A Lesson in Liberty from the (Pseudo) Pandemic

When the pseudo-COVID19 pandemic hit, I was glad that my family attended the church that we did. Our church was shut down for about a short of time as any other church in town. But I was a bit disappointed that that there was little discussion about what limits there might be on our Romans 13 obligation to honor and obey the government’s order to shut down gathered worship. We simply shut down when the government said we must and opened back up when the government said we could. I believe, though, there is more to it than that.

Pastor Douglas Wilson provides a great discussion in his recent article about how a Romans 13 analysis should also include some investigation into whether the rulers giving us orders are themselves obeying their orders from God. These orders would include their responsibility to “not [be] a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:3). Ultimately, Wilson explains the question is whether the rulers are submitting to God or seeking to be gods themselves:

The issue at stake was limited government. Consistent Christians believe in limited government because they believe in both the sovereignty of God, and in the fallenness of man. With regard to the former, only God is infinite, which means that only God is capable of unlimited authority over anything. Only God is capable, and so if there is no God over the state, then the state becomes god . . . an incapable god.

Christians must submit to their rulers as those rulers are established by God. Yet there are limits to our submission. As Wilson explains, since rulers are deacons of God, “this would mean that Christians understand them to be limited in their authority. For any Christian to acquiesce to the claim that any human government can be boundless or unlimited is to fall into idolatry.”

Thus, says Wilson:

We render to God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. One of the things that belongs to God, and not to Caesar, is the determination of what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar. Caesar does not get to determine that because Caesar is merely a deacon. He is assigned by God to a particular role. At the same time, part of that role is to make sure the citizenry stays in line—but with line defined by God.

When the government tells us we cannot gather together in the worship of God–which God tells us is required, it is up to us to determine whether the government is going beyond its role of protecting us. The same thing goes for when government tells us we cannot work, or care for our sick relatives, etc. If we find that our rulers are seeking to become like God, then it is our duty as best we can to oppose them.