Church State Relations
A Proposal For Bridging The Gap

When it comes to church state relations, why do so many churches seem to "tiptoe" around the ordinances of God's law? Especially when it is the neglect of the ordinances that has brought America to the precipice of Divine judgment.

Church and State
Both Responsible To God's Law

Are we not like Israel in her march to judgment? Over and over in the prophets God charged her with rejecting his "commandments, statutes, and ordinances" and replacing them with "the statutes of Omri" (Micah 6:16). Surely we have done the same when our governing document declares that "this Constitution and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof...shall be the supreme law of the land...."

How would this differ from the "statutes of Omri?" Anything that grasps for such authority above that of God's law is an idol that He will topple. Are we not being toppled today for embracing such an idol? Should not the pulpits of America be denouncing this idolatry in the tradition of Calvin, Bucer, Knox, Cotton, and many others?

Are we not all very alarmed and concerned because the culture is collapsing around us in an escalating fashion, clearly the result of God judging us for rejecting His law. That to me is the (a?) major lesson of the prophets. However, it happened there's probably no argument that our culture and government is not in any sense operating in submission to the Bible or the law of God. Church state relations are at an all time low.

I suppose the argument is about what is the responsibility of the church when this situation arises. I'm just trying to point out in as much of a non-threatening way as I can that we do claim to be descendants of the Reformers and most of the Reformers were pretty aggressive about getting out there and mixing it up with the civil magistrate when he was not upholding the law of God. They wanted everything to be reformed and were kind of pushy about it sometimes, I think. They started with home and church but went beyond that to the local government. They worked hard at church state relations.

The church seems to be neglecting the message of the prophets when they report God speaking: escalating judgment in your culture is happening because you (the culture and everything in it) have rejected or ignored My law (God's law), specifically the statutes & ordinances. You have substituted the law of man (statutes of Omri) and are very content with that. It seems like you can hardly turn a page in the Prophets without seeing that message.

Church Leaders Must Lead

Passages like Dt. 17, II Chr. 19 and places in Ezra imply that church leaders have a responsibility to teach and advise the civil ruler, even in matters of court. Please correct me -- is that just Old Testament? Yet, Calvin did do that very thing, did he not? Leaders of the local church must approach leaders of the local civil government regarding their mutual responsibilities to the law of God. This cannot be delegated to the laity, although a layman might accompany a church leader. Church state relations must be repaired.

I'm suggesting that there is a specific fire hazard that needs to be eliminated that only the leaders of the church can provide. The fire has been raging for quite a while and maybe it's time to ring the alarm really loud. The status quo doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere -- things just keep getting worse.

A 3-Point Proposal

I'm suggesting basically three specific applications to repair church state relations:

1) Pastor meets politician to begin the task of restoring church state relations. A paper entitled Calvin’s Covenantal Pronomianism originally delivered by Ralph Allan Smith on May 23-24, 1994 at a Tokyo reunion of Japanese Presbyterian ministers and leaders noted that, “Gillespie, who was very influential at the Westminster Assembly, states clearly that the minister of the Gospel is required to teach the magistrate from the Bible how to make just laws. Ibid., p. 33”. We see this in Dt. 17:8-10 and again in I Tim. 1:8-12. According to the Timothy passage, this kind of church state relations and regard for God’s law is in accord with "the glorious gospel."

In the Old Testament sometimes the king would exhort the priests to "clean up the temple" and at other times it was the other way around. Each was responsible to maintain church state relations and hold the other accountable to God.

So schedule a restaurant meeting with a different civil leader every week or two with two men from the church. Perhaps have several teams, with one elder on every team. Ask for volunteers from the church to go with the elder to rebuild church state relations. That way it would be only about once a month for each elder. Goal of contacting 40-50 officials in your area over the next year. Assume a friendly, helpful approach, but still spelling out God's expectations, to include something like this:

a) What are your goals for the (city, state, etc)?
b) What are the biggest issues or problems you are facing right now as (mayor, legislator, councilman, etc)?
c) How are you handling it personally? What's it like being in your shoes?
d) What can we do to help?
e) What's your assessment of what's going on in America overall?
f) God expects church and state to be separate but co-operative institutions
g) God has laws He expects both institutions to obey for a peaceful, prosperous society
h) There is an aspect of mutual accountability between church and state
i) As repository of the Word of God, the church has a primary responsibility to provide counsel and instruction to the state in legal matters
j) For example, Exodus 22:1-4 double restitution as a fairly simple example, which Charles Colson always shares with state legislatures
k) Could we schedule another meeting with you in a (week, month) to discuss (issue they mentioned above) from the perspective of God's requirements and to pray together about it? [Eventually, steering this toward a regular group meeting on issues, church state relations, and the gospel]

