.  Thus we may learn to calm our wrath, and to have a patient, gentle heart, especially toward those who give us cause to be angry, i.e., our enemies’. (L.C., 416f.)
“Irreconcilableness, Matt. 5:25, usually accompanies hatred and vengefulness, and is murderous, not only in design, because by severing all connection, having nothing to do with a person, the irreconcilable person virtually considers the hated person dead to himself and leaves him to perish, but also in immediate effect, because it inflicts intense and, in not a few instances, deadly grief.
“Spiteful speech, the expression of the malicious thoughts of the heart, is the next evolution of subtile murder.  ‘Race’ in Matt. 5:22 has been rendered ‘empty head’ and ‘blackguard’…. (pages 116-124.)

“God’s anger is ablaze against those who break this commandment.  Not only has He empowered the magistrates, Gen. 9:6; Matt. 26:52; Rom. 13:4 (and the Jewish Church with its local courts and great councils, Matt. 5:21, 22), to punish murderers, but He proposes to punish the offenders Himself.  Think of what God’s wrath and vengeance means, Rom. 12:19.  How will He ‘repay’?  He threatens the murderers with ‘hell-fire’, Matt. 5:22, with the eternal ‘prison’, Matt. 5:25 (cg. V. 26), and shuts them out from ‘eternal life’, 1 John 3:15.  The Christian hope of a future life in heaven cannot ‘abide’ in a murderer’s heart….

“’God well knows that the world is evil, and that this life has much unhappiness; therefore He has placed this and the other commandments between the good and the wicked.  As now there are many temptations against all the commandments, so the temptation in respect to this is that we must live among many people who do us wrong, that we have cause to be hostile to them’ (L.C., 416)….

“’God reasons thus:  I have wild, unreasoning, mad, raving animals in this world, wolves, bears, lions, etc.  I must lock these up, put them in iron cages, bolt the doors, and wall them in with strong walls, lest they go at each other’s throats and do great damage.  For if God was not moved by this concern, why should He have to give us the commandments?  Hence, God knows our heart and our nature exceedingly well.  He knows that murder is inborn in our flesh; accordingly, He issues also this commandment, in order that we may know ourselves.  He is concerned lest we murder each other like mad, raving dogs, wolves, and bears.  He regards us as desperate knaves, who would kill and murder on another.  The story which Moses tells after he has told about Adam is concerning murder and killing, one brother slaying the other.  God to now, my friend, and brag about our going to be holy!  We boast our reason, wisdom, and free will, but what does God think of us?  He considers us all murderers and manslayers, not one excepted.  God acts like a burgomaster or ruler who hears that some have threatened that they are going to do damage, break into houses at night, etc., and therefore orders his guards to keep watch and restrain them.  Thus God expects no good from us, but regards us all as murderers; accordingly, He commands us not to kill’ (3, 1112.)….

“’God and the government are included in this commandment, nor the power which they have to kill.  For God has delegated His authority to governments, to punish evil-doers, instead of parents, who aforetime (as we read in Moses) were required to bring their children to judgment and sentence them to death.  Therefore this prohibition pertains to individuals and not to governments’. (L.C., 415f.)” (pages 126-127.)

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 29-Government-tyrannical-Government-and-Rebellion-pdf

For a more thorough study of what the Bible would have to say regarding the topics of government, tyrannical government, the violation of the legal rights of citizens by the government, rebellion, and other related subjects which would be pertinent to the American interest today, and what the biblical principles are that would govern the Christian’s conduct in view of the same, consult these sources which are available for purchase on the market new or used –

Luther’s Works, editor Walther I. Brandt (Fortress Press: Philadelphia, 1962), volume 45.  In this work consult the following writings:

A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion, 1522.

Temporal Authority:  To What Extent it Should be Obeyed, 1523.

