God and Government part 2

Intro: Now last time we began with a contextual understanding of Romans 13, what the situation is at Rome and why Paul is writing. We also observed that perhaps we have not thought through our view of government from Scripture. Lastly you see that Government is important to God; that government will still exist in the new earth, the only difference is that Christ will be King. I was very general in these ways, but now we are going to move onto an exposition of Romans 13.

Paul begins by saying, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.”

Now that seems quite straight forward, that no mater who you are you need to be subject to the authorities. If I a police officer turns on his lights behind you it would be prudent to pull over and see why he has his lights on. In such a moment while the idea may pop in your mind to out run him it would be most rational to pull over. Now, even in this it may not be because he has authority given by the state, but because you have watched cops quite a few number of times and found it did not go well with people who ran from the cops. And of course that would be one way to carry out this principle Paul is laying down, pull over for the officer.

But a few questions immediately arise?

Does “be subject” mean to “obey”?

Then the next question is, “Are there limits to this call to be subject?”

Lastly, “How am I to know what those limits are so as to represent Jesus well in all of my life as a believer?”

Be Subject

You have to love that the Bible was written in Greek, there is an exactness to the language that is not present in other languages. Here is one of those cases where the exactness of the language shines through 2000 years later! The word for “be Subject” is not “obey”. It of course in some sense carries that connotation but that is not what Paul is getting at here in Romans 13. We know this for a few reasons, that Paul could have used at least three other words that specifically carry the idea of “obey” rather than “be subject”. But Paul uses this term instead.

Not only that it is used in the passive and not the active sense. The active sense is used in Scripture but almost exclusively for Christ in reference to him “subjecting all things to himself.” (Php 3:21, 1 Cor. 15:27-28, Heb. 2:8) But the passive sense is much more subtle, it involves the voluntary willingness of the individual. Like in servants being subject to masters (1 pt. 2:18) or of wives submitting to husbands (Eph. 5:22) or even to each other (5:21). So in each of these we see that it cannot mean to obey unequivocally without criticism or thought.

The other reason of course is the passages where we see that the apostles are not submitting to the governing authorities. Like in Acts:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

English Standard Version Chapter 5

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

It is a significant statement, “you must judge” because it implies that the apostles have already judged for themselves what is right, even if it is going against the authorities. This of course, in light of a better understanding of “be subject”, leads us to ask a serious question: What are the limitations of this call to be subject? or positively, how far should we go in obedience to the government?

The Heart of Being Subject

1. Our attitudes towards the government.

This is the underlying aspect that Paul is addressing, that our attitude towards the government must be addressed. For two reasons. i) They are servants and ministers of God; this automatically should be cause for every Christian to stop and ponder, “Do I have an attitude towards the state that affirms that this is true?” ii) Paul tells us in Timothy to pray for Governments and leaders, which means there is to be an attitude towards them that is positive.

Balance is the key. We must keep a clear head about what is Just!

2. Our Allegiance towards the government.

(It never supersedes our allegiance to Christ)

Am I more patriotic than Christian? Patriotism is neither good nor bad, it is good so far as it never supersedes a believers allegiance to Christ. It is bad when it usurps a believers allegiance to Christ.

Let us always remember that Germany was very patriotic in the days of Hitler and Russia in the days of Stalin.

3. Our submission to the government

(law and taxes)

Laws are necessary and Good

Taxes are necessary and good, even when we don’t like to pay them.