pray for all men | Simply Church: God's Prescribed Relationship Between Church and State

Jerald Finney
Copyright © July 18, 2012
Revised on May 27, 2014

Click here to go to “Self-exam Questions: Pray for All Rulers? 1 Timothy 2.1-6”
[To be added when time permits]

Links to all chapters of “Render Unto God the Things that Are His: A Systematic Study of Romans 13 and Related verses” is at the bottom of this article.

The Bible instructs Christians to pray for their leaders, but within the framework laid out within His Word:

“1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Ti. 2.1-6).

The above admonition of Paul to Timothy, which tells Christians to pray for all men including their leaders, also instructs Christians that such prayers should be that leaders be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth so that they will organize society under God—that is, according to God’s principles so that Christians can “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Thus, when one prays for his leaders according to the teaching of 1 Ti. 2.1-6, he is praying that leaders will be saved and will lead toward achieving the purposes of civil government as instructed by God in the Bible.

Three God-given purposes of Gentile civil government are stated or can be inferred from Scripture. Perhaps the most important purpose of civil government is to teach. Just as “[t]he law is a ‘schoolmaster’ to bring us unto Christ” (Ga. 3.24), a nation, by its laws, teaches. The laws of a nation have a didactic effect—they teach. Lawrence McGarvie observed:

“American law tended to operate as if it had a life of its own, shaping society to conform to legal values by directing the actions of individuals. Recognizing law’s relative autonomy, [some] scholars … contend that law acted to infuse the new society—including the judges—with a system of rules and principles derived from liberal ideology. Many authors have noted the incremental pace of legal change. Law’s structural dependence on the Constitution, common-law precedent, and the procedural dictates of pleading recognizable legal arguments mitigated any societal tendencies toward rapid transformation. Instrumentalism, as a theory of understanding law, fails to fully appreciate its institutional inertia, the multiplicity of forces involved in its creation, and its hegemonic role as a relatively autonomous body of values, beliefs, and doctrine that provides the means of ‘discourse’ in a nation of law” (Mark Douglas McGarvie, One Nation Under Law: America’s Early National Struggles to Separate Church and State (DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2005), p. 12).

God also ordained civil government to control evil (Ro. 13.3-4; see also, 1 Pe. 2.13-14, 1 Ti. 1.9-11, and God Betrayed, Section I which is reproduced in The Biblical Doctrine of Government on this website for a thorough discussion of civil government and its God-given purposes.).

Click the image above to go to the article “Is Separation of Church and State Found in the Constitution?”

The third God-ordained purpose of Gentile civil government is to operate under Him; and He gives each nation a choice of whether or not that nation will do so. Keep in mind that a nation which operates under God and according to His principles for civil government will, for one thing, provide for religious liberty (also called freedom of conscience or soul liberty and includes freedom of speech, association, and press and a right to petition government for a redress of grievances).

An application of God’s principles in civil law would be laws regulating hunting. God told mankind in the Noahic covenant: “Every living thing that liveth shall be food for you” (Ge. 9.3a). Thus, God gave man the authority to hunt animals, but not the “right to engage in mass and wanton slaughter of the animal kingdom.” Likewise, God placed man in the Garden of Eden to “dress it and keep it” (Ge. 2.15), not to destroy it. “So God requires man to exercise wise stewardship in his use of the animal kingdom and of natural resources in general” (John Eidsmoe, God and Caesar: Biblical Faith and Political Action (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stack Publishers, 1997), p. 8).

God wants every Gentile nation to choose to operate under Him—that is, under His principles as given in His Word. If a nation will do that, Christians and non-Christians will live a quiet and peaceable life; and everyone will be free to choose God, no god, or false gods or gods since, as is shown in God Betrayed, separation of church and state is a biblical principle for Gentile nations. This will achieved only if the leaders are saved and apply the principles of Scripture.

Render Unto God the Things that Are His: A Systematic Study of Romans 13 and Related Verses:

Introduction to “Render unto God the Things that Are His: A Systematic Study of Romans 13 and Related Verses” (Chapter 1 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His: A Systematic Study of Romans 13 and Related Verses. This material was also covered in less detail in God Betrayed, Section III, Chapters 5, 6.)
Doth not your Master pay tribute? Matthew 17.24-27 (Chapter 2 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)
Render unto Caesar…? Luke 20.25, Matthey 22.21, Mark 22.17 (Chapter 3 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers? Romans 13 (Chapter 4 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)
Submit to every ordinance of man? 1 Peter 2.13 (Chapter 5 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)
Pray for all rulers? 1 Timothy 2.1-6 (Chapter 6 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)
Conclusion to “Render unto God the Things that Are His: A Systematic Study of Romans 13 and Related Verses” (Chapter 7 of Render Unto God the Things that Are His)

Jerald Finney
Copyright © September 29, 2009

Are you interested in understanding what Romans 13 and other related verses really teach about the relationship of a church and of individual Christians and families to civil government? Has your preacher ever preached on the verses? If so, what position did he take on these verses? Did he interpret the verses in their immediate context and in the overall context of Scripture? Did he explain why the first Christians, including the apostles, as well as God’s own angels and many other biblical characters repeatedly violated, and were sometimes rewarded by God for violating, the modern American “interpretation” of those verses? Did he tell you about the Christians since New Testament days who have been subjected to the most cruel tortures and killed (tarred and feathered, twisted on racks, boiling oil poured down their throats, thrown in with wild beasts, beheaded, pulled apart, beheaded, drowned, buried alive, hanged, etc.) for disobeying the powers that be for refusing to recant their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone? Did he explain to you that in America the First Amendment provides for religious liberty and that no church is supposedly required by man’s law to incorporate, get a 501(c)(3) tax exemption, or to become a legal entity of any kind? Did he explain to you the biblical doctrines of church, state, and separation of church and state?

Romans 13.1-2 and related verses are among the most abused Bible verses in America today. I use the word “abused” as opposed to “misinterpreted,” although people also misinterpret the verses while abusing them. According to Webster’s Dictionary, abuse means “to put to a wrong or improper use” or “to use so as to injure or damage.” Webster’s defines “misinterpret” as “to explain wrongly” or “to understand wrongly.” Those who use Romans 13.1-2 and related verses to justify submission to civil government in all matters, including spiritual matters or matters involving the first four commandments, have abused those verses. They have not considered the immediate and overall context of Scripture in reaching their conclusions. They have assumed state superiority in ecclesiastical affairs and the use of religion to further state policy. Such an assumption has been labeled as Erastianism and this assumption or philosophy pervaded all Europe, with the exception of Calvin’s ecclesiocratic Geneva, after the Reformation, and achieved its greatest triumph in England. Sadly, this assumption is widely accepted in America today.

The verses used to support Erastianism include Romans 13.1-2 (“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers…. Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation….”), and other Bible verses such as Matthew 17.24-27 (“Doth not your master pay tribute? …”), Luke 20.25 (“Render unto Caesar….” which is also recorded in Matthew 22.21 and Mark 12.17.), 1 Peter 2.13-14 (“Submit to every ordinance of man….”), and 1 Timothy 2.1-6 (which exhorts Christians to pray for all men, including rulers). Many nonbelievers as well as carnal and/or baby Christians in America confidently quote one or more of these verses out of context to support their position that Christians are to bow down to civil government in all things, or all things except limitations on the preaching of salvation.

Some go further and take the unbelievable position that these verses mean that churches should become state churches by incorporating, becoming unincorporated associations or charitable trusts, operating as corporations sole, getting 501(c)(3) tax exemption, or by some other means and that churches which do not are in sin. Many of those Christians and churches who take this position pressure churches which are under God, and God only, to put themselves under the state through one of the methods mentioned above.

If you are interested in an in-depth study each of the above mentioned verses of Scripture, click on the WordPress Players below. Each segment below is an edited version of a radio broadcast. Click the following links to hear Jerald Finney’s audio teachings (Right click link and left click “Save link as…” to download):

Introduction and Matthew 17.24-27: “Doth not your master pay tribute?” (13 min. 42 sec.)

Luke 20.25, Matthew 22.21, Mark 12.17: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God, the things which be God’s” (4 min. 47 sec.)

Romans 13: “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers” (24 min. 15 sec.)

I Peter 2.13: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man….” (6 min. 6 sec.)

I Timothy 2.1-5: Pray for rulers (8 min. 6 sec.)