As we read this famous text, our tendency is to rush into exceptions and qualifications. Didn’t the Hebrew midwives defy Pharaoh’s order? Weren’t they commended for disobeying the civil government and saving babies? When the Apostles were strictly charged not to teach in the name of Jesus, didn’t they defy the order, claiming that they must obey God rather than men? And wasn’t God himself the one who raised up Moses in defiance of Pharaoh’s authority? Wasn’t it by God’s command that Moses stood before him and boldly declared, Let my people go? And when, really, does the civil government live up to the seemingly idealistic description Paul gives of them here? Add to these considerations our own political history as Americans. Let’s be honest. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities doesn’t roll off the American tongue nearly as easily as Don’t Tread on Me. And so there’s a risk for us here. The risk is that as we look at this text, we pay no attention to what it’s saying and rather dwell on the difficult questions of when it doesn’t apply or when it’s trumped by a higher law. Perhaps you’re like me. Your love of democracy and freedom causes you to be suspicious of any government authority or power.
You recognize we need civil order, but you can be cynical about the power of the state. But to understand this text properly, we must treat civil government as a blessing and not as a necessary evil. God has instituted the powers that be. The impulse to qualify Paul’s bold claim is very real. In fact, some of the commentaries I can Eiffel had spent more time dealing with acceptable civil disobed than they did articulating the positive value of civil government and the obligation to be in subjection to it. And I think we have to talk about civil disobedience. The abuse of this text by tyrannical rulers has been both wicked and widespread. We are well aware of the stifling of religious freedoms, the persecution of Christians, and the devastation of religious wars. But that is probably not the message we need to hear. We are well-versed in recognizing and opposing tyranny. We’re not so good at submitting to the authorities that God has ordained. Dan Doriani notes that this is rooted in our democratic practice of electing our leaders. We are not accustomed to submitting because of our ownership and involvement in the process by which our leaders come to power.
We do not think of ourselves as subject to those who have worked so hard to earn our votes. We feel free to disrespect and insult, and perhaps even curse the leaders for whom we did not vote. If we pray for these leaders at all, we just ask God to open their eyes to the superior political philosophy of our candidate. But this aspect of our cultural identity is surely at odds with what Paul is saying here and with the spirit of the gospel. Can you imagine that it might be good for you to be subject to government leaders who may not themselves be very good? So rather than beginning with a nuanced and fascinating discussion of civil disobed, we’re going to begin with this simple concept. Anarchy is bad. We know what Lord Acton said, absolute power corrupts absolutely. But we must remember that power and influence just gives greater reach to human desires. A crown does not make a man evil, but it does enable opportunity for greater expression of the sin native to all of our hearts. And if that sin is not restrained by the rule of law and the threat of punishment, we don’t have one tyrant, but rather a whole neighborhood of small-time despots.
As humans, we don’t so much have a problem with authority per se. We object to that authority not being us. And if we all live autonomously, we’re not noble savages. We’re just savages. We still try to exercise power over one another, but not according to God’s design. In fact, anarchy equates authority with power. But Paul does not say that we must submit to the powerful, but rather to the one God has given authority. This is an important distinction because authority does require some power. The power of the sword, that is, the government’s ability to use force to compel obedience to the law, is necessary for authority to function. But authority is not granted to the powerful, rather limited power is granted to the authority that God has instituted for our good. Anarchy inverts this relationship, prioritizing power and strength, and mayhem and madness ensue. Without government, the strong prey on the weak. And so God has created the state, which is not the family and not the church. What does this absence of government look like? What do we see when there is a civil free for all? The Book of Judges might be called a case study for anarchy.
Not only have the people broken the covenant and forgotten the Lord their God, they have lost the basic moral decency which a government is designed to secure. Persons in property are not protected, and wickedness is rampant. It is true that judges shows the effects of corporate apostasy, and so it’s lessons applied to the church. But the situation extends beyond failures in worship and covenant keeping. Civilization itself is in jeopardy. In an account mirroring the wickedness of Sodom in Genesis 19, Judges 19 describes the gang rape and murder of a Levite’s concubine. The passage begins with this introduction, In those days when there was no king in Israel, and goes on to tell a horrific story. After enjoying a few days of hospitality while traveling, a Levite and his concubine continue on to Gibeya, where an Ephriomite takes them in. The locals who are described as worthless fellows demand the host give the Levite to them for their wicked pleasure. After some resistance, the concubine is sent out to be abused in the worst possible ways. Finding her in the morning unsure if she is alive, with callous indifference, the Levite says to her, ‘It’s time to go.
