“Haven’t you read Romans 13? Christians are always to submit to the state!” was a sentiment I often heard during the reign of terror, also known as COVID-19. During the pandemic, Christians wrestled with the reality of governmental overreach and hypocrisy. Such proof-texting is common in many theological debates, but it is rarely helpful in gaining a holistic understanding of what the Bible teaches on any subject. My response was often, “Have you read Revelation 13?”
2020 revealed many of the deficiencies in our political theology. All of a sudden, pastors, many of whom were trained to ignore the political realm, were forced to think on their feet about the relationship between church and state, civil disobedience, and the church’s ministry in the public square. The results were not pretty. Romans 13 is indeed a foundational text for understanding the state, but it must be understood in light of an entire biblical theology. In short, pointing to Romans 13 without understanding texts like Revelation 13 produces a distorted political theology.
The Bible presents neither an idealistic view of the state nor a wholesale rejection of it. Rather, it offers both good and bad examples of government. Only by expanding our knowledge beyond proof-texting can Christians come to see the tyrannical and demonic possibilities of the state presented in Scripture. This means understanding a biblical theology of the state and examining other key passages like Revelation 13.
Revelation 13: The State is Either Servant or Beast
The Bible lays out two basic trajectories for the state: it will either be God’s servant or it will become a demonic beast.[1] In Romans 13:1-7, Paul informs us the state is to function as God’s servant by fulfilling its God-given role. Paul describes even the corrupt and tyrannical Roman state, at least in part, as God’s servant. God establishes ruling authorities for our good. The state’s ministry is to be an avenger of God’s wrath by punishing evildoers (Rom. 13:4). In a fallen world, such a ministry is needed. For Christians, anarchy is not an option. By punishing evildoers, the state secures the rights of its people from threats both foreign and domestic. At a minimum, these rights include life, liberty, and property. Christians must ask, “What happens when a state becomes destructive of these ends?”
1. Of course, even rebellious and wicked states and rulers end up serving God’s purposes.
When the state becomes an unfaithful servant, it tends to become a beast. Revelation 12-13 recounts how the state is perverted and weaponized against God and his people. In Revelation 12, John recounts a heavenly vision of the birth of Christ. As he is born, Satan, pictured as the Great Dragon, waits to devour the newly-born Christ. The Dragon fails. As Revelation 12 closes and the next chapter begins, the Dragon stands on the edge of the sea and summons the first of two beasts to his service.
Who are these beasts? The first beast has crowns (Rev. 13:1) and he is given a throne and authority from the Dragon (13:2). John describes this beast as part leopard, bear, and lion (Rev. 13:2) pointing back to the beasts of Daniel 7:4-8. In Daniel, these beasts point to different kings and empires that rise in opposition to God and his people. Daniel looks forward to when these beasts will be finally crushed by God and the Son of Man (Dan. 7:9-28).
In Revelation, we see Daniel’s prophecies applied to the era of the church. These passages warn Christians of the potential for the state to become a beast that serves Satan. In short, the state will either serve God its master, or it will serve the Dragon.
Robert Mounce helps us understand the beast in Revelation 13:
The beast has always been, and will be in a final intensified manifestation, the deification of secular authority. It is a “counterfeit power” that is self-centered, behaves as if it were fully autonomous, and demands total allegiance and excessive praise.[2]
2. Robert Mounce, The Book of Revelation Revised (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 246.
The beastly nature of the state rises when it claims autonomy and a form of deification. The state acts like God (autonomy) and eventually demands God’s worship (deification). The imagery in Daniel and Revelation uncovers the ghastly potential of a “godless” state. Like everything God created good, the state can be perverted, corrupted, and put into the service of the Dragon.
There are two primary ways this beastliness is lived out. First, if there is no God above the state, then the state becomes a de facto god. The highest authority in every system functions as that system’s god. The state is thus deified and worshiped. Thus, man exchanges the glory of God for an idol.
Second, as a state claims God’s status it will begin acting like it really is divine. As the state tries to replace the Lord, it does so through petty and tyrannical imitations of his nature. Thus, the state attempts to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. It oppresses the people by devouring all of life, demanding total allegiance, and trying to control everything. Only recently has technology made such attempts more feasible as the modern state attempts to be everywhere, control everything, and define all truth.
We see this beastly imitation as nation-states move toward globalism in an attempt to rule the whole world. Global kingdoms mock and rival Christ’s universal rule. He alone will rule over everything. Therefore, a biblical view of the state rejects globalism and embraces a limited, small form of government because only Christ possesses that universal kingdom and authority (Eph. 1:10, 20-23).
The beasts, first in Daniel and then in Revelation, establish this tendency of the state to become demonic as it attempts to usurp God’s authority. No matter one’s eschatological views, whether you believe Revelation describes the past, future, or this age in general, the principle is the same—the state is not always a faithful servant. Sometimes, perhaps even often, the state becomes a demonic beast as it tries to seize God’s role.
This corruption of the state is demonstrated time and again as we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
A Biblical Theology of the Demonic State
Whether the state is a pre- or post-fall reality, its current job presumes the existence of sin (Rom. 13:4). To punish evildoers, sin must exist. By punishing the guilty, the state protects the good. It secures the rights of its people. Yet, often rulers and governments do the opposite by punishing good and promoting evil. At the heart of becoming a demonic beast, is the idea of statism—treating the government as the highest authority. The state, though designed to be a servant, is ever seeking to usurp its master.
When reading the Bible cover-to-cover, Christians must understand that frequently the main earthly adversary of God’s people is the state. The pages of Scripture scream to us about the beastly reality of the state in this world. In the Old Testament, we have Egypt, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and even the evil kings of Israel and Judah. All of these governing authorities, in various ways, oppose and oppress God’s people. This constant perversion of the state rises and falls at major points of redemptive history.
The beastliness of the state flows downstream of false worship. Such false worship plays out in two main ways. First, evil rulers tend to worship false gods. Whether it is Molech, Baal, or Dagon, wherever you find a state connected to a false deity you will also find tyranny and beastliness. We become like what we worship. To be a faithful servant, the state must recognize its true master—Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psa. 33:12)
When the state rejects its master it becomes an agent of wickedness. Conversely, when godly rulers come in and institute faithful worship, the nation is blessed (E.g., David, Josiah, Hezekiah). Contrary to the lies of secularism, it’s not if there will be a spiritual authority over the state, but which one authority will the state appeal to?
Second, false religion often manifests itself through the divinizing of the state. The state has a tendency, in action or word, to pretend to be a god. Pharoah was connected to the sun god, Nebuchadnezzar demanded worship (Dan. 3:1-12), and Darius outlawed prayer to anyone but himself (Dan. 6:7). The Dragon summons two beasts, one that directs its wrath at God’s people while the other that demands that the state be worshiped (Rev. 13:12). The state, untethered from the true God, becomes a ravenous beast which eventually demands worship.
The war between God’s people and the state continues in the New Testament. At Jesus’s birth, it is King Herod who seeks to kill him and who then murders innocent children (Matt. 2:12-18). It is the Sanhedrin, which possessed some governing authority (John 18:31), that arrested Christ. It is Pilate, a Roman governor, who executes Christ. Notably, Christ’s sentence is sealed when the Jews reject him and swear allegiance to a beastly Caesar (John 19:15). The monstrous state is always at war with God’s people.
The story continues to the time of the early church as the Apostles are arrested and some are martyred by the state. The early church faced fierce persecution from the Roman state until Christianity became the dominant religion. Yet this new acceptance did not eradicate persecution. In the Reformation, many were persecuted and killed for their beliefs. The beastliness of the state endured and morphs from age to age.
In modern times, countless Christians have been martyred by evil governments under the sway of ideologies like Marxism and Islam. Throughout world history, empires rise and fall attempting to play God. Some promise salvation and a political utopia (e.g., Communism), while others, through the pursuit of a global empire, seek to conquer the whole and enforce a faux sovereignty over all of life (e.g., Rome, Persia, Nazism). By repeating the errors of Babel, some today seek a one-world rule through globalism (e.g., World Economic Forum). These are all manifestations of the same beastly spirit. It is anti-Christ. Thankfully, all such attempts are doomed to failure because Christ alone possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).
When Christians understand the storyline of Scripture and world history, we see the beastly tendency of the state. It is a dominant biblical theme that American Christians have neglected for too long. While God created the state for our good, the evil one perverts it in a vain attempt to usurp God’s authority and supplant Christ’s kingdom. It is no accident that the end of this age is marked by the coming of the King of kings who crushes all beastly rulers (Rev. 19:11-21).
Conclusion
Christians of all people should favor limited government. As the government grows into a nanny state or attempts to become a world empire, we see an ancient story that’s on repeat. The Serpent recruits the state to do his bidding and to attack God’s people. Then a nation rises in mockery and defiance of the reign of God through Christ. Christians know that tyranny is inherently demonic and is not something God requires submission to.
Scripture and history alert us to the dangers of a government unhitched from its master. Big government is always the enemy of God’s people. The state is one of Satan’s favorite tools and one of the church’s main enemies. Christians must understand both the potential good and evil of the state. Therefore, it is God-honoring and wise to seek biblical limits upon the state lest it become a monstrous beast.
While Romans 13:1-7 commands a general submission to the state, as it fulfills its God-given purpose, a fuller reading of Scripture reminds us that men and women of faith have consistently disobeyed the state because of their faith in and allegiance to God alone. To disobey demonic tyrants is to disobey wannabe gods. To disobey false gods is to obey the one true God.
