Pastor Note #141: Getting My Bearing for These Times (Cont.): Rejecting Coercion

~ gachorpenning

Getting my Bearings in These Times: Continued—Rejecting Coercion

“Who is wise and understanding among you?  Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.  But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.  Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”  James 3:13-15 (NIV)

Not by Coercion or Imposition
Coercion can never achieve the kingdom of God.  I do not believe it is ever God’s desire or plan that any one group of Christians should aspire to get its hands on the levers of coercive governmental power and use that coercive power to impose its will on its unwilling neighbors.  Again, coercion cannot and will never achieve the kingdom of God.

Not as White-washed Tombs
Coercive governmental power can only enforce external conformity.  The kingdom of God is not a matter of empty, external conformity.  Coerced external conformity has always only been the tool of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom (Mt. 23: 25-28).

Like Daniel in Front of Nebuchadnezzar & Paul in Front of Caesar
Biblical models exist that show us Christ’s way for non-coercive Christian witness.  Our model is Daniel in the pagan Babylonian and Persian empires.  We do not command coercive power.  We speak to it.  Our model is the apostle Paul in pagan Rome.  We are the faithful people of God scattered among the nations of the earth to whom James wrote.  The Church, as one preacher has rightly said (see this link), is to be neither the master of government nor its servant.  Rather, the people of God are to be the conscience of government.  We are to bear prophetic witness and to call government to account for its use of its coercive power.  We must never confuse the coercive power of government with the kingdom of God.

Not “That Sort of Kingdom”
The power of the kingdom of God is not a sword in our hands slashing the flesh of our neighbors.  Jesus has commanded us to put that sword away (Mt. 26:52; Mk. 14:48; Lk. 22:49-52).  His kingdom is not of the sort that can be won by swords, violence, and coercion (John 18:36).

Persuasion Not Force
The sword that Christ wields is in his mouth (Rev. 1:16; 2:16; 19:15; 19:21).  The sword of Christ is his word.  That sword strikes to the heart (Heb. 4:12).  It persuades the heart and the mind of our neighbors.  It is this “sword” that brings about the kingdom of God.  It is this “sword” and prayer (Mt. 6:10) that will bring about God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven.”  Any use of earthly power that coerces our neighbors without persuading them can never bring about the kingdom of God.  Coercion can only produce a kingdom of slaves.

Seeking Power OVER our Neighbors is the Way of the Devil
Loving our neighbors is the calling of the followers of Jesus.  It is not the calling of the followers of Jesus to command our neighbors through coercive force.  To pursue power over our neighbors is the temptation of the devil (Mt. 4:8-9; Lk. 4:5-6).  Those who seek power over their neighbors, even in the name of Christ, abandon Jesus and follow the devil instead.  To follow Jesus is to serve our neighbors and not to “lord it over them” (Mk. 10:42-44).

To Win our Neighbors, Not to Control our Neighbors
To love our neighbors, which Jesus commands us to do (Mt. 22:37-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-37), is to seek to win their hearts not to command their bodies.  If our neighbors do not see in us the love which is the heart of the gospel, they will not hear the truth of the gospel when we speak it.  The use of coercion will blind our neighbors to the love of the gospel and deafen them to its truth.  For the followers of Jesus, using coercion is a dead-end.

Not a Temptation for Only One “Side” in our Divide Politics
The religious far Right and the religious far Left both share the same flawed aim.  They both believe that if they can get their hands on the levers of coercive government power, they can accomplish the will of God by imposing their will on their unwilling neighbors.  Such an aim is morally wrong, potentially idolatrous, and invariably will lead to tyranny.  We all need to repent of and strive to avoid the temptation toward power-seeking.

“Who is wise and understanding among you?  Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.  But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.  Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”  James 3:13-15 (NIV)

© 2025 Gary A. Chorpenning

Related Posts:
Pastor Note #140: Getting My Bearings in These Times, A Beginning
Pastor Note #138: The Way of Jesus: Selfless Service OR Coercion and Domination?
Pastor Note #119: Jesus’ Way of Power
Pastor Note #107: Violence and the Kingdom of God: a Sermon
Pastor Note #129: How Would Christian Nationalist Government Work?
Pastor Note #100: Evangelical Fear and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay  Part 1 of 3
Pastor Note #101: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay  Part 2 of 3
Pastor Note #102: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward Coercive “Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3

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Published by gachorpenning

I am a husband, father, and grandfather. The southwestern Pennsylvania is currently home, though I've called several other places home before this. I maintain a YouTube channel of Bible teaching videos and a podcast of Bible teaching audio. I like to make things out of wood and other materials. I like taking photographs and use a lot of them in my blog posts. For thirty-nine years, I served as a pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.