Shall We Gather at the River?

It's 2021 and the debate continues. Should we ignore the rules of the government and the instructions of Romans 13 and meet or should we observe the rules and ignore the Scripture that says that we are not to neglect to meet together (Heb 10:25)? Both sides are adamant. Which is it? I'm not going to tell you. I will take a look, though, and see what I see. I begin this with the clear statement that lots of genuine believers that I respect disagree on this question. Keep that in mind.

First, the Romans 13 (et al) rule. "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." (Rom 13:1-2) What's interesting to me is that almost without exception the first response to the simple presentation of that text is, "Yes, but, we know that's not always the case." Genuine, God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians immediately go to the exception rather than the rule. So, please, pause a moment. Take in the intensity of the statement. Include the fact that Paul was writing during a period of very bad government. Include Peter's "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good." (1 Peter 2:13-14) Remember that this same Peter was the one that gave you your "exception clause."

Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)

But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

So this is the exception rule and not the standard rule. When human authority commands obedience that requires disobedience to God's direct commands, then we have an exception. In no other case do we find such an exception. (You won't find a "right to bear arms" command in Scripture, for instance.)

So, does Scripture give us a command from God regarding church-going that would be the exception rule? When the government tells us, "You can't gather in your churches" are we receiving a direct contradiction to a command from God or are we simply responding as "Americans with rights"? (Violating my constitutional rights is not in the biblical exception clause.) Well, perhaps there is such a command. The author of Hebrews told us that we must not be "neglecting to meet together" (Heb 10:25). Well, there it is, plain as day. It is our biblical command from God to gather enmasse on Sunday at our local church. And we will do it because "We must obey God rather than men."

Interestingly, we have largely rejected that argument until COVID. Church attendance has declined. While some studies suggest 40-50% of Christians attend church regularly, others suggest it's closer to 20%. If you modify that to "belong to a local church," the numbers decline even further. Until COVID, more than 80% of self-professed Christians were largely keeping church at arms length. Now we're taking the holy high ground?

Then we consider the text itself. Turns out it does not say we need to attend church on Sundays. It doesn't specify how many we are supposed to gather with. It doesn't say where we are supposed to gather. It does say that the point is to encourage one another (Heb 10:25), that it should be "to stir one another to love and good works" (Heb 10:24), and that it is to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering" (Heb 10:23). Seems like we're much more concerned about taking back a building than engaging in the biblical purpose of that meeting together thing.

I see mistakes here on both sides. One side says, "No church is a good thing." They are perfectly contented to neglect gathering at all for fellowship. This is clearly and absolutely a violation of Scripture (read "sin"). On the other side, they are using the phrase "meet together" to mean a much more detailed thing -- "gather on Sunday morning at the address of our local church building without restriction" -- than the text allows. And in neither case is the point being observed -- to hold fast the confession, to stir up love in one another, and to encourage one another.

As I said, I'm not answering the question for you. I think, personally, there are deeper problems at hand and whether or not you attend the local Baptist building on Sundays with the Christian minority is not the first one. I think we believers need to reconsider what Scripture says church is for and what we're supposed to be doing there. (Hint: It isn't aimed at the coolest band or the most charismatic preacher or even "our 1st Amendment rights".) Perhaps there is some thought and prayer and repentance that needs to be occurring over there, first.