Christians and Government Romans 13:1-7

Historical Perspective (introduction)

Welcome

The title of the this sermon is “Christians and Government” based on Romans 13:1-7. The last time I was invited I attended Bible study and this was the chapter covered. Topic of Romans 13 is intriguing. The relationship between the church and government. Many are passionate about about this relationship, believers and non-believer alike.

As we examine God’s word we will consider does the command of submission, apply to all government, what is the purpose of the government, and is this command an absolute . As we consider those question we will be able to develop a Biblical world view of how Christian interact with government, ruling authorities. When theology is applied it forms a Biblical World View. It shapes how we see and interact with the world as Christians. Yes, every Christian young and old is a theologian. We live out our faith.

Historical Summary

Paul wrote Romans around 57 AD when he was in Corinth. Nero was emperor of Rome at the time. Christianity was not considered a new religion, but an heretical offshoot of Judaism. So at first Rome tolerated these Christians. During this time in Rome demanded that its subjects worship the emperor. As Christian we only worship the one true God. Immediately we see the tension between the Church and government. Rome would go on to persecute Christian for two and a half centuries, from Nero to the conversion of Constantine. During this time of persecution many Christians would be martyred. Killed in various ways, in the Colosseum, and even set on fire to light the streets. Paul was one possibly beheaded on orders from Nero, himself. Paul inspired of God, writes telling us to submit the the authorities and is martyred by the same authority. Paul said to submit to the government that killed him, Rome. Lets take a moment to let that sink in as unpack the Scriptures.

Text - Please turn to Romans 13:1-7

Romans 13:1 Every person (soul) is to be in subjection to the authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2.Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God. and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3. For the 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; 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. 5. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God. devoting themselves to this very thing. 7. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

The relationship between Church and government, the Christian and the state is one of tension. This is true through out history and even today. Here in the United States of America the tension continues. How are Christians to live when at times the government seems to oppose the doctrinal values of the Church. In America the topic of separation of church and state is the subject of passionate debate, and it is important. I will challenge us to think how this part of Scripture applies to us today in practice, also beyond our borders. This will prepare us to minster to brother and sister across the globe. As there are many different types of governments, including those that are hostile to the gospel. Just to be clear when I use the word Church. I am not referring to any and every religious body. I am specifically referring to God’s true church, those who have been purchased by the blood of Christ.

Let’s start with the first two verses.

Romans 13:1 “Every person (soul) is to be in subjection to the (governing/ higher) authorities. For there is no authority except from (by) God, and those which exist are established by God.” 2.Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

There are two main points that I want to draw out, subjection and God establishing/allowing governments to rule.

The chapter opens with imperative, a command. The opening tells us that this command is for every person (soul). It establishes the audience for the imperative Though the epistle is directed to the church in Rome. We can see from the language that it applies to everyone. The saved and the lost. Therefore, Christian believer are included.

What is meant by subjection. The word here in the original language is hypotasso. This was a military term meaning “to arrange in a military fashion under the command of the leader”. What we see here is order. 1 Corinthians 14:33 “ For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches and of the saints”. God is not a God of confusion or chaos, but order and peace. And we will see how this plays out as we go on.

The same word for subjection is used in Ephesians 5:24 “But the church is subject (hypotasso) to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.” Beyond the military meaning, the non-military use of the word hypotasso means a voluntary attitude of giving in”. Now we are starting to see the overarching sense of this passage of Scripture. It is one to keep order, structure, a hierarchy and is voluntary is nature.

Why are we to be in subjection to the authorities? Also who are they? As we go on in the verse we see that the authorities are established by God. Who they are can be discerned from the context. They are referred to as the governing or higher authority and in verse 3 they are referred to as rulers. When we put this together we can see this is referring to governments or the ruling authority of the time. The governments of the world are established by God. There is a tension when we consider that God established both the church and governments. Today we are well aware of the atrocities that governments can commit. This leads to some challenges as we try to apply this in our lives.

Those challenges manifest in us trying to understand does this apply today, does it apply to every government. We will say thing such as...

Surely,Paul did not mean Germany under Hitler's command, or Cambodia , modern day Kampuchea under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Are we to submit to these governments? Are we to submit to governments that persecute Christians. A side note. Together these two regimes are responsible for over 19 million deaths.

Personally, I have often heard these type of challenges to the Scriptures and we need to wrestle with them to understand. The concept that the Scriptures many not apply since we know more today is the foundation of the challenge.

It is stated in two ways. The first is Paul (or the author of the book/epistle) could not have meant “X”, or the Bible could not have meant “X”. because times have changed. When the question is phased in this manner it might seem reasonable. We might be able to see some of the logic behind it. But, lets rephrase the question. Surely, God did not mean “X”. The question no does not seem to make sense any more. What we are really saying is how could God not have known. Are we to believe we know more today then God knew then. It is a direct challenge to his sovereignty and His power.

Let’s take a look at the Old Testament to see what we can learn about how God uses governments. We know that the Israelites were in Egypt from the time of Joseph to Moses. During this time the Bible says “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we” Exodus 1:9. The kingdom of Egypt was used by God for His purpose.

Daniel 2:21 says “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes (sets up) kings...” When we examine the Scriptures we can see that non-believing governments have been used by God and I believe they will be continued to used by God.

Even on of the most power king in the ancient world Nebuchadnezzar was humbled before God. Daniel has been asked to interpret the dream of the king. Daniel interprets his dream in Daniel 4:24-25. “this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beast of the field, and you will be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods (years) of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes”.

There are two points to bring out Daniel is serving a government that has his people in captivity. Yet he does it willingly. Also he is delivery God truth at the possibility of great harm.

What blow to the ego. Truly, a powerful statement. This is the ruling power in the world at this time. God humbled Nebuchadnezzar and not only took is kingdom for seven periods, but notice he drove him away from mankind. God humbled him to a beast of the field. I pray that all leaders of the world come to realize who God is and it is God who allows them to be in power.

The president of the United States is often referred to as the “most powerful man in the world”. Imagine if one day he was humble to be like a beast in the field. This is essentially what happen in Babylon during Daniels time. Daniel 4:24-25 also gives us comfort that God is in control working all things for His purpose. Regardless of any political out come. Which often becomes the focus today.

Romans 13:2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. I want to make sure we understand this part of Scripture. God establishes, sets up and takes down governments and He chooses. God allows them to rule. It is and will always be God creation. The distinction I want to make sure we understand is that the governments are ordained. They are not to act as priest.

We are not to resist. The word used here is similar to anti-establishment. Almost stating that we are not to overthrow the government. The sentence structure here is one of past action having enduring results. The actions is resisting, the enduring result is condemnation. Condemnation is the judicial act of declared guilty or wrong. Often resulting in punishment.

But what is the purpose of government.

Romans 13:3- 4 “For the rulers are not a cause of fear(terror) for good (works). But if you do what is evil, be afraid for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

There is a lot to unpack here. God uses governments to restrain man’s evil desires. Think about what the world, a country or even a city would look like without a order of government. Imagine a world with police officers. We hear this today, this is hot topic today. But we only have to look at recent history to see what happens when government is removed. A man is left unrestrained.

On June 8th, 2020, after a number of increasingly dangerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement, police officers in a popular area of downtown Seattle abandoned their precinct. This area was declared the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone - or CHAZ, for short. It was to be a police-free, self-governing utopia. Just so we get a sense of what utopia means “an imagine place or state of things in which everything is perfect”. In fact the mayor Jenny Durkan said the zone could herald a “summer of love”. The area would change it name from Capital Hill Autonomous Zone to Capital Hill Occupied Protest or CHOP for short.

How did this end. This is from the same article. Then, there were the shootings. There were four shooting at the CHOP in a ten day period towards the end of June, two which were fatal. The first shooting happened in the early hours of 20th of June, killing 19 year old Horace Lorenzo Anderson and injuring a 33-year-old man. A second shooting the next day left a 17 year old injured, another person was wounded in a third shooting two days later. In the fourth shooting, on the 29th of June, a 16 year-old boy was shot and a 14 year ole boy was left critically injured. Allegations of sexual assault and mental health crises within the zone began to be reported, too. -taken from article titles “This police-free protest zone was dismantled but was it the end?” by Ashitha Nagesh of the BBC.

