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Presence Weekly: Navigating Power Differentials with the Government (Part 1)

Plus: [Faithful Prayer], [The Page, The Pod & The Stack], [What’s Happening?] & [Two Thumbs Up!]

Protests in Washington, D.C., during the inauguration of our president.

[First Things]

Our latest podcast, on navigating the public square in light of 1 Peter 2:13-17 is now available and intended to serve as a guide for this series of devotionals. Later this week, we will release our interview with Peter Novecosky, author of 100 Ways Pope John Paul II Changed the World.

[The Devo] Navigating Power Differentials with the Government: Adopting a Different Attitude (1 Peter 2:13-17, Part 1)

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,  or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”  1 Peter 2:13-17

Peter’s entrance into recalibrating and reapplying the “household codes” for the first-century elect exiles of Asia Minor as guidance for living in a posture of faithful presence begins with a discussion of navigating the power differential that exists between the government and the citizen. 

It’s important to remember the context of this letter. There are no voting rights because there is no voting. There is no system of checks and balances because this is an empire, not a constitutional republic led by the consent of the governed. There is no Bill of Rights, Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights Act, or Department of Government Efficiency. Peter is writing to newly converted Christians who have most likely fled persecution in their also-Roman-governed homes in Rome or possibly Jerusalem. These are people just trying to figure out what it means to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God under the rule of Jesus Christ, the “Son of God,” and as citizens of Rome under the authority of Caesar (also known as “the son of god”).

Whatever is said about this passage must have application to the 4.25% of the world’s population living in the 21st-century United States, yet also Christians in 21st-century Thailand, Kenya, Iran, Argentina, Russia, and Iceland. We might also consider how it could have informed life during the Crusades, African Christians living under the colonial rule of 18th, 19th, and early 20th-century Europe, and, of course, in 1939 Germany.  

Peter’s guidance is that living in a posture of faithful presence with the government would be marked by different attitudes, different motivations, and different methods.  

Attitude 1: Be Subject! 

The opening imperative call to “Be Subject, therefore to every human institution” must have been challenging to make sense of for people largely on the weak side of a power differential who are also citizens of the Kingdom of God, which is ruled by, 

“by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” Hebrews 1

Yet, Peter’s words to the heavily Jewish churches of Asia Minor are unsurprisingly similar to the words of Paul to the predominantly Gentile churches of the same region,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Romans 13:1-6

Both Apostles are instructing Christians to “Be subject!” The reason is as simple as it is challenging to apply: Christians are called to live as Christ lived, and Christ lived as one subject not only to the government in refusing the power offered him during his temptation at the hands of Satan and in not attempting to subvert his own baseless execution - but also in subjection to His Father.  

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

Even today, these two passages are hard to reconcile. Jesus is God. He is the “exact imprint of his nature,” yet he humbled himself to the will of His Father in going to the cross for a people who found it difficult, if not impossible, to “be subject” to anyone. It would seem that humanity’s struggle with subjection goes all the way back to the Garden.  

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” Genesis 3:1-7

Since the beginning, we have struggled with subjection. We want to be in charge. We want autonomy. We want what we want how we want it. Our leaders are our leaders as long as we do not feel they are holding us back from our self-defined concepts of flourishing. Genesis makes clear that we cannot say that our issues with subjection only appear under unrighteous and corrupt rules. This is evident as the people who had just been miraculously rescued from brutal slavery in Egypt loudly pledged subjection to God and his covenant mediator, Moses, only to spend the next forty years grumbling, ignoring, subverting, and disobeying. Even after David united the kingdom, it was lost within two generations due to the people’s unwillingness to live according to the will of God. 

Peter is not offering Pro-Tips for life in the Roman Empire; he is stating an imperative rule of life that requires heart conformity and intentional practice.

Attitude 2: Live as people who are free! 

Our likely response to this phrase is probably the same as that of the original readers. How can Peter ask us to be subject to every human institution and then say to live as people who are free? Once again, we come back to the paradigm of paradox: two things that would not typically be seen as going together (and even being mutually exclusive) are somehow brought together in the economy of the gospel to make beautiful music. 

Here, Peter cannot be speaking of “Sovereign Citizens” who delusionally believe that although they physically reside in the United States, some obscure reading of the Constitution makes them an autonomous nation in and of themselves. Instead, he means that our freedom comes from knowing that what he has already said is true,

“he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5

In other words, the burden of securing our salvation and flourishing is removed from us and given to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We have nothing to fear from the government or the culture. We are free to live in subjection to the institutions instituted by mankind as long as we do not transgress the Law of God because it costs us nothing. We are called to live as Joseph did in Egypt and Daniel did in Babylon, even when we disagree with the policies enacted by the administration. As Amy Sherman’s book title states, we are “Agents of Flourishing” wherever we reside.

For servants and leaders in 21st-century America, proclaiming, “Not my President,” is not only wrong but rebellion against the instruction to “Be subject.” For us to freely navigate the power differentials with the government in a posture of faithful presence, we must start with a change in our attitude.

But we must not stop there. 

Application Questions

Make a list of your negative connotations of the phrase, “Be Subject!” What reasons or experiences do you have that have informed these perceptions? What role do they play in your navigation of the power differentials that exist within the public square?

Make a list of your positive connotations of the phrase “Live as people who are free!” What reasons or experiences do you have that have informed these perceptions? What role do they play in your navigation of the power differentials that exist within the public square?

How does the motivational paradox presented in the passage recalibrate those perceptions?

[Faithful Prayer] 

  • Cabinet Agency: The servants and leaders at the United States International Trade Commission as they implement, manage, and communicate revisions to the increasingly active tariff policy. 

  • Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The staff of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) who represent over 14,000 member companies—from small businesses to global leaders—in every industrial sector, advocating for manufacturers in Washington, DC, inspiring the next generation of manufacturing talent, providing news and intelligence about the industry, and helping members innovate and advance.

  • Weekly delegation: For the congressional delegation of South Carolina.

  • Agency News: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the creation of the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) to combat cyber-related misconduct and protect retail investors from bad actors in the emerging technologies space. The staff of numerous government agencies as they reallocate workloads in the wake of the recent wave of layoffs, including the Veterans Administration, which released 1,000 of its 43,000 probationary employees.

  • Personal requests: For someone in the health care monitoring sector who was furloughed when their contracts were terminated. For someone waiting to hear news on their employment status. For someone who just lost four of their senior-level staff, that took the federal worker buyout. For someone reentering life in Washington as a leading political appointee for a critical government agency. For two government contractors who are facing contract uncertainty. For a family, missing their dad as he works long hours.

[The Page, The Pod & The Stack]

[What’s Happening?]

  • Monday, February 24, 11:10 am –  2:00 pm ET the American Enterprise Institute offers a hybrid event, Dignity and Dynamism: The Future of Conservative Technology Policy exploring questions, such as: Are new technologies helping or harming the American family? How should our society balance economic dynamism with the preservation of communities and institutions? What is the appropriate role of the state in addressing these issues?

  • Monday, February 24, 5:30 - 7:00 pm ET, American University’s Political Theory Colloquium Lecture Series will present an in-person event, The Future of Conservatism, featuring Megan McArdle of The Washington Post and Joshua Mitchell of Georgetown University.

  • Tuesday, February 25, 4:00 – 4:45 pm ET, CSIS will host a virtual event, Nuclear Energy & American Leadership: A Blueprint for the Future, for a discussion with former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security Sherri Goodman, former Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, and former Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette.

  • Tuesday, February 25, 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET, The CATO Institute will host a hybrid book release event, Modern Libertarianism: A Brief History of Classical Liberalism in the United States, which combines historical insights and intellectual profiles of important figures—including Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, and Barry Goldwater—and key institutions such as the Foundation of Economic Education and the Mont Pelerin Society.

  • Wednesday, February 26, 12:00 - 1:00 pm ET, Rand will offer a virtual presentation titled AI Risks and Benefits in Clinical Care. The presentation will discuss different applications of AI in healthcare and summarize the evidence surrounding the effects of these applications.

[Two Thumbs Up] Downtown Frederick, MD

Maryland's biggest small town is located just one hour north of Washington on I-270. Nestled between the Appalachian Trail and the Moncacy River and surrounded by wineries, Frederick’s German-inspired, historic downtown is home to over 200 shops and restaurants offering something for everyone.

Whether you are headed for a day trip or a weekend getaway, a meal at The Ordinary Hen will not disappoint. Their eclectic American fare menu includes southern-style Fried Chicken served with homemade pickles and ranch sauce, as well as steak, salmon, pork chops, and even a few Italian pasta dishes.

After dinner, you could take in a show at the 100-year-old Weinberg Center for the Arts (formerly Tivoli Theater) that might include The Hot Sardines, Kathy Mattea, or a performance of their own Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Frederick hosts the Maryland Craft Beer Festival in May, followed by its annual Oktoberfest in the fall.

Historic downtown Frederick, MD

[Last Things]

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