back . . . up . . . next
Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs.
Of
Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for
Christians to bear civil office, to sit as
judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just
punishments, to engage in just
wars, to serve as
soldiers, to make
legal contracts, to hold
property, to make oath when required by the
magistrates, to
marry a wife, to be given in
marriage.
They condemn the
Anabaptists who forbid these civil offices to
Christians.
They
condemn also those who do not place
evangelical perfection in the fear of God and in faith, but in forsaking
civil offices, for the Gospel teaches an eternal
righteousness of the heart. Meanwhile, it does not destroy the State or the family, but very much requires that they be preserved as
ordinances of God, and that
charity be practiced in such ordinances. Therefore, Christians are necessarily bound to obey their own magistrates and laws save only when commanded to sin; for then they ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5, 29.