Is Government Good or Bad?
There’s one biblical passage that gets quoted the most often in our conversations about politics in America: Romans 13. You don’t even need to specify what verses you’re talking about or explain how you’re applying the verse, most people use “Romans 13” as shorthand for: obey the government. When we isolate our biblical theology of politics to this one verse, we can think the Bible as a whole is totally rosy about political life. The government is good, Paul seems to be saying (“The authorities that exist have been established by God,” verse 1 says), and we should submit to it. Paul doesn’t give any caveats or reservations.
But what about Revelation 13? That chapter describes a beast and a dragon ruling over the earth, with humans worshiping them. And this isn’t just a spiritual battle, this chapter describes all social and economic and political life as ordered and dominated by these dark spiritual forces. It describes Christians being killed for their witness, and John says, “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people” (v. 10).
A Christian understanding of politics has to hold together both Romans 13 and Revelation 13, knowing that God has ordained human government for our good and yet we fail over and over again to use political power well. There is great possibility for faithful witness and great spiritual darkness in political life. We won’t live faithfully in our inevitably political world if we don’t hold these things together in tension.
Resources
Comfort and Protest by Allan Boesak - a great book on Revelation
The Bible in Politics by Richard Bauckham The Bible in Politics
Prayer
Almighty God, who created us in your own image: Grant us grace
fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with
oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help
us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities
and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
-From the Book of Common Prayer, a Prayer for Social Justice