Who Is Caesar to the Church?

This summer, Grace Community Church (GCC) in California, a megachurch pastored by John McArthur, a highly influential leader in American Evangelicalism, issued a statement, "Christ, Not Caesar, is Head of the Church: A Biblical Case for the Duty of the Church to Remain Open." A few weeks later, Bradford Littlejohn, president of the Davenant Institute, a collection of scholars committed to classical Protestantism, posted a widely linked 7,400 word response in which he argued the statement by GCC represented "unsound reasoning" and concluded that McArthur is "a confused shepherd, leading countless sheep straight into the line of fire." At bottom, Littlejohn argues, GCC lacks the expertise to second guess the civil government's closure policies. While GCC's statement does paint too boldly in black and white, Littlejohn's criticism of the statement would seem to have churches defer too reflexively to civil authority, effectively ceding decisions over the spiritual welfare of their congregations to civil government.