Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other (Deuteronomy 4.39).
As a nation we are in the midst of a crisis of authority. Many people distrust those in political leadership and the natural, albeit sinful, propensity to be suspicious of authority is thereby exacerbated. Additionally, the parental authority of the family, which traditionally has been uncontested, is increasingly under attack. The entertainment industry frequently reverses the roles of parents and children: parents are caricaturized as incompetent adolescents while the child is portrayed as a storehouse of wisdom. In short, there is a confusion over who is vested with legitimate authority. Beyond that, the legislature and the courts are sending mixed signals regarding parental authority and the rights of children. Children sue parents for abuse and the courts jail parents for lack of control. There is a frightening trend toward the privatization of authority: each person becomes a law unto themselves.
What is the source of legitimate authority and what are its limits? How does the Christian differentiate a legitimate authority from an illegitimate one or is Paul suggesting that every governing authority is legitimate and must be obeyed? Does he make a distinction between submission and obedience? A number of years ago Leon Jaworski raised the question about final authority in his book, The Right and the Power, but the question was never answered. Current events in American politics are once again making this issue headline news. Indeed, it is the key sociological question of the day. We are, it seems, in the midst of an ideological paradigm shift that some social prophets think may shatter the cohesive fabric of the society. Without the internal moral constraints of virtuous leadership the constraints of the law become less and less effective. Frankly, the common fear facing most Americans centers on personal safety. This is a result of people depending on the external force of the law which is unable to restrain the heart. A society which loses its moral authority also loses its ability to act authoritatively. Are we in the process of moving from a constitutional republic to a state of individual autonomy (government by poll) where the individual becomes the moral arbiter? In the midst of such radical change what is the proper response to authority? What powers are legitimate and what powers are illegitimate? Is a person obligated to serve a corrupt system? What does God require of the Christian?
The Bible teaches there are seven authority / submission relationships: 1. God and man (James 4.7; Joshua 24.15). 2. Man and nature (Genesis 1.28). 3. Husband and wife (Ephesians 5.22-23; 1 Peter 3.1,7). 4. Parents and children (Ephesians 6.1, Colossians 3.20). 5. The government and the governed (1 Peter 2.13-14; Romans 13.1-7; cp. 1 Timothy 2.1-4). 6) Employers and employees (1 Peter 2.18-20; Colossians 3.22-4; 1 Peter 6.5-9). 7) Spiritual leaders and the spiritually led (Hebrews 13.17). Having said this, it may be worth mentioning what may be obvious to most, namely, that God cannot violate his own moral nature. Moreover, a lesser authority cannot countermand a greater authority. Thus, a father does not have the authority to tell his children to do anything that is morally wrong. Governing authorities are subject to and limited by other governing authorities that have jurisdiction over them. Of course, all governing authorities are subject to the commands or moral laws of God; whether they adhere to them is another matter (cp. Acts 4.7, 13, 19-20; 5.27-29).
When the constraints of God’s law are ignored the violator is subject to the natural causality of his sin and he will inevitably be enslaved by his own wanton self-interests. When Adam sinned he died spiritually and thereby contaminated the whole human race with an innate predilection for disobedience. The sin of self-interest corrupts governments, causes labor unrest, and destroys families; it is the fetid evil of self-serving religions. Indeed, it is at the root of most sin. When the Christian submits to the absolute authority of God, he begins to recognize his obligation to every other legitimate authority established by God. Ultimately he will understand that his compliance with the law of the land (where that law does not violate the higher moral law of God) becomes a vehicle for honoring God. What makes the times in which we live so perilous is that when liberty without moral constraint captivates the masses, the society will soon find itself enslaved to its passions and it will shatter like an expensive crystal goblet dropped on a marble floor.
CHRISTIANS AND SECULAR GOVERNMENTS
In Romans 12.1-2 Paul exhorts Christians not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Knowing what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5.17 about being a new creation in Christ, it may appear surprising that the believer has any obligations to the governments of this world; after all, Christians are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3.20). So being subject to a secular and pagan government seems to present the reader with an ethical dilemma not unlike that which faced Habakkuk. But Paul addresses an immanently practical issue for the Roman Christians. “In Rome they had the palace within view; everyone spoke of Caesar and his delegates. Therefore the question was always present: How is one to evaluate them and associate with them in the light of God’s will in the service of righteousness? It would be strange if the norm that orders the community’s relationship to the state were missing from the message to the Romans. … Could God’s people be subject to Caesar? Did they not renounce their heavenly king if they submitted to the one person who claimed to be the absolute Lord of all?” (Adolf Schlatter, Romans: The Righteousness of God, p. 240).
