Another look at Romans 13
I’ve often struggled with Romans 13, after all, who wants to be under subjection to the authorities when the authorities are under the influences of satan? Romans 13 taken alone can look as if the apostle was speaking of the “higher power” as being the ministers of the church, the elders of the day; but when taken into account with other verses such as; Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
we can see that Paul was speaking of the government authorities.
How can God expect us to be under obedience to people who scoff at His laws and His Word and His people? That’s a question that needs answering if we are to have any peace on our part in the increasingly evil world.
1 Peter 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
The apostle Peter is clearly telling us here that when the tax man comes to your door to throw you out for back taxes, you don’t pull out a shotgun and send that man (or woman) to their grave. God has called us to be peacemakers, using Jesus as our shining example. Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Jesus didn’t strike out at the temple guards when they came for Him, in fact Peter rashly grabbed a sword and struck off a man’s ear, but Jesus told him Matthew 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
We are clearly not called to take up arms against tyrants, if we were history might have had quite a different outcome. It’s historical fact that the more the romans persecuted and executed the Christians the faster the church grew. They didn’t try to overthrow their government; in fact Paul says ; Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1 Timothy 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
This was written most likely during the reign of Nero! The man who made human torches out of Christians to light up his parties! If ever there was a time for Christians to be up in arms that would have been it, but Paul tells us to pray for them.
In closing, I find no scripture that tells me to take up arms against anyone at all. I personally am not anti-gun, they are very useful for hunting to put meat on the table, but they should not be used on our fellow human beings. I leave you with the words of Jesus; Matthew 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Matthew 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Matthew 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Matthew 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
The text of Romans 13:1-7
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Romans 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Romans 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Romans 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Romans 13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Romans 13:6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Tags: government, NWO, romans 13
November 21, 2008 at 3:20 pm |
Simple. We are not supposed to expect civil governments to be holy and righteous. The very idea otherwise came from Constantine’s merging church and state and was justified by using doctrines derived from Origen’s allegorical interpretations of eschatology that came up with the notion that the job of Christians was to work through civil governments and other secular institutions to transform states and cultures, to make something that the Bible declares to be unholy into something “mostly holy”.
Instead, we are to expect civil government to be basically functional if only to protect its own interests, and in the course of doing what it needs to do in order to provide for the common welfare if only for fear that an angry populace will riot, throw them out of power, and lynch them if they do not, then they restrain evil. For instance, since no one likes to be robbed, the government has a self – interest in capturing and punishing robbers if only because they cannot fail to do so and stay in power. It isn’t because the government and its rulers actually cares about obeying “thou shalt not steal”, much less anything having to do with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Instead, they know that the public demands protection from thieves, so they must protect the public from thieves in order to stay in power. And as a result, the victimization of the innocent and helpless at the hands of thieves is lessened.
And consider the alternative: anarchy. In the absence of a government that does not even oppose evil to preserve its own interests, then there is nothing to stop the immoral from preying on the weak … nothing to stop whoever wants to not only steal but murder, rape, enslave etc. That is why civil government is an institution given by a loving God to mankind through common grace to somewhat mitigate the effects of the fall and the wicked influence of Satan.
So as bad as governments are, ultimately subversive movements are worse. Anything that encourages people to defy legitimate authority makes it that much harder for legitimate authority to exercise that authority legitimately in the interests of the common good. You can see what happens not only in certain parts of the world where there are no effective civil institutions, but even in many regions of industrialized nations where due to politics and ideology whole sections of the population have declared themselves to be in opposition to the civil authorities; that they would rather put up with criminals than police. In both cases, you see the result.
It is tempting to use the imperfections of human institutions to make the case that no such institutions are preferable. This is particularly the case when dealing with communist and fascist governments that systematically persecute Christians and murder large groups of people. But we should remember that the Roman Empire in which Christianity was born was little different from a fascist state. Christianity was actually illegal in the Roman Empire, and the empire spent 300 years killing millions of Christians.
Paul wrote this despite having intimate knowledge of this fact. After all, he played a part of it. Before his conversion he consented to the death of Stephen and then personally captured and sent a number of Christians to the Roman authorities to be killed. And then there was also the fact that Jesus Christ was arrested by the Jewish authorities and executed by the Roman authorities. And then there was the Old Testament example of David. David did not kill King Saul even to preserve his own life, even after Saul murdered the priests!
Subversive elements have never been looked upon favorably in the Bible. Disobeying parents was actually punished by stoning. Barabbas was held up as an antitype of Jesus Christ. Joseph, who refused to dishonor Potiphar, was by contrast a type of Jesus Christ. The northern kingdom, who rebelled against the house of David, immediately set up a false and rival religious system and was governed by only evil kings.
The only reason why Romans 13 gives us so much pause is because our modern society, which has been so shaped by the Enlightenment, the exaltation of the desires of the individual over against the interests of the community, and in particular by over 100 years of Marxist inspired radical politics has so shaped our mindset. We are convinced that we have the right to rebel against and reject anything and everything that is not to our liking at any time and for any reason. It is no wonder then that the most prominent religious leader of our time, Martin Luther King Jr., was one whose entire program was one of organized rebellion against authority. King rejected what the Bible said about Jesus Christ, that He was God in the flesh who fulfilled the law through obedience and rose from the dead, in favor of the liberation theology model of one who was not only a mere human, but one who was assassinated by the Romans for being a radical subversive, a “nonviolent” Barabbas if you will.
If we cannot submit and tame our own wills, desires, and pride enough to accept the trials, troubles, and unfairness that is inevitable in this life, how can we submit ourselves to a sovereign God? We keep wanting to make obedience to God conditional on how life treats us, which in truth is how God deals with us. Well, the book of Job shows us the folly in that. Instead of rebelling against wicked man and wicked institutions that will inevitably exist until judgment day, that energy should be spent obeying and living in submission to God who has always existed, who will always exist, and will always be righteous. If we cannot accept unfairness from the hand of man and his institutions, we will never submit to the arduous process of God conforming us into the image of His Son, who gave up the glory of heaven to become a mere man and be rejected, bear the sins of the world, and die on a tree. That is what Romans 13 is supposed to teach us, and why we are supposed to conform ourselves to it rather than try to conform Romans 13 to our modernistic narcissistic thinking.
November 28, 2008 at 10:36 pm |
[...] Another look at Romans 13 … are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. The apostle Peter is clearly telling us here that when the tax man comes to your door to throw you out for back taxes, you don’t pull out a shotgun and send that man (or woman) to their grave. God has called us to be peacemakers, using Jesus … [...]