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Ezekiel 28:1–10
“Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,’ yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god” (v. 2).
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Sometimes called the “Establishment Clause,” this rule prohibits the U.S. federal government from establishing a state religion and from interfering in the religious affairs of American citizens. This rule is often seen as enshrining the principle of the separation of church and state in the United States.
The Establishment Clause has done much good for the church when it has been interpreted as originally intended. It has helped keep the U.S. federal government from adjudicating theological disputes and exercising church discipline, matters outside its God-assigned area of competence. It has allowed Christians to practice their faith publicly without much fear of state persecution. Yet problems have followed the failure to interpret the principle as originally intended. For decades, the First Amendment has been treated as a license to banish Christianity from public life and used to convey the idea that Christians should not or cannot talk about their beliefs outside the church. As a result, most of the governing and opinion-shaping institutions in American society—education, federal and state governments, the media—are marked by a militant secularism that seeks to exclude followers of Jesus from influencing the direction of government. Even some professing Christians say that believers individually and the church collectively should be silent on civil issues. As Dr. R.C. Sproul frequently observed, the separation of the church and state has become the separation of God and state.
The Bible says that God has given the church and state distinct responsibilities. In doing so, however, God did not command the church to be silent on civil issues. Scripture features many examples of believers’ addressing civil rulers and calling them to account even when these rulers do not profess belief in the one true God. In today’s passage, for instance, Ezekiel rebukes the king of Tyre for making himself into a god (Ezek. 28:1–10). The fact that Tyre’s king did not trust in Yahweh, the one true God, did not give him the right to assume the prerogatives of deity. Ezekiel’s example, and many others, helps us understand that God has called His church to be the conscience of the state. When the state is not upholding justice, the church must call it to account.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Caution is always warranted when the church speaks to the state, for we do not want to assume duties outside the church’s sphere. The church must speak, however, when the state fails in its duty of protecting life and property or otherwise does not maintain justice for its citizens. The civil government is as obligated to serve righteousness as the church is.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 16:18–20
- 1 Kings 21
- Mark 6:18
- Acts 22:22–29
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 22–24
- James 2