NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
ENGAGE
How many of you here like freedom?
I think if we’re honest most of us do, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, many times the only way we can get the freedom we desire is to rebel against authority in some way.
• That usually starts very early in life. When you’re a kid and you want the freedom to eat what you want, you probably have to rebel against the authority of your parents who tell you to eat your vegetables or who make you eat everything on your plate before you can have dessert.
• And then you become a teenager and you want the freedom to stay out as late as you can. And that might very well lead to you rebelling against the authority of your parents again, by ignoring the curfew they set.
• And then you get your first job. And your boss assigns you a task that means you will have to take some work home at night or on the weekends. But you want the freedom to have that time for yourself, so you decide to rebel against the authority of your boss and just not complete that task.
• In fact, many of you this morning decided that you wanted the freedom to drive at whatever speed you wanted. So you considered those speed limit signs on your way here to be merely suggestions. But in reality, you did rebel against the government authorities who set those speed limits.
• Even the freedoms that we have as a country resulted from our founding fathers rebelling against the authority of the British government. And while I am certainly glad to live in a country where we do have so many freedoms, I think I can make a pretty good case that those founding fathers likely violated the Biblical principles that we’ll study this morning by doing so.
TENSION
Because of our natural love of freedom, the message this morning may very well be something that many of us don’t want to hear. But one of the benefits of preaching through a book of the Bible, like we’re doing with Romans right now is that we can’t avoid some of these difficult passages.
TRUTH
We are still in the section of Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome that deals with how we are to live practically in light of the doctrine that we find in the first eleven chapters of that letter. And although today’s passage might appear to be unrelated to what we’ve covered in chapter 12 the last three weeks, it is actually a natural next step in Paul’s instruction on how we are to live as disciples of Jesus.
[Read Romans 13:1-7]
Let’s begin with the main idea we find here, and then we’ll build on that:
My submission to human authority
is a reflection of
my submission to God
Or, to put it another way, your response to the authorities you can see is a reflection of your response to the authority that you cannot see.
At first glance, this passage appears to apply only to governmental authorities. And I think that was certainly Paul’s main focus here. But it really applies to all kinds of human authority. The word translated “governing” in verse 1 conveys the idea of superiority or something that is surpassing.
So it can apply to any human authority who is a position that is superior to mine. So it includes my parents, my teachers, my boss, law enforcement and other government officials. So that means that this passage applies to every one of us here because we are all under one or more of those forms of human authority. No wonder Paul starts this section with the words “Let every person…” So if you’re a person, you need to pay attention to what we’re going to learn today.
So here is how we’re going to approach this passage today. We’ll begin by identifying the general principle. Then we’ll dig into the reason for that principle. Finally, we will identify the only exception to the general rule
THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE:
• Submit to all authority
Because the verbs translated “be subject to” is such a key word, not just in this passage, but in several other places in Scripture, notably in the instructions to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5, I’m going to take a few minutes to go into some detail about its meaning.
“be subject to” =
Greek hupotasso =
hupo (“under”” + tasso (“to put in order”) +
“to put in order under”
This was originally a military term that meant to take a position in a phalanx of soldiers. But in non-military use it describe a voluntary attitude of placing oneself under authority. So it is not the same as obedience, although it is related. Obedience is more concerned with outward performance, where submission is more of an attitude of the heart. That is an important distinction, because, as we’ll see later, it is not always possible to obey those in authority over us, but it is still possible to have an attitude of submission.
I’m pretty sure I know what some of you are thinking right now. You are probably okay with the general principle of submitting to authority, but you’re thinking I can’t possibly mean “all authority”. “You don’t know my boss. He’s not even a Christian.” And the objection that almost always comes up: “What about Hitler? Do I really have to submit to that kind of evil ruler?” All I can say to those objections is that I can’t find any exceptions in this passage as far as the kind of authority we are to submit to.
And I think our next section will help us to see why…
THE REASONS:
• All authority is from God
Paul is not ambiguous at all here. He writes that “there is no authority except from God” and then just to make sure that no one misunderstands him he reinforces that idea when he writes that “those [authorities] that exist have been instituted by God.”
Paul is teaching us here that God works through human authority of all kinds – good authority, bad authority, righteous authority, unrighteous authority, believers, and unbelievers.
A lot of people – and I’m one of them – are uncomfortable with the idea that all authority is from God. So some have tried to interpret this passage by claiming that God only established the institution of government, but not the individual leaders, especially tyrants like Hitler or Mussolini or Saddam Hussein. But Scripture repeatedly confirms that God places individuals in positions of authority as he desires.
Paul was certainly familiar with Daniel 2, where Daniel reminded Nebuchadnezzar that he was only in power because God had put him there:
He changes times and seasons;
he removes kings and sets up kings…
(Daniel 2:21 ESV)
We know from the Bible that at least one reason that God had put Nebuchadnezzar in a position of authority was to discipline His own chosen people, the Israelites.
Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon’s son Rehoboam which led to the split of the commonwealth of Israel. He was a wicked king who set up false gods and a false worship center so that the 10 northern tribes would not go to Jerusalem. Yet we see that his rebellion was all a part of God’s plan.
So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
(1 Kings 12:15 ESV)
Pilate was a pagan governor who allowed the crucifixion of Jesus. This conversation between Pilate and Jesus reinforces the idea that all authority comes from God:
So 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 you from above.
(John 19:10–11 ESV)
And it’s important to remember the culture in which Paul wrote these words. The Roman Empire was characterized by slavery, absolute rulers, extremely high taxes and persecution of Jews and later Christians.
Submission, as Paul describes it here, requires that I believe that God is able to accomplish His will in my life through those He has placed in authority over me, even when those authorities may not seem to have my best interests at heart and even though I may not see or understand how God is doing that.
Before we leave this first point, it’s also important to point out that the verb “be subject to” in verse 1 is an imperative – that means it’s a command and not option. And it’s also in the present tense which means that it is something that we are to do continually.
• Therefore, resisting authority is the same as resisting God
Again, verse 2 is completely unambiguous, isn’t it? If I resist the authority God has placed over me, it is just as if I’m resisting God Himself and I ought to expect that I will incur God’s judgment. That means that how I respond to authority in my family, in my job, and in my community is a spiritual issue. And it’s why we said earlier that…
My submission to human authority
is a reflection of
my submission to God
Paul reinforces this idea when he twice writes twice that those in authority are God’s “servants” and then he even calls them God’s “ministers”.
• God places us under authority for our own good
In verses 3 and 4, we see that the general purpose of authority, and particularly government authority, is to protect those who do right and punish those who do wrong. Granted, that has not always the case throughout history. It certainly wasn’t always true of the Roman government under which Paul lived. But even under evil leaders, the government does serve to prevent anarchy, which would be far worse. Can you imagine the tidal wave of evil that would break out over this world if we had no civil authorities at all?
We see here that God has delegated to the government the right to “bear the sword”, a reference to the government’s role in punishing those who break the law. Again, this is intended by God to prevent anarchy and vigilante justice. Last week, we talked about how we are to leave vengeance to God and civil governments are one of the institutions that God uses to carry out His justice.
• To submit out of fear of punishment is wise, but submitting out of reverence for God is much better
In verse 5, Paul provides us with two reasons we ought to submit to authority:
1) Out of fear of punishment.
That’s what Paul means by “avoiding God’s wrath”. We do that all the time, don’t we?
In school we might choose not to cheat on a test because we’re afraid we’ll get caught. At home, we might choose not to disobey our parents out of the fear of how they might punish us. In our jobs, we might choose not to call in sick when we’re not only because we’re afraid we might get caught. And every time we pass a law enforcement vehicle when we’re driving down the road, we immediately check our speedometer because we’re afraid we might get caught speeding. And in every one of those cases, it is wise to submit out of our fear of punishment.
2) “…for the sake of conscience”
This is the kind of submission that comes from the understanding that all authority has been established by God. It means that I submit to those authorities out of reverence for God, not reverence for the one in authority.
So that means at school I don’t cheat on the test because that would be an act of rebellion against God. It means that I obey my parents because I respect the fact that God has placed them over me for my own good. I don’t call in sick when I’m not because that would reflect poorly on Jesus as well as on me. And I drive the speed limit and obey other laws because of my reverence for God.
My submission to human authority
is a reflection of
my submission to God
Paul doesn’t really give us any exceptions to what he writes here. He indicates that we are to submit to all authority because every person in authority – good or bad, godly or ungodly, has been put there by God. But if we look at the rest of Scripture, we can find one, and only one exception to the general rule that we are to submit to all authority. And frankly, at least in our culture, it is one that applies very, very rarely.
THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THE GENERAL RULE:
• When someone in authority requests or requires me to violate God’s Word
We can find several examples in both the Old and New Testaments. We’ll begin with a couple of examples from the book of Daniel. Many of you will be at least somewhat familiar with both of these.
The first occurs in Daniel 3, when Nebuchadnezzar builds a huge golden image and he commands everyone in Babylon to bow down and worship the image. Three young Hebrews, who had been given the Babylonian names that we know them by best – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – refused to do that because it would have violated God’s command not to worship any other Gods or idols.
It’s important to note that they were thrown into the furnace as a result. And even though God saved them in that situation, that is not a universal promise that God will always save us from the earthly consequences when we disobey authority. It may very well be that when we are forced to rebel against authority because we are commanded to do something that violates Scripture, that we will face some very harsh punishment.
We also see this in Daniel 6, where some of Daniel’s enemies get the king to pass a law that no one could pray to anyone other than the king for 30 days. But Daniel refuses to obey that law because it violated his obligation to pray to God. And he got thrown into the lion’s den as a result. And again, God saved him, but there was no guarantee that would happen.
