Thought for the Day

Luther … establishes a sharp opposition between what the Christian does as a private person and Christian and what he does and has to do in fulfilling the responsibility of his office in behalf of those who have been entrusted to his care. As a Christian, when his own personal wefare is involved, he seeks to do nothing else than serve his neighbor, even if his neighbor is his enemy. He is prepared to suffer injustice without protecting himself and resisting evil, without calling upon the authorities and their judicial power for help, without avenging himself — all this in accordance with the statements of Jesus and the apostles. However, as a secular person, fulfilling his office of protecting those entrusted to his care and acting in matters that affect the welfare of his neighbor, he must under all conditions fulfill his duty to protect them, to oppose evil, block it, punish it, and use force in resisting it. “A Christian should not resist any evil; but within the limits of his office, a secular person should oppose every evil.” It is not appropriate for the authorities to be meek and mild; that would run counter to the task which God has given them. The governing authorities cannot justify such a lenient attitude toward evil on the basis that Jesus says we should not demand justice and retribution, for these statements are not at all concerned with secular government and cannot be established as a rule governing it. Rather, they are concerned with the Christian’s attitude in his heart. They are binding on the Christian not in terms of what he does in his office as a secular person but only in his personal relationship to his neighbor. They are not intended to regulate secular affairs and thus serve to preserve this earthly life; rather, they show the way to eternal life. — Paul Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther