The Second Helvetic Confession - Chapter 30
Of the Magistracy
The Magistracy Is from God.
Magistracy of every kind is instituted by God himself for the peace and
tranquillity of the human race, and thus it should have the chief place in the
world. If the magistrate is opposed to the Church, he can hinder and disturb it
very much; but if he is a friend and even a member of the Church, he is a most
useful and excellent member of it, who is able to benefit it greatly, and to
assist it best of all.
<The author here reflects the pragmatic experience of
the church, which at times past had both been helped and hindered by the civil
magistrates. This is not the purpose for which God created the office. God
created and ordained the offices of civil magistrates for the sole purpose of
punishing evil and protecting the righteous.
For this reason God commanded that His people obey and respect the
office, for it is ordained of God and despite earthly appearance of misuse of
the office, the magistrate (civil governors at all levels) are of God and in the
Bible are called God’s ministers. >
The Duty of the Magistrate.
The chief duty of the magistrate is to secure and preserve peace and public
tranquillity. Doubtless he will never do this more successfully than when he is
truly God-fearing and religious; that is to say, when, according to the example
of the most holy kings and princes of the people of the Lord, he promotes the
preaching of the truth and sincere faith, roots out lies and all superstition,
together with all impiety and idolatry, and defends the Church of God. We
certainly teach that the care of religion belongs especially to the holy
magistrate.
<Christian rulers at all levels would be most desirable.
However among men this will not happen because of the lust and sin that lies
just beneath the skin so to speak in the believer as well as the unbeliever. At
all times we will find in places both just and unjust rulers among men. Because
a ruler (magistrate) is unjust does not give permission to disobey the
magistrate. Consider the entire life of Christ who at no place decries the
tyranny of Rome, but does point to the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the
Jews. In a like manner the command
to obey the magistrates appointed over the Christian is not permission to sin in
obeying the magistrate. There is a fine line here that must be
prayed over long and thoughtfully before disobeying the magistrate. God is
concerned with the spiritual matters more than the civil or society, thus Christ
did confront the religious leaders of His day. An essential here is the question
does it prohibit the worship of God alone? Christ ran the moneychangers out of
the temple twice. He did so because they profaned the worship of God with their
interference and unfair ways. Christ did not go into the streets and chastise
the unfair lending practices of the moneychangers in other places. Christians do
not belong in jail for disobedience to civil law when that law does not directly
forbid the proper worship of God. >
Let him, therefore, hold the Word of God in his
hands, and take care lest anything contrary to it is taught. Likewise let him
govern the people entrusted to him by God with good laws made according to the
Word of God, and let him keep them in discipline, duty and obedience. Let him
exercise judgment by judging uprightly. Let him not respect any man's person or
accept bribes. Let him protect widows, orphans and the afflicted. Let him punish
and even banish criminals, impostors and barbarians. For he does not bear the
sword in vain (Rom. 13:4).
<Remember the culture times this was written in. The
concept is not wrong; the world has just left behind godly living as a part of
the civil life and government. The reformation was used by the devil to bring
this to be in many ways. The Protestant reformation ended the dominion of the
Roman Church over the nations of the earth. This ultimate power being broken
gave space for others to create their own version of the reformation. The vast
majority of denominations today had their birth during the reformation as the
independent spirit of man refused control by God or man and several
denominations were born which had a lot of differences in both theology and
polity. For example, Lutherans, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, and others
came into being within the first years of the reformation period. This does not
condemn these different churches as being of Satan. This says Satan used the
spirit of man and the unsettled times to lead man astray. Many so-called
Para-church organizations today came from this same temptation of the devil.
That is Satan sowing seeds of discord whereby one with what he perceives to be
the command of God to enter a certain ministry sets out alone when the church
does not fully endorse this new ministry. There is only one source of power and
authority, Jesus Christ. The body of Christ cannot be divided. Yet, this is the
situation and not only do we find division within the church, but the addition
of many other ministries in the name of Christ that have no connection with the
church politically speaking.
Thus we have a problem of government or polity in the
church itself. Under this circumstance how can we expect to see holiness and
unity in the civil arena? The
city-state of Geneva rebelled under Calvin and godly rule. Bullinger has set
before us the biblical standard and the one for civil government, which we can
see; even this early into the reformation was corrupt as the Helvetic
here makes allowance for such corruption. Likewise Calvin addresses this same
issue. The same situation we find with the ancient church of the Old Testament
when the nation of Israel against the warning of God demanded a king.
All of which does not negate the first Word of God or change the standard
toward which the church must ever strive to reach. Thus this word from the
reformation as in this confession is valid for today. >
Therefore, let him draw this sword of God against
all malefactors, seditious persons, thieves, murderers, oppressors, blasphemers,
perjured persons, and all those whom God has commanded him to punish and even to
execute. Let him suppress stubborn heretics (who are truly heretics), who do not
cease to blaspheme the majesty of God and to trouble, and even to destroy the
Church of God.
<What a fantastic thought, that the government would
actually protect the church. For such cause the government was created, however
I think even in the beginning when God revealed this Word to the apostle, it was
never intended to be a protection of the church alone. Some of the crimes listed
are not and have never been under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. We find
no place in the New Testament where the church was commanded to destroy the
pagan societies around her, or even over throw the vile Roman Government under
which she was born. Rather the church was commanded to obey all magistrates and
live peacefully. Separation of church and state has been bent out of shape in
the world today, but has its foundations in the Bible. Consider that Lot did not
attempt to destroy the cities of the plain but lived there, vexed by what
surrounded him. God in His own time brought the downfall of these sinful cities.
