Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Anarchy
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Judges 21:25
Anarchism, a political theory based on anarchy, was a widespread movement in the early 1800s. The word "anarchy" begins with the prefix an-, meaning "without," and the root, archos, means "leader," "ruler," or "authority." Thus, an-archos, or anarchy, simply means "without rulers" or "without leaders." We commonly think of anarchy as being chaotic and lawless, which is partly correct, but the chaos and lawlessness are actually effects of an absence of leaders to give direction and establish parameters. Being without leaders results in every man doing what is right in his own eyes (see Judges 21:25). As a political idea, anarchism rejects authority and governance in human affairs. It posits that man is essentially good, and if any sort of human oversight is removed, that inner goodness will automatically come out. Because man has a good nature—the theory goes—the best will be produced if he is left to his own devices. In anarchism, the enemy is human authority, because that authority is seen as inhibiting the natural growth of the supposed better nature that is inside. The concept of anarchism spread throughout Europe, Russia, and America during the nineteenth century. At its height, tens of thousands considered themselves dedicated anarchists, and countless more thought that authority impedes man from reaching his potential.
David C. Grabbe
Anarchy in God's Church? (Part One)
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Isaiah 3:1-5
The issue in this context concerns adults in positions of authority, but these adults never truly matured. When dishonoring parents is taken to an extreme, it produces an anarchy that will reach out to infect the community as well. "Anarchy" describes an absence of government; it defines general disorder, a time when each person does what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). Those trained in the home to dishonor parents will resist authority on every front, whether civic authorities, supervisors on the job, teachers in school, or coaches of a team. Self-centeredness stands at the foundation of this action. Those so created will pay little attention to honoring community standards because they do not respect them. Thus, they will not discipline themselves to submit to them. They always think that they know what is best for them—and for everybody else too. They will follow whatever impulse drives them, regardless of how it affects others. This rebellious liberalism first produces an irritated grumbling in others, but it can soon build into general disorder and confusion. Ultimately, if unchecked, chaos results. In due course, a whole culture's energies are expended merely to survive, effectively destroying the development of spiritual, creative, and intellectual qualities essential to an individual's and to society's well-being. This is the very path America is following. Immaturity is a direct result of not honoring parents. People of this mindset have a hard time cooperating because their minds are filled with insecurities, they feel they are being taken advantage of, or they feel driven to compete in everything. As they age, they feel put upon, and thus become quite defensive. Because such children are not made to respect their parents' advice, they grow up not understanding what truly works, so they lack wisdom. This failure reveals itself in self-will and self-indulgence that can be taken to the point of sheer rebellion. It condemns children to learning the lessons of life through the hard, harsh experiences of personal warfare.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fifth Commandment
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Matthew 24:12-13
In some areas, chaos and anarchy already approach the level of “lawlessness,” and the exasperation of many “Lawlessness” is from the Greek word anomia, which denotes a condition of contempt and violation of law. With all the uprisings, crimes, and hostility continuously populating our newsfeeds, we are witnessing an abundance of this prophesied lawlessness nearly every day. In this verse, the Greek word for love is agapē, godly love, the kind of love God expresses toward us and which we are to learn to express toward both Him and each other. Jesus is warning us that many of His called people—the only humans who can possess the love of God in their hearts because of the Holy Spirit in them (Romans 5:5)—are passively letting love grow stone-cold through feelings of frustration and hopelessness! The Contemporary English Version translates this verse, “Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others.” Despite how we may feel, we cannot let anger at sin and sinners get in the way of our responsibility to continue loving our fellow man. Doing so is a sign of returning to the carnality of our pre-conversion lives when we allowed our emotions to cause us to react to difficult circumstances in ungodly ways. Our Savior set the proper example by loving His potential brothers and sisters so much that He gave His life for every one of us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8)! We must overcome these feelings of resentment and not let the pervasive spread of hatred and evil in this world derail us from our divinely assigned responsibilities. Jesus states in the next verse, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Only those who patiently continue to live according to Christ's teachings even amidst the most troubling times will enter God's Kingdom. But enduring through chaos is not something God's people can do alone. This prophecy is a message to the church at the time of the end, to those who have the love of God because He has chosen to bestow His grace upon them. A Christian's responsibility is to reciprocate this love back to Him in obedience and out to others in acts of service. In this way, we strengthen our bonds between God and our brethren, giving us extra faith and unity to weather the stormy times. We do not need to be too concerned with the fulfillment of prophecy, particularly about the when of Christ's return. We will never figure out the correct dates since they are under the Father's control (Matthew 24:36). We may not even be able to determine the right players beforehand! Trying to know these things beforehand is futile and time-wasting. Instead, what the Bible teaches is to be ready. Jesus counsels His disciples in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Being ready entails, in part, meeting life's daily challenges now to overcome our faults and grow in righteous character. That is job one: preparing ourselves to live like God in His Kingdom. Despite its seeming pessimism, Matthew 24:12 actually provides some hope. It reads, “. . . the love of many will grow cold” (emphasis ours). Jesus says “many,” not “all.” Some people's love will not grow cold; some will remain faithful. What can we do to be part of the lesser number, keeping our godly love alive? Most of all, we must keep our focus on Jesus Christ and His example of loving behavior and strive to imitate it. In this way, as Paul writes in II Timothy 1:6 (ESV), we will “fan into flame the gift of God” and keep it boiling hot. If we do these things, the pervasive spread of evil will not cause us to stop loving others.
