How are we Christians to relate to human government and governing authorities?
This morning we come to the ultimate passage in the New Testament which addresses this issue, which is relevant nearly every day of our lives. We face this issue every time we drive some place, whether we obey traffic laws or speed limits. It is also an issue nearly every time we buy something as we pay sales taxes. Our relationship to government and civil authorities is a daily experience for almost every one of us.
But it has never been more relevant to us than it is now. And never more controversial. These past few years we have all experienced some unprecedented events in the United States of America regarding how Christians ought to be relating to our governing authorities.
For instance, for the first time in American history, that I know of, state, city and county governments passed laws or issued edicts that prevented Christian churches from meeting, period. As we all know and experienced, there was a period of months when Christian churches could not meet legally in Nevada. In some states, I know Christian churches which were not allowed to meet for more than a year. At one time, this would have been unthinkable, but now it has happened. How, should we as Christians, respond?
Another unprecedented event occurred with respect to our federal government—depending on our perspective, either a political protest went out of control or there was an armed insurrection that intended to overthrow our election process and negate the official results of a presidential election in our country. Yes, I’m talking about the events of January 6th. And as most of us know, front and center in many of the photos and videos of that day was the display of Christian flags and symbols which represented at least some of the beliefs of those who participated. Again, is this legitimate political discourse, an appropriate way of dealing with our governing authorities when we disagree with an outcome?
And then there has been the great social unrest of the past couple years, beginning with the killing of George Floyd—an event that first spawned a surge of sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement that then subsequently morphed into the “Defund the Police” movement. This led to a number of west coast cities permitting anarchist groups to destroy property in riots in those cities for months. It led to a reduction of police forces and police morale. It gave credibility to a movement for liberal district attorneys and public prosecutors who refuse to prosecute crimes in their counties, thus violating their oaths to uphold the law, which then led to massive crime sprees in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles in which drug stores and major retailers were overwhelmed by whole groups of thieves who repeatedly pillaged their stores for whatever they pleased with apparent impunity. Again, how should believers respond to all this?
All this leads to many questions: What are Christians to do with respect to governing authorities? Whom do we honor and support? Do we submit? When do we submit? Do we ever revolt?
And Romans 13 provides us with some surprising answers to these questions.
It tells us, on the whole, that every soul should submit & respect governing authorities as unto God. Let me repeat that: “Every soul should submit & respect governing authorities as from God and as unto God.
As we’ve read from Romans 13 this morning, it is important for us to remember the cultural situation that faced the Apostle Paul as he was writing this letter. It was 57 A.D. He was writing to the Christian church in Rome, the seat of authority for the entire Roman Empire. On the throne in Rome was Nero, now infamous as one of the most evil and craziest of world leaders of all time, who would, in a few short years become on the greatest persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ in history. He who would throw thousands of Christians to the lions. He would execute the Apostle Peter as well as the very writer of this letter, the Apostle Paul.
The Romans government was full of corrupt individuals, and Roman emperors were notorious for being corrupt, Nero being just one of a number who were infamous for their perverted character and behavior. More than that, the regime promoted idolatry, namely emperor worship, a religion absolutely contradictory to both Jewish and Christian belief. In addition, the Apostle Paul was writing to a group of Christians in Rome wjp consisted of a significant Jewish population, and the Jews were known for mounting insurrections against the Romans continually. The previous Emperor Claudius had even ordered the Jews out of Rome in 49 A.D. because to their riotous behavior, and the Romans would eventually destroy the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and then all of Jerusalem and send the Jews into exile because of their seditious ways.
When you consider all of this, you wouldn’t exactly expect that Paul would be very supportive of submitting to human authorities and human government. But his response is not only surprising, but it is unequivocal. Christians have a responsibility, every single one of us, to submit to and respect governing authorities as from God.
Now it’s important to remember that Paul is now in Romans describing what proper Christian worship and service looks like. He’s told us that if we are living sacrifices to Christ in Romans 12 that, first of all, we will be devoted to serving the church, the body of Christ with our spiritual gifts and abilities. He then tells us we will be devoted to loving one another. And with respect to outsiders and those who persecute us, we are to love them and bless them when they curse us. Now, in Romans 13:1-7, with respect to civil government, it is God’s will that we submit from the heart to all governing authorities as though they are from God.
