p. 52 | Carnal Weapons by Joseph Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 1, 1883

Carnal Weapons.

By Joseph Clarke

BY JOSEPH CLARKE.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." 2 Cor. 10:4.

The great difference between the dispensation allotted to the Israelitish nation, and the dispensation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, is this: That was a union of church and State; this is a dispensation purely spiritual. That was a union of civil and ecclesiastical law; this is wholly free from the responsibility of the execution of civil law, while its members are subject to it.

While the church was a part of the State, as was Israel in the days of King David, her weapons were (in part) carnal. It had a standing army, a church (in part) maintained by the public funds, and the judiciary, and army, and the treasury, controlled by the church, as it also was fostered and guarded by its care and labor. All who were by birth descendants of Jacob, and were circumcised, were members of this body corporate and spiritual, and were, by right, entitled to a place at all church ordinances and feasts.

Such an organization as that, of course had for its weapons of defense, both carnal and spiritual weapons; for while the priest ministered at the altar, the soldier grasped the sword of victory. Both moved in harmony. Both were united in one unbroken bond of love; and while faithful to God, the acknowledged head over all, they were invulnerable to the united forces of the world.

But the weakness of the people of God at that time, or during that dispensation, was in the fact that in this union of church and State, the regenerated and the unregenerated were brought in too close contact, the good element being generally more or less diluted and weakened by a constant contact with the carnal element, and the presence at all times of worldly men, as lay members of that religious confederacy. Even its officers, its priests in the spiritual department, and its kings and generals and judges in its secular department, were as often men of the world, as lay members in the same body.

The word "theocracy" is often used to describe the government of the Israelites. It is from θεος (God), and κρατος (strength); that is, the power of that government was in God. Although its weapons were in part carnal weapons, they were effective and powerful only as they were backed by the power of God.

The new dispensation is freed from the onerous cares of the State. Says Christ, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." John 4:23. No more does God call to his temple a people who are his only in name. No more does an outward mark distinguish his people from the world. None now need affiliate with the governments of this world to carry out the system of worship inaugurated by our Saviour; for says Christ, "God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24.

The dispensation of the people of Israel was one of force. Each one was compelled to obey its discipline rigidly and in form. Now no such obedience is called for. A voluntary obedience to religious duties is all that God accepts. The civil governments may and should compel obedience to civil law; but as to religious duties, they must be voluntary, or they are not acceptable to God.

The papal church has tried the experiment of ruling the church with carnal weapons. The world is well informed of how well she governed. Fifty million of martyrs will attest to the effect of using carnal weapons in the church. Should the Protestant element attempt the same in this or any other country, the results would be the same as with the Papacy. A class of men would arise who would far outdo the papal church in tyranny and oppression.

Christ has laid down the rule for this dispensation; his people are to come out from the world. Any affiliation with the ruling governments, to enforce religious duties, is going beyond the rules left on record. All churches doing this since the opening of the Christian dispensation, have fallen into the meshes of formalism and error. Look at the Greek Church, which is upheld by Russia; or the Lutheran, upheld by the government of Germany; or look at the Episcopal Church, upheld by England, and in each you may mark a great decay of vitality, and a rank growth of infidelity and formalism. Apostasy is generally succeeded by infidelity or formalism, or both; and should the Protestant churches take the example of the papal church, in adopting her weapons, they will also adopt her policy of using these weapons against the truth. Just as Cain was blinded in his course by his carnal mind, so now the sense of right may be made unfeeling by opposition to reforms. And churches and people may do as did Annas and Caiaphas. These men were dignitaries in a church founded by God himself, through his faithful servant Moses. They were as highly exalted as position could place them. They could not listen to a plain command to reform, consequently they had recourse to carnal weapons. They cried to Pilate for a mandate; so now it is evident that a mandate is necessary to sustain the crumbling Sunday edifice, because the true Sabbath is preached, and all good men are pressing toward it. Let all beware of using carnal weapons, the last resort of apostate churches.