Page:Chelčický, Molnar - The Net of Faith.djvu/122

 and Jewish kings. Therefore, because both divine institutions, marriage and temporal rule, were unable to achieve perfection, God sent His Son, the Savior of the world, in order that we might live through him.[441] And he rules the world with greater perfection by means of truth than all the kings of the earth by means of compulsion.

CHAPTER 50

INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:1-2 (CONTINUED)

[ Following Christ’s appearance on earth, man is bound to love God and His new order with all his heart, mind, and soul, and to submit voluntarily to His discipline in order to become a real man of God. Man’s earthly life passes quickly away but the eternal life abides forever. ]

Whatever divine sanction there is in human establishments, it applies to the earthly, temporal life. The new law, introduced by the Son of God, applies to the earthly things very little, and sometimes not at all. Its applications to earthly things are:

If you have food and clothing, with these you shall be content[442]; and if anyone would sue you and take your clothing, let it rest at that. Give him your cloak as well.[443]

And if they take your goods by violence, rejoice, believing that they are not lost, for in heaven you will find worthier goods than the temporal (ones you lost).

Christ’s new order leaves man with the hope in God so that, throwing all his cares to God, he would not sin for temporal goods, believing that to take care of one’s neighbor is much more important.

[ Christ’s dominion presents a remedy for soul and body, for man and society, and is incomparably better than any human institution and law. ]

CHAPTER 51

INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:1-2 (CONTINUED)

And this is what Paul had in mind when he said, “He who resists the authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”[444]

[ In other words, if the authority requires things contrary to the will of God, it is not “appointed by God” but incited by pride. Any exercise of authority contrary to the will of God is untrue, sinful, and not binding to the Christian. And “those who resist will incur the judgment” of the men in authority. Therefore,