Romans 13

How do we view the various authority structures within this world? The way that we answer this question has a very big impact upon our Christian living. As with all of our life decisions, our answer here needs to be informed by the Christian thinking that we have come to embrace. Are we to consider our life in Christ as the life of autonomous individuals saved by His grace, or is there a different way to view the Christian life that gives a more serious and substantial place to the authorities established by the Head of all lawful authority, namely God?

Paul is well aware that civil authorities had the capability of acting as an enemy of the church and of Christian families and individuals. Despite this fact, He teaches us that all lawful rulers come from God, and that Christians need to recognize this by being submissive to the governing authorities. We know that any system of submission to authority on this earth has to have some limits. We cannot submit to anyone who would insist that we violate God's Law. We see this in Acts 5 when the Apostles are commanded by those in power to be silent concerning Christ. Their response: "We must obey God rather than men."

Despite this one exception, the general rule for Christians is godly submission to rulers. We are able to serve them as unto the Lord, since God is the power behind any true throne. He sets up rulers and brings them down. He is sovereign over every king, and He may even discipline us and bless us through His suffering providences toward us. Because of this, when we wrongly resist authority, we resist God.

Not only that, but rulers are designed by God to aid us in the way of goodness. Though they may err and sin in the way they use the power that they have been given, their weapons provide a powerful incentive, even to the church, to avoid things like murder, adultery, stealing, slander, and insurrection. It is a good thing for us to try to stay on the right side of those in civil power whenever we can possibly do so. They are God's servant for our good, and agents of God's vengeance when we stray into behaviors of public evil.

We can have many questions of conscience that give us some significant difficulty in answering. There is an easy rule that can keep us out of jail. It is not right to violate the established and enforced laws of men unless obeying the government would force us to sin against God. In those rare cases we must obey God, and take the jail time that may come our way, or flee from such an unjust government, so that we can peacefully live in some other jurisdiction more respectful of the Lord's commandments.

On many occasions in the course of Biblical history the enemies of God attempt to use the power of civil authority unjustly against the Lord's servants. Paul faced this, and so did Jesus. The reason that Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross rather than stoned by a Jewish mob was that His enemies had decided to try to use Roman civil authority against Him. They attempted to make the case that Jesus was dangerous to the peace of Palestine, and that Pilate was no friend of Caesar if he let Jesus live. Yet even in the cases of Jesus and Paul, the King of kings had a way of working out His sovereign will, even through the hands of those who would defy Him.

The evil of others does not give us a valid excuse to live as Christian insurrectionists. Out of reverence for our King, who suffered so unjustly at the hands of those who had the power of the sword, we need to willingly pay taxes and show honor to people that we may not entirely admire. This should not surprise us if we remember that our Savior commanded us to love our enemies.

To live foolishly and rebelliously is to live as if we had no hope. That kind of life can put any man behind bars. We are not drunken pleasure-seekers hoping to drown out the sound of the truth of futility with something that will at least dull the pain and help us to forget. We are those who have heard of the divine love of Jesus and the cross, and have believed in his resurrection and ours. The truth for us is good news. We do not want to fill our small hearts with the lesser lusts of sexual conquests and verbal and physical abuse of those we hate. We choose the far greater pleasures of Christ and His kingdom, and find that we have less of an appetite for the fruit that some enemy might want is to take a small bite of.

This way of life should make us good citizens of almost any land. If we suffer, we need not suffer as evil-doers, but as those who are facing unjust persecution. If we must face that king of trial, we can rejoice, and entrust ourselves to God. We know that the world is subject to His perfect judgment. We know that He, our all-knowing and righteous judge, is the Judge of all the earth, and He will do what is right.