When Being Faithful Means Saying No

Christian Resistance. It’s an uncomfortable term that, when rightly understood, simply means knowing when to say no – and then saying it.

Christians will sometimes respond with suspicion about any doctrine or teaching that appears new to them – especially one that is likely to put them at odds with the world. And so we will protest that the early church fathers, or the Apostles, or the Protestant reformers, or even Jesus, never really spoke about a particular subject very much.

This is to be expected. We usually only speak and write about things when we are confronted with them, and at the time, Jesus wasn’t confronted with 13-year-old boys identifying as non-binary space aliens. But we are.

Thankfully, the theology of Christian resistance has a long history, and we can learn a lot from those who have walked with Christ before us.

If you’re interested in reading more on the development of Christian resistance over the centuries, I recommend Lex Rex, by the otherwise quiet and unassuming puritan Samuel Rutherford or Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos by Junius Brutus. More recently, Slaying Leviathan by Glenn Sunshine or, The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World by Douglas Kelly.

On this website, you can find an example of Christian resistance in Germany or the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate from men like John Knox in Scotland. For a better understanding of the boundaries God has established for the governments of this world, you could read Jesus and Government. And, if you’re looking for a hill to die on and want to stir some repentance and faithfulness among friend or foe, you could muster the courage to read and share this article entitled, Jab Ethics and the Unborn.

Romans 13:1 teaches us that God is the one who has established all legitimate public authority, and He has done so with the instruction that we should submit ourselves to it. These authorities, at every level, are God’s servants, God’s deputies.

God established these authorities for the good of society (Romans 13:4). They function as magistrates to reward the righteous and punish the wrongdoer. They are  required by God to be a terror to those who do evil and a supporter of those who do good. And when the public authorities are working toward this end, all men are to submit willingly and gladly. Those that do not submit are in rebellion against God.

The converse is also true. If a magistrate, in the grip of strong delusion, decided to become a terror to good works and honour wicked conduct, he has effectively abdicated the role given to him by God and comes under judgement. At this point, to simply go along with it and continue handing over the Jews in your basement would also bring you under judgement.

Disobedience to tyrants is obedience to God. Benjamin Franklin

While God gives the civil authority the power to reward the good and punish the evil, He did not give them authority to define the good or the evil. The definitions belong to God. Like a waiter in a restaurant, our public servants have a responsibility to deliver the food on the plate. They do not get to decide the menu.

How, then, can Christians respond faithfully when the civil authority kicks the chef out of the kitchen and starts serving up sodomy, abortion, the physical mutilation and drugging of confused children, coercive and experimental medical procedures, and prison sentences to Christian cake decorators?

Sometimes, in order to honour God above Caesar, faithfulness means resistance.

Disobedience to tyrants is obedience to God. Benjamin Franklin

Here are a few lessons from history on what that resistance might look like, and the ways in which that resistance might please God.

Working Underground

There are times when the smartest thing to do is duck for cover (Isaiah 26:20). But this does not mean inaction. Subtlety, secrecy, prayer, fasting, and even deception, are legitimate tactics in this battle.

The midwives of the Hebrews in the days of Moses defied a direct order to act wickedly by claiming that the traffic was terrible.

Resistance by the people of God on the grounds of righteousness is not measured by how pleased the tyrant is but by how pleased God is. Pharaoh was very disappointed. But God was well pleased.

When King Ahab abandoned his responsibility to reward the good and punish the wicked by hunting down and killing all of God’s prophets, Obadiah, who was working in Ahab’s household at the time, secretly fed and housed them (1 Kings 18:4).

Is it possible to work for, and even get your salary from, an evil empire, without compromise and with definite godly action? Apparently, it is.

When the Midianite overlords began robbing the Israelites of their harvest, Gideon hid his taxable income in a wine vat ( Judges 6:11).

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson

Whether your current level of tax avoidance and cash sales are based on greed, or the fact that the first fruits belong to God and that a good deal of today’s taxation amounts to theft and a claim to deity, is something you’ll have to work out in your own heart.

When the communist Chinese government outlawed Christianity, the church held its worship underground with prayers and fasting in secret.

Whether your current circumstances are governed by a fear of man, or a desire to obey God by coming together for worship is, again, something you’ll have to work out within your own heart.

The point is that it’s possible to be faithful to God and resist evil without the use of placards, parades and petitions. Caesar is Caesar, and we are to honour him for the sake of Christ to the degree that he submits himself to God’s definitions of good and evil. But Caesar is not Lord. And Jesus is not among the gods. He is Lord. And so our petitions go to the King who stands above all kings and the Lord who sits above all lords.

