By Bob Sullivan
Several years ago, I was shocked to read a social media post by a non-Catholic Christian in which the man stated that he would have followed the laws imposed on the German people if he were a German citizen under the Nazi regime. He reasoned that Scripture requires us to be obedient to governing authorities, so he would have been obedient to the laws of the Nazis.
While this is obviously a horrible misunderstanding of Scripture, one has to wonder if there are more than a few Christians among us today who have the same reasoning.
How could someone come up with such a mistaken understanding of Scripture?
There are a few verses, such as Romans 13:1-7 in which St. Paul could be, but should not be, interpreted to say that our government leaders are appointed by God and act as God’s servant in punishing those who do not give their obedience to the state. Is that what St. Paul actually meant? No. In fact, Scripture also says that we must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). In Romans 12, Paul also warns that we should not conform to the patterns of this world.
Many theologians say St. Paul was actually referring to the synagogue rulers and the Jewish authorities. I find that explanation reasonably persuasive, and I also think St. Paul would have encouraged obedience to those civil leaders who led with virtue and honor. One thing is certain, the context of Romans and the rest of Scripture shows that St. Paul was certainly not speaking about the Roman government officials, most of whom were pagans, and many of whom sought to destroy the Christian faith over the course of many centuries. Many of the Roman Emperors declared themselves to be God and demanded to be worshipped. Was St. Paul prone to encouraging idolatry? No.
Therefore, when we interpret Romans 13 in light of the entirety of Scripture, including Christ’s own example, we see that Christians are to be obedient to manmade law when that law is just (consistent with God’s law), and when the law is neutral, such as a law which designates the location of “no parking” zones. “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) For the most part, God does not care where we park our car, but simple courtesy is never a bad thing.
On the other hand, if Congress passed a law which required you to execute certain people based on their age, ethnicity, race, or any other characteristic, or the law required you to help pay for the executions, you would not owe any obedience to such a law. This is because such a law is unjust.
Hitler’s laws were legal in Germany, but they were extremely unjust. Because of this, my non-Catholic Christian friend would have been obliged to resist Hitler’s laws because of the teachings of Christ, not in spite of them. Our own country’s slavery laws were unjust. Our laws legalizing abortion and same-sex “marriage” are unjust. As Christians, we not only have no obligation to be obedient to these laws, we have a Christian obligation to resist these laws and to work to change them.
This brings me to the part where we are supposed to pray for our leaders. Sometimes we can be scandalized when we are at Mass and we hear a prayer of the faithful which prays for our president. This should not be a cause for concern. I prayed for Barack Obama, I have been praying for Donald Trump, and I’ll pray for Joe Biden. Whether you like the president or not, you should be praying for the president. We pray for those we like and love, and we are also to pray for our enemies. We should certainly pray that our own president does not become our enemy.
When we pray for someone we don’t like, or for someone who we believe is doing evil, we do not pray that they get what they want. We pray for their repentance, their conversion, and in the case of government leaders and Church leaders, we pray that they make moral decisions, promote just laws, and teach things which build up the kingdom of God.
Obedience to authority and the rejection of unjust laws and actions of the civil government are different things. Donald Trump was not appointed by God, but it was good to pray for his repentance, his conversion, and that his leadership would be moral and just. In the same way, Joe Biden wasn’t appointed by God and we should pray for these things for him, too.
To the extent that any governmental leader or official promotes unjust laws and policies, we should resist them and encourage others to do the same, never forgetting that prayer is more powerful than a vote. However, we do need to do both. Voting without prayer is an open door to tyranny. Prayer without voting is nearly as dangerous. Since you have a right to vote, and since that is one of the few ways most people can take an active role in government, it would be unwise to take yourself out of the process and let someone with a totally different ideology and a very different goal, have only their vote counted. Even if you do not believe your vote is being counted, you should still cast your ballot. If nothing else, it may serve as evidence in years to come. You can also rest assured that you did everything you could, and since as Christians, we do believe that good overcomes evil, your vote will count.
