Is democracy a Christian form of government?

Democracy degrades a man. Theocracy elevates him. When a Christian refuses to honour the King, according to Scripture he degrades himself. Wisdom is justified in all her children.

Now Theocracy, i.e., the rule of God, is clearly God’s way, and democracy should not mark Christians. Its principles are foreign to the church of God, and its spirit betrays a lack of the knowledge of God. All nature is under control to God: should man, and especially a Christian man, be an exception? We have known unspiritual Christians to say, “I’ve as much right to speak and give out a hymn as So-and-so.” Have we any rights? We have privileges. We ought to recognize that believers “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). The recognition of this would leave the spirit of the world outside and beget in us a reverence, a subjection to God that would be acceptable to Him.

Now the believer, who would be consistent with Christianity, can only be a theocrat. Let the Christian who dabbles in politics, whether it be monarchy, aristocracy, plutocracy, bureaucracy, or democracy, weigh this over. To grasp it will be a great deliverance.

Democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people. Note not a word about God in this. Can a fallen man govern himself? Is there any evidence of his capacity to do this? Scripture puts things in sharp contrast, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). If democracy is government by the people then there is nothing higher in it than its source. If the source of sovereignty is the people nothing can be higher than the people. That much is evident. As a matter of fact there are infernal influences of work. Democracy in the long run will lead to the deification of man, and his complete apostasy as far as God is concerned. If man is worshipped as God, and Scripture prophesies this clearly, and there are signs that things are working in this direction, then God Himself is dethroned.

Noah was the first man to whom authority over his fellows was given. The sword was put by God into his hand. Men now deride the "divine right" of kings. But the right and authority to govern is the gift of God, and does not depend upon the use made of it. What use did Pilate make of his power, when he condemned the Lord Jesus to be crucified, saying, while condemning, that He was a man in whom he found no fault? Yet did the Lord say that Pilate's power was given from above. (John 19:11.) Men deceive themselves in saying the source of authority is with them. It never was — it never will be. "Vox populi" may be trumpeted forth as sovereign. It is Satan's means to deny the prerogative of God, and vain foolish man falls easily into the snare. "Vox Dei," they say, is but the cunning of priestcraft. When God ceases to appoint rulers, Satan will. He will give his power to the beast. Democracy in essence is from beneath; it is Satan's opposition to the appointment of God. Its most strenuous advocates are found in the ranks of infidelity.

Democracy is not the root of the problem. Decisions taken by monarchs may run against God's will just as much as democratic ones (e.g. Dan. 2:5). The problem is not so much the form of government, but rather the fact that the legitimate king has been cast out.

But are not the powers that be ordained of God? Unquestionably they are. Civil government is a direct trust from God, and the ruler is responsible to God for the way in which He exercises it. The maintenance of peace and order is according to God's institution, and therefore Christians are commanded not only to render obedience, but to yield suitable homage, and to remember those charged with authority in their prayers. But though instituted by God, it is left to man, to the world, and a world which lies in the wicked one, to administer. The time when it can be administered according to God's plans, the time when it will be used to work out God's purposes of blessing to the earth, has not yet arrived, and will not arrive until the throne of Christ is established in Zion. The use which man is making of this institution is to bring about the fearful state of things preceding the judgments executed by Christ, and surely no Christian would wish to have any hand in forwarding this gloomy catastrophe.

When the monarch took counsel with others, nobles or military chiefs, it was not really better. And when it was avowedly the people with or without an emperor, no tyranny so selfish, none so oppressive, nor so presumptuous against the true God. Never will the divine ideal be realized till He come again to reign, Whose right it is in the fullest way, divine and human, the Father of the age to come, the Prince of peace. All governments meanwhile are imperfect and provisional in His providence, though every soul in Christianity is bound to be subject, as unto higher authorities of this world. The existing authorities, whatever the form, are ordained of God; and he that ranges himself against the authority is a resister of the appointment of God. Yet consisting of sinful men, not one of any sort but has failed and sinned. How blessed to know that He, Who is coming to be King over all the earth, here lived and died and rose and ascended, not only the Lord but the Servant of all, and the Servant of God in serving all others not in love only but as the propitiation for our sins.

The "divine right of kings" is a faulty expression. The authority of kings is indeed divine, but so also is every authority in the world, whether it be that of a king, or the president of a republic; whether it be that of a governor, a judge, or a magistrate down even to a policeman or a taxgatherer; and, in other spheres, an officer of an army or a ship, or a foreman of labourers, a husband, a father, or a schoolmaster. All existent authority in the world is divine; and government in the present fallen state of man is a divine blessing. Man may abuse the authority entrusted to him, and for that will give account in the judgment. But the authority which he either uses or abuses is placed in his hand from above; and as long as it exists, cannot be disobeyed with impunity. The dogma that "power proceeds from the people," is a fallacy. Historically, it has not been the fact. Under a democratic government it may appear to be so, simply because God may permit that form of administering. His power; but in the history of mankind, democracy has been exceptional, and the prevailing governments of Christendom, excepting America and France, are even now, either of a mixed nature, or, as in Russia, autocratic. The case of Russia itself refutes the axiom. The population is over 125 millions; power is not with the people there, much less does it proceed from them; indeed, they are engaged in a frantic struggle to clutch it. British India contains one-seventh of the population of the globe. Does power inhere in its people? On the contrary, its millions have been controlled to the present time by a handful of Englishmen.

Scripture however is plain and decided: it is not enough that it be for wrath's sake, but for conscience. God is concerned in our subjection, for there is no authority but of God; those that be are ordained of God; monarchical, republican, or any mixture of the two, they are ordained of God. "Wherefore he that resisteth authority withstandeth the ordinance of God." Nor does it matter whether it be a supreme ruler or those commissioned by him, as the apostle Peter lets us know (1 Peter 2:13-14), "For thus is the will of God." It was ordered in His providence that when the apostle wrote to the saints at Rome, one of the most cruel despots reigned: even so "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities." The worst ruler is better than anarchy. Nevertheless it is not because of this reason of utility that the word of God speaks. Whoever he may be, he is the minister of God for good. He beareth not the sword in vain. He is a minister of God, and avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. If this doctrine is strange in our day, it is the more incumbent on the faithful, not only to believe, but to practise accordingly.