Political power does NOT come from The People—it comes from Jesus Christ. And if we can’t get this right, we deserve everything that is coming to us.
We live in a Godless society under the authority of a Godless governmental regime. Despite this reality, the sad fact is that most politically conservative Americans are confused, if not totally clueless, about the interplay between God’s law and secular/civil law. My goal here is to provide a basic overview of the source of legitimate civil authority and our duty to obey LAWFUL AND MORAL governance, according to Holy Scripture.
Briefly, let me explain why this topic is important and relevant. We are in the beginning stages of a global Great Reset —that is, the establishment of a New World Order in which its tentacles are extending through all level of governmental power—literally from the United Nations down to the local dog catcher. If you don’t understand the most basic fundamental principles of moral government and its grounding in God’s divine and natural law, then you have no chance of fighting back because there is no framework in which to convince others in a way that will spark their built-in conscience, part of our nature as rational beings, to seek The Good and avoid evil.
Americans, especially those who are conservative/Tea Party/Libertarian friendly, are so bogged down with insisting that all forms of government are evil, that those wanting to defeat the Left (progressivism) often lose sight of the true source of all civil authority and governance. This has made the ability to convincingly argue what a proper government should look like very difficult.
Trying to argue with Leftist liberals using enlightenment-based Classical liberal arguments is self-defeating and doesn’t work because Classical and progressive liberalism share the same common root in their rejection of Christ as the source of all political authority. Using these so-called conservative arguments based on enlightenment principles do not convict the heart of those whose intellect is darkened due to sin.
All Political Authority Comes from Christ
Holy Scripture is clear that all political and ecclesiastical authority, regardless of who exercises that authority, ultimately comes from Christ. Not a “Grand Architect”, not a “Nature’s God”—but Jesus Christ. Period. As a result, He is ultimately the One that commands our obedience, especially if we are to maintain temporal happiness on earth and achieve the beatific vision in Heaven. Our earthly happiness, and ultimately our eternal lives, depend on submission to His will and commands.
Regardless of modern American popular opinion and jurisprudence that pretends God does not exist, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew did not hold back when describing His own authority. Right before giving his apostles the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, he reminded them, in case there was any doubt, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18). This is significant—ALL power in heaven AND earth belongs to Christ. But Holy Scripture has much more to say about Christ’s authority, including the relationship between Christ’s authority and civil authority.
Because all authority ultimately derives from Christ, St. Paul explains that civil authority, that is, the power of the state, indeed does and should command obedience from its citizens. Paul explains, “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1).
Paul is quite insistent on the need to obey the just and valid laws of civil authority. Because the civil ruler receives his authority for the purposes of achieving the good, he is likewise charged with authority to punish evil. Paul explains, “But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer” (Romans 13:4).
Saint Peter similarly charges Christians with the duty of obeying civil authorities. Peter instructs,
“Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good. For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people. Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God. Give honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the king. Therefore, it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of conscience” (1 Peter 2:13-17).
Both Paul and Peter teach the early Christians, and indeed all of us, to give due obedience to the civil authorities “as slaves of God” because secular rulers derive their authority from Christ. As a logical consequence of this source of authority, and in accordance with the Old Testament warning given to civil leaders in the Book of Wisdom, the state or civil authority cannot exceed their Christ given political power and must legislate within the bounds of God’s divine and natural laws, and certainly not inconsistent with it:
“Hear, therefore, kings, and understand; learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse! Give ear, you who have power over multitudes and lord it over throngs of peoples! Because authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels!” (Wisdom 6:1-3).
Therefore, in Scripture, we can see that all Heavenly and earthly authority ultimately remains with Christ Jesus, who is truly “the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (Apocalypse 19:16). However, we also see Christ does not always exercise His authority directly. Scripture gives two primary examples where Christ acknowledges the authority of civil/secular rulers.
Render to Caesar What Belongs to Caesar
One of the more well-known passages involving the interaction between religious and civil authorities, and the duties owed to each, concerns the Pharisees’ attempt to trick Christ into backing himself into a catch-22 predicament. Found in all three synoptic Gospels, the passage in Matthew reads:
“Tell us therefore what dost thou think, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? But Jesus knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the coin of the tribute. And they offered him a penny. And Jesus saith to them: Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar’s. Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s. And hearing this they wondered, and leaving him, went their ways.” (Matthew 22:17-22).
The common understanding of this passage is that if Jesus replied that the tax should be paid to Caesar, the Pharisees would charge him with being unfaithful to Jewish authorities who desired to be free of Roman rule. The Pharisees also objected to the coins themselves as they bore the image of Caesar—an unlawful “graven image” in violation of Mosaic law. On the other hand, if Christ said the tax should not be paid, he could be charged with treason against Rome. Christ’s response of “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s” took his adversaries off guard and they walked away amazed.