John Reiss
Waxing Cold
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Luke 2:6-14
Jesus was not born on December 25. While the Bible does not give an exact date for His birth, John Reid, in the Forerunner article, "When Was Jesus Born?" tells us that the Bible leaves clues that point to His actual birth date. The article provides a method of calculation starting with John the Baptist's father, Zacharias. Based on when Zacharias would have served in the Temple during his priestly course, John the Baptist's birth would have occurred in the latter half of March. Since he was six months older than Jesus (Luke 1:32), we can extrapolate that Jesus would have been born in the second half of September, around the fall holy days. Lawrence Kelemen, a Jew, brings up several points about the problems people face when they attempt to justify their keeping of the holiday. He affirms that the Bible does not list the actual day of Jesus' birth anywhere. He infers that, since Mark, the earliest gospel (written a half-century after Jesus' birth) begins with the baptism of Jesus as an adult, first-century Christians cared little about His birthday. The roots of Christmas are found in Saturnalia. Pagans in Rome celebrated this weeklong period of bedlam and lawlessness between December 17-25. During this period of anarchy, no one could be punished for their vandalism and mayhem. An "enemy of the Roman people" was chosen to represent the "Lord of Misrule." Each community selected a victim and forced him to gorge himself on food and other indulgences throughout the week. On the last day of the festival, December 25, they took vengeance against the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this victim. Kelemen writes that besides this human sacrifice, there was widespread drunkenness, public nudity, rape, and other forms of sexual license. After Constantine converted to Catholicism, many pagans followed him once they were allowed to maintain their celebration of Saturnalia. They solved the problem of Saturnalia having nothing to do with Christianity by declaring December 25 to be Jesus' birthday, replacing the celebration of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun), but little changed in practice. These practices are blatant violations of God's command in Deuteronomy 12:30-31. Many of the trappings of Christmas are directly imported from paganism. For instance, the Catholic Church shamelessly welcomed the pagan tree worshippers into their fellowship. They simply called their trees "Christmas trees." Mistletoe is another example of such syncretism. The ancient Druids used its supposed mystical powers to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. In ancient Norse mythology, mistletoe was used to symbolize love and friendship. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is a later blending of the sexual license of Saturnalia with Druidic practice. The Catholic Church says that the practice of gift-giving was begun by an early bishop, Nicholas, who died in AD 345 and made a saint in the 1800s. Nicholas was a senior bishop who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325. Some 750 years later, a group of sailors who idolized him moved his bones from Turkey to Italy, where he supplanted a favor-granting deity called the Grandmother, who used to fill children's stockings with gifts. In his honor, his followers would give each other gifts on the anniversary of his death, December 6. From there, his cult spread to the German and Celtic pagans. Many of them worshipped Woden, who wore a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens each fall. Through the process of syncretism, Nicholas and Woden were combined. Nicholas now sported a beard, rode a flying horse, wore winter clothes to battle the elements, and took his trip in the last month of the year instead of in the fall. As it evangelized in Northern Europe, Catholicism absorbed the Nicholas cult and persuaded its adherents to give gifts on December 25 instead of December 6. In 1809, novelist Washington Irving satirically wrote of this Saint Nicolas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus. Thirteen years later, Clement Moore wrote a poem based on this Santa Claus, The Night before Christmas. The poem incorporated the giving of gifts, added his descent down the chimney, and replaced the horse with a sleigh and eight reindeer. Our modern image of Santa Claus was provided by a Bavarian cartoonist, Thomas Nast, who drew over 2000 pictures in the late nineteenth century for Harper's Weekly. Before Nast's cartoon, Saint Nicholas had been depicted as "everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock." Nast provided many of the traditional details: He gave him a home at the North Pole and a workshop with elves who made toys. The creation of Santa was completed in 1931 when the Coca-Cola Corporation developed a marketing campaign for a Coke-drinking Santa. Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom modeled a chubby Santa, dressed in a bright Coca-Cola red outfit. Kelemen states, "[The modern] Santa was born—a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol." December 25 has traditionally been the day when pagans marked the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. It is a day venerated every year by worshippers of the sun god. Egyptians celebrated Horus' birthday on December 25. Other cultures also worshipped their gods on this day: the Mesopotamians, the ancient Greeks, and the Persians. Winter solstice traditions stretch back long before Jesus Christ entered the world. Christmas is all about commercialism. Many people struggle with low wages and debt, yet they spend hundreds of dollars to buy Christmas gifts. The average American family will spend $882 this year on Christmas presents. An article in US News and World Report, "Commercialism Only Adds to Joy of the Holidays," avers that Christmas is a spiritual holiday whose main theme is personal, selfish pleasure and joy, claiming that the season's commercialism is integral to it. The article cites Ayn Rand, who said that Christmas' best aspect has been its commercialization: "The Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors . . . provide the city with a spectacular display, which only 'commercial greed' could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle." This supposed worship of Christ is based on falsehoods. From rebranding pagan sun worship as worship of the Son of God to people telling their children that Santa will withhold their presents if they are not good, everything is a fabrication. Try as they might, people cannot make the unclean clean or the unholy holy.