Then realizing she’s dead, He puts her on his donkey, takes her home, and then mutilates her body, sending a peace to each of the tribes of Israel. Judges 19:30 says, And all who saw it said, such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day. The event leads to civil war, and the absence of leadership is pronounced and profound. This account illustrates the refrain of the Book of Judges, In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges is followed by Ruth, where we learn of the lineage of the great King David, and Ruth is followed by the books of Samuel, which record the establishment of the monarchy itself. The provision of a king is clearly presented as a blessing. So here again, Paul’s words, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God, for he is God’s servant for your good. Government is good because anarchy is bad. Force is necessary because we are sinners, and a society without government will always abuse and oppressed its weakest members.
Do we spend more time praying for our leaders or complaining about them? Have we come to think of them as a necessary evil? Christians have dual citizenship, and this is bound to create tension. Besides being subject to the civil magistrate, we have citizenship in heaven. We are members of the body of Christ, and his jurisdiction is unlimited. His kingdom will reign forever and ever, long after nations and states are no more. Obviously, that is where our true and deepest allegiance lies. But we are still waiting for the return of our true king. So our citizenship in heaven does not remove our obligations to the state. Paul identifies at least seven obligations in this passage. We must be subject in verse one, which means to obey. We must not resist in verse two. We must do good, verse three. We must pay taxes and revenue, and we must give respect and honor where it is due, verse seven. Several motives are identified, too. First, God is the source of the magistrate’s authority. It is a delegated authority, not an inherent authority. We are not subject to the King because of his natural royalness, but because God has appointed him to his position.
That is why obedience to the King is obedience to God. God has delegated a limited authority to the King who is to act on God’s behalf for the public promotion of righteousness, peace, and order. As Paul writes in first Timothy 2, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for Kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Our good, a peaceful, quiet, and dignified life, is secured by the order government establishes. Second, we’re motivated by the threat of punishment. Paul writes, Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Fear of punishment is not the best motivation for obedience, but it is a thing. Because of our natural resistance to being governed, we need to stick. We need to contemplate consequences to move us to do what we should want to do from the heart.
And that takes us into the third motivator that Paul identifies. In verse Verse 5, he says, Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God’s wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Peter makes a similar point in a parallel passage in 1 Peter 2. He writes, Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the Emperor as Supreme or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should to silence the ignorance of foolish people. When Paul refers to conscience, he’s affirming what Peter says about God’s will. We obey God when we are subject to those who rule over us. Our consciences tell us what God’s will is, subjection as a moral duty, not just to avoid wrath. This is a better reason for obedience. We should be subject to our leaders because we know that it is right to be subject to our leaders. Subjection is humility in action. When we only comply if we agree, we’re acting autonomously. We may do what’s required, but it’s not because we recognize our subordinate position.
It’s because we agree with the ruler’s decision. As Pastor Lloyd likes to say, Agreement is not submission. And here again, we need to be reminded of what we might call a democracy bias. We enjoy rich blessings because of our ability to participate in the political process. We We are not passive and voiceless, as are so many people in the world. But they are probably better at submission, perhaps out of necessity. It’s simply too difficult to affect change or too costly to raise a stink. But our democracy bias has its own cost. We are so accustomed to asserting our rights. We are so free to raise a stink that we want to protest everything. We recognize our duty as subjects, but do we have the humility to honor respect and obey our leaders when we think their policies are foolish. As I said earlier, a study of Romans 13 does require a consideration of civil disobedience. Government policies are sometimes more than foolish. They’re wicked. During times of Christian persecution by the state, commentators have noted that even the governing authorities must be subject to the governing authorities. When Paul writes, Let every person be subject, he’s not excluding the king.
The rule of law, the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, and the idea of popular sovereignty are all ways to explain how the king himself is under another governing authority. That is, there is some constitution or a body of laws in place which he is not free to ignore. Citizens can appeal to a legitimate authority that has a smaller jurisdiction known as a lesser magistrate. And to some degree, the consent of the governed restrains the ruler. While we can’t get into a detailed analysis of these ideas, we can point out that the governing authority is given some obligations in this text, though they are implicit. We read that the King is appointed by God. Paul emphasizes that citizens answer to God for that, but it’s also true that the King answers to God for that. God never gives people authority and power for their own sake, but in service of his good purposes. Paul says that rulers are not terror to good conduct, and we might think, well, yes, sometimes they are a terror to good conduct. But the point here is that a ruler reading this text must see his job description. He is to be a terror to bad conduct and a promoter of the good.
Paul doesn’t say what’s going to happen if he doesn’t rule this way, but it is clear that he has an obligation to do so. Notice that our duty to respect and honor and submit is not contingent on whether or not he’s a good ruler. These obligations for us remain. But the King has a duty as well. Notice, too, that verse 6 says, For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. This phrase attending to this very thing implies that taxation exists to support legitimate government functions, not as a means of satisfying private lust and luxury, as Calvin puts it. Taxes that are to be used for the common good. So what was Roman government like when Paul wrote these words? Was he demanding obedience to emperors who were insisting upon being worshiped like gods? As F. F. Bruce puts it, remarking on Jesus’s command to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are gods, What if Caesar, not content with receiving what is rightfully his, lays claim to the things that are gods? Paul does not deal with this question here, Bruce writes, presumably because it had not yet arisen, but it was to be a burning question in the Roman state for generations to come.
While it is very clear that the Rome of Paul’s day governed with harshness and injustice, Paul himself enjoyed some religious freedom as a Christian. The Romans considered Christianity to be a sect of Judaism, and Judaism had an honored history. Even the trial of Jesus considered by the Romans to be a intramural Jewish issue. And the surprising thing is that Roman power could be coopted to settle religious disputes having nothing to do with Roman religion. The series of trials Paul experiences in Acts are instructive for understanding his context as well. As he gets moved up the political chain to be dealt with by others, he eventually ends up in Rome since he has appealed to Caesar. The Book of Acts ends with these words in Acts 28:1. 30 through 31. He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. So even while under house arrest, Paul had the freedom to preach the gospel. But as we know, this is not the end of the story. Paul would be imprisoned again and eventually killed by the state.
So Paul tells us that we must obey the state. But scripture is also clear that we are not to obey tyrants when they command what God forbids. Revelation 13 paints a picture that we must hold in tension with Romans 13. This is John’s vision. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadams on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne in great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast and who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemy against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain. In this vision, a ruler does not just claim political power outside the scope of the authority God has given him or make foolish or unjust laws, but he commands worship. Notice that the beast is a blasphemer, and worshippers of the beast say, Who is like the beast? Wickedly mimicking an oft-repeated Old Testament phrase, Who is like our God or who is like the Lord? In John’s vision, worldly power is intent upon the destruction of God’s people and is clearly a terror to those who do right, an exact opposition to the description Paul gives in Romans 13. As Doriani notes, We need both Romans 13 and Revelation 13. We need to know that God has appointed rulers over us for our good, and we need to know that rulers are sometimes so abusive of their power that they have even claimed divine prerogatives.
But as we’ve noted, our political history and democracy bias may cause us to rush to Revelation 13 when that text really does not describe our circumstances. A window into the Chinese house church may help us see these issues more clearly. Reformed Chinese pastor Wang Yi is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for inciting subversion to the state. In December of 2018, Yi, his wife, and over 100 members of the congregation of Early Raine Covenant Church were arrested. Their church property was confiscated, and some of them were subjected to brutal interrogation and treatment. Most were eventually released, but Wang Yee remains imprisoned with no way to communicate with him. Little is known about his condition. Yi and the elders of early reign saw this coming as the Communist Party enacted legislation restricting worship and gatherings in February of 2018. Now, strictly speaking, Christianity is not illegal in China. In fact, in the 1950s, the party created the so-called Three Self Patriotic Movement, movement, which is a state-endorsed Christian church. Of course, the communists did this to control religion, and the three self-pastors tend to have very liberal theology. House churches, which have criticized the three self-church, have mostly been tolerated and allowed to meet.
