Biblical Citizenship (eBook)

Lesson 1

What the Bible says about freedom, government, and citizenship

Part 1

The Old Testament foreshadows God’s restoration of a fallen mankind through His messianic plan of salvation. It also reveals in key ways God’s will for how to manage human affairs until his plan is fulfilled.

While temporary and provisional in the sense that these Old Testament ways do not ultimately fulfill God’s perfect design, they point to eternal truths and His principles for ordering our lives individually and together.

God’s ‘economy’ in the fallen state of mankind

Scanning the first eleven chapters of the Bible in the book of Genesis, we see God’s initial response to man’s fall into sin and corruption. God reveals how people are to relate to Him and to each other, including the cornerstone concepts of good and evil, justice and mercy, obedience and disobedience, blessing and punishment.

The garden, Adam and Eve, and the fall into sin (Genesis 1-3)

Created by God for perfect freedom, man is now enslaved to sin as a result of their disobedience. God reveals the disorder in creation and the corruption in relationships that result from the fall. The serpent and the ground are cursed in relation to woman and man.

God then removes Adam and Eve from the garden so they will not live forever in this corrupted state, and he clothes them. God will not abandon man nor His creation - the curses and consequences contain mercy, a path forward.

Cain kills Abel (Genesis 4)

Enmity erupts between people. God imposes punishment on Cain for his evil act of killing his brother, and in doing so reveals the concept of justice now that man knows good and evil. Yet life is defended by God, even Cain’s; God’s justice always points to His original creation purposes.

The great flood (Genesis 5-8)

Over the generations, God reveals more regarding good and evil, obedience, justice, and truth. Sin’s utter destruction of man’s character is condemned in its entirety by God as he sends the great flood to purge the earth.

In mercy, and faithful to his original creation purposes, God maintains a path forward and chooses Noah to perpetuate humanity through the flood. Yet sin’s corruption is part of human nature and remains after the great flood.

Noah’s sons Japheth and Shem are blessed, and Ham (Canaan) is cursed (Genesis 9)

The sin of Ham looking on his father Noah’s nakedness and doing nothing to cover it is condemned by God, and Ham’s son Canaan and his subsequent tribe bears ongoing punishment. Enmity expands, including between families/tribes.

The city of Babel and its tower (Genesis 11)

God averts man’s attempt to centrally organize and supersede His sovereignty. He disperses the peoples with many languages to many lands, fulfilling His original command to Adam and Eve and Noah to fill the earth.

What do we learn?

Freedom

Freedom is part of man’s inherent image of God.

Perfect freedom in God’s original created order is lost and corrupted.

Mankind is enslaved to sin, thus evil dominates its affairs.

Government

God’s ‘economy’ amidst the corruption is revealed:

The concept of justice, given man’s new knowledge of good and evil.

Rules are required, to show God’s truth in the cloud of man’s sin.

God’s blessing comes in obedience, punishment in disobedience.

In His justice there is mercy, a path forward.

His covenants reveal the ordering of human affairs.

God demands His sovereignty and never abandons His original creation order.

God creates dispersed peoples, not a centralized human organization.

Citizenship

Member of a people (tribe) as defined by paternal lineage.

Either by birth or marriage.

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think God chose to act the way he did in the affairs of sinful mankind and its corrupted relationships? Why didn’t He just “fix it”?

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1. Why do you think God thwarted the peoples’ attempt to centrally organize at Babel and reach to heaven with their tower?

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God creates a nation unto himself

In the midst of man’s ongoing enslavement to sin after the great flood, God reveals more fully the definitions of good and evil and the requirements to escape mankind’s condition and be restored to Himself. He does so by calling a distinct people and then a new nation under His law into existence. The ultimate purpose is intended for good and points to His plan of salvation, and it reveals certain principles for ordering mankind’s affairs in its fallen state.

First God creates a People: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12 - 50)

God Calls Abraham from among the peoples and creates His chosen people through Abraham’s lineage. His kingdom will grow from one, to a few, to many, to the world. (Cliff Bajema)

Lineage (tribe) defines God’s people, identified by male circumcision, including slaves. He reveals requirements for Abraham’s lineage to be His people, but sin continues to corrupt human affairs, including Abraham’s lineage. Captivity and enslavement in Egypt result.

Then God creates a Nation: Moses leads the Exodus, the Law is given, and Joshua occupies the Promised Land (Exodus; Leviticus; Deuteronomy; Joshua)

God is sovereign - the head of the nation and directly present. God covenants with his people and they say “yes” (three times), He is no tyrant.

God’s moral law is revealed in the ten commandments and reigns supreme. His civil and religious law govern the affairs of the new nation. God’s nature of truth and love, justice and mercy, are more fully revealed.

God structures the nation’s governance using the 12 tribes, law, property, and delegation to subsidiary structures and judges. Assimilation and circumcision are available to foreigners to join the nation.

If strong, courageous, and obedient, the nation will reign on behalf of God. Obedience to the law or lack thereof directly determines God’s blessing or curse and the nation’s success or failure.

The Nation fails (Judges, Chronicles, Kings, the prophets)

The nation demands a king in place of God himself to rule them. God then speaks through the prophets.

God continues to respect the (corrupted) freedom of mankind, even in his own nation, but there are consequences. Vicious cycles ensue - obedience/blessing, disobedience/punishment, repentance/restoration, exile/return. God’s unrelenting truth and love and His justice and mercy are experienced profoundly by the nation, its tribes, and by individuals personally.

In the end, bare remnants of the nation exist. A corrupted religious order remains under priestly rule. And a corrupted civil order remains under Roman rule.

What do we learn?

Freedom

Israel was ‘freed from’ slavery in Egypt and ‘freed for’ obedience to God and his commands in the new nation.

True freedom is fidelity to God’s law.

Freedom is blessed within obedience, punished under disobedience.

Absent perfect obedience in their freedom, the nation fails.

Government

God is sovereign through his direct leadership and laws.

His is a government of covenant, not tyranny.

He organizes the nation using the twelve tribes, the law, property, and subsidiary rulers and judges.

Choosing a king over God leads to the nation’s demise.

Citizenship

Member of Abraham’s paternal lineage (twelve tribes) by birth or marriage.

Male circumcision.

Outsiders can be grafted in, by assenting to God’s law and circumcision.

Discussion Questions

1. How do you think God was revealing in the law and the prophets the path to restoring true human freedom?

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1. What principles of government do we see God establish in the nation of Israel?

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1. In addition to paternal lineage from Abraham, why do you think male circumcision was a part of God uniquely calling out his people and a requirement to belong to his nation?...