Question:
Does the civil government exercise any authority at all with regard to the church?
Answer:
It has no authority whatsoever in the church, but it does have authority with regard to the church.
We thus most strenuously oppose the Erastians and Arminians who posit all authority and government with the civil government, subordinating all ecclesiastical authority and government to the civil government, from which it is in turn delegated to the church. We have contradicted this notion in the foregoing and shall shortly do so again. We are likewise opposed to the view of the papists who remove all who belong to the church from governmental jurisdiction. At the same time, they maintain that the civil government may not render judgment at all in the realm of religion, and that the civil government must merely follow blindly and execute whatever the church has deemed and judged to be correct. We are also opposed to the view of the Libertines who insist that the government may not be involved with religion at all, but must permit every religion in its territory to proclaim whatever it wishes. We declare that the civil government does indeed have authority with regard to the church and is obligated to make use of this, which is a matter we subsequently shall demonstrate to be so.
Question:
What authority does the civil government not have?
Answer:
It has no authority whatsoever in the church and may not rule over the church as lords and masters. Government officials may not act as if they are servants sent of Christ””in Christ´s Name preaching, administering the sacraments, using the keys of the kingdom of heaven, commissioning ministers, appointing elders in the church, and decreeing what or what will not be preached concerning divine truths, and what are or are not the fundamental points of the Christian religion. They also have no right to depose and expel ministers who are godly and blameless in doctrine and life, and who have been lawfully called as the ministers of given churches. They may not, as lord and master over the church, reject such men, declare the calling to be null and void, efface it, etc. The government has no authority relative to such ecclesiastical matters, for in doing so she would reach for the crown and scepter of the Lord Jesus, whose prerogative this is. Those governments who are not refrained by the many examples of divine judgment will pay a bitter price for such a practice.”
Wilhelmus A Brakel – (1635-1711)
The Christian’s Reasonable Service Vol. II, pp. 169-170
Note that A’Brakel desires to protect the Church from the State’s interference on what it is divinely commissioned to do. It’s not difficult to conjecture that the reason for this insistence that the State is limited in the Church when the Church is faithfully being what she is supposed to being is that A’Brakel understood that when the State tinkers in the Church when the Church is being what she is supposed to be that what the State is attempting at that moment of tinkereing is to change the religion of the people.
Second though the State isn’t to tinker in the Church when the Church is being what she is called to be the State still has responsibility to protect the one true religion. The Reformed Theologian A’Brakel calls them Libertines who suggest that the Magistrate must take a “hands off” posture when it comes to religion. A’Brakel sees all attempts at creating a civil realm where the State allows all religions to flourish as being LIBERTINE.
Perhaps A’Brakel understood that if the State can’t control the church through the front door by commissioning its pastors, appointing its elders, decreeing what and won’t be preached in the Church, or assigning the fundamental points of the Christian religion, the State will attempt to gain control of the Church through the back door by making the Church irrelevant to the people by allowing all religions to compete with the Christian religion. If the State successfully sets up a situation where all religions are competing then the State gets to be the referee over the various competing religions. Just as the States interests towards cultural hegemony are served by directly controlling the Church so its interests towards cultural hegemony as served by creating a situation where religions are competing with one another.
If A’Brakel could come back to life where would he find the Libertines in America? Would he find any Seminaries where Libertinism is exhaustively taught on this subject?
