The Spheres of Government

The realm of government is extremely vast, isn't it? We have looked at what government is, what its basic purpose and function is, and the different levels of government. There are also seperate spheres of government in which we live, and understanding these different spheres and how they work togetheris vital to our understanding of government.

The first sphere of government that was established in the scriptures is that of the home. It is the foundational unit of society. It is there that we learn how to govern ourselves and how to relate well with others. When God created man He said, "It is not good that man should dwell alone, I will make a help-meet for him." Genesis 2:18 Then he made a woman for the man and declared blessing on that union. He did not declare blessing on the union of a man with a man or a woman with a woman. In fact, in Romans 1 He condemns those types of relationships as being corrupt, unnatural, and a result of man rejecting God. No wonder there is such an attack on the family unit today. If Satan can get us to believe that any union is natural, that the family unit is not important, that children are wards of the state and not the responisiblity of the family, that children do not need to respond properly to parental authority, then he has gone a long way to ruining the structure of government that God intended. The family - one man with one woman for a lifetime - raising children in the fear and admonition of the Lord is God's design. As we follow God's design we are most blessed. When we ignore or distort God's design we do not receive His blessing. Does that mean that single parent situations cannot be blessed by God? No, it just means that if we follow the biblical pattern we understand that a whole family unit is always best. We learn so much in the true family unit - love, acceptance, a proper work ethic, conflict resolution, forgiveness, respect for authority and one another and much more. That first sphere of God-ordained government, the family, is the training ground for our character.

The second sphere of government that was established in scripture was that of civil government. It was established in Genesis 4 when God held Cain responsible for the death of his brother, Abel, and then put a mark on him to protect him from those who would seek to harm him. Civil governments are formed for the protection of man's God-given rights, that is his life, liberty and property (or the pursuit of happiness). It is in the realm of civil government that we learn how to relate with those outside our family. We are to be able to work together to meet the needs of one another, protected by a civil government which protects us against fraud and theft. This form of civil government is not a lord over the people, rather it is the servant of the people. We have twisted this today where we think that the people are the servant of the government and thereby individuals exist only for the benefit of the governmnet as a whole. Civil government is good and an absolute necessity, but its design has always been to serve and protect, not to control.

The third sphere of government is the church as established almost 2000 years later in Acts 2. This body of believers is intended to be light bearers in society, proclaiming and upholding the truth of God's Word. It is a haven for believers, a refuge for the needy and is to work in conjunction with the home as that which trains the conscience of men according to the Word of God. It always is to hold up the standard of God's Word as the basis for all truth and government. The church is to be an influence on the government, not the government on the church. Looking at our own Constitution we see government limited "Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion" not Christianity's influence on governemtn limited. Once again we have twisted the true meaning of how government is to function, excluding from our civil government the permeating influence of Christianity. As the influence of Christianity decreases in our society so will we lose the blessings of liberty that we enjoy. We have taken the Ten Commandments out of our schools and courtyards and have seen a steady rise in crime, injustice, corruption and violence. Why? Because we have not allowed the church to train our conscience's with God's Word. Also the church has lost its influence because it has gone to a feel-good message and not proclaimed the truth of who God is, who man is and how he can come into a proper relationship with Christ, His only hope for salvation.

The family, the civil government and the church are the three spheres of government. One does not work properly without the other two. It is important for us to once again honor the family for what God intended it to be and restore it to its rightful place as the basic unit of society. In civil government, we need to restore it to its original purpose of protecting and preserving man's God-given rights. And in the church, we need to once again become the truth proclaimers, holding forth the Word of God as the standard of absolute truth in every area and proclaim salvation in Christ alone.