Cornelius a Lapide (1567–1637) tells us that Christ assumes the Romans rightfully hold jurisdiction over Judea when answering the Pharisees. And then He makes it clear that:
“it was not an injury to God and the faith, nor an indignity to a faithful nation, if the people of God were subject to Caesar, a Gentile; and that the Jews themselves might both profitably and honourably obey both God and a Gentile prince, if they would but render to both their due[.]”
And yet, a Lapide says, Christ “tacitly admonishes Caesars and sovereigns that, being contented with what belongs to them, they must not intermeddle with the affairs of God and the Church.”
As such, Christ does not deny the need to obey legitimate civil authority. However, he clearly delineates a sphere of authority that only belongs to God that even Caesar dare not cross. We can conclude from this passage that the state is clearly not in itself divine but derives its authority from God.
“My Kingdom is not of this World”
Towards the end of Christ’s earthly ministry, while standing before Pontius Pilate, the local Roman governor who condemns Christ to death at the request of the Jews, Pilate asks Jesus “Art thou the king of the Jews?” The title King of the Jews was considered to be a threat to the authority of Pilate, and ultimately the Roman Empire itself in Judea. Now, Pilate and Jesus enter into a back-and-forth exchange. Jesus answers this question,
“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence.”
Pilate, responds, “Then you are a king?” Jesus replies, “Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice” (John 18:36-37).”
Like his explanation to the Pharisees when they attempted to trick him into denying the authority of Caesar, Jesus shifts the focus of the nature of kingship from earthly to heavenly matters. Yet, Jesus never denies he is a king. Rather, He tries to assure Pilate that His kingship is not of this (the earthly) world because he has no followers to help secure his release. Surely, any true earthly king would have servants that would attempt to rescue him from captivity!
A surface level reading of these passages in John’s Gospel seems to indicate that Christ’s Kingdom has nothing to do with the earthly world in which Pilate rules, but his kingly authority reigns solely in Heaven. St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Doctor of the Church, provides good insight into this passage. He points out that the Manicheans made the same mistake when they concluded that there were essentially two different kingdoms, heavenly and material, and Christ was only king of the heavenly. Thomas points out this cannot be correct because we know from other scriptural passages that Christ is king of all the earth. So how can the Lord’s statement to Pilate be reconciled with his social kingship on earth? (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary of the Gospel of St. John, Translated by Fabian R. Larcher, O.P. (Albany, NY: Magi Books Inc.), Pt 2, chap. 18, para. 2350).
Thomas concludes this can be answered in two different ways, both of which preserve His earthly authority while remaining truthful to what He told Pilate. Citing to St. Augustine, Thomas opines that “my kingdom” can refer to the individuals who make up the kingdom, that is, the subjects of the kingdom. For Jesus, His kingdom’s subjects are the faithful who have been saved from the power of darkness and delivered into the kingdom of His love. In this sense, his kingdom is not “of this world.” Nevertheless, Jesus never said the faithful were not physically “in this world.” Jesus, thus, distinguishes between being “of this world” and “in this world” making it possible for his faithful subjects to not be “of this world” while at the same time physically residing “in this world” at least for a temporary period of time.
Secondly, citing this time to St. John Chrysostom, the phrase “my kingdom” can also refer not only to the subjects of the kingdom but to the authority to reign. In this sense, the origin of Christ’s authority “does not have its origin in earthly causes and human choice, but from another source, from the Father[.]” So again, when the focus is on the origin of the authority by which Christ reigns, it is accurate to say his kingdom is “not of this world” while at the same time retaining authority to rule over the material world.
Consequences of Christ’s Authority to Rule
Scripture is very clear that all authority comes from Christ Jesus, and that while he does not necessarily exercise that authority directly in civil matters, at the end of the day, those who have civil authority derive it from Christ. This has significant implications for Christians and political leaders in America today. If all authority ultimately resides with Christ and is necessarily subordinate to Him, then as Christians we are duty bound to follow those just civil laws as St. Paul teaches. At the same time, valid civil laws cannot logically be contrary to God’s divine or natural law.
St. Thomas Aquinas and other Church fathers go into more detail on the interplay between the role of spiritual and secular authority. For purposes of this post, it is sufficient to remember that legal and political authority DOES NOT COME FROM THE PEOPLE. It comes from Jesus Christ who reigns as King of Kings, whether or not secular governments and politicians wish to recognize Him.
And that means that if we are to be faithful servants of Christ, we have the duty and obligation to ensure that His commands, as grounded in Holy Scripture but also discernible by reason, are enacted in our secular laws as much as prudence would allow. It also means we can argue from a consistent and morally defensible natural law position in the court of public opinion that will convict the hearts of those enslaved to the sins and pleasures of this world. More to come on this important topic.