God's Story Is Our Story: From Acts to New CreationSample

One question for early Christians was how were they to relate to the human governments when they were saying that Christ was their king. Should they leave and start their own government? Should they take over the existing government? Should they live independent lives as if there was no government?

While elsewhere Christians are told to obey God and not human authorities, this was not an excuse to resist all human forms of government. While our primary allegiance must be to God and his will for our lives, God is sovereign over even the non-Christian governments of the world. Christians are instead called to submit to their authority and to pay the taxes to fund their government.

In the church age, we are waiting for our kingdom to fully come while we are living as exiles in another kingdom. But, we are called not to retreat from this world, but to do good, to be a blessing, to help it thrive with justice and goodness in all the ways we can. This is another tension we live in during this part of the story that God is telling.