Christianity does not base its ideology on how the world organizes itself. Jesus taught his followers to identify themselves as spiritual beings, “in the world, but not of the world”. The relationship of a Christian to political structures, and how men organize themselves together, is one of non-alignment. We are not aligned, or conformed with the world in any way—we are neither for nor against any secular organization. Sometimes we agree with what they do and teach, and sometimes we don’t, but we can never consider ourselves to be members, or constituents of a secular system.
The challenge in applying this principle of non-alignment comes from the fact that although we don’t care about the system in and of itself, we do care about the people who put that system together—those who do believe in it. Read Matthew 17:20-30, and you’ll get a glimpse into Jesus’ perspective on the matter. He recommends that we respect secular authority, but not for the reasons that most preachers today imagine. Jesus paid his taxes, but not as a way to endorse or even acknowledge the State itself; He was thinking not about the State, but about the people. His whole vibe in that exchange with Peter was, “this is crazy, I know, but we don’t want to cause offense, so let’s just go with it.” We have an article on that issue here.
You have to be a little flexible and work with people, even though technically they’re wrong in what they’re doing. That’s the relationship that God’s People have with the so-called State. But Paul goes into more detail about how we feel about the unreasonable and baseless policies imposed on us because of other people’s adherence to imaginary systems. In 1 Corinthians 7:20-23, Paul explains the relationship between God’s economy and the secular State further: “Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.” He’s saying here that we are free people despite the fact that our decisions may at times be governed by conditions outside our physical control. We’ll go into a lot of detail on this issue, considering issues of civil disobedience, and other important points that most preachers usually find more convenient to whitewash.
The question we need to ask is: “What does Caesar deserve; what is due to Caesar in this situation?” Jesus once showed Peter a coin to illustrate, since Caesar was asking for coins. And Jesus’ point was that although the gold belongs to God who created it, Caesar (the State) is the one that established the commercial value for that gold. So if Caesar wants his coin back, then give it to him. But when Caesar asks for stuff that belongs to God, then tell him to be on his way. That’s as simple as it is. We support the people who support the system, and that is why, even though we don’t believe in the system itself for a second, we always play along. And we always will, for as long as people believe in it, because we love the people. This is why Christians are always able to lead the people, because we appreciate where they are, and at the same time we see a bigger picture, of where we all should be.
Politically, Christians are totally free. God and His Children are sovereign—joint rulers over the earth, by the power of God’s Word. And we do mean that practically—our freedom is not some “pie in the sky” fanciful dream, as many preachers would have us believe. However, leaders in the world system need to understand that this statement does not constitute any threat to their own goals and power. To the contrary, we believe that it is our Father, God, who establishes those earthly rulers. So we also support them to the extent that God supports them.
Sounds crazy? You bet! Read the account of Herod’s reaction to Jesus at Jesus’ “trial”. You’ll see, Herod also thought we were crazy. But we’re not! We just know something that other people don’t.
