Today is Day 22 of the Coronavirus Shutdown.
Some good news is percolating to the top. Death totals were down yesterday for the first day in a while. Community spread seems to be stunted. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Friends watch over each other.
However, the forecast of the virus and its carnage throughout the United States changes daily. Some predict mandated social distancing through the month of May – even others the month of June. One governor suggests even longer.
The bad news – churches are empty. Pastors and congregations have complied with the state and local officials. I do not know of any church that met physically in a building this past Sunday (not saying it could not have happened somewhere by someone). Pastors seek to serve their congregations in the dark. Congregants ask when the church house will open; pastors do not know.
I increasingly hear these kinds of questions as well.
Can the government keep us from meeting? How long does the church allow this? Is this constitutional? Is this biblical? Are we sinning to not meet together at our church building week after week?
These are great questions. To be honest, I do have strong opinions about all these questions; however, for the sake of this post, I want to share with you a conversation Jesus had with the religious leaders of His day the Tuesday before the crucifixion and His Sunday Resurrection.
Jesus Answered a Question Related to Church and Government
Notice what Jesus is asked in today’s reading in Mark 12:
13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. 14 When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” 16 So they brought it.
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And they marveled at Him. (Mark 12:13-17)
Notice Jesus’ answer: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.“
How Does Jesus Help Answer Our Questions Related to Government?
Jesus’ answer helps us navigate these questions. The questions are again: Can the government keep us from meeting? How long does the church allow this? Is this constitutional? Is this biblical? Are we sinning to not meet together at our church building week after week?
Let’s divide these questions up into categories:
- Is this constitutional? Excellent question but relates to the State more than the Bible. The question relates to the First Amendment. I will allow other constitutional experts to tackle this question. For the sake of this blog though, let’s assume that the Constitution does allow for a short-term order for no public assembly related to health in a pandemic. The government’s goal is the key here – to limit the exercise of religious freedom or to manage health during a pandemic? Managing health as a means to protect people is the answer for this present crisis.
- Is this biblical? Questions related to the Bible are numerous right now in terms of how Christians should respond to this pandemic. There are four key issues to keep in mind related to whether or not it is biblical to not meet in a physical location during a pandemic.
Issue One: God wants Christians to meet together regularly as a church.
Hebrews 10 reads, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25). These verses establish key issues of truth while not establishing others.
What truth do they establish? We are to help each other love well and do good works. Further, meeting together regularly helps accomplish this task and honors God. We exhort each other as we meet together.
What truth do they not establish? These verses do not express the manner of meeting together, nor do they express the frequency of meeting together. Consider the following questions: 1) How many times per month should the church meet together physically? Is there a minimum and a maximum? What passages would help us think through that? Possibly the fact that the church would come together on the first day of the week would suggest once per week at least (cf., Acts 20:6-7; 1 Corinthians 11:18-32; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). However, how many of those can you miss before you are “forsaking” the meeting? 2) Does the manner always include every member or can smaller groups also meet this burden? 3) Does virtually meeting together also provide opportunities to exhort one another toward love and good works?
Issue Two: God grants the government authority to keep us safe and protected.
God grants authority to government to keep its citizens safe and protected (cf., Rom 13:1-6; 1 Pet 2:13-17).
What truth do these verses establish? 1) Christians are to submit to the ordinances of government. 2) Government’s role is to protect and should be respected as such. 3) Christians are to pay taxes because those taxes help keep the government running smoothly.
What truth do these verses not establish? 1) Government does not have all authority. The authority of government comes from God but certainly does not supersede God’s authority. 2) Government cannot make you sin. We are to render every authority its due. We submit to God and to government. Anytime government asks us to do something which does not correspond to God’s authority, then government overextends. The over-extension then makes government wrong in that incidence, where man’s responsibility is to obey God (cf., Acts 5:29).
Issue Three: Jesus recognized that both the government and the church (as God’s appointed agent of truth) play important roles in the life of the Christian.
Jesus in the passage cited above (Mark 12:13-17) says to render due to both Caesar (government) and God. He used a coin to make His point. Further, Paul made the same point: “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Rom 13:7). Peter as well: “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Pet 2:17).
What truth do these verses establish: 1) There are multiple authorities in a person’s life. 2) We must balance our response to those authorities.
What truth do these verses not establish: 1) These verses do not create a conflicting allegiance between the State and Church. 2) These verses further do not separate the teachings of Jesus, Paul, or Peter. They all essentially taught similar truth.
Issue Four: Jesus established two great commands: love God and our neighbors.
In the same conversation with the religious leaders (Mark 12), Jesus answered another of their questions. They asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered:
“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)
Jesus’ answer pointed to two great commandments: 1) To love God supremely, and 2) To love our neighbors sincerely.
What truth do these verses establish? 1) Loving God and loving our neighbors are both commandments. 2) We should love God with our entire being – which will have implications on how we treat our neighbors since love of neighbor will be motivated by our love of God.
What truth do these verses not establish? There is no inconsistency between loving God and our neighbors.
How Do We Apply This Truth to Our Questions?
In light of the other three issues, how do the two greatest commandments mentioned by Jesus help us here?
First, we must have our total allegiance to God first and foremost. However, allegiance, love, and loyalty to God do not negate our love for neighbor. In fact, we are encouraged to love our neighbor because we love God. To not love our neighbor demonstrates a problem in our love for God.
Second, to submit to the ordinances of man (government) in places where they do not ask us to sin demonstrates both a love for God and a love for our neighbor. We practice what is best for all. In this incidence, to not meet for a short period of time in one physical location as a church does not violate a biblical command. Therefore, we need to submit to government since we love God and our neighbors.
Third, this is no different than the way we normally live life under these two great commandments. Consider the following two examples:
- Is it a sin to miss church if you have the flu or some other communicable disease? I think everyone would immediately answer, “No.” Why? Because when one is sick, it does not forsake the assembling together. Further, love of neighbor suggests self-quarantine since we do not want to spread the sickness to others.
- Is it a sin to miss church when one is on chemotherapy or has some other kind of weakened immune system? Again, the answer is “No.” Why? Because the motivation is not to miss assembling together or forsake exhortation toward love or good works. Instead, the person stays away from public gatherings in order to stay healthy. There is a limited time where we minimize contact based upon love of neighbor.
In this time of mandatory regulations by government that prohibit churches meeting physically together to not make a pandemic worse, the Christian needs to abide by these ordinances as an act of love toward God and neighbor. Further, we need to establish other ways of meeting together to exhort each other (i.e., Facebook Live, YouTube, Zoom, et.al.). As possible, we still seek to fulfill the one anothers through creative means (i.e., serving each other in light of the social distancing regulations). In so doing, we both honor God and government, plus, we also demonstrate our love for God and our neighbors.
Do we miss each other terribly? Absolutely!!
Do we still need to abide by the ordinances of government? Absolutely.
Can we creatively seek to engage each other while also abiding by the ordinances of man? Absolutely, with pleasure!!
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together