These brave Chinese authors are speaking truth power in ways that are both reminiscent of the 16^th century resistance theorists and also in a manner that is instructive for many today.

[Author’s] Note: This longer than normal read is well worth it in our opinion.

Moreover, an interesting case study arose in China that could be instructive for Western evangelicals. The Chinese underground church, which had been oppressed by the state for decades, had been growing in quality and quantity for a half century. That group of Christians, when refined by an inhumane state, would develop an impressive political theology.

In 2022 the Center for House Church Theology released an anthology of essays on Church and State, with prominent contributions from Pastor Wang Yi. A Summary of his thought and place is below.

Wang Yi’s resume if one is not acquainted with him includes the following:

• Constitutional Law Professor at Chengdu University for several years before entering the pastorate.
• Prominent in changing China’s “One Child” Policy.
• Converted to Christ.
• Hosted at the Bush White House in 2007.
• Pastored a large house church in southwest China, Early Rain Covenant Church.
• Assisted in starting a seminary (Western China Covenant Seminary).
• Chief Author of 95 Theses in 2017.
• Arrested in 2019, with a ten-year jail sentence.
• The volume below acquaints us with his and other dissidents’ thought.

IVP Academic 2022 award winner, Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement, has begun introducing many to the thought of the Chinese House Churches under the cross. This volume contains essays and explorations that will compare favorably to Letter from a Birmingham Jail (King) and Letters from Prison (Bonhoeffer). Moreover, this volume contains some of the most mature, modern reflection on church and state matters. Indeed, this topic is refined (as historically) by the fires of persecution.

Repressive regimes often unintentionally bolster enduring political theology. Whether occurring in the early church’s persecution or at the refining of the doctrine of unlimited submission by reformers Theodore Beza and others in light of the 1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre or with the persecution of Jews in the Third Reich, oppressive governments, at times, have sought to eradicate true faith. This recent book—in the best tradition of Beza, Bonhoeffer, and Barth, and Martin Luther King, Jr.—introduces readers to a voice that is both admirable and perceptive.

The author, now-imprisoned Pastor Wang Yi, observes: “Because of sin, the present world is an inversion of the world that God created. The cross flips this world back around. The gospel has a strong eschatological nature . . . the good news of eternal life is manifest through inversive means. The cross is not only the means by which we believe; it is not only the content but also the form, and this form tells us the world is not yet complete. My life is also not complete. The cross means you build your hope on the future instead of realizing it in the present.”

The broader evangelical community could benefit from awareness of this work, which is among the most significant interactions of church and state since World War 2. Of interest, much of this emerging Chinese political theology tracked closely with 16^th century Calvinistic articulations. It may help to review a precursor to Wang Yi below prior to moving ahead.

Calvin’s Chief Lieutenant (Beza) Deepens the Channel

Calvinists developed a knack for distilling and propagating theo-political thought. Two examples are summarized below as instructive. Theodore Beza, for example, wrote widely on political theory. His 1574 The Rights of the Magistratesbecame a classic supporting republicanism and limited submission to governors. With the brutal slaughter and virtual extinction of Reformed religion in France, Beza led efforts to reassess earlier formulations. The result was a tradition that included the likes of Knox, Viret, Ponet, and others. Beza’s argument to normalize resistance to evil governments on biblical bases transformed Calvinist political theory.^[1]

After a beginning historical review, Beza’s The Rights of Magistrates argued for a circumscribed resistance to tyrannical rulers. Organizing his work around ten questions, he affirmed that scriptural obedience superseded submission in some cases. Toward this treatise’s end, he articulated three axioms to clarify conditions warranting armed resistance:(1) That the tyranny must be undisguised and notorious; (2) That recourse to arms not be taken before all other remedies were exhausted; (3) Nor yet before the question has been thoroughly examined, not only as to what is permissible, but also as to what is expedient, lest the remedies prove more hazardous than the very disease.

