Christians are to be models of submission to the authorities God has placed over them. But what happens when those rulers command us to disobey the Lord? In this sermon, R.C. Sproul examines our responsibilities before God and before the authorities that He has established.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

Let us pray.

O Father, give us ears to hear of the boldness of Peter and John before this august body of authority, and instruct us by Thy Spirit on how we are to act in similar circumstances. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Courage under Tyranny

I was reading a novel the other day, and I came across a strange line wherein one of the police detectives was often on television in the city, and somebody came up to him and said, “You’re that world-famous detective.” He said, “Yes, I’m world-famous in the city of Minneapolis.”

Anytime somebody is introduced as famous, it seems to be unnecessary, because if they are famous, they would not have to be introduced. But we never know how far and how broad our influence may extend, and sometimes we are surprised, are we not?

I will never forget one of the most shocking and surprising experiences of my life, which occurred on the day Lech Wałęsa, the leader of the Polish Solidarity Movement, was placed under house arrest by Soviet officials. The picture of his arrest was on the front page of every newspaper in America, and when he was arrested, he was shaking his fists in defiance of the arresting authorities. In Wałęsa’s hand, he was holding one of my books. I thought, “That’s incredible.” Not only that, but I later found out he placed that same book in his father’s casket when he was buried.

I never would have dreamed in a million years that anything I wrote would find its way into the hands of Lech Wałęsa, but it made me think a lot about his position in modern history. I thought: “Why was it that the government at that time arrested him? Why didn’t they just execute him?” That is usually the way it works in tyranny. The tyrants always have secret police. They find a way to get rid of those in opposition to them, usually by some form of execution. But I realized that the reason why Lech Wałęsa was put in house arrest and not executed was that he had already become too well-known. To kill him would have made him a martyr, and the thing every tyrannical regime fears more than anything else is a public uprising.

In the eighteenth century, when the philosopher Montesquieu wrote his book The Spirit of the Laws, he said that the maintenance of all forms of tyranny depends and relies upon the ability of the government to keep the people afraid. That is why you have purges, secret police, and mass execution in nations that follow a tyrannical regimen. Montesquieu said that it only takes one person—one Lech Wałęsa—with enough courage to withstand the tyrant to bring down their powerful regime.

Throughout history, we have seen individuals who have swum against the current, who have stood against powerful obstacles, like Mahatma Gandhi. In the United States, Martin Luther King stood against the authorities of his day. He defied those authorities and raised questions about the legitimacy of civil disobedience.

Submission to Authority

In the middle of the eighteenth century, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where Jonathan Edwards was the preacher, the town was divided regarding loyalty to the crown or to their local magistrates. This was well before the Revolutionary War, and already the division over those loyalties was being felt in New England.

If you are familiar with American history, you might know that there were Christians on both sides of that debate. There were Christians who insisted that it is never legitimate for any person or body under any circumstance to disobey the civil magistrate. Though these Christians were feeling exploited by the taxation coming from Parliament and England, they refused to join in the rebellion on matters of principle. They stood on the conscientious ground of being obedient to civil magistrates because the Bible teaches again and again that it is the Christian’s duty to submit to those in authority over us—whether children to parents, students to teachers, employees to employer, or citizens to government. Wherever we find levels of authority over us, the Bible calls us to be model citizens of submission and subjection.

It was out of that principle of submission to the civil magistrate that Mary and Joseph made the arduous journey to Bethlehem, risking the life of both Mary and the unborn infant Jesus. Out of this deep affliction and inconvenience, they made the journey to obey the authorities over them. Scripture repeatedly teaches us the principle of submission to those in authority.

But always the question arises, Is it ever ethically legitimate to refuse to obey authorities over you? That is the question we will look at this morning in light of the text I just read. Let us look again at what was taking place, because we continue to deal with the reaction not only of the people but also of the authorities who ruled over the Jews in Jerusalem to Peter and John’s healing of the man born unable to walk by the Gate Beautiful.

The Men with Jesus

We read, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men . . .” They could have stopped right there and said, “Therefore, they are ignorant rabble rousers who have no credibility.” But instead, Luke says, “They marveled.” They marveled at Peter and John’s power and persuasive skills.

The authorities marveled at the eloquence of Peter as he spoke on this occasion, bringing to mind the promise of Jesus to His disciples before He left this world, saying, “Don’t be afraid when you are brought up before counsels and the rulers of this world, because in that time the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you the ability to say what needs to be said.” These men believed that promise of God, and in the face of adversity and opposition, Peter spoke with boldness so that the whole Sanhedrin, all seventy-one of them, along with the people, were amazed.

“And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” What a statement. How many sermons could we get just out of that one line? How many times has someone said to you: “I know about you. I can tell that you’ve been spending time with Jesus.” To my knowledge, no one has ever made that connection to me. They talk about my connection to the Steelers, the Penguins, the Irish or whatever, but nobody says, “He must have just been with Jesus.” But they made the connection regarding Peter and John. The events that transpired so recently in Jerusalem were so resonant in their ears that it was unmistakable that these men belonged to the group that followed Jesus.

“And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” They could have said something against it, but Luke is saying that they didn’t dare publicly say anything against it. Who from the Sanhedrin, Scribes, Pharisees, or Sadducees was going to come out and say: “That’s enough of that. Stop this healing. We can’t have any more miracles around here”? They did not dare say that because of the multitudes of the people who were there.