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See also Luther’s Works, editor Robert C. Schultz (Fortress Press:  Philadelphia, 1967), volume 46.  In this work consult these writings:

Admonition to Peace, A Reply to the Twelve Articles of the Peasants in Swabia, 1525.

Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants, 1525.

An Open Letter on the Harsh Book Against the Peasants, 1525.

Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved, 1526.

On War Against the Turk, 1529.

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See also Luther’s Works, editor Gottfried G. Krodel (Fortress Press:  Philadelphia, 1975), volume 50.  In this work consult these writings.

A Letter to Lazarus Spengler (February 15, 1531).

A Letter to Duke Joachim of Brandenburg (August 3, 1532).

See also Koestlin’s remarks in his biography of Martin Luther:  Julius Koestlin, Life of Luther (Charles Scribner’s Sons:  New York, 1927), pages 429-431, 456-457, & 503-504.

***

The following excerpts have been taken from those sources that are listed above.  The location of these excerpts from Luther’s Works has been noted by volume number and by page number at the end of each quote.  These excerpts have been arranged topically.

Proper government and proper citizenship.

“If there is no word of God for it, then we cannot be sure whether God wished to have it so” (Luther’s Works, volume 45, page 105).

“All who are not Christians belong to the kingdom of the world and are under the law.  There are few true believers, and still fewer who live a Christian life, who do not resist evil and indeed themselves do no evil.  For this reason God has provided for them a different government beyond the Christian estate and kingdom of God.  He has subjected them to the sword so that, even though they would like to, they are unable to practice their wickedness, and if they do practice it they cannot do so without fear or with success and impunity.  In the same way a savage wild beast is bound with chains and ropes so that it cannot bite and tear as it would normally do, even though it would like to; whereas a tame and gentle animal needs no restraint, but is harmless despite the lack of chains and ropes.
“If this were not so, men would devour one another, seeing that the whole world is evil and that among thousands there is scarcely a single true Christian.  No one could support wife and child, feed himself, and serve God.  The world would be reduced to chaos.  For this reason God has ordained two governments:  the spiritual, by which the Holy Spirit produces Christians and righteous people under Christ; and the temporal, which restrains the un-Christian and wicked so that – no thanks to them – they are obliged to keep still and to maintain an outward peace.  Thus does St. Paul interpret the temporal sword in Romans 13 [:3], when he says it is not a terror to good conduct but to bad.  And Peter says it is for the punishment of the wicked [I Pet. 2:14]” (LW45, 90f.).

“But you say:  if Christians then do not need the temporal sword or law, why does Paul say to all Christians in Romans 13 [:1], ‘Let all souls be subject to the governing authority’, and St. Peter, ‘Be subject to every human ordinance’ [I Pet. 2:13], etc. as quoted above?  Answer:  I have just said that Christians, among themselves and by and for themselves, need no law or sword, since it is neither necessary nor useful for them.  Since a true Christian lives and labors on earth not for himself alone but for his neighbor, he does by the very nature of his spirit even what he himself has no need of, but is needful and useful to his neighbor.  Because the sword is most beneficial and necessary for the whole world in order to preserve peace, punish sin, and restrain the wicked, the Christian submits most willingly to the rule of the sword, pays his taxes, honors those in authority, serves, helps, and does all he can to assist the governing authority, that it may continue to function and be held in honor and fear.  Although he has no need of these things for himself – to him they are not essential – nevertheless, he concerns himself about what is serviceable and of benefit to others, as Paul teaches in Ephesians 5 [:21-6:9]

