CHRIST AND CÆSAR by C. P. Bollman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 15, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 20.

CHRIST AND CÆSAR.

By C. P. Bollman

PART of Christ’s mission in this world was “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” And this He did, not spiritually, merely, but literally; for no other influence in all the history of the world has liberated so many people from physical bondage as has the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When Christ came to earth it was “the midnight of the world.” Everywhere within the confines of the civilization that then existed, “the iron monarchy of Rome” ruled. Only the Roman citizen had rights, and even he enjoyed those rights, not because they were acknowledged as a natural endowment, but by favor of the Roman State.

All this was presently changed by the preaching of the Gospel. In His oft-quoted answer to the Pharisees, “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Jesus plainly showed that instead of possessing all power over the people, according to the Roman theory of the State, Cæsar’s was a government of limited powers; limited not indeed by a written constitution (for before this time constitutional government had perished in Rome), but by the law of “nature and of nature’s God.”

Some things belong to Cæsar, and some to God; and Cæsar may claim only his own. Godward the king himself is only a subject, in duty bound to render to God, equally with the humblest in his kingdom, that which is due to God; and accountable also to God for all abuse of his power.

This same doctrine was taught again in the court of the high priest. When smitten by one of the officers, Jesus said, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?” Here was a plain intimation that the high priest and his officers were amenable to the laws of justice.

Again, the same lesson of obligation to a higher Power is taught in Christ’s words to Pilate: “Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.” Pilate knew less of God and of His law than did the high priest; therefore his sin was not as great as that of Caiaphas, but it was sin nevertheless. Here, again, we find the truth plainly taught, that human power is not supreme; that it is limited by the law of justice, and that the ruler who goes beyond this is guilty of sin, for which he must answer in the Judgment. How unlike the pagan maxim, “The king can do no wrong.”

But it is pre-eminently in the Gospel commission that this principle is most plainly taught. It was the law of Rome that if any one introduced any new religion, he was to be put to death, if one of the common people; if of the higher rank, he was to suffer confiscation of goods and banishment. Christ, who knew all things, was not ignorant of this law; yet in the face of it He commanded His disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” He knew they would suffer persecution; that they would be arrested, and imprisoned, and whipped, and that many of them would be put to death as violators of the Roman law; and yet, knowing all this, He said, “Go,” and “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

Thus Christ not only sent forth His disciples to set at naught the laws of the proudest empire that the world had ever seen, but He went with them Himself by His Spirit; and again, as in the wilderness, “in all their affliction He was afflicted.”

And what was the result?—The Roman Empire was leavened by the Gospel. Not only were men made free spiritually, but thousands everywhere awoke to the fact that rights are natural endowments, and not a gift from the State. So pronounced was this influence that in less than three centuries freedom of conscience was proclaimed thruout the empire. The edict of Milan, issued in March, 313, is in part as follows:—

“We have resolved, among the first things, to ordain those matters by which reverence and worship to the Deity might be exhibited. That is, how we may grant likewise to the Christians, and to all, the free choice to follow that mode of worship which they may wish; . . . that to each one power may be granted to devote his mind to that worship which he may think adapted to himself; that the Deity may in all things exhibit to us His accustomed favor and kindness.

“It was just and consistent that we should write that this was our pleasure; that all exceptions respecting the Christians being completely removed, which were contained in the former epistle that we sent to your fidelity, and whatever measures were wholly sinister and foreign to our mildness, that these should be altogether annulled; and now that each one of the Christians may freely and without molestation pursue and follow that course and worship which he has proposed to himself; which, indeed, we have resolved to communicate most fully to your care and diligence, that you may know we have granted liberty and full freedom to the Christians to observe their own mode of worship; which, as your fidelity understands, is absolutely granted to them by us; the privilege is also granted to others to pursue that worship and religion that they wish. . . . That each may have the privilege to select and to worship whatever divinity he pleases. But this has been done by us that we might not appear in any manner to detract anything from any manner of religion, or any mode of worship.”

This edict was only a legitimate fruit of the work of Christ, and of the commission that He gave to His apostles. In conclusion, then, what was the Master’s attitude toward Cæsar, or the civil power? It was not one of hostility, for He headed no insurrection. He even forbade His followers to use force in His own defense. It was not one of insolent bravado and defiance. When on trial for His life His language was dignified and His answers respectful. Neither was it one of supine surrender. As we have seen, He reminded Pilate that there was a law to which even he was subject, Roman governor tho he was. Christ therefore held not only Himself as a man, but all men, even kings, as subject first of all to the Supreme Being and to the supreme law, and necessarily subject to human authority only in so far as such authority is in harmony with the law of justice. Thus the doctrine of Christ makes every man superior to all human governments or codes of laws, in this,—that every man who is true to God necessarily sits in judgment upon human governments and codes, to determine the lawfulness of the laws and the justice of the government. This was Christ’s attitude toward Cæsar—civil authority—and “as He is, so are we in this world.” C. P. BOLLMAN.