Standing in the Gap: Lesser Magistrates

Signing of the Magna Carta

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5: 29

I don’t believe I’ve ever done a book review on this blog but couldn’t resist when I read this book.  

The book is The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew J. Trewhella.

Lesser magistrates are officials under the authority of a greater ruler. In government, for example, the governor of a state would be a lesser magistrate compared to the President of the United States. All authority, according to the Bible, is delegated by God and this includes not just governmental authority, but church, family, business and so forth. Every organization has leaders. As long as such authorities make decisions or decrees that align with what is good and right, obedience is expected and should be observed. However, the controversy arises when those in authority make demands or decrees that violate the law or morality.

Some argue that obedience is always required, that resisting any law is insubordination while others insist that we have a duty to resist tyrants.

This concept has been around a long time – since Greek and Roman times, although in more modern times it is rooted in Christianity. One early document (The Magdeburg Confessions, 1550) gave the example of a husband and father, the head of a household, who should be obeyed. However, if he sets out to sell his wife and daughters into prostitution, they are not bound to obey. In fact, they duty-bound to resist. This idea, of course, is related to the idea of civil disobedience where citizens are said to have a God-given right to resist unjust laws – think Ghandi or Dr. Martin Luther King. The doctrine of lesser magistrates has more to do with under-authorities, rather than citizens, not enforcing unjust laws where it would normally be their duty to do so.

The term used in the book is interposition. For a lower authority to disobey the order or law of a higher authority is said to be an Act of Interposition, or “standing in the gap” between the people of their jurisdiction and an unjust ruler. The trick, of course, is determining when disobedience is righteous interposition and when it is just old-fashioned insubordination. How the law or decree in question stacks up against God’s laws is the deciding factor. The greater magistrate (king, governor, mayor, pastor, CEO, father, etc.) must be governing by fiat, or by decrees that are not in the best interests of the governed. When magistrates become tyrants who rule by whim (or fiat), then the lesser magistrates have a duty to stand up to them.  When God’s laws are violated, lesser magistrates cannot hide behind “it’s the law, we must obey.” They should protect the people they are responsible for.

This blog is not about civil disobedience, however, but about prayer. The book was fascinating, and in the context of spiritually standing in the gap for Oregon, it has reinforced the importance of praying for the “lesser magistrates” of our state, including the sheriff’s offices, mayors, school boards and others who are in positions to protect their little bit of Oregon from unjust and immoral decisions handed down. We need to pray for our local leaders and for God’s wisdom about when it is necessary to take such a stance. There is a high price for those who do so, so we need to know that we are indeed taking a necessary stand to “obey God and not man.” Pray for those who do act in this capacity, an also for citizens to stand with them.

This week, pray for the Lesser Magistrates of your community: the local police, the city council members, the school board, local judges.