The Relation of Church and State
This is from chapter XIII of a book written in 1941 entitled, “Our Priceless Heritage Christian Doctrine In Contrast With Romanism” by Henry M. Woods, D.D, LL.D.
What does the Word of God teach concerning the relation of Church and State?
The Word of God teaches clearly that Christian ministers and people, being citizens, should render all due respect and obedience to rulers and to the laws of the land. Since the spheres of Church and State are wholly different, they should be kept separate and distinct, neither infringing on the sphere of the other. The Church should faithfully discharge its spiritual duties, and not attempt to control the State; and the State should faithfully discharge its civil and political duties, and not attempt to control the Church.
What Scriptures prove that this is the correct relation?
Our Lord Jesus Christ’s own words: “My Kingdom is not of this world!” Again, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” John 18:36, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25.
Also Matthew 17:24-27, which records that our Lord, although He was King of heaven and earth, yet obeyed the laws and paid tribute to the Roman Emperor.
The apostles also, following Christ’s precepts and example, enjoined obedience to the civil government and respect to all rulers.
“Let every soul be subject to the higher powers (1.e., civil rulers) . For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.” Rom. 13:1-7, I Tim. 2:1, 2.
“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to carry good work.” Titus 3:1.
“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the King as supreme, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well.”
“Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King.” I Peter 2:13-17.
The Pope’s claims conflict with Scripture, and Deny duty to civil laws and rulers.
What is the teaching of the Church of Rome concerning the relation of Church and State?
The Church of Rome’s teaching is exactly opposite to that of Holy Scripture, and to the practice of the Christian Church for several centuries. Rome holds that the State should be subject to the Church, and that the pope should be supreme over all civil rulers. The Roman Church asserts that “the pope can change kingdoms, take them from one and give them to another, as the sovereign spiritual prince.” “The authority of Kings is of human right, and the clergy are exempt from their jurisdiction.” Bellarmine, De Pontif., Rom. 5:2, 6. Boniface VIII, Bull. Unam. Sanctam., Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Immortale Dez.
“The clergy cannot be judged by any secular judge, although they do not observe the civil laws, i.e., although they violate the laws of their country! Bellarmine, De Cleric., 1:28: ‘The goods of the clergy as well ecclesiastical as secular, are free, and ought of good right to be so, from the tribute of secular princes.” De Cleric., 1:28.
Note how the papal dogmas directly contradict Christ and the Scriptures. The Church of Rome says:
“The authority of Kings is of human right.” God’s Word declares, “They are ordained of God.” Rom. 13:1, 2.
Christ and His apostles paid tribute to the Roman government. The Church of Rome says, that pope and priests ought not to pay tribute.
The popes contradict St. Peter. They say the clergy are “exempt from the jurisdiction of Kings and rulers.” St. Peter enjoins clergy as well as laity, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake”; both to Kings and to governors.
St. Paul enjoins: “Wherefore we must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they (civil rulers) are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.” Rom. 13:5, 6.
The Apostles thus declare that it is a solemn obligation of all Christians, ministers and people, to obey the laws and to pay taxes; and that because rulers and magistrates are God’s ministers in civil government. It is plain, therefore, that concerning the relation of Church and State, the Church of Rome’s dogmas quoted above put the papal Church into direct conflict with the teachings of Christ and Holy Scripture, thus creating a condition which is hostile to the civil government that protects the Church and to which all Christians owe allegiance.
Does the pope still maintain this attitude of disobedience toward the teachings of Holy Scripture and toward the civil government of the land?
He does. In a letter addressed to the bishops of France dated February 11, 1906, pope Pius X declared: “That it is necessary to separate Church and State is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error.” He is thus, by implication, repeating the claim that the State should be subject to his control.
Pope Gregory VII
When did this false teaching concerning the relation of Church and State fully develop?
In the Dark Ages under Hildebrand, who as Gregory VII, was pope from 1073 to 1085,—a time of utter ignorance and disorder.* We have already seen that his claims to absolute authority in Church and State were based on fraudulent documents, the so-called “Donation of Constantine,” and the “Decretals of Isidore,” which later popes and reputable Catholic leaders acknowledge were forgeries.
* The Papacy probably attained its highest power under Innocent III at the time of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This Council was attended not only by the Church leaders of every country, but also by representatives of the civil governments of Europe. It condemned all heretics to death, and forced the civil governments to swear to destroy all whom the pope condemned! The Century Cyclopedia, Vol. IX, page 529. Dallmann’s How Peter Became Pope, page 61.
What has been the result of this false teaching of the Roman Church, claiming absolute power for the pope over civil rulers and governments, as well as over the Church?
History shows that the arrogant claims of popes,1 and their unholy ambition to rule without regard to the rights of others, have been like firebrands cast into Europe, often destroying the peace and prosperity of Kingdoms, causing endless intrigues, rebellions, war and bloodshed; in England, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, etc. There was constant meddling in the internal affairs of almost every country by the pope and his emissaries to the great injury and distress of both rulers and people. See the struggle between Henry II of England and Thomas Becket, who opposed needed reforms; the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Germany and Italy, which lasted 300 years, till the end of the 15th century; the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648, etc., etc. Note also the anathemas and bitter denunciations by the Pope, of the Treaty of Westphalia, which sought to promote religious peace and peace among nations.
1 The Emperor Charles V’s Spanish minister wrote from Genoa in 1527: “I have lived 25 years in Italy, and have observed that the pope has been the sole cause of all the wars and miseries during that time.” (Ang. Brief, 310.) This is the testimony of one Romanist to another. (Italics ours.)
