The Family as Government

Our perspective is so much dominated by church and state (especially the state) that most people cannot think in terms of other priorities. Paul at Mars Hill spoke of God as Him in whom “we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28), but for modern man it is the state which is man's habitat and atmosphere.

For many years, I have spoken about the family as government, without much disagreement but also with almost no response because people have so thoroughly equated government with the state.

Of the Ten Commandments, four center on the family: 1) “Honor thy father and thy mother” (Ex. 20:12); 2) “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14); 3) “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex.20:15), and 4) “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house.... wife.... or anything that is thy neighbour's” (Ex. 20:17). Property in the Bible is family owned, an inheritance from one's forefathers to be passed on to one's descendants (1 Kin. 21:3).

When we examine Biblical law, we see that the basic powers in a society are almost entirely given into the hands of the family. The most important of these are, first, the control of children, which means control of the future. The modern state seeks to command this power in a number of ways, beginning with statist education. The Christian and home school movements are regaining that power for the family. Second, control over property is again control over the future. God's law gives power over property to the family and does not tax property. Here again the modern power state is usurping a family right. Third, control over inheritance means a control over the future. In God's law, the eldest, or most godly, son gains a double portion, and the care of the parents. The ungodly are disinherited. This means the godly capitalization of the future. Today the state takes the role of the firstborn and the main heir by its inheritance taxes. Fourth, education is again control over the future and is a family power, one which the family is in process of regaining. Fifth, charity is a family power in Scripture, and the poor tithe was and is basic to God's law.

The family has other powers, but these are the basic ones. The only major power withheld by God from the family is the death penalty (and hence Cain could not be executed).

The family is man's first church and where his best instruction in the Faith takes place. It is man's first government and his most basic one. It is also the key school in man's life, his basic source of economic education, and much, much more.

More than a few cultures have survived the loss of civil government for centuries when their families have been strong, most notably Jews, and Armenians.

Families need to recapture their God-ordained powers. Family trusts need to be created, the able minds provided with funds for schooling on all levels, and planning adopted for the generations to come.

Family re-unions need to be encouraged, and family records kept. Remember, the Bible has many genealogies, and they include far more than the Messianic line. In school, I memorized the names of the American presidents; my father, born and reared in the old country, had memorized the names of his forefathers from the time of their conversion, over 1600 years. (It helped that they all lived in the same village and were buried in the same churchyard!)

Remember, our Lord Jesus Christ was born into a family, and God Himself uses the language of the family to describe Himself as “our Father” (Mt. 6:9).

It has always baffled me that this does not delight Christians. We should better understand God since we are family members after the flesh. His love for us should be more understandable. We know our own parental joys and griefs, and we can thereby better know God as our Father.

At present, much on the national and United Nations levels is anti-family. The family is regarded as incompetent by a variety of forces determined to make it so.

Our calling in Christ requires us to become godly members of families. True enough, the family and marriage are for time only, but so too is preaching. There are no sermons in heaven! Does that make preaching unimportant?

I believe that a new reformation is under way. Many forces are involved in it. The central one, I believe, is the family. This reformation begins with you.