Latest / Reformed Thinking / Boxed-In Power: Ukraine’s Wartime Governance and the Democratic Survival of Emergency Rule

Transcript

Boxed-In Power: Ukraine’s Wartime Governance and the Democratic Survival of Emergency Rule · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to Reform Thinking.
• 0:01
  It is so good to have you joining us.
• 0:03
  Yes, thanks for tuning in. Today we are taking a step back
• 0:06
  from the the immediate noise of the Daily News cycle.
• 0:09
  Which is loud these days. Very loud.
• 0:12
  Usually when we look at the war in Ukraine, or really any major
• 0:16
  conflict, we get bombarded with headlines about the front lines.
• 0:20
  Troop movements. Weapon deliveries.
• 0:22
  Right. Or we analyze the geopolitical
• 0:24
  chess match between NATO and Russia.
• 0:27
  But today we are going to look at a different kind of
• 0:30
  collision. A much more structural 1.
• 0:32
  Yes, we are focusing on a high stakes clash between the ideals
• 0:36
  of democratic governance and the harsh, bloody reality of Total
• 0:40
  War. And as always on this show, we
• 0:42
  are going to view this collision through a very specific lens.
• 0:45
  The lens of Scripture and the Westminster Confession of Faith.
• 0:48
  It is a vital topic. We often get caught up in the
• 0:51
  narrative of who is winning the battles on the ground.
• 0:54
  Which makes sense. It does make sense, but for the
• 0:56
  Christian observer, the question of how a nation governs itself
• 0:59
  under the crushing pressure of an existential threat is highly
• 1:03
  theological. We are looking specifically at
• 1:05
  Ukraine in this discussion, but the principles here go all the
• 1:08
  way back to Romans 13 and the fundamental nature of man.
• 1:11
  I mean, the central tension we are unpacking today is quite
• 1:15
  stark. How does a nation survive an
• 1:17
  existential threat and invasion without becoming a dictatorship
• 1:21
  in the process? Because war demands speed.
• 1:23
  It demands secrecy. And absolute unity of command.
• 1:26
  But democracy? Democracy is inherently slow,
• 1:29
  right? It involves arguing
• 1:31
  transparency, voting and listening to different
• 1:34
  viewpoints. So when you have a war that
• 1:36
  requires you to shut down some of those democratic functions
• 1:40
  for survival, how do you ensure you can turn them back on again?
• 1:44
  That is the big question. It is what our political science
• 1:46
  source calls a stress test. And we have a fascinating set of
• 1:49
  sources today to help us understand it.
• 1:51
  We have a political analysis that looks legal mechanics of
• 1:54
  Ukraine's martial law, specifically looking at how
• 1:57
  authority gets boxed in. And we also have a sermon text
• 2:00
  titled The Ministry of the Sword, which expounds on Romans
• 2:04
  13. What is really striking to me is
• 2:06
  how well those two sources fit together.
• 2:08
  The political science gives us the how.
• 2:10
  And the theology gives us the why.
• 2:12
  Let's start with that. Why?
• 2:13
  I think for a lot of people the idea of martial law just sounds
• 2:17
  scary. It sounds like the government
• 2:19
  just taking over completely. Right, but our theological
• 2:23
  source makes a pretty bold claim right out of the gate.
• 2:26
  It says the state is not a human invention for creating a utopia.
• 2:30
  No, it is a divine institution. Which means we have to start
• 2:34
  with the doctrine of total depravity.
• 2:36
  Absolutely, if we believe, as the Scriptures teach, that the
• 2:40
  human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.
• 2:43
  Then we understand that society cannot function on the honor
• 2:46
  system. Spot on.
• 2:48
  If there is no restraint, you get what philosophers call the
• 2:50
  war of all against all. You get anarchy.
• 2:53
  And anarchy is not freedom, it is just the strong devouring the
• 2:56
  weak. So the state exists to stop that
• 2:59
  chaos. Precisely.
• 3:01
  The apostle Paul in Romans 13 calls the governing authority
• 3:04
  God's minister. The Greek word there is
• 3:06
  diakonos. The same word we use for Deacon
• 3:09
  in the church. But this Deacon doesn't hand out
• 3:11
  bread and wine. No, Paul says.
• 3:14
  He does not bear the sword in vain.
• 3:16
  And that word for sword machera is very specific.
• 3:19
  It isn't a broadsword for clumsy hacking in a battle.
• 3:22
  Right, it is a short sword used used for execution and for
• 3:26
  police actions. It is a tool of judgement.
• 3:28
  That is a vivid image, the Ministry of the Sword.
• 3:32
  So when we look at Ukraine declaring martial law,
• 3:36
  theologically, we aren't seeing a mere grab for control.
• 3:39
  We are seeing a common grace provision.
• 3:42
  It is the state picking up that sword to protect the innocent
• 3:45
  from slaughter. This is where we have to reject
• 3:47
  what the source calls liberal theology or secular utopianism.
• 3:51
  We don't believe the state is there to perfect mankind.
• 3:54
  Or bring about heaven on earth, the.
• 3:56
  State is there to restrain wickedness.
• 3:58
  When Ukraine invokes emergency authority, they are essentially
• 4:01
  saying that the normal rules of peacetime are not enough to stop
• 4:05
  this massive evil of invasion. So they need to pick up the
• 4:08
  heavier sword. But here is the problem.
• 4:10
  And this is where the political source comes in.
• 4:12
  The person holding that sword is also a Sinner that.
• 4:15
  Is the crux of the matter. The source talks about the
• 4:17
  ratchet effect. Yes, the idea that emergency
• 4:20
  authority is like a ratchet. It turns.
• 4:22
  One way easily, but it doesn't turn back.
• 4:25
  You give a leader the ability to ban protests or control the
• 4:30
  media because of the war. But then once the war is over,
• 4:33
  they might like having that control.
• 4:34
  It becomes routine that. Is why the concept of boxing in
• 4:38
  that authority is so compatible with the reformed worldview.
• 4:42
  Because we believe in total depravity, we do not trust
• 4:45
  leaders with unchecked control. We know that even the best
• 4:49
  minister of God is still a fallen human being.
• 4:52
  So you need constraints, you need a box.
• 4:55
  If you hand someone a sword, you better make sure there are rules
• 4:58
  about when they can use it. And, most crucially, when they
• 5:00
  have to put it down. Let's walk through these stress
• 5:03
  tests in the source material because they really show how
• 5:05
  this works in practice. The first one is legality.
• 5:08
  And honestly, this surprised me. How so?
• 5:10
  Well. When I think of martial law, I
• 5:12
  think of a general just shouting orders.
• 5:14
  Right ruling by decree with no oversight.
• 5:17
  But the source points out that Ukraine didn't do that.
• 5:20
  No, they didn't. They followed a very strict
• 5:23
  legal procedure. It started with Presidential
• 5:26
  Decree number 642022. Now that sounds like boring
• 5:31
  paperwork, but think about what it represents.
• 5:33
  It is a written document. It explicitly lists which
• 5:36
  constitutional rights are being restricted and which ones are
• 5:39
  not. It grounds itself in the
• 5:41
  Constitution. It effectively says that they
• 5:43
  are breaking the normal rules, but they are doing it according
• 5:46
  to the rules. That is a brilliant way to put
• 5:48
  it. Theologically, this reflects the
• 5:50
  nature of God. God is a God of order, not of
• 5:53
  confusion. In Romans 13, the word used for
• 5:56
  authority is exusia. Which means delegated
• 5:59
  jurisdiction. It is not raw force, it is
• 6:02
  authority that has boundaries. By writing down the rules of
• 6:05
  martial law, the Ukrainian government is acknowledging that
• 6:08
  their control is not autonomous. It is delegated.
• 6:12
  It has limits. They are telling the citizens
• 6:15
  that there is a specific box they are operating in.
• 6:18
  That decree even required them to notify international
• 6:21
  partners. It is transparency.
• 6:23
  They are hiding the fact that they're restricting.
• 6:25
  Rights. They are broadcasting it.
• 6:26
  Which is a form of accountability.
• 6:28
  A tyrant doesn't tell you what your rights are or which ones he
• 6:31
  is suspending. He just does what he wants.
• 6:33
  Legality is the first wall of that box.
• 6:36
  The 2nd wall is temporariness. This one really stood out to me
• 6:40
  too. We are years into this war now.
• 6:43
  How can we call it temporary? Well, temporary doesn't mean
• 6:46
  short. What does it mean then?
• 6:47
  It means time bounded. The source points out that
• 6:51
  martial law in Ukraine isn't indefinite.
• 6:54
  It is extended in 90 day increments.
• 6:57
  So every three months the president has to go back to the
• 6:59
  Parliament. The Virkov Narada.
• 7:01
  Yes, the Virkov Narada and ask for permission to keep using the
• 7:06
  sword. That seems really inefficient.
• 7:08
  It does. I mean, if you know the war is
• 7:10
  going to last another year, why not just expend it for a year?
