Romans 13.4a-Governmental Authority Serves God By Encouraging Good Conduct
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 17, 2009
Romans: Romans 13:4a-Governmental Authority Serves God By Encouraging Good Conduct
Lesson # 437
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 13:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter thirteen.
This evening we will study Romans 13:4, which teaches that governmental authority serves God by encouraging conduct which is good and by discouraging evil conduct.
This passage also teaches that governmental authority manifests the righteous indignation of God by inflicting capital punishment upon those who commit evil such as murder.
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.”
Romans 13:3, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.”
Romans 13:4, “For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
Paul in Romans 13:4 presents two assertions that explain or elaborate on his previous statements in verse 3 with regards to the positive and negative function of governmental authority.
The first assertion “it is a minister of God to you for good” elaborates on the positive function of governmental authority, which he addresses in the command at the end of verse 3, “Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.”
The second assertion “if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing” elaborates on the negative function of governmental authority, which Paul mentions in the causal clause at the beginning of verse 3, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.”
The negative function of governmental authority is explained in further detail in verse 4 with the statement “for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
Therefore, in Romans 13:4, Paul is teaching his readers that governmental rulers are God’s servants, which is demonstrated by these two functions.
Romans 13:4, “For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
“A minister of God” is composed of the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$) (theh-os), “of God” and the nominative masculine singular form of the noun diakonos (diavkono$) (dee-ak-on-os), “a minister.”
In Romans 13:4, the noun theos refers to God the Father as indicated by the fact that the word is used of Him in Romans 13:1-2.
The word is a genitive of possession indicating that all governmental authority on the earth “belongs to” the Father and is His possession.
The noun diakonos means “servant” and is used to describe the relationship between governmental authority and the Father.
That governmental rulers are a servant of God to administer justice is not exclusive to the Bible since Plutarch writes, “Rulers are ministers of God for the care and safety of mankind, that they may distribute or hold in safe keeping the blessings and benefits which God gives to man” (Princip. Inerud. 5.13.22-14.2, quoted in Black, cited by Moo, page 801).
The noun diakonos in Romans 13:4 means that governmental rulers whether they acknowledge it or not serve God’s purpose on earth and therefore are accountable to God.
Romans 13:4, “For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
“To you” is the dative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (suv) (soo), which refers to Paul’s Christian readership in Rome in a collective sense as a corporate unit.
The word functions as a dative of advantage meaning that governmental rulers are God’s servants “for the benefit of” the Roman believers.
Those in governmental authority are God’s servants for the benefit of the Christian since it encourages obedience to the Father’s will and loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
It also discourages the practice of evil by disobedience to His will and not loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
Governmental authority benefits the Christian in that it encourages him to do the will of God and discourages him from practicing evil.
That governmental authority encourages the Christian to obey God’s will is indicated by the prepositional phrase “for good” and refers to executing the Father’s will by growing to spiritual maturity.
That governmental authority discourages the practice of evil and disobeying the will of the Father is indicated by the statement “if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing.”
Romans 13:4, “For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
“For good” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “for” and the articular accusative neuter singular form of the adjective agathos (a)gaqov$) (ag-ath-os), “good.”
The adjective agathos means “which is good in good in character” and refers to conduct that is in obedience to the Father’s will.
The word describes conduct that is good in the sense that it is “intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent” since it is in accordance with the Father’s will.
This conduct that is in accordance with the will of the Father is good in that it fulfills the purpose of creating mankind.
It also fulfills the purpose of Christ’s crucifixion, spiritual and physical deaths, His resurrection and session as well as the purpose of the various ministries performed by the Holy Spirit on the believer’s behalf.
It is good in that it fulfills the Father’s eternal purpose for the believer electing and predestinating them.
It is good in that it fulfills the purpose for which the Father delivered the justified sinner from the sin nature, personal sins, Satan and his cosmic system, i.e. salvation.
It is good in that it fulfills the purpose for which the Father set apart him to do His will exclusively, sanctification.
That agathos in this prepositional phrase in Romans 13:4 refers to conduct that is in accordance with the Father’s will is indicated in that it stands in direct contrast with kakos that appears in the adversative clause to follow and refers to conduct that is in disobedience to the will of the Father.
Therefore, this excludes the idea that the word refers to the prosperity of the believer or the tranquil conditions or environment that the believer lives in.
The preposition eis functions as a marker of purpose indicating that those individuals in society that possess governmental authority are servants of God for the benefit of the Christian “for the purpose of” encouraging that which is good, i.e. conduct that is in obedience to the Father’s will.
This prepositional phrase contains the figure of metonymy in which good is put for encouraging that which is good, i.e. conduct that is in obedience to the Father’s will.
So we have seen this evening from our study of Romans 13:4 that for the Christian, the positive function of governmental authority is that it encourages conduct that is in obedience to the Father’s will in relation to one’s fellow human being as summarized by the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself.