Commanded Not to Speak

“But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves.” They went into executive session. They said, “What do we do with these men?” But it does not really say, “What do we do with these men?” The question was: “What do we do to these men? We must do something to them because this is getting out of hand, and this must stop.” When the authorities said, “What should we do to these men,” they were not suggesting giving them some kind of honorary banquet.

The authorities said, “For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” Here were the enemies of the Apostles conferring among themselves, and they said: “What are we going to do now? It’s manifest, it’s clear that through these men, a notable miracle has taken place. The whole city knows about it, and everybody’s cheering them on.”

Can you believe how wicked the hearts of fallen people are when they know the manifest power of God has been given right before their very eyes, yet they still are in a conspiracy to squelch it? That was what they were doing: “But so that it spreads no further among the people”—here is what they came up with—“let us severely threaten them. Let’s not just warn them. Let’s not just say, ‘You stop this or else.’ Let’s make our threat severe that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

Luke continues, “So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor to teach in the name of Jesus.” They came out of executive session. They called Peter and John back in and said: “We’re not going to do anything to you right now for what you have done. We’re going to let you go this time. We’ll write it up as a warning, but don’t you dare ever mention the name of Jesus again as long as you live. We don’t want to hear that name from your lips.”

Conflict between Authorities

Suppose the Apostles, at that moment, decided: “The supreme court of the nation has spoken. It is our obligation now to obey.” Suppose Peter and John came out of the council, the people asked what they said, and Peter answered: “My lips are sealed. I’m never going to speak about what’s-His-name again.” Had that been the response of the Apostles, we would not be here today talking about it or listening to a story about it, would we?

Peter and John were in the worst of all possible conflicts of ethics: a conflict between ruling authorities. Every child knows what it is like to go to his mother and ask, “Momma, can I go to the movies tonight?” Then the mother says, “No.” So what does the child do? He goes to his father: “Daddy, can I go to the movies tonight?” The child tries to set one authority against the other, but it does not work because the father always says, “Go ask your mother.”

After World War II, there were German soldiers on trial for their lives at Nuremburg, for war crimes and genocide. The court interrogated him, and every excuse given was: “I was only obeying orders. I was only doing what my commanding officer required of me.” But the court said: “No. You are required at that point to disobey rather than to commit genocide.”

Martin Luther King knew the law. He knew that any statute published by any state in the United States was challengeable by the Supreme Court if it violated constitutional rights. So, with passive resistance, he went ahead and broke the law to get the test case before the Supreme Court, which right was given him by the higher magistrate with respect to the lesser magistrate. We still have that principle, but the conflict of those situations at times can be unbearable.

When a Christian Must Disobey

Here is how the Apostles handled the situation: they said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.” They were speaking to the judges of Israel, the equivalent of the Supreme Court. But still ringing in the ears of the disciples and Apostles, because only a few weeks had gone by, were the words of Jesus that we call the Great Commission, to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gave to Peter, John, and the entire church of the first century a mandate, and it is our mandate as well. If any authority under heaven comes to the Christian and tells him that he may not pray, preach, worship, tithe, or do any of those things that God commands, that Christian not only may disobey, but that Christian must disobey.

In ethics courses in seminary, I give a a simple principle that anybody can understand, though the application of it to concrete circumstances is often excruciatingly difficult. The principle is this: we are always to obey those in authority over us, unless that authority commands us to do something God forbids or forbids us from doing something that God commands.

For example, if the husband says to the wife, “I want you to earn some extra income for us by turning to prostitution,” not only may she disobey him, but she must disobey him. On the other hand, if a woman is married to an unbelieving man, and the man says to her, “You may neither go to church on Wednesday night nor join the choir.” What should the wife do? She should stay home, because God nowhere commands women to sing in the choir.

But what if the husband says to the wife, “You are not permitted to go to church on the Sabbath and join the corporate worship of the people of God”? Not only may she disobey him, but she must disobey him, because God commands her to be in the assembling together of the saints.

Do you see how this can be very painful and costly when we are caught in this vice between two authorities that differ? We can never use the excuse, “I’m just obeying orders,” as a license or an excuse for sin.

The Time to Choose Obedience

The other side of the principle is this: just because God gives us the right and responsibility to disobey when an authority over us commands us to do something He forbids or forbids us from doing something He commands, that is not a license to be disobedient when we simply disagree with the authority, or when the authority is exploiting us, afflicting us, or bringing us discomfort or inconvenience. How inconvenienced were Joseph and Mary in making that arduous journey to Bethlehem? But they submitted because God never commanded that Joseph and Mary be comfortable.

So again, the general principle is that we bend over backward to be submissive, but we stand with ramrod defiance when the magistrate commands disobedience to God. That is why it is important for us to understand in our daily lives what God commands and what God forbids. Otherwise, we are like sheep without a shepherd, and we go along with what Nietzsche called a “herd morality,” doing whatever anybody tells us to do, when in fact there are times that the Christian must say no.

There is a reason that the first century was a century where the blood of the church became the seed of the church’s growth through the martyrdom of those who would not submit to the tyrants who told them to deny their faith in Christ. With Job, we must say, “Though they slay me, yet will I trust Him.” So, I urge you Christians to be prepared for that time when you must choose between obedience to those who command sin or obedience to Christ. Let us pray.

Father, forgive us for the times we have disobeyed authority for our own pleasure, not out of ethical necessity. At the same time, forgive us for the times we have capitulated to authority out of fear rather than faithfulness to Thee. God, give us the wisdom to know when it is proper to disobey the authorities You have put over us, that we may, by our obedience, whenever we can, give honor and glory to that One who has authority over all lesser authorities, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. For we pray in His name. Amen.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.