What did Jesus Christ teach about the duty that Christians owe to the governments of the nations they live in? What did the Apostles teach about what the duty of a Christian is to the governments of the nations that Christians live in? What do Christ and His Apostles teach about the relationship between Christians and the governments of the world? What did Christ and His Apostles teach about the government of God and the Christian’s loyalty to it? In this article I use the New Testament to answer all these questions and explain exactly what the Bible teaches about the relationship of the true disciple of Jesus Christ and the governments of the world. And for many, the answer will be astounding.
Jesus Christ is an anarchist.
The ancient religion of Israel was anarchist from its very inception by God and a significant apostasy from that true faith was the rejection of God’s rule by the Israelites for the rule of a human king. And when Jesus came and restored the fulness of that ancient faith through His Gospel, He also established an anarchist society and taught His followers to reject all worldly governments. To prove this I will examine five places in the New Testament where Christ’s words are overtly political, commenting on the nature of government and its relationship to humanity. These are Matthew 20: 25-28, John 13: 12-16, Mark 12:13, and Luke 4:5-8. After reading each verse, evaluating what they have to say about government and a Christian’s relationship to it, I will then evaluate Romans 13:1-7, another New Testament passage used by many to argue that Christians are commanded by God to support and obey their governments.
In all of these examples I will show that what Christ commands and the Apostles teach is not subservience to the State/government, but a complete and utter rejection of it in all its forms. Jesus clearly teaches that the nations of the world serve Satan, not God, and that our duty and loyalty is to the Church of Jesus Christ and not to the nations or powers of the world. Man can only serve one master. He can serve either God or he can serve the nations of the world. He cannot do both. Therefore, Christ and His Apostles consistently teach men to reject the assumed authority of the human politicians of the world and to serve God alone, a teaching that is fundamentally anarchist in every way.
Matthew 20: The Princes of the Gentiles
Matthew 20:20-29 tells the story of the mother of the Apostles James and John coming to Christ and asking Jesus to grant her sons the great privilege of seating her sons on His right hand when He came into His kingdom. Like many Israelites of the era, she evidently still thought of the Messiah as a purely worldly military commander that would overthrow all foreign rule of Judea and reestablish a permanent independent Israelite kingdom and wanted to ensure that her sons would have a prime place of privilege and power in the coming new world order. When the other Ten Apostles hear this they get upset, perhaps because they also wanted such positions of influence and power in the coming kingdom they envisaged ruling over. Jesus chastises them all for such unworthy desires, saying:
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20: 25-28
Jesus repeats this instruction during the Passover before His Crucifixion. That night Jesus girded Himself with a towel and washed the feet of His Apostles, something that traditionally women did for their husbands or slaves did for their owners. It was an act of personal debasement, something so menial and filthy that only an inferior did it for his superior and it was never done among equals. Yet, here was the King of Kings doing it for His servants. Here is the Messiah, the Savior, God’s Anointed, the Descendant of David, the True King of Israel and what is He doing? He is crawling on the dirt among the filthy feet of HIs Apostles performing the work of a lowly slave. The utter shock of the Apostles at such an appalling situation was captured in the reaction of the Apostle Peter when he initially rejected Christ’s ministrations and only submitted to it when Jesus warned those those who did not submit to it could have no place with Him. Then He teaches them why He has debased Himself in this way. There is no other way to salvation:
After he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
John 13: 12-16
In Matthew 20, Jesus sets up two distinct groups, the princes of the Gentiles (the rulers and nations of the world) and His followers. The rulers of the nations of the world, the princes and lords of the Gentiles, rule through force. They command those beneath them and exercise authority over them. They compel obedience and use their power to exalt themselves above the masses of the common people. In other words, they are statists (“state-ists”), using their positions in government to command those beneath them and to enforce their edicts through the the military power of the government. The kingdoms of the world survive on violence, control, and domination.
