Some have tried to justify civil disobedience by pointing to Hebrews 10:25, the charge to the church not to neglect or forsake assembling. Mistakes done in ignorance are one thing, but when the learned do such things it comes dangerously close to finding a proof-text for personal
pretext. That is not how teachers are to handle the Scriptures, let alone oversee the flock of God. (James 3:1 warns that not many should become teachers in the church. For teachers will be judged more strictly.)
The Ten Commandments have no exceptions. However, from a Confessional perspective there are numerous applications for each of the Ten Commandments. In principle, the Ten Commandments are exhaustive in that all true transgressions fall under them, but not each commandment is one of the Ten Commandments. For instance, adultery is sin. There is no case in which it is not. However, the Seventh Commandment in application includes the sin of immodest apparel and the undue delay of marriage. What constitutes immodest apparel and undue delay of marriage is not always obvious. Adultery simpliciter is always obvious. Another principle to keep in mind that has wide reaching implications is that one can possibly know that someone has dressed immodestly without knowing here on earth where the modest-immodest line is drawn in heaven. In fact, I’m quite sure there isn’t just one line for immodesty. It’s obviously situational. It’s potentially infinite. (e.g. A wife in her swimsuit in a jacuzzi with only her husband is not the same thing as wearing a swimsuit to congregational worship.) But such finitude regarding our knowledge of the stark lines of demarcation does not make anyone less responsible to remain modest, or less culpable for immodesty.
The point is simply this. The command not to forsake the assembling of the church is not one of the Ten Commandments but an application of both tables of the law – love for God and love for man. Though no less binding in its true meaning, it is exceedingly more difficult to parse in application. Yet again, one needn’t know the precise line in order to know it hasn’t yet been crossed. Like all applications of the moral law, it’s multi-faceted. When it’s time to disobey we can potentially know it without being able to define the line of demarcation, as if there were only one line to discern! We don’t always need theoretical understanding in the present given that God is often pleased to give us the grace of practical understanding at the time of testing (Luke 12:12). As with cases of immodestly, so it is here; there is no single line for disobeying God’s sovereign ordination of civil magistrates (even evil Caesars). The variables that make up the philosophical states of affairs are infinite. Also, applications of the law are not to be imposed as binding in the same way as the Ten Commandments. For instance, the Eighth Commandment forbids stealing. Whereas an application of the commandment is moderation of earthly goods. A wife may not submit to her husband if he tells her to steal. Yet a wife, after making her case to her husband not to incur an extravagant expense, may in good conscience co-sign a loan and in good faith thank God for the providential benefits of the unwise financial decision of her husband (perhaps a suitable home for her and her children). However, it would be hard to see how she could thank God for her stolen jewelry. Again, there is a relevant difference between the law proper and how it binds, and an application of the law and how it binds. (Fundamentalists conflate the two without even wincing. In doing so they bind the consciences of the sheep by establishing a righteousness of their own. Whereas the Reformed are generally more theologically nuanced and careful.)
Although we might not know such lines, we aren’t ignorant of certain defining principles. What we do know is that if we are being required to sin, then we must disobey (which in turn complicates things further because of the innumerable considerations of how we might best disobey as unto the Lord). We also know that we may forgo our rights, even our religious freedoms, if our motives are according to other biblical precepts. After all, Jesus did. Not all injustices must be fought. Jesus called Peter “Satan” for wanting to fight the injustice of Jesus’ imminent murder by crucifixion. We also do well to remember that the assembling of the church is not an end but a means to many things, not the least of which is the encouragement of believers. Christians are to provoke each other unto love and good works. A primary way (but not the only way) of doing that is by public assembly on the Lord’s Day. The charge of Hebrews 10:25 is contextualized by the principles set forth in Hebrews 10:24.
Inconsistency can sometimes expose pretext…
On occasion congregational Lord’s Day worship is cancelled due to inclement weather. It is also true that on occasion congregants feel too sick or are in too much physical pain to venture out to worship. Such decisions are at least based upon considerations that pertain to personal and public safety, welfare of others and personal comfort. Yet in all such cases, a choice is being made, whether corporately or individually, not to assemble. Therefore, if decisions not to assemble do not necessarily entail sin, then we may not simply point to Hebrews 10:25 as a text requiring Christians to assemble regardless of circumstance. In other words, if not all decisions not to assemble equate to the sin of “forsaking” assembly, then we must work harder to apply the Scriptures to this current age as it applies to COVID and government.
We must forsake hijacking the meaning of forsaking…
In Hebrews 10:25 the “forsaking” (“neglecting” or “giving up”) of assembling is an outright willful desertion by some. Forsaking entails a willful exchange of spiritual things for earthly things. Unlike Demas who had “forsaken” (or “deserted”) the Apostle Paul for this present age, the church is not forsaking her assembling for the charms of deceit, the glitter of the age. The church is not forsaking heavenly worship for earthly pleasure. Quite the opposite. The Bride of Christ longs to assemble as the congregation of God. Far from forsaking congregational worship (as is the manner of some) – the church militant, whose weapons are spiritual not carnal, is instead patiently waiting upon the Lord her God to deliver her from this present providence. That is not sin. That is sanctified hope, which is always under good regulation before God.
If one thinks we are sinning in the face of an absolute command not to forsake assembling together, then it’s incumbent upon such a one to explain how it was not sin on day one and what has changed in principle to make it sin today. (Beware of those who cite differences that are not relevant distinctions.) How have things now become a willful abandonment of the spiritual for the earthly? (Play close attention, Bothers and Sisters. As soon as one’s decision is based upon the supposed absurdity of the CORONA statistics or anything that resembles “enough is enough” or even the imposition of tyrannical rule(!), he has made the criteria to break the civil-law, which is ordained by God, reasons other than personal sin. If that is acceptable, then it must be nuanced from Scripture.) There is a place for reasoning with and even expressing opposition to the civil magistrate, but when the criteria for civil defiance becomes our rights, even our Christian rights purchased by Christ, which Christians have throughout the ages have been willing to forgo as unto the Lord even under severe persecution (which this is not), the criterion fails to be a biblical one unless it can be shown in Scripture. (The law of love is relevant, which I touch upon here.) If we were required not to teach in the name of Christ Jesus, then that is something we must disobey. We have Bible for that (Acts 5:26-29). But by the mercies of God, whatever the criteria, I dare say we aren’t close to being forbidden to invoke the name that is above all names.
Moreover, we must distinguish between a direct imposition upon the church that comes from without and an imposition that is the indirect byproduct that comes from another lawful sphere of government that’s acting within its boundaries, even if unwisely. We are suffering under the latter, not the former.
(As an aside, if it has been determined that it is absolute sin for a church not to assemble, then there’s no relevant reason regarding the decision at hand to consult attorneys, for the consequences have no bearing when sin is being required. There can be other biblical reasons to consult legal counsel but they shouldn’t pertain to the consequences of the decision.)
God is providing…
Even during the trial of the pandemic, in God’s mercy and grace he has provided other ways to fulfill the law of love set forth in Hebrews 10:24. Moreover, a little reality check might be in order. We are by no means suffering even close to the first century elect exiles of the Dispersion (i.e. the Christian Jews – the strangers scattered throughout regions of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia). The extended first century promise to us should require less faith than the faith of the Apostle Peter’s immediate audience. We have it on good authority that after we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us. Amen and Amen.
