What should our relationship be to governing authority? Is it ever right to break the law? Are we to obey it in any circumstance? It’s one thing to live in America, where most of the law is good, but what if the situation were different? What if you lived in Nazi Germany at the time of Hitler’s rise to power? Would you obey the laws against harboring or helping Jewish people? Or what if you lived in a repressive communist country where atheism is the accepted religion of the state, and where the Bible is outlawed and Christians are persecuted? Are those governments of God?
Listen to what God says, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established." Did you hear that? No authority except from God. How can that be true? Did God ordain the authority of Hitler or Stalin, or in Paul’s day, Cæsar Nero?
Our text begins with an amazing command — God’s call to civil obedience for the Christian. It is not a suggestion, but a principle which is to control the Christian’s behavior toward governmental authority. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. (1a)
All of us are included. It doesn’t matter whether we desire to be in subjection or not. The call is simply to obey. Notice also, what we are to obey. We are to obey the governing authorities. It is interesting that our text does not specify what kind of government we are to obey. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it is a democratic government, or a socialist government, or even a communist or totalitarian government. As a matter of fact, when Paul was writing this passage, the government which was in power in his day was the Roman government, a government which, at times, could be very harsh and repressive. No, it doesn’t seem to matter what kind of government is in power, what seems to matter is that every Christian is called to be in subjection to that government. We are called to obey by God Himself.
Now, as we have said before, this seems to be an incredible statement, especially when you put it in the context of governments which are evil and repressive, which enslave and torture and dehumanize people. What if you were a black in South Africa, or a Christian in Libya, or a Christian pastor in a Moslem nation? Are there not some circumstances under which we are permitted to break the law and oppose evil and unjust governments?
In the next part of this first verse, the Lord reveals the reason why we are to live in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (1b) The basis for our obedience is that human government comes from God. It is established by God.
God has ordained human government because of human rebellion, human transgression, human lawlessness. It is ordained for the good of society, to keep rebellious people in check. If there were no human government, the situation in the world today would be like the situation described in the last verse of the book of Judges (21:25) where it says, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
Without human government, lawlessness would run rampant. People would be free to do as they pleased, with the survival of the fittest being the ruling principle! God, in His wisdom, has ordained human government. Therefore, the reason for civil obedience is because God has given us government for our good — to keep evil in check and to maintain an orderly society.
Now because of the fall of man, whenever there is a command to obedience, there is also a desire to rebel. So we shouldn’t be surprised when we find within us a desire to resist submitting ourselves. The fact is that we don’t necessarily agree with all the laws of the state. We’re not sure that we want to obey them, and we want to reserve the right to choose for ourselves. But before we commit ourselves along these lines, we need to look at verse 2. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
There is no question that what is being said is that when we resist the authority of the state, we resist God. You see, the issue is not our obedience to the state, but our obedience to God. The condemnation we receive is not from the state, but from God. What we are doing is saying to God that we don’t agree with His wisdom of human government and that we will do it our way.
There is an overriding principle involved in the Christian’s relationship with the state. Like our marriage relationship or our relationship with the Church, our relationship with the state is both a horizontal and vertical relationship. In other words, there is more involved than simply us and them. Us and them is a relationship on the horizontal plane alone. But it is not us and them, it is us and them and God. It is both a horizontal and vertical relationship. God has called every Christian to be in subjection to governing authorities because those authorities have been set in place by Him for the good of society. The Bible says that God is the one who puts kings in place and deposes them. The challenge for the Christian is to see our place and view our actions from the perspective of the sovereignty of God.
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.(3-4)
Here is the foundation for civil obedience: It is the foundation upon which governments are established. This is to punish the evil and establish the good. We have already mentioned that civil government is ordained for the good of society because of the rebelliousness of man. A properly functioning government keeps evil in check by punishing it. And it establishes the good by rewarding it.
Here we find the biblical ground which justifies a government’s existence. Governments are to reward good and punish evil. When a government begins to reward evil and punish the good, however, it loses its biblical authority and has no legitimate ground for its existence. Therefore, in some circumstances, there may be legitimate reasons to seek the overthrow of an evil and repressive government and the establishment of a better one. Remember the Bible says that God sets up kings and deposes them. Only as long as governments function within God’s design do they have legitimate ground for their continued existence. And when governments become truly evil, we have biblical ground to stand against them. It was certainly not wrong for Christians in Nazi Germany to stand against that government.
The biblical principle is that we are to obey civil authority when it does not call on us to disobey God. We see in Scripture a consistent call for all Christians to obey authority placed over them. Christians are called upon to submit to the leaders of the church, wives are to submit to their husbands, and all are to submit to the government. But there are biblical safeguards to the abuse of this authority. Some people have claimed that we are to submit in every circumstance without exception. But this is not true. Let me repeat: We are to obey authority when it does not call on us to disobey God.
In the book of Acts, as the early Church was beginning its outreach in Jerusalem, the Jewish authorities began to oppose the preaching of the Gospel. On a number of occasions they brought in Peter and some of the other apostles to warn them not to preach any more in the name of Jesus. On one such occasion, Peter and the Apostles were brought before the High Priest and the Sanhedrin. The high priest warned them not to continue teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and the Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than men." Were they being disobedient to authority in that instance? Yes, they were. Was it justified? Yes, it was. You see, the High Priest and the Council were calling on the Apostles to disobey God in order to obey their commandment. In those cases, there is no question that we must take a stand for God, even if it causes us to stand against lessor authority. Let me add here, however, a word of caution. This does not mean we are justified in opposing authority, whether it is church authority, or the authority in the home, or the authority of the state simply because we don’t agree with it. There must be clear and sufficient biblical warrant to do so. For us to oppose authority, that authority must be calling on us to violate some clear scriptural principle. Only then are we justified in taking a stand through loving disobedience.
