Civil Government Romans 13

Introduction

Series Review: Over the last few weeks we have been studying this idea of Biblical Government. And what I have tried to do, is demonstrate the way the Bible speaks about authority and governmental structures is far more robust than the typical way most Americans speak about government today. When the Bible speaks about government, we often refer to four different levels of authority. Self Government: The responsibility to submit ourselves unto God and live a self-controleld life. Family Government: Where a family unit is a government unto themselves with legitimate authority granted to them to lead their family according to the standard of God. Church Government: Where a Church is granted legitimate authority with leadership and delegated power to serve its function. Lastly, is Civil Government, our topic for today. Again, my aim has been to not just teach each of these governments individually but to show you how they are to fit together in a properly functioning society.

Two Mistakes: Today’s topic is Civil Government, and therefore how we ought to think about Politics. There are two great mistakes modern Christians make when thinking about politics in this nation of ours. On the one side are those that essentially say politics doesn’t matter. This is the “Vote for Jesus” crowd. But politics do matter, because people matter, and if we enact wicked policies that harm people and throw society into decay, and we voted for it, then in some degree we participated in that sin. On the other hand are those that turn politics into an idol, or politicians into idols. Their greatest emotions and most deep desires are more wrapped up in politics than in the Lord. Do you have a healthy understanding of how we can approach politics from the Bible up? I want to strongly encourage you, if you are interested in discussing today’s topic more in depth with others, and to do more Pastoral Q&A on politics, register for October’s Academy Lunches, which are on the topic of politics.

Context: Today, we will be rooted in Romans 13:1-7. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans to the Church in Rome. If ever there was a city marked by plenty of political intrigue, it was Rome. And you can imagine that first century early Church living in that Metropolis of a city, trying to figure out “Now that we are Christian, how do we operate in this city.” And at the end of Romans 12, Paul has beautiful and brilliant counsel for the Roman Church. In verses 9-21, he encourages the Church to love one another. To be patient in tribulation. To show hospitality to all. Do their best to live in harmony with one another (16). To live peacable with all (18). To never take vengaence for something wrong done to you, but to leave vengaence to God (19). Right in the midst of that discussion of genuine Biblical character comes another command which we encounter in our text today.

Romans 13:1–7 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor i…”

Let us draw out three timeless principles from this text.

Meaning & Application

I WHETHER CIVIL AUTHORITIES RECOGNIZE IT OR NOT, THEY ARE UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS CHRIST & HIS LAW

The first principle from this text is that whether civil authorities recognize it or not, they are under the authority of Jesus Christ and his law.

Romans 13:1–2 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”

Be Subject: Paul begins this section by encouraging the Christians in Rome to submit to the governing authorities. On a personal level, this is very important. Christians believe that God has instituted civil government for a purpose. And we are not free to resist them whenever we please. And so, as a general principle, we are to be subject to the authorities. We are to be respectful of authorities. We are to pray for our authorities. In a bit we will discuss whether there is a proper time to resist authorities, of which I believe there is. Yet we cannot miss the command from the Apostle. We are to be good citizens.

God’s Sovereignty: Now look carefully at Paul’s reasoning for this. According to Paul all authorities who rule in civil government have been instituted by God. Here, Paul is extending his doctrine of the Sovereignty of God by considering the political implications of God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty means that there is nothing that happens in world history that is apart from God’s direct plan. He is working all things together for good, including those things the Devil meant for evil.

Illustration: Pharaoh: In Scripture, the most ruthless tyrant, and anti-God political leader that we meet was Pharaoh, who held the Israelites as slaves, and refused to let them go under the leadership of Moses. Under Pharaoh’s wicked leadership, I am sure that the Israelites were tempted to think that God had lost control. But the Apostle Paul, when speaking about God’s sovereignty quotes from Exodus 9:16 and says this abou Pharaoh.

Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.””

World History: God is sovereign. Pharaoh was in power for the exact amount of time it would take for God to fully show God’s power through him. Who was ultimately behind the rise of Emperor Nero who persecuted Christians? God. Who was ultimately behind the rise of Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the official religion of Rome? God. Who was ultimately the reign of Bloody Mary? God. Who was ultimately behind the rise of godly leaders like Oliver Cromwell, Abraham Kuyper, and our own Abraham Lincoln? God. Who will decide ultimately who the next president of the United States will be, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? God.