In contrast is His church. Among His followers there are no human rulers or masters. No person exercises dominion, power, or control. Instead of exalting himself in power and prestige, the servant of Christ debases himself through service to others. Self-sacrifice is the foundation and power of Christianity. Service and love become the ways that Christians interact not only with each other, but the entire world. Christianity wins over the world through persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned. We do not conquer our enemies, we convert them through our love and service. We sacrifice ourselves for them in imitation of Christ’s sacrifice for all of us. And if we do not, if we abandon self-sacrifice and service for domination and power, then we have no place in or with Christ.
Which is why no Christian could be a statist, why no Christian could support any modern government.
The leaders of the modern nations of the world do not serve others. They grow fat off of tax monies extracted from the masses. They use their positions to force people to obey them through so-called laws. They exercise dominion and control over the masses and use violence against anyone who dares question or disobey. They demand privileged housing, privileged pay, privileged treatment, and privileged care. They do not serve the public, they command and we had better obey – or else. Christ explained there were two groups – the ways of the princes of the world and His way – and modern governments follow the example of the princes of the world, rejecting the ways of Christ. Anyone following after their examples and holding their positions of power and domination do the same. Which is why early Christian leaders forbade Christians from being in the military or serving in government positions. Living after the manner of the princes of the world was and is a rejection of Christ and an embrace of those princes.
Instead of the governments of the world, Christians are to look to the church as the mediator of wrongs and establisher of justice among its members. As He taught:
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Matt. 18:15-17
The word translated as “sins” above is the Greek word hamartanō. Though translated repeatedly as “sin(s)” in the scripture its technical definition is ” to miss a mark; to be in error… to be guilty of wrong” and in Acts 25:8 it is applied to the secular law of the Romans as Paul says that he has committed no offense against the laws of Caesar. This is rather significant because it means that this word did not have only a religious context, but a secular one as well. It applies to any kind of wrong or offense done, even breaking the law. Understanding this we can then apply this understanding back into Matthew 18:15-17 and realize that Christ is saying that when another member has done us wrong, whether that wrong was a religious offense, a breaking of the secular law, or both, we were not supposed to go to the Gentile legal system for redress. Instead we were (are) supposed to go to the church. The church would then judge your case and the offender, if found guilty, would be excommunicated – treated as a Gentile or a tax collector and not as a Saint.
Paul repeats this same commandment in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 when he commanded:
If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints! Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
So if you need to settle everyday matters, do you appoint as judges those of no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers? Instead, one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers!
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers!
Thus the church is meant to be a parallel institution (see the “Dissolving The State” section) that replaces the worldly government in the lives of the Saints. The church provides for the legal, welfare, social, and emotional needs of its members. Not the governments which the members of the church were not to call upon or use. If we were following Christ’s teachings as laid out in the Bible then the church would replace the secular authorities in the lives of members and the governments, causing it to weaken and, at least in truly Christian nations (meaning countries where the vast majority were dedicated, practicing Christians), to wither away altogether.
And why would Jesus be so opposed to the nations of the world that He would establish His church as a means of replacing them? The answer to that question leads us to the next section.
Luke 4: The Authority and Glory of the World
Just who is the ruler of the princes of the world?
For the answer to that we must look at Luke 4, wherein Satan tempts Christ to either sin or abandon His calling:
Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. “I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. So if You worship me, it will all be Yours.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
Luke 4: 5-8
Here the Devil tempts Christ by saying that if Christ will worship him, Satan, then he, Satan, will make Christ the ruler over all the kingdoms of the world. One might be tempted themselves to say that this is just another lie from the Father of Lies, but it doesn’t seem like that is the case. If Satan were lying about his power over the kingdoms of the world then surely Christ would have said so, calling Satan out by saying that not only would worshipping him be evil but that he also has no power to fulfill his promise because he is lying about his influence. But Jesus doesn’t do that. Instead, He takes it for granted that Satan could do just as he promised, make Jesus the glorified ruler of all the kingdoms of the world, and he rejects that promise because to worship anyone other than God is wrong.
