The Believer and Civil Government

Explanation: Paul has been issuing a series of imperatives for Christians in the preceding section. He gives approximately 20 different commands that cover a range of subjects. In these 7 verses, however, Paul deals with the single theme of the Christian’s response to civil authority.

The straightforward reading of the text yields a clear mandate: believers are to be in submission to the civil authorities. We may not like hearing this truth, but it is one that is not difficult to understand. This is an area of obedience for the believer, not one of preference.

In his teaching on the subject, Paul gives two basic reasons the Christian is to be in submission to the ruling powers.

We are to submit because God ordained them

This is not a biblical doctrine we think a great deal on, but it is worth reflection. If God is sovereign in all areas, then the civil governments that have been in place in the past and the current governments of this present time are ordained (established) by Him. If not, that would mean a government came into power without either His knowledge or His allowance for it. Neither option is biblically possible.

That means the ancient Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Nazis under Hitler, the Russians under Stalin through Putin,and the guy in North Korea all were or are currently in power because God allowed them to be. This includes the current American president as well.

Nowhere are we told that we as believers have to like our governing authorities. We are told to submit to them and to pray for them.

We are to submit to avoid judgment

Believers are called to submit to civil authorities to avoid incurring God’s judgment on ourselves. Paul states that the consequence for resisting the ordained authority is judgment. The NT does not call for overthrow or insurrection as a means of dealing with difficult leaders. The Roman Christians were under a world empire with a dictator who was viewed as a god by some of the citizens. Neither Jesus nor Paul calls for rebelling against the unjust practice of slavery under the Romans. Instead, God used the transformed lives of His children over the years to bring about an official end to the practice of slavery.

God’s purpose for civil government is for the restraint of evil (Rom 13:3-4)

God gives us insight into the proper role of civil government. It is designed primarily to restrain evil and to bring about conditions for the flourishing of its subject members. Government is an institution set up by God and is an example of His common grace to all, believers and unbelievers alike.

Government, when functioning properly, has the legitimate power to bring evildoers to justice through the power of the sword. We live in an imperfect example of this, but without a structure of civil government the result is always chaos and anarchy.

NOTE: the death penalty was established in the OT (Genesis 9:6) and re-confirmed here in the NT. Execution of criminals by the state is a legitimate use of the sword (Rom 13:4). This precludes vigilante justice (see Romans 12:19) and it is also in harmony with a pro-life position. Do not be taken in by the false argument that you can’t support the death penalty and be pro-life at the same time. One is the defense of unborn life and the other is the sanctioned punishment of crime that will deter future crimes, if handled in a balanced and equitable manner. The US system of justice is seriously flawed and does not deter many, giving validation to the truth presented in Ecclesiastes 8:11.

Submitting to civil government results in a clear conscience before God (Romans 13:5)

When we voluntarily submit to the governing authorities we provide a positive witness to the world. The response of submission instead of opposition can be used of God in a powerful way. Christians should be marked by rulers as that segment of the population that are easy to govern and the ones who promote peace. This response, Paul states, will bring us the gift of a clear conscience before God.

A visible form of submitting to civil government is by paying taxes (Romans 13:6-7)

All governments, without exception, require money to operate. They get said monies from subjects, either forcibly or peaceably. There have been powers who get their revenue from foreign nations whom they have subjugated or they may take revenue from their own citizens, but they will get the funds from somewhere.

Tax time is never pleasant, but it is a necessary evil. An old but true saying is that “the only 2 sure thing in this world is death and taxes.” Paul directs believers to “render tribute to whom tribute is due” whether we agree with all of the uses to which the funds will be used. It would be very likely that some of the Christian’s tax monies in the first century supported the slave trade in some manner.

Are Christians to always support government?

So, Christian citizens are to be model citizens who submit to their governing authorities. We are to provide for the common good, pray for our leaders and be honest in paying our taxes. This statement serves as a summary of this passage in general, but it is also important to look at the whole of Scripture to gain a balanced perspective.

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the history of the interpretation of Rom. 13:1–7 is the history of attempts to avoid what seems to be its plain meaning (The Epistle to the Romans (D. The Christian and Secular Rulers (13:1–7)), Douglas Moo

The words of Jesus and other accounts in Scripture will give us a balanced response to the believer and civil authorities

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:21) These words of Jesus show that there are 2 separate spheres of authority. Civil government is one sphere and another is spiritual government. Each has it’s area of responsibility and we are called to know the difference

God’s sphere of authority takes precedence over the sphere of civil authority. We see this response from Peter and the apostles when their local authorities were forbidding them to teach about the Resurrection of Jesus. Their response: “we ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

We have similar accounts in the OT

Hebrew midwives did not obey Pharaoh

Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego did not obey Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel refused to follow the injunction to cease praying to Yahweh

The Epistle to the Romans D. The Christian and Secular Rulers (13:1–7)

In most cases, then, Christian submission to government will involve obeying what government tells the Christian to do. But government does not have absolute rights over the believer, for government, like every human institution, is subordinate to God himself. The ultimate claim of God, who stands at the peak of the hierarchy of relationships in which the Christian is placed, is always assumed. This means, then, that Christians may continue to “submit” to a particular government (acknowledging their subordination to it generally) even as they, in obedience to a “higher” authority, refuse to do, in a given instance, what that government requires

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