Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the Moment of Truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I'd like to ask you, what is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate? And what does it mean for the resistance to and overthrow of tyranny? What is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate?

Although not spoken of much today, at least has been in the past, and less understood even than is talked about, well, the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, I submit to you, is the key to biblical resistance, even to the use of force, if necessary, against tyranny. Now, some well-meaning Christians that I know find themselves in a quandary in facing terrible unbiblical tyranny on the one hand, and then confusion as to how to resist it on the other hand. Should we resist even unto violence? Can we resist? And when do we reach such a point?

Then who should lead us? And on what possible biblical authority can we rely to resist tyranny? And does history afford us any reliable examples? We'll explore all of these questions and more as we look at the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. What I'd like to do today is begin to explore this relevant principle for our own day, so that we do not give up and passively bend our necks under the yoke of slavery at one extreme, but that we do not reflexively strike out in useless blind rage to no effect at the other extreme.

The golden mean of biblical response to tyranny is in the middle. That is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. And I would like to use as a jumping off point, a book by Reverend Matthew Truhella. That's T-R-E-W-H-E-L-L-A. Matthew Truhella.

And that book is called The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates. And the subtitle is A Proper Resistance to Tyranny and a Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience to Civil Government. The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew Truhella. And Matthew has done us a service in distilling many of the essential elements of this historical teaching. And I'd like to begin with three points today.

Point number one, what is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate? Let's define that first, okay? What is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate? And Matthew Truhella, in his book, The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates, defines it as this, and I quote, When the superior or higher civil authority makes unjust or immoral laws or decrees, the lesser, lower-ranking authority has both the right and the duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lesser authorities even have the right and obligation to actively resist the superior authority.

In a nutshell, that is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. A magistrate, what is a magistrate, first of all? Well, a magistrate is an ancient term that denominates anyone in civil government who bears an office with authority. And such a one may be elected or appointed to that office. He may be a king or prince, a president or governor, a congressman or judge, a delegate, director or doggetter.

What is important to us and to the reformers who help to formalize and define the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, what's important is that such an actor on behalf of liberty and the rights of the people, such a one bears legitimate authority for office and is not a rogue actor, an illegitimate rebel, a mere terrorist whose actions, even if successful in overthrowing tyranny and assuming power, will issue most likely in further tyranny and illegitimate exercise of power. And that has happened often in history.

We won't go into those kinds of details, but we must say that history is replete with examples of men who resisted unjust and tyrannical measures by their superiors and practiced the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. If you know the history of Roman emperors, for example, then you know how wicked and capricious Emperor Caligula was. At one point, he ordered the governor of Palestine to install an image of himself for worship in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Oh, what a reaction that would have precipitated. Well, that governor, Publius Petronius was his name.

He interceded as a lesser magistrate to refuse that order. And he told the Jews that were gathered before him, and I quote, I do not think it just to have such a regard for my own safety and honor as to refuse to sacrifice them for your preservation, who are so many in number and endeavor to preserve the regard that is due your law. He goes on to say and tell the Jews, I will assist your suit so far as possible that you may not be exposed to suffer on account of the honest designs you have proposed to yourselves and may God assist you for his authority. His authority is beyond all the contrivance and power of men, unquote.

So, this governor, then Publius Petronius, interceded on behalf of the Jews against Emperor Caligula. Then, also another example from history, what authority higher than King John, for example, could order him to moderate his tyranny over England all the way back in 1215 A.D.? King John. There was no other power higher than him. Consequently, it was the nobles of England, the lesser magistrates, led by Bishop Stephen Langton, who rose up against King John and forced him at the point of a sword to sign the provisions of a great charter of rights, the Magna Carta on the fields of Runnymede.

And of course, the Magna Carta would become a blueprint for the rights of all Englishmen and yea for the American Constitution. But make no mistake, it was the assertion of authority by the lesser magistrate that made it possible. And it is a biblical doctrine, too. Other examples can and will be cited, but just know that this doctrine of the lesser magistrate is familiar to many generations, except apparently our own. Our own founding fathers knew it, and they articulated it, and they practiced it, too.

They were all lesser magistrates, in that they were members of colonial legislatures, or committees of correspondence, or even the armed militia. But they were under King George III, or Parliament back in England, yet they refused to obey tyrannical laws and commands from above. In fact, they organized to resist the tyranny foisted upon them to the point of armed resistance, didn't they? There would have been no American Revolution at all without the doctrine and execution of the teaching of the lesser magistrate.

Number two, the second point I'd like to make with you, concerning the doctrine of the lesser magistrate is, number two, the roots of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate are in the biblical doctrine of interposition. Interposition. The doctrine of the lesser magistrate has as its roots the biblical doctrine of interposition. And Matthew Trujillo defines interposition as that calling of God which causes one to step into the gap, that is, willing to place oneself between the oppressor and his intended victim.

Interposition is demonstrated when someone or some group interposes or positions themselves between an oppressor and the intended victim." Unquote. from Matthew Trujillo and the doctrine of the lesser magistrates, his book. Interposition is the necessary prerequisite to the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. It's not sufficient, but it is necessary to understand the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.

