XXXIX.
The Divine Institution of Civil Authority
God establishes civil laws and order as a necessary restraint upon the disordered appetites of humanity.
XXXIX. We believe that God wants the world to be governed by laws and civil order, so that there might be a bridle to restrain the world's disordered appetites.1
The Magistrate as God's Minister
Magistrates are appointed by God to uphold justice and the law, requiring our honor and obedience as his representatives.
Likewise, we believe that He has established kingdoms, republics, and every other kind of principality—whether hereditary or not—along with everything involved in the administration of justice, and that He wants to be recognized as their author. For this reason, He has placed the sword in the hands of magistrates to repress sins committed not only against the second table of God's commandments, but also against the first.2 Therefore, for his sake, we must not only endure that those in authority rule, but also honor and esteem them with all reverence, holding them as his lieutenants and officers, whom he has appointed to exercise a legitimate and holy office.
Read the original French
XXXIX. Nous croyons que Dieu veut que le monde soit gouverné par lois et police, afin qu’il y ait quelque bride pour réprimer les appétits désordonnés du monde. Et ainsi qu’il a établi les royaumes, républiques et toutes autres sortes de principautés, soit héréditaires ou autrement, et tout ce qui appartient à l’Etat de justice, et en veut être reconnu auteur: à cette cause il a mis le glaive en la main des magistrats pour réprimer les péchés commis non-seulement contre la seconde table des commandements de Dieu, mais aussi contre la première. Il faut donc, à cause de lui, que non-seulement on endure que les supérieurs dominent, mais aussi qu’on les honore et prise en toute révérence, les tenant pour ses lieutenants et officiers, lesquels il a commis pour exercer une charge légitime et sainte.
Notes
- 1 ↩Sixteenth-century French police means civil government or public order, not a modern police force. Rendered here as "civil order."
- 2 ↩Rendered as "the administration of justice." In sixteenth-century usage this names the civil/judicial order (the magistracy's office of justice), not a modern nation-state.
French Confession of Faith (Confession de La Rochelle / Gallican Confession) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit