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The Political Order
315
This does not mean that the citizen in a democratic country will not
sometimes find it necessary to obey a law simply because it is law.
But under such circumstances he must recognize his own responsibility
—not just that of the governing authorities—for upholding the sanc
tity of law and for maintaining the orderly processes of community
life even though he may personally wish that the particular law were
not in effect. If the occasion arises when he believes that he must
disobey a specific law for the sake of conscience, he has a responsibil
ity to do so in such a way as not to undermine respect for all law
and civil authority. Moreover, whenever he believes a law to be
unjust, he has a duty to do what he can to change it by participation
in the normal and legal processes whereby laws are made, amended,
and repealed. In those countries where citizens have an opportunity
to participate in the processes of government, obedience to God is
not the same thing as mere submission to those who are in authority
at a particular time. Rather, it involves the responsibility to assist
those in authority in performing their appointed tasks by giving them
support, by keeping their actions under continuous criticism, and
by preparing to replace the governing authorities themselves when
this seems necessary in the interest of better government.
THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE STATE
At this point, before turning to an analysis of the relationships
between Christian faith and democracy as a form of government on
the one hand and the relationships between Christian ethics and
responsible citizenship on the other, it will be helpful to consider
briefly the nature and purpose of the state from the standpoint of
biblical faith. And here a distinction needs to be made between the
political order and the state. In the sense that man is destined by
the nature with which he is endowed to live, not as an independent
solitary individual, but in community with other men, and indeed
as a member of the community which includes all human beings,
the political order is an order of creation.
Just as marriage and eco
nomic exchange and cooperation stem from man’s divinely given
nature, and thus represent the intent of the Creator, so man’s tendency
to be drawn together into groups in order that he may achieve that
community or oneness with his fellows to which his incompleteness
points is an expression of the purpose of the Creator for man. The
community which is intended in marriage and in the economic order