By Davis Carlton

As a traditionalist with a high view of authority I can appreciate what the Apostles taught in regards to submission to lawful authority. Submission to the government flows from God’s own authority, Who “rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Dan. 4:17, 5:21). Barabbas is a useful example of what Christians are not supposed to be. Barabbas is guilty of sedition (Lk. 23:19, 25), murder and insurrection (Mk. 15:7), as well as robbery (Jn. 18:40). Barabbas used legitimate grievances against Rome as an opportunity for sin. Barabbas should have been punished by the Romans as an evildoer. Whatever questions about the legitimacy of the Roman government in Judea were in the first century, they did not justify breaking just laws against sedition, murder, and robbery.

Paul and Peter both command obedience to governing authorities but this is within the context of the government’s role as a rewarder to those who do good and a terror to those who do evil. Governments do not have the authority to decide what is right or wrong and then impose this arbitrary standard upon others. Governing authorities are bound by the same moral principles as everyone else. From this principle Augustine of Hippo gave us the famous maxim, “an unjust law is no law at all.” John Calvin in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans confirms this also:

“[Hugo] Grotius qualifies this obedience by saying, that it should not extend to what is contrary to the will of God. But it is remarkable, that often in Scripture things are stated broadly and without any qualifying terms, and yet they have limits, as it is clear from other portions. This peculiarity is worthy of notice. Power is from God, the abuse of power is from what is evil in men. The Apostle throughout refers only to power justly exercised. He does not enter into the subject of tyranny and oppression. And this is probably the reason why he does not set limits to the obedience required: he contemplated no other than the proper and legitimate use of power.”

The fact that Paul and Peter’s statements about obedience to government are not about absolute submission to tyrants is further supported by other examples from the Scripture. The Hebrew midwives during Israel’s sojourn in Egypt refused to comply with Pharaoh’s order to kill the Israelite baby boys, and were rewarded by God for doing so: “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live… So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families” (Ex. 1:17, 20-21).

The Apostles persisted in preaching the Gospel even after they were told not to do so by the Jewish authorities, stating that “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). This was a common theme in the early history of the church. Christians would not have been targeted politically to the extent that they were unless they were persistently resisting government tyranny and denouncing the injustice of the political and religious leaders of their day.

Friel’s response to those who object to obedience to dubious mask mandates has been to declare that these mask mandates are not sinful, and thus fall under the requirement for obedience to civil authorities in Rom. 13 and 1 Pet. 2. The government does have the right to enforce safety standards for the benefit of society as a means of preventing unnecessary injury or harm on the basis of the general equity of Deut. 22:8. I believe that seat belt mandates would fall under this category, but I do not believe that the mask mandates apply to this principle and are in fact sinful for two main reasons.

The first is that the mandate to wear masks at all times in public is harmful to health, and consequently violates the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” which prohibits everything that harms health. Wearing face masks, especially for a prolonged period of time, restricts oxygen and can actually be harmful. The fact that wearing masks in public is being mandated in spite of the potential health risks violates God’s commandment to preserve life and health. The second reason why the mask mandates are sinful is that they are predicated upon a lie and sheepishly complying with these mandates spreads fear and anxiety over a false narrative. Masks are ineffective at preventing the spread of airborne viruses. The mask mandates are about social control rather than maintaining public health. As Christians we should never support false narratives.

My friend Hans Gygax explains this issue quite elegantly: “The argument in favor of submission to the civil magistrate’s commands for a mask (using 1Peter 2-3 and other passages) would actually be a good argument except for the fact that the mask is more than what it appears on the surface. It’s a symbol of submission to the state as God…. That the state can propagate an entire falsehood on the public and we are supposed to show hearty approval for these lies and deception. That is the true issue here. If the civil magistrate told me to wear black shoes just because, I just might do it. But if the civil magistrate tells me to wear black shoes to show that I support BLM and that I agree that blacks are being targeted and treated unjustly, then I surely will never wear black shoes. As Christians we must never aid and abet lies and falsehood.”

Hans concludes by quoting Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” By complying with a mandate motivated by social control and political machinations we are allowing lies to go on unchecked. Todd Friel has a very different take on the message that compliance with mask mandates sends to onlookers. Friel believes that our submission to the government “for the Lord’s sake” in spite of our own personal misgivings communicates that we trust God enough to obey even when it doesn’t make sense.

In his original post on the mask mandate, Friel says: “Act in such a way that people ask about the hope that is within you. People who don’t know Jesus and hate wearing masks will think, ‘You’re not making sense dude. Everybody rebels, everybody cuts corners, grumbles about authority. Why don’t you? It’s almost as if you think that God is in control or something. Bingo! That’s what we can be doing when we are obedient to the government and doing something that is really annoying.”

Friel grossly misunderstands how people respond to these mask mandates. The fear perpetrated by the government and mass media has largely been successful. Most people are enthusiastically complying with these mandates because they have been made afraid. I’m personally aware of many people who are so fearful that they scarcely ever leave their homes. Several people report being harassed for not wearing masks by those convinced that mask-wearing as a matter of life and death. Yahoo even published an article encouraging this type of shaming. Friel is dead wrong when he insists that quietly obeying these orders communicates trust in God. What is being communicated is unthinking conformity to government mandates and trust in the state as though the state is God.

A complete understanding of what the Bible teaches about civil government means that we take into account instances in which faithful Israelites not only passively disobeyed hostile governments, but actively resisted tyrants. It pleased God to actively rise up judges to deliver Israel from hostile ruling powers during the period of the Judges, and the Israelites were also delivered from hostile pagans during the period of the Maccabees just before the time of Christ. I believe that is important for Christians to maintain a spirit of patience and meekness as we wait for God to deliver us.

Let’s be honest; these mask mandates aren’t simply an overreaction on the part of a few hyper-vigilant governors and mayors, this is about social conditioning. This is likely a prelude to far more draconian measures like charging those who do not abide by mask mandates with murder and establishing checkpoints to enforce quarantines. Alan Dershowitz is already claiming that the government has the right to force citizens to receive a mandatory COVID vaccine. Teaching Christians to uncritically accept whatever they are told to do by the government conditions Christians to accept whatever tyranny is to come in the near future. There are many good reasons to not comply with these mask orders and to resist Christians like Todd Friel who are advocating policies grounded upon lies and fear baptizing their pronouncements with proof texts.