In telling the Romans to be subject to the governing authorities, Paul clearly has the sovereignty of God in mind. Because God’s charis (grace) lies behind the gifts (charismata) the believer is not to give deference to one gifted individual over another and thereby assign a hierarchy of values to the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. God sovereignty oversees the church. So too God’s sovereignty lies behind all secular governing authorities. Thus, Paul’s command that every person be subject to these authorities is predicated on the sure knowledge that God governs the course of history. “Paul expects everyone who has power to honor God as the one who commissioned him to govern and bestowed upon him the ability to do so. Whether or not the ruler himself acknowledges this is not the issue; because Christians know God, they understand where all human power comes from and that they are to honor as bearers of a divine mandate precisely those who are in place” (Schlatter, p. 241). The truth of this is clearly illustrated in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate: Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above” (John 19.10-11a; cp. Acts 23.1-5).
Obviously, no society can exist without imposing laws to regulate the activities of its people. The Christian, as with any other citizen, is obligated to obey the laws of the land, but Paul goes a step further and points out that the state derives its authority from God. “If the state exceeds its lawful function, if it plainly directs subjects to actions that are wrong, then that is another matter. Jesus said that we are to render to Caesar only the things that are Caesar’s, for we are to render to God what is God’s (Mark 12:17), and Christians have always understood that ‘We must obey God rather than men!’ (Acts 5:29). Paul does not say this is set terms, but that is a legitimate deduction from his view of the state’s delegated authority, which is all that it has” (Leon Morris, Romans, p. 461). Douglas Moo’s comment on submission to governing authorities is also helpful in putting into proper perspective the tension between the sovereign authority of God and the derived authorities of earthly governments: “Paul calls on believers to ‘submit’ to governing authorities rather than to ‘obey’ them; and Paul’s choice of words may be important to our interpretation and application of Paul’s exhortation. To submit is to recognize one’s subordinate place in a hierarchy, to acknowledge as a general rule that certain people or institutions that have ‘authority’ over us. … But perhaps our submission to government is compatible with disobedience to government in certain exceptional circumstances. For heading the hierarchy of relations in which Christians find themselves is God; and all subordinate ‘submissions’ must always be measured in relationship to our all-embracing submission to him” (Douglas Moo, Romans, p. 797).
Paul wrote the Roman epistle prior to the great persecutions of Nero; still there is no doubt that some believers had suffered persecution for their faith. Paul is not suggesting that godly behavior will exempt the believer from governmental persecution. Indeed, he has already written: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Romans 8.37-39). Christians are slaughtered not because they refrain from evil, but because their love for God sets them apart as objects of hatred to the world (cp. John 15.18; 16.1-3). But this is not cause to fear governments or to resist them: We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8.36-39; cp. 9.17; 2 Corinthians 12.9-10).
JESUS’ AUTHORITY
All legitimate authority, whether individual or social is derived from submission to a higher authority and ultimately all authority originates with God (Genesis 1.26-28; 2.16-17). When Adam rebelled he was expelled from Eden and God’s unmediated presence. The continuing presence of sin in mankind is evidenced by his willful defiance of authority. When a person places his faith in Christ he repents of his rebellion against God and submits to his authority. John tells us that Jesus has authority over all flesh and he gives eternal life to all those whom God gave to him (John 17.2). There is an irony in all of this. Jesus secures mankind’s salvation through his obedience to God’s will by permitting himself to be executed by a corrupt human government (cp. Romans 3.21-26).
From the perspective of the Sanhedrin, Jesus was crucified because he claimed that he had an authority equal to God’s. Malcolm Muggeridge summarized the inevitability of Jesus’ execution when he said, “Christ had to die because the truth he spoke and the freedom he offered undermined the authority other men claimed and exercised.” Ultimately, Jesus claimed that his authority was derived from his personhood (i.e., the second person of the Trinity). It ought to be noted that although one member of the Trinity may be functionally subordinate to another member, it does not follow that he is inferior in essence (cp. John 14-16). The relationship between the Father and the Son is unique in the New Testament (Matthew 11.25, 26; Mark 1.11; John 3.16; 6.46; 11.41; Hebrews 1.6). Jesus said of himself, For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man (John 5.26-27; cp. Mark 1.22, 27; 2.10; John 2.18-19; Ephesians 1.21; Colossians 2.10; Jude 1.24). In obedience to God the Father, Jesus submitted to the injustice of men in order to secure the release of those held captive to the power of sin. The Christian, then, in obedience to God, submits to governing authorities who are in their turn subject to the sovereign rule of God’s decretive purposes.
