Nevertheless, in our current context, I do not believe civil disobedience is warranted. I do so for a number of reasons. But at the forefront is that Christians have a duty laid out in scripture to obey the civil magistrate, even when we disagree with them, and even when it hurts us.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been disastrous for many people, especially those who have lost their lives, loved ones, or their jobs. Added to these tangible losses, friends, neighbours, families, and even churches have been divided over the measures various governments have taken to deal with the virus’ spread.

Masks are certainly an annoyance. For those who have health problems or those who are required to work for long hours with one on their face, they are worse.

Social distancing measures can also be difficult and are especially hard during holidays. This will be the first Christmas in my entire life that I won’t get to spend with family as border restrictions won’t allow me to come back to Canada without quarantining for two weeks. As I have a short window of time before I need to return to Colorado, it wouldn’t be worth it. This is very upsetting to me and my family.

In light of all of this, what has given me cause for concern is to see how many solid, evangelical churches are responding to government mandates on limiting worship gatherings. To be sure, I agree with the sentiment that “church is essential” and that God wants his people to gather each Lord’s Day to worship him. There is no doubt that God cares deeply about public worship (Exodus 4:23). So I appreciate pastors who are struggling through the issue of whether to close their church doors under a government mandate.

The temptation for civil disobedience is both understandable and strong.

Nevertheless, in our current context, I do not believe civil disobedience is warranted. I do so for a number of reasons. But at the forefront is that Christians have a duty laid out in scripture to obey the civil magistrate, even when we disagree with them, and even when it hurts us.

In familiar words, the apostle Paul makes clear our need to submit to the governing authorities in Romans 13:1-7, which we must not pay mere lip-service to. Paul certainly didn’t. The Roman Christians, whose emperor was likely Nero,[1] were told in verse 1: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

In Ephesians 5:24 he uses the same word for “be subject to” (hypotasso) to speak of the church’s submission to Christ. There is an obvious hierarchy laid out by God and the Roman Christians are to obey the pagan governing authorities who had been set above them by God himself.

Peter makes the same point, with the same word for “subjection,” when he says: “Submit [hypotasso] yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority:

whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:13-17).

Immediately after this Peter tells the churches in Asia Minor that slaves are to be subject (same word) to their masters, even when the masters are harsh.

With such strong admonitions in scripture to be subject to the government, why do Reformed Protestants so quickly decide to engage in civil disobedience?[2]

Persecution in historical context

Wearing masks and lockdowns do not amount to religious persecution. We are not living under the persecutions of a new Clarendon Code that restricted Nonconformist worship in seventeenth-century England. Churches and Christians are not being singled out; these measures are impacting everyone across the globe regardless of religious belief.

However, there are inconsistencies of application and abuses of the restrictions from various governments. For example, California’s governor has infamously abused his governmental powers during the pandemic – but does this give Christians grounds to disobey? Even though Governor Newsom is not following his own directives, this does not mean that Christians get to disobey. We should not act like a child who sees another eating cookies without permission and thinks that they now have the right to do it too.

Even some Reformed Christians who prize their theological heritage have decided to resist civil authorities. That is surprising because the Reformed tradition is replete with statements indicating almost absolute subjection to ruling authorities, whether they are good for bad.

That said, Reformed theology has a “resistance theory” to follow when governments expect Christians to directly contravene God’s law – for instance, if we were being forced to pay spiritual worship to the state as in the Roman Empire. As Peter said in Acts 5:29, we are to “obey [peitharcheo] God rather than humans.” But this is the same Peter who also told us to honour the Emperor.[3]

Many Reformed Christians who are faced with the potential closures of churches (for a time) focus on how our Protestant forebears resisted tyranny. But they should also consider how the Reformers told us to submit to ruling authorities, even ones who are awful, in accordance with Scripture.

Reformed teaching on obedience to authority

In the following, I have collected a series of quotes to illustrate the Reformed notion of obedience to the civil magistrate. Such quotes might be surprising to some readers, but this is standard fare for the Reformed tradition – the civil magistrate has God-given authority, even over the church and has the right to close church doors for the common good during times like a plague or a pandemic.

