Church and Government

We confuse ourselves when we reduce “government” to the state and “church” to an institution. Scripture and earlier Christian thought saw government first as self-government under God, then family, church, school, and community civil government being only one among many. Likewise, the church is not merely a building or denomination, but the living Body of Christ, to which institutions are faithful only insofar as they obey Him. When we forget these meanings, we surrender responsibility and drift toward dependency and spiritual poverty. How we use these words reveals what we truly trust and whether we live under God’s order or man’s substitutes.