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Romans 13, Paul speaking on the law and the Authority of Government Romans 12:17-21 “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.Vv.20-21Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." (referring to the principles said by Jesus on the sermon on the mount), he concludes“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Referring to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.5:38-42). What Jesus is conveying is to not retaliate when insulted or slandered, “not to return evil for evil,” to be a witness for him. Chapter 13 of Romans is a continuance of chapter 12. Paul begins by “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” We should not assume that Paul is only addressing Caesar, or Rome. Most see this written after edict of the Emperor Claudius, where all the Jews were banished from Rome. Since many Christians were Jews, they were included. “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Paul writes that a ruler “is the minister of God to thee for good” (v. 4), implying that he is speaking of rulers that do good, those who uphold morals, rules to protect life, and punish evil, not those who protect or do evil themselves. As Solomon writes Prov. 29:2 “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” God’s established "authority" to do good and be against evil. Telling us, if we do what is good there is nothing to fear from a governmental authority that punishes evil. When Paul writes, "there is no authority except that which God has established" he is not endorsing a particular government. He is establishing the existence of authority, validating the existence of God behind the affairs of the world. Paul in Rom.13. writes everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established, Jesus validated this. Did not Jesus say this same thing when Pilate spoke to him in John 19:10-11“Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You” Jesus says “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” A government is to stop injustice, bring the offenders to justice, to restrain oppression, and fraud; promoting peace, and safety among the citizens. Paul next says in V.3-4 “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good.” This is what they are appointed to do by God, if not they are being disobedient. Jude 8-9 tell us, “dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.”He further explained, “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"Explaining that he did not take matters into his own hands but referred the judgment to the Lord. Rom. 13:6 “because of this you also pay taxes, Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” Isn’t this also what Jesus said about Caesar and taxes? A good example of this is when the leaders were trying to trap Jesus, they asked him do we pay Caesar (the government) or not? He then asked for a coin, pointing out whose image is on it? “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matt 22:15-22) distinguishing your obligation to the government and to God. The Bibles teachings on this are consistent Daniel writes, God “sets up kings and deposes them” (2:21), this authority is “to commend those who do right” (1 Peter 2:13–15). God establishes authority, we are to obey governmental authority that is over us that punishes those who do wrong and do evil. If the government asks us to do something that is in direct disobedience to God’s Word, we then are to disobey the government. Not by violence but by speaking our reasons. We see this done by the apostles. One example is in Acts 5:27-28 the high priest spoke, " Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name?” V. 29 Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God instead of man.The gospel takes priority over any law of man, even from the highest religious teachers. To remain subject to any government, no matter how evil they are, is not at all what Paul is saying here. We see this respect with David toward Saul as king, acknowledging he would not bring physical harm to the anointed king. Paul gave this example, we are told to pray for all who are in positions of authority, especially the rulers, if they are corrupt or unjust they learn and repent to govern better. 1 Tim. 2:1-51 “ Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence . For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth .” Paul understood that if the followers of Jesus became a political movement against the government, (as some of the Jews were becoming) challenging the authority of Caesar, it would deter them from preaching the gospel. They were told not to take up the sword, besides, they could not withstand the Roman army. Look at what Pilate said to those Jewish leaders who were haranguing Jesus to be crucified. John 18:29-31 Pilate asked them, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" They convince him by stating, " If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you ." Pilate smarter than this, said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." But they could not, and insisted Rome do this. It ends up Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no fault in this Man.” Matt. 27:24 “Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it. And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." Pilate washed his hands of the whole matter, which he could not actually do. So what we see is the example of Jesus submitting to Rome’s law, to be crucified with two thieves. God was in control to achieve his will regardless of the false circumstances. Paul later submitted to it, even unto death. In Titus 3:1 Christian’s are told to submit to their rulers. Peter writes,“we are to submit to every authority instituted among men, For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed.” 1 Pt.2:13 both kings and lesser authorities, v.17. However, we are not to obey them if they want us to disobey God, especially when it involves harming or killing with no justification. We are to obey the rules of the land unless they violate our commitment to God. Saving lives always take precedent. In Ex.1:15-22 the midwives saved the babies contrary to the Pharaoh's order. InJoshua 2:1-14 we see the example of Rahab saving the lives of two Hebrew spies that would help Jericho fall. These commands are throughout all the Bible. Daniel, who served under the evil King Nebuchadnezzar when captive in babylon, understood that his God, and not the king, was ultimately in control: “He [God] controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings” (Daniel 2:21.) The king instructs, “whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace"(Dan.3:6.)V.12, the king is notified “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel’s friends were told to bow down to the idol, they did not and that’s when God showed up in the furnace with them. When do we not obey what is ordered by a king or government? When it affects God's Word to us. Another example, is when the wise men that traveled from the east were asked by Herod to report back to him so he can know where He is and go to worship him also Mt.2:7-8, (which was a lie), they disobeyed Herod. In Revelation 13 we are told not to take the mark of the beast from the world government, even though you will not be able to buy or sell without it, for it will have eternal repercussions. We are not to have blind obedience to a government when it may supersede the Bible, and its standard of good. The Bible permits a Christian to disobey the law only when they are commandedto do evil or to turn from doing good (Acts 5:28-29). If we are asked specifically to renounce our faith or die we have the many examples of the early Church. We are to be willing to become martyrs, in fact Jesus tells the disciples in Acts 1:8 they “ shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The word witnesses in the Greek is martyr. In Rev.12:11 we see this taking place during the tribulation “they did not love their lives unto death.” In Acts 8, we see that governing authorities led a persecution against the early church. It was a especially hard time for believers. Yet, the persecution had the church in Jerusalem “scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” Even with evil men in places of authority, the Great Commission was put into action, the gospel was spread, and the church grew. One who resists authority resists God who placed them in authority. Again in Rom 13:3 rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. submit to the government is “for our conscience’ sake. And that is Paul’s point; it is a command, regardless of our agreeing with a leader’s policies or politics. We are to recognize that God has placed our governing authorities in their positions and we are to do the best we can under them. God is sovereign, He is ultimately in control of everything, See p1 Resisting evil, in self defense and war
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