We Christians are bound to obey God’s Word, which instructs us to submit to civil authorities and to pray for them (see, for example, 1 Tim. 2:1–2). Within the confines of our churches, many Evangelicals respond simplistically to these directives, supposing a gulf divides Christ Jesus from public policy issues. Some leaders are quick to utter, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities”—but only to squelch intelligent and critical assessments of our current governing officials’ policies. Their public prayers for “kings and all those in authority” are vague. Their petitions are full of passive-voice verbs, unaware that they can petition the King of kings himself to turn the king’s heart “wherever he wills” (Prov. 21:1). Scripture obligates us to be responsibly informed citizens praying earnestly that the Lord God will raise up civil authorities to reward doers of good while punishing evildoers, but also that the Lord will frustrate and impede government officials whose policies and actions are contrary to God’s established created order. God’s ordained order includes our prayers as his means to incline the hearts of civil authorities to do his will.
Christians Are to be Responsibly Informed Citizens
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the Roman Empire capital, admonishing them and us to “be subject to the governing authorities” God instituted for our good. To resist them is to resist what God has established (Rom. 13:1–2). Governing officials whom God appoints are to threaten and punish evildoers and encourage and reward doers of good. Thus, the Lord calls on Christians to be conscience-governed citizens, not merely subjects seeking to avoid God’s wrath. This requires us to be well-informed about our roles and responsibilities as citizens, regardless of the government under which we reside. This active engagement is crucial, and it excludes uninformed detachment and passivity. Included in obeying God concerning governments are paying taxes and honoring the dignity of the office civil authorities occupy (Rom. 13:3–7). As John Calvin affirms, we are obligated “to obey kings and governors, whoever they may be, not because we are constrained, but because it is a service acceptable to God; for he will have them not only to be feared but also honored by a voluntary respect.”[1]
1. John Calvin, Commentary on Romans, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 481.
Yet, responsible citizenship, including within the United States of America, requires more from Christians. That the apostle sent directives concerning a governing official’s obligations in his letter to the church in Rome and not to the emperor’s palace implicitly obligates Christians to instruct and admonish one another concerning our roles as citizens but also to hold those who govern accountable because:
(1) God appointed them to their roles in government (Rom. 13:1).
(2) They are ministers of God for the well-being of those whom they govern (Rom. 13:4).
(3) Their primary role is to uphold proper order and justice—punishing evildoers and rewarding doers of good (Rom 13:4).
(4) They are in positions of authority not to serve themselves but to serve those for whom they are entrusted with governing (Rom. 13:3–4).
Christians Are to be Responsibly Praying Citizens
Some years after writing his letter to the Roman believers, while confined in Rome with a chain by Caesar’s authorities for preaching the gospel (Acts 28:16–31), the Apostle Paul wrote ministry directives to Timothy, his young associate in the gospel. He admonished:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:1–4).
Paul desires gospel ministers to lead Christ’s church in praying for the full range of people—not every person without exception–but all peoples without distinction. The Apostle characterizes the kinds of prayers to be made on behalf of others with four terms: (1) supplications, petitions presented to God concerning specific needs, (2) prayers, in general, (3) intercessions, urgent and bold requests for God to act on behalf of others, and (4) thanksgivings, gratitude to the Lord for all his kindnesses and provisions (cf. 1 Tim. 4:3–4). Without enumerating all the kinds of people for whom Christians are to pray, he identifies one prominent group, all who hold governing positions, “for kings and all who are in high positions.” Here, Paul refers to the Roman emperor, likely Nero, who holds him in custody. Then he refers to provincial governors and local magistrates; before many of these, Paul stood as an accused criminal.
Prayers for officials within every level of government are to have one principal objective, “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” What does this mean? Paul’s admonition calls us to pray that God will establish and sustain conditions favorable to Christian living and the proclamation of the gospel. The desired outcome is “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life”—as in, that we would not get fined, arrested, or beheaded for merely living out our Christian faith. However, because Paul realized he was writing his apostolic letter to reach far beyond his own location and time, he does not specifically tell us how we are to pray for government officials. His directive calls on us to pray with understanding and wisdom.
We would be naïve and simplistic if we failed to acknowledge the many diverse ways Christians are obliged to pray for our governing officials depending on where we are and the nature of the government under which we find ourselves. Properly heeding his admonition requires at least three factors from us.
- First, we must understand how civil authorities’ policies and actions influence our world for good or ill. This obligates Christian citizens to civic awareness, banishing ignorance and acquiring an understanding of the form and function of the government under which one lives with attentiveness to its principals, principles, proposals, and proceedings.
- Second, we need to employ wisdom concerning how best to pray for kings, governors, and magistrates to sustain conditions where obedience to the gospel may flourish without governing officials impeding the free proclamation of the gospel. Therefore, to pray rightly for those in authority over us or all who aim to occupy government positions, we need a proper understanding concerning (1) their worldviews and policies, (2) the principles that govern them, and (3) what role we have in relationship to our government and its officials.
