Romans 13:1-7--Submission to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-7
English Standard Version

Submission to the Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

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This is probably one of the most talked-about passages between me and my friends recently.  How are Christians supposed to deal with the often ungodly government authorities that are placed over them.  I think the Bible is very clear here as well as in in 1 Peter 2:13-25 that God has put government authorities in place to punish the wicked, reward those who are doing good, and to be stewards of God's resources (including watching over the people God has created).  It is also clear from these passages that kings, emperors and governors answer to God--not to us.  More importantly, it is made abundantly clear that God says that rebellion against civil authorities is rebellion against Him.  Side note:  the US Constitution does not trump the Bible on this issue.  God has made clear in the Old Testament that He turns the hearts of kings and that He uses wicked kings and kingdoms to accomplish His good purposes.  He used Egypt to enslave Israel to protect them from the moral depravity of the Canaanites.  He used the Philistines to protect David from King Saul for a time.  He used both the Assyrians and the Babylonians to judge Israel and turn their hearts and minds back to Him, but also to prepare the hearts of the people to hear the message that Messiah was coming.  He used the Greeks to give the "world" a common language, and He used the Romans to build roads for the gospel to go forth.  So then, "in the fullness of time" when the stage was perfectly set, God sent His Son into the world--not a moment to soon, and not a moment too late, and God used the Roman empire to order that all its citizens should go to their hometowns to be registered for a tax to get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where Jesus was prophesied to be born.

we are only ever to respectfully refuse to obey the command of government when that command is in direct opposition to a command that we have received through the Word of God.  Let's take a look at Acts 5:27-32 as a New Testament example (as I'm sure you know the Old Testament examples of Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah in Daniel 3 and Daniel 6).  The Sanhedrin were religious government authorities with jurisdiction over the Jews in both civil and religious matters related to the Law of Moses.  The believed that the apostles were breaking the Law by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, though they could not charge them with violation of any specific commandment, so they used their authority to issue a direct order to not speak or preach in the name of Jesus (they were allowed to do this).  However, the apostles refused to obey this command and faced the consequences of beatings, imprisonment, and even death for disobeying this command because in their own words, "We must obey God rather than men."  (Acts 5:29(.  This is the only "exception" clause because you are obeying a higher authority.


Acts 5:27-32
English Standard Version
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Paul tells us that if we break the civil law, we should expect to be punished.  We cannot simply claim "diplomatic immunity" because we are citizens and ambassadors of another kingdom (that would be nice).  If we want to have no fear of the earthly authorities, then we should not give them any reason to want to punish us.  If we are persecuted by the government without good cause, then it will only amplify our message as they will make us martyrs for the cause of Christ.  If we break the law (even a law that is contrary to the Word of God) we should expect punishment up to and including death.  God may deliver us from the punishment or He may use that punishment to accomplish His greater good and purposes.  We should not demand the government to leave us alone simply because we are being obedient to God.  We can specifically look at the apostle Paul and his list of difficulties, hardships and persecutions that happened to him in 2 Corinthians 11.  Paul is pitting himself against the false apostles and he says that the persecution he has faced validated his authenticity as a true apostle.  The false apostles don't get persecuted because Satan and the world love them, or if they do face any persecution, they quickly recant or run away and do not stand up in the face of it because they don't really believe their message.  We are told by Jesus and the apostles that we will be treated as bad or worse than Jesus Himself was treated because if the world hated Him, it will also hate us.  However, He led by example by submitting Himself to every earthly authority--the Sanhedrin, the high priest, Herod, and Pilate, but ultimately He summitted Himself to the will of God when He said in the Garden, "Not My will, but Your will be done."

So then we are to obey to escape God's wrath at the hands of His agents in government and for the sake of our consciences and for the sake of the gospel.  For "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft/divination" and is the mark of the unregenerate man.  (See 1 Samu3l 15:23 and Galatians 5:19-21).  How then are we to say that we have been "born again" and made new by the gospel if our identity is that of the very things that God calls abominations and the identity of the unregenerate fleshly man?

Now Paul specifically addresses the issue of paying taxes to ungodly governments--Jesus also addressed this Himself.  Each time the question comes up in the Bible, the answer is the same--pay your taxes and duties to the governing authorities, but also give everything that is due to God to God--not just your tithe, but give yourself, for you are stamped with the image of God and belong to Him as much as that coin is stamped with the image of the government and belongs to them. (See Matthew 22:15-22).  So then, I posit a question for you.  Were the organizers of the Revolutionary War here in the United States obedient to these teachings?  We hear about "taxation without representation" being the primary issue for them--maybe that's true, maybe it's not.  If it was though, I see them being disobedient to this entire text both in being unwilling to pay taxes to the government they were subject to and in rebelling against and being disobedient to the authority that God had placed over them.  It is up to God to change the heart of the king or to remove the king and replace him with a different king.  It is not for Christians to engage in insurrection, rebellion and tyranny.  That is not to say that God has not ultimately taken what was done and used it for His good, but the ends don't justify the means and the actions of these men have forever colored Christianity for the rest of the world (and modern-day Americans).  Do you find yourself in a spirit of rebellion and calling it your "patriotic duty," pointing to the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and other extrabiblical sources to justify these attitudes, or do you find yourself reading passages like these and saying, "Wow, that sounds like we're being called to different kind of culture than what I've been taught."  The Christian is one who is a citizen of another kingdom and an ambassador of that kingdom, yet he willingly gives up all rights and privileges and we subject ourselves to every earthly authority that God has put over us (with the exception that we already talked about earlier).

Now comes for the even harder part--it's one thing to be commanded to pay your taxes and to do it bitterly and begrudgingly and say that you were obedient to the command, but it is quite another for Paul, Peter and Jesus to make this a heart issue.  They all agree that honor is due to the authorities that have been placed over you.  You may imagine that Jesus did not show honor to the religious authorities of His time, but that's not true, He actually did.  He paid the temple tax, even though He should not have been subject to it.  He stood there respectfully during His trial not reviling them when they reviled Him and He spoke peacefully to them even when they allowed their prisoner to be abused and mistreated.  He answered them when they used their authority a legally bind Him to do so, even though this itself was a violation of the Law.  The same went for the Roman authorities.  So then the Bible is consistent that it is not something of simply external obedience, but it is a heart issue.  Failure to honor those whom God has put in authority over you is failure to honor God Himself.  Rebellion against the authorities put over you by God is rebellion against God.

Last, but not least, remember to always be in prayer for those who are in authority over you.  This can help us have the right mind towards them and to remember that they are God's agents at work in this world.  Pray the Scripture for them, make sur that you want the best for them.  Pray for them that God would change their hearts where needed so that their ministry as His agents of government would receive His full blessing.  Pray for the hearts of the leaders to be turned to God so that the hearts of the people would also be turned towards God, but realize that it often works the other way and that revival is usually something that happens from the bottom up and it starts with you and those around you and has a "trickle-up" effect instead of a "trickle-down" effect.  Do not substitute the Word and wisdom of God for the vein philosophies and traditions of this world.  If you had to choose between your allegiance to God or your allegiance to your country, are you sure which you would chose?  Would you be willing to be beaten, imprisoned or killed for the sake of gospel and being obedient to the Word of God?  All these are issues I think about most times that I come to this passage and I think about it often because I honestly don't know how I would perform in such a test.  I would hope that I would give full allegiance to the King of Heaven, and I know one day soon, it will probably come to that.  Pray that I (and all those who belong to Christ) will be faithful and will never deny Him before men in their words, actions, or attitudes.