Page:Chelčický, Molnar - The Net of Faith.djvu/129



CHAPTER 61

INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:3-4 (CONTINUED)

[ With all their evils, are kings servants of God? The Bible gives the answer: ] Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, was a great king and a very evil tyrant. And yet, God ordered all the earth to submit to the power of the King of Babylon… Therefore, when the Jews hardened and refused to obey the will of God, He ordered the prophet Jeremiah to say to the Jews:

Because you have not listened to my words, behold, I am sending for a family from the north, and will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and will make them a horror, a scorn, and an everlasting reproach; and I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness.[461]

Nebuchadnezzar was a servant of God in that he … became an instrument of His wrath. [ That is why Paul calls the evil and cruel kings “servants of God.” But this does not mean that the priests of the Church should praise these Caesars and emulate their deeds and techniques, incorporating them as an article of faith into a system for the defense of the Church. ]

CHAPTER 62

INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:3-4 (CONTINUED)

[ However, the arguments of the Church and of her wise doctors in defense of authority are not Christian. ]

Therefore, no Christian should deviate from the path of faith in order to follow the Emperor and his sword, for indeed, the way of Christ has not been repealed just because the Emperor is “Christian.” In the beginning, the Christians were obligated to follow Christ in patience and humility, and they were expected to persevere in this even under the Emperors. If they have rejected patience for the purpose of defending the Emperor, they have been seduced from faith by the Emperor; they no longer are of the faith of Christ but of the faith of the Emperor. He introduced the religion of the sword to the Christians. These were formerly beaten for the sake of Christ and were rewarded by him; now they stand guard with a sword, and expect to be rewarded by the Emperor. Where Caesar is, there they are too. Man shall be rewarded fittingly in accordance with what he believes.