SERIES: The Book of Romans
Conscientious Christianity
Introduction: Before making the move from the marketplace ministry into seminary and the pastoral ministry, my good friend Brad Harper had me speak to the elders. When I met with them, one of the elders asked me what has turned out to be a life-changing question. He asked, “Paul, if the elders would recommend that you not leave the marketplace and pursue theological education, what would you do?” Now I had spent about three years praying, evaluating, and planning to make that move and I had begun to emotionally prepare myself for the move. When I heard that question, my internal response was, “You wouldn’t dare make that kind of recommendation. Who do you think you are? Who made you king over my life?”
This question struck at the root of my rebellious spirit and confronted my views of authority. The question went to the very core of my sinful nature which shakes its fist at God and any authority that He has instituted over us. The elder was wise who asked the question, knowing that a rebellious spirit can be seen in our response to authority. I will not submit to anyone but myself. I agree with Simon and Garfunkel. I am a rock. I am an island.
Paul confronts this attitude in our text today. He calls for submission, not so much as it pertains to our relationship with elders but as it pertains to our relationship with the state, to civil government. Let’s read Romans 13:1-7:
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. {2} Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. {3} For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. {4} For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. {5} Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
{6} This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. {7} Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
Relations between the Church and the state have been notoriously controversial throughout church history. Paul’s big idea is that our relationship with the state is to be marked by one word, “submission.”
The word submission is one of those words that makes the American spirit crawl. We often associate submission with mindless allegiance or with the mistreated servant. But this is not what Paul has in mind. Paul is encouraging us to willingly place ourselves under the authority of our civil government—both in spirit and in deed. He will develop his point by showing us the reasons why submission like this is necessary and how to practice this kind of submission on a day in, day out basis.
Paul initially wants us to understand our responsibility to willingly place ourselves under the authority of the civil government. So he begins to build his case:
Our submission to civil government is reasonable.
Later in this text, Paul will show us that voluntary submission to the civil government is reasonable because the alternative to submission is a dangerous course to take. But first he builds his case by helping us understand that …
God has instituted civil government. In verse 1, Paul begins his explanation: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Now God entrusts two things to the governments He establishes.
1.God entrusts authority to governments. The Scriptures clearly teach that God has all authority and that He has sovereignly decided to delegate authority as He chooses. He entrusts authority to human institutions out of love so that there is order rather than chaos in the world. His motivation for doing this is love. He has given authority to husbands in a marriage, so that through sacrificial love, the wife will flourish in God’s sight. God has delegated authority to parents so that they can establish the boundaries that will guide their children towards spiritual, emotional and physical maturity. The elders of this church are given authority by God to lead this flock toward obedience, faith and unity.
Paul tells us here that God also entrusts authority to governments. He does this so order will exist rather than anarchy. The key point is that all human authority, specifically civil government, derives its authority from God. This authority extends to all the officers of the government from the main leader, to the tax collector, to the police officer walking her beat. They all have authority because God has delegated authority to them.
And verse one goes further to clarify that, like marriage, work and the church, civil governments exist because God has instituted them. Governments have not arisen spontaneously and independently simply because sociological evolution demanded it. Governments exist because He has willed that they exist. God actively establishes each and every government
This truth extends to every expression of government we see. Each one is established by God. This applies to democracy, dictatorships and monarchies as well as communist states, socialist states and capitalist states. This is important because we often assume that our form of government isexclusively God’s form of government. This is not true. Just because a government may restrict the freedoms of its people more than ours does not make it an illegitimate government. It also does not mean that God has not established its creation. Three times in Daniel we read the refrain, “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” (4:17, 25, 32) The implication here is that God’s establishment goes even to the person.
Now many of you are asking the question, “What about the real slime ball leaders the world has seen? What about the Herods and Neros, the Hitlers, Stalins and Husseins? Is God responsible for all the actions of these characters?” As we all know, with authority comes great responsibility. And with sinful people the possibility for the abuse of authority is very high. When He was before Pilate, Jesus said to him, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 19:11) Pilate abused the authority delegated to him by God and condemned the sinless man Jesus to death on a cross. Pilate is responsible for his abuse of authority. So are all the other men mentioned who misused the authority God delegated to them.
Now I know this will spark a few letters because these truths raise a mountain of questions. I want to encourage you to write out your questions. And then send them to Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota. That is all the address you will need.
2. God entrusts responsibilities to governments. Look at verse 3 and 4, “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
Twice in these verses, government authorities are referred to as God’s servants. The Greek word is the word which gives us our word “deacon.” So we are to look upon government authorities as part of God’s ministerial staff, part of the team He assembles to work in the world today.
These servants are to carry out two main functions. First, they are God’s servants “to do good” and “to commend what is good.” Second, they are God’s servants to “bring punishment on the person who does evil.” Based on his own experience and his understanding of the gross miscarriage of justice that Jesus experienced, Paul knows that he is stating the divine ideal here, not the human reality. But even with gross injustice, Paul states that the honoring of good and the restraint of evil are the primary responsibilities of the state. In telling us that governments
“do not bear the sword for nothing,” Paul is implying that the government’s authority over its citizens extends even to the use of capital punishment. In Paul’s time, the sword was the symbol of power over life and death. In restraining evil, even to the point of death, government allows those who live uprightly to live at peace.
Generally speaking, most governments in the world, whether communist China’s or our capitalist democracy, seek to carry out these two functions. Some do it better than others. For the most part, governments in the world are not out arresting those people who are minding their own business, taking care of families, and earning an honest living in the rice fields or in the board room. Each form of government seeks to keep some order and punish those who are set on doing evil against others and against the state.
So voluntary submission to civil government is a reasonable idea because God is behind all civil governments. Paul shows us that submission is a reasonable command because the alternative to voluntary submission, rebellion and chaos, is a dangerous undertaking.
Rebellion against civil government is dangerous. Look back at verse 2, “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Since God has ordained, instituted and given authority to governments, resisting that authority is really resisting God.
1. Resisting governmental authority is equated with resisting God. It is similar to when people oppose the institution of the church to which God has also given authority. When Saul was converted on the way to Damascus, he heard the voice of Jesus ask him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Now technically, Saul had been persecuting the church, Stephen in particular. Saul’s opposition to the Church was expressed by Jesus as direct opposition to Himself. Jesus was saying, “You mess with my Church, you are messing with me.” The same holds true for civil government. When this authority is resisted, we are messing with God.
The question that immediately comes to our minds is “Are there any times when this is not true? Are there any times when it is right to resist the governmental authorities?” The quick answer is “yes,” and we will look at the question more in depth in a few minutes.
2. Resisting governmental authority brings condemnation on ourselves. Those who take up arms against the government should be warned to expect the worst. The condemnation that Paul has in mind is condemnation brought by the state. People who actively resist civil government will get what is coming to them—whether the consequence is a verbal rebuke, a ticket, a jail sentence or the death sentence. Regardless of whether the laws make sense to us, rebellion against them takes us into no man’s land, outside the loving boundaries of authority that God has given to nations. And when we do this Paul says, we bring civil judgment upon ourselves.
When the young man was caned in Singapore, there was so much uproar in the United States about this. We didn’t like the way he was punished because Christianity has been salt in the western culture, and more benevolent forms of punishment have been instituted. He was played out as the victim. He was not the victim. He got what he deserved. He stepped outside the boundaries of the nation in which he lived. The authority God ordained in Singapose punished people by caning them. He may not like it, but he should have thought about that before he vandalized the car. The text here says that he brought condemnation upon himself.
Now no one to my knowledge is planning to lead a revolution here. But I may be mistaken. So the rest of us still have to face ourselves a bit here. Even without a full-fledged rebellion, we can actively communicate and demonstrate that we are resentful of the civil authorities. How do you respond when the police officer dutifully pulls you over for speeding? When we are receiving the consequence for breaking our own laws? What attitude do you communicate? What words do you say? What attitude do your children learn? More importantly what do your children hear when you go to a lawyer to plead to a lesser charge and fix your ticket? Are we not communicating by speeding that we are the exception to the rule? Does not our response communicate a lack of biblical respect for authority? Does our “fixing the ticket” not communicate to God and to our children that we will not submit to authority, instead we will circumvent it? God does not put these laws in place to crimp our style.
I know I am stepping on toes here, but know that I am stepping on my own, too. I am driving to Virginia this week, and my goal every time is to see how many minutes I can shave. I drive Highway 64 like the German autobahn. I disregard the authority of the sign and make up my own rules. I do so at my own risk. Not so much because 75 is faster than 65 but because I knowingly resist the authority that God has put over me.
Up to this point, Paul has been showing us the reasonableness of his command in verse 1, that we should submit ourselves to the governing authorities. So far he hasn’t been very specific. But this begins to change in verses 5-7.
Our submission to civil government is practical. (5-7)
Our submission to the government is to be practiced in three ways.
We conscientiously practice our citizenship. Back in verse 1 Paul has stated that everyone is to submit themselves to the governing authorities. No one is exempt from this decree for any reason. No one person—not the president, not congress, not a pastor, not a Christian—enjoys special privileges that give him the freedom to ignore and violate the authority of governments.
Now look at verse 5, “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.” Here Paul is repeating the idea but adding two motivations to do so. One motivation is fear. Submit to avoid punishment. This reason motivates both the believer and the non-believer. So Paul gives another motive, a higher motive than the base motive of fear. This motive will set us apart from the unbeliever. Paul admonishes us to voluntarily submit ourselves because of conscience. In other words, because in God’s eyes, it is the right thing to do. Our submission, our citizenship should be practiced conscientiously, not fearfully.
We willingly support government ministers through our taxes. In verse 6 Paul writes, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.” This is the third time that those who serve in civil government are referred to as God’s servants. This time a different word for servant is used, a word used for temple servants. Civil servants, then, are performing God-ordained functions fulltime and we should therefore pay our taxes to support their ministry. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take deductions or that we should pay more than required, but it does mean that we should pay our share willingly.