“Just as he performs all other works of love which he himself does not need – he does not visit the sick in order that he himself may be made well, or feed others because he himself needs good – so he serves the governing authority not because he needs it but for the sake of others, that they may be protected and that the wicked may not become worse.  He loses nothing by this; such service in no way harms him, yet it is of great benefit to the world.  If he did not so serve he would be acting not as a Christian but even contrary to love; he would also be setting a bad example to others who in like manner would not submit to authority, even though they were not Christians.  In this way the gospel would be brought into disrepute, as though it taught insurrection and produced self-willed people unwilling to benefit or serve others, when in fact it makes a Christian the servant of all.  Thus in Matthew 17 [:27] Christ paid the half-shekel tax that he might not offend them, although he had no need to do so.  Thus you observe in the words of Christ quoted above from Matthew 5 [:38-41] that he clearly teaches that Christians among themselves should have no temporal sword or law.  He does not, however, forbid one to serve and be subject to those who do have the secular sword and law.  Rather, since you do not need it and should not have it, you are to serve all the more those who have not attained to such heights as you and who therefore do still need it.  Although you do not need to have your enemy punished, your afflicted neighbor does.  You should help him that he may have peace and that his enemy may be curbed, but this is not possible unless the governing authority is honored and feared.  Christ does not say, ‘You shall not serve the governing authority or be subject to it’, but rather, ‘Do not resist evil’ [Matt. 5:39], as much as to say, ‘Behave in such a way that you bear everything, so that you may not need the governing authority to help you and serve you or be beneficial or essential for you, but that you in turn may help and serve it, being beneficial and essential to it’” (LW45, 93-95).

“We gain the true meaning of Christ’s words in Matthew 5 [:39], ‘Do not resist evil’, etc.  It is this:  A Christian should be so disposed that he will suffer every evil and injustice without avenging himself; neither will he seek legal redress in the courts but have utterly no need of temporal authority and law for his own sake.  On behalf of others, however, he may and should seek vengeance, justice, protection, and help, and do as much as he can to achieve it” (LW45, 101).

“Temporal obedience and authority, you see, apply only externally to taxes, revenue, honor, and respect” (LW45, 110).

“If a prince should happen to be wise, upright, or a Christian, that is one of the great miracles, the most precious token of divine grace upon that land.  Ordinarily the course of events is in accordance with the passage from Isaiah 3 [:4], ‘I will make boys their princes, and gaping fools shall rule over them’; and in Hosea 13 [:11], ‘I will give you a king in my anger, and take him away in my wrath’.  The world is too wicked, and does not deserve to have many wise and upright princes” (LW45, 113f).

“’ I belong to the land and the people, I shall do what is useful and good for them.  My concern will be not how to lord it over them and dominate them, but how to protect and maintain them in peace and plenty’….’I will use my office to serve and protect them, listen to their problems and defend them, and govern to the sole end that they, not I, may benefit and profit from my rule’” (LW45, 120).

“Rulers are not appointed [by God] to exploit their subjects for their own profit and advantage, but to be concerned about the welfare of their subjects” (LW46, 22f).

“The Scripture passages which speak of mercy apply to the kingdom of God and to Christians, not to the kingdom of the world, for it is a Christian’s duty not only to be merciful, but also to endure every kind of suffering – robbery, arson, murder, devil, and hell.  It goes without saying that he is not to strike, kill, or take revenge on anyone.  But the kingdom of the world, which is nothing else than the servant of God’s wrath upon the wicked and is a real precursor of hell and everlasting death, should not be merciful, but strict, severe, and wrathful in fulfilling its work and duty.  Its tool is not a wreath of roses or a flower of love, but a naked sword; and a sword is a symbol of wrath, severity, and punishment.  It is turned only against the wicked, to hold them in check and keep them at peace, and to protect and save the righteous [Rom. 13:3-4].  Therefore God decrees, in the law of Moses and in Exodus 22 [21:14] where he institutes the sword, ‘You shall take the murderer from my altar, and not have mercy on him’.  And the Epistle to the Hebrews [10:28] acknowledges that he who violates the law must die without mercy.  This shows that in the exercise of their office, worldly rulers cannot and ought not be merciful – though out of grace, they may take a day off from their office” (LW46, 70).

“Those who are in God’s kingdom ought to have mercy on everyone and pray for everyone, and yet not hinder the kingdom of the world in the maintenance of its laws and the performance of its duty; rather they should assist it” (LW46, 71).