And that’s precisely his point in verse one: Everyone, every soul, is to submit to every governing authority as established by God.
Romans 13:1: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
Now anyway you cut it, that’s a pretty ringing endorsement of entire submission to, even obedience, to human government, and human governing authorities of all kinds, even during the reign of evil governing authority like Nero.
And if that’s what it looks like in the English, it is even more apparent in the original Greek. The statement that everyone needs to be in subjection is emphatic, emphasis on the “every person.”
The adjective “every” is first in the sentence in Greek, indicating that this is precisely what the Apostle Paul is emphasizing—that every single Christian, with no exceptions, is to willingly submit to the governing authorities and the laws of the land.
But that’s not all. The Greek word for person, second position in the sentence, is most explicitly translated not as “person” but as “soul.” Literally, “every soul” is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. The command has the sense of being expansive, totally inclusive and totally intensive. The use of the word soul suggest that we are to be subject to the governing authorities from the heart, from the inside out, without an ounce of rebellion within us--with total respect and total submission.
It might be asked how “being in subjection to” is any different from “obeying.” I don’t think there’s a lot of difference. The difference is possibly found in this respect, that “being in subjection to” speaks of submitting to governors and their laws whenever those laws touch on our lives. It’s not to be a rote obedience in which government controls absolutely every aspect of our lives.
We might then ask what governing authorities are in view here. It’s clear from the context these are human governing authorities—they don’t bear the sword for nothing, and these are the folks according to verse seven, you pay taxes to, thus human government and human governors are in view. In other words, unlike other New Testament passages which clearly speak of “heavenly authorities” when the word “authorities” is used, these heavenly, or angelic/demonic authorities are clearly not what the Apostle Paul is talking about here. Rather, he is talking about human governing authorities—kings, emperors, rulers and civil servants.
And just who they are is represented by the Greek word translated “governing.” It’s actually the word “higher” or “the above” authorities. Thus, any human official who has been entrusted with more authority in government than you is in view. So, this could range from the security guard at the grocery store to the President of the United States. If there’s any question about this, it’s resolved by a reading of a parallel exhortation from the Apostle Peter written in I Peter 2:13-14: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.?
Why such a pervasive and intensive devotion to submitting to human government? That’s answered in verse one also, and in the next several verses. But the first reason is that those governing authorities have been instituted, established and determined by God Himself. They have their authority as a delegated authority from God, who created human government as a means of promoting order and peace on planet earth.
Second sentence of verse one reads this way: “For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
Now some of us will find that a little hard to swallow. Those authorities which exist have been established by God? If you’re not a Biden supporter, I can imagine you’re snorting at this statement right now. However, just be thankful that you aren’t living in Putin’s Russia, or Saudi Arabia, or North Korea!
Now some folks try to get around this statement by saying God established the institution of human government and its positions of leadership, but not those individuals who occupy those positions. The problem is that this concept contradicts the clear and consistent teaching of the Bible. The Bible repeatedly tells us that God determines who those leaders are and will be. One of the clearest examples of these statements was one made to Nebuchadnezzar, a brutal and arrogant ruler who destroyed Jerusalem and put Israel into exile, by an angelic watcher. It’s found in Daniel 4:17, as an explanation to Nebuchadnezzar and the nations about why there was about to be a substantial interruption to his authority:
“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers
And the decision is a command of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,
And bestows it on whom He wishes
And sets over it the lowliest of men.”
Did you notice those last statements? --In order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men.” Now for those of you who don’t like Biden, that last phrase may be of some comfort for you. God deliberately sets over the realm or realms of mankind “the lowliest of men.” Boy, that gives some pause for thought!
But the most authoritative and telling statement on this subject was made by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in a discussion with the ruler who would order him to be crucified, Pontius Pilate, in John 19:10-11. Jesus had been silent for a moment as Pilate interrogated Him, so Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you? Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.”
An evil ruler for an appointed purpose by God—the crucifixion of the Messiah for God’s purposes of saving mankind. Yes, it’s true, as Psalm 76:10 puts it, that “God makes the wrath of man to praise Him.”
So, if Paul hasn’t been clear enough, he goes on to tell us that if we choose to disobey ruling authorities, then we are in rebellion to God and will experience His judgment.
