24 - On Submission Series

Romans 13:1-3

1Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

After talking about the way we use our bodies, the way we relate with one another as believers, and the way we relate with those, outside who might even persecute us for our faith, Paul then turns his attention to another important area of our lives – the governments in the cities and countries in which we live. God is concerned about the way we relate with those in government authority – our faith is not disconnected with our everyday lives, but rather, impacts every area of our being, and every area of our lives as well.

The first thing he does is, refers to every believer as a soul. That’s such a wonderful description of us as believers. In fact that’s exactly how Genesis 2:7 refers to the first man and woman, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Our souls exist in our bodies and that’s also why we should take care of our bodies as Paul just reminded us. Though our bodies fade and perish, our souls will live on for eternity, with a new body, in one of two places – heaven or hell.

Every believer is to be submissive to every governing authority. As believers, though we are children of God, saints, members of the body of Christ, living stones, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, and more, it does not negate the fact that as long as we live on the earth, we are to be subject to earthly governing authorities, and their rules and regulations.

Paul goes on to say that every earthly authority that is above us, has been placed there by God Himself. No matter how hard this may seem to accept, this is the fact and we need to submit to these authorities. Paul goes one step further to say that whoever resists the governing earthly authorities is actually resisting the ordinance, or law of God Himself, since He has placed these authorities above us. So any laws that govern us are ordained by God and therefore need to be adhered to. In other words, he’s saying that as believers we should not think or feel, that since God is our ultimate authority, we don’t need to submit to earthly authorities.

He goes on to warn the believers that those who resist the governing authorities will bring judgment on themselves. This means that when we resist the laws that are placed above us, we are bringing judgment upon ourselves. When a law is passed, it comes with consequences for breaking it, and so if we choose to break the law, then we are choosing it’s consequences as well, which means we are bringing judgment of the law of the land upon ourselves.

Paul then reminds us that those in authority above us do not strike fear in us for doing good, but rather, for when we disobey the law and do evil. So if we don’t want to be afraid of the authorities, we need to do what is good, and not evil. In fact, we may even be praised by the government for doing good. Sometimes the authorities are on the look-out for those doing extraordinary acts of kindness, and recognise these acts publicly, so as to encourage others to do the same.

Romans 13:4-7

4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.

Paul once again reiterates that the governing authority is in position for the good of the people. He then tells us that if we do evil, then we need to be afraid and prepared to bear the consequences for our actions as per the law of the land. He seems to say that the authority to judge misconduct has been given them by God Himself and ‘the sword,’ in their hand, is not for no reason – it’s to be used against those who do evil.