Living the Christian Life in a Time when God Judges Our Nation by Giving Us Evil Governing Authorities (Part 3)

Scripture calls upon us Christians to be in submission to those who govern us.

“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” (Romans 13:1-7).

I suggest that this passage calls upon us to take note of at least four factors that we need to ponder as we contemplate our Christian responsibilities toward our governing officials, wherever we may reside.

a. Keep in mind that Paul wrote this to Christians who lived in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.

Christians are not at all exempt from being influenced to read Scripture from their own situation and thus to impose their own experiences upon what the text says. Of course, the Apostle Paul does not write his directives from an experience such as we Americans have. He writes from a first-century residence within the Roman Empire, not as one who lives within a Democratic Republic as we do, well, at least in theory. The fact that the apostle writes these directives to Christians who reside in Rome, the capital of the Empire, indicates that he had courage as my following comments will suggest. Also, the fact that he writes these directives concerning how Christians are obliged by the gospel of Christ to relate to those who hold the power and authority of human government indicates that ministers of the gospel have an obligation to provide prophetic preaching concerning these matters. It is a profound discouragement to me that so few ministers of the gospel do prophetically address these issues and that few preachers even have the requisite wherewithal to do so. Lamentably, many who do attempt to speak on these matters do it so poorly and cheaply that it becomes manifestly transparent that they do not think deeply about the gospel and its ramifications at the level of comprehensive worldview thinking.

b. Submission does not mean silence.

The fact that the apostle Paul calls upon Christians to be subject to governing authorities and tells us that to rebel against governing authorities is to rebel against God hardly suggests that Christians are to adopt a posture of simpering pawns and obeisant sycophants who adopt the martyr’s complex, who will not defend themselves against false accusations, and who refuse to speak on public policy issues. If that was Paul’s objective, then why does he even bother to write these things to the Christians in Rome? No! Keep in mind that (1) the Apostle Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship to avert flogging (Acts 16:35-37; 22:25-29), (2) he called upon Roman officials to protect his life when his fellow countrymen arrested him and conspired how they might put him to death (23:12-35), and (3) he also appealed to Caesar for justice rather than leave his case in the hands of wicked Jews who were determined carry out their injustice to terminate him (25:10-11). Because the apostle knows and understands that human governments are ordained by God, he is neither timid to appeal to governing officials to preserve his life from jackals and wolves who would devour him, people in high positions who think that they would be doing God a favor. Nor is he afraid to include in his letter to Christians in the empire’s capital city directives that remind Caesar that he is subject to God and that as God’s subject, he is like all other governing authorities to punish evildoers and to reward doers of good.

c. The role of governing officials. They are to commend doers of good and to punish evildoers.

John Calvin aptly observes, “Magistrates may hence learn what their vocation is, for they are not to rule for their own interest, but for the public good; nor are they endued with unbridled power, but what is restricted to the wellbeing of their subjects; in short, they are responsible to God and to men in the exercise of their power. For as they are deputed by God and do his business, they must give an account to him: and then the ministration which God has committed to them has a regard to the subjects, they are therefore debtors also to them. And private men are reminded, that it is through the divine goodness that they are defended by the sword of princes against injuries done by the wicked. . . . It is another part of the office of magistrates, that they ought forcibly to repress the waywardness of evil men, who do not willingly suffer themselves to be governed by laws, and to inflict such punishment on their offenses as God’s judgment requires; for he expressly declares, that they are armed with the sword, not for an empty show, but that they may smite evil-doers” (Commentary on Romans). As Calvin states, we are obligated “to obey kings and governors, whoever they may be, not because we are constrained, but because it is a service acceptable to God; for he will have them not only to be feared, but also honored by a voluntary respect.” Yet, is there not more here than directives to Christians concerning how we ought to submit to our governors? Yes, surely there is.

d. In as much as Paul instructs us concerning the role of governing officials in this world, implicit within his directives is the fact that Christians have an obligation to remind governing officials what their God-appointed role is.

Because the apostle sends his letter, containing these directives, to Christians in Rome and not to the emperor’s palace, is it not manifestly apparent that the Apostle Paul is instructing us that we Christians have an obligation to remind those who govern us: (1) concerning who has appointed them to their seats of governance; (2) that they are ministers of God for the good of those whom they govern; (3) that justice—punishing evildoers and rewarding doers of good—is their primary role; and (4) that they are in positions of authority not to serve themselves but to serve those for whom they are entrusted with governing? To express this directly, true as it is that the apostle’s letter to the church in Rome addresses Christians, we Christians live in this present cursed world, and the apostle’s admonitions so obviously forbid us from engaging in activist rioting and disorder that we need not linger on that. We do, however, need to observe that his directives also restrain us from retreating into a fetal position, a so-called Benedict Option, a Christian cloister, a retreat from public life with a safe habitation hermetically sealed from the wicked world’s influence. Rather, the Apostle Paul obligates us Christians to confront the world and evil governing officials. The gospel he preaches and which we Christians embrace with joy calls upon us to confess “Jesus is Lord!” It is hardly serendipitous that the Apostle wrote these words—“Jesus is Lord”—in his letter to Rome where worship is reverently bestowed to the emperor with bowed heads, a raised arm, and the mouth affirming, “Ave, Caesar!” The gospel’s affirmation—“Jesus is Lord”—is subversive to every human governing official who demands allegiance. Our confession obligates us to announce to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord over every realm, over every domain, over every place, and over every person, including vaunted kings, braggart presidents, tyrannical magistrates, self-appointed messianic figures, and even Caesars who call themselves gods. Governance and public policy issues do not fall beyond the reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Political theories and implementations are under Christ’s dominion. This reminder is fitting. Ponder again Abraham Kuyper’s response to the notion that Christianity is to be hermetically sealed off from public life: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Eerdmans, 1998, 488; see initial blog entry).