Citizenship under an Evil Government.

“You assert that no one is to be the serf of anyone else, because Christ has made us all free.  That is making Christian freedom a completely physical matter.  Did not Abraham [Gen. 17:23] and other patriarchs and prophets have slaves?  Read what St. Paul teaches about servants, who, at that time, were all slaves…. A slave can be a Christian, and have Christian freedom, in the same way that a prisoner or a sick man is a Christian, and yet not free” (LW46, 39).

“If you claim that you are Christians and like to be called Christians and want to be known as Christians, then you must also allow your law to be held up before you rightly.  Listen, then, dear Christians, to your Christian law!  Your Supreme Lord Christ, whose name you bear, says, in Matthew 6 [5:39-41], ‘Do not resist one who is evil.  If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  If anyone wants to take your coat, let him have your cloak too.  If anyone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other too’. Do you hear this?… You do not want to endure evil or suffering, but rather want to be free and to experience only goodness and justice.  However, Christ says that we should not resist evil or injustice but always yield, suffer, and let things be taken from us.  If you will not bear this law, then lay aside the name of Christian and claim another name that accords with your actions” (LW46, 28).

“Indeed, our leader, Jesus Christ, says in Matthew 7 [5:44] that we should bless those who insult us, pray for our persecutors, love our enemies, and do good to those who do evil to us.  These, dear friends, are our Christian laws” (LW46, 29).

“The Christian law tells us not to strive against injustice, not to grasp the sword, not to protect ourselves, not to avenge ourselves, but to give up life and property, and let whoever takes it have it.  We have all we need in our Lord, who will not leave us, as he has promised [Heb. 13:5].  Suffering! Suffering!  Cross! Cross!  This and nothing else is the Christian law!  But now you are fighting for temporal goods and will not let the coat go after the cloak, but want to recover the cloak.  How then will you die and give up your life, or love your enemies and do good to them?” (LW46, 29).

“A second example is Christ himself.  What did he do when they took his life on the cross?… He did just what St. Peter says.  He committed the whole matter to him who judges justly, and he endured this intolerable wrong (I Pet. 2:23].  More than that, he prayed for his persecutors and said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ [Luke 23:34]….
“If you do follow the example of Christ, you will soon see God’s miracles and he will help you as he helped Christ, whom he avenged after the completion of his passion in such a way that his gospel and his kingdom won a powerful victory and gained the upper hand, in spite of all his enemies.  He will help you in this same way so that his gospel will rise with power among you, if you first suffer to the end, leave the case to him, and await his vengeance.  But because of what you are doing, and because you do not want to triumph by suffering, but by your fists, you are interfering with God’s vengeance and you will keep neither the gospel nor your fists” (LW46, 30f).

Rebellion against an Evil Government.

“The fact that the rulers are wicked and unjust does not excuse disorder and rebellion, for the punishing of wickedness is not the responsibility of everyone, but of the worldly rulers who bear the sword.  Thus Paul says in Romans 13 [:4] and Peter, in I Peter 3 [2:14], that the rulers are instituted by God for the punishment of the wicked.  Then, too, there is the natural law of all the world, which says that no one may sit as judge in his own case or take his own revenge…. The divine law agrees with this, and says, in Deuteronomy 32 [:35], “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (LW46, 25).

“I make you the judges and leave it to you to decide who is the worse robber, the man who takes a large part of another’s goods, but leaves him something, or the man who takes everything that he has, and takes his life besides.  The rulers unjustly take your property; that is the one side.  On the other hand, you take from them their authority, in which their whole property and life and being consist.  Therefore you are far greater robbers than they, and you intend to do worse things than they have done” (LW46, 26).

“The word of Christ in Matthew 7 [:3] applies to you; you see the speck in the eye of the rulers, but do not see the log in your own eye” (LW46, 26).

