A Review of Bible and Government by John Cobin
By Gregg Farrier The Covenant News ~ January 25, 2005
In his Bible and Government, Dr. John Cobin (Ph.D. Public Policy, M.A. Economics, George Mason University) gives us a primer on the discipline of public policy and its terminology. Do you know what the terms “proactive policy,” “reactive policy,” “negative rights,” “positive rights,” “government” and “state” mean? Agree with the book or not, it’s a valuable tool that defines these terms that are thrown around in newscasts, political speeches and general conversation.
If for no other reason, one should have the book to learn terminology. One of the definitions of terms that I found instructive was “anarchy” which is usually thought of as a synonym for “chaos”— not so! When speaking in technical terms, anarchy simply means, “no state”. What may or may not happen in that situation is not necessarily “chaos.” In fact, history evinces the fact that government, rather than its absence, has been among the greatest creators of chaos.
Foggy thinking and imprecision is rife amongst Evangelicals and the general citizenry today, leading to a chaotic morass of inconsistent thought.
Every so often a book like this comes along that at the very least, if it doesn’t win one over, it should cause one to reevaluate his current position.
If one were to hear the term Divine Right of Kings, perhaps he would associate it with proclamations of kings or churchmen of long ago – King James for example. He was actually the infamous apologist for that doctrine. This doctrine said that because the King was put on the throne by God he was to be obeyed in all matters just as the oracle of God.
Dr. Cobin discusses the “revitalized” or “reshaped” divine right doctrine of today and its effect on modern society and the church. Because there are differing views on this subject, this work has value in that it divides up the differing views that Christians espouse concerning public policy and the Christian’s relationship to the state. Dr. Cobin divides them up into two categories:
1.) The Integrated authority school, espoused by Reconstructionists (sometimes known as Theonomists) and those he calls divine righters (“revitalized”).
2.) The Competing Kingdom school, espoused by Anabaptists and their pacifistic view as well as a view called (and adopted by Dr. Cobin) the “Liberty of Conscience.”
Dr. Cobin is confessional (1689 London Baptist) when it comes to the use of biblical law; however, he rejects the Reconstructionist view that government can be reformed to a point where it is consistently good. In fact, he says that government is inherently evil. It may be restrained for a time, but it lies in the power of the evil one who is under God’s control of course.
He is not without an argument for saying this and makes his case. For instance, Dr. Cobin is not surprised by the emergence of wayward state leaders since he expects nothing different from the state as it is part of the kingdom of Satan. The shameful behavior of political agents merely confirms his view. God said that He empowers the “basest” of men to rule (Daniel 4:17) and that the “throne of iniquity…devises evil by law” (Psalm 94:20). Scripture indicates that (without exception) the kings of the earth have been (and will be) arrayed against the Lord and His Christ (Psalm 2:2, Revelation 19:19). Revelation 13:1-7 is also important for Dr. Cobin in that it indicates something about the state’s nexus with Satan.
It soon becomes obvious that he would seem to come in conflict with what are the classical passages for a Christian paradigm of government, Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17.
When we look at history and in the Bible itself we see that government has very seldom been a benefactor to those under its control, in fact throughout history government has been responsible for the deaths, destruction and misery of multitudes in the vast majority of cases. (For support, Dr. Cobin refers the work of Professor Rudolph J. Rummel in his 1997 book Death by Government, Transaction Publishers: Somerset, NJ.) The Bible itself gives account after account of horrifying situations brought on by governments.
This seems to fly in the face of the Apostles in the above references. A question we must ask here is “Are these texts the definitive references for a Christian view of public policy?” Dr. Cobin demonstrates that there are other passages that we must consider throughout Scripture. Perhaps Romans 13:1-7 is not the main paradigm. He also points out that Paul in particular uses two different Greek words for evil in the Romans 13 passage. In short, Dr. Cobin is saying that the apostles are being practical because the Roman government at that particular time could be dangerous to them if it perceived them to be a threat to rebel – like it perceived the Jews to be. Christians were closely identified with them. The apostles give the Christians practical advice for how to seek a quiet and peaceful existence under a wicked state that puts its own definition (rather than God’s) on what is an “evildoer” and who should be rewarded for “doing good.”
One of the problems with a book like Bible and Government is that readers and reviewers alike will make assumptions as to what a statement or argument the author makes would likely lead to. Some of the key benefits of the book are that it challenges commonly help presuppositions about the nature of the state, whether or not the state is transformable under the dominion mandate, and how far Christians should be bound by public policies – or even how far they should expect the state to morally benefit society.
Our forefathers had to deal with state problems head on. Some resisted the state and others let it roll over them. Who was right? Others resisted the state and it rolled over them anyway. Dr. Cobin’s work adds the public policy aspect missing in the otherwise excellent historical work of Dr. Mark Noll’s Christians and the American Revolution.
Dr. Cobin gives practical answers to questions like, “Should Christians resist government? “How should we deal with taxes?” “What about the Welfare state?” “Should Christians participate in the Public (state) school?” “Were the thirteen Colonies right when they rebelled against the Crown?” “How about the Confederates in the secession of the South?”
These and other issues (historical and contemporary) are right in front of us today. This work is a remedy for – and a challenge to – the anemic public policy teaching put out by so many Christian teachers of our time.
(Dr. Cobin has a web site that invites comment and the book can be purchased there: PolicyOfLiberty.net.)
Gregg Farrier is married to the former Gale Gustenhoven and is the father of five children ages 28, 26, 24, 19 and 17 – all homeschooled. He is a 1975 graduate of Ramapo College of N. J. with a degree in European Studies and a founding member of the Creation Study Group of Greenville, S. C. He may be reached for comment here.