The Reformed Presbyterian Testimony and the U.S Government

A couple of months ago, my pastor charitably handed me a copy of the Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Being the Confessional geek that I am, I read through it voraciously. The book included the Westminster Standards and the whole of the RPCNA polity, side by side. Due to the fact that we no longer live in 17^th century Europe, there are some items such as the power of the civil magistrate and the duties of his office, that many Presbyterian denominations have added or edited in order to reflect more plainly how the denomination understands contemporary America. But here are some snippets of the RPCNA Testimony (written in the 1980s) having to do with the role of the church and government in society. I will make some comments so as to interact with the quotes:

Chapter 23: Of the Civil Magistrate – Testimony comment: “We reject the belief that civil government is unnecessary or essentially evil.”

Christian Anarchists may not like this portion of the Testimony, but Rom.13:1-4 precludes the whole of their position. Just because evil men run a hierarchical institution does not mean that the hierarchy in and of itself is evil, although it may be wasteful in some instances and could use an improvement in management. I understand that some of us Presbyterians have Theonomic impulses, and even strong ones, but even the strongest of Christian Reconstructionists will admit that God is omnipotent over governmental matters, and it is not so much the “civility” of the government that makes it evil (as some Anabaptists have claimed), but that the particular civil government that is in place is constituted by men who by and large are reprobate. So just because the government is made of evil men does not make government evil.

But, the RPCNA Testimony does not leave our governors inexcusable before God. Every person in a position in civil government still has a responsibility to obey Christ, whether they are saved or not, for God’s standard of perfection does not change.

“The negligence of civil government in any of these particulars [ruling in accordance with the will of God] is sinful, makes the nation liable to the wrath of God, and threatens the continued existence of the government and nation.” –Testimony

It is a sad affair when our leaders willingly reject the will of God and rather serve themselves, deluding the people in many ways. This means that whoever wins the 2012 elections is bringing wrath upon himself by not governing by and for the will of God – in his excitement, therefore, we mourn, as we know that only an act of glorious repentance granted by God to that man would convert him, and even then, not too many things would change. It seems as though, in order for our government to even begin doing the will of God (that, is, his will of precept / command), many in office would have to repent of their sins – God being the gift-giver of faith to them. This seems exceedingly unlikely.

“We reject the view that nations have no corporate responsibility for acknowledging and obeying Christ.” –Testimony

This is where federal responsibility comes in. Part of the idea of covenant is to establish the corporate nature of guilt incurred by people. The reason why parents become ashamed of their children when the children destroy their lives is because it makes them look bad as parents, and vice versa (with more than one caveat). If our president blunders during a United Nations event, this affects the people of the nation. And with more explicitly biblical issues, all of us have blood on our hands as a country for failing to acknowledge Christ as head of it – so not only do the rulers of our country have buckets of the hot, white, wrath of God ready to destroy them on the day of the Lord, but every son and daughter of Adam not found in Jesus Christ will suffer as well, because there is not only individual guilt, but a corporate one. Christ is king and must be acknowledged as king - and will be acknowledged as King on the great and terrible day of the Lord.


Felipe Diez III
Minister_of_Music@yahoo.com