Christians and Civil Disobedience

This past week, we discussed leadership and government and the role of Christians in resisting a corrupt government, especially in light of Romans 13 which says,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

1 Peter 2 also says,

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Does this mean that Christians ought to acquiesce to a corrupt government? At first glance, it seems so. However, the Scriptures also offer up a number of examples of what might certainly be called "civil disobedience." There were the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1:

"...But the midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt commanded them. ... So, God dealt well with the midwives. ...And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families."

In Joshua 2, Rahab defies the King of Jericho and refuses to give up the Israelite spies. In 1 Kings 18, Obadiah hides the prophets from Jezebel, a clear defiance of the queen. And there were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Daniel himself defied the king's command in Daniel 6. And many hundreds of years later, in Acts 5, we read:

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men."

The case for civil disobedience seems clear when the authorities are directly defying God or endangering the people of God. What does this mean for us today? What kind of resistance is permissible? Are there times to go beyond a refusal to obey the orders of the government? Are there times for active resistance?

For an example of this, many turn to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known and revered Christian theologian, who is thought to have been part of a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Some quick research, however, reveals that Bonhoeffer was somewhat removed from the assassination plan, though he must certainly known of it. It is unclear whether or not he approved and exactly how involved he was. His own words seem unclear on whether he would consider such an action right before God. From his book, Ethics:

"Before other men he is justified by dire necessity; before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace.”

Are there other examples we might turn to? Other passages of scripture? Other examples among the saints and theologians of the past? I look forward to hearing more responses, thoughts and ideas on this over the coming weeks as we continue to explore Living the Covenant.