Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 33:3 (Sep 1990)
Article: Reflections On New Testament Testimony Concerning Civil Disobedience
Author: O. Palmer Robertson

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JETS 33:3 (September 1990) p. 331

Reflections On New Testament Testimony
Concerning Civil Disobedience

O. Palmer Robertson*

A great deal has been written and spoken on the subject of civil disobedience in recent days. This flurry of comment has arisen largely because of the frustration of Christians over the continuation of the practice of abortion in the United States. The most dramatic response has been crystallized in the “rescue movement,” which has made its case in the public eye by violating laws against trespassing of private property. Participants in the “rescue movement” have physically blocked doorways to abortion clinics, sometimes in defiance of specific court orders, in order to interrupt intended abortions.

In all the discussion concerning the rightness or wrongness of such practices, the area of least concentration has been the actual teaching of Scripture that might shed light on the subject. Some fresh perspective may emerge on the matter as Scripture itself is allowed to speak.

The present study does not pretend to offer a definitive statement in this area. Instead it is an overview of passages in the NT that might have a bearing on the question of civil disobedience. Although some conclusions have been reached in the process, the greatest value of this material may be found in its providing of raw materials for further discussion.

1. Matt 2:8: Herod commands the Magi. “Report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” The response to this command of the king is found in 2:12: “Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”

The Magi did not do what the king commanded them to do. They were not resisting an abstract law, but one directed specifically at them. Although from distant lands, they would appear to have been under Herod’s jurisdiction while in his territory.

Under normal circumstances it may be assumed that the Magi would have obeyed the king. To return and give a report to the magistrate at his request would be a good and proper thing. But on this occasion, divine revelation directed otherwise.

The kind of revelation that led to the action of disobedience by the Magi does not continue today, since God’s special revelation ceased with the completion of Scripture. As a consequence, this example cannot apply directly to the circumstances of the present day.

* Palmer Robertson is pastor of Wallace Memorial Presbyterian Church in Hyattsville, Maryland.

JETS 33:3 (September 1990) p. 332

It ought to be recognized, however, ...

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