I am not sure if you noticed this, we are always living under some kind of authority in life.
• As children, we live under the authority of our parents. In schools, our teachers. At work, our superiors. In church, pastors and leaders. As citizens, our government.
• None of these authorities is perfect. They are fallible and do make mistakes but God has designed life to be governed by some structure of authority.
• Paul is going to address this today in Romans 13. As Christians, how we are to conduct ourselves under the government of the day.
Paul spent 11 chapters of Romans laying down the foundation of our belief – what it means to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
• From Romans 12 onwards, he lay down the practical expressions of our belief, now that we are redeemed and living the new life as children of God.
• Christianity is not just about a set of beliefs, although that is important. It has to do with our relationship with God and therefore a new way of life.
• Our relationship with God expresses itself in real life, in the way we behave and relate to others.
• James 2:17-18 “17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18…Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Hence we see Paul addressing this in Romans 12.
• 12:1-2 – how we relate to God – we offer our lives in worship of God, no longer conforming to worldly ways but obeying the will of God.
• 12:3-8 – how we see ourselves – don’t think too highly of ourselves; we are all gifted differently, so don’t compare and don’t compete. We treasure one another.
• 12:9-16 – how we relate to one another – to love and honour one another, care for each other’s needs, live in harmony and at peace with all.
• 12:17-21 – the last part, how we relate to our enemies – don’t take revenge, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
Paul continues in today’s passage Romans 13:1-7 addressing our relationship with those who are in authority governing our nation.
• How do we behave as Christian citizens living under a secular rule?
• This question is significant to the believers who are staying in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, at a time when Emperor Nero has just ascended to the throne.
• Are they going to contend with the Roman rule or live in submission to it?
Romans 13:1-7
1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed.
Paul laid down some principles here. I summed them up in these 3 pointers:
(1) Governing Mandate: the governing authorities are given the mandate to rule by God
(2) Governing Mission: they have a role to play, a governing purpose, and
(3) Governing Means: citizens are to support them so that they can do the job well.
GOVERNING MANDATE – Established By God
Paul urges the believers to live in submission to the Roman rule, the reason being their authority has been established by God. He said it three times in different ways:
• “For there is no authority except from God” (v.1)
• “Those that exist have been instituted by God” (v.1) and
• “Whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed.” (v.2)
All human authority has been derived from God. If the sovereign God has not allowed it, they would not be there.
• Daniel says God “removes kings and sets up kings.” (Dan 2:21)
• He tells King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian ruler: “… the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.” (Dan 4:25)
• God puts them in office and takes them out of office.
This means God is the higher authority. He grants them the authority to rule.
• If I delegate authority, then I am higher. I cannot delegate what I do not have. God is the highest authority. No one above Him.
• Caesar may be called “Lord” by the people in the Roman Empire but he is not God.
In John 19 the Roman governor Pilate boasted about his authority before Jesus:
• John 19:10-11 10So 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?” 11Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
• His authority was a derived authority, given by God. If God had not allowed it, he would have no authority at all over Jesus.
GOVERNING MISSION – To Establish Law and Order
Paul went on to give us a context, the purpose why they were given authority.
• 13:3-4 “3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
• The one in authority is God’s servant for our good. He is the servant of God who carries out God’s punishment on wrongdoers.
• 13:6 “…for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.”
• They are “God’s servant, servant of God, ministers of God” executing judgment on God’s behalf.
Apostle Peter says the same in 1 Peter 2:13-15
• 13Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
These are significant statements. Both Paul and Peter understand that the state’s authority and purpose in governance have been established by God.
• They are there to maintain law and order, encourage the good and punish the bad, and promote a just and safe society for all.
• This is the role God has set for them for the benefit of all the people.
• The opposite of this can only be anarchy and chaos, back to the days of Judges when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Jud 21:25)
Let’s go back to Romans 13. Paul says that when citizens do what is good, they have no reason to fear (13:3). But if they do wrong, then they ought to be afraid.
• The government has the legitimate authority to “bear the sword” - literally for the Romans - meaning they can punish criminals with the sword.
• He is “God’s servant for your good” and “carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (13:4)
• 13:5 says not only to avoid God’s wrath – punished by the government for doing something illegal – but more so because of our conscience.
So if they are given authority to promote law and order, then citizens are to support them – Rom 13:6-7.
6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed.
GOVERNING MEANS – The Support of the People
• We are to support them in the work of maintaining law and order.
• Those who serve in the government are to be paid as they attend to the tasks of building a safe and peaceful society.
• We do that by paying taxes and revenue and giving them respect and honour.
The issue of paying taxes wasn’t new. Remember the Jewish leaders asking Jesus: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” (Mk 12:14)
• Jesus’ answer was: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (12:17) There are legitimate needs.
• Paul says these are the things we “owe” (the word he used) the government for their service to the nation.
When Paul wrote these words, they were under Roman rule with Emperor Nero on the throne. It was a society where they had little or no say over what was happening.
• Yet Paul was urging them to respect the authority that God has established.
• It was a context that Jesus and the apostles were in. They were all subjected to Roman rule. Jesus and many of them died under it.
• But they all understood it as the human authority under God, established by God for His purposes.
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So we see Paul highlighting their governing Mandate, Mission and Means.
Is this authority going to be always good? Of course not.
• That is why it poses a lot of problems for us. There are evil rulers and corrupt governments, seizing power for their own self-serving purposes.
• If we are living in Germany in the 1930s when Adolph Hilter was in power, we would understand. Or closer home, what we have been seeing in Myanmar.
• No human authority can be perfect when rulers are fallible.
Paul highlighted the need to pray for them, to Timothy.
• 1 Tim 2:1-2 “1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
There will be situations when rulers crossed the line of God’s given mandate to govern for the benefit of the people.
• It would be naive to think that Paul is advocating blind submission to any governing authorities, no matter what.
• Remember there is a higher authority above them. We submit to God, the highest authority.
There were incidents in the Bible when God’s people did not heed the rulers of the day.
• In Exodus 1 the midwives disobeyed the King’s order to kill all the male infants and thus Moses was saved.
• In Daniel 3, Daniel’s three friends refused to bow down to the image of the King and were thrown into the furnace but God saved them.
• In Daniel 6 the King ordered all prayers be banned except to himself and yet Daniel “got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” (Dan 6:10b)
• In Acts 5 when Peter and the apostles were asked to stop preaching the Name of Jesus, they replied, “We must obey God rather than men.”
We stay true to God. We obey the Word of God. He is our final authority.
• How we do that in any given situation requires courage, discernment and wisdom.
• Our greatest battle is not overcoming injustice. God can deal with it very well.
• Our greatest challenge is being Christlike in the way we respond. Will our conduct reveal more of Christ or cloud His Name.
Flowing from what Paul said at the end of Rom 12 before this section, regarding our conduct towards our enemies…
- to bless those who persecute us and do not curse them; repay no one evil for evil, to live peaceably with all, if possible; never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good –
• …indicates to me the way of non-violence and non-retaliation.
• We are asked to “leave it to the wrath of God” (12:19), who is our highest authority.
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Let me close with one last thought.
Israel has been ruled by many secular empires in their history - the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans.
• We look at the Bible and their history, and we know that the empires existed only because God allowed them to. They might be secular and godless but God uses them.
• God called Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan Babylonian king that destroyed Jerusalem, His servant (Jer 27:6), the tool that He used to discipline Israel.
• After that, God punished them too because they did evil in His sight (Jer 50-51). They crossed the line of God’s given mandate.
The Persians came into the picture and provided the exiles with what they needed.
• Through the Persian King Cyrus God opened the way for His people to return to Jerusalem and provided the resources from the Persians to rebuild the city.
• The Greeks came next and educated the entire region, establishing the lingua franca (common language) of communication across the Empire, setting the stage in preparation for the written Word of God.
• The Romans built roads and opened up the ways for commerce and trade, but we know God has prepared that for the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth.
All these secular empires come and go but God uses them all to achieve His purposes.
• Human authorities are the extension of God’s sovereign rule over our world. He set them up and uses them to fulfil His will.
• We submit to them out of reverence for God, NOT out of reverence for the rulers.
We pray for our government and live as good citizens.
• We pay our taxes and revenue and show them respect and honour.
• We stand by God’s truth and continue to testify for Him.
PRAYER:
There is no authority above you. You reign supreme and we submit to You.
Thank you for all the authority that you have set over us for our benefit.
Bless us with the wisdom to be good citizens and Christians, shining your light when our nation needed it most. May your Name be honoured through our conduct and our contributions.
Guide our leaders with your truth as they lead us through another new year. Let your will be done. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
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