To say that this casts the nations of the world in a bad light is to engage in vast understatement. As we saw above, Christ set up a distinction between His church and the princes of the Gentiles, the kingdoms of the world. The two are not the same. They do not operate the same. They are not led the same. As it says here in Luke, the nations of the world are not ruled or led by God. The princes of the Gentiles do not serve Christ. The nations of the world are ruled and led by Satan. And of course this makes sense given how they operate in a way completely antithetical to the way that Christ’s church operates. Of course they would be led by Satan as he is the antithesis of Christ.
The authority and methods of the nations of the world are infernalistic in nature, coming as they do from Satan. No Christian can therefore be involved in them or operate in a manner like them. To serve the governments of the world is to serve Satan and to operate in the ways they do is to operate as Satan does, both of which push forward his agenda of spreading blood and horror across the Earth in direct opposition to the work of Christ.
Mark 12: Render Unto God
Mark 12 is one of the parts of the New Testament that gets used the most when Christians (incorrectly) explain why they should be subservient to the governments of the world. I have written on it in more depth elsewhere, but here I will try and give a brief explanation of the events in this chapter and what they mean for us today.
A group of Pharisees and Herodians come to Christ with a plan to try and trap Him into saying something they can use against them, either to turn His own followers against Him or something they can use to accuse Him of a crime against the ruling Romans. They ask Him if it lawful or unlawful according to the Law of Moses (their religious law) to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus responds by calling them hypocrites (He knows their true purpose) and then asks to see a denarius, a Roman coin. Then He asks:
“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
Mark 12: 16-17
Divorced of its context it certainly sounds like Christ is teaching that it is lawful, that is in accordance with the Law of Moses and later Christian Gospel, to pay taxes and, by extension, submit to the authority of the State itself. I’m sure it would certainly sound that way to the Romans. But it didn’t sound that way to the Pharisees. They knew what Christ meant because they knew the scriptures and teachings of the prophets. They knew He was teaching people that they didn’t need to pay taxes, which is why they accused Him of that exact thing when trying to convince the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to crucify Christ later on:
Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
Luke 23:1-2
What astonished the Pharisees was not that Jesus executed some incredible act of rhetoric that avoided answer their question. What astonished them was that He so brazenly taught that it was against the laws and commandments of God to pay taxes to the government. How did He do so? He taught that we should give all that is God’s to God and all that is Caesar’s to Caesar. Naturally, we then have to ask ourselves what belongs to God that we should give it to Him and what belongs to Caesar so that we can give it to him. The Pharisees, experts as they were in the Law of Moses and teachings of the prophets, knew very well what the scriptures teach about what belongs to God. Just two examples:
The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.
(Psalm 24:1)The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah
(Haggai 2:8)
The scriptures teach that everything above the Earth, every single living creature or thing on the Earth, and everything within the Earth, including all its gold, silver, and other precious metals and stones -every single person, place, and thing along with all things that can even be thought of, that can be conceived – all of it belongs to God. So if we are to give to God all things that belong to God, that means we give Him everything. And once we have given God everything then what is left over to be given to Caesar/the governments of the world?
Nothing.
Not even the coin Jesus was holding as the metal of which the coin was made came from within the Earth and everything within and on the Earth belongs to God. And since even that coin belongs to God then what is left for us to render unto Caesar? What is left for us to give to the governments of the world once all things which belong to God have been given to Him?
Nothing.
Mark 12: 13-17 does not record Jesus teaching people to pay taxes to the government or to be subservient to it. Just the opposite. In these verses, Jesus Christ clearly teaches that no one, Christian or otherwise, is under any moral obligation to pay taxes or obey the governments of the world. If anything, the implicit suggestions is that we should disobey the governments of the world in order to better keep the commandments of God. These verses also once again set the nations of the world – symbolized by Caesar – as being in opposition to God. Therefore, to serve the nations of the world and its rulers is to serve in opposition to God.