Most often, however, civil authority does punish the evil and establish the good. Our text says that if we do good, we have no reason to be afraid. But if not, we must fear, for the civil authorities have the power to enforce law and punish evil. Let’s say you are riding down the highway and notice, as you crest a hill, a highway patrolman sitting on the median. How do you feel in the pit of your stomach? Our general reaction is to immediately take our foot off the accelerator and put it on the brake. What we experience could properly be called fear. Why is that? The Scripture says that if we are doing good, we have no need to fear. But I have noticed, on many occasions, a highway patrolman with a whole string of cars riding behind him. Even though he was only doing 50, no one would pass him, and I certainly didn’t want to be the first one. But if we are doing good, and we are within the law, we ought to have the liberty to pull right out and wave as we go by. He is there to reward the good and punish the evil.
If we do good, we have no need to fear. But if we do evil, the Bible says we need to be afraid because he does not bear the sword for nothing. If we were to translate that into modern-day terminology, we would say that he does not bear the gun for no reason. In other words, the authority given is the authority to use whatever force is necessary to enforce the law. That authority, if used rightly, should strike fear into the hearts of evildoers, and should therefore, be a deterrent to further evil. That is the way God ordained it for the good of society. That is the reason civil authority exists. And that is a very good reason for civil obedience as well. We obey because God called us to obey, because God ordained civil authority, and because if we don’t obey, we will be punished. But there is another reason why we should obey.
Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. (5) When we choose to be dishonest, to skirt the law, perhaps even to openly transgress it, we become the recipients of a guilty conscience. When a little boy was asked to define sin, he said, "Doing wrong and getting caught." The problem is, whenever we do wrong, we are caught. God sees all. And although we might not be caught by the civil authorities, God has taken note of it. The Holy Spirit is grieved, and our conscience troubles us until we repent. Ogden Nash said, "There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience, or none at all."
But we do have a conscience. If we are seeking to serve the Lord at all, we have an active conscience which interacts with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Therefore, we must obey to keep a clear conscience. Someone once said, "A good conscience is a soft pillow."
Finally, the apostle Paul illustrates for us the practical outworking of civil obedience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (6-7)
Now, it’s very obvious that this is God’s idea. I certainly didn’t write this. It says to pay your taxes. I must admit, that is no one’s favorite endeavor. I heard of a minister who once addressed his tax return to the "Infernal Revenue Service." In this country, we had a rebellion against the tax on tea. And now everything is taxed and taxed again. There is real estate tax, property tax, sales tax, income tax, inheritance tax. Sometimes you do have to pray hard to keep a right attitude about it all.
But God said that one of the things we are to render Cæsar is the tax due Cæsar. He says in verse 6, "the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing." And so we are to pay tax for the services that the government provides. And, in fact, that is what our taxes go for. We pay tax to maintain our armies, to provide police and fire protection, so that our garbage is picked up, so that our roads are maintained, and for all the other services our government provides. So we are commanded to pay our taxes.
Verse 7 says that we are to render to all what is due them. It mentions taxes and revenue, respect and honor. Not only are we to pay our taxes, we are to respect and honor those to whom respect and honor are due. This is fast becoming a lost practice in our age, because we have an entire generation today who grew up as rebels.
Who are some we ought to respect? Well, I always heard you are to respect your elders. And that is true. Also, those who are in positions of authority deserve respect. Some people ought to be respected and honored for the position’s sake. While we may not agree with the person in the position, nonetheless, the position ought to be respected. You may not agree with your employer, but you ought to respect the position of authority he holds. You may not think a certain police officer is worthy of respect, but you ought to respect the position of a law enforcement officer. The mayor, the governor, the president, all deserve respect because of the position they hold. If we are to have an orderly government, free from anarchy, we must respect those who deserve respect and honor those who deserve honor, if for no other reason than because of the position they hold. Now, if they are corrupt, let’s vote them out. That is also our privilege.
On a very practical level, obedience to God and His Word means that we become better citizens, better people. It will help us in our inter-personal relationships as we give respect and honor to those to whom it is due. It will help our marriages, our relationships with our children, our relationships with other believers, as we affirm the positive qualities in one another and encourage one another to excellence.
Let me add here that for all the shortcomings of our form of government, we do live in a great land. I am not blind to the areas of failure in our system, nor to the injustices that occur. There are some things we need to work hard to change in this country. And, as Christians, we need to stand up and be counted. We must stand for righteousness, and lift up our voices against injustice. Through His people, God speaks a prophetic word to the nation, which is in desperate need of reform. But for all of its shortcomings, this country remains one of the best places on earth to be. I thank God for this country, and you should too. I’m sure you do. But we must never confuse our country with the kingdom of God, or patriotism with Christianity. While we can rejoice that God has given us our government, we must always remember that we are citizens of a higher kingdom and subjects of a Supreme Ruler. We must submit to the government as we seek to improve it, but we must know that the highest calling of the Christian is to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
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