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From Caesar To God: The Authority Dilemma For Christians

From Caesar To God: The Authority Dilemma For Christians

Last updated on: January 26, 2026 at 2:58 am by Henry Karlson

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From Caesar To God: The Authority Dilemma For Christians 2026-01-26T02:58:23-05:00 Henry Karlson

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40 Martyrs of Sebaste, soldiers who died listening to God instead of believing Caesar has absolute authority over them. Icon uploaded by anonymous “icon painters”: Icon of the Forty Holy Martyrs signed by the Cretan Painter Philotheos Scoufos circa 1665 / Wikimedia Commons

Christians in the earliest era of church history, that is, before Constantine, held an ambivalent view of the military. Many believed no Christian should be a soldier. Others thought Christians could serve so long as what they were ordered to do did not go against Christ’s teaching. Many saw value in military service as long as the military was used for the sake of the common good, enforcing justice (because the military often served as the equivalent to the police in the ancient world). Many soldiers, when they became Christian, left the service, but not all of them. Every Christian, however, understood that their service to God was superior to that of the state, and if a Christian in the military were ordered to do something contrary to the Christian faith, they were expected to disobey what they were told to do. From the second to the early fourth century, Christians in the military often found their faith was put to the test when those in position of power and authority over them, often at the request of the emperor or some local governor, demanded them to offer sacrifices to Caesar, perform other pagan rites, or to search out, arrest, and execute Christians. This is what led to many early-Christian warrior saints: they were those who disobeyed what they were told to do, announced their Christian faith, and then were put to death. Among them, we find such glorious examples of sanctify as St. George, St. Demetrius, and Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Similarly, when many pagan soldiers saw how their fellow comrades-in-arms were treated, those who they had grown to respect and love, they disobeyed orders as well, with many of them becoming Christian on the spot, joining in and becoming a martyr with their fellow soldiers. This is what happened at Sebaste; Aglaius was ordered to stand watch over Christians soldiers who were stripped of their clothing and put in into a freezing lake; they were told if they renounced Christ, they could come out and live. Aglaius, instead of obeying, took off his own clothes and went into the lake with them, dying as he proclaimed his conversion to the Christian faith.

Christianity has always taught that there were limits to the authority of the state. Rulers were put in charge to work for and promote the common good, and with it, to rule with justice; when they did so, Christians were expected to obey them, but when they (and the rule of law) went against the common good, and the justice which flowed from it, such as when they were told to deny Christ in word or in deed, Christians knew they could not do so. They realized the implications behind Christ’s words when he said we are to render to God what is God’s and what is Caesar’s to Caesar. It is not a statement saying Caesar (or the ruler of the state) had absolute authority and everyone is to obey them without question, rather, it was the reverse: f what has the image of Caesar on it is Caesar’s, then what has the image of God on it is God’s. Everyone, every human person, bears God’s image, so everyone is told to stand with and follow God, not human law if someone would have them go against God’s ways. This is why missionary martyrs disobeyed those authorities who told them to leave and not come back, for they believed the whole world was God’s and that those who told them to leave had no authority to do so.

Knowing this, knowing the history of Christianity and the way Christians have always understood the limits of secular authority, I am surprised at how much of this has been forgotten or outright denied by many Christians today. They turn the world into something outside of God’s reign, outside of God’s authority. They deny the image of God in their neighbor. They absolutize the authority of the state. As such, they turn the state into an idol. Those who obey the state when the state tells them to engage some grave injustice are doing the same thing as those Christians who lapsed and sacrificed to Caesar in the ancient world.

God expects Christians to disobey the state when the image of God is being trampled upon by the state, that is, when human rights are violated as the dignity of a human person is denied. Today, that means, if and when the state demands its citizens (or those in the military) to dehumanize and deny basic human rights to migrants, Christians must stand with the migrants, not the state. It means when ICE kills observers, merely because they observed something ICE did not want them to see, Christians must denounce ICE. Doing so, they render to God what is God’s. This is especially the case with Christians in the military. They have to obey God over and above their leaders. Of course, if they are commanded to disobey the rule of law, the law already tells them to reject such orders, which is why those lawmakers who said as much were in the right and should not be investigated by the FBI. It is also why Archbishop Timothy Broglio, a relatively conservative bishop, and the one serves as the Archbishop for the Military Services, told Catholics that they must be ready to refuse illegal orders. Those Christians who stand with the Trump administration, telling soldiers, or Americans in general, that they must obey all that the Trump tells them to do, put the soldiers (and Americans) to the same test as the Christian warrior saints had when they were martyred: will they sacrifice their faith, their morality, to Caesar or will they stand with God?

It is a shame that so many Christians have been led to invert Christ’s teachings, making it as if Caesar has absolute authority over them and their body. Would they have told the warrior saints to obey their orders, to sacrifice to Caesar when told to do so? Would they likewise have told them they must search out, locate, arrest, torture, and execute their fellow Christians because that is what they were ordered to do? If they are consistent with their claims, they would, but it is true, they tend to not be consistent, as they often like to honor and promote the martyrs of the past while attacking the martyrs and confessors of the present. They have no qualms telling Christians to search out, arrest, torture, and even execute fellow Christians, ignoring the image and likeness of God in those they arrest and torture. Unless they repent, they risk suffering the full consequences of such grave sins, which is why I hope and pray they change their ways and work with the rest of us for the common good before it is too late.

* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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