Romans chapters 12-14 and the Covid vaccines

The Covid era - what did the Bible say?

I am still processing the whole Covid era. It comes back to me at odd moments: such as when I hear Christian leaders boasting about how their organisation cares for its members, for instance. I can’t help thinking about the people who were fired three years ago in that same organisation for not taking the Covid vaccines when I hear this.

At the time when I was resisting the vaccine coercion, I had the Nuremberg Code and my conscience, as well as Revelation 13:16-18, Daniel 3, and Exodus 1, and the strengthening power of having friends who also resisted, to give me strength to resist; but I wish now that I had realised how pervasive the message is in the Bible that stresses the limits of Government, in relation to God, and this is specifically that the Government is owed revenue, silver, gold, money, as well as that goodness against which there can be no law, but not the integrity of our bodily worship. Our bodily worship should only be given to God.

Submit to the lawful authorities

Romans chapter 13:1-2 urges Christians to obey the lawful authorities.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God. Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

This was used as an argument for obeying the vaccine mandates by many Christian leaders in Australia.

However, one must look at the context of this verse.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s

Firstly I will start with Mark 12:17 (also Matthew 22:21 and Luke 20:25)

Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him.

The image of Caesar is stamped upon the coin. The image of God is stamped upon the human body. What we are commanded to do is pay taxes to the government, but our bodies ought to be given to the worship of God and obedience to Him.

Interestingly, the context of Romans 13, which urges people to obey the lawful authorities, is that it follows Romans 12, in which we are told what we ought to give to God:

I urge you, brothers, to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship Romans 12:1

Note that it doesn’t say offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice to the State or to the Emperor. Specifically we are only to worship God.

Paul summarises obedience to the State in these terms:

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed Romans 13:7

Note that in Romans 12:1 he has already told us what we owe God. Our bodies, as a living sacrifice.

We can’t give our body in worship to both the State and to God — it can ultimately only be given to one or the other.

Many early Christians, rather than offer a sacrifice of an oath to Caesar, and a repudiation of Christians (‘Down with the atheists’) were willing to die a horrible death.

As Polycarp was being taken into the arena, a voice came to him from heaven: “Be strong, Polycarp and play the man!” No one saw who had spoken, but our brothers who were there heard the voice. When the crowd heard that Polycarp had been captured, there was an uproar. The Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On hearing that he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, “Have respect for your old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, and say, ‘Down with the Atheists!’” Polycarp looked grimly at the wicked heathen multitude in the stadium, and gesturing towards them, he said, “Down with the Atheists!” “Swear,” urged the Proconsul, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free.” “86 years have I have served him,” Polycarp declared, “and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/polycarp/

Polycarp was martyred, burned to death for his faith.

In the intervening 2000 years, the devil has become cleverer and more subtle. He would rather get people’s worship by stealth in these modern times: he calls worship “vaccination”, for in a subtle way today the vaccines offered us salvation.

In the Covid era the devil offered Christians a choice between keeping our incomes by obeying the call to worship the State - and losing our incomes and social standing by rejecting the call to worship the State. The vaccines were offered as a Jesus-substitute, an anti-Christ essentially, which would be our salvation from Covid — this was very clear, often crystal clear, in the way they were described in the media and even by religious leaders at the time.

Pharmaceutical or Pharmakea

The Greek word Pharmakea, from which we get the modern word Pharmaceutical — Pharmakea is often translated sorcery and is condemned in the New Testament - the literal translation of Pharmakea is drugs or potions. I think there is a difference between a drug that treats a specific illness that is prescribed by a Doctor and one that is offered as salvation by the government in return for freedom by the way.

When you ask the question this way: “if the government offers you a choice: lose your job, or participate in sorcery,” most Christians would agree that we should not participate in sorcery. Yet many who watch everything they eat and eat only organic foods sourced from ethical sources were quite happy to have an experimental concoction injected into their bloodstream, in return for comfort and security and personal freedom. This was the stark choice we were offered.

And if you ask, “Would you obey the government if they ordered you to beat your brother?” most Christians would say, no. (In practice what we would actually do no one knows until they are faced with such a choice)

But most Christians in positions of authority were quite happy to threaten their brothers and sisters with unemployment if they didn’t participate in the “largest clinical trial ever” (Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt February 2021) - an experiment, in other words - and all you must have\, by the way, to infringe the Nuremberg Code is coercion and an experiment.

Christians may have disagreed with those who were saying these things, but they still shouldn’t have urged them to disobey their consciences

In Romans 14 Paul discusses how to deal with disagreements about moral issues in the church. There were many Christians who had severe doubts about the vaccines at the time. What was quite disgraceful is that many Christian leaders were urging their followers to take the vaccines against their own consciences. The Bible tells us very clearly that the conscience of the individual ought to be respected:

So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:19-23

Some people argue that those who opposed the vaccines had weak consciences, and that they were overly sensitive to the issue of worshipping false idols by taking a mandated injection — if that is the case then Paul writing to the Corinthians makes the same point as in the passage above:

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. I Corinthians 8:7-13

Knowledge puffs up, love builds up

I end with this short passage from I Corinthians 8:1-2 which tells us not to be puffed up with knowledge but to be filled with love, that builds up others:

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.”But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.

How this relates to the present, where the whole issue has been pushed under the carpet at least in Australia, I do not know. But if love builds up — what do we see today? Many who are sick in the churches, especially young people who before vaccination were healthy. How do we love these people and build them up? By praying for them.

I still personally feel a sense of incompleteness with this whole episode: the events that happened haven’t reached their fulfilment yet, in some way. I don’t know what it means. I still think there are still more layers of repentance that must be worked through in the hearts of those who submitted to the government. Is it our job to bring these people to repentance? No, not any more, that time has passed. It’s up to the Holy Spirit.

The whole thing still grieves me.

Moral Issues will continue

I would like to say with the election of Trump in the US that such moral conundrums are unlikely to occur in the near future. However, King Solomon, who was the wisest king, also led the nation into idolatry in his old age. Cautious optimism is called for. But the truth is that such moral issues can only intensify as Jesus’ return comes closer: we truly need, and must pray that God will give us, the wisdom of serpents and the gentleness of doves in these times.

Photo by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash