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It is important to recognize the differences between the situation
confronted by the early Christians in the first and second centuries
and that confronted by ourselves, for unless we do so we are likely
to suppose that concern with political problems is alien to Christian
faith. If we understand these differences, however, we are able to
see that such concern is implicit in the heart of this faith—in the
belief in the sovereignty of God and in the injunction to love the
neighbor.
The primary basis for Christian concern with the political order
and the chief motivation for any effort to institute political reform are
to be found, therefore, not in the few isolated bits of political counsel
in the New Testament but rather in the faith which undergirds the
teaching and practice of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament.
Jesus, like the prophets before him, points men to God who is the
Lord of heaven and earth, and he teaches them to pray that His will
may be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” He reveals the power and
the goodness and the love of God, and he teaches men to love God
with heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love their neighbors as
themselves. Behind the teaching and the actions of Jesus in relation
to the political authorities and the political factions of his day is his
faith in the living God whom he meets even here as Creator, as
Governor, and as Redeemer. This is the God whom he trusts as his
Heavenly Father and whose will he undertakes to do in every situa
tion. Always this means trusting God and loving the neighbor in his
need. The Christian’s orientation toward the state and his understand
ing of political responsibility in a democratic country begin, there
fore, with the consideration of what it means for one who has political
power to be responsible before a righteous God for the exercise of this
power. Or, putting the matter another way but a way which means the
same thing, what does it mean for one who has political power to love
the neighbor who is affected by the exercise or the failure to exercise
this power?
In view of the rise and growth of democracy in many countries,
the Pauline-Petrine doctrine of obedience to the governing authorities
needs to be converted into new concepts which are more relevant to
the existing relationship between the state and the people. Professor
John Bennett suggests that the words “responsibility” and “participa
tion” are more adequate at this point than the word “obedience.”3
314
Biblical Faith and Social Ethics
3
Ibid.,
p. 52.