“Submitting to Power” – Romans 13:1-7

Sunday, January 15^th, 2012

Romans 13:1-7; 1 Tim 2:1-2; Heb 13:7, 17; 1 Pet 2:13-17

“Submitting to Power” 

[Due to technical difficulties we were unable to record this service. ]

         

Bible Memory Verse for the Week: Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.                     — Romans 13:1-7

 

Background Information:

• Few passages of scripture have been studied and analyzed over the years more than Rom 13:1-7.  This history of interpretation has largely been the history of attempts to avoid what the passage at first sight plainly seems to be saying.  (Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: Romans, 424)
• It is ironic that this master text on civil obedience was written to the Roman Christians who were under the heavy hand of imperial Rome.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 442)
• Why did Paul write Romans 13:1-7?:

 

• Was it because he was a Roman citizen himself and wanted to generate Roman sympathy?  WRONG!
• Was it because Paul was naive to Roman injustices and ungodly policies? WRONG!
• Was it because Paul saw the anti-Roman sentiments that were beginning to brew within his Jewish brothers and wanted to make sure the wrath of Rome did not come down on them for their rebellion and withholding of payment of taxes 66-73 AD?  Possibly!
• He understood the sovereignty, providence, and mysterious purposes of God from a thorough reading of the OT and knew that it was impossible for anyone in any position of authority to be there outside of God’s establishing them in that position.  RIGHT!
• In Romans 12 & 13, Paul is demonstrating that accepting the Gospel and the Good news of what Christ has done for us should cause us to want to be “righteous” (have a right relationship ) with everyone.  Paul is showing us that the Gospel changes the way we regard:

• Our relationship with God (Rom 12:1-2)

• Our Faith Family (Rom 12:3-16)

• Unbelievers (Pagans) (Rom 12:17-21)

• And now the Civil Government (Rom 13:1-7)

• If a believer ever hopes to be able to allow God to take vengeance on those who wrong him and to release that wrong without a constant desire to take revenge, then a believer MUST trust in the sovereignty and providence of God to use Civil authorities to right the wrongs done to us.
• During the rest of the first century after the death of Christ, Christianity was regarded by Rome as a sect of Judaism.  Through this entire letter, Paul has explained the makeup of the new people of God–they are not like the Jews, an ethnic sect set apart by their ancestry and heritage.  Therefore, they were in an awkward political position–how should they fit in?  They could not expect any legal protection such as that afforded (at times) to Judaism.  Besides that, Christianity was suspect as being seditious.

 

• The founder of this Christian sect, Jesus Christ, had been crucified under Roman law for leading a movement that challenged Caesar as ruler and God–the inscription on Jesus’ cross read, “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26 NIV).

• Christians had been accused of defying Caesar.  When Paul had visited Thessalonica a few years prior to writing this letter, his enemies stirred up trouble by going to the city officials and exclaiming, “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here…They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7 NIV).

• Wherever the gospel was taken, it usually caused a spiritual upheaval because both pagan and Jewish systems were threatened by this new religion based on faith (see Acts 16:16-22; 19:23-41).

• Christians often were blamed for social disturbances.  Business people, like silversmiths, who made a living off of religion were threatened by Christianity.  Riots often ensued when the gospel was preached, not because the speakers stirred up the people, but because someone’s power or livelihood was affected when people began following Christ and rejecting pagan idols.   (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 245-246)

• Paul has urged the addressees to sacrifice their lives to God.  Grateful and complete self-surrender is the only proper answer to the marvelous mercy God has shown.  This means, of course, that the new life must reveal itself in every sphere of Christian enterprise and endeavor.  Consistent with this starting point the apostle has indicated what should be the relation of believers to God (12:1, 2), to one another (verses 3-14), and to outsiders, even including enemies (12:14-21).  Is it, then, so strange that he now also comments on the proper attitude of believers to the civil authorities, and this all the more so because he, being himself a Roman citizen by birth, and one who has received many favors from the Roman government, is writing to a church located in the very capital of the Roman Empire, the heart and center of government?  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 430)
• The state is given the responsibility of vengeance, a responsibility that is explicitly forbidden to the individual Christian (12:19).  The state renders “evil for evil” (12:17), which the individual Christian must never do.  God’s way of dealing with evil is not by personal vengeance, but through justice dispensed by the state.  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Romans, 243)

 

 

THE ZEALOT ISSUE:

• Zealots and Dt 17:15 (Dt 17:15) be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.
• And there was always a problem in the minds of Jewish people, a problem which was carried over when they became Christians, and this was the great problem of nationality.  Jews had the teaching of the OT Scriptures, and the result of that teaching was that they were notoriously bad citizens.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 7)
• On the basis of Dt 17:15 (“You may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman”), some Jews believed that merely recognizing a Gentile ruler was sinful.  Many zealots became assassins, wreaking vengeance not only on Romans but even on their own countrymen whom they considered traitors.  Even as the church was just getting started, Jewish insurrection was rapidly expanding and eventuated in the Jerusalem holocaust of A.D. 70, in which the city and its temple were utterly destroyed and some 1,100,000 inhabitants–including women, children, and priests–were massacred without mercy by the retaliating Romans.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 210)
• Paul does not recommend either of the two possible extreme responses to the presence of a hostile authority.  He does not favor believers becoming like the Zealots, Jewish rebels who fought (often violently) for freedom from Rome; neither does he suggest that they withdraw to the desert to set up their own community far from the evil city.  Instead, Paul explains how Christian should live within the structure.  Only then would they be able to share the gospel and transform society.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 247)
• The Jews were notoriously rebellious.  Palestine, especially Galilee, was constantly seething with insurrection.  Above all there were the Zealots; they were convinced that there was no king for the Jews but God; and that no tribute must be paid to anyone except to God.  Nor were they content with anything like a passive resistance.  They believed that God would not be helping them unless they embarked on violent action to help themselves.  Their aim was to make any civil government impossible.  They were known as the dagger-bearers.  They were fanatical nationalists sworn to terrorist methods.  Not only did they use terrorism towards the Roman government; they also wrecked the houses and burned the crops and assassinated the families of their own fellow-Jews who paid tribute to the Roman government.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 173)
• It may well be that Paul writes here with such inclusive definiteness because he wished to dissociate Christianity altogether from insurrectionist Judaism, and to make it clear that Christianity and good citizenship went necessarily hand in hand.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 173)
• After the fall of the monarchy in 586 B.C., Jews tolerated Persian and Egyptian rule, but the outrageous Jerusalem temple in 168 B.C. swept them into revolt against the Seleucids.  Their stunning success under the Maccabees reminded Jews ever after that it was possible to depose Gentile overlords and establish a rule more faithful to the old Israelite ideal (cf. 1 Macc.; m. ‘Abot 1.10; 2.3; 3.5).  These sentiments reached their zenith in the Zealot movement of Paul’s day, which combined the orthodox theology of the Pharisees with the militant nationalism of the Maccabees.  Within a decade of the writing of Romans, in fact, the Zealots would plunge the nation into a disastrous revolt against Rome in A.D. 66.

Nor were such sentiments confined to the Zealot party.  They surfaced in a long litany of protests in the first century, including large segments of Jews refusing to pay taxes, riots in Rome and Alexandria, Jewish defiance in the face of Pontius Pilate’s blunders (governor of Palestine from A.D. 26-36), a near-disastrous Jewish revolt when Emperor Caligula threatened to erect–and demand worship of–his statue in Palestine in A.D. 39, and in Claudius’ expulsion of Jews from Rome a decade later.  (James R. Edwards, New International Biblical Commentary: Romans, 303)

 

• It is often supposed that Romans 13 depicts Caesar in a positive light because at the time of writing (ca. A.D. 57) Christians had not yet suffered at the hands of the empire.  This is only partially true, at best.  Paul had not forgotten that Jesus had died at the hands of a corrupt Roman overlord; neither had he forgotten his own humiliation from a Roman governor in Corinth (Acts 18:12-17).  Moreover, writings attributed to Paul (1 Tm 2:1-2; Ti 3:1) and Peter (1 Pt 2:13-17) preserve substantially the same teaching on government at a period when Rome was openly hostile to Christians.  (James R. Edwards, New International Biblical Commentary: Romans, 304)
• In Palestine, there were zealots who actively plotted the overthrow of Rome in the name of religious and patriotic passion.  Paul maintains his mandate to “overcome evil with good” (12:21) as he proceeds to a discussion of the state.  (Clarence L. Bence, Romans, A Commentary for Bible Students, 205)
• That many of the Jews of that day and age were looking for an opportunity to shake off the yoke of subjection to Rome, and were eager to become politically independent once more, with a king of their own, is clear from Scripture (Jn 6:14; 8:33; Acts 5:36, 37), from the writings of Josephus, and from other sources.  Even in the capital there had been disturbances, with the result that Emperor Claudius had expelled all the Jews from that city (Acts 18:2).  When this edict was no longer in force many exiles had returned to Rome.  But in view of the fact that the basic attitude of some of these people had probably not undergone a complete change, it is understandable that the apostle would issue this warning.  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 430-31)

 

DEFINITIONS:

• Be in subjection to translates hupotass , which was often used as a military term referring to soldiers who were ranked under and subject to the absolute authority of a superior officer.  The verb here is a passive imperative, meaning first of all that the principle is a command, not an option, and second that the Christian is to willingly place himself under all governing authorities, whoever they may be.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 213)
• In 13:4, Paul called the ruler a diakonos (“servant”).  But the word for “servant” here is a different one–leitourgos.  It and its cognates occur frequently in the LXX to denote people who served in the temple, and in the NT the word group always refers to religious service or servants of some kind.  (Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Vol. 3, 79)
• Now I suggest that all the difficulties and objections to this section of chapter 13 are entirely due to the critics themselves, and not to the Apostle Paul.  I suggest that the Apostle is still continuing the teaching which we have been considering in chapter 12.  The great emphasis in that chapter, from verse 14 onwards, as I have shown, is the importance of living peaceably with other people.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 5)

 

The questions to be answered are . . . Why do you think the Apostle Paul brings up submitting to authority at this point in his letter?

 

Answer: I think Paul is trying to encourage us to trust in the Lord both with His command to love our enemies and with allowing God to handle justice as well as the retribution of those who do evil against us.  And, we don’t know it yet, but he is also paving the way for Romans 14 & 15 as well.

 

The Word for the Day is . . . Authority

 

A state is essentially a body of men who have been covenanted together to maintain certain relationships between each other by the observance of certain laws.  Without these laws and the mutual agreement to observe them, the bad and selfish strong man would be supreme; the weaker would go to the wall; life would become ruled by the law of the jungle.  Every ordinary man owes his security to the state, and is therefore under a responsibility to it.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 174)

 

Christianity and good citizenship should go together.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 212)

 

What does the Apostle Paul tell us about the Governing Authorities?:

 

I.  Everyone must respect, honor and submit to the governing authorities for righteousness’ and conscience’s sake (13:1-5, 7 See also: Jer 27:5-8; Acts 24:16; 1 Tm 2:1-2; 3:9; 4:2; Ti 3:1; 1 Pt 2:13-17)

 

Righteousness and justice have a lot to do with dueness.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 458)

 

The Christian, far from standing in hostility to earthly authorities, is the only one who is able to give them the esteem and honor due them.  Others must regard them as a necessary and useful arrangement for the advantage of human society; the Christian knows that “there is no authority except from God.”  In the earthly ruler he sees a servant of God, with only a limited function within the aeon of wrath, but withal a servant of God.  He sees him as one who carries out the work of God in this world.  It is indeed God’s “alien” work, His wrath; but it is still God’s work.  For that reason it does not satisfy Paul if the Christian merely bows outwardly to the ruler.  Paul calls for an inner subjection.  (Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans, 431)

 

Paul’s main view of the state was that the Roman Empire was the divinely ordained instrument to save the world from chaos.  Take away that Empire and the world would disintegrate into flying fragments.  It was in fact the pax Romana, the Roman peace, which gave the Christian missionary the chance to do his work.  Ideally men should be bound together by Christian love; but they are not; and the cement which keeps them together is the state.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 174)

 

Christians are not to use their freedom in Christ as a handy excuse for disobeying the laws of the state.  Civil disobedience should come only after submission to authority has been practiced.  We should be informed and willing to question the motives of those who govern us, but we should be more demanding and more suspicious of our own motives.  We must be careful not to be ruled by our sinful desires.  Our protest may not be spiritual but rooted in our offended pride or hatred of any authority.  This response is not directed by Christ or the Holy Spirit.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 250)

 

Believers have two good reasons to submit to their government: to avoid punishment and to heed their own conscience, for it will prod them to do what is right.  Believers know in their own consciences that obeying the authorities pleases God.  However, a believer’s conscience answers to a higher, divine authority; if ever the human authority contradicted the divine authority, a believer must be true to his conscience in following the higher authority.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 251)

 

Every form of government, whether good or bad, cruel or benevolent, is divinely decreed by God.  He has ordained that man should rule over man.  There is no other way to maintain an orderly society.  So it is a basic rule of life that men are to submit to those in power.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 339)

 