John Reiss
Reasons for Not Celebrating Christmas
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1 Corinthians 12:27-29
Paul does not just list various positions of responsibility (and thus authority); he puts them in a definite order. What Paul is describing here is a hierarchy of spiritual gifts. Sadly, the word "hierarchy" has come to be despised by some because of the baggage that comes with it rather than what the term truly means. What is often affixed with the label of "hierarchy" is actually authoritarianism, which is a grave error on the opposite extreme. An-archy means "without a leader." Hier-archy has the same root—archos—meaning "leader," but the prefix hier- means "sacred" or "set apart." Hierarchy, then, literally means a "set-apart leader." It can mean a "holy leader" or "a leader of sacred rites." In its highest sense, our hierarch is our High Priest, Jesus Christ. A second, and more common, meaning of hierarchy is "any system of persons or things ranked one above another." When Paul says that God has appointed "first apostles, second prophets, third teachers," etc., he is ranking these positions. The ranking is not based on worth or potential but on gifting, authority, and responsibility. God has not given everybody in the Body the same gifts. The Parable of the Talents shows that even though everyone has the same potential, God gives us differing levels of spiritual gifts—and "to whom much is given, from him much will be required" (Luke 12:48). This directly contrasts with Gnostic thought, which holds that everybody is completely equal since everybody ostensibly has a divine, immortal soul. While it is true that believers are equal in some ways, this passage in I Corinthians 12 shows God has gifted some in the Body differently than others. He has given responsibility (and thus authority) to some that He has not given to others. God has made us different in this, though Paul also teaches that these differences should not be a cause for boasting because they are God-given rather than inherent (I Corinthians 4:7). Just a few verses prior to his ranked list in I Corinthians 12:28, Paul warns against one part of the Body saying it has no need of another part of the Body: "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" (verses 20-21). If we are going to discern the Body properly (I Corinthians 11:29), we cannot discriminate against parts of it that we feel we do not need. Following this principle, we do not get to decide that we have no need for someone to whom God has given greater authority and/or responsibility. Those who claim that "God hates hierarchy" often work from a personal rather than a literal definition. Adding in the instruction in I Corinthians 12, God is clearly very much in favor of hierarchy. For example, and along the same lines, Paul mentions another hierarchy of authority in the previous chapter, writing, "The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God" (I Corinthians 11:3). What God does hate is sin, wickedness, and oppression, and sometimes, men, acting carnally, have misused the God-given structure of authority, both in the church and in marriage. What follows this chapter concerning the workings of the Body of Christ is I Corinthians 13—the "more excellent way" (I Corinthians 12:31)—that should be everyone's governing principle, regardless of what spiritual gifting he or she may have received. However, many stop their reading with the listing in I Corinthians 12, never continuing on to the "love chapter" to complete the instruction. There will always be those who desire to be "in charge," to rule by their own authority rather than God's. Those without true knowledge of God lord authority over others rather than using it to serve as Christ did (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45). The problem is the carnality of those involved, not the order and authority that God has established. Therefore, modifying the order might ameliorate the symptoms of authoritarianism, but only complete conversion will actually heal the spiritual disease.
David C. Grabbe
Anarchy in God's Church? (Part Two)
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Find more Bible verses about Anarchy:
Anarchy {Nave's}
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