Today's passage can be a difficult one to grasp. It poses numerous questions we are
left to consider ourselves. But, Paul is absolute in what he says. He leaves no
doubt of where his priorities lie and indeed where our priorities should lie.
However, that
does not stop Romans 13:1-7 being used to justify bad regimes. On October 8th
1985 during the early days of the National Initiative for Reconciliation in
Africa, the founder of the African Enterprise, Michael Cassidy was granted a
rare interview with the president of Pretoria. Upon entering the president’s
office, Cassidy was presented with Romans 13:1-7 as a justifiable reason for
the Nationalist Government’s apartheid policy.
It stands to
reason, therefore that this passage must be read in the context of its location
in Romans.
So let’s
just take a few moments to put this passage into the correct context.
Chapter 12:9
& 10 - "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves."
13:9 & 10 - "... Love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law."
Being
sandwiched between two passages that teach about Christian Love, it seems to me
that tonight’s passage, Submission to Authority
should be taken in some way as an expression of Christian Love.
So, let’s
look at this a little deeper and let’s try and understand what Paul’s message
really is and where he believes our priorities should lie. We are going to look
at the command he gives us, the rational for the command and an application of
following the command.
The
Command
Verse 1: Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
This
is absolute. There are not exceptions. [read
v1 again] Paul is very clear what his command is. We must, as Christians, submit to those in authority over us, be it
government, council, police, teacher, parent, even the traffic warden.
We have no
problem with this command usually so as long as the governing authority is good, but what if they are tyrannical?
Paul says there are no exceptions, no ‘get-out-clause’.
We can’t say, “Wait, I'm a Christian, that doesn't apply to me,” or “I'm not
following that rule as it is ridiculous.”
Scripture,
however, does not seem to share this problem. In 1 Kings 12:15, Jeroboam, one
of the most evil kings of Israel, is placed in authority by God. In Jeremiah
27, King Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan Babylonian king who destroyed Jerusalem, is
called, God’s servant. And then in John 19:11, Jesus gives a stark awakening to
Pontius Pilate, just before his sentencing, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.’
Romans 13:1
says God is in control. All governing authorities are in place because of him.
Man did not create government, God did. Man does not sustain government, God
does. Civil authority is God’s idea to govern his people in this age. Yes, we
are not to conform to this age. Yes, many authorities kill Christians. Yes,
they tax us and take our money (or rather God’s money!). Yes, they can exile us
and make us leave our homes. But, civil authority is God’s chosen instrument to
govern his world of men and women.
They are God’s gift of common grace for our own good without which, there would
be anarchy.
Therefore, (1
Peter 2:13) we must submit to
governing authorities for the Lord’s sake. This submission is out of reverence
to God, not the people in authority, but God. God has stripped all rulers of
their final authority. Indeed, in Matthew 28:18, Jesus declares that ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me!’ He is the King of Kings and yet, he submitted to the governing authorities over him, to the point of
death!
So, we know
what Paul is commanding us to do, but why is he commanding us to do it?
The
Rational
Five times,
Paul describes governing authorities as God’s servant or has been established
by God.
Verse 1 - "...there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."
Verse 4 - "For he is God's servant to do you good ... He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer"
Verse 6 - "...for the authorities are God's servants"
This alone
is sufficient to understand the reasoning behind Paul’s command. Being made and
established by God, it is therefore right and wise to submit to them. But, Paul
goes on to give even more concrete reasons why we must submit to the governing
authorities.
He tells us
that all authority has been placed there by God. In essence, God governs the
world by governments. As we have already seen, this does not just mean
Christian Governments, but all
governments, all authorities.
At the time
Paul was writing this letter, Nero was the emperor of Rome. He has been
described as an ineffectual, neglectful and brutal leader who began to
persecute Christians to remove blame from himself for a large fire that
destroyed much of Rome, yet, Paul commands the Christians submit to Nero’s
authority anyway.
Christopher
Ash in his commentary, ‘Teaching Romans’ writes, ‘Notice, this is not saying
anything about the wide variety of ways in which governments come to power,
whether by more or less democratic election, coup d’etat, force of arms,
hereditary rule or whatever. Every structure of authority, from the family to
the empire, is a partial expression of how God governs the world.’
And yet, we
still have people complain about new rules put in place. Hard working people
complain about having to pay so much tax each month. The conscientious driver
questioning the logic of either a roundabout or traffic lights or the absence
of them.