“If your enterprise were right, then any man might become judge over another.  Then authority, government, law, and order would disappear from the world; there would be nothing but murder and bloodshed.  As soon as anyone saw that someone was wronging him, he would begin to judge and punish him.  Now if that is unjust and intolerable when done by an individual, we cannot allow a mob or a crowd to do it.  However, if we do permit a mob or a crowd to do it, then we cannot rightly and fairly forbid an individual to do it.  For in both cases the cause is the same, that is, an injustice.  What would you yourselves do if disorder broke out in your ranks and one man set himself against another and took vengeance on him?  Would you put up with that?  Would you not say that he must let others, whom you appointed, do the judging and avenging?  What do you expect God and the world to think when you pass judgment and avenge yourselves on those who have injured you and even upon your rulers, whom God has appointed?” (LW46, 27.)

“If you were Christians you would stop threatening and resisting with fist and sword.  Instead, you would continually abide by the Lord’s Prayer and say, ‘Thy will be done’, and, ‘Deliver us from evil, amen’ [Matt.6:10, 13].  The psalms show us many examples of genuine saints taking their needs to God and complaining to him about them.  They seek help from God:  they do not try to defend themselves or to resist evil…. As his promises declare: ‘God is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe’, I Timothy 4 [:10]; ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you’, Psalm 50 [:15]; ‘He called upon me in trouble, therefore I will help him’, Psalm 91 [:15].  See!  That is the Christian way to get rid of misfortune and evil, that is, to endure it and to call upon God” (LW46, 34).

“You have not been putting this program into effect and achieving your goals by patiently praying to God, as Christians ought to do, but have instead undertaken to compel the rulers to give you what you wanted by using force and violence” (LW46, 34).

“To sum it up, [according to you:] everything is concerned with worldly and temporal matters” (LW46, 35).
“Everything was ‘rights’….’Rights, rights, rights’! They were everything” (LW46, 67).

“If this bloodshed once starts, it will not stop until everything is destroyed.  It is easy to start a fight, but we cannot stop the fighting whenever we want to.  What have all these innocent women, children, and old people, whom you fools are drawing with you into such danger, ever done to you?  Why do you insist on filling the land with blood and robbery, widows and orphans?” (LW46, 42).

“Because they knew nothing of God, the heathen did not know that temporal government is God’s ordinance (they thought of it as the fortunate creation of men) and therefore they jumped right in and thought that it was not only right, but also praiseworthy, to depose, kill, and expel worthless and wicked rulers.  This is why the Greeks, in public laws, promised jewels and gifts to tyrannicides, that is, to those who stab or otherwise murder a tyrant.  In the days of their empire the Romans followed this example very closely and themselves killed almost the majority of their emperors.  As a result, in that great empire almost no emperor was ever killed by his enemies, and yet few of them died a natural death in bed.  The people of Israel and Judah also killed and destroyed some of their kings” (LW46, 104).

“I have read in not a few history books of subjects deposing and exiling or killing their rulers.  The Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans all did this and God permitted it and even let these nations grow and prosper in spite of it.  However, the final outcome was always tragic.  The Jews were finally conquered and their nation destroyed by the Assyrians.  The Greeks were defeated by King Philip.  And the Roman nation was conquered by the Goths and the Lombards” (LW46, 107).