Not all of those who interpose themselves are lesser magistrates, but exercising their authority on behalf of the people. But all lesser magistrates do interpose themselves at risk to their persons, property, and reputation. It is a necessary condition, but not sufficient for a full-orb definition of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. Well, Matthew Trujillo defines interposition as this. The interposition of the lesser magistrate requires a willingness to risk potential security for the sake of justice.

And such a risk is paramount to the lesser magistrate. Unquote. And the Bible is replete with examples of interposition too, whose actors that we call intercessors, of course. For example, the Hebrew midwives in Exodus interposed themselves between the Hebrew children and Pharaoh, who had ordered the midwives, Pharaoh did, to drown the Hebrew boys in the Nile since they had grown so numerous. At great risk to themselves, these women could not bring themselves to do this heinous thing, but delivered those Hebrew baby boys healthy and strong to their mothers.

And God saw and rewarded these faithful midwives with safety and prosperity. Another example from the Bible. In 1 Samuel, we have recorded that King Saul made a rash vow to curse anyone who ate something before he defeated his enemies. Little knowing that his own son, Jonathan, tasted some honey to refresh himself and determined, however, to fulfill his vow. Saul was ready to slay his own son until the people gathered as one man to interpose themselves between Saul and Jonathan, saving Saul's son, Jonathan.

And a more contemporary example of interposition. On this kind of larger scale is the Romanian Revolution of 1989, where the murderous Marxist dictator, Nikolai Ceaușescu, was overthrown. That revolution began when his secret police came to arrest the troublesome pastor of a reformed church in the city of Timisoara, and that pastor was Laszlo Toks. This was a common practice in Marxist Romania, where Christians in particular were disappeared by the regime, never to be heard from again. And when the people of the congregation caught wind of it, they assembled at the church as one man and refused to give the police entry.

And as news of this resistance spread throughout Romania, it inspired others to take to the streets and eventually overthrow Ceaușescu's regime. So, the traditional principle of law in the United States as well. The tradition and the principle of law in U.S. jurisprudence abundantly acknowledges interposition, too.

As Black's Law Dictionary, used in law schools for a century and a half at least, the Black's Law Dictionary defines interposition as this, the doctrine that a state in the exercise of its sovereignty may reject a mandate of the federal government deemed to be unconstitutional or to exceed the powers delegated to the federal government. The concept is based upon the 10th amendment of the Constitution of the United States reserving to the states powers not delegated to the United States." Unquote. From Black's Law Dictionary. In fact, it can be argued that the very founding of our nation was an act of interposition by lesser magistrates.

The Declaration of Independence representing the pinnacle. The people of the American colonies had long been oppressed by the King and Parliament of England, and they cried out for relief from taxes and brutal treatment and a violation of basic rights that were guaranteed to every English citizen, but not to them. Oh, in fact, Patrick Henry's famous give me liberty or give me death speech called specifically for the interposition of the Continental Congress since others would not. We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming, excuse me, Patrick Henry would say. I quote Patrick Henry from his speech.

He says, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. Unquote. Patrick Henry uses that term interposition directly in his speech. Patrick Henry was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the colonial representative body of the people.

He was exactly the kind of lesser magistrate who had authority to resist the tyranny of King and parliament. The important factor is that here is duly constituted authority, not random individual action perpetrated by frustrated citizens who, if they act together at all, usually act in a mob without purpose and or direction. No, that's not the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. And that brings us to our third point. And our third point is a first principle is that all authority is delegated authority.

All authority is delegated authority at the end of the day. No man is an autonomous authority unto himself, that is, without being subject to a higher authority. That word autonomous is a compound word consisting of auto, meaning self, and nomos, meaning law, that is, a law unto oneself. No man is like this. No magistrate is like this.

Every king, president, or congress must ultimately acknowledge God and his law as highest authority. Even if they don't, they will pay the price eventually. A hard lesson learned by every tyrant is that no man breaks God's law in reality when he disobeys. Rather, that tyrant is eventually broken upon God's adamant law and never breaks it in himself, like a ship upon the rocks when he disobeys God's law. The Bible is clear when it says there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

This, of course, is from Romans chapter 13 verse 1. By definition, all power exercise that power by God's appointed office. All in power exercise that power by God's appointed office. And as I have articulated in other places, civil government was instituted in principle under the noetic covenant in Genesis. And while civil government has existed in many forms since then, history has demonstrated that the constitutional republic is the best form of government for a Christian people.

And we have been blessed to live under such a form of civil government in the United States of America. A blessing that is swiftly being squandered, I'm afraid, by this generation. Well, integral to this reality of delegated authority is that the rights bestowed upon man in civil government are also from God, since he is the author of said government and its provisions. And our founding fathers recognized this too in the declaration. Those famous words, all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Well, so crucial to the fabric of these rights is the protection of civil government. That, as the declaration says, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. Oh, dear listener, government is not instituted under the civil covenant to exalt individual kings or benefit a monarchical line of men, or as an instrument to plunder and victimize the masses on behalf of a privileged few, nor is it instituted for any other purpose than to secure the rights of the people. That's the purpose of civil government.

