The apostle Paul already had an opinion about whether as a subject, or citizen, or civil servant, you should always serve the government, even if it is evil. In his letter to the early Christians in Rome, he wrote: “Everyone must accept the authority of the government. For the power of government comes from God.” And: “So don’t resist the government. Because (…) then God will punish you.” Pay your taxes and obey the law, otherwise it will be chaos.
Yes Yes Yes. But what misery Paul has caused with this. Racism, fascism, Nazism, all forms of government terror have been excused in the past. And it still happens. In June 2018, Jeff Sessions, Attorney General under President Trump, was criticized by the church for his policy of separating children from their illegally immigrant parents. What did Sessions say? That crossing the border illegally was a crime. And he referred his church friends according to Paul’s “clear and wise” command to always obey the laws of the government. “God has prescribed them for the purpose of maintaining law and order.”
One evening in October 1940, my late father, a boy of eleven at the time, overheard a conversation between his father, Jacob, and an Uncle Jan, who was not a real uncle, but was called that. Jan worked at BPM, later Shell. Jacob was a police officer. They were talking about some form that had to be signed and my father – so his story went – had crept out of bed and towards the stairs to hear better what they were saying.
Jacob the policeman: “It has to be done by the mayor and the chief commissioner.”
Jan from the BPM: “On behalf of the Germans.”
Jacob: “They are the competent authority.”
Jan: “The enemy authority, Jacob.”
Jacob: “There is no other authority than that of God, Jan. God has placed the Germans over us.”
Jan: “What about Moses? Are you saying that Moses should not have rebelled against the Egyptians?”
Jacob: “Moses had a mission from God.”
Jan: “We also have an assignment from God.”
Jacob: “…”
Jan: “So you draw?”
Jacob the policeman thought it was easy for Jan from the BPM to talk. He was not in government service. Because that was the point, he did not have to sign an Aryan declaration. And then some more. The preacher who had proclaimed from the pulpit that the German government was evil and should not be obeyed – also an interpretation of Paul’s letter – had ended up in Dachau.