The Romance of Romans-Part 89

Romans Chapter 13

Every person must live in submission to the civil authorities. For civil government has been ordained by God and he has overseen the installment of rulers into their offices. Therefore whoever rebels against their authority is rebelling against something that God has established and they will suffer very severe consequences for doing so. Such authority isn't intended to intimidate good citizens, only bad ones. So if you want to live free from this fear, obey the civil authorities and they will reward your good citizenship. They are servants of God, given for the good of society. But if you are a law breaker, you need to be afraid, for these God-ordained authorities have been called to use force, even deadly force when necessary, in bringing criminals to justice. We need to obey the civil laws for both the sake of avoiding punishment and keeping our consciences clear before God.

Comments:

The apostle Paul here addresses another very practical area of daily life...the disciple's relationship to civil authority and law. It's important to remember that he wrote these injunctions to believers who were living under the rule of imperial Rome! This was a human government that could be absolutely ruthless and violent. It was the government under which Jesus had been condemned to a cruel and unjust crucifixion. When, in fact, Jesus was being judged by Pilate, he essentially said to this ruler who was flaunting his power, "You have no authority except what my Father has given to you." Jesus understood how the sovereignty of his (and our) heavenly Father works in this fallen world and modeled a belief and a pattern for all who would follow him across the many cultures of the world in every generation. Though there are a number of thorny issues that emerge in a theological consideration of how followers of the Christ relate to and navigate within the frameworks of civil authorities of various kinds, there is an essential simplicity that underlies the appropriate discussion...God is sovereign over all human governments and he will work within them and through them despite their many flaws.