Romans 13.1b-Roman Believers Were To Voluntarily Subject Themselves To The Governmental Authorities Because All Authority Exists By God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 3, 2009
Romans: Romans 13:1b-Roman Believers Were To Voluntarily Subject Themselves To The Governmental Authorities Because All Authority Exists By God
Lesson # 432
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 13:1.
Last evening we began a study Romans 13:1, which is divided into three parts.
Last evening we noted the first part, which is a command for Paul’s Christian readers in Rome to continue making it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to the governmental authorities in Rome.
The second part, which we will note this evening gives the reason as to why they should continue doing this, namely because there is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely no authority that exists on the earth except by God.
The third part defines specifically this reason in that it teaches that those governmental authorities, which do at any time in history exist on the earth have been ordained from eternity past by God the Father under the divine decree.
Romans 13:1, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
“For there is no authority except from God” indicates that the reason why Paul wants the Roman believers to continue making it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to the Roman governmental authorities is that there is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely no authority except by God.
“Authority” refers to any civil governmental authority on the earth who has been delegated authority by God as His servant to govern the affairs of men and to exercise justice against law breakers.
“Except” is composed of the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i) and the negative particle me (mhv) (may), which indicate that there is absolutely no authority existing on earth that does not exist by God and that there are absolutely no exceptions.
“From God” is composed of the preposition hupo (u(pov) (hoop-o), “from” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$) (theh-os), “God.”
In Romans 13:1, the noun theos refers to God the Father and is in the genitive case functioning as a genitive of agency and the preposition hupo as a marker of ultimate personal agency indicating that God the Father is the ultimate personal agency behind human government.
That human government originates from God and that those in authority are established by Him is taught in other passages of Scripture (1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Chronicles 28:1-5; Psalm 62:11; Proverbs 8:15-16; Jeremiah 27:1-8; Daniel 2:19-21; 4; 5:13-23; John 19:10-11; Revelation 1:4-6; 17:1-4; 19:11-16).
Genesis 9:5-6 records for us the establishment of human government, which is the fourth and final divine institution.
Genesis 9:5-6, “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”
The Word of God prohibits murder according to Exodus 20:13 and is one of the sins that God hates according to Proverbs 6:16-19 and according to Genesis 9:6 is to be punished through capital punishment.
“I will require” is the verb darash (vr^D*) (daw-rash), which is a judicial term used with reference to both men and animals and expresses the fact God seeks “restitution” for murder by the execution of the murderer or the animal who has taken a human life.
As a result of the total depravity of mankind, God instituted capital punishment in order to protect both animal and human life and to curb violence and be a deterrent to crime.
The reason why this provision is given is found in the phrase “for in the image of God, He (the Lord) made (`asah, “modeled”) (the soul of) man.”
The emphasis of this stipulation recorded in Genesis 9:5-6 does “not” refer to vengeance but rather justice and the careful recognition of the sacredness of the divine image in man, though marred by sin.
Genesis 9:5-6 records the institution of human government where God delegated authority to mankind as His agents in exacting retribution by capital punishment upon those who take a human life indicating as well that this is not a personal matter but a social obligation.
Before the Flood, there was no formal arrangement of human government and thus no formal punishment of crime or of crime prevention, even for the capital crime of murder, as evident in the individual histories of Cain and Lamech (Genesis 4).
The absence of human government and the total depravity of mankind led to a universal state of violence and anarchy, which resulted in the judgment of the Flood.
God established capital punishment and thereby human government in order to prevent the conditions of the antediluvian period from developing again.
The essential point is that man was delegated authority and responsibility of human government by God and that this responsibility first entails the recognition of the sacredness of human life and that man is created in the image of God and the recognition of capital punishment as the just and legal penalty for murder.
It is clear that the authority for capital punishment implies also the authority to establish laws governing human activities and personal relationships, which if unregulated would lead to murder, robbery, adultery, thus this instruction to Noah is the fundamental basis for all human legal and governmental institutions.
Human government was designed by God to protect the freedom of the individual, both believers and unbelievers as well.
It was instituted by God and was designed for the protection of the freedom of individuals.
The individual is to respect the laws of human government.
The Bible does teach that there are certain circumstances in which the Christian is justified in disobeying the governmental authorities.
This is called “civil disobedience,” which is the performance of an intentional act that is prohibited by the civil authorities or a refusal to perform an act that is required by the civil authority (The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Second Edition, page 263).
Christians are commanded to obey the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 13:4; Jeremiah 7:23; John 14:15) and they are also called upon to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17; Titus 3:1).
However, civil disobedience becomes an issue for the Christian when these two claims upon the Christian come into conflict meaning when God commands us to do something like proclaim the gospel and teach the Word of God and the civil authorities prohibit this.
The solution to this conflict is that the Christian is to obey God.
This is illustrated in Acts 5:27-32 when the apostles were commanded by the Jewish authorities to not proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and Peter told them “we must obey God rather than men.”
In Exodus 1, the Egyptian midwives disobeyed Pharaoh of Egypt’s command to murder infant boys who were born to the Israelite women since murder is against the law of God (Genesis 9:5-6).
There was a similar situation in contemporary history when German Christians in Nazi Germany rightly refused to hand over Jews to be murdered for the same reason why the Egyptian midwives refused to murder Jewish boys.
In Daniel 3, Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refused to worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar set up and they were justified in doing so since God prohibited the Israelites from practicing idolatry (Exodus 20:4).
Also, in Daniel 6, the civil authorities prohibited Daniel from praying to the God of Israel and Daniel correctly disobeyed because obeying God is required if the civil authorities contradict God or prohibit the Christian from obeying God.
The Lord’s dealing with Korah’s rebellion against Moses’ authority is an example of the seriousness with which God takes rebellion to governing authorities when there is no justification (Numbers 16:3, 13, 30, 32-35, 41, 49).
Another example is the Lord’s dealing with the sister of Moses, Miriam, who rebelled against her brother’s authority (Numbers 12).
Jude 5-9 reveals that even Michael the elect angel respects the authority of Satan who exercises temporary authority over the earth.
Jude 5-10, “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”
Now, if Michael the elect angel respects the authority of the author of evil, Satan himself, how much more should Christians obey the governmental authorities in their own nation, no matter how corrupt or evil?