The Christian’s Relationship with the Government

Romans 13:1-7
April 20, 1996
Bob Bonner

In the past several years our newspapers have been filled with headline stories concerning the citizens of this country and their conflicts with government. Whether it is the Waco fiasco and the Davidian cult, the Oklahoma City bombing or recently, the militia group in Montana, all of these cases raise the question as to what legitimate role of authority does the government play in our lives? How do we respond to the government’s authority and why?

Several of these modern militia groups and other quasi-religious political groups quote scripture to support their claim that they are free individuals with God given rights and that the government has no right to tax them, or to pass laws to take “their land”, to pass laws legalizing abortion and euthanasia, or to institute laws that restrict the right to possess any kind of firearms. All of which raises the question of what are the rights of the state in the life of every Christian?

Our passage in Romans 13 deals with this very timely subject of the “Divine right of the state” in the Christian’s life. In our passage, there are several guidelines that should enable us to make more correct decisions as to how we function as Christian citizens. But I must confess that I have many more questions that need to be answered on this subject than this passage answers. But at least this passage gives us a place to start building a foundation for correct future decisions. And we need that foundation if what I sense is correct as to the direction our country seems to be headed.

As we introduce our study this morning I would like to quote John MacArthur at length. The purpose of doing so is to stimulate your thinking in this area, as we look at our own history as a country. I would encourage you to discipline your mind for the next few moments not allowing it to wander so as to hear what he says. I don’t quote him so as to say that I agree with him necessarily, but to whet your appetite for the study ahead.

John writes, “Many evangelicals strongly believe that the American Revolution was wholly justified not only politically but biblically. They believe that the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not only are divinely endowed but that their attainment and defense somehow is Christian and thereby justified at whatever cost, including that of armed rebellion when necessary. Obviously such action is forbidden by God and judged in light of our present text it is equally obvious that the United States was born out of violation of Scripture. That does not mean that in His grace, God has not bestowed great blessing on America, He unquestionably has. However it does mean that His blessings have been in spite of the disobedience to His word which was involved in the revolution bringing the nation into being.

Believing that the end sometimes justifies the means, many evangelicals contend that nonviolent civil disobedience is justified when a cause, such as opposition to abortion, is clearly biblical. Some evangelicals even refuse to pay taxes because part of the money will be used for causes and activities that are unjust and immoral. Many evangelicals believe that Christians should become active in political causes, relying on social action and pressure tactics to change laws and government policies and practices that are plainly evil and to protect cherished religious rights that are being encroached upon. In the name of such concepts as co-belligerency, some evangelicals are joining forces with individuals and organizations that are unchristian, heretical, and even cultic. The reasoning is that it is sometimes permissible to join forces with one evil in order to combat what is considered to be a greater evil. This zeal for preservation of the Christian faith both culturally and individually, often gets blended in with strong views about economics, taxation, social issues, and partisanship, so that the Bible gets wrapped in the flag.

Even social and political activities that are perfectly worthwhile can deplete the amount of a believer’s time, energy, and money that is available for the central work of the gospel. The focus is shifted from the call to build the spiritual kingdom through the gospel to efforts to moralize culture---trying to change society from the outside rather than individuals from the inside. When the church is politicized, even is support of good causes, its spiritual power is vitiated and its moral influence diluted. And when such causes are supported in worldly ways and by worldly means, the tragedy is compounded. We are to be the conscience of the nation through faithful preaching and godly living, confronting it not with the political pressure of man’s wisdom; including our own; but with the spiritual power of God’s word. Using legislation, adjudication, or intimidation to achieve a superficial temporal “Christian morality” is not our calling and has no eternal value.

It really does not matter whether people to go hell as policemen or prostitutes, judges or criminals, pro-life or pro-abortion. The moral will persist with the immoral. Our task is the proclamation of the gospel.  Neglecting it is the spiritual equivalent of a skilled heart surgeon abandoning his profession to become a make-up artist, spending his time making people look better rather than saving lives. The mission of the church is not to change society, although that is often a beneficial by-product of faithful ministry and living, but to worship and serve the Lord and to bring others to saving faith in Him.

It is not that Christians are not to be involved sometimes directly, in civil government. It is certainly not that believers should avoid expressing their beliefs through voting for the best qualified political candidates and for sound legislation. That is part of doing good in our society.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament present illustrations of believers whose earthly role placed them in civil service, and they were useful to God there.

At issue is the matter of priority, of realizing that even the greatest earthly good we may be able to accomplish in the temporal world pales beside what the Lord is able to accomplish through us in the spiritual work of His kingdom.

What is the Christian’s responsibility to society and to the government in particular?” [ROMANS, vol. 2, 206-211, MacArthur]

This is the question that we will be looking at in our text. As we do, let’s remember the context of this chapter. Beginning with chapter 12, the apostle Paul is writing about our response to all that God has accomplished for us in Christ. Paul has taught us that in putting our trust in Christ, the old Bob Bonner died. My spirit, body and soul were bought with a price, redeemed if you will, and now everything I am belongs to God, including my rights. I have been given a new life in Christ and I have a new identity in Christ.

This is true of all Christians. We have a new identity and therefore we have a new calling before God as to how we live our lives. In this calling, we are to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. In the process we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, verse 2. We are not even to think of ourselves and our rights as the world thinks. For we are no longer Americans, primarily, we are now children of God, citizens of heaven and servants of the King of kings. As Americans, the scriptures teach us that as Christians we are aliens and strangers, even in America. As Americans, we are first and foremost to recognize our identity as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We were not left on this earth to first and foremost wave “Old Glory”. We were left here with the mission to call the world to worship and follow Jesus Christ.

We are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. We are not independent spirits or agents who can do what we wish. We are servants of the King and owe absolute allegiance to Him even to the point of our physical deaths.

As we come to this chapter 13, we are called to think correctly about ourselves as servants of the Lord in relationship to the authorities that govern any nation.

In the first seven verses of Romans 13, Paul will present two basic principles that answer the question of “What is our responsibility as Christians to our society and in particular, to the government?” The first principle is spelled out for us in verses 1-5. Paul states in verse 1a, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities.” The word, “everyone” is emphatic for every believer in the original text. Hence, the principle is simple; we are to submit to the government.

In verses 1b–5, Paul gives us six reasons why Christians are to submit to human government. He says that government is by divine decree. Paul states in verse 1b, “For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God.”

The very word that Paul uses here for “authority” drives home this thought of government being by divine decree. There are two Greek words for authority or power that Paul could have used here. One word simply speaks of any authority or power, either legitimate or illegitimate. The second Greek term for power refers to delegated power that is given to a person or a group. This specific term for delegated power is the term Paul has chosen to use here. He is stressing that God has divinely delegated power to governments to rule responsibly.

In John 19:11 Jesus used this term for divine power, when He spoke to Pilate. He said, “Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has {the} greater sin.’” Jesus was underscoring not only that there is divinely assigned governmental powers but that they will all be held responsible to God for the way they rule.

When we consider that at Paul’s time there were no Christian authorities but rather authorities who were largely unfriendly and even hostile to the church, then Paul’s words become quite remarkable. He is not writing these words in a vacuum. Even though he had personally experienced the injustices of wrongly used governing power, God showed Paul that the Roman government had been established by God and He required “every” Christian to submit to them and to cooperate with them. 

So strong is this thought that every Christian is to submit to the local government that Paul in verse 2 concludes, “Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God;”. Those are pretty stern words which lead us to the second reason why we are to submit to governing authorities. Resistance to government is rebellion against an institution of God.

This literally means that we, the USA, opposed the ordinance of God when we fought England for our independence. It matter not that the taxes were unjust or that England changed the rules to taxation and unfairly burdened us. The King was sovereign and could demand whatever he wanted. As Christian citizens, we had no rights. But to my knowledge, the King of England never violated the written word of God as to how he was to govern people. He may have been and was an immoral king, but he did not order us to disobey God, to my knowledge. For us to have fought with England was a violation of this basic principle. God has blessed this nation, not because we fought with England, but in spite of it.

Furthermore, the very same Biblically wrongful independent spirit that gave us our freedom from England, is the same wrongful independent spirit that is at the heart of the modern militia movement today which threatens to bring civil war upon our country. This wrongful independent spirit is the same spirit driving rebellion and the lack of respect which has infected our homes, schools and communities.

In the past two hundred years, whether as colonies or as a free nation, we have never experienced the tyranny of Rome that Paul and Jesus lived under. Sure we can point to instances that our government and all governments have been unjust, but we do not have the right to practice civil disobedience until the government actually violates a very clear undeniable principle of scripture. And even then, it does not give us the right to totally overthrow the government. It only gives us the right to refuse to obey the one order as it affects us personally.

Let’s look at the abortion issue as an example. For all intent and purposes the government has wrongfully legalized abortion. It has not demanded that we all practice it, but it has legalized it. Because the government has legalized something that is Biblically wrong, we do not have the right to violate other laws, such as trespassing laws because the right to an abortion is Biblically wrong. We are not being commanded to abort our children, so we have no law to disobey. But if the law is morally wrong, which it is, then we do have the right to civil protest. We always have the right for civil protest which never requires that we break the law. But civil disobedience in this case is limited. 

Scripture says that drunkenness is wrong, but drinking is legal in this country. Does that give Christians the right to blow up bars where people are being served alcohol and getting drunk? 

Please turn with me to 1 Peter 2:11-13. These verses clearly give us the perspective that God wants us to see as His children who have been born again and given a new identity. This perspective comes with that new identity. These verses state: "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe {them,} glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. {Act} as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but {use it} as bondslaves of God. Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

Do you see the perspective of the believer who now has a new identity? This world is no longer our home. We are aliens, strangers who live here. Our home is with the Lord. But for now, we are ambassadors to a foreign country, serving our king Jesus Christ. This country is not our home. Our ultimate allegiance is to God. And He says, "For now, you submit to the government until the government demands that you as an individual violate God's law."

Taken by itself, without any other Scriptural illumination, this last reason for why we should submit to governments can be and has been wrongly interpreted to teach blind devotion to the state regardless of what the state commands. And that is not correct.

Paul is not stating that all the Caligulas, Herods, Neros and Domitians of Paul's day, and all the Hitlers, Stalins, Amins and Saddams of our times, were personally appointed by God and that God supports or agrees with their behavior or that God is responsible for their atrocities, and every person under these wicked leaders were to obey them. Paul is not saying that.

So, what does it mean? It means that God instituted government to represent Him. But what government does, does not always represent God's will. Furthermore, there are times that we are to resist government. To put it simply, the only exception to submitting to governing authorities is when submission to governing authorities requires personal disobedience to God’s written word.

Here are four historical precedents to this exception. First, is recorded in Exodus 1:17, when Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all male babies. The text tells us that Shiphrah and Puah "feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live." In this situation, because these midwives feared God and refused to murder the male babies, "God was good to the midwives and the people multiplied and became very mighty." Notice, God did not direct the Hebrews, nor did the Hebrews stand up and say, "You know what? I think we ought to form and underground movement to supplant the Pharaoh and over throw this government. No, they didn't do that. What did happen, is that God used this wicked leader to unify a people and conceive a nation in Egypt, that was birthed as a nation at the parting of the Red Sea.

A second case can be cited from Daniel 1:12-15. There, the king commanded Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to eat foods that would have required that they disobey their Mosaic dietary laws. They respectfully refused the king, gave him an alternative to allow them to eat what God said they could and see if they were not in as good of shape if not in better shape than the king's servants than the king's other servants. As a result of respectfully disobeying while trying to honor the King, God honored them and showed the king that they were indeed healthier than his servants, their peers.

Again, in Daniel 3:16, we find a third case of correctly refusing to submit to governing authorities. In this case, the king commanded Daniel and his friends to worship the king and forbade them from praying to any other God. They refused, continued to pray to God and were thrown in the fiery furnace only to have God rescue them. God blessed their faithfulness. Throughout all of Daniel's confrontations with the king, we see the true heart of biblical submission and biblical refusal of submission. He didn't just obey or disobey, he did so without malice and with genuine respect for the authorities that God had positioned over him.

In the New Testament, we have the case in Acts 5:28, when the Jewish leaders warned Peter and John not to preach about Jesus. With genuine respect for the religious authorities' position, they refused to quit preaching about Jesus, because Jesus had made it clear that it was His will for them to do just that. To cease from preaching Jesus would be to disobey God's direct order to them.

Hence, the principle is clear: we are to obey the state up to the point where it would entail personal disobedience to God's personal orders to us. And note: this is personal disobedience. In each of these cases of civil disobedience, the individuals involved we asked to personally disobey God at great personal risk. There is no mounting up of the religious right to fight or attack the government. This is the strict meaning of "civil disobedience." It was not a political rally made up of emotional supporters who had not been asked to violate any laws, but felt the laws were unfair.

To trespass or organize a sit-in that requires violating other laws, just to change government laws that may allow for immorality, is not godly civil disobedience. It's just plain disobedience. There is no support in scripture for violating trespassing laws to block an abortion clinic, or that supports the bombing of someone else's business or the murdering of another evil person. In fact, that violates scripture. God is the only one who is to institute that kind of justice, or to take a person's life; and His key instrument on earth to execute a person's life, as we will see in this text, is only the government. Vigilantism is not Biblical. 

Remember, nowhere does God tell us that our mission on this planet is to change society. We as Christians have been given a new identity. We are aliens here, strangers to this planet, His ambassadors given a message to preach to people about Jesus, so that through Jesus, God can transform individual lives. And as individual lives are changed, then society will be changed. If we want to be involved in civil protest, we can and there are legal ways in this country in which we can be involved in civil protest. But civil protest which includes violating laws is sin.

So, what happens if I refuse to obey God in this matter? Paul tells us in the rest of this verse, as he gives us the third reason to submit to the government.  He says, "and they who have opposed [the government, except for the condition of standing up for God's law] will receive condemnation upon themselves." Or, those who resist government will be punished. 

You resist God's instrument of civil authority on this earth, the government, and you will suffer His punishment.

Verse 3a gives us a fourth reason why God wants us to submit to the civil authorities. Paul writes, "For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good." In other words, God designed Government to restrain evil and to promote good. 

This verse is not saying that rulers always commend those who do good and punish those who do not. Paul knew that couldn't be true from his own personal experience of being the victim of civil injustice and the perpetrator of civil injustice. Paul had suffered a great deal at the hands of the Jewish and Roman rulers for nothing more than for his godly "good behavior". Furthermore, Paul wasn't surprised by his suffering, for he watched and participated with the authorities and their miscarriage of justice in the condemnation of Jesus. Hence, what Paul is stating here is not human reality, but a divine ideal. This is one of God's purposes for government: to restrain evil. And as we mentioned earlier, those who abuse their authority will be held accountable for it, by God.

Yet, even in that day, as throughout all history, even the most wicked regimes were a deterrent to murder, theft and many other crimes. Even the most wicked form of government is better than no government at all. And let's face it. From our human perspective, any time you have a civil government, made up of sinners, you will never have a perfect government. I like the way that C. S. Lewis, put it. He said, "No arrangement of bad eggs can make a good omelet."

On the other hand, Paul did experience the protection of life and property that the government affords those who submit to it. Paul used his Roman citizenship to secure justice by appealing to Caesar when the Jews wanted him arrested and killed. Hence, generally speaking, peaceful and law-abiding citizens have been favorably treated by their governments throughout history.

A fifth reason why we are to submit to government is stated in the rest of verse 4. Paul writes, "But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it [the government] does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil." First, let me state the reason and then support it from scripture. Government serves as God's agent of vengeance. 

Since the word for "sword" was used earlier in Romans 8:35 to indicate death, and since it was used of execution in Acts 12:2 and Revelation 13:10, it seems clear that Paul means the word "sword" to be a symbol of the right of civil government to inflict punishment even to the ultimate point of capital punishment. This was obviously true in the Old Testament and never spoken against in the New Testament.

In this area of "capital punishment" there is much confusion today. What people need to understand is that when the state executes a criminal it is not the same as one person taking another person's life. In the case of the state taking a person's life, it is acting in God's stead. God has the right to take human life for wrong doing and has passed on that right to the state.

The state also has the right to use deadly force to protect the rights of its citizens. Hence, this means that governments have the right to maintain armies for their defense and to maintain order in their countries and we as Christians are to serve in the army. The only time we may choose to civilly disobey is if our conviction is that we are not fighting out of protection but out of aggression to take away something that belongs to another country.

It is important to hold together this verse and Romans 12:19. God will take vengeance and often times He will do it in our lifetime. And when He wants to put someone to death, His civil executioner is the state.

However, keep clear the distinction between the role of the state and that of the Christian. We, as individuals, are to practice love and the state is to practice justice. That does not mean that we, as individuals shouldn't be concerned about protecting justices, nor does it mean that the state, in pronouncing a sentence, can't allow justice to be tempered by love or mercy.

In verse 5, Paul gives us his last reason why we are to submit to the government’s authority over our lives. He states, "Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake." Rather than speaking to us like laboratory rats, who respond to positive and negative stimuli alone, Paul speaks to us as human beings who are moral agents. He is saying here that we obey the government, because our conscience tells us that it is the right thing to do... for conscience sake. We know that God has put government here for a reason, so we follow it.

Once again, I refer to Peter's words. He said, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." Through consciously doing what is right, you teach ignorant or non-god fearing people the truth.

In the next two verses we see our second responsibility as Christians in regards to our relationship with the government. This second responsibility may be considered a specific application of our first responsibility of submitting to the government, that is, that we are to pay taxes to the government. 

Paul explains, "For because of this you also pay taxes, for {rulers} are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing." God's reasoning behind our paying taxes to a secular government is summed up in that the earth' governments are God's "servants". The term for "servant" that Paul uses here is not the general term used throughout the New Testament for servant but the term for "priest". From this term we get our English word "liturgy". The idea here is that along with the government's responsibility to provide for our defense and security, it also is to provide for certain practices that help meet our needs.

In the Old Testament, the government was a theocracy. God was the king. He appointed priests to oversee worship as well as the welfare of the state. They cared for the poor and the widows. Similarly, God is saying that taxes are used to aid the government to serve welfare needs as well as other governmental functions; ie the mail service, utilities, schools, etc.

The apostle Paul was a very zealous Pharisee before coming to Christ. Before his conversion, Paul doubtlessly chafed fiercely under the despised Roman rule and resented every denarius that was sent from Israel back to Rome for some political program that no Israeli citizen would ever benefit from. But, having been given a new life in Christ, the old Paul being dead, he submitted to the Roman government and paid his taxes.

I hate as much as the next guy to give taxes to the government and to watch them use those funds for immoral practices. However, that does not give me the right to withhold my taxes. Governments are made up of fallible men and they will have to answer to God for their misuse of His funds, because those taxes are His funds.

Look back with me, at 12:2. Paul says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." This is one, very specific area of our lives that we are not to be conformed to the way that everybody else around us maybe thinking. We aren't to act as everyone else does about taxes. We can protest the misuse or abuse of our taxes, but not withhold them or belly ache.

Paul basically summarizes his dissertation on the role of the Christian and government in verse 7.  He states "Render to all what is due them:" The term "render" carries the idea of paying back something that is owed, and that meaning is reinforced by the phrase, "what is due them." Submission or respect for authority and taxes are not voluntary or optional offerings given for the support of government. Submitting to governing authorities and paying taxes is the unqualified obligation of every citizen. As followers of Jesus Christ, each of us have not only a moral obligation in this area but a spiritual responsibility. Hence, cheating on taxes, violating laws so that we can maintain a grip upon all of our so called "rights" is not only a crime against the government, but it is also a sin against God.

In the rest of verse 7, Paul speaks to four specifics as to rendering what is due. He says, "tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." We already know what Paul means by "tax", that's tribute paid to a ruler. "Custom" or "Revenue" as some other translations have it, literally refers to the tolls or customs duties that many foreign governments employ. "Fear" speaks of the respect due to all who hold public office and are a part of the tax collecting system. "Honor" is more general and refers to showing genuine high esteem verses feigned ore merely pretended esteem for any governmental authority. 

This passage certainly raises some interesting questions that we don't have time to answer this morning. However, what it does say is clear. Furthermore, once one understands what it does say, then maybe we will take more seriously God's command that we pray for our governmental authorities. Let's pray.

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