Romans 13: Be Subject To The Governing Authorities
While I have treated Romans 13: 1-7 more in depth before, it still demands treatment here because it is the scriptural passage that is most often quoted to argue that Christians have an obligation to obey the governments under which they live. As Dr. Jacques Ellul has explained, “From the 3rd century A.D. most theologians…have focused solely on the statements of Paul in Romans 13 and preached total submission to authority.” Here is what these important verses say:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Romans 13:1-7
The issues surrounding what Paul means seem to be over what the terms “governing authorities,” “sword,” “avenger,” and “taxes,” mean and what he intended his usage of these terms to mean. In order to understand what the Apostle meant I will go back to the original Greek, re-translate these terms without a bias to make them mean obedience to the government, and simply see what they actually mean. Then I will apply those meanings to what the Apostle is saying so that we can understand what he is teaching.
First, the term “governing bodies.” The terms that Paul uses here are exousiais hyperechousais, which can literally be translated as “those who have authority above him.” This is often assumed to mean government authority, but if so then it is only ever in Romans 13 that it is used this way. In all of its other uses in the scriptures the word exousiais refers to the moral and spiritual authority of the person said to have it and not to political power. In Matthew 28:18, Christ uses the word exousiais when He declares, “All authority [exousiais] in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and in Mark 6:7 exousiais is even used to denote the priesthood authority given to the Apostles to cast out evil and wicked spirits. Indeed, it would be extremely strange for Paul to use this term at all to mean those with political or government authority because Greek had a different word that directly referred to those who held power in government – archontes. Instead he combines exousiais with hyperechousais (which means “above” or “superior to”) to give us a sentence that reads “Let every person be subject to the moral and spiritual authorities superior to him.” (Romans 13:1) Nothing about this phrase seems to really refer to the powers of the state at all. Even the concept of authority is different from those who rule through power and no earthly power has any authority as all authority belongs to Christ. It does sound like what you would expect Paul to say if he were telling members of the church to be subject to the church leaders in authority above them though as their authority is entirely based on their spiritual and and moral power.
Next, the term “sword.” Here Paul uses the term machairan which is either a short sword or a large knife, depending on the context of its use. It seems everyone agrees that as much as this could be a literal sword that it is meant to be interpreted symbolically. Those who argue that Romans 13:1-7 means we should obey the government argue the reference to a sword here is meant to represent the coercive power of the government to threaten and kill those who disobey it, i.e. to enforce its laws through violence. And it is absolutely true that a sword can symbolically mean that. It is also absolutely true that it doesn’t always mean that and can mean many other things. The Bible repeatedly uses the sword as a symbol for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the words of God to pierce the heart and soul of the hearer. (See Hebrews 4:12 and Revelation 2:16) In fact, the only other time in the entire corpus of Paul’s surviving works that the word machairan even appears comes from Ephesians 6:13-18 in Paul’s Armor of God analogy:
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword [machairan] of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Emphasis my own.
This brings us to our third word, “avenger.” With the reference to authorities in Romans 13:1 referring to moral and spiritual authorities and not state rulers there is no reason that the sword here must be literal. The sword that the moral and spiritual authorities of Romans 13:1 wield in order to ensure justice and correct evil is the Word of God or the Spirit of God, which directs their policies, rules, actions, and punishments. This is why they are an “avenger.” The Greek word translated here as avenger is ekdikos, which means “exacting penalty from one.” Needless to say, you can “exact penalty” from someone in a multitude of ways that do not require violence, force, or government action. Thus, instead of a state agent using violence to enforce the edicts of the government what Paul is talking about is the role that Church authorities have in using the Word of God in order to enforce church discipline as guided by the Spirit of God upon those who grossly violate the commandments of God.
