Chapter I — Civic and Family Duties

Duties Arising from Social and Family Life.

What duties are imposed by social life?

From social life the following duties are imposed: (a) duties toward the state; (b) duties toward society as a whole and individually; and (c) duties toward the family.

Duties toward the State.

Does the Christian as a member of the State have various duties toward it? These are summed up in patriotism, which consists in love for the country and the state in which one was born and raised, or which one has freely chosen as one’s own homeland. Christian patriotism does not have exclusivity, but has as its character universal love.

Paul also showed such particular love toward his own nation. (Romans 9:8). The spirit of Christian religion imposes upon Christians the obligation to submit to the laws and ordinances of the state in which they live, as having their origin in the will of God, and to contribute to its development and advancement.

The Christian religious observance commands us to respect the rights of others and to fulfill our own duties.

the laws of the state not from fear of punishment, but from reverence toward God, and from a good conscience (Rom. 13:1, 4; 1 Pet. 2:13). Since the state and the fatherland provide for the security of the religious, moral, and intellectual development of its members, Christian citizens also ought to contribute to the needs of the fatherland and to pay without complaint the taxes necessary for the realization of the national idea and the moral purpose of the state (Rom. 13:6; Mark 12:17). Since every state ought to provide for its own security and to vindicate its rights when they are trampled upon by other nations, every citizen has a duty to serve in the military and to fight for the fatherland. This is so because the idea of the kingdom of heaven has not been fully realized on earth; and as long as the state of moral imperfection continues, it will necessarily entail war.

Opposed to true patriotism are national indifference and political apathy, which proceed from self-love and, pursuing only individual advantage, are indifferent to the general interest of the fatherland and the state. Likewise opposed to true patriotism is false cosmopolitanism, in which a human being, viewing himself only in relation to humanity, forgets entirely that humanity is composed of particular nations, and that each individual belongs first to a definite nation and to a definite state, and ought to have an active concern for the welfare of his own nation and his own national state; only that patriotism is blameworthy which, caring only for the interests of its own nation and its own state, forgets that a human being is not only a citizen of a particular nation and a particular state, but is at the same time also a member of all humanity, and, reasoning falsely, views the other nations with indifference or with contempt. Therefore the Christian, deeply conscious of his connection with all humanity, will never, because of his most lively concern for his own nation and his national state, appear indifferent to the general interests of all humanity. (Matt. 22:37–39).

Those who serve the state, to be ordained by God, as also every authority.[1] (Rom. 13:1–4; 1 Pet. 2:11; and John 19:11). The words of the New Testament.[2] These passages, in which political authority is presented as having been established in power according to divine will, do not exclude the idea that political authority also receives its power through the universal will of the nation. For God governs the world and directs it toward its final purpose, for which He created it, through the cooperation of His divine power with the natural and moral powers of creation, among which are both the will of individual human beings and the collective will of nations. The apostle Paul calls the rulers of the state ministers of God for good. (Rom. 13:4, 6). From these words it is concluded that the will of God concerning the obedience to the rulers of the state is conditional and exists only insofar as the rulers do not conflict with the purpose for which authority was ordained by God. The rulers of the state as ministers of God ought to advance the moral order of God in the world through strict righteousness (Rom. 13:4, 6; 1 Pet. 2:11). And since the moral order of God in the world sets forth the spiritual perfection of man and his likeness to God, the ministers of the state also ought in all their activity to aim at the moral education and spiritual perfection of the citizens, and through this at the fullest possible realization of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Certainly it is improper for the state to neglect the material well-being of the citizens, because spiritual development presupposes a certain material well-being. But the material well-being of the citizens should not be regarded as the highest goal at which the ministers of the state aim, because if they regard the material well-being of the citizens as the highest goal, they are no longer ministers of God for good. Just as God in all His activity keeps the immutable laws He has established, so also the ministers of the state ought to keep the laws in force in the state, in no way departing from them. The workers of the state ought to fulfill their civic duties not out of self-interest and love of power, but out of love for their country and from pure moral motives with wisdom, endurance, and steadfastness (Rom. 13:6), not becoming discouraged by toil nor disheartened by difficulties.

Likewise, the New Testament defines the duties that citizens ought to fulfill toward the ministers of the state. (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:13-14; 1 Tim. 2:1-2).

Citizens ought to honor the ministers of the state and obey their ordinances not by force, but willingly, and to cooperate toward every good. (Titus 3:4) Citizens likewise ought to submit to the ministers of the state. Disobedience is permitted only when the authorities command violation of the divine commandments. (Acts 6:19)[3] Therefore the laws that the officials of the state impose on the citizens ought to be grounded in the principles of the moral law, so that the citizens do not disobey.