Protestant Resistance Theory

Romans 13 tells us to “be subject to the governing authorities.”

Yet the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, from Luther and Calvin to Knox, Rutherford, Junius Brutus, and others, had a problem: the rulers they were supposed to be subject to were trying to, or actually did, murder them. To understand what the Bible taught about this, they spent the better part of 200 years studying and writing about it.

The result is today the body of work we call Protestant Resistance Theory. By far the best and most accessible modern book I’ve read on this is Slaying Leviathan by Glenn Sunshine.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Sunshine’s is how well it explains the biblical and covenantal foundations of American government. And while it makes a compelling case that the founding of America is explicitly Christian, it also shows us how by the time our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, were written, secularism was already interfering with our Founders understanding of what the Bible teaches on covenantal relations between citizens, government, and God.

The most corrupting secular teaching on this topic came from Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Hobbes was a Roman Catholic, opposed to the Reformation and protestant teachings, while Locke was raised a Protestant. Yet both rejected covenant theology and its application to government. Instead, they developed social contract theory which essentially replaced God with people. With that, rather than God being the ultimate authority over a nation and its government, “We the People” became the sovereign.

If you’ve ever taken a political science class in high school or college, you get plenty of Hobbes and Locke, but likely none of Luther, Calvin, Rutherford, etc. And very few pastors get any training on the application of covenant theology to political theory, even those who understand covenant theology. Which is why political theory today is dominated by secular teaching and few pastors are able to properly articulate biblical truths on civil government to their congregations.

Since we live in a country today where Christians are arrested, jailed, fined, and berated for resisting the governing authorities, it is an appropriate time for the church to rediscover, study, and further develop this neglected doctrine of the church.

I highly recommend Sunshine’s book for everyone no matter your level of political engagement. For instance, non-politically active Christians could use it to better love their politically active Christian and non-Christian neighbors. Elders could use it to help them respond the next time lockdown orders come our way. And the entire church would benefit from learning better how to engage our rulers who are in rebellion against God–even those leaders who are Christian but ignoring Christ’s counsel.

If you want an overview of this topic without reading the book (or to supplement the book), I’d recommend watching the great 1.5-hour video of Dr. Sunshine explaining this topic (above).

For more in-depth study of this topic, I’ve put together a list of resources in this post, the Christian Foundations of Government: A Bibliography