About this book

Tobias Riemenschneider

Thisbook is a compilation of statements, sermons, lectures, etc., that I wrote or gave, or at least played a significant role in writing, regarding the restrictive state measures during the Covid crisis and the response of a large part of the church in this regard. This book was first published in German. And even though many of the contributions printed in this book come from a German context, I am confident that they will also be useful for Christians from other countries, because the fundamental problems we face are the same everywhere. I am therefore exceedingly grateful to Dr. Joe Boot and the brothers of Ezra Press for publishing this book in English. For a better understanding, I would like to briefly explain in advance the context in which the respective texts were created.

The state measures during the Covid era were unprecedented in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Never before had the state infringed so massively, and for so long, on virtually all the fundamental rights of citizens – with still incalculable consequences. The state revealed itself to be authoritarian and repressive in a way that had seemed unimaginable in the Western world. All the more shocking was the reaction of most churches: Largely uncritically, they obeyed the state orders, from distancing, masking, and testing mandates to bans on worship, singing, and the ordinances. But, as if that were not enough, a number of pas- tors, Bible scholars and seminary professors were found, calling on Christians to submit to the state’s measures, claiming that this was their biblical duty.

In Germany, for example, more than fifty men, some of them very respected, published the thesis paper “Keeping Jesus in the Center – Despite Corona,” in which they appealed to Scripture to legitimize the state’s injustice and called on Christians to submit to whatever measures the state imposed. The statement “Keeping Jesus in the Center – Precisely Because of Corona” (Part 1 of this book), which my co-pastor Peter Schild and I published on March 9, 2021, is opposed to this thesis paper and aims to provide Christians with a biblical argumentation against the theologically and exegetically deficient statements of the thesis paper and, thus, to assist them pastorally.

The key biblical passage cited by the advocates of subordination to the state’s measures, and which we therefore also had to deal with in depth, are the first verses of the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is astonishing how these verses were repeatedly misinterpreted (consciously or unconsciously), not only in the Covid era but also in history, to justify unconditional obedience to the state. The sermon “Submission and Resistance” (Part 2 of this book), which I preached on March 21, 2021, therefore interprets these and related Scripture passages in detail and shows both the scope and the limits of the biblical command to submit to the state. I have deliberately refrained from adapting the wording of the sermon too much for the printed version. The printed version thus corresponds, apart from minor changes, to what was actually preached, because I want to preserve the character as a sermon, even if this means that some formulations are unusual for a written version.

About This Book

Towards the end of 2021, the situation in Germany came to a head. Politicians and the media – and thus most of society –had settled on the idea that “the unvaccinated” were to blame for the spread of infection and the “no-alternative” measures taken by the state. Hatred of the new scapegoats was propagated ever more blatantly by politicians and the media. They were vilified as science-deniers and conspiracy theorists. They were accused of tyranny and terrorism. Politicians demanded that their pensions be cut off and that they be excluded from society, and this happened more and more, until finally they were even forbidden to enter stores. Graffiti on walls of big cities even read, “Gas the unvaccinated” – a dreadful call against the backdrop of the German Holocaust. All this culminated in the statement of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that for him there are “no more red lines” (i.e., in the war against the “unvaccinated”). I don’t know that a German chancellor has ever issued such a threat against a part of his own population – at least not after 1945. And all of a sudden, all those in authority at the federal and state levels announced the implementation of vaccine mandates for the entire German population, even though days earlier they had claimed that no one had any intention of doing so. And, in fact, vaccine mandates were introduced, at least for certain state employees (e.g., in the military) and employees in certain institutions in the health and care sector (employees of hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) The fear among the people who refused the shot for various reasons was literally palpable, and quite a few of them thought about fleeing the country.

In this situation, my co-pastor Peter Schild and I felt compelled to pastorally assist our afflicted brothers and sisters, who often could not hope for any understanding from their church-