Obeying God
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Suppose, for a moment, that Jesse Helms has a heart attack and dies. Suppose also that the Democrats control the Senate. A Democrat is then placed at the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He schedules time to debate and to pass the United Nations Treaty on Children's Rights. Suppose that it passes and becomes law, as it has in over 150 nations around the globe. Now it is illegal to spank your child. It is illegal to choose where your children will go to school, against the wishes of the child. It is illegal to enter the child's bedroom without the child's permission. You cannot require your child to attend Lord's Day worship with you. What do you do?

These suppositions are not at all a stretch. History backs up the notion that old men eventually die, and that Democrats eventually control the Senate. I think it extremely likely that in the next ten years the UN treaty will be passed. And remember that according to the Constitution, international treaties that are duly passed supercede all other laws of the land. What do you do?

The Apostle Paul writes to those citizens living under the gentle rule of imperial Rome, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinances of God, and those who resist bring judgment on themselves" (Romans 13: 1-2). I know it's hard to believe, but there it is. And it's probably a good thing. If God had not made this this clear, no doubt the Sproul compound would have by now become a part of the lore of the black helicopter crowd.

There is, however, a limit to almost all authority. No authority, whether it be the authority of a husband over a wife, a parent over a child, a session over a family, a presbytery over a session, nor a government over any of the above may act directly against the One who gave that authority. The one exception, of course, is God Himself. The only limit on His authority is Himself. This autonomous God has told us that we are to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6), that we are to instruct them in righteousness (Deuteronomy 6), that we are to drive folly far from them through the use of the rod (Proverbs 22). And soon, it appears, this false god, the state deified in the United Nations, tells us we may not.

An account in Acts gives us wisdom on the issue. Remember that in chapter 3 Peter has healed a lame man who had been seeking alms outside the temple. This was not done in a corner. Peter then delivers his second sermon, and Peter and John are arrested, under duress from the Sanhedrin. Knowing they can't really hurt them, for too many had witnessed the miracle, they instead command the two to preach no more in the name of Jesus. Their response is familiar to us, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you decide" (Acts 4: 19). They flatly refused to obey the Sanhedrin. God had commanded them to preach, and so they would.

The principle the church has derived from this event is rather simple on its face. We are to obey all authorities over us unless or until they command us to do that which God forbids, or forbid us to do that which God commands. When they tell us to kill our babies, as the state does in China, we refuse. When they forbid us to spank our children, we do so anyway. My concern over the UN Treaty on Children's Rights is not that I will be left unable to raise my children as God has commanded, but that I will face the wrath of the state for doing so. My concern is that too many in the evangelical church will roll over and obey the state, will fail to follow the heroic example of John and Peter.

I am not concerned that when such happens, it is a sign that God has fallen asleep at the switch. Paul's principle in Romans 13:2 still applies. Whatever they state requires, even if what they require is in contradiction to the law of God, it requires because God ordained it. When the Babylonians took Jerusalem, they did so because God ultimately sent them to do so, in judgment. The Babylonians didn't know that. They did it because they were evil. But God did know. And the pious Jew would have likewise known that God had sent them, and still fought to the death. That God ordains circumstances should not change our call to obey His law, including the law that tells us to fight the very circumstances that He has sent.

For most of the history of these United States, the question of civil disobedience and the Christian has been a hypothetical one. God has blessed us with comparative peace, and comparatively righteous rule. That is no longer the case. We would be wise to consider these things before Nebuchadnezzer builds his statue and commands us to bow. We would be wise to gird up our loins before the battle actually begins. We would be wise to prepare ourselves for the consequences of disobeying man in our obedience to God. We would be wise to remember the faith of those three wise young men who boldly told the king, "O Nebuchadnezzer, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3: 17-18).