We are continuing our study on the Book of Romans, Paul’s great outline of the basics of Christian belief. He has told us that we all need the gospel and that we can all find the gospel through placing our faith in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, that by the Grace of God we can find salvation.
He has spoken of how we need to live with the Holy Spirit as the dynamo of our lives. He has given us examples from the history of his own people, the Jews, and spoken about the God who has always been and always will be in control.
In chapter 12 Paul began to speak about the way Christian faith should affect the way we live our lives. In that chapter he mostly focuses on relationships within the believing community of the Church. In chapter 13 he moves on to consider relationships with the world outside of the church. Let’s look at the first few verses.
Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
At the time of the Revolutionary war in the United States there were those sympathetic to the English who used this text as a biblical basis to suggest that America should have remained under the government of a divinely appointed King. Verse 2 clearly says; “Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” For some of them it was a theological dilemma rather than a social one. They could see reasons why self-government was preferable, but feared that resisting “what God has appointed” would lead to the nation being under the judgment of God.
Of course as a British Citizen myself it is tempting to say, “And that’s why you are in such a mess today” Only joking! Because I also realize that some of those who led the revolution were Presbyterians of a Scottish background who felt that the English King should never have been allowed to take the throne in the first place. And having moved from the land of Wales, where every beautiful castle that marks the landscape was a symbol of English dominance over the Welsh, the idea of the ‘Divine right of Kings’ loses some of its romance!
I note that this same verse (“Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”) was also used in Nazi Germany to gain support for Adolf Hitler’s megalomaniac ambitions. A group within the Protestant church, known for nationalistic reasons as the ‘German Christians’, claimed that it was every German citizens national and Christian duty to support the one God had chosen to lead them, namely Hitler.
There were those who protested. One of the Confessions in our Presbyterian (USA) ‘Book of Confessions’ is “The Declaration of Barmen”, a document composed mostly by Karl Barth that seeks to put into words the protests of the ‘Confessing Church’ that vehemently opposed the idea that Christians owed allegiance to any power other than Jesus Christ.
Parts 8:11-8:12 of the Declaration reads: “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death. We reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God’s revelation.”
From these historical examples it seems that there are times when to resist an authority or government is the correct thing to do. When a government or authority is plainly acting against God’s will then to claim that it is an agent of God’s justice appears nonsense. That seems to be how Eugene Petersen in ‘The Message’ transliteration interprets these first two verses.
“Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it's God's order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you're irresponsible to the state, then you're irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible.”
The point Paul seems to be making is that in as far as authorities uphold good order and act as agents of justice then the right thing to do is obey them and live under their laws. That stress continues in verses 3 thru 5;
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4 for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority1 does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
Now I did I have a crazy pastor friend one time, (my wife Yvonne will back me up on this one and I stress that he was not a Presbyterian), but he genuinely believed that because Jesus had set Him free he no longer had to worry about speed limits. God would be his co-pilot and angels would guard him from speed cops just as long as he was speeding on his way to do God’s work.
Whilst there was a kind of logic to his argument, we also observed that if he had organized his life better, and set his alarm clock a little earlier, then he wouldn’t have needed to be breaking speed limits. We also noticed that the law of the land was highly unsympathetic to his arguments, which made him less than appreciative of their vigilance. “They should be out catching criminals not harassing servants of God”.
However should his house be broken into, or there be a traffic accident or somebody come into church creating a public disturbance he was quite happy for ‘the law’ to intervene! But what about when the law seemed wrong?
In the lives of the disciples we do see a level of civil disobedience. Many of the earliest apostles, including Paul, are instructed by the authorities not to preach the gospel. Paul won’t give up on that one and ends up in chains because of it.
In the early church many were martyred for their faith because they refused to acknowledge the emperor as being a god. In some countries today it is illegal to convert to Christianity from another religion. But Christians continue to preach the gospel in those places and people continue to respond by breaking that law, often at great personal cost.
But again, that’s not Paul’s point here. He is stressing that just because people were part of God’s Kingdom that didn’t exclude them from lawfully participating in the life of the lands in which they lived. Those who ruled over them occupied their positions by the grace of God. They should be supported, prayed for, and encouraged to do a good job!
Without such government, history shows us, anarchy usually takes control. When there are no lawfully appointed authorities than vigilantes and groups bent on evil often take over and violence and intimidation and corruption become growth industries.
Peter takes a similar line to Paul as he urges his readers in 1 Peter 2:13-16 For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, 14 or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. 16 As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil.”
