Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
My concern is to ascertain if this teaching is derived from New Testament Scripture, or is against it. I think it is against it, as I see no Scriptural justification for it. I do not wish to make a political issue of this, but rather a spiritual and Biblical one.
In a nutshell, the “lesser magistrate doctrine” is that a subordinate government official may revolt against a superior magistrate / ruler who is tyrannically oppressing the people and violating both civil and Biblical law. It supposedly gives warrant—making lawful in the eyes of God—to undertake violent revolution against tyrants. Here is a Facebook site given to promoting said doctrine: https://www.facebook.com/LesserMagistrate/
These folks say that Rutherford’s Lex Rex supports them. My concern is does Jesus Christ? Can anyone support this from the New Testament?
Were this ungodly doctrine to be realized in the uprising of numerous “lesser magistrates” against the ruling magistrate, chaos and anarchy would ensue in the land, given the multitude of polarized warring factions already extant in this nation, each with their own interests, agendas, and hatreds.
Rather, I see Jesus refuting such doings in His words in John 18:36,
My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Paul, in Romans 13, did not enjoin seeking out lesser magistrates to withstand the Roman emperor, nor do I see any other of the apostles doing so—including John, who lived almost to the end of the first century.
What I see in this “lesser magistrate doctrine” is an attempt to embroil the Christian community in a futile revolt against a massive military/political/intelligence/police state, which will result in our incarceration or extermination.
We are instead to use the weapons given us by the Lord in 2 Corinthians 10, which are not carnal but spiritual: primary is the testimony concerning the coming Kingdom of God in power—both to save those who will submit to its King, the Lord Christ, and to judge and destroy those who oppose it when the great Day of Judgment arrives at the end of the age.
In a nutshell, the “lesser magistrate doctrine” is that a subordinate government official may revolt against a superior magistrate / ruler who is tyrannically oppressing the people and violating both civil and Biblical law. It supposedly gives warrant—making lawful in the eyes of God—to undertake violent revolution against tyrants. Here is a Facebook site given to promoting said doctrine: https://www.facebook.com/LesserMagistrate/
These folks say that Rutherford’s Lex Rex supports them. My concern is does Jesus Christ? Can anyone support this from the New Testament?
Were this ungodly doctrine to be realized in the uprising of numerous “lesser magistrates” against the ruling magistrate, chaos and anarchy would ensue in the land, given the multitude of polarized warring factions already extant in this nation, each with their own interests, agendas, and hatreds.
Rather, I see Jesus refuting such doings in His words in John 18:36,
My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Paul, in Romans 13, did not enjoin seeking out lesser magistrates to withstand the Roman emperor, nor do I see any other of the apostles doing so—including John, who lived almost to the end of the first century.
What I see in this “lesser magistrate doctrine” is an attempt to embroil the Christian community in a futile revolt against a massive military/political/intelligence/police state, which will result in our incarceration or extermination.
We are instead to use the weapons given us by the Lord in 2 Corinthians 10, which are not carnal but spiritual: primary is the testimony concerning the coming Kingdom of God in power—both to save those who will submit to its King, the Lord Christ, and to judge and destroy those who oppose it when the great Day of Judgment arrives at the end of the age.