DISCIPLES OF CHRIST “NOT OF THE WORLD.”
By W. N. Glenn
MR. LAWRENCE HARRIGAN, of the St. Louis police, said, “A man who doesn’t believe in God ought not to be on the police force.” Is not this true of all civil offices? This is the Bible rule.—Christian Statesman. No, this is not true of all civil offices; it is not true of the police force. Hunting down and punishing offenders is in no sense Christian work. No more efficient detective ever lived than Jesus Christ could have been, for he knew the hearts and crimes of every one. No man could have had more power in arresting criminals, for all power was at his command. If such an idea as civic reform by the enforcement of civic law had been at all contemplated in the mission of Christ, he certainly could have been the greatest detector of them all. If detecting and punishing criminals had been in any sense a part of the Gospel commission, certainly the apostles would have been masters in the profession. They manifested great personal courage on many trying occasions; they were conversant with every language by miraculous gift, and they had the gift of the discerning of spirits to a remarkable degree. But so far was the work of Christ and his followers from anything of the national or municipal reform idea that they never made formal complaint against any individual in order to secure an arrest or punishment of any character. Christ proclaimed against sin in the abstract, and pointed out sin in individuals; but it was always that men might be led to repentance and forsake their evil ways, that he might save them. He was cognizant of plots to take his life; he was cognizant of infractions of the civil law on every hand; he even knew that Judas, one of his own company, was a thief; yet he never made a single effort to bring an offender before a civic tribunal. When the mob came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest him, although he knew the act was the result of a foul conspiracy to put him to death, he merely showed them that he had power to successfully resist them, and then permitted them to take him. Although every step in his trial, condemnation, and execution was illegal, and he could have pointed out and convicted the instigators of the great crime, he brought no charge against any of them with such intent. When Christ sent out his disciples in the various cities of Judea, where no doubt municipal corruption was rife on every hand, they were to be “wise as serpents” but “harmless as doves.” No language could better express the character of their mission. If any city was so corrupt as to utterly reject the offer of salvation through the preaching of the Gospel, what were the preachers to do? Were they to start a municipal reform crusade, get some of their followers on the police force, raid the dens of infamy, and bring offenders before the magistrates?—Nothing of the kind. They were simply to shake off the dust of that city from their feet, and go on to others with their message of love and mercy. Says Christ: “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:47, 48. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Chapter 3:17. A man once sought his intervention in a case of dishonest dealing, but he replied, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” Luke 12:14. Civil government was instituted for a sinful world, to be conducted by the people of a sinful world. It was a temporary arrangement because of the rejection of the government of God. It was ordained in the providence of a merciful God for the protection of men in the exercise of their natural rights, for the regulation of common affairs during the temporary probation of the race. It is not “the Bible rule” that the people of the Lord should hold the offices in civil government. We read in Dan. 4:17 that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” God brought the Pharaoh of Moses’ time to the throne (Ex. 9:16); he gave the idolater Nebuchadnezzar dominion over the whole earth (Dan. 2:37, 38); all the idolatrous rulers of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Grecia and Rome, reigned under the same ordinance of God establishing civil government among men and setting over it whom he would. Said Christ to Pilate, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” John 19:11. Even in the typical theocracy of Israel, many of the kings were “the basest of men.” Jeroboam, who “made Israel to sin,” was given by direct decree of the Lord the rule over ten tribes of Israel. And of all the kings that reigned over the ten-tribe kingdom not one was loyal to God. All through the existence of that kingdom, from Jeroboam to Zedekiah, idol worship was officially supported. With few exceptions, the kings of Judah were no better. Of Manasseh the record says, he “made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen.” 2 Chron. 33:9. Yet Manasseh was permitted to reign longer than any other of the kings of the theocratic government, almost twice as long as his good father Hezekiah. Christ has expressly said, “My kingdom is not of this world;” and of his followers he says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” He has also laid down this rule of action: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7:12. But no man can follow this rule and be an efficient policeman. The great mistake of popular reformers is in their theory that in some way the work of God can be done through human law, and the human interpretation and execution of God’s law; that the kingdom of God is to be human government7made perfect by human effort. But the Bible teaching is that when Christ sets up his kingdom, all the kingdoms of the world will be “broken to pieces together,” and become “like the chaff of the summer threshing floors,” carried away of the wind, and no place will be found for them. Dan. 2:35. The kingdom of Christ “shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Verse 44. In all the preaching and other acts of the apostles, there is no record or intimation that they ever sought to have any one arrested, or to have any civil law enforced against evil doers. They suffered many indignities, and saw much municipal and national corruption, but their commission was to preach the Gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Tim. 4:2. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” 2 Cor. 10:4. The police officer must use carnal weapons in certain emergencies. But in “the whole armor of God” there is not a single implement of a carnal nature. See Eph. 6:10–20. In short, the Christian is to follow the Master’s example, who “went about doing good,” but never sought to execute the law, or in any way to manipulate the civil affairs of men.