40。基督徒能参予公民不服从吗？（约翰 麦卡瑟牧师）

译者：小草

Can Christians Participate in Civil Disobedience?

基督徒能参予公民不服从吗？

John MacArthur

约翰 麦卡瑟牧师

We believe the Scripture teaches that we are to submit to government even if that government does not function entirely (or even primarily) by biblical principles (Romans 13:1-7). That principle is explicit in Peter's message to servants (1 Peter 2:18-19), which directly follows his more general comments regarding government (vv. 13-17). And that epistle teaches the same thing over and over again in varied ways: Submit even if you suffer, because in doing so you identify with Christ and are blessed (cf. 2:21-24; 3:1-2; 4:12-14; 5:9-10). There are times when we must obey God rather than men, but we believe that we should disobey the authorities only if they command us to do something directly against God's law (e.g. Acts 5:29 and its surrounding context).

我们相信圣经教导我们必须顺服政府，既使政府不是完全（甚至根本上不是）按照圣经的原则（Luo13：1-7）来运作的，我们也得顺服。这个原则在彼得写给作仆人的话里也很清楚（彼前2:18-19），这些话是直接跟在他就有关政府的教导（彼前2:13-17）之后。使徒的书信对此一再地以不同的方式教导：既使受苦也要顺服，因为这样作是在效法基督，且是蒙福的。（彼前2：21-24，3:1-2，4:12-14，5:9-10）有些时候我们必须顺从神，而不是顺从人，但我们相信，只在当权者命令我们所作的是违背上帝的律法时我们就应当不顺从当权者（比如，使5:29 及相关的背景下）。

That is a fine distinction, but it is precisely where the issue lies. If we say that Christians are only required to obey their government when it is functioning by scriptural principles, we then nullify the teaching of Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 in just about any age of history-especially the time during which those passages were written! The Roman government was as corrupt and godless as any in history, and yet Paul and Peter told Christians to "live in subjection," "submit to every ordinance," and "honor the king."

问题就在于区别。如果我们认为基督徒只对按圣经原则运作的政府顺服的话，那我们等于认为罗13:1-7 和彼前 2:13-17 的教导对任何时代都是无效的，特别是对这些教导所写的时代更是无效。罗马政府与历史上任何腐败和不信神的政府是一样的，但保罗和彼得还是教导基督徒要 “服从”， "顺服一切的法令“，和 “恭敬君王”。

So we believe that civil disobedience is justified only when government compels us to sin, or when there is no legal recourse for fighting injustice. The reason we draw the line there is simply because all the scriptural examples of civil disobedience fall squarely into those two situations. Any other kind of activism has no precedent in the Word of God and violates the spirit of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2.

因此，我们相信，只当政府强迫我们去犯罪，或没有合法的途径与不义抗争时，我们才能不服从。我们画出分界线的原因，是因为圣经里所有的民众不顺从的例子都可归属于这两种情形。 在神的话语里，没有任何其他的激进主义的先例，这些其他的激进主义违背了 罗13 和 彼前2 的精神。