Finally, let’s look a New Testament example. In Acts 5, we read about how Peter and some of the other apostles were arrested by the high priest for preaching the gospel. When they were miraculously freed by an angel they returned to preaching once again. When they were brought before the high priest and the council and commanded again not to preach, they responded with these words:
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
(Acts 5:29 ESV)
Theses apostles chose to obey the specific command of Jesus rather than the religious authorities. In this case, they did not face immediate consequences, but eventually every apostle, except for John, faced a violent death because they continued to preach the gospel.
As I said earlier, at least here in the United States, this exception is going to apply only in very rare cases. But it’s not hard to imagine how that could change. What if some state followed the lead of nearly 60 nations, territories and states that ban spanking? I’d be the first one to tell you that you ought to ignore that law because the Bible is clear that spanking is an appropriate form of discipline in many cases.
Or what if, in order to control population growth, the Untied States enacted a law that mandated that parents abort any children once they had two children? That law would clearly violate the Scriptures and again I would be preaching that none of us here should obey it.
On the other hand, just because the government permits some behavior that violates Biblical principles, doesn’t mean we should spend a whole lot of time focusing our attention on trying to fix that politically. I’ve already mentioned that Jesus was born into a world that permitted and even promoted a lot of evil things – slavery, pedophilia, homosexuality, and unreasonably high taxes. But I can find no evidence that Jesus ever spent even one moment of His time, trying to change any of that politically.
Perhaps Paul is even thinking here of the words of Jesus who replied like this when asked about paying taxes to a government that used those taxes to promote evil:
Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.
(Mark 12:17 ESV)
Paul communicates that same idea here when he commands us to not only pay our taxes, but to do that with respect and honor.
APPLICATION
So what does this mean for us practically? I’m not going to give you a list of applications this morning, but rather I want to paint a picture of what this should look like in our lives and just let you jot down any notes that you want.
What should this look like in my life?
While we live in a politically charged and divided world, one of things Paul is doing with this passage is reminding us that we shouldn’t give undo attention to politics. In effect Paul is saying that we ought to just obey the laws up to the point that they require us to violate the Bible and then devote our primary attention to what really matters – the souls of men and women. Each of us have only so much energy, time and resources and we shouldn’t be wasting any of it on trying to change things politically.
Not even an evil person in authority or a government that allows and even promotes sinful behavior can send anyone to hell. That means that the way to further the kingdom of Christ is not primarily through our politics or by some act of civil disobedience, but by living exemplary lives in which we willingly and joyfully submit to the authority that God has place over us for our own good. I love how Pastor John Piper expressed this idea:
Don't get your back up so easily, because being wronged by a government sends nobody to hell, but being rebellious and angry and bitter and spiteful does send people to hell. And so it is a much greater evil for you to be rebellious than of the government to mistreat you. Much greater evil for you that is.
This week, I saw several people who I believe are genuine disciples of Jesus who have posted things like this on Facebook [show meme] or who have called for a civil war if things don’t turn out politically they way they want. And that breaks my heart.
What this passage teaches is that as disciples of Jesus, we should be the best citizens in the United States, not because we agree with everything that is happening politically, but because we recognize that God has placed those political leaders, as evil as they might be, in a position of authority over us and if we rebel against them, we are rebelling against God Himself.
For you children and teenagers, this passage teaches that you ought to submit to your parents, not because they are always right, but because if you disobey them , it is the same as disobeying God.
It means that on your job, you ought to be a hardworking, loyal employee, who plays by the rules, not because you agree with them all, but because you’ve chosen to put yourself under the authority of your bosses when you took that job. And if you disrespect them, you are disrespecting the God who put them in a place of authority over you.
INSPIRATION
If you are a disciple of Jesus, then you are a citizen of two kingdoms. That means that Jesus is your king and that you must submit to Him, obey Him and honor Him. But that does not mean that we are in any way relieved from our obligation to submit to, obey and honor the human authority that He has placed into our lives. That is why we have said this morning that…
My submission to human authority
is a reflection of
my submission to God
So that means that when you rebel against human authority, your relationship with God can never be as good as it could be because you are rebelling against God Himself when you do that.
ACTION
So as we close this morning with a time of reflection and response, I want to ask all of us to evaluate our lives and ask God to reveal to us any areas in our lives where we have rebelled against human authority – our parents, our bosses, our governmental leaders. And if God brings something to your mind, then if you’re physically able to do so, I want to encourage you to come to the front this morning and pray and confess that to God. And then, if possible, I want to encourage you to also seek forgiveness from the person that you’ve rebelled against as soon as you have the opportunity to do that.
Perhaps God will lead you to respond in some other way this morning and we encourage you to be obedient to whatever He puts on your heart. If you just want to come up here and pray on your own that is certainly appropriate. And if you would like someone to pray with, our Elders and some of our wives will be available to pray with you during that time.
