When the Apostle Paul asserted his rights as a Roman citizen, he wasn't standing on pride – he was clearing a path for the gospel. That same strategy drove discussions at Sydney Synod this week as members confronted rising threats to freedom of conscience.
A motion to Synod from Dean Sandy Grant affirmed the need for continued advocacy for religious freedom in Australia by appealing to Acts 16, where Paul refused to leave Philippi quietly after being wrongfully imprisoned.
“Have you ever wondered why… when the town officials say, look, you can go – get out of town, Paul and his associates don't just skedaddle but say ‘We are Roman citizens, come and give us an apology’,” the Dean said.
“I don't think it was simply because they were proud people, but it was because they wanted to establish the legitimate place of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire to make it easier, perhaps not for themselves but for those Christians who are left behind.
“Elsewhere throughout the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul appealed to his citizenship rights, and I think it's evident in general terms that he did it for the sake of the gospel.”
The Dean then outlined rising challenges, in our own time, to religious freedoms and the associated freedoms of speech, association and conscience.
He praised the role of Bishop Michael Stead in political engagement through inquiry submissions, legislative review and directly with government ministers and departments.
The motion encourages continued prayer and that funding be set aside in the next three-year budget to support Bishop Stead’s efforts.
“Of course, we will obey God rather than a government if a government directly forbids what God commands or commands what God directly forbids,” the Dean said. “But we prefer not to have to do that, to be able to willingly obey the government. We believe it is good for our society to live in a place that enables us to live, to the very maximum extent, peaceably in accord with our consciences and not to be coerced against our convictions of right and wrong.
“We want to be able to commend Christ without compromise.”
