First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
During the time this letter was written, during Paul’s life, or probably sometime later, written in his name as letters sometimes were in the past with some kind of authority (ecclesial? note the pastoral epistles, or my own preference, by the Spirit discerned by the church), Christians did not have positions in government, unless there were instances of those serving in such places coming to faith. The arguably (I believe) disastrous Constantinian revolution in which church and state had essentially merged as one had not yet come to be. The Roman government in the world in which the church was emerging was in charge.
Note Paul’s words (for convenience’s sake, we’ll attribute it to Paul, whoever actually wrote it). What is the church supposed to do? To pray, pray for all who are in authority. During the time of this letter, a number of Roman emperors came and went. Unlike after the Constantinian shift when only Christians could serve in government and the military, or at the very least the empire was Christianized, made “Christian,” setting the table for the Christendom that would survive past the time of the Roman empire, all were expected to either adhere to religious practices connected with the Roman gods, or stay in their place. That was the world in which Paul lived (note Acts 17) and what followed for some generations after.
Let’s consider today. The world itself is far from monolithic. What supposed Christian nations there are, while often wanting to keep their ethnic and cultural identity, there’s no escape from other ethnicities, cultures and religions given the upheaval due to wars and famines along with other factors. Although the United States certainly has a checkered history, the US is a nation of immigrants, albeit bringing many African slaves which gave the nation as a whole, and particularly those in charge and in ownership, unprecedented prosperity. While also often dishonestly and ruthlessly pushing native, indigenous peoples out. In spite of all this wrong, the US along with neighbor Canada have both emerged as perhaps the two greatest melting pots of the nations on earth. I stand to be corrected, but that’s from what I’ve gathered.
Now, trying to apply Scripture, God’s Word, the passage quoted above to this present time. Yes, it was a different world then, quite patriarchal and the Romans with all their religious practices but given the territory that the empire had conquered and occupied, there were certainly diverse cultures and religions present. Notice that Paul doesn’t tell them to pray for the overthrow of the empire so as to put in a godly, Christian government. No. Simply to pray for all in authority, so that the church, followers of Christ might live faithful to their calling in peace. There’s nothing in the words suggesting any kind of takeover, much less the use of force to impose Christian standards or law or principles on others. Instead, Paul and those in that tradition which followed wanted to establish something of an understanding of how they were to live faithfully in the empire along with what today we would call a pluralistic society.
As far as influence goes, “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” along with the truth of the good news in Jesus seem to be the only factors in play. Not some Christian endeavor to put the government in some supposedly godly place. This is not at all unlike what we read in Jeremiah’s words to God’s people, the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-9). Unlike what the many false prophets were telling them, they were to settle down in that pagan place, seek its welfare and pray for it, because the good of that empire would be their good. Of course, that would not mean God’s people simply rubber stamp what’s going on. But neither would it mean that they should expect a conversion to the Jewish faith, much less some forced miraculous takeover of Babylon to that end.
Unfortunately, what we’re seeing today in the United States along with some other nations is not at all what Jeremiah and Paul were getting at. While there are different versions of it, it’s essentially a supposed Christian takeover of government, perhaps allowing the presence of other faiths and cultures, but being the ones in charge. What good there was which came with the founding of the United States, even though certainly not lived up to, a law-based democracy in which all people are created equal so that peoples of different faiths and cultures can live peaceably together is categorically rejected. The idea of participation by all in the nation state which I think was the intention of the founding fathers of the United States is denied. Instead of a civil religion which acknowledged the Christian roots which were present, as well as acknowledgement of God as the God of all, while allowing everyone religious freedom, there is the denial of such in what amounts to be a heavy handed white Christian nationalism. The idea is getting back to some ideal which frankly never existed. Or if I’m mistaken in some cultural way, then an ideal which really can’t be replicated given the history which has transpired and the different demographics of the present time. What is advocated or winked at is not quietness and peacefulness, but quite the opposite. A loud, violent voice to create by force a nation which will be Christian in name only. In which those churches and believers who are seeking to be followers of Christ as always in this world continue to live in exile.
Jesus community 