I admit, this is not a new issue within Christianity. Paul, writing to the early church, addressed the Christian's relationship to the law in several passages in the New Testament. During the first century after Christ's death, many Christians who converted from Judaism were insisting that Christians must follow the Jewish religious laws, whether the Christian was Jewish or not.
In Galatians Chapter 5, Paul writes:
"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." (NLT)
Again, in Ephesians Chapter 2, Paul states:
"For Christ has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups." (NLT)
And in Colossians Chapter 2, Paul asserts:
"So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths...Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels...Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body." (NLT)
As these passages reveal, there was no shortage of Christians who wanted to enforce their brand of Christianity on others through the religious laws. Paul addressed such attempts directly, stating the Christ was the standard by which Christians should live, not the law. He quickly dismissed the notion that fealty to the law was a guarantor of salvation. So one would think that this issue would have been quickly put to rest.
Not so fast, my friend...During the early period of Christianity, prior to it being recognized by the Roman Emperor Constantine as an "official" religion, the Christianity was in little danger of being able to rely on the law as a means of coercing others. Just the opposite was the experience of most Christians, who were persecuted not only by the Romans, by by the Jews, as well as many others - under the law, of course.
However, when the collapse of the Roman Empire occurred, the Church became the only real social institution that provided stability in what was the chaotic period of the Dark Ages. During this time, the Church began to revert back to a reliance on the law. Only this time, it was in a position to use the civil law to enforce the Church's religious creeds.
The resulting corruption within both the leadership of the Church and the leadership of the civil authorities is what ultimately lead to the Reformation. And yet, while the Reformation was a movement against the corruption that resulted from the intertwining of Christianity with the law, many of the leaders within the Reformation movement, including Luther himself, and Calvin, afterwards, still viewed the enforcement of Christian principles through the civil law as the appropriate way of bringing God's kingdom to earth.
Even as large numbers of people sought to escape the religious persecution of Europe by coming to North America, they did not completely leave the notion of combining religion with civil law behind. Thus many of the states, from the earliest colonial period all the way through to modern day America, created laws based on some interpretation of Christian principles.
Today, similar to the Reformation, we see a growing resentment to these laws and, in some cases, the inevitable corruption of both religion and civil authority they create. Many sincere people of faith are disturbed by what they see as a rejection of Christian values (often expressed as a rejection of "traditional values"). However, I'm convinced that is a misperception born out of both fear and a desire for control.
What is being rejected is coercion, not the message of Christ. People are resenting being required to behave like a Christian, and to follow laws based on Christian principles when they are, in truth, not Christians. As Christians, we should actually welcome this development. Not because we don't want people to be Christians, but precisely because we want their faith to be genuine, not the result of a fear of punishment by civil authorities.
Christ did not call us to coerce others into following him. Instead, he called us to live lives that would compel others to want to follow him. In Matthew Chapter 5, Christ himself said:
"Let your light so shine among men, that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (NKJV)
We cannot let the message of Christ become polluted with political overtones. Christ's message wasn't about taxes, social policy, welfare programs, or any of other of the myriad of issues a modern society and government deals with. It was about restoring the creation (humanity) to the Creator (God). It was about the dignity and value each individual inherently has as a creation of God. It was about how God earnestly desires communion with each of us. To the extent that Christians substitute this understanding of Christ's message with a reliance on the law to enforce either moral codes or social obligations, we damage that message and we create resentment from the very people we should be drawing to Christ.
For too long we have done exactly that. Let us now come full circle and follow the example of Christ and the words of Paul. Let us abandon the notion of requiring Christian behavior on a secular world, and let our lives be lived in a way that draws people to the love, grace, and mercy of Christ, and to a God who continues to desire communion with each of his creations.
