A Biblical Argument for Religious Freedom

What does the Bible say about religious freedom? Often when we approach this kind of topic, we are tempted to impose a modern cultural mindset on it. We are used to a society in which religious pluralism is not only accepted, but revered—to the extent that many people cannot distinguish dissent from hatred. We might begin with the assumption, for instance, that human freedom is important and must be preserved. This value is certainly well-respected in our culture. However, for Christians cultural values must be evaluated in light of Scripture. Why is human freedom important? The only sure way to come to a Biblically sound conclusion is to start with what the Bible says. If, as Christ claims, even something as important as loving our neighbors is not our primary purpose in life—since we owe love first to God and only then to our neighbor—our high view of human freedom must proceed directly from our appreciation of God’s sovereignty. The Bible does not speak directly to civil religious freedom, although it has much to say about human government. However, I believe the principle of religious freedom is firmly embedded in Scripture and can be easily found if we compare what God says about civil government with how He instructs Christians to behave toward unbelievers. In this essay, I will seek to connect the two principles.

Religious freedom ought to be rooted in a Biblical understanding of conversion. First, conversion must be seen as a sole act of God, sovereignly accomplished through the finished work of Christ, by the agency of the Holy Spirit. It is first and foremost God’s work because it is heart-work. Being a Christian means being born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ . . .” (Eph. 2:4-5) [1], and Romans 8 makes it clear that without a work of the Spirit no one can be called a Christian or even act like one. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot . . . You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit . . .” (Romans 8:7-9). Church membership, adherence to various standards, and intellectual assent to propositional truths are to no avail unless they proceed from a converted heart. The Bible makes it clear, in fact, that it is impossible for an unconverted soul ever to please God, because God judges by a person’s heart, not by his outward actions. Conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, although conversion involves an act of human will, it begins with God. Unconverted souls are described as being “slaves to various passions and pleasures;”[2] we are “dead in our trespasses;”[3] and we see, as in Romans 8, that “in the flesh” we cannot please God. The alternative is being “in the Spirit,” and this is impossible until the Spirit of God enters our hearts. God’s initiative in regeneration is clear throughout the Bible; see for example Ezekiel 36, where God is revealed as acting to vindicate His own holiness, taking the initiative in saving His people. The prophet writes,

Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came…I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.[4]

Ezekiel portrays God acting upon the people He has chosen, with no mention of their previous acknowledgement of Him. Ezekiel 19 uses almost the same words, with the additional explanation, “That they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them” (Ezek. 19:24a). Obedience to God’s righteous rule is essential—but conversion is necessary to bring this about. God does not assume that people are able to keep His statutes before He gives them a new heart.

However, this does not preclude an act of human will as part of conversion. Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). The truth is simply that one cannot confess and believe without the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, if it is true that no one can be saved without a work of the Holy Spirit, then also no saving work of the Holy Spirit can fail, because the application of saving grace is not dependent on a person’s actions. A person will begin to live a holy life—after regeneration.

This may seem like a lengthy digression into basic knowledge—or perhaps even a controversial assertion if critiqued from an extreme Arminian/Wesleyan perspective. Be that as it may, I believe it is very important to lay the ground-work for a strong view of liberty—one that can respect the sovereignty of God, the personal freedom of man, and the proper authority of the State—within the context of the doctrine of conversion. My reasons for doing so ought to become clear in a moment, when I attempt to show that God has placed in the Bible guidelines for moral civil government that do not require religious persecution. But first we must see how Christians, as individuals and as churches, ought to treat unbelievers and heathens outside of the civil realm.

Conversion, as discussed above, is not a work of man. No man can bring it upon himself. It must follow from this that no one can force another person to become a Christian. The first person cannot have the right—for he would be taking the electing power away from God—and the second person cannot have the ability, since regeneration is a work of God alone. Scripture does not tell Christians to convert the heathen—it commands us to preach the Gospel of Christ, because “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). God converts them by the power of His Word; we simply bring the message.

There is another slightly different angle to look at why Christians are not to force others to convert. Although God is ultimately the Justifier, He also desires men to choose to follow Him. The heart-felt, passionate pleadings of the prophets display a God whose heart is grieved when those He loves turn away from Him in rebellion. Yet God does not simply save everyone. Christians have generally drawn two conclusions; one is that God chooses to save some and not others for His own secret purpose; the other, that God values the freedom of human choice too much to violate it. If the first, it is impossible to require someone to follow Christ who He has not called; if the second, it is a violation of the human freedom He values so highly. Either way, clearly God is not pleased when Christians attempt to coerce others into obedience.[5]

Furthermore, Christians are, as Paul writes, to “live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18). None of the New Testament writers hint at the possible existence of a coercive Christian State. They rather assume the opposite; that Christians are meant to be the unwanted salt of a spoiled earth. Luke 6 is characteristic of Jesus’ attitude toward the world. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” (Lk. 6:20-22). World domination is not the Apostles’ expectation. On the contrary, Jesus warns the rich and powerful that they are in a perilous state. He gives grace to the lowly.

So much for the Christian’s private responsibility. Do these principles also apply to civil government? They certainly do. First, the principle of God’s sovereignty outlined above ought to prevent religious coercion. God is ultimately responsible for a person’s salvation, and therefore the human heart is free from interference by other men.

The most explicit mention of civil government in the New Testament is Romans chapter 13. It is directed toward the believer who is subject to the civil authorities, but it is an excellent description of the responsibilities of the ruler, and the most clear and straightforward Biblical description of civil government.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and…will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad…But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection…[6]

Although this is directed at the one subject to the government, it is a good outline of the purpose of civil government: To punish evil and facilitate good. We also see that the authority is the “servant of God.”

Clearly, Scripture allows Christians to hold positions in government. If God created everything that is good—and government is good[7]—then Christians can participate in it as much as in anything else.[8] Furthermore, Christians are the only people who can understand and pursue God’s plan for redeeming the world as God intends, since God’s redemption begins with the soul and extends outward.[9] Christians, then, ought to work to redeem the world through Christ; and, necessarily, through the law of love. This will never be completely fulfilled until the return of Christ; yet the influence of godly men on society is redemptive. It has always been Christians who have brought about great positive change. Government, as Colossians 1:16 says, was created through and for Christ. Its purpose ought to be redemptive.[10]

Romans 13:9, in the context of the rest of the passage, implies that the civil government exists only to enforce the laws that relate to love of neighbor; the “second table of the Law.”

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.[11]

All the commandments mentioned—for which Christians are to fear the civil ruler if they disobey—are oriented not only toward love of God, but also love of neighbor. This by itself may be an adequate justification for religious freedom. But we must consider one more avenue of argument.

Is the law of love merely a principle for Christians to follow as private individuals? If there was now such a thing as a Christian state, would we be under the Mosaic law, as some suggest?[12] Absolutely not! Now that the Church extends to all the peoples of the world, we are not under the system of civil government that was devised for the Israelites, just as we are not under the Law but under the Spirit. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal. 5:18), Paul writes.

Here is where a question arises. If believers are not under the law, and unbelievers are, does this mean believers may hold unbelievers to it, were believers somehow to appropriate a governmental position?

Since Christ’s redemption rescues souls through love, why should the redemption of human society be different? “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). Romans 13 not only explains the role of government—it also shows how the Christian in government must administer the law. It is for the good of his neighbor.Our call—whether in private service or public position—is to direct and lead people toward the truth, but not attempt to force them to accept it. The truth I am referring to is not the moral law, but the Person of Christ. Consider the ancient nation of Israel, probably the closest example of a society with truth—that is, God—at its center. What was the purpose of all the priests, sacrifices, regulations for outward holiness, laws against blasphemy, and everything else that set the Jews apart from the other nations? Did they not point directly to Christ and to His Church?[13] Paul writes of the Israelites,

I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.[14]

The laws were not an end in themselves. They were foreshadowings of Christ. The former things are passing away, and God has created “rivers in the desert,” streams of undeserved grace, even for unbelievers.[15]

So if Christians cannot compel others to believe, and if government is to rule by the law of love, then even a Christian government cannot do away with religious liberty. The conclusion is inescapable. Religious freedom is Biblical. The only government that could ever possibly claim a divine right to enforce religious adherence is prevented from doing so. Redemption must be accomplished through the law of love.

---

[1] All Scripture references are from the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.

[2] Tit. 3:3.

[3] Eph. 2:5.

[4] Ezek. 36:22, 25-27.

[5] The statement of Paul in his letter to Philemon, “…but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will” (Phm. 1:14), may reflect this principle, although since Paul is writing to a believer, the analogy is not perfect.

[6] Rom. 13:1-6, abbreviated somewhat.

[7] “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him” (Col 1:16 ).

[8] Some general Biblical examples include the kings and judges of Israel, the prophet Daniel, Cornelius the centurion, and the principles of the Proverbs of Solomon.

[9] “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-20).

[10] By redemptive, I mean in a general sense of redeeming the world for Christ—not in a salvic sense.

[11] Rom. 13:9-10

[12] Within the Protestant Reformed tradition there are at least two opposing movements: Reconstructionism, which seeks to establish theonomic rule based on Old Testament law (due, I believe, to severe deficiencies in their view of grace!), which is opposed by the loose association of writers and theologians such as Kuyper and Van Til, who sought to apply the law of love in a secular pluralistic society.

[13] “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

[14] 1 Cor. 10:1-4.

[15] See Isaiah 43”18-19.