Finally, let us review what Paul means when he says we should pay our taxes. There are actually two Greek words translated as tax in verses 6 and 7 – phorous and phoron, respectively. Phorous means “to bear” or “to carry” something. Which makes no sense in terms of taxes. One concordance seems to suggest that phorous here is a conjugation of phero which means tribute. There is good reason to think that this line out of context would mean governments. After all, tribute or taxes are paid to the government. But even under that assumption we must be wary because no where here or elsewhere does the scripture suggest you are obligated to pay taxes. Rather, as Paul explains in verse 7, you pay the tax only if you do something to incur the debt, i.e. if you travel on a toll road then you should pay the toll instead of trying to sneak on and off it without the owners catching you. Thus, even the traditional interpretation of this as government taxation seems to fall flat as, in context, Paul seems to be talking about consensual relationships and not compulsory ones – i.e. governments seizing money from the public by force is not something Christians are obligated to support or take part in.
There would seem to be another possibility as well. Since Paul is not talking about state political officials but the spiritual and moral authorities which lead and direct the church, perhaps he is speaking here not of our supposed financial obligations to the government but our actual financial obligation to God. He is talking about what we now call tithes and offerings, which we are obligated to pay and if which we do not then we are robbing God. (See Malachi 3:8-12) They are our tribute to the Lord which we pay for the upkeep of His church and so that its work may be accomplished on the Earth. As we take advantage of the benefits the church offers its members we become obligated to pay our share to ensure that the church can continue to bless the ourselves and others.
Given everything above then, Romans 13:1-7 can rightfully be understood in a way that doesn’t refer to the State at all and could read something like this:
Let every person be subject to the moral and spiritual authorities superior to him. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the the power of the Word of God in vain. For he is the servant of God, one who judges and carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay the tribute you owe the spiritual and moral authorities, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to the moral and spiritual authorities above you: tribute to whom tribute is owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
In short, Romans 13 is teaching us to obey the God-appointed and empowered authorities of His church, not the Satan-led powers of the governments of the world.
Final Thoughts
After the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, the Apostles begin to preach to the people of Jerusalem and gain converts by the thousands. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council of Jerusalem, respond by arresting the Apostles and throwing them in prison. They are freed from prison by an angel and go right back to preaching the courtyard of the Temple. Enraged, the Sanhedrin has the Apostles arrested again and brought before the council and the Sanhedrin strictly forbids the Apostles from preaching about Jesus being the Risen Lord and Messiah. The Apostle Peter responds:
“We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Acts 5: 29-32
Furious the Sanhedrin’s leaders wanted to kill the Apostles right then, but counseled to patience by the Jewish leader Gamliel, the Sanhedrin instead:
called in the apostles, they [the Sanhedrin] beat them [the Apostles] and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Acts 5: 40-42
Jesus Christ taught that a man cannot serve two masters. We must either serve God or serve anyone or anything else. But we cannot do both. (see Matt. 6:24) The Apostles clearly understood this truth. They knew that they could either serve God or they could serve Caesar, they could serve God or they could serve the government, they could serve God or they could serve Satan. They could not do both. Where the orders of the government aligned with the commandments of God then the Apostles followed the law, not because they honored or obeyed the masters of the world, but because they laws of the princes of the Gentiles coincidentally aligned with the commandments of God. When the laws of the nations of the world went against the commandments of God the Apostles had no second thoughts about breaking those laws in order to keep the commandments of God. And when the powers of the world threatened violence against the Apostles they gladly received it, taking it as a badge of honor that they could be imprisoned and suffer for Christ, and then immediately continued to break the laws upon release.
In doing so they were simply following the teachings of Jesus Christ, which always challenged the powers of the government and taught men to disobey them and to keep the commandments of God. As the Apostle Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men.” As it ever was with them, so it ever should be with us.
And that rejection of the authority of the powers of the world and assertion of the individual right to live peaceably according to the moral code and values one holds to be true above all else and to associate with those whom one chooses and shares beliefs with?
That is anarchy.
Thus, Jesus was an anarchist.
His Apostles were anarchists.
Christianity is the religion of anarchists.
And all true disciples of Jesus Christ, all Christians, are either anarchists or on the road to becoming anarchists as their conversion to Christ deepens and understanding of His Gospel grows.
