Retrospective: UK Pastor John-William Noble on the Church, the State and a biblical response to the covid era

From November 2021

Nov 01, 2024

Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)

Well, here is something worth listening to…

This November 2021 address (transcript below)1 from Pastor John-William Noble of Grace Baptist Church in Aberdeen, provides wider context for Dr Liz Evans’ call to urgent action featured in this post:

An urgent call for action

November 1, 2024

Read full story

Introduction

It would be an interesting case study if we were to go back maybe around about two years, and present to church leaders across our world… the crisis that was going to happen. And the crisis that I’m speaking of is not a global pandemic but the crisis of much of what the church of Jesus Christ is called to do and to be being limited, being restricted, or being outright stopped.
Now if you think that that maybe sounds like a slight exaggeration, let me just begin by reading from a series of Scripture verses to explain what has been limited, restricted or stopped.
First of all, one that is very well known to us — Hebrews 10:24… the gathering of the Lord’s people:
And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Then we have a pastor’s calling to shepherd the flock among him — 1 Peter 5:2:
Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain but eagerly…
Then we have the proclamation of the word of God — 2 Timothy 4:2:
Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
Then there is the command to sing — Ephesians 5:19:
…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.
And admonishing in song — Colossians 3:16:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And then there’s the call to make disciples and baptise them — Matthew 28 19-20:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold! I am with you always to the end of the age.

As it happens, those words are carved in stone at the front of the church I attend, several metres wide, just below where the preacher stands.

And then we have the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. What a time to remember the Lord’s death and to proclaim this and to meet together with the family of Christ, a spiritual blessing to us all — 1 Corinthians 10:16-17:
The cup of blessing that we bless — is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break — is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread. We who are many are one body, for we all partake of one bread.
And 1 Corinthians 11:33:
So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
And then there’s evangelism, including the sending of the local church — Romans 10:14-15:
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed. And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
And then there is the engine room of the church — corporate prayer. Of the many texts that could have been chosen, Acts 12:12:
When he realised this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
And then there’s welcoming church members into the family of the Lord — Galatians 2:9:
And when James and Cephas and John, who seem to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
There’s also the loving practice of church discipline — Matthew 18:17:
If he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
There’s also the ability to take up a collection on the Lord's day with joy — 1 Corinthians 16:1-2:
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia so you also are to do on the first day of every week. Each of you is to put something aside and store it up [so] he may prosper that there be will be no collecting when I come.
Also there is the care for the church family and for the vulnerable and the needy, the need to love our neighbour — Matthew 25:36:
I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
Also in James 1:27:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
And then also 1 Peter 4 9:
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
That’s not the end of the lengthy list of what has been restricted, what has been stopped over the past 21 months.
As we consider what may the reaction of the church to hear of that two years ago been like, we then come to think, as we begin today, what has the reaction of the church been. And the reaction of the church has been often silence or sometimes willing compliance. There has been a distinct lack of engagement with the issues, hiding behind the need for government compliance. And where shepherds… pastors have not been leading their congregations, they have been reacting and continuing to react to a situation unfolding that is becoming increasingly alarming by the month.
Now as I prepare to address the current situation that we’re in, and the threat of a vaccine passport mandate even infiltrating the church of Jesus Christ, the reality of what is going to be proclaimed here in these coming minutes is something that will not be winning me many friends amongst fellow church leaders. It could well even be that, for some here in this room, that not only are you confronting foolishness in your decision-making, but that you have sinned before the Lord in the way in which you have led — or rather not led — your church.
And I cannot make any apology for this, because every one of us — myself included — must reflect very seriously not on what we think maybe needed to happen but [on what] the word of God commands us to do, because we’re coming to a juncture now where, if we continue in this trajectory as local churches, as church denominations, as state churches, they are going to look far more like synagogues of Satan than the church of Jesus Christ.
Now if you are a church leader that says “Well, I’m the sort of person that doesn't know about vaccinations… I don’t understand this covered situation… I’m all about preaching the gospel…” well, friends, what we must understand is everything that has been being restricted over the past two years has been about restricting the proclamation of the gospel.
Do we feel the severity of this? This is why, at this point, as we come before God’s word, we must understand that we need to dial it back and understand very clearly what it is that the Scriptures teach. Is there any way in which the Scriptures can endorse some of the things that have been being done. And if not, then what has been done that has been wrong must be repented of. And what must now be done must be very much in line with the word of God. And the reality is going to be that for many churches this will mean a changing of track, a changing of direction, even a coming before the church and saying, “This was wrong, and this is where we must go.”
So as we as we prepare to begin this, I’m not going to run through what has happened over the past 21 months… I’m not going to speak explicitly about the vaccination… What we’re going to be considering today are the biblical arguments in relation to church and then state and then as we come specifically to the vaccination mandate. And we’re going to address this with a series of four questions as we work our way through.
If I can invite you to turn to Romans 14… from verse 1:
This is the word of God.
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Now what’s going on in this text? Well, just very briefly, there’s an issue that Paul is addressing here in Romans chapter 14 between two different groups that have a difference of opinion regarding what should be eaten.
So there’s one group that believes they should only be eating vegetables… they’ve got what could be described as a slight legalistic hang-up. And Paul describes them… quite interestingly, as those who are weak in faith… the weak person… the one who is weak in faith.
Now we see this in verse 2 where there’s this contrast being drawn up. But then verse 3 is quite important, because we go on to read, “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains past judgment on the one who eats…” So what is Paul’s focus here? His focus is upon the unity of the body of Christ, where one group have one feeling or conviction, and another group has another one.

Is it a sin not to get vaccinated?

Now this is going to be an important text for especially the first two questions that we’re going to ask here this morning. The first question we’re going to ask is: is it a sin not to get vaccinated? This is the first question we need to ask and we need to understand clearly, biblically, how to answer [it]…
Now we’re going to understand why that question is so important when we come to matters of conscience in a few minutes. But first of all we’re asking: is it a sin not to get vaccinated?
We’re asking about this word sin, so we need to describe what defines sin. When we talk about the word sin we mean breaking God’s law. We mean defying God… going against what the Lord commands. So if the Lord commands something in his word, we are to do it.
As Christians by the grace of God we know now that Christ has fulfilled the law in the sense of some of the ceremonial and judicial laws that the people of Israel would have obeyed and followed before the new covenant. We no longer need to obey them, but we must still obey God’s moral law. And still our obedience to God now as Christians — as disciples of Jesus Christ — is upon the authority of what he commands in Scripture to the glory of his name and for the sanctification of his people.
So, for example, when we are to see that there are to be no idols — we’re to have no gods before the great, mighty God… whom we worship — these are commands that we are to obey, just as we are not to commit adultery… we’re not to steal and so on.
But let me give you another example. If I as a church pastor were to say to my congregation, “You must not drink alcohol and you must not enter into a nightclub…” Now some here may say, “Well, that sounds like wise counsel.” But that is not a command of the living God. In that instance it could be wise counsel for the sake of one’s sanctification.
Similarly, another different type of example. If I were to say to everyone here, “You must get 30 minutes of exercise a day because your body is a temple to the Lord…” Again the 30 minutes exercise may be wise counsel, but it is not a binding law of the Lord. It wouldn’t be sinful to not get 30 minutes of exercise a day.
Now therefore, if we follow this biblical argument, there is nothing in Scripture that in any way can argue that we must, according to God’s law, be vaccinated. This is important to stress, because if you have church leaders who are even encouraging you to get vaccinated, the first line of defence in the context of that situation is biblically to say, “This is not something commanded of God. Therefore it would not be a sin for me not to get vaccinated.”

Do Christians have a moral obligation to be vaccinated?

Now the next question — and this is a lot more close to where probably many have been — do Christians have a moral obligation to be vaccinated? Do they have a moral obligation? Are people here today who have not been vaccinated not meeting the moral obligation that is being given by church leaders and whoever else may be saying it?
Now at this point I want to read something from a confession of faith that my church — reformed and Baptist — would uphold, because it is so relevant to this very point. It’s from the London Baptist Confession of Faith. It’s in Chapter 21 and it says:
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his word or not contained in it, so that to believe such doctrines or obey such commands out of conscience is to betray true liberty of conscience. And the requiring of an implicit faith, an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also.
Let’s go back to one of the verses they quote, Romans 14:4, which says:
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Now some people have said and argued — many church leaders, sadly, that I have read — [that] we as Christians have a moral obligation to do this. And this has been their argumentation for lockdowns, mask-wearing, distancing and anything else that the government and the scientists have thrown the church’s way.
Here is where that breaks down biblically in a very fundamental sense. If we’re talking about a moral obligation, we must clearly explain upon what and whose authority. We’ve already established it is not a sin not to get vaccinated. So by saying we have a moral obligation… a moral obligation to who — to the living God? — when we see very clearly as a matter of conscience that the Lord alone is the Lord of the conscience…
If someone would say in response then, “Well, it’s about doing the right thing. It’s the right thing to get vaccinated and to do all these things because this is the way by which we can love our neighbours”… what we’ve already seen from what the Scripture verses we read at the start… the issue of these issues of mask wearing and vaccinations as we’re going to unpack more are led first of all into the area of conscience. But when we look the other side with all of the things that have been commanded of the Lord regarding corporate worship and what the church has commanded to be, and we are not able to do them, that is where we are being bound and restricted in a way that goes against God.
Now the reason why this is such an important point at this juncture is because church after church, church leader after church leader, has adopted this posture of moral obligation. “We are obliged to do it. It is the right thing to do.” But the foundation is not the word of God. The focus is not to the glory of God. Yes, some people may want to wear masks and get vaccinated, believing they’re loving their neighbour and so on. But as far as that can go in a biblical sense… that is based on their conscience… how can they possibly argue that they then bind the consciences of others? Yes, we are facing a society that wants to bind our conscience, but dare we see that enter the church of Jesus Christ?

What if the government or the state commands it?

This is where we come to the third question, and this is when we really need to address, “What’s going on here?” And that is: what if the government or the state commands it? What if it becomes mandatory to have vaccine passports in society in the church? And it’s mandatory even, as is now the case in certain countries, for us to get vaccinated.
Now let’s just stop and realise why this question has probably been even more divisive within the church. Most churches that have sought to engage with this topic on some biblical realm have not set out to bind people’s consciences. I would confidently say that many church leaders who have done things that I believe are foolish and sometimes sinful have not been setting out to defy Scripture and bind conscience and so on. But the default position has been a proof texting of Romans 13 and an almost blind compliance of everything that our government has said.
Now we obviously don’t have time to unpack a text like Romans 13, and I’m sure many of you have done much study of that. But one thing that has been very clear, if we’ve been studying texts like that with some depth and clarity. is that the government's authority is not absolute.
It should be quite evident that that is the case. And even further than that, we also understand that the laws that governments should be doing, according to Scripture, should derive from God’s divine law. And that’s increasingly something that we do not see taking place. So it’s very important then for church leaders — in response to the question “Should we do it if the government says?” — that at first base we are taking time to analyse and… do it critically in this regard… the government and what they are stipulating.
The governments of the United Kingdom are not governments that are seeking to honour and glorify God. They are governments that are attacking the very word of God. Let’s just establish this with a few examples. We have governments that are brutally murdering the unborn, and calling it healthcare. They’re redefining gender and mutilating genitals, and calling it love. They’re taking further control, limiting our freedoms in the name of our public safety and for the sake of health.
Our governments are the ones who are mandating things in the name of science, but science has been redefined because it’s not now dealing with falsifiable facts. Science has become an ideology that we must accept. And where the State news — the channels like the BBC, Sky and so on — have been nothing more than the propaganda machinery that’s spouting out the latest narrative that we are being expected to follow.
This is in no way an exaggeration or a conspiracy theory. This is exactly what we are facing in our land from this government. And the word of God is clear in response to this. We heard this being prayed at the beginning — Romans 12:2. For us as Christians it says:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Friends, as we look out at what our government has been doing, and is now in the process of doing at this stage, we come then to the issue of the vaccine mandate where they want to literally create a two-tier society with a medical apartheid and a seemingly digital passport ID system that is designed to divide and conquer. This is what our government is doing in the name of public health. And what would the church’s response be? Is it still silence? Is it still compliance, because “We’re a Romans 13 church”? We can begin to see, as we get to this stage, how ridiculous this has been.
Now if you’re one of these church leaders or if you’re part of a church that has been saying, “This has not been the time to fight…” two things I would say…
The first thing is: we were in this fight from the beginning, and churches have not woken up to that reality. So if you’re thinking, “Well, maybe this is now the time to fight, now they’re addressing the vaccine passport thing, the first thing we need to do is address the error in what has been done up until now. And the reason is because the very nature of these government mandates, and the direction forward, from setting a lockdown in response to a spreading of a virus, this at the grassroots back in March of last year was designed to bind and restrict in a way that we are not to be. 1 Corinthians 7:23:
You were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men.
Now what are we as Christians? We are people who have been set free from the curse of the law. We are set free from the grip of Satan. We are set free from the wicked grip of men. And we are now set free for Jesus Christ. If we believe that… if we stand on that… then Galatians 5:1 rings true:
For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
And so it is not enough for the church to be silent and to silently disagree with this. We must be vocal and clear that this goes against the word of God. This goes against how God has designed us. God has designed us as a people to have fellowship with each other. God has designed us to mix together. God has designed us with immune systems. Now when we realise these realities, then we come to the issue of vaccination and matters of the conscience, and we understand before even vaccination… we think about what churches have been doing in the name of Romans 13.
There must be a very clear biblical analysis of what has been done. If your church, for example, has said that you must wear a mask because of Romans 13, because the government have said so, then what this church is communicating is that the government — this wicked government — have the right to bind your conscience. And yet we go back to what is stated in [the] Confession, and we see in the word of God that God alone is Lord of the conscience.
So yes, if someone feels it right to go into church and wear a mask because they feel they’re doing it in good conscience, then so be it. But if you are to enter into a church, and you believe in good conscience that you… should not be wearing a mask, and that you should be having Christian fellowship, you should be singing praise to God, well we see in the word of God, this is what you’re commanded, called to be. And for governments then church leaders to hide behind governments to stipulate something else, that is going against the word of God.
Now we should make clear… Governments can bind their consciences. Governments could take us away in a van and enforce an injection into us. They can do that. It would be wicked. It would be tyrannical. But when we then see that being the posture adopted by the church of Jesus Christ, [those espousing that view] must repent before the living God. If you’re thinking, “Well, I’ve made some mistakes. I’ve mandated the masks” and so on and so forth, then you must repent before God and bring this to your congregation. How can you possibly suddenly stand today and say, “We’re going to fight vaccine mandates?” You’re a walking contradiction to everything that’s gone before. This is how serious this is.
On this topic of mask wearing and vaccine passports, before we think explicitly about the church response, one other thing just to mention… We do see [again] very clearly in Romans 14:4:
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.
If there are people who you know who have been vaccinated, one thing that is important to challenge is the reason why. Yes, we are not to make judgments based on the word of God, as we see here, of one’s conscience. But the word of God is making clear this is about our conscience before the Lord. So if people are getting vaccinated because they’re being coerced… if they’re being vaccinated without having looked into what’s being put into this thing, and the danger that this may have upon our bodies, then the challenge that I would present to such people is: are you getting vaccinated with a good conscience before the Lord? Or are you getting vaccinated in order to have a right standing with the government?
That’s a serious challenge to bring to the table. Because as Christians in the West we have been used to be living like atheists for far too long, as though the here and now will last forever, and we must repent of our idolatry. Many people are getting vaccinated because they don’t want the pillars of their idolatry to smash down before them.
Brothers and sisters, friends, what matters? The word of God matters. And if it means the loss of our freedoms… if it means even that society as we know it blows up… we never get to go on holiday again, we don’t get to go into our favourite restaurants again and so on… that we have a good conscience before the Lord, that we give glory to God… then let the church of Jesus Christ stand on this truth.
And this takes us to our final question.

How should the church respond?

