On this 244th birthday of the United States of America, many of her citizens are living under a face mask mandate as a response to the rising cases of Coronavirus infections. Setting aside the problems with media sensationalization, test result reporting, false positives, data collections and conflicting results of Hydroxychloroquine treatments, in this blog I want to form an educated Christian worldview on individual rights, personal liberty and submission to government authority in light of Romans 13.1-7:
Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience. And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.
Christian Standard Bible (Holman Bible Publisher: 2017)
At face-value, the imperative “submit to the governing authorities” sounds absolute and universal, meaning regardless of the form of governance―be it democratic, republic, authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist, monarchy and/or dictatorship―as Christian, we are to always submit to the governing authorities. At least, that is how it was explained to me growing up in the American church. Yet, when I read the news of a governor threatening that “the state will record the license plates of any people at a mass gathering, including in-person church services” or that a state’s Department of Public Health encourages the “snitching” of church gathering, I cannot imagine, theologically or logically, this was what Paul had in mind when he wrote his letter to the Roman Christians during Nero’s reign. Furthermore, I cannot fathom that through this view all Chinese Christians who are worshiping in secret in spite of their government’s anti-Christian stance are indeed “opposing God’s command” (Rom 13.2).
In this passage, Paul states governing authorities are “God’s servants” three times. This is a significant clue to aid our understanding. Human authority is an institution established by God to function as his intermediary in maintaining civility in society (this was so in the Old Testament days after the Israelites rejected theocracy, God as their King). God’s servants are those who accomplishes the will and purpose of God―however indirectly or unintentionally. We see in verse 3 that “rulers are not a terror to good conduct”; verse 4 tells us they serve for our good and an avenger for wrongdoers; and verse 6 we are commanded to fund their function through taxes as keeper of good conducts and punisher of wrong actions.
So, immediately, we see that there is a qualifier built-in to the imperative to limit the power of human authority. They are to function by upholding moral values―good and evil―and moral duties―right and wrong―as God has defined it. This implies that when government exceeds its limits of authority by defining what is good and evil, right and wrong according to it own standards, in defiance to what God has established (cf. Rom 13.1b) then we are free to disobey this rogue regime. This is the reason that Martin Luther King’s civil disobedience to the injustice of racism was the righteous thing to do; and this is the reason that Dietrich Bonhoeffer should not be condemned for his participation in the failed Hitler assassination plot in order to preserve the lives of Jews and fellow Germans by shortening the war.
But, in 2020 what am I to do as a Christian, one who tries to imitate Christ, with municipal face mask mandate and the infringement upon personal liberty in light of spiking cases of Coronavirus?
I can confidently say that whether I choose to wear a face mask or not is not part of moral value. We cannot rightly say that mandating face masks to prevent the spread of Coronavirus is moral, otherwise there must also be a mandate to wear masks to prevent spreading other similar infections such as seasonal influenza or tuberculosis or common cold. However, libertarian freedom is a moral value as it prevents mankind from oppression, and therefore, it is the government’s role to preserve the freedom to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, as stated in the Bill of Rights. Since wearing a face mask is not a divine moral value in which I must uphold, then I do not have a moral duty to wear one. Furthermore, infringing on one’s libertarian freedom is a moral evil, therefore, it is my moral duty to speak against it (and against the shaming, manipulating or coercing others into wearing one).
For you see, the partiality that James speaks of includes me being partial to myself as well.
But wait… there is a mandate that I must submit to and obey. Paul adds to the duty of submission to civil authority with another duty, the duty to observe the law of love (Rom 13.8, 10). It is the same as the royal law that James speaks of, “Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well” (Jas 2.8 CSB). For you see, the partiality that James speaks of includes me being partial to myself as well. What it means is that as an act of service in love for my “neighbors”―those who are at-risk of fatality as result of Coronavirus infection―I will self-quarantine should I contract the virus (just as I have done when I had the flu) and I will wear a face mask voluntarily when I am worshiping at church, sitting next to someone who is in the at-risk group if social-distancing isn’t possible, or when I am asked to wear one.
Hopefully I have clearly stated my case for the proper Christian worldview regarding to liberty, face mask mandate and Romans 13. Please feel free to comment and respond (with civility) below with your thoughts of agreement or disagreement.
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