by Gerald Schlabach
In a time of crisis, uncertainty, and policy debate, one would think that Christians in the United States would agree: When in doubt, we should support our leader and remain loyal to our nation.
Our leader, of course, is Jesus Christ. Our nation, of course, is the people called church, spread around the globe. Our pledge of allegiance, of course, is one that can be sung from within “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelations 5:9). Of course?
As the Bush administration prepares for war with Iraq, some matters certainly are legitimate topics for debate and Christian discernment. Christians of good will must discern which of the many competing messages about Iraq are coming to them in good faith, and which are manipulative. At its best, the centuries-long debate between pacifist and just-war Christians can help deepen a shared commitment to confront injustice and stand up for the defenseless. In turn, those who believe wars can sometimes be just are obliged to discern whether this war would qualify. Meanwhile, those resolved to respond first as Christians will continually wonder how to live out Christian love of neighbor within overlapping roles such as employee, passport-holder, family member, office holder.
Yet for all this, one thing should need no debate whatsoever. The first Christian creed was the simple confession “Jesus is Lord.” Kyrios, lord, king, Caesar—perhaps today we would say president. Biblically, to confess Jesus as Lord means that in every nation except the church, whoever is known as king, Caesar, or president is not really our leader. Leaders of the nations deserve respect and prayer. Ordinary laws and policies ordinarily deserve civil obedience, not disobedience. But if Jesus is Lord, no other leader deserves unquestioned support, muting of doubts, or stifling of conscience. Every Christian must someday expect to obey God, not human beings.
Biblically, this conviction is anything but isolated. It has roots in Israel’s faith that Yahweh alone was their king. It extends throughout the New Testament, and bears fruit in the continuing witness of the church. Following Christ’s own death, the apostles invited Roman centurions to faith and appealed to Rome’s own sense of itself as protector of justice. Yet they never forgot that they followed a lord who rivaled Caesar. Indeed, the New Testament closes with fresh and apocalyptically poignant reminders that through martyrdom, Christians were sharing in Christ’s nonviolent war against the idolatrous claims of empire.
TO BE SURE, Romans 13 urged Christians living near the heart of the empire to be subject to governing authorities. They needed that reminder because they were learning lessons like those in the previous chapter, Romans 12, just well enough that imprudent, unprincipled resistance to authority could be a temptation. Those lessons? Do not conform to the world but allow God’s grace to transform you into a contrast society; practice hospitality toward strangers, renounce vengeance, meet evil with good, order all your relationships peaceably. That God was at work placing the world’s authorities in order was not a blank check for the state, but was simply one more reflection of early Christian confidence that their lord, the crucified but risen Christ, was the lord.
If Christians in the United States are confused about who our leader is and whether we ought to close ranks in support of President Bush, that is probably because we are also confused about our citizenship. If our first loyalty is to Christ, the appropriate way to express it is by identifying with the entire Body of Christ—the nation called church that spreads across borders and around the globe.
The opportunity to relearn this lesson has never been greater. Whatever the negatives of globalization, Christians plugged into its new networks of communication have no excuse for ignorance about how our actions affect fellow citizens in the worldwide household of faith. Iraqi Christians will die from bombs ostensibly targeted at the Saddam Hussein regime. Pakistani Christians are already under attack because Christianity is identified with U.S. policies.
The least that American Christians can do is factor in loyalty to fellow Christians around the globe as we determine our stance toward leaders named Bush, Hussein—and Jesus. But that is only a minimum. In the lead-up to the November elections, one secular anti-war group coined the slogan, “Regime change begins at home—vote!” Christians might better say something else: “Regime change begins at home—worship!”
If we have forgotten why authentic worship must change the regime that guides our lives, defines our true nationality, and then charts our international relationships, then we have forgotten the one we claim to worship as lord, president, unquestioned leader.
Gerald W. Schlabach is associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.