The occupation lasted from June 8th, 2020 to July 1st, 2020. It only took 24 days to go from a new summer of love to violence. It did not take several generations. It only took 24 days. How quickly the heart turn to violence.

Government is there to restrain the evil works of man. Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?

How does the government restrain the evil works of man? Because government now bears the sword and is a servant of God an avenger who brings wrath upon the ones who practice evil. Context is needed to start to understand what Paul is getting at. Sermons only take small parts of scripture. Sometime we need to remember that the book of Romans is a letter and should be considered as whole. Paul in the previous chapter in Romans 12:19 wrote “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord” Paul states it is written and quoting from Deuteronomy 32:35 “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.” We are not to seek vengeance. When we are wronged we are not to seek vengeance against our enemies.

What else can we glean from Romans 13:3-4. Romans 13:3-4 are verses that are used to navigate capital punishment. When we consider this subject we should not think in the abstract, but consider that it is dealing directly with subject of life and death.

The argument can be made that Romans 13:3-4 is mute on the subject of capital punishment. That it does not directly state the sword represents the ability to pass judgement onto death. Some believe Romans 13:3-4 is implying is that the government has policing authority.

It is true it does not directly state the purpose of the sword. But I would argue that in order to understand Scripture one must also take in historical context. Rome did have policing authority, but it also had the authority to put criminals to death. In fact Rome had two primary method of execution. It was illegal for a Roman citizen to be crucified. Roman citizen would be beheaded. This is how Paul was killed. For non-roman citizens the worst criminals would be crucified. The worst punishment, reserved the worst criminals was put on our Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, Jesus paid the penalty for the worst criminals. Not against Rome, but against the greater kingdom. The Kingdom of God. I was one of those criminals. For those within that can hear my voice weather here or on Facebook. I urge you. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, please talk to me. or any brother or sister in Christ. The sword today is with the earthly government, but one day it will return to God’s hand and He will judge and His wrath will be upon the guilty. Only the ones covered by the blood of Jesus will be spared.

Finally, we will deal with is this command absolute. Are we to be in subjection to the government in every way. Our government today says the abortion is legal. Does subjection mean we agree and support those laws. Could we give advice to a woman stating that abortion is OK, because it is legal as Christians. Should we deny food to an illegal immigrant, because they are illegal here in the United States. If they outlawed Christianity because it is considered hate speech by the government. Would we stop worshipping.

We are first to obey God. We can see this in Act 5:29 “But we must obey God rather than men.” This was said in response to Peter being told to stop teaching in His name, in Jesus’ name. Peter’s response is clear. The command is not absolute in the sense that a Christian just blindly follows the commands of the government. We must first obey to God.

How do we apply Romans 13:1-7 today. As Christian we recognize that all governments are established by God. That they provide order and restrain evil doers. This benefits Christian as well as the lost. That without this provision the world would be in chaos. As we saw from a modern example. That it does not take generations for evil intentions to manifest, but days.

We are to be in submission to rulers, and governments of this world. Yes, even today. Even the persecuted Christians in China, North Korea and other nations. We are not to follow blindly, but first obey God. We can learn what is right in God’s eyes by reading His word daily and mediating on His word.

When the government passes laws that are contrary to God’s truth then we can stand firmly on on God’s word. This at time will mean paying a price. It could mean going to jail or even losing our lives. But we are not to take up arms and overthrow a government. We simply need to look at history and the examples of the Paul, Peter and the Lord. All which were put to death by the authority of there time, Rome. They did not rebel or fight. The Lord went willingly to His death for our sake. The Christian life is truly a sacrifice.

As Christian we are to live peacefully with the authorities of this world. We will speak God’s truth even if it mean imprisonment or death. We will never comprise our obedience to God for the obedience of man. This is one of the examples that Christ demonstrated on the cross. Innocent sentence to death for our sins and fulling the will of the will of the Father.