Subjection to Civil Authority - for the Lord's sake
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Subjection to Civil Authority - for the Lord’s sake
Subjection to Civil Authority - for the Lord’s sake
Introduction:
For some people “submission or subjection” to any authority are painful archaic words that come with baggage and because of some past abuses should be more or less eradicated from life.
Their reasoning often stems from the abuses or something similar to the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson who included the words, “all men are created equal”. But the way that phrase is interpreted today, is not consistent with the intent when it was adopted at the Continental Congress on July 4, 1772.
Jack Rakove, Stanford historian, explained “that they did not intend to mean individual equality. Rather, they intended that the American colonists had the same rights to self government as other nations. Because they possessed this fundamental right, Rakove said, they could establish new governments within each of the states and collectively assume their “separate and equal station” with other nations. … It was only decades after the American Revolutionary War that the phrase acquired its compelling statement of individual equality.”
Championing individual equality is important and essential . The reason for that championing stems goes back much further. All men and women are created in the image of God.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Being created equal does not negate the need of some kind of order and deferring to one another is a number of areas of life. Without some kind of concensus to collectively defer in some areas there would be anarchy.
In the following verses - 1 Peter 2:13-3:7 - Peter not only gave suggestions but commands re deferring/submitting in certain areas - civil authority, employment and within family. For all of these, Peter’s underlying presumed truth is that we are all called to submit to God.
So the question becomes, how do we submit both to God and to others with whom we live and work? The challenge is balance. Recently, this has come to the fore with some concerns re directives and restrictions pertaining to COVID 19.
While it important how everyone/citizens respond to those directives, it is especially important how believers respond. We have a dual citizens
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 13: Submission to Civil Authority (1 Peter 2:13–17)
As citizens of heaven, Christians submit wholly to divine authority, but the potential misapplication of that truth is that they can become indifferent and even disdainful toward the world in which they live, thereby forfeiting many opportunities for positive testimony. Believers’ detachment from the world must be balanced by proper respect for and humble submission to all the legitimate institutions of human authority.
Bearing this mind and the fact that some of the recent civil disobedience on the part of a very few church leaders seems to also disregard some clear Scriptural commands and guidelines. That being the case, we need to remember what Peter did and how he did what he when asked to restrict their ministries.
In other words, did Peter preach what he practiced.
After Pentecost, the disciples preached the Gospel in newer locations. Pentecost had begun in the Upper Room - Acts 1:13; 2:1 - entire house - 2:2 - Pentecost sermon open area perhaps Temple as one of the few areas where a crowd could gather - 2:5-6, 14 - after Pentecost attended the temple together and broke bread in their homes. This was to be expected.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
Acts 3 & 4 records events emanating from a miracle and preaching at the gates of the Temple.
Peter & John were going up to the Temple at the hour of prayer, ninth hour - 3:00 pm - 3:1
Man, lame from birth had been brought to the Beautiful Gate - 3:2 - asked alms (money or food) of others & Peter & John
Peter asking for the lame man’s attention said & did.
But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
What the lame man did.
And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Reaction of the people.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Peter’s sermon.
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Mixed reactions - many believed/priests, captain of the temple and the Sadducees greatly annoyed that he was proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead - arrested them and put them in custody.
INTERACTION - 4:5-22
Leaders - By what power do yo do this?
Peter ‘s answer - 4:5-12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Leaders - warned and charged them to speak no more of this name - 4:17-18
BUT Peter - You must judge whether it is right to obey you (who profess to represent God) or you. We must speak what we have seen and heard
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, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
Believers prayed - Acts 4:23-31
All filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
In a day with conditions that were probably more difficult than we can fully understand, Peter echoed the sage wisdom of those who had gone before and like us are/were commanded to fear God and respect those whom we are commanded to be in submission. With regard to submission/subjection, Peter reminded those to whom he wrote and us of the:
COMMAND for submission - 1 Peter 2:13a
Imperative - aorist pass - action in the past
Subject/submit - hupostasso - a military expression meaning to arrange in formation under a commander.
OT supports the principle of submission to authority
“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.
My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
Believers are to have no part in seeking to overthrow government.
Believers should promote the welfare of their society and government with a view to their ultimate eternal.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Command for Submission
Although Peter and Paul both lived in the openly sinful, decadent Roman Empire—a society infamous for evil (homosexuality, infanticide, government corruption, abuse of women, immorality, violence), neither apostle offered any exemption by which believers were free to defy civil authority. Jesus Himself had commanded, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matt. 22:21).
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.
Throughout history, there have been instances of civil disobedience that sometimes evolve into insurrection and revolution. While believers must obey God rather than men, Scripture in no way justifies the later. Even evil harsh rulers are better than anarchy.
EXTENT:
To EVERY human institution
To PUNISH those who do evil
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.
Only the government given the authority to punish evil-doers
Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
To PRAISE those who do good
This does not justify abuse. While we must speak the truth, we are not allowed to inflict bodily harm.
saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
Registered and unregistered/underground churches in USSR.
2. MOTIVE/REASON for submission - 1 Peter 2:13b, 15
For the Lord’s sake - 2:13b
Believers obey because they seek to honour the Lord and His word
Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Honour God’s sovereign authority.
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Motive for Submission
Of God’s sovereignty over all human authority, Robert Culver wrote:
God alone has sovereign rights.… Democratic theory is no less unscriptural than divine right monarchy. By whatever means men come to positions of rulership—by dynastic descent, aristocratic family connection, plutocratic material resources, or by democratic election, “there is no power but of God” (Rom. 13:1). Furthermore, civil government is an instrument, not an end. Men are proximate ends, but only God is ultimate end. The state owns neither its citizens nor their properties, minds, bodies, or children. All of these belong to their Creator-God, who has never given to the state rights of eminent domain. (A Biblical View of Civil Government [Chicago: Moody, 1974], 47)
Follow Jesus’ example.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
Lived under unjust Jewish and Roman authorities but never sought to overthrow them. HE DID POINT OUT THE ERRORS.
How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
We are called to graciously confront false ideologies - within and without.
and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
This is the will of God - 2:15
It is the will of God that believers do good by respecting those in authority
That by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people - 2:15
Silence - to restrain, muzzle, make speechless.
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
Ignorance - more than lack of knowledge - agnosian - willful hostile rejection of the truth - senseless without reason
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Believers and especially leaders in the church are called to maintain a good testimony among those outside the church.
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
3. ATTITUDE of submission - 1 Peter 2:16
Living as people who are free
Believers have the ultimate freedom - redeemed from condemnation - Rom 6:7 - law’s penalty - Gal 3:13 - Satan’s bondage - Rom 16:20 - death’s power - 1 Cor 15:54-56
Not using freedom to cover up evil
BUT living as servants /slaves of God - slaves to righteousness
For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
4. APPLICATION of submission - 1 Peter 2:17
Honour everyone
Every person created in the image of God
1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Application of Submission
In the first century, most people viewed slaves as nonpersons with no rights. But Peter told his readers they were not to treat anyone that way (cf. Col. 4:1). Christians are not to discriminate against any class of people because of race, nationality, or economic status (cf. Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:8–9; James 2:1–9). That does not mean they ignore different levels of authority and social structure or that they engage in a mindless tolerance for everyone’s conduct, but it does mean they show proper respect for everyone as individuals made in the image of God.
Love the brotherhood
The way that believers love other believers demonstrates true selfless love.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Honor the emperor/king
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.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
5. PRESUMED submission
-FEAR GOD
Trust Him in all circumstance, no matter how difficult.
The Lord is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
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.
All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
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.
Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
With regard to submission to human authorities/government, while Peter’s command to submit is absolute, the whole of the Scriptures provide some helpful limiting factors
In submitting to civil authorities, we must never disobey God - Acts 5:29 -When government decrees are clearly contrary to the word of God, God must be obeyed - Ex 1:15-17; Dan 6:4-10
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
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.
Interaction - Grace, truth & respect
Humility
Peaceful
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
2. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, to God the things that are God’s - Mk 12:17
Weigh what we give to Caesar as carefully as what we give to God.
Taxes - paying under the table
Weigh even more carefully what we take from governments
Grants
Rebates
3. When the majority of those around us and in authority redefine evil and good with deference to changing cultural trends rather than the constant norms of Scripture, it is increasingly essential that believers live as salt and light with the prayer that unbelievers will see/understand our good works and glorify God - 1 Peter 2:12
With government and some segments of society defining good and evil in, we terms that no longer agreeing with God’s word, it is increasingly essential that we talk and live with grace and truth.
Sasha Pusonov - Father & Mothers leaders in Baptist Church in Odessa Ukraine, Krasnoyark East Siberia Gulag