Good News: Let me tell you why that is really good news. Because on November 5, Americans will go to the polls and cast their vote. And at the end of the day, whether the election goes as you believe it ought to go or not, you as a Christian can lie your head down in peace, knowing whose hands world history is in. God will not be surprised at the results.

Consider the Point: Now, consider this first principle, whether civil authorities recognize it or not, they are under the authority of Jesus Christ and his law.’ We have seen how they are “under the authority” of God, but we must take it a step further. To be under the authority of God, means they are accountable to the law of God. Pharaoh was an unjust ruler who faced the wrath of God, because he resisted God’s Word as it was spoken through Moses. And when an authority resists the Word of God, they are resisting God and therefore preparing themselves and those in their charge for judgment.

Illustration: Two Parenst: Let me give you an example on a smaller level. We’re considering Civil Government right now, but consider the government of a family, with the husband and father as the head. If there two families, and one father disobeys God’s commands, treats his wife poorly, and gets drunk regularly. But the other family, the father treats his wife as Scripture teaches, and obeys the commands of God. Which of these two do you think will receive the Lord’s blessing? And it won’t just be the father who faces hardship, but the whole family will suffer as a result of ungodly leadership.

Our Nation: So it is with Civil Authorities. The standard by which Civil Authorities know whether they ought to expect blessing or judgment from God, is the Bible, the word of Jesus Christ. If a regime pushes an anti-Biblical agenda, and the people follow it, do not expect the blessing of the Lord.

Illustration: William Wilberforce: It was the great British politician, William Wilberforce, who gave as a Christian gave his entire life’s work to reforming England in the early 1800’s. He fought to end the British slave trade, and he did it, decades before the American Civil War. But listen to what he wrote about the reason why he fought to end biblical injustices in his nation.

That the Almighty Creator of the Universe governs the world which he has made; that the sufferings of nations are to be regarded as the punishment of national crimes, and their decline and fall, as the execution of his sentence; are truths which I trust are still generally believed among us. Indeed to deny them, would be directly to contradict the express and repeated declarations of the Holy Scriptures.

And Wilberforce would go on to say, if that be the case, then if we do not turn course quickly, and reform this nation, then we ought to expect the blackest of judgments over our nation. Wilberforce’s words are no less true for us today. There are many topics today where our nation has adopted unbiblical ideas as law.

Application: Sabbath?: Let’s practice applying this by getting out of the current debates on things like marriage and abortion. Let’s try the fourth commandment which tells us that we are to “Honor the Sabbath.” In America, we used to have very strong Sabbath laws, but we have gone away from that. Should Christians desire Sabbath laws?… Yes! Abraham Kuyper, the great Christian Prime Minister of the Netherlands said it this way,

“We maintain that government certainly has a duty toward God to honor the sevent day… It is important to emphasize, therefore, that by hallowing Sunday the state first of all performs an act of reverence toward the living God, and only thereafter acts in teh interest of the people. Upholding the honor of God always serves the interest of the people as well.”

First Principle, whether civil authorities recognize it or not, they are under the authority of Jesus Christ and his law.

PRINCIPLE 2: CIVIL AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE SWORD AS A LEGITIMATE MEANS OF RESTRAINING EVIL

The second principle I want us to see from this text is that civil authorities have been granted the sword as a legitimate means of restraining evil.

Romans 13:3–4 “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

Verse 3: Verse 3 describes how a properly functioning government should work. Under a properly functioning government rulers (those in authority) are to be a blessing to those who behave in accordance with God’s Word. If ever a society gets to a place, which we are inching rapidly, that simply living and thinking like a Christian is frowned upon, or worse punished, that society has inversed itself from its proper purpose.

The Deacon of the Lord: But look at verse 4 that says that Government is God’s servant. The term is there for “servant” is actually the same term that we get our word Deacon from. Government is the deacon of the Lord. Government serves the Lord. It does his bidding and accomplishes his work. It is like his hand by carrying the sword and being an avenger of God’s wrath on evildoer.

