Why do we Pray for Kings and All in Authority?

https://mitchchase.substack.com/p/to-lead-quiet-and-peaceful-lives

It was refreshing to find this author focusing on the Neronic context of Paul's letter to Timothy. It's a critical point and one the seriously undercuts many of the common assumptions that reign in the Evangelical and Dominionist sphere.

As he correctly argues we don't seek persecution but we should expect it. It's more the norm than any notion of flourishing. This dovetails nicely with our pilgrim calling. It implies we're not invested in the society. One is reminded of the many accounts of Jews during the Holocaust. Many couldn't believe it was happening and waited too long to flee - and ended up in the camps as a result. Why did they wait? For so many the idea of walking away from their lives, homes, and the businesses they had built was a tall order, and understandably so. One might say it was their attachment to the societies in which they lived that led them to hesitate - in many cases the hesitation proved fatal.

Isn't this ironic? For people accustomed to the Anti-Semitic climate of middle and eastern Europe, why were they so attached? That's a long story to be sure but this mentality also played into the Zionist reaction that emerged after the war. The movement began in late nineteenth century Austria but the Holocaust gave it a new impetus, energy, and urgency.

One can easily imagine how many Evangelicals would struggle with walking away from their wealth and social standing. Indeed we already see it as we regularly witness Evangelicals disregarding the commands of Christ and the apostles in seeking redress and vengeance by means of the courts - often hiding this disobedience under the Liberal rubric of resisting tyranny and the like.

Usually when this passage in 1 Timothy is quoted in the context of church, the language of quiet and peaceful lives is usually followed by a call for the political leaders to pass Christian laws and so forth - thus negating Paul's meaning. Political activism which is seeing to influence and wield power is antithetical to leading a quiet and peaceful life.

Other (often cynical) commentators completely misunderstand and think Paul is anticipating the quaint values of the middle class which would emerge centuries later. Such thinking completely misses the mark. First of all, such values are not compatible with the middle class - revealing yet another layer of inadequacy when it comes to such commentators. It may seem so and some argue that the middle class is shut off and retired in its own sector but this is also to misunderstand the values of that social class. The middle class seeks security and respectability and with the latter term comes the notion of standing. Respectability in the context of liberalism also implies citizenship - as opposed to being a subject or living as a second-class citizen - which are more in keeping with New Testament assumptions. Many in the middle class view it as their duty to be engaged in society - going to town meetings, participating in the public school and so forth.

Paul is speaking of a pilgrim ethic and a transcendent life - the antithesis of today's Dominionist assumptions. This is in keeping with other statements he makes about the 'outside' and minding our own business and working with our own hands. As Christians we are engaged in spiritual struggle that transcends the rise and fall of nations. The world cannot see or comprehend what we're doing and its cosmic impacts. Our worship, prayer, lives, and interactions with the world are of far greater significance than canvassing for a politician, or joining the PTA. These tasks while well-meaning and of some value in terms of common grace are in the end doing little more than helping the Philistine or Babylonian state and society to remain stable. This is preferable to chaos or anarchy - though some foolishly reject this.

But preferable is not a call of duty for the Christian to engage in these tasks. Pray for the peace of the city - don't labour to build it. Don't embrace its ideology, vision, and goals.

We pray for salvation and wise governance and like the rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof, we pray that the Lord bless and keep the Tsar far away from us. Amen.

I think the article while admirable loses it a bit at the end and finishes slightly off key. We can pray for liberty or in reality to be left alone. To call on the state to establish that liberty is a mistake and such quests sidetrack the Church. And as far as justice? I'm not sure where the author ever thought that was on the table. Do not look for justice in this present evil age. Paul wasn't concerned with it or in even trying to change the patently unjust social order of his day. The New Testament never suggests some kind of Christianisation of society or even the notion that Christians would someday become a significant portion of society - let alone a majority.

Egypt, Rome, and Babylon will never rule in the name of true justice. Let them build their Babel. Let the dead bury their dead. I expect endless injustice. There are criminals at every turn. In our society they operate within the law and on an institutional level. I would go so far as to say they dominate society as our society is itself criminal. But this doesn't mean they are somehow lawful. I don't judge them by the standard of a corrupt society that has become decadent and degenerate. No, the law of the land has nothing to do with such judgments - let alone justice. How could it?

I look for nothing from the state apart from a kind of crude restriction n the most debased impulses of mankind - and often not even that. The state will engage in and sanction all manner of evil but the one thing that is to our favour is that the state wants stability - a climate that helps to produce wealth and strength. This helps us even if it's not for us.

The article is worth reading though read it with discernment.