Romans 13
Rom 13:1-3 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. 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 (1296 diatage (dee-at-ag-ay')— arrangement, i.e. institution) of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
“Having outlined the believer’s behavior in the church, Paul goes on to deal with the way in which the person with the renewed mind is to function in secular society.” God appoints governing authorities. Briscoe points out: “Elsewhere in his writings, Paul teaches that God has delegated His authority to parents, employers, elders, and husbands, but His emphasis here is on the role that government plays in the administration of divine authority. The Apostle’s view of the privileged position and responsibility of the secular authorities is illustrated by the fact that the word translated ‘appointed’ was also used by Paul, himself, when he described his encounter with the Risen Lord on the Damascus Road.”
“God is Sovereign. Therefore, officials who exercise authority do so because God has placed them in their positions and must be obeyed because of it… it is easy for us to accept God’s sovereignty when we are given Christian rulers or when people of moral character are elevated to positions of responsibility, but not when we are given evil rulers… Romans 3:1 tells us that we have a legitimate (though not unlimited) responsibility to obey them.” [BSF]
We have already come across one example of an evil yet God-established ruler in Roman: Pharaoh, who oppressed the Israelites, working them as slaves, who arrogantly resisted Moses’ demand that he let God’s people go. God judged his arrogances. [But] Evil as the man was, he had nevertheless been put into his position by God. Paul quotes God telling Pharaoh: ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ ( Rom 9:17; quoting Exod 9:16) God raised up Pharaoh so that He might display His wrath in judging him, because God is sovereign in all things.” [BSF] We do not what God is planning to do and should not mess it up.
“Nebuchadnezzer was another arrogant ruler. He thought he was superior to Jehovah because he had been able to conquer Jerusalem, raze the temple, and carry off the gold and silver objects that had been used by the priests in their worship (Daniel 1:2). But in the end he learned that God alone was truly sovereign. He confessed: for His [God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation to generation… He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth….(Dan 4:34-35)” [BSF]
There are two Greek words for power. “Mere ‘power’ (kratos) can be legitimate and illegitimate power, as in the case of the devil who, we are told, holds ‘the power of death’ (Hebrew 2:14) but will lose it when Jesus returns. Of course Christians are under no obligation to obey a power that is illegitimate….The other word for power is exousia, which is the word Paul actually uses in Romans 13. This is not mere power’ it is delegated power. It is power given to a person or group of persons by another. This is legitimate power. Therefore, a better translation is ‘authority’ which conveys the idea of legitimacy. Paul uses this word… because he wants to make clear that the authority of the state is from God. An important example is Jesus in His trial before Pilate…” [BSF]
John 19:10-11 Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power [exousia] to crucify You, and power [exousia] to release You?" Jesus answered, “You could have no power [exousia] at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate subsequently tried to release Jesus, but the people [composed of the mob that the Jewish leader had assembled in the private, night hours] demanded his death. Pilate sinned, but their sins were greater for the sin of crucifying Messiah. The Jewish leaders “were sinning against the Scriptures. Which pointed to Jesus and were fulfilled by Jesus, and they were sinning against their consciences (Matthew 27:18). But Pilate was also sinning. He was sinning by condemning an innocent man, and he would have to answer to God for it.” [BSF]
Mark 12:14-17 When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it." So they brought it. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's." And Jesus answered and 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.
“Because Christians recognize the state’s legitimate authority, they are (or should be) the very best citizens, and that in two ways. They should obey the speed limited, Pay taxes honestly, vote in elections, support worthy civic endeavors, speak well of their rulers, and support and pray for them. But they should also be the best of citizens by opposing the state verbally and by acts of non-compliance whenever the government strays from it legitimate God-given function and/or transgresses the moral law of God. They must do this by words, not by coercive power, since the power of the sword is the state’s not theirs. However, they also need deliberately to resist and disobey the state when necessary.” [BSF]
Evangelism—What we must do is illustrated in Acts 4 and 5. The disciples had been preaching in Jerusalem, but they had created such a stir that the leaders called them in and commanded them to keep silent, Peter and John relied, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ ( Acts 4:19-20) The apostles were released, were returned to their preaching, and were arrested again. And again they were commanded to keep silent. But they replied, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ (Acts 5:29) This makes clear that Christians are to give preference to the preaching of the Gospel and not to cease from it even though commanded to do so by civil authorities. They may suffer for it. Many were arrested and beaten. Some were killed. But they evangelized anyway. We need to remember this in our age which is becoming increasingly intolerant of any public articulation of Christian conviction.”
