At what point should Christians disobey their government?

At what point should Christians disobey their government?

That’s a question we’ve probably all been considering in one way or another, as churches around the world have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some well-known congregations in America have defied orders, filing lawsuits about governmental overreach and discrimination. Others, however, have closed for the year, citing love of neighbor and Christian testimony.

As you all know, the elders & other members of PHBF have chosen to comply with the health guidelines we’ve received from our state government. But why? That’s the question I’ll be answering in this column over the next few weeks.

First, we’ve chosen to comply because none of these restrictions contradict our responsibilities as Christians. Of course, part of what it means to be a Christian is that our primary allegiance is to God. When the laws of our land come into direct conflict with the laws of God, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). No option. No discussion.

But that’s not the situation we are in here. Our government has not demanded we do something God forbids or prohibited something God commands. They’ve asked us to reduce the size of our meetings and the density of our crowds—which is the same request they have made of restaurants, recreation centers, and many other organizations. In fact, some businesses like gyms and day camps are facing guidelines even more strict than churches are.

Admittedly, what we’ve been requested to do is inconvenient and uncomfortable. Some skeptics might even say it’s silly. But based on passages like Romans 13:1-5 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, we believe Christians have the responsibility to bend over backward to comply with civil authorities as much as possible, even when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable, and even silly. But we do it anyway, not because secular leaders are always right, but simply because God has put them in authority and we must honor them as such.

We fully recognize that some of these requests from our government may exceed their authority as defined by the American legal system, but we believe we must use that same system to redress our grievances rather than take matters into our own hands. In other words, Americans have been given a lawful way to challenge unjust laws; and until that system changes or proves ineffective, we will rely on it just as Paul in Acts relied on the legal system of his day.