“Now perhaps you will say, ‘How can anyone possibly endure all the injustice that these tyrants inflict on us?  You allow them too much opportunity to be unjust, and thus your teaching only makes them worse and worse.  Are we supposed to permit everyone’s wife and child, body and property to be so shamefully treated and always to be in danger?  If we have to live under these conditions, how can we ever begin to live a decent life’?  My reply is this:  My teaching is not intended for people like you who want to do whatever you think is good and will please you.  Go ahead!  Do whatever you want!  Kill all your lords!  See what good it does you!  My teaching is intended only for those who would like to do what is right.  To these I say that rulers are not to be opposed with violence and rebellion, as the Romans, the Greeks, the Swiss, and the Danes have done; rather, there are other ways of dealing with them.
“In the first place, if you see that the rulers think so little of their soul’s salvation that they rage and do wrong, what does it matter to you if they ruin your property, body, wife, and child?  They cannot hurt your soul, and they do themselves more harm than they do you because they damn their own souls and that must result in the ruin of body and property.  Do you think that you are not already sufficiently avenged?
“In the second place, what would you do if your rulers were at war and not only your goods and wives and children, but you yourself were broken, imprisoned, burned, and killed for your lord’s sake?  Would you slay your lord for that reason?  Think of all the good people that Emperor Maximilian lost in the wars that he waged in his lifetime.  No one did anything to him because of it.  And yet, if he had destroyed them by tyranny no more cruel deed would ever have been heard of.  Nevertheless, he was the cause of their death, for they were killed for his sake.  What is the difference, then, between such a raging tyrant and a dangerous war as concerned?  Indeed, a wicked tyrant is more tolerable than a bad war, as you must admit from your own reason and experience.
“There is as great a difference between changing a government and improving it as the distance from heaven to earth.  It is easy to change a government, but it is difficult to get one that is better, and the danger is that you will not.  Why?  Because it is not in our will or power, but only in the will and the hand of God” (LW46, 111-112).

“’Suppose that a king or lord has given an oath to his subjects to rule according to articles that have been agreed upon and then does not keep the agreement.  He thereby forfeits his right to rule’…. Here is my answer:  It is right and proper for rulers to govern according to laws and administer them and not to rule arbitrarily.  I add, however, that a king does not only promise to keep the law of his land or the articles of election, but God himself commands him to be righteous, and he promises to do so.  Well, then, if this king keeps neither God’s law nor the law of the land, ought you to attack him, judge him, and take vengeance on him?  Who commanded you to do that?  Another ruler would have to come between you, hear both sides, and condemn the guilty party; otherwise you will not escape the judgment of God, who says, ‘Vengeance is mine’ [Rom. 12:19], and again, ‘Judge not’ (Matthew 7 [:1]) (LW46, 113).

“Here you say, ‘Are we, then, to put up with a ruler who would be such a scoundrel that he lets land and people go to ruin’?… We have this to say:  God has thrown us into the world, under the power of the devil.  As a result, we have no paradise here.  Rather, at any time we can expect all kinds of misfortune to body, wife, child, property, and honor.  And if there is one hour in which there are less than ten disasters or an hour in which we can even survive, we ought to say, ‘How good God is to me’!” (LW46, 117).

“Those fools who are the first to fight in their thoughts and even make a good start by devouring the world with words and are the first to flash their blades, are also the first to run away and sheathe their swords” (LW46, 119).

“What is done by duly constituted authority cannot be regarded as insurrection” (LW45, 61).

“Even if insurrection were a practical possibility, and God were willing to impose so merciful a punishment upon them, it is still an unprofitable method of procedure.  It never brings about the desired improvement.  For insurrection lacks discernment; it generally harms the innocent more than the guilty.  Hence, no insurrection is ever right, no matter how right the cause it seeks to promote.  It always results in more damage than improvement, and verifies the saying, ‘Things go from bad to worse’.  For this reason governing authority and the sword have been established to punish the wicked and protect the upright, that insurrection may be prevented, as St. Paul says in Romans 13 [:1-4] and as we read in I Peter 2 [:13-14].  But when Sir Mob breaks loose he cannot tell the wicked from the upright, or keep them apart; he lays about him at random, and great and horrible injustice is inevitable” (LW45, 63).

“Insurrection is nothing else than being one’s own judge and avenger, and that is something God cannot tolerate…. God is not on the side of insurrection” (LW45, 63).

God will punish both an evil government and its evil citizenry.

