What does First B Jackson teach about civil disobedience?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on civil disobedience starts with a conviction that submission to governing authority is not optional for Christians. When Pastor Brian preached through Romans 13, he was direct that Paul's claim covers bad rulers too: every governing authority that exists has been established by God, and resisting it is, in Paul's words, resisting God. Carl made the same point from 1 Peter 2, placing the original readers under Nero, a man who burned Christians in his garden, and showing that Peter still wrote 'every human institution.' The default posture the Bible calls believers to is humble submission, not because it is comfortable or because a given government is righteous, but for the Lord's sake and as a testimony to his faithfulness.
That said, both men worked carefully through the cases in Scripture where God's people did disobey human authority. Brian identified a pattern across those examples: Moses, Daniel and his friends, Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. In each case the disobedience was because a specific, explicit command of God was being directly violated, never out of convenience or personal grievance. Carl examined the Greek behind 1 Peter 2:13 and said plainly that he went looking for loopholes and could not find them. The line both men drew was consistent: submit to civil authority until it directly contravenes God's law, and even then, the resistance the Bible models is non-violent, conscience-driven, and willing to accept the earthly consequences that follow.
The Hebrews 11 teaching adds another layer. When Moses' parents hid their newborn son against Pharaoh's direct order, the writer of Hebrews does not call it pragmatism or courage. He calls it faith. The absence of fear that made their civil disobedience possible came from somewhere: they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh. That reordering of fear is what the teaching at First B Jackson keeps returning to. Obedience to God as the higher authority is not a loophole in the submission passages; it is what those passages assume. The question is never whether we will serve someone, but whether we fear God enough to serve him above all others when the two come into conflict.
Taught from Romans 13:1-7 · 1 Peter 2:13 · Acts 4:19 · Hebrews 11:23-31 · 1 Peter 4:19
The passage taught · 1 John 4:9-10
9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- June 30, 2024 Submit for the Lord's Sake A sermon on 1 Peter 2 exploring why Christians submit to governing authorities, not for personal gain or national outcomes, but for the sake of Christ and His kingdom.
- October 16, 2016 Let Every Soul Be Subject Romans 13 calls every person to submit to governing authorities. The pastor walks through what that means for Christians living in America during a heated election season.
Mentioned along the way
- December 12, 2024 Sunday, December 8, 2024 - 9 a.m. Contemporary Service - The Acts of the Apostles Peter and the apostles are jailed, freed by an angel, and hauled before the Sanhedrin again. Acts 5 shows why the gospel could not be silenced.
- December 8, 2024 If It Is of God, You Cannot Overthrow It Peter and the apostles face arrest again in Acts 5, yet keep preaching Jesus as Messiah. A study in boldness, suffering, and the unstoppable advance of the gospel.
- December 29, 2019 By Faith, Not by Fear Hebrews 11 traces how Moses, his parents, Rahab and others chose faith over fear, and asks what that same choice looks like for us today.
- December 29, 2019 Fear or Faith: Those Are the Two Options Faith or fear: The pastor walks through Hebrews 11, showing how Moses, Rahab, and others chose trust in God over fear of man, and asks us the same question today.
- September 16, 2018 The Word of the Lord Endures Forever A pastor leads his grieving church through 1 Peter 2 after the sudden death of an elder, finding hope and purpose in Christ's example of suffering and trust in God.