But Wang Yi has been an outspoken critic of both the party and the three self-church. But he has not promoted any rebellion against the communists, nor has he denied that they have a legitimate authority. Rather, he has clearly and repeatedly denied the authority of the state to legislate worship and to bind the conscience. In his mind, the three self-pastors are no pastors at all, but state agents, because they allow the state to tell them what they can and cannot preach. Before being called to the pastorate, Yee was a human rights lawyer, and so he is well-equipped to address these issues. And what is perhaps most surprising about his writing against state power is his attitude towards suffering and persecution. I wonder if Yee has not struck the right balance between the obedience of Romans 13 and the real danger of Revelation 13. I mentioned that early reined church saw this communist crackdown coming, so they were able to articulate a thoughtful response before it happened. Ye wrote the essay, Faithful Disobedience, and gave instructions for its distribution, should he be arrested and detained. He writes, I must point out that persecution against the Lord’s Church and against all Chinese people who believe in Jesus Christ is the most wicked and the most horrendous evil of Chinese society.
This is not only a sin against Christians, it is also a sin against all non-Christians. For the government is brutally and ruthlessly threatening them and hindering them from coming to Jesus. There is no greater wickedness in the world than this. But along with this clear condemnation of the wickedness of his own government, he also writes this, If God decides to use the persecution of this Communist regime against the church to help more Chinese people to despair of their futures, to lead them through a wilderness of spiritual disillusionment, and through this to make them know Jesus. If through persecution, he continues disciplining and building up his church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for his plans are always benevolent and good. What strikes the reader is that true, real painful persecution is taking place, and evil is called what it is. But there is a humble, joyful willingness to suffer for the gospel. Chinese house church leaders repeatedly write of their willingness and even desire to be persecuted for their faith because they know how it causes the gospel to flourish. They see it happening over and over. They don’t speak of asserting their rights.
They leave off complaining about daily injustices and focus on what really matters. The gospel must be preached, and they will preach it. They are happy for that message to wring out from their chains, and they sound a lot more like Paul than we sometimes do. Author Hannah Nation, who edited the book from which I’ve been quoting, makes this insightful observation. She says, Much of American evangelical writing on cultural and social engagement assumes a triumphant status for the church. And where the assumption of status isn’t made, the concern is how to regain it through either the culture wars or polite winsomeness. Reformed evangelicalism in America has yet to seriously turn its ear to counterparts seeking to engage a reformed understanding of the city from a position of powerlessness. As Americans, we are not powerless. And so we often make our political engagement about power struggles. We have a hard time hearing Paul in Romans 13. We look at China and we long for religious freedom for Christians there. But have we forgotten to pay attention to what they’re doing without it? The gospel is so much more dear to the persecuted church than their individual rights.
They see that the nations are a drop in the bucket. They see that this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Wangi has said that he opposes communism because it’s bad for the souls of communists. He can obey and respect and honor ungodly leaders because he loves them, and he trusts the sovereign God who put them in place. When they tell him not to preach, he’s going to preach. But this is not a power struggle. It is a costly obedience, born out of humility and love for Jesus Christ. Wang Yi is not an inspired writer. I am not commending him to you as the model for understanding these complex and difficult issues. But I do hope his story will help each of us read the scriptures with new and fresh eyes. I hope we love to worship Jesus more than we love the freedom to worship Jesus without persecution. Do you catch the difference? Do we love worshiping Jesus more than our freedom to do so? I hope we love God enough to endure some trials under leaders he has appointed, and I hope that we can thank him for any order and justice we enjoy as we wait the ultimate justice to come.
Good heavenly citizens make good earthly citizens. We are obedient, respectful, and loving, knowing that all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Every mouth will be stopped and the whole world held accountable to God. Your hope in mind is Jesus Christ alone. His body and his blood alone will save us from his wrath. And that frees us for for a humble obedience between this day and that. Let’s pray. Father, we pray that you would speak your word anew into our hearts, that we would treasure every word that you give us, and that we would live out the humble obedience that you call us to. We thank you for appointing leaders over us, and we pray that you would be honored in this community by we live as citizens of the government that you have established. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.