Biblical Self-Government

By Stiles J. Watson
September 18, 2007

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power
without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by
the bayonet.
—Robert C. Winthrop, Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions, 1852

Biblical Self-Government: The desire and the ability to willingly submit to God-given authority
without being forced, coerced, or constantly reminded to do so.[i]

When man refuses to be self-governed, he asks to be a slave. This sums up the whole history of
mankind. It started in Eden, and it is still true, even in our country today.

When God created Adam in the Garden of Eden, Adam was to be self-governed, ruled only by
God. God gave him the law by which he was bound, “And the LORD God took the man, and put
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die” (Gen. 2:15–17). Once Adam had received the law, it was up to him to willingly submit to
God and obey His law. God did not stage guards around the tree forcing Adam to stay away. God
did not place a fence around the tree of the knowledge of good and evilkeeping Adam at arm’s
length. Self-government is the primary means by which man was to be governed.

However, how was Adam governed after he disobeyed God? He was cast out of the garden and a
guard, armed with a flaming sword, was placed at the entrance: “So he drove out the man; and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). Since Adam could not govern himself
inwardly, he had to be governed outwardly. He could no longer be trusted to obey, so he had to
be restrained.

We see the same principle at work in the history of the Israelite people. They were established in
the Promised Land as a self-governing people. They had no king, no parliament, and no president
to rule over them, only the law of God. They had been taught the law and how to deal justly with
the lawless by Moses, and now they were to put everything they had been taught into practice.
However, once again, the people failed to exercise self-government. The people forsook God and
His law and as a result, God sent judgment in the form of other nations to rule over them. Being
greatly oppressed by godless nations, the people cried out to God for mercy. God then sent His
messengers, judges, to deliver the people from their enemies and to call them to return to the
worship of the one, true God. The people would then repent, turn back to God (until the judge
died), and the whole cycle would start over again (Judg. 2:11–19).
What was the sin of the people? “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that
which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). This verse, and its twin, Judges 17:6, is very
important to our understanding of Biblical self-government because it defines for us what it is
not. Doing that which is right in our own eyes is not self-government! Self-government still is,
and always has been, bound by the Word of God. It is the willing submission and obedience to
the Word of God that makes us self-governed.

Before we go much further, it is important to understand the role of the judges of Israel. They
were not judges as we think of judges today, sitting on a bench presiding over a legal case
(although in Judges 4:4–5 we see the people coming to Deborah for judgment). They were more
akin to military generals. The judges had no civil authority or jurisdiction. They could neither
enact nor enforce laws. They were messengers for God, called by God for a specific, but
temporary, purpose (to deliver the people from their enemies). However, regardless of the
number of times they were delivered, or how miraculous the deliverance was, the people refused
to be governed by God’s law. As a result, we see that every generation was more wicked than
that of their fathers (Judg. 2:19).

To bring the period of the Judges to an end, the Israelites asked to be like every other nation and
to be ruled by a king. By studying 1 Samuel 8:5–20, we can get a clear understanding of exactly
what the Israelites were asking for; they were asking to be made slaves.

1 Samuel 8:5–20
5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a
king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a
king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel,
Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected
thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works
which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day,
wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9 Now
therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the
manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD
unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that
shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint themfor himself, for his chariots, and to
behis horsemen; and someshall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over
thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set themto ear his ground, and to reap his harvest,
and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your
daughters to beconfectionaries, and to becooks, and to bebakers. 14 And he will take your fields,
and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, eventhe best of them, and give themto his servants. 15
And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his
servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest
young men, and your asses, and put themto his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and
ye shall be his servants. 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall
have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19 Nevertheless the people
refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20
That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us,
and fight our battles.
Here are the main points of the above text:

1. The Israelites wanted a king to rule over them like all the other nations (v. 5).
2. God said their desire was a rejection of Him as their King (v. 7).
3. God tells Samuel to warn the people about what they are about to do (v. 9).
4. Samuel tells them all the ways in which they would be enslaving themselves to a human
king and that they will cry out to God because of the oppression, but God will not listen
(vv. 10–18).
5. The people refused to listen and demanded to be given a king to rule over them so they
could be like all the other nations and so that the king would fight their battles for them
(vv. 19–20).

First Samuel 8:5 sets the tone for the verses that follow. God had miraculously delivered His
people from slavery in Egypt roughly 350 years before, yet once in the Promised Land, they
quickly forgot God and “went a whoring after other gods” (Judg. 2:17). The primary desire of
the people was to be “like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5) and have a ruler over them. Even though
Samuel took this as an indictment against him, God understood the hearts of the people and
judged that it was He that they rejected (v. 7). Because of their wicked hearts, God was about to
give them exactly what they wanted—just as He did in the wilderness when the Israelites,
unsatisfied with God’s provision, cried out for meat:

Numbers 11:18–20
18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh:
for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well
with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. 19 Ye shall not eat
one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; 20 But even a whole
month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have
despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth
out of Egypt?

God gave them the desires of their wicked hearts until it came out of their nostrils!

From reading 1 Samuel 8:10–18, we see that God warned the Israelites that they were about to
enslave themselves, but they would not listen. Here is God’s warning:

1. The king will take away your sons and put them into his service whenever and wherever
he pleases. Some as military personnel, some as forced laborers to work his fields.
2. The king will take your daughters to be his cooks and bakers.
3. The king will confiscate your fields and vineyards and make them his own.
4. The king will take a tenth of what you harvest as his tax.
5. The king will take of your male and female servants and of your flocks and make them
his.
6. And last, but not least, “ye shall be his servants.”

Look at the tremendous freedom they chose to give up, and for what purpose? They thought that
by alleviating themselves of God’s rule, they would be free to do as they wished. Their desire
was still that of Genesis 3:5; they desired to be as gods, determining for themselves what was
good and what was evil. By rejecting God, they rejected the most just and merciful master they
would ever have and replaced Him with unrighteousness and oppression. They replaced Biblical
self-government with statism.

This is exactly what we do when we refuse to be governed by the Word of God. We trade
freedom for slavery. We trade mercy for coercion. This is the situation we are in today.

As to the Lord, and Not to Men

One great example of what Biblical self-government looks like comes from Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians:

Ephesians 6:5–9
5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but
as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as
to the Lord, and not to men: 8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 9 And, ye masters, do the same things
unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there
respect of persons with him.

We are all personally accountable to God for our attitudes and actions. It does not matter if we
are servants/slaves or free men/masters; everything we do must be done “unto Christ,” for He is
our Master who is in heaven. If we only do what is right while others are watching, we have only
deceived ourselves because God is ever-present, all-knowing, and able to discern the thoughts
and intents of the heart (Ps. 139:7–12; Heb. 4:12).

Nothing New under the Sun

America was the first country to be founded upon the principles of Christian self-government.
But after she became a nation, the people quickly began to turn away from these principles and
began to look to the civil governments for their provision and protection. As the people of
America began to want more from the civil authorities, the more they had to give up in the way
of their freedom. Go back and reread God’s warning to the Israelites when they requested a king
to rule over them. Is there anything that God warned the people about that we are not also
currently subject to?

George Washington himself said several times that the American form of government would not
work if the people were not a Christian people.[ii] His statements have shown themselves to be
true. Without a people who bow down only to Jesus, the Son of God, as their King of Kings and
Lord of Lords, we are doomed to commit the same sin, and suffer the same punishment, just as
every other nation in history who has forsaken God: slavery to the godless and the lawless. As
God’s people, we get the kind of government we deserve. Therefore self-government (willful
submission to lawful authority, starting with the Word of God) is a foundational part of the faith
for all of life.
[i]
Submission to God-given authority does not mean blind, unconditional obedience. We are
never to disobey Christ in our obedience to derivative, human authorities. Our obedience is also
limited to the area in which the derivative authority has jurisdiction. For instance, we do not have
to obey the state when they tell parents they must put their children into the state school system,
for God never gave the state jurisdiction over the education of children. Neither do we have to
obey the state when they tell us not to preach certain doctrines because they have declared parts
of the Bible “hate speech.” Similarly, children, even though commanded to both honor and obey
their parents, do not have to obey if they are told to steal, commit murder, etc. See Rushdoony’s
comments on Romans 13 for additional reading on submitting to proper authority.

“[T]he foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable
[ii]

principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all
the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I
dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire,
since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and
course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and
advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid
rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the
propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal
rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the
sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly
considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the
American people” (First Inaugural Address of George Washington, The City of New York,
Thursday, April 30, 1789. Emphasis added.). It is important to note that when George
Washington says “the pure and immutable principles of private morality,” he is NOT speaking of
a morality that is invented by each person privately. Rather, he is speaking of self-government,
or the act of personally applying God’s moral law to one’s own actions. This is further shown by
his statement “the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards
the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” It is God alone who has
ordained the “eternal rules of order and right.”

Similar statements are found in George Washington’s Circular Letter Addressed to the
Governors of all the States on Disbanding the Army, June 14, 1783, “I now make it my earnest
prayer … that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy,
and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the
characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation
of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation” (emphasis
added).

One Nation Over God

by Doug Phillips on February 6, 2008; last featured July 4, 2010
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Mention the word government to a typical twenty-first century American and he is most likely to
think of Washington, D. C. But if that same American were to travel back in time to 1828 and
open a copy of Webster’s newly released dictionary, he would discover that the first definition of
government describes “self-government.” Other forms of government, including family (1
Corinthians 11:3, 8–9) and civil government (Deuteronomy 16:18–20, 25:1; Romans 13:1–5),
are secondary.

This definition points us back to the Bible, the only source to properly understand our need for
government and its real nature. We learn from the Bible that man is to give his heart to God (1
Peter 1:14–16) and to exercise self-control over his mind (2 Corinthians 10:4–6), his members
(1 Corinthians 9:26–27), and his actions, so that he can fully honor his Creator (John 14:15; 1
John 2:3–5, 5:2–3).

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language reflected this distinctively biblical
worldview in its definitions of government and sample usages:

“Direction; regulation. ‘These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.’”
“Control; restraint. ‘Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.’”

In this modern age of lawlessness, where morality is believed to evolve based on changing
culture rather than eternally fixed principles for self-rule, it is not surprising that the only
“government” modern man recognizes is an all-powerful state. The biblical doctrine of
government, on the other hand, emphasizes a multiplicity—family, church, and state—each
grounded in self-control under God. The tension between these two views of government finds
its root in the Genesis record, from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel.

Creation and Self-Government

Genesis—The Source of Traffic Laws?

It is impossible to pass a law that is free from moral implications. The real question is not
whether man can legislate morality, but which system of morality will be legislated. All laws are
either explicitly moral or procedures that uphold a moral concept. Even laws requiring traffic
lights impose “morality.” The purpose of traffic lights is to stop people from having accidents,
thus protecting property and preserving life.

Even simple laws, like traffic lights, presuppose that (a) order is good and chaos bad, (b)
property rights should be honored, and (c) life should be preserved. Each of these principles is
rooted in the Genesis account of origins: (a) God the Creator, who declared His work “very
good” (Genesis 1:31), is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33); (b) He commanded
man to bring order to creation by taking dominion over the earth, thus laying the foundation for
property rights (Genesis 1:28); and (c) He established the sanctity of life as the first principle of
lawful government (Genesis 9:5–6). These are the unspoken moral assumptions behind a traffic
light.
In the beginning, God created man and gave him the first law: to keep the Garden but not eat of
the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:15–17). The law was meant to be a blessing to man, but it came
with sanctions should man break it. Both the law and its sanctions communicated truths of vast
significance about the Creator, including His righteousness, His love, His authority, and His
justice.

At first, there was no civil government to enforce the law. Man was to be self-governing under
God. He was to delight in the law of the Lord and keep His commandments. But man proved he
would not be self-governing. He broke the law and lost fellowship with His Creator (Genesis
3:23–24). He also fell under the condemnation of the law and brought disorder and confusion
into mankind’s relationships.

Family government was introduced at the moment of Eve’s creation. Adam was to be the
jurisdictional head of the family, and Eve was to be a helper suitable for him (Genesis 2:18). But
Adam failed to honor his governmental duties. He should have refused to eat the forbidden fruit
that Eve offered him. At that moment tension entered their relationship. God would then declare
to Eve: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).

In the years that followed, three distinct units of government emerged, each with privileges and
duties. Today, they are known as family, civil, and church governments. Each government
carries a God-ordained instrument of punishment to enforce the moral law of God: The family is
given the rod (Proverbs 23:13–14); the state, the sword (Romans 13:4); and the church, the keys
(Matthew 16:19). But self-government under God remains the defining obligation of every
individual.

The Origins of Civil Government

There is no biblical evidence of a sword-bearing, civil government in the pre-Flood world. The
two most notable killers in the world before the Flood—Cain (Genesis 4:8–18) and Lamech—
feared retribution from their brothers, but neither of them suffered at the hands of a civil
magistrate.

God apparently instituted civil government after the Genesis Flood when He introduced capital
punishment for murder (Genesis 9:5). Here we discover that the very first principle of godly civil
government is the protection of innocent life. The Lord declared to Noah that “whoever sheds
man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.” God instituted this law because of the creation
doctrine of the imago dei (“for in the image of God made he man”).

Nimrod and the Tower of Babel

After the Genesis Flood, God restated His mandate, originally given in the Garden of Eden, for
mankind to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:26–28; 9:1). But in the generations that
followed, man expressly rejected that mandate. Rather than dispersing and demonstrating self-
governance under God, the people gathered at the tower in the city of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9).
Their mission: an empire of rebellion—a one-world, centralized government under man. Many
commentators believe that the tyrant Nimrod, a “mighty man” of violence described in Genesis
10:9–11, led this enterprise.

The mandate to disperse around the world implied decentralization and self-government
(Genesis 1:28, 9:1). The express purpose of the tower, in contrast, was for humans to “make a
name” for themselves and to avoid being “scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

The new Babel state was distinctively religious in nature. It appeared to have a messianic vision
of salvation by government and glory to man, symbolized by the erection of a tower to the
heavens. Under this centralized religious state the people were one. The Lord Himself revealed
the dangers of this Satanic unity: “Now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have
imagined to do” (Genesis 11:6). In the end, God judged man’s self-seeking attempt to centralize
power at Babel by sending confusion and dispersing men by language groups.

It is likely that the city of Babel served as the model for most of the state-sponsored pagan
mystery religions of the ancient world. Many early cities adopted major architectural projects,
like the ziggurats of Babylon, which perpetuated ideals similar to those of the centralized human
government at Babel.
Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has yearned to restore the sense of order and justice that was
lost at the Fall. But the question has always been—will man be self-governing under the
authority of a multiplicity of God-ordained governments, each with defined and limited powers,
or will he seek a Babel-like solution?

Recall that the Hebrew nation insisted on a king with vast powers like their pagan counterparts,
while Samuel pleaded for them to remain self-governing under God (1 Samuel 8:5, 10:19). The
totalitarian Roman Empire arose in large part as a response to the perceived inefficiencies and
weakness of the more decentralized Republic.

More recently the German people of the 1930s looked to a strongman with absolute authority to
bring order after the devastation of World War I. This desire for unity under a modern-day
Nimrod-like leader—in this case, Adolf Hitler—brought unprecedented horror, not only to the
people of the world but to the very Germans who demanded the new regime.

Salvation by Government
Just six thousand years ago, the Serpent asked Eve the question, “Has God said?” (Genesis 3:1).
Modern man is asking the same question. He hates the moral law of God and refuses to be
governed by it (Habakkuk 1:4). Instead of seeking the favor of the Lord through obedience to
His law, modern humans seek deliverance through endless legislation and the promises of an all-
powerful “nanny state.”

God intends civil law to be a restraint against evil, not a source of spiritual deliverance (Romans
13:4). Ironically, those who believe in evolving morality are the ones who most vocally argue for
salvation by legislation. Because they believe man’s problems arise from outward circumstances
rather than sins of the heart, they hope to solve man’s problems through government programs
and better education. In such a world, the State, not Jesus Christ, is honored as the true redeemer.

The spirit of Babel is alive and well. Men still crave “government” solutions to spiritual
problems.

The spirit of Babel is alive and well. Men still crave “government” solutions to spiritual
problems. At the heart of this crisis is a misdiagnosis of the basic problem. Man’s problem is not
his environment; it is sin (Romans 6:23). The solution begins with spiritual redemption, not
social reform or state-imposed order. Because nations are comprised of individuals, the solution
requires a change in heart, which only God can do.

The disposition of the individual influences what kind of people rule over him. Because civil
governments are ultimately ruled by individuals, the state of their hearts impacts the prosperity
of the whole nation. The bottom line is this: Freedom requires self-government; self-government
requires righteousness. This explains why, “when the righteous are in authority, the people
rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2).
As God makes clear from Genesis, proper government begins with self-government and then
extends to the family, church, and state, as each jurisdiction honors their God-ordained duties
and boundaries.

Adam’s Violation of the 10 Commandments

Many generations after the Garden of Eden, God delivered His law to the prophet Moses in the
form of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). They summarized God’s transcendent moral law,
which reflects Christ’s eternal righteousness. Adam’s failed attempt at self-government in the
Garden of Eden violated the heart and soul of these commandments, if not almost every
individual one:

1. Adam failed to worship and serve the one true God with purity of heart.
2. He sought to become like God.
3. He vainly and implicitly dishonored God’s name by blaming “the woman whom you
have given to me.”
 5. He dishonored his Heavenly Father through his rebellion.
6. Through his sin, Adam caused his own death, the death of his wife, and placed his
descendants under a death sentence (Romans 5:12–14).

8. He stole a bite of fruit that was not his to eat.

9. He bore false witness to his God by refusing to take responsibility for his actions.
10. He coveted fruit that was not his to eat.

Answers in Genesis is deeply saddened by Doug Phillips's acknowledged sin, which gained
public attention and greatly harmed his testimony and led to the demise of his organization,
Vision Forum. In the interest of maintaining an online archive of Answers magazine articles, this
item remains accessible on our website; in no way does it signal support for his actions, yet we
pray for his restoration.