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Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psalm 2:10-12What does it look like when laws and policies are made under established Christianity? This is not a hypothetical question, history is rife with examples. In fact Christian laws have directed much of history for 2000 years. Here you will find the imperfect but admirable effort by magistrates to reflect God’s Law and Gospel in exercising their calling. Here also we see the loyalty, love, and support which God’s people give the authorities He has established, and, by humbly rebuking them, look to their best interest and the best interest of those they rule by appealing to the Divine Law and Gracious Lawgiver in the face of the tyrannous application of the magistrates’ sinful passions.
Early Application: We find the first country to have Christianity as the state religion was Armenia in 301 A.D. Of course we are all aware of Constantine who came shortly after this date. The Christianization of various nations spread rapidly over the next few centuries. Out of one of the darkest periods of paganism our Lord shone brightly through His people. The preaching and application of His everlasting Truth liberated and enlightened those who had walked in darkness.
Middle Application: We will always have alloyed institutions on Earth. We can see the internal struggle of the seed of Satan and the seed of God in both Church and State through time. We must continually wrestle, building upon and renewing the application of the Truth to compliment and buttress our proclamation. The admirable efforts of the powers of Christendom in the middle period to enforce godliness and lawful piety were sadly polluted by the enforcing of anti-scriptural concepts, primarily the supremacy of the Pope and his human laws. During the Protestant Reformation Christian magistrates found establishmentarianism an invaluable instrument useful in the effort to stem the unlawful power of the Papacy. In the Lord’s providence we exit this period of fire with a fuller and more maturely scriptural establishmentarianism than had been seen for centuries, if ever. Recent Application: During this period we explode in a flurry of expansion by Christian nations and peoples. Unrivalled complications brought on by relatively unique political and social situations were at first kept in line by establishmentarianism, but eventually the rebellion brought on by expansionist pride, and the prosperity which was in large part a result of Protestant establishmentarianism, overwhelmed, one by one, many authorities established by God. The most embarrassing rebellions during this period have been the scholarly criticism of the Holy Scriptures and the scientific and intellectual arguments promoting Atheism which found their way into Western Law as early as the Eighteenth Century even though we find Christian Establishmentarianism alive to a surprising extent well into the Twentieth Century. Corresponding to the rise of this push into a new dark age was the adoption of Christian disestablishmentarianism by Western Christians, not only the groups which traditionally held the position such as Quakers and Anabaptists, but Reformed, Protestant, Episcopalians and Roman Catholics as well. However, God’s truth does not change. When, in his providence, his people are led astray in an area of doctrine for even an extended period of time he provides the means whereby he calls them to a better way. Let us bow before the Lord our Maker and Redeemer and confess our sins. Let us rejoice when among other blessings Our Father allows even small victories in the struggle to conform civil authority to his Law and Gospel.
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