Thinking in Christ — Issue 32: The King Who Appoints Kings

"Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God." (Rom 13:1)

The age has a counsel for civic and political life, and it sounds like wisdom. Gather information from diverse and reliable sources, and beware of misinformation. Scrutinize the arguments of politicians and public figures, and weigh their evidence. Evaluate policy proposals by their impact, their feasibility, and their alignment with justice, fairness, and the common good. Engage in civil discourse, listen to different viewpoints, and seek common ground. Fact-check claims, examine biases and funding sources, and reflect on your own assumptions. Participate in local and national politics, vote from an informed understanding, and advocate for transparency and accountability. On this telling, the good citizen is the citizen well equipped, and the common good is built by minds that manage themselves well.

Therefore this issue must ask what the counsel assumes. It assumes a citizen who can stand apart from his own party, his own interest, and his own appetite, weigh the arguments cleanly, and choose what serves the common good. It assumes a neutral mind, a mind that belongs to itself and only needs better sources. But no mind is neutral (Rom 12:2, paraphrased). The mind is either renewed by the Word or conformed to the world, and there is no third position from which to judge fairly. Apart from Christ, the understanding is darkened (Eph 4:18, paraphrased), and the heart that does the judging deceives the will that judges (Jer 17:9, paraphrased). A man can master every civic skill the age offers and still argue with a darkened heart, skillfully. The trouble with political discourse is not only that some of it lies. It is that the citizen himself is not a clean instrument, and no fact-check cleans him.

Consider first the anchor, and what it renames. "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God." (Rom 13:1) Authority is not presented here as something the people create, lend, or withdraw at will. It is presented as something God ordains. The ruler does not stand above God, waiting for the citizen's permission to exist. He stands under God, holding an office God gave him. That single sentence changes every question the age asks. The question is not only whether a policy works, or whether a candidate speaks well, or whether a party serves your interest. The question is whether the citizen recognizes the hand that set the ruler where he stands, and whether he will honor God by honoring the office without worshiping the man.

Because of this, the rise and fall of rulers must be told the truth about itself. The age treats elections, revolutions, and reforms as the people's own work, as if history were written by majorities. Scripture names a higher author: "He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;" (Dan 2:21) The king who rises did not rise by his own strength alone, and the king who falls did not fall by accident. God removes and God sets up. This does not make every ruler good, and it does not make every law just. It makes every ruler accountable, and it makes every citizen's hope rest somewhere other than the next election. The man who believes his party must save the nation has already mistaken a servant for a savior. The man who believes his vote is the foundation of order has already mistaken a tool for a throne.

Likewise, the citizen's first civic duty must be put in its order. The age puts information first: gather diverse sources, then judge. Scripture puts prayer first. The citizen is urged to pray for all men, for kings and all in high places, that a quiet and peaceable life may be led in godliness and honesty (1 Tim 2:1-2, paraphrased). Prayer comes before policy because the ruler's heart is not the citizen's to steer, and the citizen's own heart is not his to trust. The man who begins with prayer confesses that he does not rule the city, and that the city does not rule him. The man who begins with outrage confesses the opposite. He believes the argument must be won before peace can come, and so peace never comes, because the argument never ends. Prayer does not replace judgment. It places judgment where it belongs: under God, after supplication, before speech.

For this reason, diverse sources and fact-checking must be put in their order. Reading widely, checking claims, and asking who funds the speaker are useful acts of stewardship. A mind renewed by the Word does this work carefully. Yet evidence is corroboration, never the foundation of faith (1 John 5:9-10, paraphrased), and it is not the foundation of civic wisdom either. A claim can be checked by every fact-checker, confirmed by every outlet, and repeated by every expert, and still be a lie told in the right direction, because the consensus of partisans measures agreement, not truth. Sources tell you what other servants believe. They cannot tell you whom you serve. The finest archive in the world is not the one that binds. The binding question is the one the anchor asks: is there authority except from God, and does this argument honor Him?

Here, then, civility must be restored to its place, because civility is not a technique for winning debates. The age tells the citizen to listen respectfully, avoid personal attacks, and seek common ground, as if tone were the cure for division. Tone helps, but tone does not heal. A man can speak softly while hating his neighbor, and he can seek common ground only to stand on it with his own tribe. Scripture gives a harder rule and a deeper reason: "If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men." (Rom 12:18) Peace is pursued, not because the opponent deserves it, but because the citizen answers to God. Honor is owed to all men, fear is owed to God, and honor is owed to the king (1 Pet 2:17, paraphrased). The order matters. Fear God first, and the king is honored without being worshiped. Honor the king first, and God is soon forgotten. The citizen who fears God can speak plainly without cruelty, because his opponent is not his enemy in the final sense. The citizen who fears his opponent's party cannot speak plainly at all, because every word is a weapon and every silence is surrender.

At the same time, obedience must be faced as bounded, not absolute. The ruler is God's servant, and the citizen is told to be in subjection. Yet the same Scripture that commands subjection also sets its limit, and the limit is not the citizen's preference. It is God's command. When the council commanded silence, the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) The citizen therefore obeys the ruler where the ruler's command does not contradict God's, and disobeys where it does, and he bears the cost of that disobedience without claiming that his conscience makes him his own king. Autonomy is denied in every definition (Rom 6, paraphrased). The citizen is not autonomous from the ruler, and he is not autonomous from God. He is a slave to one or the other, and the question is never whether he will serve. It is whom he will serve when the two commands collide. The man who disobeys every law he dislikes is not obedient to God. He is obedient to himself. The man who obeys every law without question has mistaken the ruler for God.

This is where the testimony reaches its center, and the center holds both the citizen and the city. "Jesus answered, 'My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.'" (John 18:36) The Kingdom of Christ does not arrive by the methods of this world, and it is not defended by them. Its citizens do not fight for it as parties fight for power, because their King was not delivered by force and does not need force to keep His throne. Therefore the citizen's politics cannot be the Kingdom's politics in the world's sense. He votes, he speaks, he serves his neighbor, and he does all of it as a man whose citizenship is elsewhere: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;" (Phil 3:20) Heaven is not an escape from the city. It is the city that judges every city, and the citizen who knows his true city can love his earthly city without worshiping it, and criticize it without despairing over it.

So let the final word reverse the age's counsel. Do not gather, check, weigh, and debate until the discourse rewards you with certainty. Begin where the anchor begins. "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God." (Rom 13:1) Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's: "They said to him, 'Caesar's.' Then he said to them, 'Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'" (Matt 22:21) Pray before you post. Check the claim, and check the heart that wants it true. Speak plainly, and refuse both flattery and hatred, because neither is peace. Obey where you can, disobey where God commands, and bear the cost without calling yourself free. Apart from Christ, the citizen is carried about by every wind of party and outrage (Eph 4:14, paraphrased in part). In Christ, he is a citizen of heaven, and his speech in the city confesses the King who appointed every king and will judge them all.

God gives the increase. The citizen does not build the Kingdom by winning the argument. He announces the King, and the King rules.