What Is the Relationship between Church and State?

What Is the Relationship between Church and State? examines the biblical foundations of governmental authority and the Christian’s responsibility to both the church and the civil magistrate.

Dr. R.C. Sproul addresses a question that has confronted Christians since the earliest days of the church: How should believers relate to the governing authorities placed over them? Drawing primarily from Romans 13 and other key biblical passages, Sproul argues that all governmental authority is delegated by God and that the state, no less than the church, is accountable to Him. He traces the origins of civil authority from the creation narrative through Israel’s theocracy to the New Testament context of the early church under Roman rule.

The book explores the nature of government as legal force, the Christian’s duty of civil obedience, the distinct spheres of the church and the state, the history of established religion and non-establishmentarianism, and the principles that govern civil disobedience. Sproul contends that while Christians are called to be model citizens, there are circumstances in which obedience to God requires disobedience to human authorities. He also examines how governments can become instruments of evil when they fail in their God-given mandate to protect life, property, and justice.

Part of the Crucial Questions series, this booklet offers a concise, accessible treatment of a subject with significant theological and practical implications for Christians navigating life under secular governments.

Key Themes

• The divine origin and delegated nature of all governmental authority
• The Christian’s call to civil obedience as an expression of submission to God
• The distinct spheres of authority belonging to the church and the state
• Biblical principles for civil disobedience when human law conflicts with God’s commands

Featured Quotes

“Any government that sanctions the destruction of life has failed in its divine mandate to govern.”

“If I show no respect to a person whom God has set in authority between Himself and me, my disrespect carries beyond that person and ultimately lands on God as the giver of the authority.”