Christians and Masks: The Role of Civil Government and the Call to Love
- Jun 23, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Oct 24, 2024
Should Christians do what the civil government says to do in their churches as long as it isn't explicitly sinful?
By John Kuyper Liberty
I think it is safe to say that the majority of Christian churches in the West required or strongly suggested for those attending their services to wear masks in corporate gatherings from May of 2020 through at least early 2021. Many of these churches even extended this requirement/strong suggestion to church events outside of corporate worship, like small group meetings and Bible studies. But is this a biblical position to hold? Is it maximally loving, and maximally glorifying to God?
The Ultimate Aim of the Christian
Many Christians have sought to require others to wear masks because they believe Christians need to protect others from physical harm at all costs. Certainly, the 6th commandment implies that we are to value and protect life. But the protection of life is never ultimate: the glory of God is ultimate. Living in a fallen world means that there are always risks of illness, injury, and death. Biblical tasks we are called to like evangelism, missions, having children, raising children, caring for the sick, traveling to the worship service, defending against unjust aggressors, and working a job are tasks that may put us in danger of illness, injury, or death. So the goal of protecting the life and physical health of others is not ultimate. We are not to do it without considering the totality of Scripture, which teaches us how to maximally live for God’s glory and love other people.
The Authority of the Civil Government
One of the reasons many church leaders cited for why they required Christians to wear masks is that they want to obey the civil government. They quote Romans 13:1-7, and promote the position that Christians should obey the civil government unless the civil government blatantly tells them to disobey one of God’s commands (Acts 5:29). But what this position fails to recognize is that each legitimate authority discussed in Scripture has a defined lane of responsibility. Husbands have authority over their wives (Eph 5:22-33), parents have authority over their children (Eph 6:1-4), managers have authority over those under them in a business/economic setting (Col 3:22), elders have authority over the members in their care (Heb 13:17), and the civil government has authority over its citizens (Rom 13:1-7).
None of these authorities have comprehensive, all-pervading authority over those who are called to submit. This even goes for matters that are not explicitly sin issues. Imagine you are on a city softball team with some friends, and one of your friends is the manager of the team. He brings the equipment, sends out the schedule, creates the batting order, designates the fielding positions, collects the fees, and more. He can tell you that you are batting 6th instead of 3rd, and you must obey him. But what if he texted you one Wednesday night and told you that you have to be in bed by 9:00 PM that night, because he knows you have a big meeting the next day at work. Huh? You would laugh, because you understand that although this man has legitimate authority, his authority is limited to a given sphere: matters related to the softball team. I pity the wife who has a husband that sinfully believes he has the authority to tell his wife to do anything besides explicitly sin.
Those who believe that all authorities must be obeyed unless they are explicitly commanding you to sin must think about what should happen when competing authorities command different things. For example, what if a woman’s husband told her she should read a certain book, but then her boss and pastor all told her that she should read a different book? Whom should she obey?
Or what if the civil government required all of us to sell our vehicles and to instead commute around in wheelchairs, because that is safer? Or what if church elders required all congregants to wear bright yellow shirts in order to attend a worship service? None of these things are explicit sins. Should we obey? No. Church elders are under-shepherds of God’s flock (1 Pet 5:2-4). God himself has given us his Word, the Bible, and pastors are stewards of God’s Word, which provides liberty of conscience (Rom 14:4) in issues that it does not explicitly address (like what color shirt to wear to a worship service).[1] I realize these are extreme examples, but I use them to make a clear point. The question is not always whether or not a given authority is telling me to sin or not to sin. It is often: has God given this person/organization the authority to command me to do something, or refrain from doing something, in a given area?
