Submit to the Authorities
Romans 13:1-7
Introduction
Last week we focused our attention on verse 1b. In that verse we have seen three (3) implications that solidify our understanding why we have to submit to governing authorities.
Let’s review it again.
1. It implies the truth that man did not create government. God did.
In 2 Chronicles 20:6, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in Heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.”
What is clear from this passage is that it does not matter whether a government exists because a king has appointed his son to rule, or a tribal chief has defeated his rivals, or a people have voted for their candidate—all authority is there because God put it there. All authorities: good or bad. Remember when Pontius Pilate, speaking to Jesus before he died, urged Jesus to listen carefully to his words and threatened him saying, "Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" And Jesus said, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above" (John 19:10-11).
2. God determines who rules in these governments.
In Daniel 2:21 we read, “[God] removes kings and sets up kings.” So it says here that they are all under His control. God puts them in office and he takes them out of office. Under his sovereign rule God does whatever He pleases.
3. God determines the times of their ruling.
"The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom he wishes..." (Daniel 4:17).
In Isaiah 40:23-24 we read, “Who brings princess to nought, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planned, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
All of this is simply confirmation of the statement that government is of God. Therefore, it isn’t man’s elections or his revolutions that determine the governments of earth. We think it is.
Elections nor revolutions determine who sits in the seats of power -- it is God who does so. These things are only the instruments by which he works his will; and the revelation of Scripture is that God puts in power the men of his choosing, whether they be good or evil, whether they are beneficent rulers or tyrants like Hitler or Krushchev, or any of the others on earth.
Submit to Authorities even it means Death (v.2)
Paul suggests in verse 2 that the problem is not how God is running his universe, but how we are responding to it: We are in rebellion. "Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." If we are angrily shaking our fist at God, he will deal with us. He has the right to condemn rebellion against him, and he will bring us into judgment.
The concept of submission is not slavish obedience to the governing authorities or being mindlessly controlled by them. Submission is an attitude, a stance of the heart if you will, in which we are predisposed to let God, through government and other authority structures, put limits on where we can go, what we can do, and how we can spend our resources. We have already decided ahead of time that we are not God, he is; and that we will approach institutions of governmental power essentially with a bent knee. That is the starting point.
Of course, where human authority itself resists the direct command of God it is proper to rebuke it, and, if necessary, to disobey it. We have an example of this in the incident in Acts when the authorities commanded the apostles not to preach in the name of the Lord Jesus. Peter said, "Whether to obey God or man, you judge. You are God’s servants. You are in a position of authority. Now you tell us, which should we obey, God or man? -- for we cannot but speak in the name of the one by whom we were called, Jesus Christ," {cf, Acts 4:19-20}. They went out, then, and filled Jerusalem with their doctrine, and ceased not to preach and to teach everywhere that Jesus was the Christ {cf, Acts 4:19-31}. Here human government had overstepped its proper authority.
In being subject to governing authorities, there may be orders that we feel we can’t obey. Suppose I lived under the dictatorial government and was told not only to stop preaching Jesus Christ but to kill anyone who does preach Christ. What should I do in that situation? All I can do is to submit myself to governing authorities and let them put me in firing squad or in gas chamber.
The early apostles submitted to imprisonment. Some of them were stoned to death and some of them were beheaded.
Apostle Paul preached the gospel in such a way that the gospel was heard in every places. But he did not resist the authorities. If they wanted them to put them into prison, he let them. He didn’t shout, “That’s against human freedom.” No, he didn’t. Instead, he let the authorities put him behind bars.
These examples of the apostles illustrates what is meant by being “subject to higher authorities” – even It means death.
Fearlessly Obey God’s Will (v.3-4)
But, in general, governments are not a terror to good conduct, as the apostle says, but to bad conduct. If you want to have a clear conscience when you are working with the government, just behave yourself. Obey the laws and you don’t need to have any fears -- unless in the odd instance they come directly in conflict with some command of God, you need have no fear. Obey the laws and you can have a perfectly clear conscience, and can sleep nights. You don’t have to worry about anybody coming to your home, or calling you up, or serving a warrant on you. You don’t have to hide behind doors or duck around corners, or cross the street when you see somebody coming. You can just walk through life with a perfectly clear conscience. This is what he says.
On the other hand, if you break the law, the authority is then the instrument of God to judge and punish you. It isn’t the human element that is doing it, it is God that is doing it -- through the instrumentality of a human being.