Illustration: Stick Supporting a Plant: How does it serve the Lord? Many of you have seen how at times when a plant is too weak to stand on its own, the plant will be strapped to a strong stick firmly planted into the ground. If the stick were not there, the plant would simply fall to the ground, the plant would have no strength. But when bound to the stick, the plant can grow upward and grow stronger. In the same way, government is like that stick. As a result of sin in the world, if there were no government, humanity would decay into anarchy. We have a whole book in the Bible that describes humanity in anarchy, it’s called the book of Judges. It was a terrible season in Israel’s history full of death and violence and godlessness. God has given us government as an unnatural, but necessary agent to protect us from falling into anarchy as a result of sin.

Punishing Evildoers: The text goes on to say that Governments the bears the sword. This is very important language. And it tells us what God has ordained government to do. What is their legitimate authority as given to them by God? They are to carry the sword and thereby execute God’s wrath on the evildoer. If you recall, at the end of Romans 12, the Apostle instructed the Romans,

Romans 12:19–20 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.””

Paul instructs that we personally cannot take vengaence on our enemies. Rather our personal ethic is to lvoe our enemies just as Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount. We are to leave judgment to God. But then what we see in chapter 13 is that one of the ways that God brings about his vengeance in this life is through properly functioning civil government, which is his deacon. One very important practical application of this, and this gets so confused especially on our discussion of immigration in this country. The Sermon on the Mount is our personal ethic and responsibility. The Civil Authorities have an entirely different responsibility. The Civil Authorities are not tasked with turning the other cheek, they are tasked with punishin evildoers with the sword.

Two Swords: Now historically, there are at least two ways to think about the sword in this passage. What sword do they carry?

The Sword of Justice (Internal Sword): First, is the sword of justice, or as others call it the Internal Sword. The sword is a metaphor for the coercive authorit of civil government to punish evildoers in accordance with God’s law. And make no mistake, the sword is a killing device, because God’s law is clear that there are some sins that the proper civil response is death. Murder, Rape, and other crimes are punishable by death, and the civil authorities are to oversee that. But this idea of the internal sword is not just about capital punishment, and its about crime and punishment in general.

Application: You will often here those who support abortion critique Christians by saying that Christians are hypocrites for saying they are pro-life while also supporting the death penalty. That is just bad logic. We support the death penalty because we are pro-life. Something like Murder or Rape is a crime that dehumanizes a person, that robs them of life, and because we love life, we believe government should punish properly.

The Sword of War (External Sword): Secondly, is the external sword, often referred to as the sword of War to defend the honor and interest of the nation. Now again, Christians on the whole desire peace. Godly nations never seek out war for war’s sake. There are entire discourses within Christianity of what consitutes a Just War. But when a sovereign nation needs to defend itself against an enemy attacking it, it is the government of that nation who carries that responsibility. So, biblically a strong national military is a good and important thing in this fallen world.

The Gospel Reminder: The Ultimate Sword Belongs to the Lord: There is of course one more sword. And that is the ultimate sword of judgment held by God. Civil Authorities do not hold that sword. That sword is held by God himself. And at the end of our life, we will all stand and give an account for our life before God for what we have done. The word of God declares that all of us have fallen short of God’s ultimate standard, and that if justice were to be served, that sword of death would come for us. But Christ, went under the sword of judgment, in our place. On the cross, Jesus Christ, the righteous one who knew no sin, allowed the sword of judgment to come down on him. And if you believe in Jesus and have made Lord of your life, God’s wrath no longer falls on you. You get grace upon grace. So as we talk about the sword that God entrusts to governments I want us to remember first and foremost of the sword that Jesus took on our behalf.

