UCM Lutheran Student Center

Why You Should Thank Martin Luther For The 4th Of July, Even Though He'd Probably Hate It

(WARNING: this is both not nearly comprehensive enough, and already too long for social media, so apologies in advance for both of those things. Continue reading at your own risk.)

Prior to the Declaration of Independence, people had 3 ways of dealing with tyranny: revolt, submission, and the Lesser Magistrate.

Revolt is people with no power rising up and taking power by force. While its reasons are often justified, it typically ends in either chaos or a worse tyranny than it replaced. Or it fails.

Submission is just that. You just live with it. Sometimes it gets better. Usually it gets worse.

There has to be a better way!

The Lesser Magistrate doctrine was developed by Martin Luther and Protestant princes and theologians in 16th century Germany. Facing forced submission to the Pope from the Holy Roman Emperor, they had to figure out how to preserve and defend their Christian faith and practice.

Revolt was never an option to them. There is no Biblical account of mob-driven uprisings, and Romans 13 explicitly tells us to submit to the governing authorities. We are only authorized to disobey when forced to do what God forbids, and even then, the Bible shows God's people doing so as martyrs, willing to suffer the punishment for it.

But there ARE Biblical instances of lower officials resisting or overthrowing tyrants. Jehoiada the Priest overthrowing Queen Athaliah (2 Chronicles 23). Commander Jehu’s coup against King Joram (2 Kings 9). Jeroboam and the tribal leaders seceding from King Rehoboam's Israel (1 Kings 12).

The Emperor (the Greater Magistrate) had taken an oath to uphold the laws of the Empire, and the local princes were sworn to protect their specific territories.

Luther, who was very hesitant to support violent resistance of any kind, conceded that if the Emperor broke his own constitutional contract, the local princes (the Lesser Magistrates) had legal permission to resist him to protect their citizens. This paved the way for the formation of the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive military alliance of Lutheran princes.

And so the Lesser Magistrates doctrine was born.

This is a Christian doctrine, so repentance and reconciliation is the preferred resolution. But if the tyranny persists from the Greater Magistrate, then the Lesser Magistrate is Biblically permitted to defend the citizens.

Over time, this doctrine was further expanded upon by John Calvin, John Knox, Theodore Beza, Samuel Rutherford, John Locke, and many others.

Under their development, the law itself was the true ruling authority, and no ruler was above it. The Lesser Magistrate was not just permitted, but OBLIGATED, to defend the citizens against tyranny. Authority was conditional on treatment of the citizens.

Luther would have likely disagreed with much of this. He was hesitant to even resist active religious persecution by a tyrant. But ultimately, the Reformers were taking his Biblically-sound doctrine to its logical conclusion.

These ideas were revolutionary.

But the Declaration of Independence took it to its ultimate conclusion.

Prior to it, here was the hierarchy of authority according to the Lesser Magistrate Doctrine:

God
Greater Magistrate (King, emperor)
Lesser Magistrate (Princes, elected officials)
Citizens

All authority comes from God, and is granted to the King. The King delegates that authority further to the Lesser Magistrates, who govern the citizens. If the King is a tyrant, the Lesser Magistrate can and should rein him in.

In the case of the United States, after many years of trying to reconcile with the Crown, the Lesser Magistrates were declaring independence.

And their Declaration changed everything.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

The Lesser Magistrates declared all of us equal. This is inherently Christian, as all people are equal bearers of God's image, and all Christians are equal heirs of God's Kingdom. But now, it was being applied to temporal political power.

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"

The Lesser Magistrates declared that their power would be derived from the consent of CITIZENS, not divine right of rule.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government"

The Lesser Magistrates even declared that the citizens not only granted authority through our consent, but that we had every right to CHANGE that government if necessary.

Under the Declaration of Independence, here is the hierarchy:

God
Citizens
Lesser Magistrate (elected officials)

The Declaration of Independence is a Declaration that We, the People, are the Greater Magistrate!

If only we would remember that, and treat our right and responsibility accordingly. But that's for another time.

AGAIN, Martin Luther was born in the end of the Middle Ages, and was highly averse to any form of resistance against temporal authority. He would probably be aghast at the thought of the commoners being in charge.

But the Biblically-based doctrine he helped develop led directly to a government ruled by the people.

So we'll get to tease him about that in Heaven.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

God Bless you, and God Bless America.