The Role of Government – What Does the Bible Say?
Politicians have a lot to say about what they think the role of government is. Those on the left often want more government at the federal level, especially more social programs. They argue that this strategy will be able to help more people because these programs are available to everyone in every state. To cope with the financing imposed by such spending, they prefer a higher tax burden at the national level, again where it can be distributed among more people.
Those on the right generally want most of the government to be at the state and local level, keeping both taxes and spending programs closer to the people. In this way, most of the tax revenue is spent locally, just as most projects are for the benefit of those same people. They want a smaller federal government, with lower taxes and lower spending, that would focus on just a few projects nationwide, and few of which would include social programs.
The Bible
Few people realize that the Bible defines what the role of government should be. Our founding fathers built our republic on biblical principles. Most Christians would agree that the ideal system would be one that bases its laws and policies on the laws of God. However, as our governing bodies have changed, have we strayed from God’s ideals? Let’s examine the purpose and scope of government, particularly the federal government, from the perspective of the Bible and history.
The role of government is laid out in the Bible at 1 Timothy 2:1-2, which indicates that we should pray for everyone, including “kings and all who are in authority, that we may live in peace and quiet.” This passage tells us that as Christians we should pray for our leaders in government, and it also indicates what we should expect from our officials.
national defense
The most important function entrusted to our government is to enable us citizens to live peaceful and calm lives. In Genesis chapters 10 through 12, God divided people into national entities. He condemned aggression between nations, but knowing the greed and wickedness of man’s sinful nature, he established national defense as a means of protection against enemy aggressors. If our government is to enable us to live peaceful and quiet lives, its first responsibility is that of defense. Furthermore, since the government body that most frequently interacts with other nations is our federal government, this responsibility falls primarily on the federal level.
The Constitution
Since our government was built on Biblical principles, documents like the Constitution support Biblical guidelines. Its preamble limits the power of the federal government to the following:
1. Guarantee internal tranquility – law and order
2. Provide for the common defense – a national defense
3. Promote general welfare – Biblical truths
4. Secure the blessings of Freedom – maintain our freedom
Furthermore, the first three articles of the Constitution continue to state its purpose of limiting the role of the federal government. This document does not authorize the government, by indicating the things that it cannot do. Instead, you limit its power by setting a short list of things it can do. If a certain thing is not on the list, then the government does not have the legal power to do it. Furthermore, the Bill of Rights explicitly mentions certain rights that the government may not violate under any circumstances. The Tenth Amendment is particularly interesting, as it essentially states that any power not explicitly granted to the federal government is reserved to the states or the people. Clearly, the intention was to limit its size and power.
Evaluation
Our government seems to do a good job of fulfilling its limited powers as set forth in the Bible and the Constitution. The federal level provides a strong military and the state and local governments provide law and order. However, in addition to being inefficient and mismanaged, our federal government constantly oversteps the bounds defined by the Constitution and the Bible. It has expanded far beyond its proper role, always doing more than is legally allowed and consequently charging us all with taxes that are too high. When our state and local governments also follow this pattern, the burden on the people is overwhelming. This is obvious when we consider the size of our government agencies. Our 90,000 government units (including cities, counties, etc.) are estimated to employ some 20 million people with a payroll of more than $600 billion, including about $150 billion for the payroll of the 3 million civilian employees at the federal level alone . While these payrolls are only a small percentage of public spending, government employees add a lot of overhead to the tax burden.
government spending
We have excessive public spending, which has led to excessive taxes. The federal government spends several times more on rights programs than on advocacy. Despite the complaints of politicians who oppose the war in Iraq, the amount we spend on the war is less than 10% of what we spend on entitlements. This encourages everyone to feel entitled, including banks, insurance companies, car manufacturers, and politicians. Everyone expects a free monthly check.
Our government tries to do much more than it was meant to do. You can’t justify spending money for every cause, just because someone will benefit from it. It is not the government’s job to redistribute or redistribute wealth. Politicians have distorted “promoting the general welfare” to mean empowering the federal government to do almost anything, as long as it is intended to help any selected group or individual. Many Americans do not understand this, and some simply seek help from the government. Politics seems to be a game, where everyone demands something from the government. We need to stop all the unearned rights, which are being financed by others.
Church
While the government should be less involved in social programs, the Church should be more involved in alleviating the need for rights by providing more assistance to those truly in need. Galatians 2:10 says that we are to remember the poor. This should be the role of the Church, not the government. However, perhaps our churches could better fulfill this role if their members were not overburdened.
obeying the government
Although our government is not perfect, Romans 13:1-7 says that we must respect it. As long as he doesn’t ask us to do something wicked or immoral, we should generally obey him. Even if we think our tax dollars are being misused, we still have to pay what we owe. However, if the government fails to maintain our freedom, or to protect us from criminals, we are within the Bible’s guidelines to object. If he were to attempt to directly enforce an unjust or immoral law upon us, it would be not only our right, but our very Christian obligation to refuse to obey.
When the government tries to enforce unbiblical laws, we have several options for action:
1) Vote – If we don’t attack at the polls, we have no right to complain.
2) Take the necessary legal actions.
3) Flee – If government conditions become intolerable, we may withdraw from their jurisdiction.
4) Civil Disobedience – Confronting our adversaries through nonviolent denial.
Why does this trend continue?
We have no one to blame for these problems except ourselves. We choose these people who are spending our money. Much of the problem is that we ourselves are trapped in government bureaucracy and selfishly protecting our own interests despite what is right. However, I fear that we may already be past the point of no return in our excessive public spending, and it is only a matter of time before we face dire consequences.
My estimate is that the number of Americans (or households) who collect some type of entitlement check each month has recently surpassed the number of us who do not receive government checks. Does it make any sense that 45% of us are providing most of the funding for the other 55% of us? Not only are we already outnumbered, but we are still expanding our relief programs and bailing out companies that have mismanaged their businesses. How do we expect to continue when an even smaller percentage of people will be asked to fund a larger percentage in the future? How can we go back to responsible government when more than half of us already depend on it? When the government finally gets to the point of having too many people dependent on its entitlement programs and too few to fund them, then that government will simply collapse.
In truth, there are only a few specific responsibilities that a government should be empowered to do. He must protect us and keep us free to obey God’s commandments and give him glory. The government is not supposed to do everything for everyone. In fact, it is supposed to do very little. Voters share the blame for our current overspending. We are wrong not to vote, and if we selfishly vote the same big spenders into office for repeat terms, to continue rights. The Church must carry more of the burden of helping the truly poor and needy. In this way, these projects are financed through contributions instead of taxes.