Romans 13.2-Christians Who Set Themselves In Opposition Against Governmental Authority Oppose A Divine Institution And Will Undergo Judgment
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 13, 2009
Romans: Romans 13:2-The Christian Who Sets Himself In Opposition Against Governmental Authority Opposes A Divine Institution And Will Undergo Judgment
Lesson # 434
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 13:1.
This morning we will study Romans 13:2 in which Paul presents an inference from his instruction in verse 1 teaching that the Christian who at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against any governmental authority is in a state of opposition against this institution, which originates from God the Father.
Paul advances upon this statement teaching also that those Christians who are in a state of opposition against any governmental authority will, as a certainty, undergo judgment at the hands of these authorities for the detriment of themselves.
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.”
Romans 13:2, “Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”
“Therefore” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction hoste (w%ste) (hoce-teh), which is introducing a statement that draws an inference from Paul’s teaching in Romans 13:1.
“Whoever resists” is the articular nominative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb antitassomai (a)ntitavssomai) (an-tee-tas-som-i), which is a compound word composed of the preposition anti, “against” and the verb tasso, “to arrange troops or ships in proper position for battle, to set in place, to establish.”
In Romans 13:2, the verb antitassomai is in the middle voice and means “to set oneself against, to set oneself in opposition, to establish oneself against, to establish oneself in opposition.”
In Romans 13:1, the verb tasso means “to decree, ordain” indicating that God the Father “decreed” or “ordained” governmental authorities to exist on the earth.
Romans 13:1, “Each and every person must continue making it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to the governmental authorities because there is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely no authority except by God. Specifically, those which at any time do exist are, as an eternal spiritual truth, ordained by God.”
This verb does not refer to the establishment of human government by God under the Noahic covenant as recorded in Genesis 9:5-6 since Paul’s statement at this point in Romans 13:1 is not speaking of this but rather is explaining the existence of individual authorities and how they came into existence and to power.
Rather, tasso in Romans 13:1 refers to the divine decree in eternity past since Paul is explaining the existence of individual authorities and how they came to power and who is responsible for their ascension to power.
Now, in Romans 13:2, Paul uses a form of the verb tasso, namely antitassomai, which as we noted is in the middle voice and means “to set oneself against, to set oneself in opposition, to establish oneself against, to establish oneself in opposition.”
This verb denotes a person who is anti-establishment who opposes authority or sets himself against authority established by God.
It refers to individuals who “rebel against” human government, which has been established by God.
“Authority” is the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun exousia (e)cousiva) (ex-oo-see-ah), which 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.
The word speaks of the power or right to govern and to exercise authority over the citizens of the Roman Empire.
In Rome, the Latin word imperium referred to the right to rule or govern.
Romans 13:2, “Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”
“Has opposed” is the third person singular perfect active indicative form of the verb anthistemi (a)nqivsthmi) (anth-is-tay-mee), which means “to be in opposition to.”
The verb has as its subject a hypothetical Christian who sets himself or herself in opposition to any government authority and its object is the institution of human government.
The perfect tense of the verb is an intensive perfect used to emphasize the results of present state produced by a past action.
In our passage, it emphasizes that the Christian who at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against any governmental authority on earth (without legitimate biblical justification) “is in a present state of opposition” against this institution that originates with God the Father.
“The ordinance of God” is composed of the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun diatage (diataghv) (dee-at-ag-ay), “the ordinance” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$) (theh-os), “God.”
The noun diatage means “institution” in the sense of an established law since in context Paul is referring to the Father’s law or ordinance in eternity past that decreed the establishment of human government.
The noun theos refers to God the Father as indicated by its articular construction, which when used with this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
The word functions as a genitive of source meaning that this institution, i.e. any human governmental authority on the earth “originates with” God.
This is indicated by Romans 13:1, which taught that human governmental authorities were ordained by the Father in eternity past by His decree.
The noun diatage “institution” functions as a dative of disadvantage indicating that the Christian who at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against any governmental authority on the earth, is in a present state of opposition “against” this institution originating with God the Father.
Romans 13:2, “Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”
“And” is the “intensifying” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s previous statement that the one who, at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against this authority, is in a state of opposition against this institution originating with God the Father.
The statement introduced by the conjunction advances upon the previous statement because it reveals something to the reader that had not been related earlier and we have the repetition of the verb anthistemi, “is in a state of opposition” from the previous statement.
“They who have opposed” is the articular nominative masculine plural perfect active participle form of the verb anthistemi (a)nqivsthmi) (anth-is-tay-mee), which is repeated from the previous statement and again means “to be in opposition to.”
“Will receive” is the third person plural future (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb lambano (lambavnw) (lam-ban-o), which means “to experience or undergo” judgment.
The future tense of the verb is a predictive future indicating that those Christians who are in a state of opposition against any governmental authority will “as a certainty” undergo and experience judgment at the hands of these governmental authorities.
Romans 13:2, “Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”
“Condemnation” is accusative neuter singular form of the noun krima (krivma) (kree-mah), which means “judgment” for opposing governmental authorities in the sense of facing arrest, imprisonment and the death penalty in some cases.
This word does not refer to eternal condemnation, which only unbelievers will experience for their rejection of Jesus Christ as their Savior, which is indicated in that Paul is addressing Christians in Rome and not unbelievers.
“Upon themselves” is the dative masculine plural form of the reflexive personal pronoun heautou (e(autou) (heh-ow-too), which emphasizes that those Christians who are in opposition to the governmental authorities are responsible for the fact that they will undergo judgment at the hands of the authorities.
The reflexive pronoun heautou functions as a dative of disadvantage indicating that those Christians who are in a state of opposition will, as a certainty, undergo judgment “to their own detriment.”
Corrected translation of Romans 13:2: “Therefore, the one who, at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against this authority is in a state of opposition against this institution originating with God the Father. In fact, those who are in a state of opposition will, as a certainty, undergo judgment for the detriment of themselves.”
Therefore, in Romans 13:2, we can see that Paul presents an inference from his instruction in verse 1 and teaches that the Christian who at any time does set himself or herself in opposition against any governmental authority is in a state of opposition against this institution, which originates from God the Father.
He advances upon this statement teaching also that those Christians who are in a state of opposition against any governmental authority will, as a certainty, undergo judgment at the hands of these authorities for the detriment of themselves.