Submitting to Civil Authorities

Submitting to Civil Authorities: Romans 13:1-7

Intro: Church family, I am with you, and I am for you. Our elders are with you, and we are for you. I trust you believe that. So we’re taking a break today from our series in Luke to talk about truth that we need to hear right now. Let’s take this biblical study time together to consider the practical applications of Romans 13:1-7 in our Covid-19 climate.

Before we do, I would like to first offer an apology: In our efforts to not create a mountain where one didn’t exist (eg., to not stir divisiveness over our response to the mask ordinance) and in our efforts to not wear you out on a topic that the media relentlessly analyzes, we have under-communicated. Again, I’m sorry that we have not communicated clearly enough and frequently enough on how and why we are doing what we are doing.

With that said then, we’re going to deal with some of that today (our response to Covid-19 and the city’s mask ordinance), which hopefully will rectify some of that lack of communication. For many of you this will help settle some issues in your mind, but for others, admittedly, it may yet merely scratch the surface as to the level of thinking you are doing on this issue.

But rather than drag this out into an entire series, the elders prefer that I do this in a single message. So I plainly asked myself, “What does this message need to cover, albeit in an overview fashion?” Here are the three things I want us to answer today:

What is our understanding of Romans 13:1-7 and how are we applying it in this circumstance?

Again, for simple clarity, what I mean by “this circumstance” is the fact that our city has mandated that we wear masks in public places, especially where social distancing is not possible or clear-cut, including stores and church meeting places.

Why are we, to this point, following Rom. 13 rather than other scriptural examples of disobeying civil authority? (In fairness we need to compare those contexts to our own.)

What reminder do we need concerning our attitudes that could make or break our fellowship with God and one another?

Let’s answer the first question.

What is our understanding of Romans 13:1-7 and how are we applying it in this circumstance?

Here’s an overview of what we just read from Romans 13:

(Steve Cole) First (13:1) Paul states that every person is to be subject to the governing authorities, because God is the sovereign who ordains all human governments. Then (13:2) he draws the implication: If you resist government authority, which God has established, you are opposing God Himself and you’ll come under judgment. Then (13:3-4) Paul explains that the purpose of civil government is to protect law-abiding citizens and punish law-breakers. As such, the government is acting as a minister of God in avenging wrong. Thus (13:5) there are two reasons to be in subjection to the government: Fear of punishment and conscience before God, who has ordained the government. Finally (13:6-7), Paul applies it by showing why we should pay taxes, namely, because government officials are servants of God. Thus they deserve our taxes as well as our respect.

Let’s make sure that we follow Paul’s argument to the church in Rome.

Paul’s Argument:

The general principle comes in vv. 1-2 (with connection to the remaining verses): Since God has ordained governing authority for our good, we must submit to government.

vv. 3-4: The general purpose for government is to protect law-abiding citizens and to punish those who break the law.

Paul isn’t arguing anything we don’t understand pretty clearly. God is a God of order, and for the purpose of order and our good, he has ordained governments. Contrary to some secular opinion, these gov’ts do in fact legislate morality :-), aiming to protect what is right and punish what is wrong, even if they are misguided in what they think is right or just. Because of our sinfulness as humans, they can get this drastically wrong on some points.

“Civil government in general is a great blessing from God for which we should be thankful.” (The ESV Study Bible, 2180.)

v. 5: We should obey not just to avoid the consequences of wrongdoing but to have a clear conscience before God.

vv. 6-7: Obvious examples can be found in paying taxes to government and in being respectful to authority.

Interpretive principle #1: Submission to our civil authorities is a means of obeying God.

We submit to our civil authorities with the aim of submitting to God.

Here I want to clarify one thing: Submission is more than obedience but it is not less. Some would argue that you can submit but not obey, but I think that’s a misrepresentation of not only the biblical word itself but also of the contexts in which it is used. There are legitimate things that submission does NOT mean (like living in fear of abuse..., or checking your brain at the door and not trying to have helpful influence with those to whom you submit). So it isn’t blind obedience, but it is obedience.

Obedience is doing what is asked of you; submission is doing what is asked of you with a right spirit. - So I would caution you—if you have been heard but refuse to let it go (especially when it is debatable), you are not submitting.

