We must obey God rather than human beings!” (NIV). How do we discern the relation of Christian belief and spirituality to human authority?

Jews in New Testament times already wrestled with this question. Peter expected the high priest and council to agree with him. But people in their position might have held that obeying them equaled obeying God. Not surprisingly, they resisted Peter’s claim that the resurrection of Jesus embodies a direct message from God that is independent of their authority. On the other hand, some of them might have willingly obeyed God rather than Roman authority a few years later when Emperor Caligula ordered a statue of himself placed in the Jerusalem Temple.

In Christianity, the question has been answered differently in different traditions and social circumstances. Established churches with long histories of social status may look askance at claims of direct instructions from God. “Free” churches—Baptists, Quakers, Mennonites, and others—have occasionally undertaken radical acts of nonconformity and civil disobedience. For me personally, Peter’s assertion helped me decide not to cooperate with the draft during the Vietnam War, leading to a short prison term.

In all denominations, however, white Christians mostly see the church as aligned with social and political order and authority. In communities of color, the church may have to defend believers against authorities, or at least mediate between them and the police and courts. It is no accident that African American churches and ministers have held central roles in the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements. Obeying God can mean creative spiritual resistance to oppressive human systems.