- Third, we need to acknowledge that Scripture itself, especially the Psalter, instructs Christians how to pray, including for “kings and all who are in high positions.”
Christians Ought to Imitate David, “A Man after God’s Own Heart”
Given the escalating enmity toward Christianity throughout Western culture, especially the many unjust prosecutions of individual Christians by Biden’s Department of Justice, it is timely to consider God’s anointed King David. David prayed for the jealous and insecure King Saul, who hunted him like an animal in the wilderness (1 Sam. 24:12). David’s response to Saul’s quest to kill him provides a model for how we Christians ought to respect and pray for civil authorities—even when these authorities (like Saul) become evil, promote evil legislation, punish doers of good, and reward evildoers.
Twice David had opportunities to kill King Saul and end this king’s jealous pursuit of him: once when Saul entered a cave to relieve himself in private (1 Sam. 24:1–22), and once when David sneaked into Saul’s camp while everyone was in a divinely given deep sleep (1 Sam. 26:1–25). On both occasions, when David made his presence known to Saul and appealed to him to cease hunting him like an animal, he refused to take vengeance into his own hands, but in Saul’s hearing, he called on the Lord God to judge righteously, the one who gave the kingship to Saul. After David emerged from the cave holding a corner of Saul’s robe, holding up the portion of cloth, he called out: “May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you” (1 Sam. 24:12, 15).
While on the run and hiding from King Saul, David also wrote prayers preserved for us in Israel’s Psalter. Love for God constrained David from avenging himself against Saul. Likewise, love for God constrained David to appeal to the Lord in prayer concerning his adversaries, including the king and his 3,000 henchmen. Likely when hiding in the cave of Adullam, David wrote Psalm 57 to acknowledge the Lord’s coming defeat of Saul, beginning with these three verses:
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me.
Frequently, David’s acknowledgment that God will subject Saul and his henchmen to shame for seeking to kill him becomes a prayerful imprecatory appeal to the Lord to punish Saul and all his allies. David prays similarly in Psalm 7:6–9, where he also confidently presents to the Lord his guiltlessness.
Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
When the Lord rescued David and frustrated Saul’s efforts to capture him, the young lyrist rejoiced that the Lord heard his cry, pushed his enemies back, and delivered him from destruction.
In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears (Psalm 18:6).
Christians Pray God’s Imprecations on Wicked Civil Officials
Whether realizing it or not, everyone praying “The Lord’s Prayer” invokes God’s mercy on the righteous and God’s wrath on the wicked. With David, whom God identified as “a man after God’s own heart,” godliness warrants our invoking the Lord’s wrath and curses on evildoers because God’s grace and mercy are at work deeply within us, transforming us ever more into his likeness. Martin Luther understood well that for Christians to be godly, we must acquire God’s abhorrence of wickedness and of people who practice evildoing. So, Luther correctly argued that we need to be cognizant of the fact that whenever we pray, “Let your name be hallowed; let your kingdom come; let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we are praying an imprecatory petition to God the Father to heap “Curses, maledictions and disgrace upon every other name and every other kingdom. May they be ruined and torn apart and may all their schemes and wisdom and plans run aground.”[2]
2. Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia, 1956), 21:101.
Elsewhere Luther explains,
We should pray that our enemies be converted and become our friends, and if not, that their doing and designing be bound to fail and have no success and that their persons perish rather than the Gospel and the kingdom of Christ. Thus the saintly martyr Anastasia, a wealthy, noble Roman matron, prayed against her husband, an idolatrous and terrible ravager of Christians, who had flung her into a horrible prison, in which she had to stay and die. There she lay and wrote to the saintly Chrysogonus diligently to pray for her husband that, if possible, he be converted and believe; but if not, that he be unable to carry out his plans and that he soon make an end of his ravaging. Thus she prayed him to death, for he went to war and did not return home. So we, too, pray for our angry enemies, not that God protect and strengthen them in their ways, as we pray for Christians, or that He help them, but that they be converted, if they can be; or, if they refuse, that God oppose them, stop them and end the game to their harm and misfortune.[3]
3. Martin Luther, What Luther Says (St. Louis: Concordia, 1959), 1100.
Conclusion
Our Christian confession, “Jesus is Lord,” is not private but public, borne witness before others in baptism. We acknowledge Christ Jesus is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” This affirmation constrains us to become knowledgeable participants in subjection to those to whom the Lord God has entrusted governing authority. Thus, our duty is to obey the Lord by being “subject to the governing officials”—but also by reminding civil authorities that they serve for our good only at the pleasure of the Lord God who installed them in their roles. Likewise, our duty is to pray to the Lord that he would constrain governing officials to adopt and enact policies that promote and protect a culture where the proclamation of the gospel has free rein resulting in God’s people living peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness. It is to this end that Christians, who have the right to vote for their government officials, are conscience-bound to exercise their God-given freedom to cast their ballots, not principally for individual candidates but for policies that will promote the flourishing of God-honoring freedoms, especially of conscience and speech.