The civil magistrate exists to serve the people in this regard, as a sheepdog of their commonwealth and protector of their rights under God. As Jefferson observes in the declaration, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government." That is precisely what our founding fathers were about in making a revolution and a constitution. And consequently, it is the right and the duty of those in civil authority to interpose on behalf of the people being oppressed, and as their representatives in a republic, to institute new government then.

If those in positions of power, most responsible and most able by dint of office, charged with instituting new government, fail and refuse to do so, then it falls to the lesser magistrates to take up this duty. Reverend Trujillo aptly draws upon the 12th century philosopher John of Salisbury in his monumental work, Politocraticus by John of Salisbury, a philosopher of the 12th century. And he shows then how consistently the church has insisted that all civil authority is delegated authority.

This goes all the way back at least to the 12th century and further, and John of Salisbury says in his work, and I quote, "...all power is from the Lord God. The power which the prince has is therefore from God, for the power from God is never lost nor severed from him, but he merely exercises it from a subordinate hand." Unquote. So eloquently said. So, with God as the ultimate lawgiver, those in subordination exercising their authority in delegation from God, well, law promulgated by them must be consistent, therefore, with God's law.

And when it is not, but flagrantly violated and contravened by the magistrate, then those magistrates have forfeited the obedience of the people. We no longer owe them our obedience when they flagrantly violate God's law. They have broken the social contract implicit in civil government, and such a tyrannical magistrate has become indeed a tyrant." John of Salisbury defines tyranny. He says, "...tyranny is abuse of power entrusted by God to man."

Unquote. Simply elegantly put, isn't it? And once again, Matthew Truhella, in his book, he says this, "...when a higher authority makes unjust law, he abuses his power and may be resisted. When the lesser magistrate sees the higher magistrate make bad law, it is the right and duty of the lesser magistrate to interpose against such false law." Unquote.

Dear listener, this understanding of delegated authority under God, protected and insured by the lesser magistrate, seems to be a lost golden nugget in the United States of America currently, and I would submit deliberately counter-inculcated by the tyrannical state as it is presently constituted. We have all been groomed. There's a lot of talk in the news today about groomers. Well, we have all been groomed, but especially the last few generations, and monolithic statism. The individual no longer matters unless he or she wants to transition to another gender or maybe encroach upon white privilege, then they're listened to.

But otherwise, the rights of the individual to life, liberty, property, freedom of the press and religion, to arm and defend himself, or to be free from the intrusion and spying eye of the state, these are all gone forfeit because of expediency. Oh, we live in a different age now, we're told. We live in a different age than those slave-holding founders. Individual rights must be put aside in order to save the planet, right? Or we can no longer own personal vehicles or eat meat or own a well-heated, well-cooled home.

No, days are different. No, that's an excuse for tyranny, dear listener. All of this is made up out of thin air, environmentally speaking, if we can put it that way. The state declares it to be so, and they do so by fiat, that is by mere word of declaration. But the value of the doctrine of the lesser magistrates, the value of the doctrine of the lesser magistrates is that it serves as a check upon tyranny by insisting that all power is delegated authority from God and must be exercised accordingly.

As Truhella puts it, he says in his book, once again, we're reviewing the doctrine of the lesser magistrate in Matthew Truhella's book, The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates, and he says, if the higher authority commands that which God forbids or forbids what God commands, the lesser magistrate must not obey and, if necessary, actively resist. The state is not God. They don't get to do whatever seems good to them. Men should not give unlimited obedience to civil government. In fact, men have a duty to oppose any in authority when they make unjust or immoral laws."

Unquote. From Matthew Truhella. Well, until the American people wake up from their slumber of tyranny, dear listener, and exercise that lazy, atrophied constitutional backbone, we will continue to descend into the ancient state of all men since the fall, that is, slaves. And right now, those who have the rule over us are in no mood to insure or protect our rights, are they? They are in no way disposed to cleave to the Constitution, and they are perfectly content to use their power to enrich themselves and aggrandize their own power.

And this is the State of the Union. The federal government is a giant blood-gorge tick, sucking on the body politic, and shows no signs of morphing into the strong, lean servant of the people that it was chartered to be under the Constitution, endowed with integrity and humility. We do not see that today, do we? With that being the case, it is up to the lesser magistrate to assert his authority and take his place in the constitutional order. This is no time for rogue actors.

This is not the time for every bubba and hothead to go get his gun and start shooting up the country. That's just what the state is looking for, what they're baiting the impulsive to start. That is really what January 6th was about at the end of the day. No, what is required is for liberty to proceed in a God-given order, and that order is one of exercising delegated authority from God that is the authority of the lesser magistrate. And we'll have much more to say upon this in future broadcasts.

But for now, know that there is no cause for despair or confusion, dear listener. Brother citizen, we do not have to give up or give in or flail about with futile, impotent action that only issues in needless violence and destruction. No, we will leave that to our enemies. We have the time-tested biblical path blazed for us of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. It is time to wake up to it and embrace it, come to know it, to practice it, and pray for its wise administration by those in power.

This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Come and join us. Come and visit us. You'll receive a warm welcome and find out what we're about.

New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. You can call us for more information or feedback at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.