Rev I D MacDonald and A H Ross
Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyle, one of the eminent Covenanter martyrs, famously said before his execution: “These times are like to be either sinning or suffering times. Those that sin will suffer worse than I do – eternal suffering. When I am singing, they will be howling.” In his day, those who followed Christ were backed into a corner when they had to choose whether to sin or to suffer, with no third way out. Whenever the state passes laws contrary to the Word of God and then obliges the citizens of the land to obey that law or face a penalty, the Christian is faced with the same choice. He must choose to suffer rather than to sin.
Some of the recent legislation passed by the Scottish Government places many Christians in just that position. For example, the recent ban on smacking (The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill, passed on 3 October 2019) is contrary to the Word of God, which, while of course forbidding all cruelty and abusive punishment, does direct parents to discipline their children, including by smacking. Also the proposed changes to the RSHP (Relationships, Sexual Health & Parenthood) Statutory Guidance issued by the Scottish Government may oblige many teachers in state schools to teach most decidedly unchristian and indeed unnatural and vile material. The whole political and social environment in society at large, and in many workplaces and schools in particular, is becoming increasingly unchristian and anti-Christian. It does not require any great discernment to see the hand of the evil one in gathering his forces together against the Church and the individual Christian, so that the daughter of Zion is left as a “besieged city”.
If the Church in Scotland is beginning again to pass through the furnace of affliction, there will be great need for wisdom and grace to enable her to stand faithfully on the side of Christ. It is true that at present any suffering because of refusing to obey these laws may not be as drastic as it was in the days of the Covenanters, when the penalty was often death. Yet the loss of income, damaged career prospects, fines and potential prison sentences, criminal records, and threats to have our children taken from us into the custody of the state would not be easy to endure. In truth, even the strongest believer is so weak in himself that he will find it impossible in face of these present difficulties to stand in his own strength. He will discover that Christ’s words apply to him: “Without Me ye can do nothing”. One means of strengthening for believers, in the face of such temptation, is the clear knowledge of the
1This article was written for the Religion and Morals Committee on the Christian duty to obey God rather than man.
direction provided by the Word of God as to our duty: “What saith the Lord?” Thus must the Church enquire as to our duty when man’s laws are contrary to God’s.
Here the trumpet ought not to give an uncertain sound. The times call for decision and clarity, while the temptation under looming persecution is ever to find ways to justify a course of sinful compromise. The direction of Scripture on our duty in this matter is found in a nutshell, in the answer given by Peter and John when commanded to cease to speak or to teach in the name of Jesus: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19,20). Perhaps even more succinct is the direction provided in the later answer which Peter and the other apostles gave when reminded of their failure to obey that command not to teach in the name of Jesus of Nazareth: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Earlier in Scripture we find the same principle acted out by the people of God in varied walks of life. What did the Hebrew midwives say when the state legislated in Egypt that they were to kill the male children in their official duties of attending Hebrew woman in labour? They said, in effect, “We ought to obey God rather men”. They spoke by their actions: “But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive” (Ex 1:17). They were wise as serpents, as well as harmless as doves, in their answer to Pharaoh’s question: “Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?” (Ex 1:18). How encouraging is the Lord’s approval of their actions: “Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses” (Ex 1:20,21).
These midwives were what we may call “everyday people” going about their calling in life, but we find examples also of those who were high in positions of power and influence in society following in their footsteps. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been promoted to senior posts in government, over the affairs of the province of Babylon, where the Jews were now in captivity. When Nebuchadnezzar made his golden image and decreed that all should fall down and worship it or be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, he was most certainly legislating contrary to the Word of God, which says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”. The three friends did not hesitate as to their duty. In effect they were saying, “We ought to obey God rather than men”. When accused of not obeying this law, and after a reminder of the penalty for disobedience, they replied to the King, “We are
not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Dan 3:16-18).
It has been observed that it may have been a temptation to these men to say, Well, we will bow down to the idol but we will not worship it in our hearts. Rutherford puts it like this, “Would not policy have said to the three children, ‘Bow, bend your knee before the golden image, and think upon the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; that so ye may put by an ill hour, and the harm of the fiery furnace’. Nay, but such counsel as this would have come from hell. Men are surest when they stay on Christ’s side, and are always strongest when they stand with Him.”2 When these men were given grace to stand faithfully, they discovered that the Son of God was with them in the furnace, and that He was able indeed to deliver them and to bless them afterwards. In our day, the state and society at large are increasingly demanding that the Christian joins with them in bowing down to the golden image of toleration and political correctness. If the Christian refuses to condone sins such as sodomy, and false religions such as Islam, then he fails to bow down to the golden image and may expect to suffer for it. Our duty is clear, “we ought to obey God rather than man”.
Daniel himself, it seems, was not present that day, but the hour of fiery trial met him at a later stage in his life. He had been promoted to be the first in command over the whole kingdom, under Darius, King of the Medes and Persians. In order to attack Daniel, those who were envious of his success persuaded the King to pass legislation “that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions” (Dan 6:7). What was Daniel’s response? His response was a clear and resounding echo of these words, “we ought to obey God rather than men”. If he failed to pray openly before his window as he did before, it would have been a practical compliance with the sinful legislation. His temptation would have been to pray in a more secret place, or only in his heart and not in the outward form of kneeling upon his knees. He likewise was given grace to stand, and with his three friends, he discovered that the God whom he served was able to deliver and rescue, and to bestow blessings upon him in his providence afterwards.
These instances teach us clearly what our duty is when we are backed into a corner and have to choose either to sin or suffer. They also reveal to us that when man’s laws are contrary to God’s laws, we are under no obligation to
2Samuel Rutherford, Communion Sermons, Blue Banner reprint, 1986, p 16.
keep them, but ought rather to obey God and not man. May we each one be seeking grace to stand faithfully on Christ’s side whatever the cost, remembering that while some are delivered from suffering, others like the Marquis of Argyle are not. Did he lose by being “faithful unto death”? Let his own experience in face of death answer this question. On the morning of the day he was executed, he was so overpowered with a felt outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that he broke out in rapture and said, “I thought to have concealed the Lord’s goodness but it will not do. I am now ordering my affairs, and God is sealing my charter to a better inheritance, and is just now saying to me, ‘Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee’.”3