Romans 13:1-7 Do What Is Right!

Romans 13:1-7  Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.  Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?  Then do what is right and you will be commended.  For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.  They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.  This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.  

God’s will is that the institutions that organize the human community have leadership: people in control.  In the family, in the church, in the secular communities such as cities and countries, people should have the authority to bring stability to the land.  This is necessary for the basic human condition is that everyone will do what is right in his or her own eyes without leadership and guidelines.  As we read in the Bible, In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.  (Judges 21:25)  Of course, everyone doing what he or she seems best for his or her own life leads to chaos.  Just imagine society if there were no authorities, no one to obey, no one to fear.  Let us say that there were no God in heaven to fear, no consequences or divine judgment to come for self-indulgent, self-willed, destructive behavior.  Let us say that there were no human authorities to require an account: rulers, judges, policemen, soldiers—no authorities at all to set parameters on behavior, no norms to follow, no regulations to govern people’s activities.  Every individual’s desires would rule the day.  People would be the kings and lords of their own little world, with no restraints.  However, man’s self-willed nature culminates in fleshly desires; corrosive, destructive behaviors such as murder, rape, stealing, extortion, mugging, lying, and the like.  What would the human condition on Earth be like if no laws or regulations were placed on people’s actions, no consequences for aberrant behavior?  Freewill without restraints leads to chaos, uncontrolled evil everywhere. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.  Humans need an authority to give an account to for behavior that is hurtful to others and to the community.  They need someone to organize the community, someone with the authority to police and protect the people.  Without leadership, without rulers, without an organized society, the controller of any neighborhood would be the local bully, the strongman who would be willing to hurt and maim others to gain and keep control.  In some countries today, these kinds of societies exist, always in flux, full of violence, poverty, and pain.  God’s design for human organization is to have authority that He establishes and blesses.

As believers, we have one supreme authority over our lives, God our Father.  Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!  The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.”  (Acts 5:29-30)  As we see with Peter’s reply to the Sanhedrin, all authority is not necessarily blessed by God.  Some authority does not need to be heeded or honored in certain circumstances.  Peter and the apostles were given the directive by Jesus to go out into all the world and preach the gospel.  They had this commandment from the Lord; they were not going to violate God’s commandment, no matter what men would ask of them.  This of course is true for any Christian.  We will follow God’s commandments first, not man’s.  Authorities are given to men to rule over society, but the supreme commander in all things is God.  He rules over the whole earth.  All powers must bow at his words, not their words.  If a commandment is thou shalt not murder, then do not murder if given an order to do so.  If a commandment is to honor your father and mother, then do not under any man’s commandment dishonor them or abuse them.  The Bible says to love our wives as Jesus loves us, then do not abuse your wife even though you have control over her.  Jesus tells us to honor the little children, then do not harm little children with violence no matter who instructs us to do so.  We are to be absolutely obedient to God’s words for we are Christians.  Yet, we should honor authorities because we do live on earth in community.  Humans are meant to live in community.  The Pharisees and Herod’s supporter desired to trap Jesus into saying something that would get him into trouble with the rulers of that day.  They wanted to know, Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?  Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”  (Mark 12:24-15)  Jesus escapes this trap of separating him from his allegiance to authority by saying, Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.  (17)  In other words, honor those to whom honor is due.  We are to honor our authorities by obeying the laws and regulations that are set up to keep an organized society working efficiently.  However, we do not need to dishonor God by serving laws and regulations that run contrary to his will such as in the Old Testament when wicked Kings would direct the people to serve other gods than the only true God.  The prophets of the ancients did not follow these kings; instead, they railed against such policies, putting their lives in jeopardy of being killed.  As Peter would say, We must obey God rather than human beings!  God ordained order in society; therefore, he told us to be subject to our rulers, but He never intended for us to obey man’s laws at the expense of his commands.  We are citizens of another country, born into another family, the family of God.  Our first and primary allegiance is always to God.  As Jesus told his disciples,  Whoever has my commands and keep them is the one who loves me.  (John 14:21)  

Paul gives us a good example of how we should treat leadership in the following passage if they are not asking us to go directly against God’s will.  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”   At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”  Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”  (Acts 23:1-3)  Paul, chief of the Pharisees, a scholar in the law, knew the high priest was violating the law by having others strike him.  Consequently, he blurted out in anger, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  Then when informed that the man who struck him was obeying the high priest, he expressed regret by quoting what they all knew to be true: Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.  Later on in Acts, we find Paul doing everything possible not to come under the authority of the Sanhedrin.  In fact, he even appeals to Caesar to evade the Sanhedrin’s authority over him, for he knew they would kill him if they ever got control over him.  Paul was fulfilling God’s commission to preach to the Gentiles the words of God.  He was doing right in God’s eyes.  The members of the Sanhedrin were the rulers of the Jewish people.  Paul was a Jew, yet he feared his leaders and escaped to Rome.  In light of Paul’s life, how do we come to terms with Paul’s statement that rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.  For sure, Paul did not want to fall into the hands of the Sanhedrin.  How do we rectify all of this?  Let us look at Jesus’ words in his time of testing: Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”  (Matthew 4:10)  We are people of the kingdom of God.  Our allegiance belongs to him first and only.  The Kingdom of God is preeminent in our lives.  We serve his commandments first in everything we do.  Paul knew he had a commandment to preach the gospel to the lost.  This was foremost in his life, nothing could quell that or hinder that commission, not even leaders.  He was obedient and respectful to his leaders, but he was not subservient to them.  He wanted to avoid their control over him because he wanted to serve the Lord.  We are to be respectful to our leaders and honor them for their roles in society, but nothing should ever quiet the Spirit of God in us.  We should hear his voice and do his will.  This will lead us not away from society, but will lead us to love others in society.  We will love our enemies; we will even heed their dictates if they do not violate God’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We should be the best neighbors that any society would want.  We should be responsible citizens.  We should be the light of the world, the light in our communities.  Light does not spew out self-will or chaotic darkness.  Light shines forth everywhere with love and care for those in need.  Dear friends, obey your rulers, pay your taxes happily, be supportive to your community.  Let people see your light in the darkness!