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needs to find expression also in the formation of a more comprehen
sive and inclusive association wherein the manifold relations and
interdependencies of men are recognized and their conflicts resolved.
In this sense man is a “political animal” by creation; and considering
the process from the standpoint of biblical monotheism and the
biblical understanding of the nature and destiny of man, we ought to
“regard the growth of ever larger circles of community to the very
limit of a unity which will include all who bear the name of
man
,
not as a merely historical fact but as an indication of the Divine Will
of the Creator.”4 This does not mean that the divine will can be
equated with every form of world order but, rather, that the intent of
the Creator is that the essential oneness of humanity should be ef
fectively manifest while at the same time the dignity and the freedom
of the individual are preserved and adequate provision is made for
many less inclusive groups with natural interests and ties.
Whereas the political order must be understood, first of all, as an
order of creation in that it represents the intent of God quite apart
from sin that men should live in political communities rather than
as isolated, independent beings,
the state
—insofar as it is an instru
ment of coercion—must be theologically understood, first of all, as
an order for sin
in that its coercive character is made necessary by
sin. As such, it represents the will of the Judge, or Orderer, rather
than the Creator; for the necessity that what is required for the wel
fare of the people as a whole must be forced upon a reluctant citizenry
is the result of sin and not of the nature of man as he is by creation.
Apart from sin there would doubtless be many conflicts of interests
stemming out of the variety of relationships existing among men as
social beings, but if it were not for sin such conflicts could be re
solved without resort to compulsion.
In order for the state to perform its ordering function effectively,
it must have
sovereign power.
Indeed, so essential is sovereign power
to a state that the latter may in fact be defined as that “organ of the
community which lays down laws and enforces them with supreme
power for the purpose of furthering the common life.”5 In a sinful
society, man as a “political animal” needs the state as an instrument
of coercion in order to secure the order and the harmony which are
4 Emil Brunner,
The Divine Imperative
, trans. by Olive Wyon, New York,
The Macmillan Company, 1942, p. 444.
5 George F. Thomas,
Christian Ethics and Moral Philosophy
, New York,
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1955, p. 265.
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Biblical Faith and Social Ethics