On that basis, Paul defied and dodged the authorities by running a roadblock under cover of darkness in Damascus (Acts 9:24-25), while Peter conducted a prison break (Acts 12:3–19): An event, by the way, which led to the death of several prison guards – not exactly text book obedience to public authority, and not exactly a testimony the church elders would smile upon in our own day. But, there you have it.

Working Above Ground

Sometimes it’s not so easy or even possible to work underground. Sometimes, for the glory of God and the encouragement of the Saints, Christian faithfulness must take place in broad daylight.

The first and most obvious thing to say about this is that Jesus was not killed in a backyard fist fight, and He didn’t die in His sleep. He was crucified before a watching world. And He was killed, according to His foes, because He was regarded as an enemy of the state (Luke 23:1-2, Acts 17:6-8), as well as an enemy of all man-made religion.

Elijah was hunted down for the same reason. He spoke and openly resisted the government of his day. He took issue with Ahab’s false worship, not to mention the unjust killing of Naboth (1 Kings 21).

After the death of her son Ahaziah, Athaliah (Ahab’s daughter) usurped the throne of Judah and reigned for seven years. She massacred all the members of the royal house of Judah (II Kings 11:1–3) except Joash. In a striking and thankfully rare example of righteous resistance, the local authorities publicly installed Joash as King and had her cut down by the sword (2 Kings 11:13-15). I’m not recommending this, by the way. I’m just pointing out the facts of the case.

While earthly masters should be honoured and served insofar as they faithfully fulfil the role God has given them, they are not absolute. God is absolute. Our rulers will sin and fall short of the glory of God just as we will. But once they establish a sustained war on righteousness, once they begin to wage war against the image of God, they make themselves enemies of God.

The puritans publicly rejected state-run worship in England and the Huguenots publicly rejected unjust laws enforced upon the church in France. In our own day, various churches gathered for worship and Psalm-singing during recent lockdowns. They were fined but subsequently won their cases in court with the magistrate acknowledging that the mandates were unjust and unlawful.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Corrie Ten boom, Martin Luther, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Kim Davis, et al. Names we know because of their godly courage against unjust and ungodly rule.

Worship as Resistance

Once it’s been established that Christian resistance is both right and necessary at times, the most obvious question to follow is what form that resistance should ordinarily take.

This will depend largely on the thing being resisted, but the foundation of that resistance is always faithful worship.

It has often been said that worship is warfare. This statement is true and worthy of all acceptance. When we sing that Jesus is Lord, we are, ipso facto, singing that Caesar is not. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are praying, ipso facto, that all other kingdoms must bow the knee.

Joshua understood this and took Jericho with trumpets ( Joshua 6:13). Jehoshaphat understood this and appointed his choir boys as Judah’s navy seals (2 Chronicles 20:21).

The Christian church is currently surrounded by her enemies, and it is quite striking that the music we sing doesn’t have any references to those enemies. The Psalms, on the other hand, find enemies everywhere and help us understand how God would have us deal with them. Perhaps this is why we often see a return to the Psalms as the central songbook in worship during times of reformation and revival.

But worship is a two-sided coin. Not only do we sing when we gather for worship, we also eat.

In scripture, eating is both an act of worship and a means of instruction (Matthew 4:4, 1 Corinthians 11:26). Our worship includes feeding on the Word of God. And so, as part of that worship, we are taught to stop eating at some tables and start eating at others (1 Corinthians 10:21).

Resistance that is faithful to God here means withdrawing ourselves and our children from ungodly instruction. We have no business allowing our kids to eat poisoned bread and should resist the offer, no matter how convenient. Like Daniel and his friends, our seat is at the Lord’s table and we are to resist the enemy of our soul by refusing to eat his delicacies.

This is our act of worship, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, though it be an irritation to our enemies.

The Purpose of Christian Resistance

Finally, we come to the purpose and motivation for all and any resistance to unjust and ungodly authority. The purpose is never to flip the bird at our enemies but to bring glory to God and a plea or warning to His enemies.

We worship, not because we love war but because we love righteousness. We resist, not because we are itching for a fight but for the sake of a clear conscience and a love of the truth.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)

The obedient worship of God, therefore, must always be the central means and motivation of our resistance to evil. For it’s our obedience to Christ in all of life, and not blind obedience to Caesar, that is the instrumental means through which the death and resurrection of Jesus will win the nations (Deuteronomy 4:6-8, Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 3:1-2).