With more and more people becoming dissatisfied with their government and elected leaders, more and more Christians are asking, “When is it appropriate to disobey the law?”
So, let’s start with what the Bible says about your relationship with your government. It’s pretty clear that as a general rule your attitude should be obedience and submission:
1 Peter 2:13-17 – Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
Romans 13:1-2, 5 – Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves…. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
Bear in mind that the government Peter and Paul spoke of was not a benevolent entity. Rather, they were exceptionally cruel on many occasions, especially toward Christians. So the mere fact that you are not under a “good” government, or your elected leaders are not who you would have chosen, is not in itself cause to be disobedient.
Still, there are several instances in the Bible where people did act in disobedience to their government, and were commended for it, so let’s look at a few of those.
In Exodus 1, the Hebrew midwives did not kill the male children as the Pharaoh commanded. Why not? Exodus 1:17 says that they “feared God,” and chose to let the children live.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Daniel 3), and as a consequence were thrown into the fiery furnace? Why did they refuse? Because they were fully aware that God’s law prohibited the worship of any image: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,…” (Exodus 20:4-5).
Peter and John were commanded to stop preaching Christ, but they responded, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!” (Acts 4:19).
In each of these cases, the people acted as God had commanded, which was in direct opposition to the government’s demand. And therein lies the basis upon which a Christian may act in disobedience to their government, “Disobedience of civil authority is justified when that authority requires us to disobey God.”[1]
Paul Carter puts it like this:
“You need to have a clear command of God if you are going to disobey because there is a clear command from God, as a general rule, to be in subjection to civil authorities in Romans 13:1-7. Therefore, you can’t disobey because you think a law is stupid or unlikely to work or probably unnecessary. The law of the land needs to forbid something God commands or command something God forbids in order to qualify.”[2]
But let’s look for a moment at civil disobedience. Stanford University says this: “civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies (Rawls 1999, 320).”[3]
But what guidelines can a Christian follow when they decide they must disobey their government? The website gotquestions.com offers these suggestions:
“Christian’s civil disobedience can be summed as follows:
• Christians should resist a government that commands or compels evil and should work nonviolently within the laws of the land to change a government that permits evil.
• Civil disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands.
• If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the government, he should accept that government’s punishment for his actions.
• Christians are certainly permitted to work to install new government leaders within the laws that have been established.
“Lastly, Christians are commanded to pray for their leaders and for God to intervene in His time to change any ungodly path that they are pursuing (1 Timothy 2:1-2).”[4]
One final note on the consequences of civil disobedience. If you choose to disobey your government, be aware that you may be subject to some pretty severe penalties as a result. Just because you are “acting on behalf of God” (which, be sure you really are!), will not protect you!
Remember the story of Esther? Mordecai asked her to approach the king on behalf of the Jewish people who were under the threat of death. She was reluctant to do so, because, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives” (Esther 4:11).
Still, knowing it was the right thing to do, she asked Mordecai to gather the Jews to pray and fast on her behalf. Then she told him, “When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).
She knew it might end in her death, but she did it, knowing she was acting on behalf of God’s people, to stop Haman’s evil plan from being carried out (see Esther 3:12-13).
If you are going to disobey your governing leaders, you need to be very, very sure you are acting on a clear command from God. A very clear command. And you need to be very sure that your action of disobedience does not in itself break one of God’s clear commands (e.g., Exodus 20:1-17).