벨직 신앙고백서 36조 강해 "시민정부(The Civil Government)" 권세들에게 복종하라 권세는 하나님으로부터 나지 않음이 없나니 모든 권세는 다 하나님께서 정하신 바라

시민 정부 제 36 조 시민 정부 The Civil Government 우리는 인류의 부패 때문에 우리의 은혜로우신 하나님께서 왕과 군주와 공직자들을 세우셨음을 믿습니다. 하나님께서는 사람들의 방탕함이 억제되고, 모든 것이 선한 질서대로 그들 가운데서 행해지게 하기 위해, 세상이 법률과 정책에 따라 다스려지기를 원하십니다. 하나님은 이 목적을 위해서 정부의 손에 칼(무력)을 두셔서, 악을 행하는 자들을 처벌하시고 선을 행하는 자들을 보호하십니다(롬13:4). 이것을 억제하고 보호하는 그들의 임무는 공공질서에만 제한된 것이 아니라, 그리스도의 나라가 도래하고, 복음의 말씀이 모든 곳에서 설교되게 하여 하나님께서 당신의 말씀에서 요구하신 대로 모든 사람들에 의해서 영광을 받으시고 예배를 받으시도록 하기 위한 교회와 교회의 사역을 보호하는 것도 포함합니다. 더욱이 신분이나 조건, 지위를 막론하고 모든 사람들은 공직자들의 다스림을 받아야 하고, 세금을 내야하며, 그들을 경의와 존경으로 대해야 하고, 하나님의 말씀에 위배되지 않는 한 모든 일에 있어서 그들에게 순종해야 합니다. 우리는 그들을 위해서 기도하여, 하나님께서 그들의 모든 길을 지도하셔서 우리가 모든 면에 있어서 경건하고 정직하고 조용하고 평화로운 생활을 할 수 있도록 해야 합니다(딤전 2:1-2). 이런 이유로 우리는 재세례파와 다른 반역하는 사람들과 일반적으로 권세들과 공직자들을 배격하고 공의를 무너뜨리며 이익 공동체를 도입하여 하나님께서 사람들 가운데 세우신 질서를 혼란하게 하는 모든 자들을 정죄합니다. Article 36: Of Magistrates. We believe that our gracious God, because of the depravity of mankind, hath 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 hath invested the magistracy with the sword, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the protection of them that do well. And their office is, not only to have regard unto, and watch for the welfare of the civil state; but also that they protect the sacred ministry; and thus may remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship (see note below); that the kingdom of anti-Christ may be thus destroyed and the kingdom of Christ 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 commanded in His Word. Moreover, it is the bounden duty of everyone, of what state, quality, or condition so ever he may be, to subject himself to the magistrates; to pay tribute, to show due honor and respect to them, and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God; to supplicate for them in their prayers, that God may rule and guide them in all their ways, and that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Wherefore we detest the Anabaptists and other seditious people, and in general all those who reject the higher powers and magistrates, and would subvert justice, introduce community of goods, and confound that decency and good order, which God hath established among men. NOTE: This phrase, touching the office of the magistracy in its relation to the Church, proceeds on the principle of the Established Church, which was first applied by Constantine and afterwards also in many Protestant countries. History, however, does not support the principle of State domination over the Church, but rather the separation of Church and State. Moreover, it is contrary to the New Dispensation that authority be vested in the State to arbitrarily reform the Church, and to deny the Church the right of independently conducting its own affairs as a distinct territory alongside the State. The New Testament does not subject the Christian Church to the authority of the State that it should be governed and extended by political measures, but to our Lord and King only as an independent territory alongside and altogether independent of the State, that it may be governed and edified by its office-bearers and with spiritual weapons only. Practically all Reformed churches have repudiated the idea of the Established Church, and are advocating the autonomy of the churches and personal liberty of conscience in matters pertaining to the service of God. "The Christian Reformed Church in America, being in full accord with this view, feels constrained to declare that it does not conceive of the office of the magistracy in this sense, that it be in duty bound to also exercise political authority in the sphere of religion, by establishing and maintaining a State Church, advancing and supporting the same as the only true Church, and to oppose, to persecute and to destroy by means of the sword all the other churches as being false religions; and to also declare that it does positively hold that, within its own secular sphere, the magistracy has a divine duty towards the first table of the Law as well as towards the second; and furthermore that both State and Church as institutions of God and Christ have mutual rights and duties appointed them from on high, and therefore have a very sacred reciprocal obligation to meet through the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and Son. They may not, however, encroach upon each other's territory. The Church has rights of sovereignty in its own sphere as well as the State." Acta. Synod, 1910.