PRINCIPLE 3: THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHRISTIANS & THEIR CIVIL GOVERNMENT IS ONE OF MUTUAL DUTY TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER

Third, the relationship of Chrisitans and their civil government is one of mutual duty towards one another. We read in the final verses,

Romans 13:5–7 “Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

In this text, Christians are commanded again to submit to their governing authorities and to be respectful tax-paying law-abiding citizens. And in the same way, the governing authorities are called “ministers of God.” This is a slightly different term than the one previously used for “deacon”, but this term here means “worker of the people.” The Apostle Paul actually uses the same term to describe his own ministry later on in Romans when he refers to himself a minister of God. Paul here is quickly laying out some basic principles of mutual duty. So let’s develop a bit, and consider the duties more holistically. Let me give you five simple applications when considering our duty towards the government.

1 We are to Joyfully Submit to Every Just Law: First, we are to joyfully and eagerly submit to every just law. We are to pay our taxes. Honor the autorities over us as best as we are able. And on the whole, be the kind of citizens that everyone around us knows, makes society better as a whole. You will recall how I spoke about the Church in a different sermon, that the reason the government decided originally to grant the Church a tax exempt status, was because of the great public benefit of having healthy churches in communities. Churches produce moral people, and moral people make government’s job a whole lot easier. A properly functioning government, if given the choice, should long for many more Christians in their communities, because of how obviously they are blessed by their presence.

2 Christians Should Pray for Their Civil Rulers: Second, Christians should pray for their civil leaders.

1 Timothy 2:1–2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Whether we have a wonderful ruler over us or a wicked ruler, we should pray for them. Pray that if they don’t know Jesus, that he would radically convert their soul to know and love Christ. Pray that they would enact just laws, that they would uphold God’s law. Pray that God would surround them with wise counsel, and other Christian witnesses in high places.

3 We are to Prophetically Witness When Government Oversteps Their Bounds: Third, we must constantly declare the Word of God to Civil Rulers. In a sense, we are to hold them accountable to God’s Word. When the goverment oversteps their bounds and tries to tell families how to govern their family, tell churches how to govern their churches, or the individual how to govern their life, we are to prophetically speak and warn against such folly. The author John Murray says this very practically for us,

“To the Church is committed the task of proclaiming the whole counsel of God and, therefore, the consel of God as it bears upon the responsibility of all persons and institutions… When laws are proposed or enacted which are contrary to the law of God, it is the duty of the church to oppose them and expose their iniquity… How is the church to proclaim the counsel of God upon civil affairs? It is obvious that there are two means, in particular of proclaiming the Word of God, namely, the pulpit and the press.”

The Church must not forget the power God has granted us to speak prophetically. Remember Mary, Queen of the Scots, who often defied God, was famous for saying about John Knox, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” We cannot be silent in the face of unjust laws. God has empowered the voice of the Church to proclaim the truth. And we must do so unashamedly, and boldly.

4 Christians Must Disobey and Resist Sinful Civil Decrees: Fourth, Christians must disobey and resist sinful civil decrees. This is the testimony of all of Scripture.

Recall how the young Israelite nurses who were commanded by Pharaoh himself to kill the young Israelite newborn boys, and we are told,

Exodus 1:17 “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”

Rememer how Rahab of Jericho, hid the Israelite spies up on her roof, and when the authorities came and asked her

Joshua 2:3–5 “Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them…

Remember how the wicked Jezebel cut off all the prophets of Israel, but we are told of one brave man who defied Jezebel’s commands

1 Kings 18:3–4 “…Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.”

Our allegiance is to God, and when necessary we must resist sinful civil decrees

5 Christians Must Remember that Government is a Servant Not a Savior: Lastly, Christians must remember that Government is a servant, not a savior. History is marked by hopes that some new governmental regime will bring about some kind of utopian peace. This was the promise of the socialist revolutions of the 20th century, and they all ended in catastrophic horrors. There is a trap in today’s politics to begin thinking about our government as a Savior. That they can solve the problems of sin. No! But there is only one Savior, Jesus Christ. He alone governs this world. He has full authority over all things. And we need to constantly place our trust in Him, whatever happens here, and not in whatever regime is in power here. Government is a servant, not a Savior.

Conclusion

Church, I conclude by providing an exhortation. As we head into a very important election, there all kinds of duties we have as Christians. Chief among them is to rest in the providence of God. If you find yourself consumed with political fervor, inundated with political thoughts, I suggest you turn off the social media, and open your Bible, and find rest in one who sits on the throne.