Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday January 14, 2010

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 13:7a-Paul Commands Roman Believers To Fulfill Their Obligations Of Paying The Direct Tribute And Indirect Custom Taxes To The Governmental Authorities

Lesson # 442

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 13:1.

This evening we will begin a study of Romans 13:7 and in this passage, Paul commands the Roman believers to fulfill their four-fold obligation to the governmental authorities, which consists of giving them “direct taxes,” “indirect taxes,” “reverence” and “honor.”

Tonight we will note first two obligations, which are tangible and on Sunday we will note the last two, which are intangible.

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.”

Romans 13:5, “Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.”

Romans 13:6, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.”

Romans 13:7, “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

“Render” is the second person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb apodidomi (a)podivdwmi) (apoe-dee-doe-mee), which means “to fulfill.”

“To all what is due them” is composed of the dative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (pa~$), “to all…them” and the articular accusative feminine plural form of the noun opheile (o)feilhv) (of-ay-lay), “what is due.”

The noun opheile is used in the plural form meaning “obligations” and refers to the obligations that the Roman believers have with regards to the Roman governmental authorities which are four-fold.

The adjective pas is used in a distributive sense of the Roman governmental authorities as entities who help to compose the Roman government in its totality.

Therefore, Paul is saying that the Roman believers are to “fulfill” their obligations to the Roman governmental authorities, which Paul makes clear consists of two tangible obligations and two intangible ones.

The verb apodidomi in Romans 13:7 implies that the service that the Roman government renders to the Roman believers and the unsaved in maintaining law and order places them under obligation to the government.

Therefore, for the Christian and the unsaved, taxes are not voluntary or optional payments given to support the government and are thus an unqualified obligation of every citizen, whether saved or unsaved.

Christians have a moral responsibility to pay their taxes in the sense that it is a civil obligation required by the law of the land.

They also have a spiritual responsibility in that it is the will of the Father that they voluntarily subject themselves to the governmental authorities as taught by Paul in Romans 13:1 and paying taxes is an expression of this subjection.

Therefore, cheating on taxes is a crime against government and a sin against God.

The constative aorist imperative form of the verb apodidomi in Romans 13:7 means that Paul is “solemnly charging” the Roman believers “to make it their top priority” to fulfill their four-fold obligation to the Roman governmental authorities “and do it now!”

The constative aorist imperative does not imply that they were failing to do this, which is supported by Paul’s statements in Romans 15:15.

Also, Paul’s teaching in Romans 13:1-6 makes clear that the Roman believers were subjecting themselves to the Roman governmental authorities since the customary present imperative form of the verbs employed in this passage indicate that they were to continue doing what he was commanding them to do.

Romans 13:7, “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

“Tax to whom tax is due” is composed of the dative masculine singular form of the definite article ho (o() (ho), “to whom” and twice the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun phoros (fovro$) (foe-roce), “tax…tax.”

The noun phoros appears five times in the Greek New Testament (Luke 20:22; 23:2; Romans 13:6, 7 twice) and means “direct tribute tax” referring to that which is received by the Roman government from its citizens and those nations that are subjected to it for services rendered.

This word referred to a direct tax and obligation of the inhabitants of those lands which Rome had absorbed into its empire, either voluntarily or by force.

It was in the form of a land tax (tributum soli) and a poll tax (tributum capitis), which was levied on those living in the provinces whether they were Roman citizens or not.

Now the inhabitants of the city of Rome were not required to pay direct taxes, thus, for Paul in Romans 13:7 to require his readers to pay this tax does not appear to make any sense.

However, in Paul’s day, many Jews, among whom were Christians, were returning from the provinces after their expulsion in 49 A.D. from the city by Nero’s predecessor, Claudius.

During Nero’s reign, the concept of idia was introduced in Egypt, which was designed to prevent individuals from leaving the communities because of oppressive taxation by creating a stronger bond between the individual and the community in which he was to fulfill his obligations to the state.

Now, if what was taking place in Egypt with this concept was typical in the eastern provinces, then the Jews returning to Rome from the provinces would have been required by Roman law to pay this direct tax.

This would have been required of Paul’s Jewish Christian readers since they lived in the provinces during the previous census, which was taken in approximately 55 A.D.

The Roman epistle was written in 57 A.D.

Therefore, Jewish Christians moving back to Rome from the provinces, such as Priscilla and Aquilla, would have had to pay this tax.

Even though they were inhabitants of the city of Rome, they would be required to pay this tax that was required of subject people because they lived in the provinces during the previous census.

Likewise, those Gentiles who came to Rome but had been traveling in the provinces during the previous census would have been required to pay this tax required of those in the provinces.

Only Roman citizens like Paul would have been exempt from this tax.

Romans 13:7, “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

“Custom to whom custom” is composed of the dative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (pa~$), “to whom” and twice the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun telos (tevlo$) (te-loce), “custom…custom.”

In Romans 13:7, the noun telos means “custom” and refers to the taxes that were levied at ports of entry such as bridges, crossroads and places of commerce on the transport and sale of goods.

This type of tax was levied on goods and services and was levied on everything that was traded whether it was grain, animals or even sex (P. A. Brunt, Revenues of Rome, Roman Imperial Themes; page 329).

Unlike the direct tribute tax (phoros), Romans citizens were not exempt from the payment of telos.

The Egyptian papyri reveal that those under the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire paid telos on sales of land, houses and oil and the right to participate in various trades (dyer and weaver’s) was also subject to telos.

Strabo makes clear that the telos brought more revenue into the empire than did the phoros tax (Geog.

2.5.8).

The telos tax reached into every area of life in the Roman Empire whether they were citizens residing in the provinces or in Italy itself or even the city of Rome itself, thus, we can also see why Paul mentions this tax in Romans 13:7.

Byrne writes there was civil unrest in the empire in the late fifties of the first century (which is when Paul wrote Romans) so much so that Nero seriously considered abolishing the telos or indirect tax due to tax collection abuses but was persuaded to not do so by his senior advisors (Romans 386).

Therefore, by Paul commanding his readers to pay this tax he is in effect telling his readers not to take part in this civil unrest over the abuses involved in the collection of taxes in the empire.