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| Render unto Caesar... 'Denarius of the Emperor Tiberius, commonly referred to as "the Tribute Penny".' Source. |
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| St Peter (7th century icon). Source. |
A recent exchange on Facebook began with a quotation from U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico:
We as Christians are called to do more than charity. We are called to challenge the system that made the charity necessary.
The response:
Christians are never called to change systems. We are called to change ourselves.
The next two participants in the exchange explained why they felt that Christians should challenge systems. I have my own reasons for agreeing with them, but before I go into those reasons, I want to say why that "never called to change systems" commenter should also be heard.
We are called to change ourselves, and to be changed by our relationship with God. In his preface to George Fox's Journal, William Penn put it this way, describing the marks of authenticity among early Quakers:
I. They were changed men [sic] themselves before they went about to change others. Their hearts were rent as well as their garments; and they knew the power and work of God upon them. And this was seen by the great alteration it made, and their stricter course of life, and more godly conversation, that immediately followed upon it.
II. They went not forth, or preached in their own time or will, but in the will of God, and spoke not their own studied matter, but as they were opened and moved of his Spirit, with which they were well acquainted in their own conversion.
It was in this spirit that George Fox testified that "Christ has come to teach his people himself." In this same spirit, he resisted persuasive invitations to join the Commonwealth forces in the civil war against the forces of Charles I. If he had agreed, he would have been freed from prison. While he was still in that prison, he also felt led to protest against capital punishment for minor crimes, and (not surprisingly) against cruel prison conditions.
These are the points that perhaps the "never called to change systems" commenter and I might agree on:
- Being Christian is not a solo act. In changing ourselves and our world, we are part of a community that prays and studies and offers discernment to each of us, activists as well as those of other temperaments. "... And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets," 1 Corinthians 14:32, context.
- Most people struggling for revolutionary change sooner or later resort to coercion. For those called by Jesus to love their enemies, and by Paul never to return evil for evil, the illusion that we can make others' lives better through force, whatever the driving ideology, is not an option.
- It is also not an option to label something "Christian" with manipulative intent, trading on the emotional strength of religious language, references, behaviors, or symbols when the Holy Spirit is not part of the performance. (See this post for my cautions about using public meetings for worship in a protest context.)
On the other hand, here are some of the reasons Christians (when mutually accountable to each other) should work on the level of systems as well as selves.
- Paul's letter to the Ephesians, in chapter six, has a famous passage about spiritual warfare and "the whole armor of God." "...Our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). We are called to identify and oppose bondages of all kinds, on a systemic level, but only after having the "whole armor" for what we Quakers have sometimes called "the Lamb's War."
- Within the mutually respectful and mutually accountable division of labor that is the Church, some of us are prophets. The biblical model of prophecy includes announcing God's judgment and God's promises to all who will listen—sometimes a whole city, sometimes a whole country, sometimes a whole generation. The rest of us may have gifts that overlap into prophecy (such as the gift of evangelism), but all of us are part of the prophets' discerning community.
- Jesus told us to "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s." As citizens we participate in our country's support and governance, in part by obeying laws and paying taxes, and in many countries, doing our part to choose our leaders. Although we are working as citizens to preserve some systems and perhaps to change others, our values and ethics, and consequently our vision of good governance, reflect our faith as disciples. (NOTE: I'm not saying that Christians are the only ones who have such values and ethics!!)
- On a related point: when Caesar trespasses on God's territory—for example, when the authorities told Peter and John that they had to stop speaking or preaching in the name of Jesus—obedience to God takes precedence: Faced with the authority's demands, "... Peter and John replied, 'Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to [God]? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.'" (Acts 3:1-4:31.)
- Finally, on a mundane level, as soon as a congregation (even a house church) actually gathers for worship and education at set times and places, they are interacting with the systems. Do they need permission to meet? Do they own property? Do they require security? Are they allowed to feed people and provide shelter? What happens when they decide to shelter immigrants? Do they stand up for people of other faiths who desire the same freedoms?
This post was prompted by an exchange I saw on Facebook. Now it's your turn; is there anything you'd like to add or correct?
Related:
- Iran, biblical realism, and perpetual war
- The tax covenant
- The whole Jericho Road
- A special brand of patriot
- Exceptional pride (see Anthony Bloom on political conformism in the church, about halfway down the post)
Randy Boyagoda on Leo XIV's new encyclical: "The Pope's admirers are missing something."
Today's Daily Quaker Message: How to be a Peace Troll.
The Wittenburg Door, reprinted from 1999: Reconstructionist crusaders don't fool God.
William Yoder on Franklin Graham's "Festival of Hope" in Minsk, Belarus.
New from the World Inequality Lab: their Global Justice Project.
The Global Justice Project attempts to set out a new vision for global progress in the 21st century: grounding human development and equality in planetary habitability. It explores the conditions under which the world could move toward this horizon and traces an economically and ecologically consistent transition path from 2026 to 2100.
Its authors tell The Guardian: A good life for the 99% isn’t a pipe dream: it can be done. Here's how.
"Highway 51 Blues" with Charlie Musselwhite and Kid Ramos.
I ’d like to offer some small comments, and would welcome your response.
ReplyDelete• As regards your quotation from William Penn, it’s worth noting that even when the early Friends went out to change others, they were not going out to change systems. They went out to call others to do what they themselves had done: hear the Guide within them and let themselves be changed by it. It was all about the individual being changed by the Voice in the heart and conscience.
(We might recall what Jesus said about the mote in the other person’s eye, and the log in one’s own.)
• Paul’s comment about the struggle against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil, doesn’t say we are called to struggle against earthly rulers and authorities. Going by the types of armor we are called to put on, which are all immaterial, it seems more likely he is calling us to struggle against the immaterial (spiritual or psychological) powers that hold us in bondage. Perhaps it is on the same plane as the ransom Jesus paid to free us from sin?
• Did the prophets call on those that heard them to change their economic system and their system of government? Not in the Bible, so far as I can tell. They seem, rather, to have called on their hearers, as individuals, to stop using their power to abuse others.
• There is nothing in Peter’s famous declaration, Acts 5:29, “We ought to obey God, not men,” that equates to, “We must overthrow the system.” Historically, Friends have taken Acts 5:29, in combination with Romans 13:1-7, to mean that if we disobey the human authorities, we must still be subject to them, and suffer whatever penalties they impose. Thus, the early Friends who refused to swear or to tithe, did not flee the jurisdictions they offended, but went to prison (singing psalms on the way).
I know all these points sit uncomfortably with those Quakers who want to overthrow the capitalist system, or the electoral college, or whatever. And I note that the Bible never says, *do not* overthrow the capitalist system, or the electoral college. But there is something in Genesis 11 that seems to warn us against thinking that building a structure to reach heaven is actually what God wants of us.
Marshall, I should have known I could count on you to make things deeper!
ReplyDeleteA lot depends on how you understand "change." Talarico merely said "challenge" and at some point I said "work on the level of systems" and "identify and oppose bondages..." but never had in mind "overthrow the system." There's great power in words, even power to change systems.
I also agree that Paul's comments about the ruler and authorities and evil in high places is not a carnal battle. However, the line between an ethereal enemy "in high places" and human structures that are in its captivity is a thin one. In real life, our supposed enemy may actually be a prisoner of those forces and not acting on their own, so seeing things with spiritual eyes makes sense. However, we may still be led to "identify and oppose bondages," even though we may not have the physical power, nor the godly authority, to force changes ourselves. We are, however, always authorized to speak and pray in the name of Jesus against evil. And at the same time, evangelists are giving access to the community that can "identify and oppose bondages" and proclaim the freedom that they themselves are experiencing.
As a political scientist, my main point of agreement with the original responder ("never called to change systems") is that it's a tempting illusion that we can change things for the better under our own power. Most of the time we just add to the chaos. But are we not, as people changed by our relationship with God, to put our most persuasive voices into advocacy for a more humane vision of society?
Yes, you are right, a lot depends on how we understand “change”! And I can understand how that ambiguity might have made the conversation you had on Facebook more difficult.
ReplyDeleteAs to “identify and oppose bondages”, I sense that Matthew 5:39 (“Do not resist evil”) has some bearing. Truly, identifying the bondages is essential, and consistent with speaking the good news (viz., Luke 4:18). And ministry that reaches the captors, so that they repent keeping people captive, is consistent with what Paul seems to have been led to do, both in Philippi (Acts 16:25-40) and in his relationship with Philemon (Philemon 14-18). But *opposing* in a number of other senses might fall into the category of resistance, which Jesus forbade, and to depart from the spirit of Christ. So again, much depends on what we mean by the words we are using.
It’s all pretty complex, isn’t it? I take the complexity as a reminder, not to try to reduce the matter to a set of principles that we should follow as if they are our guide, but to work on following the Spirit of Christ, our true Guide, wherever it may lead. That Spirit may lead me into advocacy — and sometimes does — but at other times, it urges me to skip the oratory, and respond instead to a concrete situation of bondage by reaching out to interact directly with the captor and/or the person being held captive, letting the Spirit of Christ enter our interaction.
I sense that my words are inadequate.
It is very good to talk with you.