Interpretive principle #2: We would only have cause to disobey those authorities when what they are asking us to do is evil and displeases God.

(Or you might say only when obeying God requires disobeying them.)

We’ll look at some specific biblical instances in a moment, but note that “there were even times when God raised up leaders to rebel against the government and deliver his people from evil rulers,” such as Moses and the various judges. (The ESV Study Bible, 2179.) So we’re not saying that there are not any exceptions, only that we do so either by the explicit instruction of God or with extreme care that we must do so in order to obey God.

Furthermore, apparently this caveat only applies to direct but not indirect issues. What I mean is that the gov’t, like the Roman Empire, might use some of our tax money unjustly or in ways that we disagree, but even in this we are not exempt from paying taxes. We are still obeying God by paying our taxes.

When does it cross the line? There is no easy answer to this, but let’s look at other biblical examples to try to determine when that might be.

Why are we, to this point, following Rom. 13 rather than other scriptural examples of disobeying civil authority?

This will also help to answer our second question: Why are we, to this point, following Rom. 13 rather than other isolated scriptural examples of disobeying civil authority?

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of examples, but it certainly covers some of the main ones.

Midwives in Egypt:

Consider the time when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, and the Pharaoh became concerned about the size and strength of the Hebrew people, so he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill newly born male children. This was their response:

Exodus 1:17 ESV

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

We are choosing not to make virus masks our Hebrew midwives moment.

Examples in Daniel:

We have a couple of fun examples in the book of Daniel. First, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship a false god, even if that idol, that false god, is the emperor himself whom they serve and who can take their very lives. Their response is one of my favorites in all of OT examples:

Daniel 3:15–18 ESV

Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

By the way, God delivers them.

Then in Daniel chapter 6, it’s Daniel’s turn to be confronted with false worship. Daniel has already survived the deportation into the Babylonian empire, and a shift now into the Medo-Persian empire, so he’s already on his third king at least… from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar (of the writing on the wall fame) and to Darius (probably the same as Cyrus).

Some other advisors to the king who are jealous of Daniel (which was really the wisdom of God at work in Daniel, giving him great success), prey upon the king’s pride and convince him to make a 30-day law where people can’t petition any other god or man except King Darius. They’re specifically out to get Daniel; he’s the reason they did any of this. We find out later that the king is disappointed he fell for this, but even then he goes through with it.

The indication I receive from the text is that Daniel knew exactly what they were up to, and rather than just worship God in secret for thirty days (which they wouldn’t have known but would have gone against the spirit of the law), Daniel goes about his worship with the same public prayers as he always had done.

Daniel 6:10 ESV

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel was taking this moment to make a stand for God against those who were making this law specifically to hinder Daniel. And you probably know what happens next. Daniel faces a lion’s den, but God preserves him alive amidst hungry lions. Afterward, king Darius feeds the malicious perpetrators of evil against Daniel to the lions.

We are not making Covid masks our Daniel moment, or a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego moment either.

Why not? We simply do not believe it has risen to the occasion. Do you think that these masks that are supposed to help keep people safe, whether you agree or not, is at the level of Daniel and the trio of young, flame-retardant Hebrew heroes?

By the way, I’m not arguing that nobody anywhere could choose to make a different version of restrictions on church gatherings their Daniel moment. That is precisely what I believe Grace Community Church and John MacArthur have decided to do—make the restriction they face in California a Daniel moment. - At first I was shocked, but as we’ve watched it unfold, and as we do battle with this whole thing from a biblical perspective, I think we might come to really appreciate that they’ve made this a Daniel moment so that more of us don’t have to.

Peter:

In the New Covenant era, Peter just flat told the authorities (who had both religious and civil jurisdiction) that the apostles would not stop preaching the good news of Jesus.

Acts 5:29 ESV

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

And then he proceeded to share the gospel right then and there!

Paul:

Paul sometimes escaped authorities to preserve opportunities to advance the gospel. On the other hand, Paul also went to Jerusalem (at the end of the third missionary journey?) knowing full well that he was to be arrested by authorities there. On the other other hand, Paul appealed to Caesar. This probably gives us two applications: Paul’s example tells us that it is not wrong to appeal to due process in law and gov’t. But it also tells us that Paul’s focus was still on preaching the gospel to the highest levels of gov’t, something the Lord had revealed was his plan for Paul to do. If this was the way, then so be it.