Then someone may ask, "How far does this authority go?" Notice what Paul says in Verse 4: "He does not bear the sword in vain." That means that the authority extends to the right to take life, because that is what the sword does. I think this puts the question of capital punishment in its right perspective. You see, capital punishment is not "legal murder" as some people call it, nor is it simply a relic of a more barbarous age (it is hard to understand how any age could be more barbarous than ours when you think in terms of the atomic bomb and so on), but it is the avenging hand of God himself operating through human instrumentality. When a criminal is executed for a crime, the executioner who pulls the switch (or drops the capsules into the acid) isn’t the one who has taken the life. Nor is it even the state. It is God who has done it, and the state is simply the instrument by which God does his work and carries out his judgment on earth.
Paul address Both matter: civil liberties and social justice on the one hand, and personal faith and humility and self-denial, on the other. But in Paul’s mind, faith and humility and self-denial are vastly more important for the Christian than that we be treated well by the government. And the reason is this: Being persecuted unjustly is not the reason anyone goes to hell. But being unbelieving and arrogant and self-indulgent is why most people go to hell. Jesus never promised his people a fair fight. He promised them the opposite: if they treated the master of the house like the devil, how much worse will they treat you. The main issue is not being treated justly in this world by civil authorities. The main issue is trusting Christ, being humble and denying ourselves for the glory of Christ and the good of others.
Remember what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar before they were thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3): "Whether we live or die is up to God. But we will not worship you." They were not safe, but they also were free from fear. We can live lives that are freed from fear, that have no guilt dragging us down, that don’t make us look over our shoulder all the time wondering if the dark and rebellious parts of us are going to be discovered. And like submission, this kind of fearlessness is an inner quality that has to do with our hearts.
Give Due Honor to Whom Honor are Due (v.5-7)
Let’s look at the last section, verses 5-7: "Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
In verse 5 Paul said that possible punishment is one means by which we are impelled to do right. But he says here that there is a better reason, and that is your conscience. Do right because those in government deserve respect as people who are made in the image of God. They are there by the permission of God. We have a responsibility to not just treat the whole enterprise of government as some kind of machine, but to acknowledge the people involved. We ought to pay taxes where we owe them, but give respect where we owe that as well. Those who are honorable we ought to treat with honor.
Now, this doesn’t mean that all taxes are just -- I don’t mean to claim that -- but the principle of taxation is right, and, if there needs to be correction, machinery is usually available for the correction of unjust taxes. Notice that this matter of paying taxes, among other things, is put under the matter of the realm of conscience. That is, Christians (for this whole passage concerns the attitude of Christians to government) are under a higher law than the world in regard to the demands of government.
It has been pointed out by a number of people that most nations end up getting the government they deserve. The profound question we ought to ask ourselves is whether the church is influencing the life of everybody enough. Are we dispelling the darkness sufficiently that those people who are elected will learn to think rightly and to see the truth? Will they make good decisions because of the spiritual influence of Christian people, rather than being forced to by some political pressure group? Have we had the influence that the church ought to have as salt and light in the communities where we live?
The Christian, as we have seen here, is called to God-likeness. That is, as Major Thomas said, "making God visible in human life through the outworking of his indwelling life." As we, even in little things, display honesty, and respect, and honor, and carefulness (not for the sake of some better relationship between the government and us, but because we are God’s men from head to foot), this thing becomes an instrument and a channel by which the Spirit of God opens doors, right and left. Thus, the influence of a Christian becomes a potent, vibrant, powerful testimony -- a vigorous thing in the life of his community and beyond to that of the nation as well.
Conclusion
As we look to the conditions of our governments, we noticed of violence, of terror, of harassments from every place. However, no matter how fearful these might bring to us, we have to TRUST God that He is Sovereign above the governing authorities. He is in control.
"The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation" (Psalm 33:10, 11).
God has not given control of history over to humans. Instead, this verse is clear that God takes action to frustrate human plans whenever He desires--which means whenever they are not in line with His plans. Since God’s counsel must "stand forever" and since God will, as Isaiah says, accomplish all of His "good pleasure," He will frustrate all human plans that will not lead to the fulfillment of His plans. From this it follows that the only things which He will allow to happen are things which will ultimately contribute to the fulfillment of His plans.
Let us do our duties as it is revealed in the Bible and TRUST God’s Sovereignty to work out His purpose in us and through us.