How should the church respond? Well, we’ve already noted the first point: where, as church leaders, we believe we have been foolish, or [we have] even sinned against the Lord, we must repent.
As a church last year though, we didn’t own our own building… it was more difficult. We had a period of time where we were meeting online for a prayer meeting, and I repent for that. That was foolishness. And how much I can give testimony to [that]… Yes, we challenged the government, but how important it was for my church in Aberdeen to reconcile the reality that we could be fined… I could even go to prison… for gathering in secret to worship the Lord. But there wasn’t a second doubt or hesitation about doing so because this is what God commands.
And even though this year our church has grown so much, one of the sweetest memories I have is of a group of saints meeting in secret breaking bread together, worshiping the lord without the stain of the fear of death hanging over us, but the joy of knowing that there is no fear in Jesus Christ.
And so with that we consider then the response, and we must understand as church leaders, as churches, we are not looking to the government and the ideology of science for the answers. We have the word of God. 1 Timothy 3:15:
If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
If we stand upon this truth then how dare we have our churches being filled with a sense of fear, where we’re coming in like… zombies, sitting metres apart, not allowed to speak, and then out another door because the covid committee have okayed it. What an utterly pathetic sight.
This is the reality this is the reality of where we’re at. Are these the churches that are now going to have the courage like lions to take on the government over vaccine mandates. No, brothers and sisters, there needs to be a complete change of tract here. [We need to] get some biblical clarity into view because we stand upon the word of God. This is the pillar of truth and where the fear of death is no more, where the Christian does declare, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Do we believe this? Do we believe this in our full PPE, as we’re getting the QR codes out, welcoming people in the door. It’s an abomination in the house of God [applause]… an absolute abomination in the house of God.
Now brothers and sisters, at this point what we must understand here is what unites the church. Perhaps even some people here are coming because they agree with the stance against the government but they don[t really see the reason or foundation for what brings a church together.
Let's be very clear. The church of Jesus Christ is not united by our viewpoints and vaccination, so how can it possibly be divided by it? If in any way churches are trying to segregate people based on mask-wearing or vaccination status or — even worse — contemplating not letting people into their church buildings, that is an utter outrage. That is an utter outrage because the very reality of what we are as Christians is based on our unity and togetherness in Jesus Christ. As Christians, when we gather as the church of Jesus Christ we are not gathering together as a group of people who think we’re the most righteous and the most religious. No, the Bible says in Romans 3:10:
There is no one righteous, no, not one.
We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinners before this God. We are lawbreakers before this God. We are in a wretched and pitiful state before this God. And we must be condemned and sentenced to hell because of our sin. And so what then unites us? Well, what unites us is that this great God, who is a God of wrath and judgment, is a God of love and mercy. This God, who sent his Son Jesus Christ to this earth, who tasted the native waters of this earth, who lived a perfect life, and laid down his life as a sacrifice for sinners… We cannot make ourselves right with God. We cannot earn it because of our religious status, certainly because of our vaccination status.
No, we can do no right thing before this God. And that is why what unites us as Christians is the blood of Christ Jesus… which has been shed on the cross. He laid down his life for sinners like us. He became our sin bearer on the cross. He faced the torment of hell that we deserved. He faced God’s wrath and judgment. He laid down his life as a sacrifice and he rose from the grave defeating sin and defeating death. He is now the risen and exalted King. He is the Lord of lords. He is the King of kings. He is Jesus Christ the head of the church. And our unity is because of him and because of his blood. We are a people who are blood-bought. The most vilest of sinner, the most outcast leper of society… and regardless of your race, regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of your vaccination status, we all come together because of Jesus Christ.
With that foundation, how absolutely obscene it then becomes for the church to say, “Well, I’m all about the gospel. That’s why I’m keeping my mouth shut. What foolishness. [It’s] because we’re about the gospel [that] we must fight against this tyranny, because this has been about restricting the proclamation of the gospel and the application of it for the church. And so many godly churches, church leaders, have lost sight of this in the context of this covid situation.
And this is why, as we come to texts like Romans 14 and countless others with regards to what the church is commanded to do and commanded to be, we must lament what has and is taking place, yes in our society, absolutely, but within our church. How grieved I am that in my city of nearly a quarter of a million people, I have been literally out on my own in the stance that our church has taken.
And the default position of — in Scotland — “What’s Nicola saying to us now?”… Nicola Sturgeon is not the head of the church in Scotland, but you’d think she was in so many places. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and we stand not on the ideology of “science” and the wickedness, the lies and the propaganda of our times. We stand on the word of God. And with that foundation, as Christians we must loudly, clearly and boldly declare: “No to vaccine passports.” And “No to the tyranny of this government.” And if you’re a pastor here today, then please, at this point, stop reacting to the situation and lead your people. Lead them upon the authority of the word of God. Where we must repent, let us repent before the Lord and before our congregation, and move in a direction where God’s word is honoured and where his name is glorified. Because we are Christians, we are united together because of Christ, the head of the church, the Lord and Saviour of our lives.

Some important context: official UK government figures show that the number of registered deaths in England and Wales was no higher than average right up until the order to stay at home on 23rd March 2020: