Romans 13:1-14
Notes
Transcript
1-7 8-14
1-7 8-14
1-7
1-7
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1
God is in charge, he is sovereign, and everything works for the glory of God. Whether we can see or understand the plan or how what takes place can be for the glory of God we must have faith that God is in command and in control. God used Pharaoh, He hardened his heart after every warning and plague that was sent to the land of Egypt so that he would not let the people of Israel go. God was in control of the leaders then and he is in control of the leaders and governing authorities now. The phrase used by Paul, be subject to, has its roots in the use of a soldier’s absolute obedience to his superior officer. We are to obey our governing authorities with only one exception, when the rule of law or command goes against or would require disobedience to God’s word. Acts 4:18–20 “So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.””
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If you do not obey the laws of those whom God has put in place, as long as the commands and laws are not in violation of God’s word, but disobey the rules and commands because you yourself do not feel that they are right and just, then you are disobeying God and will incur judgement, we will be in sin. If God put them in place, if God has appointed them then if we disobey their rules because of how we feel or think then we are in essence saying that we know better than God. We must have faith that all things will work for the glory of God, even if we do not agree at the time or understand what the plan is.
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The rulers that God has put in place generally do not punish those who follow the rules and obey the laws, they are not a terror to good conduct but bad conduct. It is God’s will for us to obey our rulers and not fear them, if we obey the rules and laws put in place by those in authority, that God has put in place then we will have approval.
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Whether or not the ruler in place is a Christian and believes in God, he or she is a servant of God, and if we do not obey the servants of God then we should be afraid as they have the authority to “bear the sword” the authority to punish and carryout God’s wrath on those who are not obeying them as a ruler that has been put in place by God.
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We must be humble and subject to our rulers, to not do so will incur God’s wrath and will also be against our conscience and the Holy Spirit inside us who helps us obey.
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It does not matter if we believe that the taxes that are put in place are fair and just we should pay them, Jesus himself told us to render to Caeser what is Caesers and pay the required tax Mark 12:15–17 “But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.” The rulers are in place at the will of God and raising taxes as ministers of God for the purposes of God’s plan.
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Pay all what is owed, not just taxes but wages for those who work for us and not only money are we to pay to those whom we owe but respect and honor as well. We are to be humble and obey those who have been put in place by God to govern and rule over us and follow their commands unless it is in direct violation of God’s word.
8-14
8-14
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First owe no one anything which is the conclusion from the earlier section culminating with verse 7 that we are to pay to all what is owed to them, but now Paul says except love, not that we are not to show love for each other but we are to constantly owe, or have the need to show love for each other. Having love for each other is the defining characteristic of a Christian, it is how we show that we are following Christ and fulfilling the law in his example.
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As Jesus summed up the law and the prophets as love God with all of our heart and minds and strength then love our neighbor as ourselves. Mark 12:29–31 “Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””
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If we love our neighbours, which is not just the person or persons who live beside and around us but everyone we know and encounter, if we love them as a fellow image bearer of God then we will be fulfilling the law.
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We know the time, which is not referring to the hour or time of day but of the era or period we are in which is the church age and the era of our salvation and now that we are in our era of having been saved we are to awaken from our spiritual slumber. The reference to our salvation is not talking about our being born again but our final redemption and glorification when Christ comes again to claim his people and thrown and it is ever closer than when we were first saved.
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So now that we are in the era of our salvation the night or our spiritual darkness is gone, far gone and the light of day, the light of redemption is at hand. Now that we are saved and children of God and His light we no longer want to do the works of darkness, of sin but put on the armor of God, the armor of light.
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We are to walk in God’s light, in his statutes and commandments, not doing the works of the world, those works are death and we should abhor them, they should turn our stomachs and make us sick.
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We need to put on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, always praying for help, ours and others, always reading the bible, studying it so we can learn its truths and be prepared to answer a question and recognize a false gospel. Stay diligent in our prayer and reading so that we can defeat our flesh, if we are not asking, praying and begging the Holy Spirit to help us resist the temptations of our flesh and this world then we can easily slip into sin and temptation. Remain alert and always be in prayer and in the Word as our armor to repel the desires of our own flesh until we are free of it for good when we are resurrected in renewed and perfected bodies to spend eternity with Christ in heaven.