Verse 2: “Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
Now this is the logical as well as the stated explicit conclusion from the premise of verse one. If God has instituted all authority and authorities, then disobedience to them constitutes disobedience or rebellion to God. And He explicitly warns of a consequence, and that from God, not just human judgment. That person will experience condemnation upon himself. The word is judgment, judgment in this context, that is clearly from God and will come upon that person who rebels against human authority, because it is delegated divine authority. If you disobey human authority, you are disobeying God’s authority, and He won’t take it lightly. You will be judged, eternally for your violation of God’s authority. You rebel against God’s constituted human authorities in this life, then you will have to face the Lord Jesus Christ on His judgment seat and give account of your rebellion against Him to Him on that Day!
Now I’m sure some of you are rightly asking, “Are there any exceptions to this rule—that we are to submit to governing authorities as from God?”
Yes, there are, thankfully. The principle was most succinctly spoken by the Apostle Peter in Acts 5:29, when he and the Apostle John and the other apostles refused to submit to the command of the chief priests and Sanhedrin to no longer preach in the name of Jesus. He said, “We must obey God rather than men.” In other words. on any occasion that a human authority exceeds his level of authority and contradicts God’s commands for Christians, that’s when we are not only free to disobey, but must disobey in order to obey God.
Obviously, this circumstance occurred to the Apostles repeatedly, both in Acts 4:19-20 and Acts 5:29, and they kept on preaching Jesus, no matter what the authorities said. And it happened a number of other times in Biblical history: The Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah disobeyed Pharaoh’s edict to murder Jewish baby boys in Egypt about the time Moses was born and were blessed for it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jewish captives in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, refused to worship his idol, and they were delivered from the fiery furnace. Daniel the prophet himself refused to not pray to his God, in disobedience to King Darius’ edict, and was delivered from the lions in the lion den. And in the tribulation, according to Revelation 13, Christians will refuse to take the mark of the beast or to worship the Antichrist as God and will, after their martyrdom, be rewarded for it.
As professor and author Norman Geisler has said, “A Christian should always obey the government when it takes its place under God, but never when it takes the place of God.”
So your governing authorities whoever they be, refused to let you preach the Gospel or pray? They require you to teach and honor LGBTQ ideologies and speak their language. They have taken the place of God; you are free to disobey them in God’s sight.
In verse 3-5, Paul takes this matter several steps further, just to be clear. He gives several more reasons why we submit to governing authorities. Submit as unto God, because government is God’s minister to us for good, punishing evil. Submit as unto God, out of a conscience attuned to God’s will, for government and government officials are God’s ministers to us for good, punishing evil.
Verse 3: “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.”
First reason: Rulers, generally speaking, punish evil and reward good. Don’t like fearing them? Just do what is good and be free from fear. In fact, they will praise you.
Second reason mentioned in these verses: They are ministers of God for good. Notice that in verse 4. “For it (government) is a minister of God to you for good.”
Now, we are not in the habit of regarding government officials as ministers of God. But that is precisely what is being said here. They are ministers of God for good for us. And they also punish evil and evildoers. Verse 4 again: “For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God”—there’s that phrase again—"an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
And there we have yet another reason to obey governing authorities. They administer wrath on the one who practices of evil. As a matter of practical wisdom, you don’t want to bear the consequences of violating the laws of human government. The fact that human authorities bear the sward on the authority of God tells us they have ultimate authority to enforce their laws—even to the point of death, in the event of murder, as was established in the first edict against murder given by God to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9.
Now along these lines, we often hear the statement, “You can’t legislate morality.” Do you know what this verse is saying? It is saying human government always legislates morality. Human government rewards those who do good and punishes those who do evil, and sometimes ultimately, with the sword—an argument for the death penalty for certain crimes, by the way.
Tell me. what is the basis of all those laws against murder, theft, fraud, sexual abuse, rape, incest, child molestation, slander and libel? It’s the Ten Commandments. And you better believe that when those laws are enforced, they are a deterrent, and when they aren’t, we suffer for it, even as we have recently seen on the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco, where even the liberals voted out their own District Attorney because crime was so rampant because of his refusal to enforce the law that they felt unsafe.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 provides the wisdom we need against such foolish notions that we need not prosecute criminals: “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
So, obey governing authorities because you will suffer the legal, just and penal consequences otherwise. But Paul goes on to say, obey them as a matter of conscience, as unto God. Not because you have to, but for the love and glory of Christ. Verse 5: “Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’s sake.” In other words, you obey the governing authorities for Christ’s sake, ultimately, in order to please God and have a clean conscience toward Him.
