Presbyterian PSA: The Westminster Confession of Faith (revised 1788) teaches that the civil magistrate has the duty to “maintain piety, justice, and peace” in society. Obviously, the definition of these terms is to be derived from Scripture. The office of civil magistrate exists under God, “the Supreme Lord and King of all the world,” and has been established “for his own glory and for the public good.” Further, civil magistrates are obligated to “protect the church of our common Lord, without giving preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons enjoy the unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions without violence or danger.” Thus, a Presbyterian magistrate would not persecute Baptists or others who hold some variation of orthodox Christian faith. But a faithful magistrate certainly would and should suppress blasphemy and sexual perversion, as was the case in Western Christendom for centuries. The Westminster Confession, in both original and revised forms, stand in a long tradition of Christian political theology.
The Confession teaches what eventually came to be known as sphere sovereignty: the magistrate is in no way to interfere with the church’s administration of Word and sacrament, or take possession of the keys of the kingdom which have been entrusted to pastors and elders to exercise on behalf of the their congregations. Magistrates are in no way allowed to “interfere with, prevent, or hinder the exercise of church discipline.” Further, magistrates are to ensure that “all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies are held without molestation or disturbance.”
While the 1788 revision of Westminster gives a less expansive role to the Christian magistrate in relation to the church, in order to accommodate the realities of the American political situation, it is still absolutely within the tradition of Christendom. The revised version of the Confession explicitly rejects a secular public square and requires the promotion of a Christian state.
The failure of ostensibly conservative Presbyterian pastors to teach and uphold the doctrine of the magistrate taught in their own confessional standards reveals a massive lack of integrity and colossal failure of discipleship. Presbyterian pastors should be teaching rulers and citizens alike the biblical requirements God has placed upon civil magistrates. Presbyterian pastors should publicly teach what their confession teaches about the limits and obligations of the state. For example, a Presbyterian pastor who does not call on the magistrate to suppress LGTBQism (and call on his parishioners to vote accordingly) is failing in his duty. A pastor who allowed the state to interfere with the administration of Word and sacrament, or to disturb ecclesiastical assemblies, during the COVID era, failed to protect the keys and his own sphere in the way the Confession requires.
There is no question the historic Reformed view of the state requires the civil magistrate to enforce penalties for crimes against both tables of the Decalogue.
The French Confession on the civil magistrate:
XXXIX. We believe that God wishes to have the world governed by laws and magistrates, so that some restraint may be put upon its disordered appetites. And as he has established kingdoms, republics, and all sorts of principalities, either hereditary or otherwise, and all that belongs to a just government, and wishes to be considered as their Author, so he has put the sword into the hands of magistrates to suppress crimes against the first as well as against the second table of the commandments of God. We must therefore, on his account, not only submit to them as superiors, but honor and hold them in all reverence as his lieutenants and officers, whom he has commissioned to exercise a legitimate and holy authority.
WCF 23.3 on the civil magistrate (original version):
The Civil Magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven: yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed.
Second Helvetic on the civil magistrate:
In like manner, let him govern the people, committed to him of God, with good laws, made according to the word of God in his hands, and look that nothing be taught contrary thereto……Therefore let him draw forth this sword of God against all malefactors, seditious persons, thieves, murderers, oppressors, blasphemers, perjured persons, and all those whom God has commanded him to punish or even to execute. Let him suppress stubborn heretics (who are heretics indeed), who cease not to blaspheme the majesty of God, and to trouble the Church, yea, and finally to destroy it.
The 1560 Scots Confession on the magistrate (note the appeal to OT kings as a model for Christian rulers):
We confess and acknowledge that empires, kingdoms, dominions, and cities are appointed and ordained by God; the powers and authorities in them, emperors in empires, kings in their realms, dukes and princes in their dominions, and magistrates in cities, are ordained by God’s holy ordinance for the manifestation of his own glory and for the good and well being of all men. We hold that any men who conspire to rebel or to overturn the civil powers, as duly established, are not merely enemies to humanity but rebels against God’s will. Further, we confess and acknowledge that such persons as are set in authority are to be loved, honored, feared, and held in the highest respect, because they are the lieutenants of God, and in their councils God himself doth sit and judge. They are the judges and princes to whom God has given the sword for the praise and defense of good men and the punishment of all open evil doers. Moreover, we state the preservation and purification of religion is particularly the duty of kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates. They are not only appointed for civil government but also to maintain true religion and to suppress all idolatry and superstition. This may be seen in David, Jehosaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others highly commended for their zeal in that cause.
The Belgic Confession, Article XXXVI, on the civil magistrate:
We believe that our gracious God, because of the depravity of mankind, has appointed kings, princes, and magistrates; willing that the world should be governed by certain laws and policies; to the end that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained, and all things carried on among them with good order and decency. For this purpose He has invested the magistracy with the sword for the punishment of evil-doers and for the protection of them that do well.
Their office is not only to have regard unto and watch for the welfare of the civil state, but also to protect the sacred ministry, that the kingdom of Christ may thus be promoted. They must therefore countenance the preaching of the Word of the gospel everywhere, that God may be honored and worshipped by every one, as He commands in His Word.
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