From the Hebrew monarchy in the Old Testament, Beza, like Calvin, also inferred the existence of popular election. In a sweeping survey of the history of Western civilization, Beza found support for resistance to tyranny not only in Swiss republicanism, but also in the political histories of Denmark, England, Scotland, Poland, Sweden, Venice, Spain, France, and the Roman Empire itself. It is difficult to imagine a more informed or comprehensive reception history of resistance.

Similarly, Francois Hotman’s work had a continuing impact in Geneva and abroad. The Englishman Robert Viscount Molesworth revived Francogallia by republishing it later in London in two editions (1711, 1721). His preface to the original Genevan tract was then reprinted on the eve of the American Revolution in London in 1775 as The Principles of a Real Whig.^[2] Later scholars also noted that in his Discussions Concerning Government (ch. 2, section xxx) Algernon Sidney referred to François Hotman as conclusively proving that French legal history assigns to the people “the entire power both of electing and deposing their kings.”^[3] Huguenots, Puritans, and liberals of the day all drew upon Hotman’s Francogallia.^[4]

1579 Vindiciae Contra Tyrannus (“Junius Brutus“)

If Beza opened the door to limited resistance against a higher magistrate, his republican construct was substantially extended in the 1579 Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, appearing under the pseudonym “Junius Brutus.” Writing shortly after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre,^[5] Brutus denounced the arrogance of a state that assumed absolute power unto itself and maintained that the corporate body of the people is above the king.^[6] The thesis—radical for its day—favored legitimate government and individual submission; however, this treatise also put the government in its place, lodging the head of state under the authority of the entire civil corporation. Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos raised and answered the following questions:

• Did the passage of time erode the people’s rights if they had failed to resist tyranny?
• Why were kings created?
• Are kings themselves above the law?
• May the prince make new laws, or are laws made by the people?
• Does the ruler have power of life and death over his subjects?
• May the king ignore the law in granting pardon to those found guilty?
• Does the property of the people belong to the king?
• Is the king the lawful owner of the kingdom?
• May the king use the property of the people for his own ends?^[7]

Brutus’ volume, as much as any other, became the signature statement of Calvinistic republicanism. It defined a ruler as a “servant of the commonwealth,” “minister,” and “merely the supervisor and executor of the laws.”^[8]

One can see the similarities and differences between Wang Yi in our own century and these earlier thinkers summarized below.

Similarities and Differences: Wang Yi as Monarchomach?

Wang Yi’s Similarities In several of these essays, Pastor Wang Yi and others in this volume identify the following as non-negotiables:

1. That God has ordained multiple governments (church, state, family), and none should usurp the charter of the other.
2. That the realms of ‘Caesar’ and ‘God’ are separate. Each is be respected and each has value.
3. That the church is free to administer its worship, training, doctrine, and practice as part of freedom of conscience.
4. That the First Commandment and the first table, if opposed, are privileged and must take precedence over the second table.
5. Evangelism and freedom to publish the faith cannot be outlawed by any human state.
6. To submit to evil governmental acts is sinful and idolatrous.

Differences

1. The theology of Wang Yi is more overtly eschatological. While earlier Protestant resistance theories (PRT) believed in a Second Advent, few, if any, of their formulations prioritized the eschaton. Almost one-third of this 2022 volume fits under the heading of eschatology. The ultimate end is regularly brought into conversations about present ethics.
2. This theology is also very aware of sociology, almost viewing the “city” as a prioritized concept. While Calvin and his disciples largely resided in smaller cities, the concept of urbanization definitely sets this work apart. Wang Yi views urban cities as the places where the young collect to pursue their dreams—such is a fertile mission field.
3. Non-violence. Although Calvin was hesitant to condone violence, some of his disciples (Knox, Brutus) became comfortable with violent resistance and overthrow if necessary. The regicide of Charles II a century after Calvin illustrates this trajectory. Wang Yi and the present Chinese leaders seem far more comfortable with Martin Luther King, Jr. than John Knox.

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