According to the Bible, the civil government has authority insofar as it stays in its lane: administering civil justice according to God’s definition of justice found in Scripture (Rom 13:3-4, 6; 1 Pet 2:14). It does not have authority to command all citizens to sell their vehicles, or to cover their faces. If a person has been proven to be infected with a very dangerous disease, the civil government does have the authority to require that person to quarantine (Lev 13:46). But to require a person to quarantine, or wear a mask, who has not been proven to be sick with a dangerous illness, is nothing less than tyrannical and abusive. It is outside of the civil government’s jurisdiction according to Scripture.[2]
Pastors and churches should not encourage their members to enable civil government tyranny and abuse. It is neither loving nor glorifying to God to submit to an authority acting outside of his/her/its lane, and then virtue signal to others and shame them if they do not join you. Refraining from obeying tyrannical measures is loving others by providing them a living example that the only one who has total authority over our lives is Christ himself, and not the State (Ps 2:10-12; Rev 19:16; Matt 28:18; Eph 1:20-21; Dan 4:34-35; 1 Tim 6:15).
The Love of a Christian
But what about love? Isn’t the Christian to love our neighbor (Matt 22:39)? Certainly. But does that mean that we must wear a mask? One pastor thinks so:
For Christians called to love our neighbors as ourselves, wearing a mask in public—particularly indoor spaces where social distance cannot be guaranteed—seems like a relatively easy way to practice neighbor love. Even if it’s annoying to wear one, and even if you aren’t convinced by the science behind it, why not wear one anyway? Given the enduring uncertainty about the way COVID-19 spreads, shouldn’t we err on the side of more protective measures rather than less, for the sake of the neighbor we might—even if it’s a slim chance—unknowingly infect?[3]
With all due respect, I continue to be shocked by this argument. Every year 1.35 million people are killed in vehicle accidents around the world.[4] So why wouldn’t we substitute vehicle accidents for COVID-19 in the above paragraph?
For Christians called to love our neighbors as ourselves, refraining from driving seems like a relatively easy way to practice neighbor love. Even if it’s annoying to bike or walk to church and work, and even if you aren’t convinced that driving in a vehicle is dangerous, why not just sell your car anyway? Given the enduring uncertainty about whether or not you will be involved in a tragic vehicular accident sometime soon, shouldn’t we err on the side of more protective measures rather than less, for the sake of the neighbor we might—even if it’s a slim chance—crash into and kill?
And couldn’t we say the same about serving donuts after a church worship service, since obesity related deaths account for about 300,000 deaths in America every year?[5] Even the biased CDC, with very questionable COVID-19 diagnosis and death data, agrees that the COVID-19 death rate is extremely low for those who contract COVID-19: age groups of 0 to 19 have a 99.997% chance of survival, the age group of 20 to 49 a 99.98% chance, 50 to 69 years old 99.5% and 70 years old and above a 94.6% chance.[6]
Despite what many have said, it is a very big deal to not be able to see someone’s face. Later in the article, the pastor says that wearing a mask is a “small annoyance.” Wives, would you have thought it was a “small annoyance” if your fiancé showed up on your wedding day wearing a face mask with his three-piece suit? Why? Because a masked face is an obvious hindrance to intimacy and fellowship. Would you want Jesus to be wearing a mask the first time you meet him in person? Would it be a relatively minor issue? I am personally glad that I will see him “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), and that I can behold the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face (2 Cor 3:18), both spiritually (now) and physically (later). As the apostle John confirmed, the deepest fellowship comes when we meet others face to face (2 Jn 12; 3 Jn 14). It is a dangerous thing if an elder team believes they have the authority to keep Christians out of corporate worship and other church related functions because they will not follow an extra-biblical command.
I recognize that many believe that we should all use our freedoms to adapt to make church more inviting for brothers and sisters who fear contracting COVID-19. The pastor I quoted above states:
Mask-wearing has sadly become divisive in churches where masks are not mandatory. Some churchgoers will wear them; some won’t. Predictably, the groups will start assuming the worst about each other—that mask-avoiders are reckless and see themselves as stronger and braver; and that mask-wearers are cowardly and fear-stricken, needing a nudge in the direction of risk. In Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, Paul argues that in matters of freedom, it’s important that “stronger” Christians don’t flaunt their freedom in ways that become stumbling blocks to the weak. When a mask-wearing “weaker” brother enters a church gathering full of mask-free “stronger” brothers, the mask-wearer naturally feels pressure to remove it—but that’s exactly the sort of wounding of the weak conscience Paul says is a “sin against Christ” (1 Cor. 8:12).
But this is a gross misunderstanding of Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8. These texts are not teaching that brothers and sisters with weak consciences must control the entirety of a church’s actions. An article from Ligonier Ministries explains:
Paul makes it very clear that the weak believer is not to tyrannize the church. When the weak Judaizers wanted Paul to eat separately from the Gentiles, Paul adamantly refused (Galatians 2). The strong believer must oppose the weak believer when he tries to make his scruples a law for the whole community, because to capitulate on this point is to allow the corruption of legalism into the church, which eventually will destroy the Gospel.[7]
The teaching of Christian freedom and love from Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 suggests that it would be unloving for a church in this current climate to blatantly forbid people from wearing masks who want to wear them. These texts do not suggest that churches must create extra-biblical rules for healthy people in their congregations. Instead, freedom should be allowed, and no one should be pressured to violate his/her conscience: “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (Rom 14:3).
But what about those who are most physically vulnerable? Should the whole church abide by extreme safety precautions in order to cater to/love this minority group of people? First, you saw the survival rate for those who are 70+ years old: 94.6%. But regardless, it is a fact of life that our bodies decay as we are older (2 Cor 4:16), and we become more vulnerable to injury, illness, and death. We certainly ought to be reasonable, and we can provide accommodations to individuals at greater risk. And these individuals at greater risk of serious illness from COVID-19 should freely and wisely assess what risks they are willing to take. But once again, on this side of glory we will not live without risk. Fear of death makes us slaves, while fear of God sets us free to think reasonably and biblically about how to glorify God and love others in the midst of risk. Jesus has “deliver[ed] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb 2:15). The ultimate goal of life is not to protect ourselves or others against viral illnesses or even death, but to glorify God and love our neighbor according to the totality of what the Bible teaches about what it means to love our neighbor.
In Summary
Are you thinking holistically about how you can love your fellow church members and communities according to God’s definitions in his Word? We must not hold to very simplistic and narrow arguments about what is loving, elevating civil government to a place beyond its biblical role, and emphasizing protection from viral illnesses to a level beyond what the Bible suggests. Pastors, are you just as concerned about your church members missing out on the means of grace and living out the one-another commands of the Bible, and protecting against legalistic extra-biblical requirements, as you are about them getting a virus with a high-survival rate, or how you may look to leftist media or non-Christians in your area? Are you helping your church members understand the grave risks of feeding a power-hungry, tyrannical civil government seeking to steal Christ’s glory and supplant him as the “blessed and only Sovereign”?
We ought to maintain a good-reputation with outsiders as much as possible (1 Tim 3:7), while also recognizing that when we are faithful to God and his Word, not everyone will speak well of us: “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). May we seek the glory of God above all, and bring the whole Bible to bear in our understanding of the role of civil government, and what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.
[1] Douglas Wilson is exactly right: “At Christ Church, we have taken the posture of respecting individual liberty from the beginning. The civil magistrate requires mask-wearing under certain conditions, but we do not require our members to mask up in order to worship God. We don’t have that authority. Christ is the head of the church, and He is the only one who can set the terms for how He is to be approached in worship. The officers in His church administer His terms, but they have no authority to invent new ones. Neither do they have the authority to go along with the governor and mayor if they invent new ones.” https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/littlejohn-macarthur-and-the-binding-of-conscience.html. Also, see https://blog.tms.edu/authority-of-a-pastor.
[2] A full explanation of the biblical role of the civil government is beyond the scope of this short article. For more on the Bible’s teaching on the role of civil government, see Gary Demar, God and Government: A Biblical, Historical, and Constitutional Perspective (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2011).
[6] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html?fbclid=IwAR3DvH5umpJxiObUDTKBckeBAfqudrtvzWfQhYiUfHeEhCFeg5UXzalabGg
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