Christian self government or tyranny


It’s true that all rulers and all ruled are fallen in Adam, and there will NEVER be a utopia here on this earth before sin and death or conquered and destroyed at Christ Second Coming (at the end of history).

America’s founders were not utopians and understood that what ever form of government they produced it would be able to allow for maximum freedom and liberty only so long as the people were a "moral and religious" (i.e. Christian) people. This is very clear in their writings and speeches.

Though we’re far removed from the federal republic that the Founders established many, if not most of them, would be surprised at the amount of liberty we have retained since then.

The Scriptures teach that civil magistrates are ordained of God and are ministers from God for our good (Roman 13). You should remember that Paul wrote that statement during the reign of Nero Caesar, a man not known for his kindness in governing the World (and city) to which Paul was writing. Nero followed Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius as emperor, none of who were known for being kind genteel rulers.
The point is civil government was established by God for our good. And as evil and tyrannical as Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero were, their rule did produce a stability and prosperity that allowed for the spread of the Gospel in the Roman Empire. Anarchy is always worse than tyranny.

Moral and religious decline leads to a growth in civil government, because as men cease to govern themselves by the Word of God law and order naturally breaks down and despotism increases to overt anarchy.

Anarchy leads to absolute tyranny as it did in Imperial Rome, Napoleon’s France, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Men at those times and places were more than willing to trade political liberty for stability. Anarchy and instability always preceded the despotism imposed by the tyrants mentioned above.

Alexis de Tocqueville toured the United States in the 1830’s and he was amazed at the lack of civil government that existed here. He made this observation "there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth. " Tocqueville knew that the United States had no "established" church or religion but he says "In the United States religion exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the customs of the community, and, by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state." America was Christian, not because of some "establishment, but because the people were morally self governing under God in their private lives.

We see this clearly in Tocqueville’s next observation. He writes "Thus, while the law permits the Americans to do what they please, religion prevents them from conceiving, and forbids them to commit, what is rash or unjust. " A Christian people that are self governing under God don’t need big government with millions of laws and mass bureaucracies to rule over them, because they govern themselves under God.

Early America was, I believe, a very feeble and poor example of what the Gospel will yet do in the world under the present reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is now reigning and ruling from the right hand of the Father in heaven with all authority and power (Matt. 28:18; Acts 2:32-36; Ps 110:1; etc…). The cultural influence of the Gospel has waxed and waned over many years and cultures. It had been in decline here long before Tocqueville arrived, but the fruits were still readily apparent.
When Christ returns (the Second Coming) He will destroy the last enemy which is death, but before then His earthly enemies will have been conquered by the preaching of the Gospel.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith