“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;…”
1. Occasion for this article, and its wording:
a. There were the extravagances and licentiousness of the Anabaptists of those days, really refusing to acknowledge the power of the state and attempting to establish a kingdom of God in the world, a kingdom of their own (Jan van Leiden, David Joris, in Munster.)
b. They put the cause of the Reformation in a bad light, and caused it to be viewed with apprehension as revolutionary.
c. Hence, the care of the fathers to express their submission and obedience to existing orders of the state.
2. About the institution of the magistrates:
a. It is from God.
1) How it is instituted by God the Confession does not state. It merely states the fact.
2) The Heidelberg Catechism connects it with the Fifth Commandment and the authority of the home, of the parents. This is undoubtedly correct. Government was not instituted at a certain period, but developed organically.
3) Kings and magistrates, therefore, are in a position in which they have to rule in the name of God.
b. He further invested the magistrates with the power of the sword, that is, with authority to inflict punishment even unto death. This implies capital punishment. (The church has not the sword, but the keys.)
3. The purpose:
a. According to the article, the magistrates are instituted that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained.
1) This has reference only to the outward acts. The magistrates cannot restrain sin, though sometimes they can restrain the sinner.
2) Besides, this is the purpose. The institution of government itself also develops in sin. Sin, therefore, is not checked by the magistrates, but only assumes another form and runs in another channel of development.
b. That all things may be carried on with good order and decency. This means, of course, that the government has legislative as well as executive power.
4. The calling of the magistrates in general:
a. The punishment of evildoers.
1) Certainly not all evil is punished by the state.
2) Only that which is committed in its own sphere.
b. The protection of the good.
c. Also here we must remember that this is the calling of the magistrates. In history the sword-power is frequently turned against the righteous. It all depends who is in office.
5. Church and state:
a. The phrase stating that the magistrates must prosecute heretics has been rejected (1905, 1910). Not that the magistrate must countenance the preaching of the gospel.
b. Yet it is evident that church and state cannot be absolutely separate. This is still regarded a difficult question in Reformed churches, which has not been settled.
1) On the one hand, it is evident that the church in the world has an earthly and temporal side, as well as a spiritual side.
2) On the other hand, it is too that the state has to do with spiritual principles. Must not the state maintain the first table of the law as well as the second.
3) The result is that there is often conflict. Our calling is submission and obedience, limited by the Word of God.