I have selected sources from well-known theologians like Calvin, and obscure ones like a Bremen physician. I have also chosen from confessional documents, which are especially relevant for denominations who are bound to obey them.[4]

I know that these quotes are selective, but they are also representative. Together, they show a remarkable consistency on views of the civil government.[5] I have tried to give further resources in footnotes to help readers dig more deeply into this issue. All of this is to illustrate the point that if we take our Reformed heritage seriously, we need to take it seriously on the question of obedience to the government. This is what it means to care for our flocks; this is what it means to love our neighbours.

John Calvin: “Whether Deserving or Not”

John Calvin had a clear and uncompromising understanding of obedience to the civil magistrate. Calvin was well-acquainted with government persecution. Recall that he had to flee France for Geneva when the French authorities cracked down on the fledgling Protestant movement. Calvin was also pastor to French refugees who had to leave their homeland due to religious persecution. Book 4 of the Institutes of the Christian Religion lays out Calvin’s thought on the civil magistrate in detail and it merits a more detailed examination that I cannot provide here.

There he makes statements like: “Wherefore no man can doubt that civil authority is, in the sight of God, not only sacred and lawful, but the most sacred, and by far the most honourable, of all stations in mortal life” (4.20.4). As such, Christians must pay honour to the governing authorities. I’m sure many would be surprised that he would place the magistrate in such high regard! Earlier in the Institutes, he, like many of the Reformers, argued that the injunction of the Fifth Commandment, to honour your father and mother, equally applied to rulers.

The following quote applies this both to just and unjust rulers: “The Lord here lays down this universal rule — viz. that knowing how every individual is set over us by his appointment, we should pay him reverence, gratitude, obedience, and every duty in our power. And it makes no difference whether those on whom the honour is conferred are deserving or not” (2.8.35-36).

Do we think of our Prime Minister or President like a parent? Note that last line as well, Calvin is saying that there are some rulers who deserve to be honoured because they themselves are honourable. Yet, there are others who are not and though they do not deserve to be honoured, we are to give it to them nevertheless. How often do we see Christians take to social media to run rulers into the ground? Calvin tells us that we need to do better.

French Confession: “Honor … Them in All Reverence”

The French Confession of Faith[6] was written in 1559 for the newly planted church in Paris. The French Protestants had been experiencing persecution and many fled to Geneva to be ministered to by Calvin. From there he trained ministers and sent them back to France as missionaries. As part of this mission, Calvin helped the French Protestants in the framing of this Confession. In less than 20 years they would undergo brutal persecution in 1572 at the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

In speaking of the civil magistrate, this confession reflects Calvin’s thought in Book 4 of the Institutes. It is a remarkable section because it is written by persecuted Christians who were nonetheless expressing their fidelity to civil government:

“And as he has established kingdoms, republics, and all sorts of principalities, either hereditary or otherwise, and all that belongs to a just government, and wishes to be considered as their Author, so he has put the sword into the hands of magistrates to suppress crimes against the first as well as against the second table of the Commandments of God. We must therefore, on his account, not only submit to them as superiors, but honor and hold them in all reverence as his lieutenants and officers, whom he has commissioned to exercise a legitimate and holy authority” (Art. 39).

[1] Scholars date the writing of Romans between AD 55 and 58, which would place it during Nero’s rule (AD 54-68).

[2] For a discussion of how Reformed political theology can be brought to bear on issues of church lockdowns see Brad Littlejohn’s response to John MacArthur and Grace Community Church’s attempts at civil disobedience.

[3] For a helpful source on Protestant resistance theory see Andrew Fulford’s two-part series at Political Theology (here and here).

[4] For other confessional statements demonstrating a high view of the civil magistrate, see this collection of quotes from Steven Wedgeworth. Whatever your tradition, you should consult your confessional documents on the civil magistrate.

[5] Simon Kennedy has an excellent piece on the Reformers and the problem of submission to civil authority.

[6] Sometimes called The Gallic Confession or the Confession of La Rochelle.

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