>
War. And if it is necessary
to preserve the safety of the people by war, let him wage war in the name of
God; provided he has first sought peace by all means possible, and cannot save
his people in any other way except by war. And when the magistrate does these
things in faith, he serves God by those very works, which are truly good, and
receives a blessing from the Lord.
<This is on a more solid foundation as the purpose is
stated to be the protection of the people, not the church. In righteously
completing the duty assigned the magistrate will reach the goal and peace will
be maintained. Nonetheless God’s providence in ordering the final outcome of
it all has in the past let evil governments prevail for a season over the
supposed righteous side of wars. Speaking from personal experience, I have been
on the battlefields of the world. I have killed with these hands and stand
before you with bloody hands. Through many years I have struggled with this very
thing in prayer before God, both before and after the deeds. The civil
magistrate said go, these are enemies of the state, kill them. I obeyed the
command to go and to kill. Was this
sin? Should Christians be engaged in any war? These are both personal and
corporate questions. The explanation that the command do not kill means do not
murder isn’t good exegesis of the original language. The answer lies in taking
the context of the whole Bible before making hard line decisions about what is
and is not sin. The complete Bible gives exceptions and permits certain things
to be done which in general would appear to be forbidden. This is not conflict
between commands in the Bible, It is the limitation of human language in
understanding the fullness of the Word of life that God has given to us through
mortal beings accepting this limitation of language and thought in doing so. For
the one who is so bound by conscience to not go is not sinful. For the one who
sees the freedom or even command to go, to not do so would be sin. So even in
places where we seem to have firm commands without any room for doubt,
prayerfully consider the whole reveal Word of God and judge not where god says
do not judge. >
We condemn the Anabaptists, who, when they deny
that a Christian may hold the office of a magistrate, deny also that a man may
be justly put to death by the magistrate, or that the magistrate may wage war,
or that oaths are to be rendered to a magistrate, and such like things.
<God established capital punishment soon after the
destruction of the earth by flood. Most see the beginning of civil government at
this point in the Bible where God says that when man sheds blood that by the
hand of man God will require that person’s blood.
Some have wrongly denied that man had the authority to take the life of another
under any circumstance. The Scriptures say differently and the Helvetic
here takes issue with this error. We see the same rules become the law of God in
the Law as given at Sinai and what became the Law of the Jewish nation in a
theocracy that remains the law of land even after kings are introduced into the
system of government. All of the positions refuted in this paragraph are
contrary to how God set up the government of the Jewish nation, so quite
ancient. God has not withdrawn the first dot of His Holy Word and will not.
Christ testifying that not one jot will be done away with until the end of the
earth. >
The Duty of Subjects. For
as God wants to effect the safety of his people by the magistrate, whom he has
given to the world to be, as it were, a father, so all subjects are commanded to
acknowledge this favor of God in the magistrate. Therefore let them honor and
reverence the magistrate as the minister of God; let them love him, favor him,
and pray for him as their father; and let them obey all his just and fair
commands. Finally, let them pay all customs and taxes, and all other such dues
faithfully and willingly. And if the public safety of the country and justice
require it, and the magistrate of necessity wages war, let them even lay down
their life and pour out their blood for the public safety and that of the
magistrate. And let them do this in the name of God willingly, bravely and
cheerfully. For he who opposes the magistrate provokes the severe wrath of God
against himself.
<Remove a couple of words and you have one of the most
perfect articulations of the duty of the Christian toward the government of his
nation ever written. There is no biblical place to justify civil disobedience
because the civil government has made an unjust or unfair law or ruling.
Simply put the Bible says obey them, not just when they are fair and
just. This rule is reinforced by the teachings of Paul who tells servants
(slaves) to obey their masters.
Surely if any were justified in opposing one appointed over them in the
providence of God it would be any slave, and how much more justified then the
slave of a cruel master. Yet we find nothing resembling this in the Bible. To
oppose the government of a nation is surely against the providential hand of God
and an act of unfaithfulness toward God. Unfaithfulness because God has so
placed us in this place under this authority. Let not then pride and the spirit
of the individuals being tempted by Satan rise up against this God given
government, despite what this government is or is not. >
Sects and Seditions. We,
therefore, condemn all who are contemptuous of the magistrate - rebels, enemies
of the state, seditious villains; finally, all who openly or craftily refuse to
perform whatever duties they owe.
<This is in accord with what I have just written
concerning this issue. Again we see the whole thought of the author would appear
to contradict, when in fact careful examination will show him justified by
Scripture and the whole of his position on any given topic. Yet how many wars
Christians have instigated in what was called a just cause?
Not so for the Scripture commands us to live at peace with all men, by so
much as possible.
The Scriptures in Galatians chapter five speaks of the fruit of the
Holy Spirit and in this list we find peace. Now this doesn’t speak to peace
with God alone, but peace in life, even as the Gospel is spoken of as the Gospel
of peace having this same dual meaning and application. >
We beseech God, our most merciful Father in
heaven, that he will bless the rulers of the people, and us, and his whole
people, through Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Savior; to whom be praise and
glory and thanksgiving, for all ages. Amen.
<A prayer for all seasons and all times as long as our
Lord tarries in His return for the children of the covenant. A most fit ending
to any confession whereby men might say “I believe” and thus walk together
before God. To which I can only add the words of the beloved apostle John and
say, even so Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen. >