The Lord would be pleased, of course, if all those in authority were decent men.  But wicked and evil men sometimes come to power.  So we find people in authority ranging from cruel kings to crooked cops.  Even so, God backs them for He would rather have them than none at all.  To have no law is anarchy.  That brings ruin.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 339)

 

Let us look at the English word “conscience” against its Latin background: con and science, literally “with knowledge.”  When a man does something, with knowledge of what he is doing, it is according to his conscience.  When he does something wrong, he goes against himself and against God.  (Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Discipline, 117)

 

It has been said that it is strange that Paul would speak so favorably about rulers.  Had he not himself been treated cruelly by the civil authorities?  See Acts 16:19-24.  Cf. 2 Cor 11:25: “thrice was I beaten with rods.”  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 434)

 

The Christian knows that it is God’s will that he subject himself to the authorities which God, in his providence, has placed over him for his (the subject’s) good.  Accordingly, failure to subject himself results in the accusing voice of conscience.  Therefore, for both of these reasons, namely, to avoid God’s wrath and to satisfy his conscience, one should voluntarily subject himself to the ruling authority.

This matter of conscience must not be passed over lightly.  It should be borne in mind that a Christian’s enlightened conscience is his sense of obligation to God.  Note the words, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men” (1 Pt 2:13).

On conscience see also Rom 2:15, 9:1; further, Acts 23:1; 24:16; 2 Cor 8:7, 10, 12; 10:25-29; 2 Cor 1:12; 4:2; 5:11; 1 Tm 1:5, 19; 3:9; 4:2; 2 Tm 1:3; Ti 1:15.  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 436)

 

As God’s own children, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we should realize with spiritual instinctiveness that disobedience of and disrespect for government is wrong, whether or not those sins are punished, and that obedience of and respect for it are right, whether we are personally protected by it or not.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 227)

 

In the opening command, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities” (v. 1), “everyone” is emphatic: every believer.  So strong is the thought that verse 2 concludes, “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.”  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Romans, 240)

 

The universal call to submit to authority touches the root of our corruption.  Everyone is a sinner, and every sin is an act of revolt against authority.  If we respected the authority of God perfectly, we would never sin.  Sin is a refusal to submit to the governing authority of God himself, and God knows that about us.  If we are not willing to submit to God, it is more difficult to submit to the police department, the government, and other authorities that rule over us.  It is the duty of every Christian to be in subjection to the authorities.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 440)

 

In addition to rulers (see also Ti 3:1), Paul also calls on believers to submit to their spiritual leaders (1 Cor 16:16) and even to one another (Eph 5:21; i.e., in the ways Paul outlines in 5:22-6:9).  Christian slaves are to submit to their masters (Ti 2:9), Christian prophets to other prophets (1 Cor 14:32), and Christian wives to their husbands (1 Cor 14:35[?]; Eph 5:24; Col 3:18; Ti 2:5).  In each case, one person is to recognize the rightful leadership role that another human being has in his or her life.  (Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: Romans, 429)

 

Paul chooses to associate all authority with God.  While the passage here speaks directly of political power, Paul will appeal for the same attitude of submission when the authority is spousal (Eph 5:22-33), parental (6:1-4), social (6:5-9), or ecclesiastical (Phil 2:29).  Paul’s appeal to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21) is not an appeal for believers to be the “doormats” of society, but is rather a solid recognition of the value of respecting and using authority for the good of the whole.  (Clarence L. Bence, Romans, A Commentary for Bible Students, 210)

 

What he says is that the concept of government is ordained by God.  In other words, he does not, for example, say that monarchy and an aristocracy have been ordained by God.  He does not say that the ruler should only be an emperor, or that a democracy is the only right form of government, or that an oligarchy alone is right.  He does not mention these at all.  All he is saying is that God has ordained that there should be governments, that there should be law and that there should be order.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 36)

 

Instead of treating us as we might treat an animal, training it to respond mechanically by rewarding desired behavior and punishing undesirable behavior, Paul treats people as responsible moral agents–that is, as human beings made in God’s image–by appealing to our consciences.  (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 4, The New Humanity, 1664)

 

If you take obedience to the laws of the country lightly–if you say, “Well, everyone is doing it” or “They’re crazy laws anyway” or “It’s not my law; I didn’t write it or vote for it”–if you do that, then you are contributing to a spirit of lawlessness that will issue in anarchy and eventually lead to the loss of civil liberties and to a dictatorial government.  On the other hand, if you obey the laws of the land, you will be contributing to society by helping to sustain a stable and liberty-respecting government.  (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 4, The New Humanity, 1666)

 

II.  God has established EVERY governing authority that presently exists (13:1, 4 See also: Ex 9:16; Isa 40:23-24; 45:1; Jer 25:7-8; Dan 2:21; 4:17-34; Jn 19:11; Rom 9:17; 1 Pt 2:13-17)

 

“There is no power, but of God.”  Therefore, wherever powers exist and flourish, they exist and flourish because God has ordained them.  (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, 181)

 

The Christians are called to believe, though, that the civic authorities, great and small, are there because the one true God wants his world to be ordered, not chaotic.  This does not validate particular actions of particular governments.  It is merely to say that some government is always necessary, in a world where evil flourishes when unchecked.    (N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone, Romans: Part Two, 86)

 

Tertullian (Apology 30) writes at length: “We offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favor, beyond all other things, they must themselves desire…Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer.  We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection for the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest–whatever, as man or Caesar, and emperor would wish.”  He goes on to say that the Christian cannot but look up to the emperor because he “is called by our Lord to his office.”  And he ends by saying that “Caesar is more ours than yours because our God appointed him.”  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 172)

 

Even a Communist dictatorship is better than no state at all.  The darkest days in Israel’s history were those days described in Jg 17:6 when “everyone did as he saw fit.”  Just a few days (a few hours!) without law in today’s world and all would be chaos, just as in the book of Judges.  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Romans, 243)

 

First, Paul says, human government is ordained by God for the benefit of society.  In whatever of the many forms it exists, civil authority derives directly from God.  Like marriage, it is a universal institution of God, and, like marriage, it is valid regardless of place, circumstance, or any other consideration.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 218)

 

III.  If you rebel against your authorities you are rebelling against God.  Expect to pay for your rebellion. (13:2, 4-5 See also: Num 16:3-41; Prv 21:1; Jer 27:5-8)

 

If I refuse for no just reason to submit to the authority of my employer, or my parents, or my teachers, or my government, ultimately I am in defiance of God, and I become a participant in lawlessness which is the spirit of the antichrist.  Christians are to be part of the complex of righteousness, not the complex of lawlessness.  We become models of submission to authority which the world is not.  We are called to obey God, and by obeying civil magistrates we show our spirit of submission and obedience to God himself.  (RC Sproul, The Gospel of God: Romans, 214)

 

The logical ramification is simple.  Because civil government is an institution of God, to rebel against government is to rebel against the God who has established it.  In his commentary on Romans, the nineteenth-century Scottish evangelist Robert Haldane wrote, “The people of God then ought to consider resistance to the government under which they live as a very awful crime, even as resistance to God Himself” (An Exposition of Romans, 579).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 220)

 

IV.  Authorities are established to promote justice and maintain the peace (13:3-4 See also: Jer 29:4-14; Acts 19:38-39; 1 Tm 2:1-2)

–    Just war theory

–    Capital punishment

 

We will struggle through inner turmoil if we wrongfully disobey the laws of the land (Rom 13:5; cf. 2 Sam 11-12, Ps 32:1-5).  But we help maintain a guilt-free conscience when we keep the established laws.  (Charles R. Swindoll, Relating to Others in Love, 20)

 

V.  Authorities have been permitted to bear the sword to encourage right and to discourage wrong (13:4 See also: Isa 10:1-2; 1 Pt 2:13-17)

 

In 12:14-21 Paul had emphasized the principle of non-retaliation.  Is it not possible that a believer might respond by saying “With the help of God I will indeed return love for hatred.  I will continue, by his grace, to do so even if my opponent remains hostile.  I will invoke God’s blessing on him and I will continue to be kind to him.–However, does this mean, then, that cruel, hardened criminals must be allowed to triumph?  Is that in the best interest of the people as a whole, and would that really serve the cause of the gospel?”  If his thinking was along this line, the apostle supplies the answer in 13:1-7: the ruler does not bear the sword in vain!  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 431-32)

 

Governments that serve well facilitate and encourage citizens to do right.  That is their purpose.  If citizens are conscientiously seeking to do what is right, and the rulers disagree, citizens must respectfully appeal to the higher authority of God.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 249)

 

Any person who breaks the law instinctively fears the police, and rightly so.  For all authority from the divine right of kings to the cop on the beat has been set up to punish evil and reward good.  For the most part, rulers in general have punished only the evildoer.  Seldom does authority punish good people.  The normal exercise of authority is usually on the side of good, not evil.  So if a man abides within the law and seeks to do what is right, he has no reason to fear his government.  But if he sets himself against the law, he has every reason to fear the power of the state.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 342)

 

The basic aim of the one in authority is not to hurt but to help, “to do you good.”  As the result of the work and watchfulness of these governmental representatives the believer is able to lead “a tranquil and quiet life in all gravity and godliness” (1 Tm 2:2).  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 435)

 

And if all provincial courts were just, he would not have needed to appeal to Caesar.  So, in depicting rulers in such a good light, as commending the right and opposing the wrong, he is stating the divine ideal, not the human reality.  (John Stott, Romans, God’s Good News for the World, 341)

 

What must not be lost sight of is that, unpleasant as is the task of the jailor and the use of the whip, the cell, the noose, the guillotine, these things stand behind the stability of civilized society, and they stand there necessarily, for God has declared it so, in harmony with reality rather than with apostate sociological opinion.  Government, with its coercive powers, is a social necessity, but one determined by the Creator, not by the statical tables of some university social research staff!  No society can successfully vote fines, imprisonment, corporal and capital punishment away permanently.  The society which tries has lost touch with realities of man (his fallen sinful state), realities of the world, and the truth of divine revelation in nature, man’s conscience, and the Bible.  (Robert Culver, Toward a Biblical View of Civil Government, 256)

 

We must not expect too much from the state because the business of the state is mainly negative.  Its main function is to control and to limit evil and the manifestations of evil.  The state, whether it be a monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, or any other form that you may choose, can do very little positive good, and people have got into trouble when they think it can.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 58)

 

VI.  You must pay your share of taxes to support God’s servants (your government officials) (13:6-7 See also: Jer 29:7; Mal 3:8-10;  Mt 17:24-27; 2 Cor 9:7-15)

 

To the state ordinary people owe a wide range of services which individually they could not enjoy.  It would be impossible for every man to have his own water, light, sewage, transport system.  These things are obtainable only when men agree to live together.  And it would be quite wrong for a man to enjoy everything the state provides and to refuse all responsibility to it.  That is one compelling reason why the Christian is bound in honor to be a good citizen and to take his part in all the duties of citizenship.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 174)

 

First and foremost, there is this–no man can entirely dissociate himself from the society in which he lives and has a part.  No man can, in conscience, opt out of the nation.  As a part of it, he enjoys certain benefits which he could not have as an individual; but he cannot reasonably claim all the privileges and refuse all the duties.  As he is part of the body of the Church, he is also part of the body of the nation; there is no such thing in this world as an isolated individual.  A man has a duty to the state and must discharge it even if a Nero is on the throne.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: Romans, 173)

 

This was a heated topic at the time Paul wrote–he does not refer to this in any other letter.  Government taxation, and abuses of taxation, were causing great unrest in the city.  Christians might be thinking that they could get away with not paying the inflated taxes, but that would inevitably draw the attention of the authorities and put the believers at unnecessary risk.  So Paul says to pay.  In this regard Paul followed Jesus, who told Peter to pay taxes so as not to offend the governing authorities (Matthew 17:24-27).  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 251)

 

Christians are to pay their taxes as “unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23).  Why?  The taxing authorities are in God’s service.  They are His “ministers.”  In so describing them, Paul uses the same word for “minister” that we find in Heb. 1:14, where angels are mentioned as “ministering spirits!”  Since they are God’s ministers, paying taxes is not too different from supporting missionaries.  Therefore the Christian who cheats on his taxes or resists paying them, is opposing the Lord’s program.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 345)

 

The Greek word rendered taxes normally refers to direct taxes or tribute, whereas that rendered revenue refers to indirect taxes, customs duties, etc.  (James R. Edwards, New International Biblical Commentary: Romans, 308)

 

It was because their conscience told them that it was right to pay taxes that they paid them.  It was right, since it was in harmony with God’s purpose for their lives.  The collection of taxes must not be considered a disgraceful, tyrannical imposition.  No, it is necessary for the maintenance of conditions that make normal living possible.  Therefore those who faithfully discharge their duty of collecting taxes are doing so in their capacity as God’s ministers.

For the word “ministers” Paul here uses a word (pl. of leitourgos; cf. Liturgy) which generally has religious implications.  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 436)

 

Here in Rom 13:6 Paul, instead of using the more common word (pl. of diakonos, cf. Deacon), as a designation of these servants who collect taxes, calls them leitourgoi; i.e., ministers; in fact, “God’s ministers.”  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 436-37)

 

As alluded to above, when God established the nation of Israel, He instituted a specific and detailed system of taxation for His chosen people.  The first tax was a tithe, or tenth.  “Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord” (Lv 27:30).  This tithe was devoted entirely to the support of the priestly tribe of Levi (see Num 18:21-24), which had no land allocated to it and had no means of self-support.  It was therefore sometimes referred to as the Levite’s tithe.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 231)

 

Another divinely-instituted tax was the annual festival tithe, which was used for sacrifices, for supporting the tabernacle and then the temple, for cultivating social and cultural life, and for fostering national unity (see Dt 12:10-19).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 232)

 

A third tax also was a tithe, but since it was levied only every third year, it amounted to 3.3 percent a year.  The proceeds were used to help “the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, [who] shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do” (Dt 14:29).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 232)

 

A fourth tax was used to support the tabernacle and temple.  This annual half-shekel tax was levied on every male Israelite “twenty years old and over,” and was “a contribution to the Lord” (Ex 30:14).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 232)

 

Justin Martyr, the second-century theologian and church Father, wrote to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, “Everywhere we [Christians], more readily than all men, endeavor to pay to those appointed by you the taxes both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by [Jesus]…Whence to God alone we render worship, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that with your kingly power you be found to possess also sound judgment” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, 168).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 235-35)

 

What about the graded income tax?  Is that just?  No, of course it is not just.  We speak of the rich paying their “fair” share.  But fairness is the one thing that cannot be said of taking more taxes from those who make more.  Fairness would require that we tax everyone equally.  Taxing the rich more may be expedient.  It may be the only place money can be found in recessionary times or in a failing economy.  But it is not just, and in the long run it hurts the national economy since accumulated capital is the only source of funding for new business projects.  When the government taxes the rich excessively it mortgages the future for short-term economic gain.  (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 4, The New Humanity, 1674)

 

Let me make a radical proposal.  Under our system those who do well by making more money are penalized.  They are taxed more than others.  Shouldn’t there by a system under which, if you make more money (or at least if you develop or control a business that makes more money), you should be rewarded?  Wouldn’t we see greater prosperity if, when people made more, taxes for those people actually went down?  In one of Jesus’ parables the servant who invested the ten talents he had in order to make ten more was rewarded by being given ten cities, and the man who increased his five talents by adding five more talents was given five cities.  As for the man who had been given one talent but failed to use it, his talent was taken away from him and given to the man who had ten!  (Lk 19:11-27).  (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 4, The New Humanity, 1674-75)

 

When God placed his tax upon the people of Israel, he imposed a tithe.  Not everybody paid the same amount.  Rich people paid more than poor people, but everybody paid the same percentage.  America has politicized economics; we do not have a flat percentage system.  Some are required to pay a higher percentage than others.  We call that social justice, but it is, in fact, manifest injustice.  It is evil and destructive because it gives people the right to vote for taxes on other people that they are not voting to impose on themselves.  It creates a politics of envy in which one group is set against another.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 457)

 

CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: What other considerations must we have to better understand and apply this text?:

A.  One is to NEVER obey man if it means disobeying God (Ex 1:8-21; Dan 1:8-21; ch 3; Acts 4:18-20; 5:29)

 

Believers should never allow the government to force them to disobey God.  Jesus and his apostles never disobeyed the government for personal reasons; when they disobeyed, they were following their higher loyalty to God (Acts 5:29).  Their disobedience was not cheap; they were threatened, beaten, thrown into jail, tortured, and executed for their convictions.  If we are compelled to disobey, we must be ready to accept the consequences (see 1 Pt 2:13-14; 4:15-16).  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 248)

 

Christians must resist when asked to do an immoral act.  The sexual applications are obvious, but this also extends to ethical areas in which many are constantly asked to compromise–for example, falsifying records for “security reasons,” perjury for the sake of the department, covering for subordinates by means of falsehoods.  Christians must never think it is okay to commit immoral or unethical acts simply because the state has requested it.  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Romans, 241)

 

Believers must never go against their Christian conscience in order to obey the government.  This could involve such diverse things as participation in licentious entertainment, or working in institutions that perform wholesale abortions, or working or not working on nuclear weapons.  Believers must never sin against their conscience.  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Romans, 241)

 

Like individual believers, a local church is obligated to observe civil laws such as zoning, building codes, fire safety regulations, and every other law and regulation that would not cause them to disobey God’s Word.  A church is only justified in disobeying an ordinance that, for example, would require acceptance of homosexuals in to church membership or of hiring them to work on staff.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 216)

 

B.  As Christians we are called to redeem a fallen world. If you feel called to be a governmental authority . . . do so.  (Stories of Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, Esther)

 

Christians should choose government officials who are faithful to their civic responsibilities.  It is certainly desirable to have genuine Christians in public office, but the mere fact of being a Christian does not qualify a person for any public position.  In some cases, a non-Christian may be more qualified for public service than his Christian opponent.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 237)

 

C.  Even if the one in authority is a pagan, godless jerk; (unless he tells you to do something against God) you are to respect, honor and submit to him. (David/Saul, Daniel/Nebucanezzer, Daniel/Darius, Daniel/Belshazzar,  Esther/Xerxes, Nehemiah/Artaxerxes, Mt 23:2-3)

 

It is important to note that, even while refusing to do what God had forbidden, those four faithful men of God showed respect for the human authority they had to disobey.  Speaking for the other three as well as for himself, Daniel did not demand deference to their beliefs but respectfully “sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself” (v. 8, emphasis added), and he referred to themselves as the commander’s “servants” (vv. 12-13).  In obeying God, they did not self-righteously or disrespectfully malign, contend with, or condemn civil authority.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 215)

 

Once again, God honored his servant’s faithfulness.  “Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (v. 23).  Again it is important to note Daniel’s lack of malice and his genuine respect for the human authority his conscience forced him to disobey.  After being released unharmed, he said “O king, live forever!” (v. 21).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 215)

 

Paul is not teaching that all the authorities in Rome are God’s servants in the same sense as the believers are God’s servants.  The powers in Rome were arbitrary and often self-serving.  But they were God’s servants, ultimately responsible to the one who set them in place.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 252)

 

The OT had denounced pagan nations and their rulers — but some of the very prophets whose denunciations were fiercest also told Israel that God was working through the pagan nations and their rulers for Israel’s long-term good (Assyria, in Isa 10; Cyrus, in Isa 45; Babylon itself, In Jer 29).  (N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone, Romans: Part 2, 87)

 

God uses even unworthy and culpable men as means to the accomplishment of His purposes (cf. Acts 4:24-28).  But on the other hand the offenses of governments do not undo the fact that it is God who has given the power–even the power which they now misuse–and that He can use even unrighteousness for the accomplishment of His purpose.  (Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans, 428)

 

D.  If the governing authorities execute punishment (even capital) it is from God (Gen 9:5-6; Lev 20:10; Num 35:16-21, 30-33; Dt 17:6; 22:24; Acts 25:11; etc.)

 

The fact that in the NT the use of the sword is often connected with the idea of putting to death is clear from such passages as Lk 21:24; Acts 12:2; 16:27; Rv 13:10.  See also Heb 11:34, where “escaped the edge of the sword” means “escaped death.”  It should be clear, therefore, that the argument in favor of executing dangerous criminals, who have committed horrible crimes, is based not only on Gn 9:6 but also on Rom 13:4.  (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Romans, 435)

 

In the earliest period of human existence, the Lord instituted capital punishment.  “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Gn 9:6).  When Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword” (Mt 26:52), he was reminding His disciple that the penalty for his killing one of Jesus’ enemies would be to perish himself through execution, which the Lord here acknowledges would be justified.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 225)

 

Several years ago the question of capital punishment came before the state legislature in PA.  Originally, or course, PA had the death penalty for murder, but it was repealed for a season.  When it came back before the legislature, the motion to restore capital punishment was vetoed by the PA governor, who was Jewish.  He believed capital punishment is unbiblical because the Bible says, “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13).  Since God prohibits killing human beings, the governor said, the execution of murderers through capital punishment must not be tolerated.  Eventually, however, the law was restored in PA in cases of first-degree murder.  If the governor had read just a few pages further in the OT he would have seen that God requires the death penalty for murder.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 449)

 

A few years ago I read an article by Larry King in which he criticized the Christian community for its gross inconsistency.  He complained that the Christian community protests against abortion on demand while arguing in favor of capital punishment.  Larry King said he would not support the Christian opposition to abortion until the church stops its support of capital punishment.  I have never had the opportunity to tell Mr. King that there is no inconsistency here at all.  There is a strong point of consistency behind both the church’s opposition to abortion and its support of capital punishment–the sanctity of human life.  The principle that resounds on virtually every page of Scripture and reiterated emphatically by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is that human life is so sacred that we must never take it with malice aforethought or for personal convenience.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 450)

 

So many students filed objections to the war that the Supreme Court of the US made a decision that was, in my judgment, one of the worst miscarriages of justice I have ever seen, and it was made without a peep from the Christian community.  The Supreme Court ruled that no one could be given conscientious-objector status unless he could demonstrate that he was opposed to all wars.  To this day that remains the rule of the land.  Someone cannot be a conscientious objector unless he can demonstrate that he is opposed to all wars.  (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 452)

 

E.  Does there ever come a time when the government is so corrupt, evil, godless and self-serving, that a violent overthrow becomes righteous?  (David, Daniel, Jesus – Rev 19, Paul, Peter, US Revolutionary War, American Civil War)

 

Historically, Christians have been involved, frequently in the name of their faith, in the forceful overthrow of oppressive and sometimes despotic governments.  Democracy and political freedom are commonly identified with Christianity.  For such reasons it is difficult for many Christians to be clear, or even objective and honest, about a passage so unambiguously restrictive as Rom 13:1-7.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 206)

 

Churches and individual believers should make every effort to explain carefully and respectfully their reasons for wanting a civil law or mandate to be changed that they believe would force them to disobey God.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 216)

 

The NT closes with high praise given to those who would not comply with the law, which told them to have their foreheads marked with the number of the Beast.  (Clarence L. Bence, Romans, A Commentary for Bible Students, 207)

 

F.  Does there ever come a time when the government is so corrupt, evil, godless and self-serving, that God no longer considers it a legitimate government and thus the doctrine of Romans 13:1-7 no longer is applicable?  (Jesus, Daniel, Paul, Peter)

 

In (Nazi) Germany, as in other totalitarian governments, many citizens had lost the capacity to view the authority structure critically.  Some were so dependent on the benefits and generosity of the central government that they had lost their will to criticize its goals or actions.  They cooperated rather than risk their security.  Many were so uninformed or isolated that they were unable to take a stand until it was too late.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 249-250)

 

It helps to remember that our Lord suffered under Pontius Pilate, one of the worst Roman governors of Judea; and Paul suffered at the hands of the worst Roman emperor, Nero.  Thus while the Christians of Rome lived in fear of unjust persecution, they were nonetheless to give cheerful submission to the earthly monarch.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 340)

 

God has the power to remove any government that fails to accomplish His purpose.  He did so with king Herod (Acts 12:23).  He can raise up nations and put them down when it suits His purpose.  He can also take care of the unfair employer, childish husband and the bad cop.  (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Romans, 343)

 

Just where may a man defy constituted authority on the ground that such authority is opposed to divine principles?  I became convinced that each Christian must answer this question in the context of his own life.  I saw that two sincere believers might reach opposite conclusions and become stern antagonists in a civil struggle, and yet both be in the will of God.  (Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Discipline, 108)

 

Robert Haldane comments that “The institution of civil government is a dispensation of mercy, and its existence is so indispensable, that the moment it ceases under one form, it re-establishes itself in another.  The world, ever since the fall, when the dominion of one part of the human race over another was immediately introduced (Gn 3:16), has been in such a state of corruption and depravity, that without the powerful obstacle presented by civil government to the selfish and malignant passions of men, it would be better to live among the beasts of the forest than in human society.  As soon as its restraints are removed, man shows himself in his real character.  When there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes, we see in the last three chapters of the book of Judges what were the dreadful consequences.  (An Exposition of Romans, 581).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 225)

 

We need to be cautious, however, in our interpretation of Paul’s statements.  He cannot be taken to mean that all the Caligulas, Herods, Neros and Domitians of NT times, and all the Hitlers, Stalins, Amins and Saddams of our times, were personally appointed by God, that God is responsible for their behavior, or that their authority is in no circumstances to be resisted.  Paul means rather that all human authority is derived from God’s authority, so that we can say to rulers what Jesus said to Pilate, “You would have no power [exousia, authority] over me if it were not given to you from above.”  Pilate misused his authority to condemn Jesus; nevertheless, the authority he used to do this had been delegated to him by God.  (John Stott, Romans, God’s Good News for the World, 340)

 

In due time, however, the church was to find that Rome could persecute as well as protect.  One possible reaction to this change is the strident opposition with which the writer of Revelation denounces the civil power.  (Abingdon Press, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, 598)

 

C.  Is there ever a time when the government is so corrupt, evil, godless and self-serving, that isolation and non-association becomes righteous?  (Essenes, Jesus’ statement: “flee” Mt 10:23; 24:15-16; Mk 13:14; Lk 21:21)

                                               

The instinctive response of self-preservation cries back, “Absurd!  That’s the quickest way to get taken or, worse yet, get killed!”  But, from the early Christians who prayed for their tormentors who cast them to the lions, to the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century who went to the stake without resistance, to the nonviolent movements of our modern era, there comes ample evidence that such gentle actions motivated by a sincere heart of love can overcome evil.  (Clarence L. Bence, Romans, A Commentary for Bible Students, 204)

 

One of the strange ironies of early church history is that, while the Roman government was persecuting the Christian community, the church apologists were writing defenses of Christian behavior to the emperors.  The Christians were not interested in disobeying the civil magistrates in civil matters; they paid their taxes, they did everything that a good citizen was supposed to do.  They got into trouble when they refused to obey commands to worship the state or the emperor, rather than Christ.  (RC Sproul, The Gospel of God: Romans, 213)

 

Believing that the end sometimes justifies the means, many evangelicals contend that nonviolent civil disobedience is justified when a cause, such as opposition to abortion, is clearly biblical.  Some evangelicals even refuse to pay taxes because part of the money will be used for causes and activities that are unjust and immoral.  Many evangelicals believe that Christians should become active in political causes, relying on social action and pressure tactics to change laws and government policies and practices that are plainly evil and to protect cherished religious rights that are being encroached upon.  In the name of such concepts as co-belligerency, some evangelicals are joining forces with individuals and organizations that are unchristian, heretical, and even cultic.  The reasoning is that it is sometimes permissible to join forces with one evil in order to combat what is considered to be a greater evil.  This zeal for preservation of the Christian faith, both culturally and individually, often gets blended in with strong views about economics, taxation, social issues, and partisanship, so that the Bible gets wrapped in the flag.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 207)

 

Persecution is not cause for rebellion but for patient endurance and righteousness.  It is not that a Christian should seek persecution or should not try to escape it when possible.  Persecution in itself has no spiritual value.  Therefore, “whenever they persecute you in this city,” Jesus went on to say, “flee to the next” (v. 23).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 217)

 

A country usually gets the kind of government it deserves, and it may be that one of the determining factors is the attitude of the average citizen toward those whom he selects to serve him.  (Abingdon Press, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, 605)

 

Regardless of the failures of government–many of them immoral, unjust, and ungodly–Christians are to pray and live peaceful lives that influence the world by godly, selfless living, not by protests, sit-ins, and marches, much less by rebellion.  Like the prophets of the OT, we have both the right and the obligation to confront and oppose the sins and evils of our society, but only in the Lord’s way and power, not the world’s.  In this way, says Paul, our living is “good and profitable for men” (Pt 3:8), because it shows them the power of God in salvation.  They see what a person saved from sin is like.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 217)

 

From the beginning of the church the radical demands of the gospel to avoid conformity to this world were taken too far by some overly enthusiastic believers.  They thought that the coming of the new age meant that everything in the world was under judgment and to be avoided by truly “spiritual” Christians.  They included in “the world” such institutions as marriage (see 1 Cor 7; 1 Tm 4:3), sex (1 Cor 7 again), and the government (see, e.g., 1 Tm 2:2; Ti 3:1; 1 Pt 2:13-14).  (Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: Romans, 421)

 

H.  Is there ever a time when the government is so corrupt, evil, godless and self-serving, that we should not pay the percentage of our taxes that go for ungodly government programs?  (abortion, condoms, ungodly social programs, unjust war, incarceration of believers for their faith, i.e. Jesus, Peter, Paul)

 

Many taxes that are justly levied are not justly spent by the government body that collects them.  Yet, just as with submission to human government in general (Rom 13:1-5), Paul makes no exception in verses 6-7 for a Christian’s paying all taxes that he is assessed.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 229-30)

 

I.  Is there ever a time when the tax code is so unjust that we should not pay our taxes at all? (Mt 17:24-27)

 

Paul, like all other Christians, knew that it was an officer of the Roman government, Pontius Pilate, who handed Christ over to be crucified.  But that did not change his view of the ruler, that God has entrusted a special function to him.  That only shows that Jesus also had to suffer wrath in the present aeon.  It adds nothing new to what has been set forth, when a ruler uses his power to persecute Christians.  It only shows that the Christian can no more avoid suffering wrath here than could Christ.  (Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans, 430)

 

J.  What does Jesus have to tell us about Romans 13:1-7?

 

The force of Jesus’ example in this instance was especially compelling for His followers.  He explained to Peter, in effect, that, as the Son of God, He had no obligation to pay a tax to support God’s own house (v. 26), but that, as the son of Man, He did so in order not to give offense to the civil authorities and to be an example to His disciples (v. 27).  His action on that occasion is all the more poignant in that the contribution went to the coffers of the high priest and chief priests, who, a short while later, would put Him to death.  The money, in fact, went into the treasury of the temple, which had become so corrupt that Jesus had already cleansed it once of its moneychangers and sacrifice sellers (Jn 2:14-16) and would do so again shortly before His arrest and crucifixion (Mt 21:12-13).  It was even out of the temple treasury that thirty pieces of silver would be taken to bribe Judas into betraying Christ.  Knowing all of that, Jesus paid the tax without hesitation or reservation.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 233)

 

The Christian is never to expect too much from the state.  This is always a difficulty.  People always expect too much from it.  Let me emphasize that by saying that Christians should never get excited about the state.  They should never get excited about politics.  They are to be interested; they are to vote; they must be intelligent and informed; but they should never get excited about one political party or the other.  But Christians often do, and to the extent that they do, they come under the condemnation of the Scriptures.

That was the whole fallacy, surely, behind the French Revolution of 1789.  People went mad.  Liberty!  Equality!  Fraternity!  The Revolution was going to solve all problems; it was going to put the world right.  Well, political revolution has not put the world right, and it never will.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 57)

• We should submit to the authority of the government but the government is not God + We should pay taxes that we owe the government:  (Mt 22:17-21; Mk 12:13-17; Lk 20:22-25)
• We should pay taxes that we owe to anyone in authority even if they are corrupt + we don’t want to be an offense to unbelievers:(Mt 17:24-27)
• We should submit to authorities even if they are corrupt: (Mt 23:2-3)
• There is a time to disobey those in authority: (Lk 6:1-11; 14:1-6)
• There is a place for military force: (Mt 8:5-13; Lk 3:12-14; Rv 19)
• We should support those who fund the government: (Lk 19:1-10)
• Jesus submitted to unlawful arrest: (Mt 26:51-54, 62-65; Jn 18:19-24)

 

Some Christians expect the government to be not only the church’s ally but its primary partner.  But the state is temporal and affects only things that are temporal.  It is a foolish and wasteful stewardship that devotes a great deal of time trying to bring people better morality–which at best is transient–but little time bringing them the gospel, which offers eternal life.  It really does not matter whether people go to hell as policemen or prostitutes, judges or criminals, pro-life or pro-abortion.  The moral will persist with the immoral.  Our task is the proclamation of the gospel.  Neglecting it is the spiritual equivalent of a skilled heart surgeon abandoning his profession to become a make-up artist, spending his time making people look better rather than saving lives.  The mission of the church is not to change society–although that is often a beneficial by-product of faithful ministry and living–but to worship and serve the Lord and to bring others to saving faith in Him.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 208)

 

He came to meet a need that far surpasses all other needs, a need that only He could satisfy.  He therefore spoke to the hearts and souls of individual men and women–never to their political, social, economic, or racial rights or physical pain and plights.  He taught the saving gospel that had power to make their souls right with His Father and to grant them eternal life–in light of which, temporal rights and morals pale in importance.  He did not come to proclaim or establish a new social or moral order but a new spiritual order, His church.  He did not seek to make the old creation moral but to make the new creations holy.  And He mandated His church to perpetuate His ministry in that same way and toward that same end, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 211)

 

Worship point:  When you see God’s providence and sovereignty over all the rulers of the earth and how He still is able to work everything for our good in spite of all of mankind’s inherent evil, there is nothing else you can do BUT worship Him.

 

Spiritual Challenge:  See every person who has authority in your life as a servant of God.  No less a servant than Pastor Keith, Pastor Dave, Superintendent Ramundo or even Billy Graham.  Joyfully submit to those authorities with respect and honor knowing that they have been established in their position by God.  Then support their ministry by giving freely and joyfully what is due them in taxes, tithe, revenue, tolls, or duty.

 

In our own civilization, if every individual had liberty to do exactly as he pleased for only three days, all would be chaos.  (Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Discipline, 121)

 

 

Quotes to Note:

The gospel is equally hostile to tyranny and anarchy.  (Charles H. Hodge, A Commentary on Romans, 415)

 

You cannot have a Christian political party because Christians hold different views on the economy and other issues.  You can have equally good Christians in the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the Labour Party.  What is it that divides them?  Not their Christianity, not their spiritual point of view, but their opinions with regard to specific problems in the realm of economics, or drainage even, or any one of these other questions that law and government have to consider.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 40-41)

 

No good will come to the cause of the gospel by followers of Jesus being regarded as crazy dissidents who won’t co-operate with the most basic social mechanisms. Paul is anxious, precisely because he believes that Jesus is the true Lord of the world, that his followers should not pick unnecessary quarrels with the lesser lords.  They are indeed a revolutionary community, but if they go for the normal type of violent revolution they will just be playing the empire back at its own game. They will most certainly lose, and, much worse, the gospel itself will lose with them.  (N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone, Romans: Part Two, 85)

 

Some have questioned whether he would have been able to stand by his positive judgment after the persecutions came.  As to such it must be said that his judgment did not rest on accidental experiences and impressions; it is part of his total theological outlook.  He is not here giving casuistic counsels how his readers should act towards the authorities in different situations; he is setting forth the basic Christian view about worldly government.  In so doing he is aware both of its positive powers and of its limits.  (Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans, 429)

 

Modern-day readers must take special note of what life in the Roman empire was like.  The political powers were there by birth, connection, wealth, or ruthlessness.  The masses had no power, could never expect to have any power, and could never think that they could change the status quo.  Their best strategy was to live within the structure and take advantage of the protection offered by it.  Because people still believed in “the divine right of kings,” most authority went unquestioned.  And those in authority usually had a well-developed system of spies and informers who would not hesitate, in the name of good citizenship, to turn in anyone who complained or rebelled.  (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Romans, 246)

 

“Those who do what is right” (v. 3) in civil duties also accomplish the good (the word for “right” is in Greek the same word for “good” in 12:9-21) and thus fulfill the rule of agape.  Calvin was surely correct that obedience to magistrates is not the least important way by which to cherish peace and preserve love of others (Romans, 484-85).  (James R. Edwards, New International Biblical Commentary: Romans, 302)

 

Even social and political activities that are perfectly worthwhile can deplete the amount of a believer’s time, energy, and money that is available for the central work of the gospel.  The focus is shifted from the call to build the spiritual kingdom through the gospel to efforts to moralize culture–trying to change society from the outside rather than individuals from the inside.  When the church is politicized, even in support of good causes, its spiritual power is vitiated and its moral influence diluted.  And when such causes are supported in worldly ways and by worldly means, the tragedy is compounded.  We are to be the conscience of the nation through faithful preaching and godly living, confronting it not with the political pressure of man’s wisdom–including our own–but with the spiritual power of God’s Word.  Using legislation, adjudication, or intimidation to achieve a superficial, temporal “Christian morality” is not our calling–and has no eternal value.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 207)

 

In his Epistle to Diognetus, an anonymous second-century Christian wrote the following beautiful description of believers who genuinely obey the divine commands of Rom 13:1-7: “Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe.  For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity.  The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines.  But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them had determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.  They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.  As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners.  Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.  They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.  They have a common table, but not a common bed.  They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.  They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.  They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.  They love all men, and are persecuted by all.  They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.  They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified.  They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.  When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”  (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 26-27).  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Romans 9-16, 240)

 

So often, and to their great shame, Christian people have quarreled over politics.  That is quite unforgivable.  Ultimately the disagreement is caused by a false view of what the state can achieve, otherwise no one would get so heated.  I have known churches to divide on political issues.  I have known Christian people who do not even speak to one another because of their different political views.  It is almost unthinkable, but it has often happened, and it is all due to a failure to understand the teaching of this great and important section of Romans 13.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 13, 58)

 

We need to explain that the only view of mankind that protects us from exploitation by tyrannical rulers or others is that we are made in the image of God and are therefore valuable to God, even in an embryonic state.  We need to show that the disenfranchising of the unborn child is no different than the once-popular defense of slavery by calling blacks less than human or the murder of Jews by calling them a threat to society.  We must show that human beings are all made in God’s image and therefore must not be destroyed for anyone’s convenience, even that of the mother.  (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 4, The New Humanity, 1667)

 

He hurled his anathemas against anarchy; he did not foresee that they would be quoted in defense of tyranny.  Those who contend for the “divine right” of existing institutions have always found their strongest support in ch. 13, and it could reasonably be claimed that no other part of Scripture has afforded such solace to unscrupulous men.  (Abingdon Press, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, 599)