The Believer and Civil Government. Rom 13:1-7
Points
of review
1. Civil
government was first instituted by God in the Noahic
covenant, Genesis 9:5, 6 when God ordained the sword for capital punishment for
capital crimes (specifically murder). There is no mention of the word
“government” here, so how do we get government out of this. If we are going to
apply the principle we have to think about this. If we are now responsible for
taking the life of somebody who commits this kind of act how do we go about
adjudicating the decision? How do we decide of a person is truly guilty? How do
we decide if it was an accident or intentional? Who is going to be given the
authority within a society in order to carry out this punishment? What kind of
redress might there be in this case for somebody who might be unjustly
condemned? All of these things must be taken into account if we are going to
apply this principle.
2. We
must recognize that civil government is part of what we call the divine
institutions. These are established by God. The term “divine institution” has been
used by Christians to speak of the absolute social structure that was
established by God and embedded within the social makeup of human beings. So in
order for human beings to realize their full potential as image bearers these
institutions must be followed. They are for the entire human race, believer and
unbelievers alike. When they are followed there can be a measure of success and
prosperity; when they are violated that society will eventually erode and
collapse from the inside. In contrast, modern paganism (and paganism throughout
history) has used these as simply byproducts of man’s psycho-social evolution;
they are viewed as cultural conventions: that God didn’t ordain or establish
marriage—marriage is something that people found to have a pragmatic value and
so it was developed or evolved along the way; that God did not establish
government, it is a convention that man developed. We have to understand that
there is a difference between an institution as we are
using the word and a convention. Human convention has to do with things that
may differ from culture to culture, country to country, language group to
language group, because they are developed by different peoples in order to
carry out basic structures of their society.
3. There
are five divine institutions and three of them were established prior to the
fall. That is important to understand because they don’t have to do with sin;
they weren’t designed by God in order to somehow control sin. They were there
is perfect environment and so the first three divine institutions were designed
for man’s prosperity, his blessing and his growth. The first was individual
responsibility: each person is accountable to God for how he lives his life in
terms of the resources God has given him. The second was marriage which was to
be between one man and one woman. (The issue with homosexuality is that it is a
sin which attacks the very core of a successful society; it attacks the divine
institution of marriage) When the institution of marriage crumbles the family
crumbles and future generations suffer so that its society will implode as
these cancers eat away internally. Family is the third divine institution, it is the core education system for providing
for the next generation, for passing values on from one generation to the next.
These were all in place before the fall. Then after the flood was the
development of the fourth divine institution which was human/civil government,
the judicial aspect, and individual nations. These come along after sin enter into human history. The purpose of the first three,
the pre-fall divine institutions, is to promote productivity and advance
civilization so that man can experience all of God’s
blessing in his society in a social sense. The post-fall divine institutions
are designed to retrain and inhibit evil which would destroy productivity and
prosperity. Human government and nations are designed to protect the human race
from evil and tyranny, but unfortunately living in a fallen world where these
institutions are under the direction of fallen human beings, human government
is often perverted to do just the opposite of what it was intended to do.
Nevertheless it is an institution that has been established by God.
4. The
problem that we run into as Christians is when the authority of civil
government conflicts with the mandates and responsibilities that are assigned
to us by God. The problem is when the government specifically and directly
contradicts what the Bible directs us to do. So we are to understand how we are
to respond and what our attitude should be toward civil government.
The epistle to the Romans was written by Paul, some say as early as 54 AD, which would be
the same time that Nero begins to reign as emperor, the last in the line from
Augustus.
Romans chapter twelve is the major dividing section in the book of
Romans. Through Romans chapter eleven we have more of a doctrinal discourse
unpacking what God has done in our salvation in order to satisfy His righteousness,
and to provide us with righteousness that we may live a righteous life.
Starting in chapter twelve Paul describes what that righteous life should look
like, and that righteous life is a life that is in submission to God’s
authority. That is a key concept that we find running through this section; we
are to be subordinate to the authority of God. Roman 12:1, 2 sets the theme for
the section and chapter thirteen addresses how the believer is going to relate
to government in a way that honors and glorifies God as part of our service to
God. Under the overall theme of being subordinate to God and living a life that
is pleasing to Him, demonstrating that His will is good, acceptable and
perfect, it has a particular application in the role or relationship of the
believer to government. We see this developed in Romans 13 in certain ways. We
see the words “evil” and “good” in the patter part of chapter 12 as well as
13:3, 4. Another thing we note is that the idea of wrath which is an expression
of God’s judicial condemnation of unrighteousness is mention in both
There is also another connection in the concept of vengeance—
Romans 13:1 NASB “Every person is to be in subjection to the
governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those
which exist are established by God.
Romans 13:2 NASB “Therefore whoever resists authority has
opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive
condemnation upon themselves”—whether the authority is a tyrant or not. This is
one of the most difficult concepts that people have had to deal with over the
ages. What happens if there is an evil government? There is no exception stated
here. If we resist the government/authority we will bring judgment upon
ourselves. This isn’t talking about divine judgment,
it is talking about the consequences of violating the law.
Romans 13:3 NASB “For rulers are not a
cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil...” If we violate the law
we will suffer the consequences from the rulers. “…Do you want to have no fear
of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
Then there is the explanation and application: Romans 13:6 NASB
“For because of this you also pay taxes, for {rulers} are servants of God,
devoting themselves to this very thing.
1 Peter
In conclusion what we have seen in our study of these various passages
are important principles. What we see is that the validity of authority is not
based on how someone uses that authority. They may use it wrongly but we have
to respect the office they hold. Even un just
governments, kings operating as a law unto themselves, as in the case of Saul,
hold an office of authority that is established by God and therefore they
should be obeyed. Secondly, the use of authority in Romans 13 indicates any
authority whether just or unjust, tyrant or not. It is the existing government
that is ordained of God. Third, none of the passages that mandate obedience and
submission qualify those commands with phrases such as if they are just, if
they conform to our beliefs, if they are biblical. The passages command
unqualified obedience to authority.
However, there are exceptions. Those exceptions are what we have already
seen: the governing authority dictates or commands something specific of an
individual that is 180 degrees opposite to what God has specifically and
directly stated. For example, when the government demands a certain kind of
worship that violates God’s Word, when Governments command believers to kill,
take innocent life—Exodus 1, the midwives; when government commands that
prophets of God are to be killed—1 Kings 18:1-4, then the believer has the
right to disobey that command; when it commands the believer to worship
idols—Daniel 3; when the government commands to pray to a man or to a false
God, then we have the right to disobey government; when governments prohibit
believers from propagating the gospel
and teaching the Word, then we have the right to disobey.
However, the Bible places limits on how the individual believer can
disobey governments.
1. The
believer may refuse to obey a law but he must do it in grace and humility. If
we get involved in arrogance at the time that we are disobeying that law then
we have destroyed our witness at that time. It is not to be in revolt and
insubordination. Disobedience in all of the biblical passages is passive, not
active.
2. The
believer should be willing to take the consequences. Whatever happens for his
disobedience he is going to trust in God for ultimate justice.
3. The
believer should not forget his primary mission which is to be a witness in the
angelic conflict and a witness to unbelievers and proclaim the gospel to those
in need of eternal life.