Between Two Kingdoms - Westminster Confession Chapter 23

God ordained three institutions for the governance of mankind: family, church, and state. Paul wrote to the Roman church, therefore, that they should obey the emperor and his governors. They owe them honor and obedience and especially taxes of all kinds so that they can carry out their God-given mandate to punish evil and praise what is good. The Bible places a limit on the Christian’s obedience, however. No king can command him to disobey God and expect his obedience. As Peter said when questioned why he had disobeyed a command not to preach about Jesus, “We ought to obey God rather than men (Ac 4:19).” Even though the church teaches its members to obey the law and to be good citizen subjects of the world’s governments, governments often distrust the church because it knows that it can never fully control it.