Many passages of Scripture address the complicated relationships and tensions between secular and spiritual authority. The Gospel for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity is Matthew 22:15-22, and it involves a situation where opponents try to trick Christ on political matters. Jesus avoids their trap, but more significantly, He offers believers a general principle concerning government authority. In St. Matthew 22: 21, our Lord tells us all, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s." In other words, secular leaders may make some legitimate demands upon residents of their jurisdictions, but God our Creator has even higher claims upon every human being.
We see applications of this principle in other New Testament passages. In Acts 5, the Temple authorities (who had certain civic powers over Jews) prohibited preaching about Christ. However, the Apostle Peter and the other apostles replied, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). Later, Peter encouraged appropriate obedience to human ordinances and rulers (I Peter 2: 13-17), even though according to tradition, he died for witnessing to the Faith under the tyrant Nero. The Apostle Paul encouraged Christians to be subject to secular authority for the sake of good conscience and public order (Romans 13:1-7). Yet, he too kept preaching the Gospel and was martyred in Rome. In addition, in the Epistle selection for this Sunday, Paul reminds believers that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20, Coverdale & ESV).
These Scriptural ideas have been developed and applied in differing ways over the centuries. There often remain questions of application. Sometimes, there are extreme positions. Some political systems exalt their power above all religious and moral views. Some religious groups want all public life to reflect their sectarian preferences. A reasonable Christian position falls between such extremes. We live in two kingdoms: the divine kingdom and the earthly kingdom. Christians love their homelands and nations but do not worship them. Christians should support public order and safety, but we should also be firmly committed to the spiritual and moral principles received from Scripture and universal Christian Tradition.
Christians should recognize at least three points about worldly governments. 1) Governments have a role to play in promoting order and restraining evil. 2) All human governments are imperfect and tend to claim too much power for themselves. 3) No secular system, not even at its best, should be confused with the kingdom of God.
As Christians, we should emphasize our spiritual loyalties. While we honor Caesar's legitimate functions, we worship God alone and owe Him our highest obedience. Christ is King over all. We continue to pray for our governments and public officials, but Christians look beyond them, always seeking to live in ways consistent with our heavenly citizenship.
