By Joshua Arnold

The notion that government is a “necessary evil” has seeped into American lore and consciousness. Many Americans accept it as they would a self-evident truth. Yet treating government as a necessary evil contradicts biblical teaching and, by extension, contradicts God’s good design for government.

To find the origin of this phrase, we must reach back to the American republic in utero when, approximately six months before the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine anonymously published his pamphlet “Common Sense” on January 10, 1776. “Society in every state is a blessing,” Paine contends, “but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

Whatever previous thinkers the freethinking Paine relied upon — he is certainly responding to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s work, “The Social Contract” (1762), which argued that man is born good but corrupted by society — his widely read pamphlet was responsible for popularizing the idea in revolutionary America.

Paine explains himself, “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. … Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.”

These might be “plausible arguments” (Colossians 2:4) to those distressed by the injustices of a distant parliament. Speculating about the origins of government and man’s condition in a “state of nature” were common pastimes among Enlightenment philosophers. But the claims made here are flatly contradicted by the testimony of Scripture — testimony which Paine rejected.

In Genesis 1-2, the Bible records the world’s only authoritative account of mankind in a “state of nature” or — to use Paine’s word — “innocence.” Before “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12), creation dwelt at peace in a state which even its perfectly just Creator called “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

In this state, when creation had not yet been marred by sin, God established the first human government. He blessed the first human couple, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). What does “dominion” mean if not government?

A skeptic may object that Genesis 1-2 records no mention of government’s more acrid institutions: taxation, police, courts, and armies. Indeed, there is no record whatsoever of Adam using force of any kind. Thus, how can we justify the claim that Adam governed in Eden?

Governments resort to force and power only because sin and the curse have introduced conflict into the world. Yet even before sin, Adam governed Eden in that he exercised authority over it. The narrative proceeds to describe Adam exercising dominion over the animals by naming them (Genesis 2:19-20) and over the garden by working and keeping it (Genesis 2:15). These activities ordered and improved Adam’s domain, and thus the reign of his government was good.

Of course, we all know how Adam’s sin and the subsequent curse plunged human history into chaos. Adam’s first son murdered his brother (Genesis 4:8), underscoring the need for government to play a larger role in restraining wickedness. After the flood, God addressed this need, delegating to human government the power of the sword: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6).

Led as they are by sinful men, many human governments abuse their power and authority and inflict great suffering both on their own subjects and on the people of other nations. But the abuse of government does not negate the fact that government is designed by God for our good.

Paul reflects on this point in Friday’s “Stand on the Word” devotional reading from Romans 13, in which he urges Christian submission to governmental authority because “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1). Paul wrote this even under the tyranny of Rome, suggesting that this statement is not conditional based upon a government’s morality or immorality. This Christian submission to government extends to everything a citizen owes his government, from taxes, even to respect (Romans 13:7).

Paul explains the reason behind this principle: God established human authority to restrain evil. Like the sun and rain, government is a part of God’s common grace. “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad,” Paul continues. “Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4).

This view towards government cuts sharply against Americans’ individualistic streak and provokes a certain brand of libertarian to scoff, just as Paine did. Yet this is what the Bible teaches about government, whether Americans want to accept it or not.

Nevertheless, this does not require absolute, total submission to government. Christians should not now discard Ronald Reagan for declaring that “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem” (the first four words provide a key limitation). The apostles also warned that wicked governments will oppress God’s people (Revelation 13) and chose to disobey governments that ordered them to disobey God (Acts 5:29). Christians have debated the precise nuances of these exceptions for centuries.

But, before we investigate every fjord and inlet, we must first take in the general shape of the continent. And the general, default position of Scripture is that human government is a good authority created by God to restrain wickedness. The common American notion that government is merely a “necessary evil” is a human invention at odds with the whole counsel of Scripture.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.