It is not my place to judge the decisions people make in faith; too many New Testament passages warn against it. Still, I do feel the need to speak out at this time, not only to defend the choice our congregation has made to follow the recommendations the government has made concerning the coronavirus, but also to ask some questions of those churches who are ignoring these guidelines, for I am afraid they are running the risk of letting their "good be spoken of as evil" (Romans 14:16) ...appearing, in their attempts to be faithful, as unconcerned for the health of others and the government's role as God's servant.
We need to consider some applicable passages in this current crisis: First, there's (Romans 13:1-7), which begins, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities... whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Then there is (1 Peter 3:13-17) where Peter writes, "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For it is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men..." Christians have always been taught to respect the governing authorities. Remember, even Jesus said, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's..." (Mark 12:17) This posture toward authority requires us, at this time, to follow their guidelines and recommendations--observing social distancing and restricting our gatherings to groups of less than ten people. As Peter points out, this respect for authority, as it did in the first-century, invalidates at least some of the the accusations and opposition we suffer from "foolish men."
Yet some think they should ignore these recommendations because, as they see it, the government is overreaching when they ask us to disobey God (by "forsaking the assembly" Hebrews 10:25). These individuals tell themselves they stand in good company, for even Peter and the other apostles bravely answered the Jewish Sanhedrin by saying, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29 ESV). Of course, I know of no individual who is interested in elevating a human authority over God and I know of no congregation who is following the government's recommendations because they respect the government more than God.
And, then, we must also be careful how we understand Hebrews 10:24-25, for it was written, not to encourage disregard for the governing authorities and certainly not to overcome an excessive deference to authorities (after they had banned Christians from meeting). Rather, Hebrews 10:25 was written to overcome the discouragement these Christians were suffering, a discouragement that had caused many of them to neglect their regular assemblies. Hebrews was written to motivate them to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." The Hebrew writer was trying to refocus their attention on the needs of others (surely sage advice in our situation too) as well as attempting to encourage a generation whose expectations about the return of Christ (30+ years after his resurrection) had yet to be fulfilled; who, due to their discouragement, were habitually neglecting to assemble with other believers. ["And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching." NKJV ] The Hebrew writer wanted to encourage concern for "one another," not communicate a new directive about attendance.
We should sympathize with the government's motivations, that is, their attempt to arrest the spread of the virus and minimize the deaths that might occur. This is not only a noble motive but in line with the heart of God. Yet, some see this as a betrayal of faith and advise us to continue meeting, to put on display our confidence that God will protect us from any harm. Some may even say such risks are necessary, that we should be willing to obey, "even though it costs our lives!" But this challenge reminds me of Jesus' temptation, when Satan took him to the pinnacle of the temple, saying "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Matthew 4:5-7) In calling on God to protect us, are we "throwing ourselves down" on the coronavirus, expecting him to initiate an angelic rescue? In this scenario, are we not putting God "to the test" when he would rather we act to "silence the talk of foolish men by doing good"?
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