Like Peter and Paul, is your attitude about masks for the purpose of preserving the advance of the gospel?

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It’s not tough to argue that there are times and situations where believers must respectfully disobey government in order to obey God. … It’s pretty tough to argue that wearing masks is one of those times. I’m not saying that you are unable to come up with arguments, just that it takes a lot of work to justify disobedience in this regard.

Now, speaking of attitudes, and I’m gonna run pretty short on time here, but let’s just stay right here close to Rom. 13 to see some key attitudes we need to have in the body of Christ.

What reminder do we need concerning our attitudes that could make or break our fellowship with God and one another?

Romans 12 has these emphases and and this overall vibe: Be sincere in your love for each other; be humble in your ministry and interaction with one another; be peaceable.

Romans 12:3 ESV

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:9–10 ESV

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:16–18 ESV

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

A good summary =

Humbly consider others more highly than yourself!

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

You check me on this; go and read carefully through both ch. 12 and ch. 14 of Romans, and you confirm that you pick up on these same expressions and the same overall thrust.

Speaking of Romans 14: If Paul can tell the believers that it’s debatable and needs to be dealt with individually whether or not to eat food sacrificed to idols, or whether or not to celebrate certain Jewish festival days, then surely our opinions about the risks of Covid-19 and our opinions about the usefulness of masks falls into this debatable category as well. We ought not pass judgment or try and press too strongly our views on other people. In fact, we should give them space to follow their conscience before God.

And then Paul says we should go the extra mile to not cause others to stumble, doing it because you love them and care for them more than exercising your own freedom.

Romans 14:19 ESV

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Again, humbly consider others more highly than yourself!

Let’s use masks as an illustration: In a totally different environment, without all the political animosity and propaganda, if health professionals told me that there were a great deal of viruses going around and that it would be wisest to wear a mask in order to continue regular activities with groups of people, I would do it. If they say, it slightly reduces the risk of contracting it from someone else, but it definitely helps more with not passing it on to other people if you are sick or might be carrying it, then I would do it. And not bc my civil authorities told me to, but because I would think to myself, if there’s a chance it helps and keeps more of us functioning at a normal level (going to school and work, etc.), then I’ll do it.

[Conclusion]

Where do we go from here?

We are for God’s glory, and we are for you. And here’s the deal, we don’t know what our civil authorities are going to do after Sept 8, when this current ordinance expires. I am praying that they remove it as a mandate and simply keep it as a recommendation.

We’ve developed an overall plan for either case:

If they lift the ordinance, we intend to split our services in such a way that you can determine how you wish to proceed on these debatable matters. The first service would account for continued and careful social distancing. The second service would be significantly more relaxed on social distancing restrictions (no tape), etc. - And you are still free to attend either service you choose. You could attend the first service without a mask, but be mindful that others are there to take extra precaution, so think of them above yourself. And you might attend the second service with a mask on, but be mindful that others will not be behaving with the same caution, and you will need to not be judgmental (and will have to make extra efforts for your own social distancing). - This same “you decide on this debatable issue” would be our approach to Wed night classes and small groups as well. You decide if you think you individually or your family needs to wear a mask.

Now, if they do not lift the ordinance… *sigh* then we your elders would also like you to patiently endure with us longer under these restrictions, going the extra mile to submit to our civil authorities... and being as creative as we can to keep Christian fellowship as close to peak performance as possible.

I’ll admit to you right now that what I believe is the single greatest argument against these restrictions is the impact that they might have on Christian fellowship. There are a whole lot of one another’s that are commanded of us in scripture that are now MUCH harder to do with these restrictions. But before we can decry masks as causing us to be unable to obey God, I sincerely believe that we must try a LOT harder to navigate faithfully ministering to one another even with the restriction encumbrances.

This is incredibly unlikely, but what if soon or sometime they ask us to stop meeting again? In that context, taking all the information provided concerning the risks of Covid to different segments of society, we would respectfully decline and continue our regular gathering together. - You now have sufficient information to decide if you believe that attending the regular gathering of our local fellowship is worth the risk of contracting Covid-19.

One more time, I believe that above all we need to ask God to test our hearts for an un-submissive attitude.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

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