“Morality- No government has the right to command Christians to perform sinful or non-Christian acts. During Nazi era Christians in Germany were ruled by a devilish state which commanded them to have no dealings with Jews. They were not to trade with them, have friendship with them, or even acknowledge them. This was an unjust demand on Christians to behave immorally, and those who disobeyed had the right [yea they were justified before God] to do so. Christians must act uprightly today too, even if it seems contrary to some governments’ policies. They may not be imprisoned for these acts, as the apostles were, but they may lose their job for refusing to be dishonest or for calling those who are not honest to account. They may lose their chances for promotion or be cut out of the leadership circle.” [BSF]
Civil Rights— This differs from the previous area in which Christians are pressured to act immorally themselves and must refuse… this refers to government immorality and the need for Christians to do something to change it… The problem is that as we move away from words only (that is, speaking the truth and calling the rulers to account) and into the area of direct action, it is fatally easy to cross over the line into wrong method of responding. We thus become guilty not merely of breaking an unjust law, but of breaking just and even moral laws. An example is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He is to be commended for his stand against the policies of the Nazi government. But he was not executed for speaking out against Naziism. He was executed for his part in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. We can understand how he might have felt that assassination was the only course left to him to stop a growing evil. But desperation does not make murder right, and at this point he went beyond any possible biblical sanction. There is no moment in all of life in which we must be more diligent to hear and obey the Word of God in Scriptures as when we are calling on another person or group to do the same. We are self-righteous at the best of times, but we become especially self-righteous when we embark on a crusade. At times we must disobey Ceasar. Ceasar is not God…” [BSF]
Rom 13:4-7 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. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Paul, himself, had many reasons to be thankful for governing authority. The government helped to keep order at the temple. Briscoe explains further: “On more than one occasion he was literally rescued from the mobs by the Roman soldiers; he was given freedom to speak by the Roman proconsuls, and he even got a free ticket to Rome from the government!” Briscoe cautions: “It may be that the Christian will not appreciate the politics of a person holding high office, and he may even deplore the official’s private life, but this does not exempt him from the responsibility to show respect and honor. The man is mere mortal…The Christian, because he knows this, will always be on guard concerning the way he expresses his disapproval and voices his dissent. As a matter of conscience, his behavior will never take anything away from the person who is God’s minister.” We must discuss the issues only in a productive and God honoring way.
Briscoe explains that when Christians encountered government sanctioned individuals that directly disregard the moral law or Commandments. “The rule of thumb enunciated by Peter before the Council – ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’—applied in those early days and still applies today... [But] it should be pointed out that when the Christian has a duty to disobey the civil authority as clear cut as he would normally have to obey, his disobedience should be seen as a striking act of conscience because it is so different from his normal attitude of compliance, cooperation, and support. The habitual troublemaker is easily recognized as trouble even when he may have a valid point to make. The consistent Christian whose regular law-abiding stance is suddenly shattered by a conscience-inspired action is bound to cause a stir and get his message across.” For example: “The refusal of the early Christians to worship Caesar was striking not only because its inherent bravery but because of its remarkable contrast to their regular position of “rendering to Caesar what was Caesar’s.”
Rom 13:8-9 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Briscoe says: “To love means to refuse acts of adultery because they are unloving by nature…Selecting other Commandments… Paul underlines his point and summarizes by reminding his readers of the divine statement of the Lord that the divine requirement is fulfilled in loving your neighbor. It is necessary to remember that God requires love to be shown to Himself and then to the neighbor, but Paul’s emphasis at this juncture is the interpersonal relationships which are of prime concern to all believers.” John said: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” And Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Rom 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.
Briscoe says: “At the moment of our justification the repentant believer is introduced to salvation that is far from complete; it is initial. At that same moment he also becomes an heir to salvation that is potential, but he must wait till he meets Christ face to face to experience salvation that in the fullest sense is actual….The problem with living on earth is that the things of this earth which clamor for so much attention can become totally absorbing. The Christian can begin to think like the secular man, imbibe his philosophies, adopt his attitudes, and emulate his lifestyle. But the believer must be reminded that his reality is not down here— it is up there. He is a citizen of heaven and merely a resident alien on earth. It is the reminder of the certainty of Christ’s return and the resultant consummation of earth’s history that acts as a constant stimulus to the believer with regard to his lifestyle on earth. Paul goes on to remind his readers of:”
Rom 13:12-14 Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
“Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness” “As we saw in the Introduction these words were used by the Spirit of God to bring Augustine to faith in Christ, and if for no other reason they are of profound importance. With great determination, we are to throw off those things in our lives that will have no place in eternity and with the same distaste that we would throw off filthy garments when preparing for a formal occasion. Then with equal enthusiasm we are to clothe ourselves with those graces that belong to the realm of light and glory, and that are suitable to our new life.” [BSF]
“And let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ” Briscoe says: “This injuncture conveys the idea that we are to arm ourselves with the resources of Christ Himself. These include His example, His teaching, His expectations, but primarily His divine power.”
“Make no provision for the flesh” Some people make things much harder for themselves by failing to take suitable steps to avoid problems. For instance, the believer who knows he has been guilty in the past of drunken behavior and excessive living is not helping himself if he continues to stock up his cocktail cabinet and regularly throws parties for his old cronies. By doing so, he is making provision of the flesh…” The same goes for other areas of weakness. Do not make provision for the flesh.