Systematic Theology – The State

Messiahship

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Lesson: Government

Genre: Speech

Track: 15

Dictation Name: 15 Messiahship

Year: 1970’s

Now, to go on to another subject in our study of the theology of the state, the subject of Messiahship, which is very important to any study of church and state. Messiahship. The early church did not have the kind of problem that some people have today. Modernists in our day say they believe in the humanity of Jesus, but not in his deity. He was man but not God, but for the early church there was no question. Jesus Christ was God incarnate. The problem the early church had, and the kind of heresy that arose was that some said he was not really man. He had the form of a man, but he was not truly man, and against this, the council of Chalcedon had to say he was very God of very God and very man of very man. For the people who saw him, who saw his miracles, who knew the truth of the resurrection, it was hard to believe he was also man. He was so obviously God the Son.

And of course, the evidence was very clear after the resurrection. We forget that, for a generation, no one questioned the fact that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, or that he had performed the miracles he had performed, and raised the dead. How could they? We are told of the great throngs that followed him and saw those things. We are told that there were as many as five hundred witnesses to one of his appearances after the resurrection. With so many witnesses alive, how could anyone doubt it? No one went into print to deny the resurrection, as long as those witnesses were alive.

In fact, we are told that, in their old age, the handful of survivors who had actually seen Jesus would great each other at church with a joyful cry and litany,

“Have you see?”

“We have seen.”

“Have you heard?”

“We have heard.”

“Have you touched?

“We have touched.”

John refers to this in his first epistle, in the first three verses. In 1 John 1:1-3, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Thus, they had that witness. They knew that Jesus Christ was indeed one who had appeared, performed these miracles, and they had heard, scene, and touched him. But, the problem for many was, could such a Jesus as you are telling me about be a man. Was not his humanity just a form, an illusion? Docetism, Gnosticism and other cults propagated this, but the church said he was truly God and truly man, and he was the Messiah. Most of the members of the early church were Jews. By the time the last book of the New Testament was written, there were perhaps half a million Christians throughout the Roman Empire, at least that. Most of them were converted Jews, and for them, Jesus Christ was the Messiah, and that was, for them, a royal title, the great royal title. So that to say that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, or the Christ, to use the Greek term, was to say that he was the great king. King of kings and Lord of lords. His realm was to be worldwide, his kingdom over this world and the foundation of his throne was to be justice, or righteousness. The early church took this faith, that all the Jews had shared, and joyfully proclaimed it.

The prophesies of Isaiah were widely used for preaching. In fact, we encounter the book of Isaiah and its prophesies over and over again in the New Testament. It was a popular book for preaching in the early church. This, their king, they said, is the King whose increase has no end, and they believed very literally that he would triumph, that all men and nations would, before the end of history, be put under his feet. It was not until St. Augustine that Christ’s triumph in this world was spiritualized away, and it was because Augustine became so pessimistic with the Fall of Rome, he could only see a triumph in heaven. Sadly to say, that kind of thinking, amillennialism, has become very popular again in our time. But the church saw the whole world as a realm to be conquered. The Great Commission had declared it, and the missionaries went out, Paul said, to all the world.

One of the first problems the early church had was in dealing with civil government, with the state, and the reason they had this problem was very simple. If Christ is the King, the Lord, God incarnate, the Messiah, and his believers are members of the royal household, then what place is there for allegiance to the state, to civil government? And you must remember that these people took care of their needy. They educated the children, they governed themselves, so they had very little need of civil government, and so their question was, what do you do with Caesar? What do you do with kings and governors? What’s our relationship to them? How can we have any relationship to them since we’re under Christ the King?

Now, that was the reason why Paul, in Romans 13, dealt with the question. You see, all the letters of Paul are answers to questions, and so to know what the answer is about, ask yourself, “What question was asked? What was the question?” and the question was, “Do we obey Caesar? What have we got to do with him?” and Paul said, “We do. We are to submit to higher powers. God has so ordained it.” We are the Lord’s and he sets the terms of our lives. We obey not because we say, ‘Caesar, or Washington has the power they claim.’ No. We obey for conscience sake, Paul says, in obedience to Christ. We are subject not for wrath, but for conscience, not to avoid punishment, but because the Lord requires it of us. He requires it of us because we are not revolutionists. We do not believe in revolution, but in regeneration. Rulers, he says, are ministers of God. The word is literally, in the Greek, deacons, ordained of God, and they are no less therefore, under God than we, because the word he uses means that they are servants, deacons, that’s what it means, servants, of God, and therefore, they have a duty to obey God.

Ministers and civil servants, presidents, kings, governors, are as much required by God to live according to his word as any Christian school teacher, or any church member, or any pastor. Truly, we should obey God rather than men, but we are to obey unless they require us to do that which is contrary to God’s word. The state must be, Paul says, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

So, what Paul does is to give the state a theological basis, to put it under God, and to declare emphatically that while we do not agree with these civil authorities, we are to obey for conscience sake, to avoid revolution as far as possible, because we are dedicated to regeneration, not revolution. The state, however, must recognize the Lord, and obey him.

Now, the early church resisted all efforts to control it, by Rome. We are, as persons, to submit, as persons, concerning our selves and our properties, but not as Christians, not as churchmen. There is not a single word in all the New Testament that gives any ground for saying the church must be under the state. After all, how can Christ be the Messiah, the world ruler, if the state controls his e{?}? He is the judge over all nations, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. It was not morally nor theologically possible for the early church to justify surrender to the state, nor is it biblically possible today.

The Lord recognized the existence of the state, but he also recognized its demonic lust for power when it is not under God, as our Lord says in Luke 22:25-30. Christ called and appointed unto himself the disciples as a kingdom. He called the realm of the ungodly, the state, the power of darkness in Luke 22:53, and Paul calls attention to the ungodliness of civil government outside of Christ in 1 Corinthians 2:8 and 1 Corinthians 6:1. We have a duty to work for the conversion of men, women, and children, and nations, civil governments, and to place them under Christ, not Christ under the state, and unless civil government accepts Jesus Christ as Lord, conflict between church and state is inescapable. The state will try to play God and rule over the church, and this is why we have the problems we do today, but Christians must stand for the crown rights of Jesus Christ the Lord.

We will take a ten minute break now before continuing with our third session.

End of tape