Whenever the church faces opposition, we are to follow the example of Christ and the apostles. We must continue to be obedient to God. We must not allow pressure from the world to cower us into silence. We must always obey God rather than men.1 Obedience to God is not only required when it concerns preaching and teaching, but in all aspects of life. If any authority—be it a parent, teacher, church elder, community leader, or government official—prohibits us from doing what God commands, we are obligated as Christians to submit to God rather than men. Doing so will be costly because those in authority often have power to hurt us if we do not do as they say. We can be fined; we can be imprisoned; we can even be killed or maimed.
Given the power which those in authority have, we should be very certain about what God wants from us before we decide to disobey any authority.2 Civil disobedience is never a decision that ought to be taken lightly, and neither is it a decision to be taken in isolation. We should speak to other believers and reflect together on what God requires from us. In this regard church confessions are particularly useful since they articulate the historic Christian consensus as to what the Bible teaches. They provide us with a summary of the truths that are non-negotiable. Truths for which we should willingly offer our backs to stripes, our tongues to knives, our mouths to gags, and our whole bodies to the fire.
(This phrase comes from a letter which Guido de Bres sent to King Philip II together with a copy of the Belgic Confession. Christians were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but they would not deny or refuse to act on the biblical truth, no matter what opposition they faced.)
Obeying God rather than men will always be dangerous because by nature all men are set against God (see Romans 1:18 – 3:18). That is the reality of our world (see Mark 12:1–12). Despite this danger, we can trust the Lord to help us by his Spirit. Where we are weak, the Spirit can and will make us strong. He will not only give us the right words to speak (Matthew 10:19–20) but he will also comfort us and equip us to do the works of service that God expects from us (Acts 2:17–21). To this end we should pray to God, that he would strengthen our hearts where we are fearful, that he will convince us that Christ is of more worth than all the riches of this world (Mark 8:31–38).
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.