Thought for Today

Exodus 24:12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."

1 Kings 1:32 King David said, "Summon to me the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada."

Luke 20:25 He said to them, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

Luke 22:66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council.  

The 250th birthday of the U.S.A. is a week from this Saturday. Celebrations began many months ago and will probably continue for many months to come. And, that’s a good and proper thing. Ironically, the theme yesterday and today in I Want to Live These Days with You, one of the devotionals I read, this one based on the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, deals with the relationship between  church and state.

One of the unique concepts in our Constitution is how that church/state relationship is defined and circumscribed. “In American law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause together read: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...The Establishment Clause acts as a double security, prohibiting both control of the government by religion and political control of religion by the government.”   (en.wikipedia.org)

Even the most cursory study of history reveals that the entire subject of the relationship is complex, controversial and contentious. Historically, some nations, governments and empires have kept some separation between religion and civil government. Others have combined these 2 spheres into a single entity. Those governments are known as theocracies.

Our earliest ancestors-in-the-faith, the Israelites of the Exodus, settled into a theocratic, loosely allied tribal confederation. The legal system was based on those “tablets of stone” God gave to Moses. In the Bible, Judges reflects the ensuing era. Eventually, however, “1 Samuel 8:4 all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, ‘You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.’"

That verse above from 1 Kings reminds us, however, that even with a king, faith and religion still had an active place in the nation and in the lives of the people. That remained the case for the approximately 1000 years from the time of David until the Incarnation of Christ.

The political and religious situation reflected in the New Testament is even more complex than it was for David. The civil authority rested with the occupying Romans. Local governance was under the authority of a Roman governor, council or proconsul. He was responsible for keeping civil order and assuring taxes flowed uninterrupted into Rome. Often, Roman authority would utilize local authorities, as was the case in Israel. At all times, however, capital punishment could only be pronounced and executed by Roman authorities. When Israel’s religious authorities wanted to silence and/or eliminate Jesus, they tried to trap Jesus into making a public statement relating to taxes.

Many of the earliest European settlers to the U.S.A. came here to escape religious persecution and governmental interference in the practice of religion. Ultimately, our nation enthroned the idea of separating church and state.  Today we enjoy and rely on that “double security, prohibiting both control of the government by religion and political control of religion by the government.” (ibid)

As a Christian, I benefit from the fact that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (ibid) Even in our world today, this is not always the case. This 250th birthday, I plan to offer prayers of special thanks to the God I freely worship for that very freedom.

Stay safe, enjoy your freedom, trust God,

Pastor Ray