Almost every missionary I have heard recently says some variation of the following: due to the government’s opposition to the gospel, we cannot speak openly about the gospel. We teach English. We offer medical help. We hope that someday we will be able to share the gospel more freely.  But we cannot proselytize. It is illegal.  And I listened to all of their reports with much interest and little consternation.
But just recently, I have been struck by how anti-biblical this approach seems. It seems to me that we have left behind the simplest teaching we have when it comes submission to authority. I teach my confirmands each year that the Fourth Commandment instructs us to submit to authorities. As Luther explains, “We should fear and love God that we do not dishonor or anger our parents and others in authority, but honor, serve, and obey them, and give them love and respect.” But then I proceed to teach the one exception to his rule. Our submission to earthly authority only applies so long as the government does not require of us something that is opposed to God.  He remains the ultimate authroity.
And when it comes to missions, we have a perfect biblical example of this principle:
Acts 4:18-20 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
What if John and Peter had said, “But we cannot proselytize. It is illegal.” Would not the story of the Christian church have been changed forever? And when our missionaries say it now, are they changing the story of the Christian church in our day? Are we allowing earthly authorities to command us to do things that they have no authority to require of us as citizens of the heavenly kingdom? Have we forgotten who is the ultimate authority?
Should our missionaries respond to oppressive authorities who restrict the teaching of Christ, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Would some end up in jail? Yes. But God has used imprisonment to the good of his kingdom many times before. Would some die? Perhaps. But as Jerome testified, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” How do we simply continue to submit to authorities who require of us things we know God does not desire.  Let us confess our sins and then confess our Lord.