• 7:13
  Because of sin. Because of the frailty of human
• 7:16
  leaders. If you give a leader a year of
• 7:19
  unchecked control, they get comfortable.
• 7:21
  By forcing them to come back every 90 days, you are forcing a
• 7:25
  moment of justification. Have to explain that they still
• 7:28
  need this and why. It is a structural check on that
• 7:32
  tendency of sinners to grab control and never let go.
• 7:36
  It forces them to repeatedly confess in a way that this is an
• 7:40
  emergency, not the new normal. That is an excellent point.
• 7:45
  It creates a discipline of temporariness.
• 7:47
  It reminds everyone from the president down to the average
• 7:50
  citizen that this situation is abnormal.
• 7:53
  And it has an expiration date. Let's move to the third stress
• 7:56
  test oversight this. Is where the rubber really hits
• 7:59
  the road. In a war, oversight feels like a
• 8:01
  massive nuisance you have. Courts, you have Parliament, you
• 8:05
  have the media, all these people asking questions.
• 8:07
  Slowing things down. The temptation is to just shut
• 8:10
  them all up so you can fight the war.
• 8:11
  That is the temptation of efficiency.
• 8:13
  But the Westminster Confession in Chapter 23 speaks directly to
• 8:17
  this. It states that magistrates are
• 8:19
  subject to God and the law. They are not absolute monarchs.
• 8:23
  The source describes an interlocking chain of
• 8:25
  constraints in Ukraine. Even under martial law, the
• 8:28
  parliament still votes on the budget.
• 8:30
  The courts are still operating. They didn't set up extraordinary
• 8:33
  tribunals or kangaroo courts. And civil society is still
• 8:36
  watching. There is a really specific story
• 8:39
  in the source material that illustrates this perfectly.
• 8:41
  The one from July 2025. Yes, the anti corruption crisis.
• 8:45
  This is a critical case study. So here is the setup for you
• 8:49
  listening at home. You have the war raging.
• 8:51
  And suddenly some lawmakers try to push through a bill that
• 8:54
  would curtail the independence of the anti corruption bodies.
• 8:57
  The NABU and the SAPO these. Are the agencies that
• 9:01
  investigate bribery and graft. Which, let's be honest, is a
• 9:05
  massive temptation in wartime. Huge amounts of money are moving
• 9:08
  around for defense contracts. The opportunity for theft is
• 9:12
  incredibly high. Right.
• 9:13
  So the lawmakers try to weaken the watchdogs.
• 9:16
  Now, in a dictatorship, that would be the end of the story.
• 9:19
  The law passes, the watchdogs are defanged, and the stealing
• 9:22
  begins. But what happened in Ukraine?
• 9:25
  Friction happened. The public protested.
• 9:27
  The European Union criticized. It the media reported on.
• 9:30
  It there was immediate, loud pushback.
• 9:33
  And the result. President Zelensky introduced a
• 9:35
  new bill to restore that independence, and it passed.
• 9:39
  This proves the system is working.
• 9:41
  And I love the theological point the source makes here.
• 9:44
  Democratic resilience isn't the absence of sin.
• 9:47
  We shouldn't be shocked that politicians tried to weaken anti
• 9:51
  corruption. Laws.
• 9:52
  That is what sinners do. They try to hide their sin.
• 9:55
  Democratic resilience is the presence of correction.
• 9:57
  That is a great distinction. It's not that the system is
• 10:00
  perfect, it's at the system has a mechanism to fix the
• 10:04
  inevitable mess. Precisely.
• 10:06
  Even leaders we generally support need the restraint of
• 10:09
  law and the eyes of the public. Because no one is immune to the
• 10:12
  temptation of control. That July 2025 incident is a
• 10:16
  massive victory for the concept of oversight.
• 10:19
  But it's not all victories. No, it isn't.
• 10:21
  The source material gets into some darker territory when we
• 10:23
  talk about the fourth stress test rights and information.
• 10:26
  Yes, this is where the Ministry of the sort can start to look a
• 10:30
  bit dangerous. We are talking about the United
• 10:32
  News Telethon. When the invasion first started,
• 10:36
  all the major TV channels combined into one around the
• 10:39
  clock broadcast. It was designed to coordinate
• 10:42
  messaging, stop panic and fight Russian disinformation.
• 10:46
  And honestly, at the beginning it made complete sense.
• 10:49
  It did. It was a defensive measure.
• 10:50
  But now, years later, it is still running.
• 10:54
  And the sources note that groups like Reporters Without Borders
• 10:58
  and the EU are calling for it to end.
• 11:01
  They say it limits pluralism. The trust in it is dropping
• 11:04
  rapidly. The danger here is obvious.
• 11:07
  If the state controls the only microphone, how do you know what
• 11:10
  is true? And this touches directly on the
• 11:13
  9th commandment. We are called to be truth
• 11:15
  tellers. The Reformed tradition places a
• 11:17
  huge value on truth. The danger of a state monopoly
• 11:21
  on information is that it blurs the line between national
• 11:24
  security, which is. Legitimate.
• 11:26
  And protecting the reputation of the rule.
• 11:28
  Which is not. Right, it's one thing to stop
• 11:31
  someone from broadcasting troop movements.
• 11:33
  It's another thing entirely to stop them from reporting that a
• 11:36
  minister bought a luxury car with defense funds.
• 11:39
  That is the key distinction. And the sources also mention
• 11:42
  surveillance. There are reports from the
• 11:44
  Committee to Protect Journalists.
• 11:46
  The February 2026 report. Yes, about surveillance of
• 11:50
  reporters who are investigating corruption.
• 11:51
  That is a clear misuse of the sword.
• 11:53
  The expert source makes a distinction here between the
• 11:58
  terror to evil and tyranny. Yes, Romans 13 says the ruler is
• 12:03
  a terror to bad conduct. Banning a political party that
• 12:06
  is actively helping the invader. You can make a strong
• 12:09
  theological and legal case that is restraining evil.
• 12:13
  That is subversion. But spying on a journalist who
• 12:16
  is exposing your own corruption? That isn't restraining evil.
• 12:19
  That is hiding evil. And that is where the government
• 12:22
  fails its mandate. It stops acting like a diaconose
• 12:25
  a minister. And starts acting like a master.
• 12:27
  We submit to the government. But we submit to it as an
• 12:30
  institution under God. When it steps outside of that
• 12:32
  box, it is our duty as Christians and citizens to speak
• 12:35
  the truth. We don't.
• 12:36
  Revolt into anarchy, but we do call for a return to the law.
• 12:40
  Let's move to the biggest elephant in the room.
• 12:43
  The 5th stress test election. This is the one that confuses
• 12:46
  people the most. It really does.
• 12:48
  I mean, Zelinsky's term technically expired in May 2024.
• 12:53
  And yet he is still there. There have been no elections.
• 12:56
  To a casual observer, that looks very bad.
• 12:58
  It looks undemocratic. It does, until you look at the
• 13:01
  law and the theology of order. The legal side is pretty clear,
• 13:05
  according to the source. The Constitution of Ufraine and
• 13:09
  the laws on martial law explicitly forbid holding
• 13:12
  elections during wartime. And for highly practical
• 13:15
  reasons. How do you hold an election when
• 13:18
  millions of your voters are refugees abroad?
• 13:21
  Hundreds of thousands are in trenches on the front line.
• 13:24
  And your polling stations are active targets for missiles.
• 13:27
  You simply can't. It would be a sham election.
• 13:29
  But then what makes him legitimate?
• 13:31
  If the term is over, isn't he just a guy sitting in an office?
• 13:34
  No. This brings in the principle of
• 13:36
  continuity, the. Constitution says that authority
• 13:39
  continues until a successor is elected.
• 13:42
  It is designed to prevent a vacuum.
• 13:44
  And theologically, this is crucial.
• 13:46
  God hates anarchy. A vacuum during an invasion
• 13:49
  would be disastrous. It would be sinful negligence.
• 13:53
  So staying in office is actually an act of obedience to the law
• 13:57
  in this case. In this specific context,
• 13:59
  absolutely. Walking away would be abandoning
• 14:01
  the post. But, and this is a massive but,
• 14:05
  this only works if there is exit credibility.
• 14:08
  Exit credibility. I really like that phrase.
• 14:11
  It means we need to believe there is a way out.
• 14:13
  Do people need to know that this isn't forever the.
• 14:16
  Parliament and the President have stated that elections will
• 14:18
  happen after martial law ends. They aren't saying no elections
• 14:23
  ever. They are saying not now but
• 14:25
  later. And this brings up a really
• 14:27
  fascinating theological point from our sermon source.
• 14:30
  It talks about the Israel Church distinction.
• 14:32
  Yes, this is vital for keeping our heads.
• 14:35
  Ukraine is not the Kingdom of God.
• 14:37
  It is a secular Republic. We are not looking for a Messiah
• 14:40
  in Kiev. We are not looking for Zelensky
• 14:43
  or any successor to be our savior.
• 14:45
  We often project that, don't we? We want our political leaders to
• 14:49
  be these perfect redemptive figures.
• 14:51
  We do, but the reform view is much more grounded.
• 14:55
  We support the return to ordinary order, elections,
• 14:58
  debates, boring politics. Not because it brings salvation,
• 15:02
  but. Because, as First Timothy 2
• 15:04
  says, it allows for a quiet and peaceable life.
• 15:08
  And that quiet life allows the gospel to be preached freely.
• 15:12
  That is the goal. We want the sword to be put back
• 15:14
  in the sheath so that the Church can do its work.
• 15:16
  We aren't trying to build the new Jerusalem in the dawn best.
• 15:19
  We are trying to preserve a civil society where neighbors
• 15:23
  aren't killing each other. So we have these five tests.
• 15:26
  Legality, temporariness. Oversight.
• 15:29
  Right, and elections. And Ukraine is struggling with
• 15:32
  them, but largely trying to keep the authority boxed in.
• 15:34
  But there is this lingering fear.
• 15:36
  The ratchet effect. We talked.
• 15:37
  About earlier the fear that control, once taken, is rarely
• 15:41
  surrendered voluntarily. The sources admit this is very
• 15:44
  real. War habits are incredibly hard
• 15:47
  to break. Secrecy is addictive.
• 15:48
  Command is addictive. It is human nature.
• 15:51
  It is total depravity rearing its head again.
• 15:53
  That is why the skepticism is healthy.
• 15:55
  We should be skeptical. We should watch the government
• 15:58
  closely. But the sermon source pivots to
• 16:01
  a theological conclusion that I found really comforting.
• 16:04
  Because eventually all these checks and balances might fail.
• 16:07
  A leader might decide to be a tyrant, then what?
• 16:11
  Then we recall that the ultimate limit on the state is not the
• 16:14
  Constitution. It is the return of Christ.
• 16:16
  The sermon source notes that we reject social gospel or
• 16:20
  political utopianism. No matter how well Ukraine
• 16:23
  governs. No matter how boxed in the
• 16:25
  authority. Is you'll never be perfect.
• 16:27
  It will always be a flawed human attempt at order.
• 16:30
  So our hope isn't in the system working perfectly.
• 16:34
  No, our hope is in the blessed hope.
• 16:36
  The premillennial return of Jesus Christ.
• 16:39
  He is the only kid who rules with perfect justice.
• 16:42
  He is the only one who needs no checks and balances.
• 16:45
  Because he has no sin. That puts the stakes in
• 16:47
  perspective. We care about Ukraine's
• 16:49
  democracy. We care about justice.
• 16:52
  But we don't worship it. That's right, the believer in
• 16:55
  Ukraine and the believer watching from the outside has a
• 16:58
  dual duty. We submit to lawful authority.
• 17:01
  We pay our taxes. We pray for our leaders.
• 17:04
  We advocate for justice and the rule of law.
• 17:06
  But we keep our worship reserved for God.
• 17:09
  We don't panic if the state fails.
• 17:11
  And we don't idolize the state when it succeeds.
• 17:13
  It's that balance of being a responsible citizen of earth
• 17:17
  while keeping in mind you are a citizen of heaven.
• 17:20
  That is the reformed way. So to wrap this up, let's recap
• 17:24
  the main take away here. We have looked at Ukraine as a
• 17:28
  test case. They are attempting a rare feat.
• 17:32
  Preserving democracy while suspending it.
• 17:34
  They are trying to use the sword to protect without letting the
• 17:38
  sword devour them. And they're doing it through
• 17:40
  legal constraints. Writing it down, setting time
• 17:42
  limits, keeping the courts open. It is a picture of common grace,
• 17:46
  a messy, imperfect but necessary picture.
• 17:50
  It is, and the key concept is reversibility.
• 17:52
  Can they put the sword down? That is the test.
• 17:54
  And for you listening, I think the challenge is to look at your
• 17:57
  own view of government. Do you see it as a savior?
• 18:00
  Or do you see it as a minister, a necessary, dangerous
• 18:04
  instrument that needs to be watched?
• 18:06
  And do you hold on to the fact that while we watch nations
• 18:09
  struggle for survival, the king is coming?
• 18:12
  That is the thought I want to leave everyone with.
• 18:14
  The headlines are scary, the war is real, but the.
• 18:18
  King is coming. Think about what it means to
• 18:21
  live faithfully in a world where governments hold the sword, but
• 18:24
  Christ holds the future. Amen.
• 18:27
  Thank you for joining us on Reformed Thinking.
• 18:29
  We hope this deep dive gave you a new perspective on the news.
• 18:32
  Keep thinking and keep praying. See you next time.