Slaying Leviathan

Winston Churchill said, “The farther back in history a person can see the further ahead in the future he can see.” History is important. We can learn from those who went before us. We can learn from their wisdom and even from their mistakes.

A great end of summer reading book is “Slaying Leviathan” by Glenn Sunshine. Sunshine is a history professor at Central Connecticut State University. In 1651 Thomas Hobbes published the book “Leviathan.” He argued that the king had absolute authority. Hobbes argued a king could not violate laws or deprive people of their rights because all authority had been given to the king. He believed in an absolute monarchy. The king was supreme.

Sunshine takes a much different approach. He argues that government gets bigger and bigger. Sunshine writes, “In Eden, Adam and Eve were free to enjoy the beauty of the Garden, to develop its resources under God’s authority, to act with creativity and liberty, to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Sin ruined all of this, and from the time of Babel through the present, governments have sought unlimited power over the bodies, minds, and hearts of their subjects.” When government oversteps, leviathan must be resisted.

In Matthew 22:21 Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Certain things belong to God. Other facets of life are under the authority of the state.

Theologians have long taught that government must be disobeyed when one of two factors are present. First, government must be resisted when it forbids what God commands. Second, a Christian cannot obey when government commands what God forbids.

In Acts 5 the Sanhedrin arrested Peter and the apostles for proclaiming the gospel. The apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (verse 29). Peter was arrested, freed from prison and immediately went to the temple and spoke the truth! God’s authority as communicated in the Bible supersedes every human authority.

The Roman empire demanded emperor worship. Every citizen once a year was required to throw a pinch of incense into the fire and say, “Caesar is lord.” Early Christians could not do this. Jesus is Lord- not Caesar. The result was persecution.

A popular quote in the nineteenth century was, “Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty.” As Benjamin Franklin exited the Constitutional Convention in 1787 someone asked, “What kind of government do we have?” Franklin replied, “A Republic if you can keep it.”

Sunshine, as a church historian, introduces the reader to something known as Protestant Resistance Theory (PRT). PRT says that if a caesar or an emperor or a king or a president egregiously violates the law it is the responsibility of lesser magistrates to oppose him.

As followers of the Lord Jesus we are law abiding and come under authority. In the Reformation Christians banded together to defend themselves from invading armies. Sunshine says, “How do you prevent this from degenerating into social chaos and vendetta? The answer was to insist that resistance be led by the lesser magistrates, that is, by men in lower offices of the government. That way, those in resistance would still be able to honor the political leaders God placed over them and avoid the anarchy of the German Peasants’ War.”

In Alaska there are two seasons- winter and getting ready for winter. Everyone is busy right now getting ready for winter. We are cutting wood, finishing our projects, putting things away, making sure the kids study for school and taking that last camping trip! In all of your free time, I heartily recommend curling up before a warm wood stove with Glenn Sunshine’s book “Slaying Leviathan.”

Ethan Hansen is a pastor at Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.