What Belongs to Caesar, and What Belongs to God
Few phrases in American life are quoted more often or understood less than “separation of church and state.” Some people hear a rule that keeps faith out of public life. Some Christians hear a threat to their faith. The Baptists who fought for this conviction meant neither. They meant that Christ rules His churches, that no government may rule the soul, and that no one should be jailed, whipped, or taxed for the way he worships God.
The conviction that Christ governs His churches through His Word, that civil government has no authority over the soul or the worship of God, and that neither institution may rule the other. It separates two institutions. It does not separate believers from public life, or any nation from God's authority.
Jesus drew the line Himself. His enemies tried to trap Him with a question about taxes, so He asked to see a coin.
“Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”MATTHEW 22:19–21 · KJV
Caesar is owed something real, and Christians pay it. But the coin carried Caesar's image, and the man holding it carried God's (Genesis 1:27). Government may collect the coin. It has no claim on the soul.
This conviction was not free. Baptists, and the free churches before them, paid for it with fines, jail, the whip, and their lives. It builds on soul liberty: because every person answers to God, no ruler can answer for him.
If a government could make every citizen a Christian by law, would that fill heaven? Scripture says no, and that answer is where this whole conviction begins.
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For Deeper Study
- Soul Liberty: The Baptists' Struggle in New England, 1630–1833Amazon William G. McLoughlinA historian's account of the long Baptist fight against the New England establishments. Written by a scholar, not from a Baptist conviction.
- Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and StateAmazon Daniel L. DreisbachA careful study of the Danbury letter, what Jefferson meant by it, and how the courts have used it. Written for general readers as well as scholars.
- Roger Williams and the Creation of the American SoulAmazon John M. BarryA historian's account (2012) of Williams's struggle for liberty of conscience. Barry writes as a historian, not as a Baptist or a theologian.
- A Short Declaration of the Mystery of IniquityAmazon Thomas Helwys, ed. Richard GrovesThe primary source, in a modern edition from Mercer University Press. Helwys is fierce toward Rome and the Church of England, and that is part of the point: he pleaded for the freedom of those he opposed.
- The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist WitnessAmazon H. Leon McBethThe standard one-volume Baptist history, with full treatment of religious liberty. McBeth dates Baptist beginnings to the 1600s, and we differ with that framing.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Soul Liberty and the Priesthood of Every Believer
Every soul is free from human force in matters of faith because every soul must answer to God, and every believer may come to God through Christ alone, yet this freedom is answerability to God, never a license to believe anything.
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