We may not like the taxes we are asked to pay, we may not deem them fair, we might not agree with every way that our tax dollars are being spent, but we have no right to decide for ourselves which taxes we want to pay and which ones not to pay. God has not given us the authority to make that decision. He does ask us, though, to pay them willingly in order to support His ministerial staff.
We genuinely give government ministers our respect and honor. In verse 7, Paul writes, “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” Paul does not qualify the word everyone. When Paul says everyone, he means everyone. Every civil servant, at every level, is to receive honor and respect from us. This respect is not just for the office but for the person as well. This respect is due them, regardless of their party affiliation, regardless of how they live their private life, and regardless of the sly way they catch us speeding. We are not exempt from showing them the respect and honor that is due them as servants of God.
This is something that needs some collective work in our country. We are quick to criticize for poor governing but very slow to acknowledge positive achievements. We may owe a debt in this area.
Paul has shown us that submission to civil governments is both reasonable and practical. Now let us answer the question I raised earlier.
Our submission to civil government is limited.
Just because a government has authority delegated by God does not automatically mean that they will act responsibly with their authority. In some cases, authority has been and will be abused by governments even to the point where they reverse their God given duties—perversely commending those who do evil while punishing those who do good. Does Paul’s requirement to submit still stand? The answer is no!
Civil disobedience is allowed, even necessary, when there is clear conflict between governmental laws and God’s law. (Ex. 1:17; Dan 3, 6; Acts 4:18, 5:29) We are to submit right up to the point where obedience to the state would clearly call for us to be disobedient to God. Whenever laws are enacted which clearly contradict God’s law, civil disobedience is our Christian duty. There are many notable examples of this in the Scriptures.
In the book of Exodus, when the Egyptian Pharaoh orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the newborn boys, the text in Exodus tells us, “The midwives … feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” The midwives refused to obey the Pharaoh in obedience to the commandment, “You shall not kill.”
In the book of Daniel, when King Nebuchadnezzar orders all his subjects to bow down and worship his image of gold, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego do not obey because they were required to obey God’s commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me ….” Later in the same book, King Darius decreed that no one could pray to a god other than himself. And for the same reason, Daniel does not obey.
In the book of Acts, chapters 4 and 5, the Sanhedrin told the apostles to not speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Jesus had told them just months earlier to go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. When confronted a second time, the text tells us that “Peter and the other apostles replied (to the Sanhedrin), ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”
The common factor in each of these cases is civil disobedience. First, in each case the governmental authorities required something that directly contradicted a clear teaching of Scripture. If our government should forbid Christians from gathering for worship, it is our obligation to disobey and have services for God has told us, “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.” We must obey God rather than man. But, if the government revokes the tax exemption for churches and religious ministries or revokes the deduction for charitable contributions made to a church, we would have a hard time finding a biblical mandate that would allow us to violate the enacted law.
So there are clearly times when civil disobedience is necessary. But this principle needs to be qualified this way:
Civil disobedience is always to be non-violent, with the willingness to accept the consequences that result. (Dan 3:17-18; Acts 5:40-42) In the biblical examples we cited earlier, the purpose of the disobedience was “to demonstrate a person’s submissiveness to God, not their defiance against the government.”[i] In each case, we find there are the common elements of non-violence and willing submission to the consequences their civil disobedience brought to them.
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego resisted, they did not organize a revolution against Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, they entrusted themselves to God and accepted the consequences of their action—being thrown into a furnace of fire. When Daniel disobeyed, he did not organize a revolution, but instead entrusted himself to God and accepted the consequences of his action—being thrown into a cave full of lions. When the apostles were arrested a second time, we read in Acts that the Sanhedrin “called the apostles in and had them flogged. They ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. The apostles left … rejoicing…. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.”
Conclusion: The Christian life is a life of relationships. In Romans chapter 12, Paul developed our four basic Christian relationships: our relationship with God, with ourselves, our relationships with one another, and our relationship with our enemies. Here in the first part of chapter 13, he develops another, our relationship with the state. The main ideas are voluntarily placing ourselves under the authority of the state, supporting the state, and honoring the state.
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we find another aspect of our relationship with the state. There Paul writes, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1 Tim 2:1-2). It is a privilege that we live in a country where we have a say in how the nation is governed. We experience great freedom in being able to choose from a slate of candidates when voting and not being forced to vote for the one candidate on the ballot. But the real blessing is not all the freedoms, not all the stuff that is attendant with living in America. The real blessing is that we are able to live peaceful and quiet lives and that we can pursue godliness and holiness without hindrance.
Prayer: We bring before You, gracious Father, our president Bill Clinton, our senators Bond and Ashcroft, our representatives both at the national, state and local level. We thank You for each one, Father. We are grateful for their service. Grant them the grace they need today to govern us with wisdom, humility and fear. Protect each from being tempted to abuse the authority that You have granted to them. We seek Your grace and protection, too, for those in our neighborhoods who fight our fires and respond to our fears. May all find joy in serving You. Amen.
DATE: November 19, 1995
Tags:
Government
Authority
Civil disobedience
Taxes
[i] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans, 342.