“It is unfortunately all too true that the princes and lords who forbid the preaching of the gospel and oppress the people unbearably deserve to have God put them down from their thrones [Luke 1:52] because they have sinned so greatly against both God and man.  And they have no excuse” (LW46, 23).

“If, now, you really want to keep the divine law, as you boast, then do it.  There it stands!  God says, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay’ [Rom. 12:19], and ‘Be subject not only to good lords, but also to the wicked’ [I Pet. 2:18].  If you do this, well and good; if not, you may, indeed, cause a calamity, but it will finally come upon you…. God is just, and will not endure it” (LW46, 28).

“In saying this it is not my intention to justify or defend the rulers in the intolerable injustices which you suffer from them.  They are unjust, and commit heinous wrongs against you; that I admit.  If, however, neither side accepts instruction and you start to fight with each other – my God prevent it! – I hope that neither side will be called Christian.  Rather I hope that God will, as is usual in these situations, use one rascal to punish the other” (LW46, 32).

“See the end that finally comes to rebellion in the story of Korah, Numbers 16 [:31-35], and of Absalom [II Sam. 18:14-15], or Sheba [II Sam. 20:22], Zimri [I Kings 16:18], and others like them.  In short, God hates both tyrants and rebels; therefore he sets them against each other, so that both parties perish shamefully, and his wrath and judgment upon the godless are fulfilled” (LW46, 41).

“I can easily believe that you would like to have peace and good times, but suppose God prevents this by war or tyrants!  Now, make up your mind whether you would rather have war or tyrants, for you are guilty enough to have deserved both from God.  However, we are the kind of people who want to be scoundrels and live in sin and yet we want to avoid the punishment of sin, and even resist punishment and defend our skin.  We shall have about as much success at that as a dog has when he tries to bite through steel.
“In the third place, if the rulers are wicked, what of it?  God is still around, and he has fire, water, iron, stone, and countless ways of killing.  How quickly he can kill a tyrant!  He would do it, too, but our sins do not permit it, for he says in Job [34:30], ‘He permits a knave to rule because of the people’s sins’.  We have no trouble seeing that a scoundrel is ruling.  However, no one wants to see that he is ruling not because he is a scoundrel, but because of the people’s sin.  The people do not look at their own sin; they think that the tyrant rules because he is such a scoundrel – that is how blind, perverse, and mad the world is!  That is why things happened the way they did when the peasants revolted.  They wanted to punish the sins of the rulers, as though they themselves were pure and guiltless; therefore God had to show them the log in their eye so they would forget about the speck in another man’s eye [Matt.7:3-5].
“In the fourth place, the tyrants run the risk that, by God’s decree, their subjects may rise up, as has been said, and kill them or expel them.  For here we are giving instruction to those who want to do what is right, and they are very few.  The great multitude remain heathen, godless, and un-Christian; and these, if God so decrees, wrongfully rise up against the rulers and create disaster, as the Jews and Greeks and Romans often did.  Therefore you have no right to complain that our doctrine gives the tyrants and rulers security to do evil; on the contrary, they are certainly not secure….
“In the fifth place, God has still another way to punish rulers, so that there is no need for you to avenge yourselves.  He can raise up foreign rulers, as he raised up the Goths against the Romans, the Assyrians against the Jews, etc.  Thus there is vengeance, punishment, and danger enough hanging over tyrants and rulers, and God does not allow them to be wicked and have peace and joy.  He is right behind them; indeed, he surrounds them and has them between spurs and under bridle” (LW46, 108-110).

[National] “self-defense is a proper ground for fighting and therefore all laws agree that self-defense is innocent in the eyes of all men.  But when the people of Israel wanted to start an unnecessary war with the Canaanites, the Israelites were defeated, Numbers 14 [40-45]…. Why?  Because God rules the world powerfully and leaves no wrong unpunished.  He who does wrong will be punished by God, as sure as he lives, unless he repents and makes amends to his neighbor” (LW 46, 120, 121).