After he/she picks himself up off the floor, who knows where that might lead? Maybe he/she would walk out and never come back -- but maybe not. In this way the church leaders would interpose between the people and the unjust ruler, but more importantly would uphold the majesty and authority of God to the state.

Whether they listen or not -- or carve up the scroll with a knife and throw it in the fire -- is in the hands of God. But like Jeremiah do we not have the responsibility to give them the scroll? Even as John Knox called the queen to account and later called for her execution.

2) Preach political applications. Work in some sermon discussion of God's law as it applies to the community or nation when it is natural to the text (eg I Kings 9). In light of the fact that Calvin gave so much emphasis to the ordinances of God's law in the context of a Biblical covenant in the life of the nation, why do we so often skirt or ignore them?

For example, passages like I Kings 6: 11 and I Kings 9:1-9 have more natural application to the nation and the civil ruler than to the individual, but most pastors limit the application to an individual focus. Are these not golden opportunities to set forth some applications of God's law to church state relations and to our current calamity in the United States?

Passages like this almost scream for an application to the desperate plight in which we find ourselves in America today, having rejected the law of God as the foundation for our judicial system. Should not the pulpit address the nation, after the example of Reformers like Calvin and Knox?

3) Read and study the Ordinances. Also, if your church is in the habit of reading the 10-commandments on a regular basis, append a different portion of the “Law of the Covenant” each time. “The Law of The Covenant” is the ordinances that are spelled out in the three chapters immediately following the 10-Commandments in Exodus 20. Rotate through the entire 3 chapters over a period of time, then start over. This will no doubt lead to some explanatory comments in your sermons.

Perhaps you could also consider studying Ex 21-24 in small group: May I suggest a study The Book of The Covenant as a primer for church state relations. It is only 3 chapters long and consists of the ordinances that God commanded Moses “to set before the people” in Exodus 21:1. The 10-Commandments in Ex 20 and the Ordinances of Ex 21-23 comprise the Book of the Covenant which Ex 24:7 says Moses “read in the hearing of the people.”

Because these statutes and ordinances are not taught in the American church, the American civil magistrate has in turn rejected the law of God as the law of the land. Our current cultural collapse is the result, just like Israel suffered judgment for rejecting the law of God.

The ordinances of Ex. 21-23 define the 10-commandments and describe what a Christian civilization or culture should look like. They define the ideal of Christendom, which has been erased from the collective consciousness of the church. A lot of commentary has been written on these passages in the past 50 years as well as Calvin's 200 pages in his Commentaries from the Reformation, from which you could pull excerpts as a study guide.

Why do Christians reject the law of their Lord? We might ask how He can be their Lord if they reject His law. Do they deem it to be too harsh? Consider that every capital crime except murder allows for a monetary ransom in lieu of the death penalty (Ex. 21:22,3). Thus, we find mercy inserted into the very heart of the law, although in some cases the victim might not be inclined to grant it (Proverbs 6:32-35).

1. I am the Lord your god…Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.

Dt. 6:4,5 – Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image….

Ex. 22:20 – He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the Lord alone, shall be utterly destroyed.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain….

Ex. 22:28 – You shalt not curse God nor curse a ruler of your people.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy….

Lev. 26:2 – Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

5. Honor your father and your mother….

Ex. 21: 17 – And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. (cf. Mark 7:10)

6. Thou shalt not murder.

Ex. 21:12 – He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

7. Thou shall not commit adultery.

Pr. 6:32,34,35 -- The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself does it...For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, Nor will he be content though you give many gifts.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

Ex. 22:4 – If what he stole is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Ex. 23:2 – You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute

10. Thou shalt not covet.

Ex. 23:4 – If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him.

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