Every election year we should remind ourselves that we have something that the people of Paul’s day didn’t have. Namely… an election. Democracy as we know it is a relatively new thing. We may grumble and complain about the antics of those seeking to be elected to office… we may even question their motives… but at least we have the freedom to make choices and decisions over how we want those in authority to govern us. And we should certainly pray for our elected representatives, especially if we totally disagree with them.
Aside from speeding tickets another area of government capable of evoking much grumbling is taxes. What does Paul have to say about taxes? Read 6-7
6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due them -- taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Paul is offering here teaching similar to that of Jesus when Jesus was faced with a question by the Sadducees in Marks Gospel
Mark 12:14-17 14 And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15 Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it." 16 And they brought one. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." 17 Jesus said to them, "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."
The countries in which the gospel was first preached were mostly under Roman law. The gospel story we read every Christmas begins with Mary and Joseph having to travel to the town of Bethlehem to pay their taxes. Taxation was levied throughout all the provinces.
The folks living in Rome were subject to city taxes over and above those levied against all citizens. Then, as now, to be near the center of power could be financially costly. The price of renting an apartment in West Virginia is nothing compared to that of trying to rent one in Washington D.C. or downtown New York. Likewise living in Rome could be expensive. Some felt too expensive! But Paul re-iterates the command of Jesus, give to the “emperor the things that are the emperor's” and he will not be drawn into the debate about whether or not this or that tax was just or unjust.
What he does do is enlarge the argument to talk about having respect and honor for those in public leadership. You may recall that he had been in a very public position before being a Christian. Before his Damascus Road experience he had supervised the seeking out of the followers of Jesus and held the coats when Stephen was martyred. He knew something of the pressures of public office and in his dealings with both Roman and Jewish officials was very much aware of the cut and thrust that has always been a feature of the political world.
He knew that without offering respect and honor to those in public office, you wouldn’t make much of an impression. Such knowledge he used often to his advantage as we can read in the Book of Acts. But it was more than that. He was also convinced that people in public office were in such positions only by the grace of God. That didn’t mean they always honored God by their decisions or even acknowledged the existence of God… but nevertheless God remained in control and they couldn’t even take their next breath if were not for the God who gave them life, let alone occupy a position of leadership.
As Jesus did so many tines when faced with legal questions Paul wants to take things further and say, “It’s not about obeying this or not doing that… it’s about the intentions of our hearts”. It all eventually came around to love. Let’s read 8 - 10
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Such teaching is completely in line with that of other biblical writers such as the second letter of John: 2 John 1:6 “And this is love, that we walk according to his (God’s) commandments”
Paul speaks of the 10 Commandments. I’ve heard people today suggesting that they are just a list of things we shouldn’t do, almost complaining… “They are so negative. Don’t do this. Don’t do that” You wonder sometimes if they would prefer the alternative; “Do commit adultery, Do murder, Do steal things, Do spend your whole life going after things you shouldn’t have”… but I guess there are people who live like that!
‘Listen’ says Paul… ‘The Big 10? It’s all about love’. Jesus had spoken of the commandments in exactly the same way. They could be summed up as ‘Love God’ and ‘Love your Neighbor’. That was the bottom line. If a person concentrated on those things then issues of taxation and government and respect and honor all fell into place.
And like many a great leader Paul is aware that time is never on our side. Procrastination over the matters he writes of was not a good idea! See how he finishes the chapter 13:11-14
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
The earliest church appears to have had an expectation of Jesus returning real soon. But as time went by that view became modified. One thing though that was not modified was the conviction that Christ would come and the Kingdom would be established… be it in a day or a thousand years …however long the period…. the fact remained they were one day nearer to that time. Time always grew shorter. And they should be ready.
There was not time for pursuing the things that were presumably some of the habits held by those who were now the ‘saints’ in Rome before they were converted to Jesus Christ.
Revelry described the tendency of folk to gather together in gangs and how as the night went on things could get out of hand. Whilst wine featured prominently in the diet of Romans, drunkenness, particularly public drunkenness was seen as unacceptable, not only by Christians, but by the general consensus of opinion.
Debauchery was the practice of giving in to desires whenever they struck with who ever and how ever the person who lacked self control so chose. Licentiousness was then going on and bragging about all the things that were done. Quarreling and Jealousy grew out of a spirit that could never be content with what it had but always wanted more, particularly if it saw someone else with something they didn’t have.
Such things were those that the folk in Rome needed to put behind them and as Paul says; “Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” It was time to be awake, to be in the light, to show others by their conduct and respect that the Way of Jesus Christ was the best way to live.
Eugene Petersen in the Message Bible, with his gift for phrases and capturing the meaning of scripture concludes Chapter 13 in this way;
“The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about (God’s business)”
Paul’s Practical tips for Christian Living will continue in Chapter 14!