It all shows
an inherent ingratitude for God’s mercies. We desire to be holy, yet we
complain about the rules of men. We profess to be honest, yet we try and cheat
the car park attendant for an extra few minutes of parking. We say we hate sin,
yet how many times do we try and justify our speeding? We want to be rulers of
our own destinies with nobody telling us what to do. In essence, we want to be
our own gods.
In short, we
are rebelling against the authorities
because God has placed them above us as verse 2 shows rebelling against
authorities that God has put in place is rebelling against God himself for
which ‘will bring judgement’.
Paul extends
this idea of punishment in verse 3 and 4. These are the reasons for God
creating governing authorities. Without fear of punishment, we would not have
direction and we would do whatever we wanted to. Governing authorities are
themselves, however governed by God’s Moral Law. They are in place because God
has instilled within them the difference between right and wrong. They have
been given the heavenly authority to punish those who do wrong and commend
those who do right. Verse 4 says, they are ‘God’s
servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer’.
But it’s not
just about the punishment. Verse 5 says we must listen to our conscience as
well. I don’t know about you, but when I do something wrong, my conscience
screams at me and never lets me live it down. And neither it should.
A popular
Disney film when I was growing up was Pinocchio. Pinocchio was a wooden boy who
wanted to be a real boy. To help teach him to be real, he was given a
conscience called, Jiminy Cricket who was fond of saying, “Always let you
Conscience by your guide!”
Now, this
was just a cartoon film, but the message is still true. Our consciences, as
Paul says, should guide us to whether we are doing good or wrong. If we
don’t submit to governing authorities then our consciences should condemn us to guilt. This is what God had intended our consciences to be for. However, through the actions of Adam and Eve in Eden, our consciences are corrupted from within, which means it cannot be a safe guide. The Devil knows this and will do whatever it takes to get you to do wrong, even convincing you to believe "what the authority is doing is clearly going against what God wants and therefore it is OK to ignore their instruction". It is at this point the Devil successfully diverts your mind away from the power of the cross (Christ's submission to both civil and God's authority) and of Christ's resurrection.
Therefore, the
argument is clear. Submit to governing authorities, 1) because it’s instituted
by God (v1); 2) because it is good for us (v4); 3) because we will get punished
if we don’t (v4) and 4) because if we don’t and we are caught, are we doing the right thing according to God's higher moral law (v5)?
An
Application:
However, it
is not enough for Paul to just give us a command to follow, and ensure we
understand why we must follow his
command but he takes it a step further by giving us an application for the
command, paying taxes.
I am
reminded of Matthew 22, when Jesus was asked, ‘Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ his reply in verse 21
is perfect, ‘Give to Caesar what is
Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ It would seem, Paul is reiterating
that command of Jesus in verse 6.
Paying taxes
is a fact of life. Indeed, it is a criminal offence if you avoid paying taxes
and so, paying your taxes, no matter how ludicrous or expensive you may feel
they are, is considered a submission to the governing authorities. It is an
expression of your civil duties as a citizen of the country, therefore, it is
also an expression of your Christian Love, because as verse 6 says, ‘the authorities are God’s servants’.
And so, we
come to the end of our passage. It is suffice to say, Paul is being absolute here. His command is
non-negotiable. It is most likely this because Paul is more concerned about the
things of God than the things of men. Civil liberties, although a gift from God
are not the main issue here. Rather, Paul believes the main issues are humility
and self-denial before Christ and trust in him.
About this
very topic, Christopher Ash has this to say, ‘For most of us most of the time our desire not to submit to authority
has nothing to do with obeying God and everything to do with our own selfish
desires.’ Therefore, we must become humble and deny our own nature to be
god in order to be better citizens of Heaven.
We should
not react vindictively, indeed Jesus on many occasions taught us to love one
another and died for that reason. We must first take the log out of our own eye
before attempting to take the splinter out of anyone else’s eye. In terms of
submission to authority, there are some that are unjust, this is true, this
will always be true so long as men and women are allowed to govern. But all
authorities, whether good or bad, are instituted by God and so we must be grateful for them.
An authority
regime will change from time to time, they rise and they fall, their plans to
control people are only short lived, they may cause the death of millions or
force everyone to flee their homes, but in the grand scheme of things, their
reign is only a fraction of a moment compared to the glory and majesty of God.
He alone has the final authority.
Paul urges
us all to become humble before Christ, to allow him to rid us of our self-made
glory and our self-appointed authority. We must
submit to all authority over us as an expression of our Christian Love and out
of reverence to God. For if we don’t, the consequences in verse 4 are clear, ‘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.’