The Thirty Years War, and the Treaty of Westphalia
The Thirty Years War was a fierce religious and political struggle, which involved not only Germany, but the whole of Central Europe. The immediate cause of the war was the oppression of the Bohemian people by Austria, which forced Bohemia to revolt in May, 1618. On one side were the Catholic League and Wallenstein, the Austrian General, chief leaders; on the other side King Christian of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus II, King of Sweden. Victory and defeat alternated with both parties, until in 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia finally brought peace to war-torn Europe. By this Treaty, Switzerland and Holland became independent of the German Empire. France received Alsace and other possessions, and the territory of Sweden was enlarged. The peace of Ausburg, 1555, was ratified, including Calvinists as well as Lutherans and the sovereignty of the Papacy, and the oppressive power of Innocent X were brought to an end.
Have later popes continued to hold the unjustifiable position of Gregory VII regarding the relation of Church and State?
They have. Such is the inordinate lust for power of the human heart when uncontrolled by the Spirit of God, that later popes, regardless of the plain teachings of Holy Scripture and the fundamental rights of rulers and people, have continued to hold these absurd and false claims. A brief glance at the record of subsequent popes will show this.
Innocent III
Innocent III, on becoming pope in 1198, with childish extravagance proclaimed: “I sit on high above Kings and all princes. This steward is the Viceroy of God, the Successor of Peter; he stands in the midst between God and men. He is the Judge of all, but is judged by no one. Christ has committed the whole world to the government of the popes! I alone enjoy the plenitude of power. The pope holds the place of the true God!” Ang. Brief, 93.
A gloss in the Canon Law of the Church called the pope “Our Lord God!”
Boniface VIII
Pursuing the policy of his predecessors in 1302, Pope Boniface VIII declared: “In her (the Church) are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. Both are in the power of the Church. The former by the hand of the priest, the latter by the hand of princes and Kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. The one sword must be subject to the other, the temporal authority to the spiritual.”
Again, “We declare and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary to salvation that every human being be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
(What is really necessary for salvation and the maintenance of true religion is for our Romanist friends to discard their mistaken subjection to the Papacy, and return to the Lord Jesus Christ as the true and only Head of the Christian Church.)
But Boniface’s absurd claims soon got him into trouble. Becoming involved in a quarrel with King Philip IV of France, Boniface was accused of many crimes, was imprisoned in his own palace, and died soon after (A.D. 1303).
Paul IV
Declaring the cruel Inquisition to be the chief support of the papacy in Italy, Paul IV in 1558 issued the Bull, “Cum ex apostolatus officio, asserting that “the pope as God’s representative, has full power over nations and Kingdoms; he judges all, and can be judged in this world by none. All princes and monarchs, as soon as they fall into heresy, are deposed, and incur sentence of death. If repentant, they are to be imprisoned the rest of their lives, and do penance on bread and water. No one may give aid to a heretical prince, and any monarch who dares to do so, forfeits his dominions and property, which lapse to princes who are obedient to the pope!”
Paul V
Pope Paul V allowed himself to be called “Vice-God!” Dallmann’s How Peter Became Pope, page 98.
Innocent X
Opposing the spirit of religious tolerance ushered in by the Peace of Westphalia,1 October 24, 1648, Pope Innocent X (1644-1655), “speaking as the very mouthpiece of God,” said in a papal bull, “We therefore, decree and declare by these peace pacts (that is, the pact of Osnabruck of August, 1648, and that of Westphalia, October, 1648), that everything herein contained are, and forever will be, null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, and altogether lacking in force; that no one is, or ever will be, obliged to observe them, even if bound thereto by oath. (Note that the pope, sanctions the breakings of a solemn oath to God!) —they must therefore be forever held as if they had never been issued, as never existing, and as never made.”
It should be carefully observed that the pope here, as always, “runs true to form.” Though professing to be the representative of the “Prince of Peace” on earth, and to have a sincere interest in the welfare of the European nations, Innocent X refused to sanction a sorely needed treaty of peace, and deliberately encouraged the continuance of war. He was more anxious to press his selfish claims to power than he was to heal the wounds of bloodshed and violence from which Europe had suffered for more than three decades.
Pius IX
Holding the same pernicious opinion of the relation of Church and State, Pius IX in 1864 wrote—‘“In case of conflicting laws, enacted by the two powers, temporal and spiritual, to hold that the civil law should prevail is an error.” That is, the pope’s opinion must override the laws of the land!
Leo XIII
Leo XIII officially declared—“Over the mighty multitude God has set rulers with power to govern, and He has willed that one of them should be head of all,” i.e., the pope. Going out of his way to criticize the American Government he said, “It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that the most desirable status for the Church is to be sought in America. It is an error to hold that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be dissevered and divorced as in America.” Again Leo said in substance, “There must be complete obedience to the Roman Pontiff as to God Himself, for we hold upon earth the place of God Almighty!” Remember that this awful blasphemy was uttered in the 20th century, for Leo XIII died July, 1903.
Does not conflict with civil governments inevitably grow out of the false claims of supremacy which the Papacy has constantly made for itself?
It does. See the false claim of Leo XIII that “we hold on earth the place of God Almighty”; or the claim made for the priest in the Confessional, that what he hears, “he knows as God.” Or the false assertion that “the Pope here on earth is Christ.” (Il Papa quz in terra e Christo.) L. Lucantonio, La Supernazionalita del Papato, page 71. This book was recently published and dedicated to Cardinal Gasparri, Papal Secretary of State under Pius XI.
(To be continued.)