A state government can shut down stores and theaters on Sunday, but it cannot compel worship. It can arrest and punish KKK murderers but cannot cure their hatred, much less teach them love. It can pass laws making divorce more difficult but cannot force husband to love their wives and wives their husbands. It can give subsidies to the poor but cannot force the rich to show them compassion and justice. It can ban adultery but not lust, theft but not covetousness, cheating but not pride. It can encourage virtue but not holiness.

The church ... is not the master or servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. - MLK Jr.

This fact should give us pause as voices today call on us to break down the walls between church and state and restore morality to our society. In the words of Lesslie Newbigin " The project of bringing heaven down to earth always results in bringing hell up from below." - Yancey

When the church joined with the state, it tended to wield power rather than dispense grace. - Yancey

Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist. - Yancey

Chapter 17 - Aroma of Grace