Now the next objection you might have is about what you do with bad, or immoral, laws. It’s a good question. What about laws which permit abortion, gay marriage, require church closures, prevent preaching the Gospel or praying or perhaps, in certain situations now, require you to both submit to, teach and practice LGBTQ perverted homosexual ideology?
Again, Norm Geisler’s wisdom is on point: “As long as the law only permits others to do evil, but does not command us to do an evil, it is not oppressive to us. Certainly Christians should work to overturn laws that allow evil, but laws that do not command us to do evil do not require and o not demand civil disobedience on our part.”
So, you’re a public school teacher and federal law tells you that you can’t pray with your students and you can’t teach the Bible or preach the Gospel. On the other hand, you must teach LGBTQ ideology and refer to trans-gender students according to their preferred pronouns. You are free to disobey—it is even your obligation to disobey in order to obey God. Radical, isn’t it. But no more radical than Peter and John and the other apostles were in the first century, according to Acts 5:29.
On the other hand, others may practice abortion and same-sex marriage. We may work against these laws, and should, but they are not a cause for rebellion on our part.
Now all this should have an impact on our attitudes with regard to governing officials and agencies. So the Apostle Paul tells us give honor and pay taxes to all to whom they are due in verse 6-7.
“For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing”—that is, praising those who do good and punishing those who do evil.” Verse 7: “Render to all what is due them; tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
The command “render” brings back a famous quote of our Lord Jesus: “Render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God” (Matthew 22:21). His statement, and the fact that now government officials are to be regarded as ministers of God should have this effect on you—1. You should pay your taxes with the same holy devotion as you give your offerings to church or any other Christian organization. And 2. You should honor public officials, all of them, with the same respect you would a minister of God. Wow!
So back to yet another popular movement of our day, losing steam even as we speak, for very practical reasons: “Defund the Police!” How’s that working out? Not so well. There’s a reason. It’s not God’s plan. It’s a terrible idea. It’s rebellion to God’s created order and his delegated authorities; it’s a refusal to pay tax where tax is due, custom (an indirect tax like sales tax) where custom is due, it especially dishonors those ministers of God who risk and sometimes give their lives to reward those who do good, punish those who do evil and protect the innocent. Wokeness, in this case, is rebellion to God!
What about how we relate to governors whom we disagree with? What constitutes legitimate public discourse. Of course, disagreement on issues is to be expected, even debate. On the other hand, name-calling and slander certainly cannot be justified if we are honoring those who deserve honor in God's order of things in this world..
A member of our church family, Jim Piccinini was sheriff of Sonoma County, along the California coast. He recently shared this story with us. As the county he served was on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, there was often the need to do ocean rescues. The coast off Sonoma County was well known as one of the best places to find Abalone. People would come from hundreds of miles around to dive for them off the Sonoma County coast. So despite wind and wave warnings in stormy weather, they would head out at the risk of their lives, to bring home the abalone they had promised their friends and families back home.
As it had worked out, only Sonoma County among the three neighboring counties on the coast had a helicopter outfitted for long-line ocean rescues. The adjacent counties referred rescues to Sonoma County, but only Sonoma County and its residents, through taxes, had paid for the helicopter, it’s sheriff’s department deputies and its rescues. So Sonoma County rightly credited Sonoma County residents who needed rescues as having already paid for them through their taxes. However, out-of-county residents would need to somehow pay for their rescues—most often out of their pockets.
So there was a lady and her son who had gone kayaking off neighboring Marin County and in great peril, were shouting and yelling for someone to rescue them. Sonoma County’s helicopter showed up and did a long-line rescue of both mother and son, hoisting them out of a would-be watery grave. She immediately wrote a glowing letter of thanks to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s department comparing her rescuers to angels of God who had come to her rescue, praising them high and low.
And then she got the bill. And then came another letter raking them over the coals and telling them they should have left her and her son in the sea.
Well, you can’t have it both ways. Our governing authorities who work to serve and protect us are either good guys or bad, and they deserve our respect, and if necessary, our money, to support their work.
So how do you relate to God’s other ministers?
God’s Word tell us not to take them for granted. Be subject to them from the heart, and respect them as ministers of God for our good!
