Question:  Hi Greg,

            In your “Most Recent Q&A” section, there is a question from a gentleman named Russell who was struggling with capital punishment issues.  One of your responses was that “we should remember that the United States, or any other country for that matter, is not governed by either the new or old covenant.  As Christians we are strangers and pilgrims.  Our citizenship is in heaven.”  I totally agree.  In this regard, however, how should Christians react to gentlemen such as John Ashcroft and President Bush, who declare that they are Christians, yet who support and promote the death of individuals via capital punishment?  Does not Christ come before the State? 

            I believe your would agree, since you also stated in your response to Russell that Christians “should be good citizens of their countries, etc. (as long as there is no conflict with the calling to follow Christ as defined throughout the New Testament).”  With this in mind, have not George Bush and John Ashcroft compromised Christ as the prime authority and taken it upon themselves to judge sinners and hence condemn them to death?

            I realize Christians must respect and honor their rulers, but how, though, should we respond to these men as Christians who obviously (by their actions) dishonor Christ publicly and without remorse by claiming to be his disciples yet place the standards of man above the standards of God?

            Robb

Answer:  Dear Robb,

            I think that the key to my answer would be the same as the last sentence in the answer I gave to Russell.  In that response I said, “At the end of our debates, however, we should return to Romans 13 and realize that there is a separation between church and state in our country and that the state determines laws and policies such as capital punishment.”

            Messrs. Bush and Ashcroft, and other Christian politicians, have sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States.  By virtue of their elections and appointments, Romans 13 says that “there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God” (verse one).  Further, the authority is “God’s servant to do you good (verse four)…and “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (verse four).

            The death penalty, capital punishment—as well as responses to acts of terrorism—are not given to the church, but to the state, by, according to Romans 13, divine right.  The state is given opportunity to act in God’s stead.  Will it do so perfectly?  No.  Would the church do so perfectly if it was given the responsibility to legislate and carry out the laws of the land?  No.

            Christians often think that the separation of church and state is a wonderful principle, because it keeps the state from taking over the church.  That is certainly true.  But Christians need to also understand, if from nothing else the history of Christianity and the church, that the separation of the church and state also protects the state from the church.

            It’s much better, clearly, that the state administers the laws of the land.  Sometimes individual agents will be Christians, sometimes they will not.  In any case, they are God’s agents according to Romans 13.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht