|
E. H. Gifford, in F.C. Cook, ed. The Bible Commentary p. 211 St. Paul
passes naturally...to the duty of obedience to civil authorities. This is a subject
rarely noticed in his other epistles: see I Tim. ii.2. Why then does he treat it so
fully and emphatically in writing to the Romans?
(T)he Roman government, regarding religion as a matter of state policy, sternly
repressed every innovation which threatened to disturb the public peace.
Charles Hodge
on ch. 12, remark 6, p. 404
6. One of the most beautiful exhibitions of the character of our Saviour was
afforded by his conduct under persecution. "He was led as a lamb to the
slaughter;" "when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered,
he threatened not." Even martyrs dying for the truth have not always been able
to avoid the prediction of evil to their persecutors; so much easier is it to abstain from
recompensing evil for evil, than really to love and pray for the good of our enemies.
This, however, is Christian duty; such is the spirit of the gospel. Just so
far, therefore, as we find even a secret satisfaction when evil comes upon them, are we
unchristian in our temper, vers. 19-21.
p. 404
The duty of obedience to those in authority is enforced, 1. By the consideration that
civil government is a divine institution, and, therefore, resistance to magistrates in the
exercise of their lawful authority is disobedience to God, vers. 1,2.
p. 406 on verse 1, "For there..."etc.
This is a very comprehensive proposition. All authority is of God. No man
has any rightful power over other men, which is not derived from God. All
human power is delegated and ministerial.
(same G)
All magistrates of whatever grade are to be regarded as acting by divine
appointment....
(same G)
There is no limitation to the injunction in this verse, so far as the objects of obedience
are concerned, although there is as to the extent of the obedience itself.
(idG)
The actual reigning emperor was to be obeyed by the Roman Christians, whatever they might
think as to his title to the sceptre. But if he transcended his authority, and
required them to worship idols, they were to obey God rather than man. This is the
limitation to all human authority. When ever obedience to man is inconsistent with
obedience to God, then disobedience becomes a duty.
verse 2, p. 406
If it is the will of God that there should be civil government, and - 1 -407
persons appointed to exercise authority over others, it is plain that to resist such
persons in the exercise of their lawful authority is an act of disobedience to God.
p. 407
It was to Paul a matter of little importance whether the Roman emperor was appointed by
the senate, the army, or the people; whether the assumption of the imperial authority by
Caesar was just or unjust, or whether his successors had a legitimate claim to the throne
or not. It was his object to lay down the simple principle, that magistrates are to
be obeyed.
R. C. H. Lenski p. 783
(C)hapter 12 shows the Christian among Christians, a member of the spiritual body
(12:4,5). The conclusion which states how he is to act toward his enemies touches
also upon his relation to non-Christian enemies, thus preparing us for the next view: -The
Christian in the Secular World-. He lives in a secular world that is controlled by a
secular government.
verse 1, p. 785
It is significant to note that Calvinistic writers subscribe to Paul's dictum with a
reservation which even Robertson enters in his very brief note in W(ord) P(ictures).
"Nor does he oppose here revolution for a change of government."
Paul does oppose this very thing on the part of the Christian.
The reason for Christian self-subjection is the fact that "authority (namely
governmental) does not exist except by God," by agency of God. We commonly say
that the state is a divine institution and thus put Paul's dictum into other words.
It is God's own doing that - 1 - 786 such a thing as governmental authority and power
(exousia covers both) exists among men. God has issued no decree on the subject but
as constituted man so that in any community, large or small, he must have order and some
sort of authority to enforce that order.
p. 786
One implication is plain: anarchy is not according to the will of God. While
it has had its theoretical advocates it could not be established so as to continue, for it
is the abolition of all governmental authority.
p. 786
When Paul wrote he scarcely had in mind his personal experiences as a Christian under
Roman authority, the climax of which was uet to come when he suffered martyrdom; but he
certainly had in mind the Jewish authority which forced Pilate to send Jesus to the cross
and his own violence as a rabid tool of the Sanhedrin which led to the martyrdom of so
many of the first Christians. The fact that authorites and authority may act
criminally changes nothing as to God's will regarding their establishment among men.
787
"And those existing exist as having been arranged by God." Here the plural
is again in place, for it includes all governmental authorites from the highest imperial
to the lowest magisterial.
792
The fact that Christianity and the New Testament sanction the death penalty and that they
ought not to be cited to the contrary, is plain. The New Testament, however, lays
down no laws for the secular state on any matter. This is left to the natural sense
of right and jutice (sic) found among men, who also bear the responsibility for the laws
they put into force and must bear the consequences, whether these are beneficial or
detrimental. Shall a state inflict or not inflict the death penalty for extreme
crimes? The answer is one that the state must give.
Lange; Riddle's note, p. 398, col. 2
The simple, pellucid meaning of the Apostle is, that civil government is necessary, and of
Divine appointment. We infer that anarchy is as godless as it is inhuman; that
magistrates are not "the servants of the people," nor do they derive their
authority from the people, but from God, even though chosen by the people; that
republican officials, no less than the hereditary monarchs, can subscribe themselves,
"by the grace of God." Unless the principle be of universal application,
anarchy will be justified somewhere. This principle, moreover, respects the office,
not the character of the magistrate; not the abstract authority, indeed, but the concrete
rulers, whatever their character. If it be deemed too sweeping, then its
self-imposed limitation has been overlooked. For as the obedience is demanded
because of God's appointment, then it is -not demanded- in matters -contrary- to God's
appointment. When the civil power contadicts God's Word and His voice in our
conscience, then it contradicts and subvers it own authority. Herein the superior
wisdom of Christian ethics is manifest. Human self-will leads to anarchy, human
power to despotism; but obedience to -de facto- rulers as a Christian duty has led, and
must lead, to true civil freedom, since it alone makes the individual truly free, and, by
asserting the higher law as the basis of the lower authority, ever elevates the lower
authority nearer the Divine Law. For, as Alford observes of the duty here laid down:
"To obtain, by lawful means, the removal or alteration of an unjust or unreasonable
law, is another part of this duty; for all powers among men must be on accord with the
highest power, the moral sense." And the elevation of the moral sense of
individuals will accomplish more than revolutions, however justifiable and necessary.
John Murray, NICNT, p. 148
p. 148,
The term for "subjection" is one more inclusive than that for obedience.
It implies obedience when ordinances to be obeyed are in view, but there is more
involved. Subjection indicates the reconition of our subordination in the
whole realm of the magistrates' jurisdiction and willing subservience to their authority.
id.
(2) When he says they are "of God," he means that they derive their origin,
right, and power from God. This is borne out by several considerations urged later
in this passage but here it is expressly stated and excludes from the outset every notion
to the effect that authority in the state rests upon agreement on the part of the governed
or upon the consent of the governed. Authority to govern and the subjection demanded
of the governed reside wholly in the fact of divine institution.
id.
(3) The propositions that the authorities are of God and ordained of God are not to
be understood as referring merely to God's decretive will. The terms could be used
to express God's decretive ordination but this is not their <p. 149> precise import
here. The context shows that the ordination of which the apostle now speaks is that
of institution which is obliged to perform the appointed functions. The civil
magistrate is not the only means decreed in God's providence for the punishment of
evildoers but God's instituted, authorized, and prescribed instrument for the maintenance
of order and the punishing of criminals who violate that order. When the civil
magistrate through his agents executes just judgment upon crime, he is executing not
simply God's decretive will bu he is also fulfilling God's preceptive will, and it would
be sinful for him to refrain from so doing. (Note 8: -Cf.- review by the
present writer in -The Westminster Theological Journal- VII, 2, May 1945, pp. 188ff.)
p. 150
Again Paul does not deal with the questions that arise in connection with revolution.
Without question in these two verses we are not without an index to what we ought
to do when revolution has taken place. "The -powers- that be" refer to the
-de facto- magistrates. And in this passage as a while there are principles which
bear upon the right or wrong of revolution. But these matters which become acute
difficulties for conscientious Christians are not introduced in this passgage. The
reason lies on the surface. The apostle is not writiong an essay on casuistical
theology but setting forth the cardinal principles pertaining to the institution of
government and regulating the behaviour of Christians. (note 10: "With
the origin of a government, or its political form the Apostle does not concern himself:
nor does he enter upon the question at what point during a period of revolutionary
change a given governmen is to be considered as -ousa-, or as non-existent; and when a
government, originally illegitimate, acquiresd a prescriptive right. The imperial
authority was too old, and too firm to make these questions practical" Liddon: -op.
cit.-, pp. 247ff.). = Explanatory Analysis of St. Pauls's Epistle to the Romans
(N.Y. 1897).
p. 152
The term "minster of God" hearks back to verse 1 and 2 where the
"authority" is said to be of God, ordained of God, and the ordinance of God.
But now ther is intimated the spcific capacity in which this ordination consists.
This designation removes every supposition to the effect that magistracy is -per se- evil
and serves good only in the sense that as a lesser evil it restrains and counteracts
greater evils. The title here accorded the civil ruler shows that he is invested
with all the dignity and sanction belonging to God's servant within the sphere of
government.
WGTShedd, p. 376
If a Christian is defrauded of his property by a fellow believer, he ought to
"take the wrong, and suffer himself to be defrauded," rather than "go to
alw one with another," I Cor. vi.7. In like manner, in regard to merely worldly
good, the Christian should forego his rights and allow himself to be ill- treated even by
the government under which he lives, rather than organize a rebellion and bring on war
with its untold evils. Political freedom is one of the most valuable of merely
earthly blessings; and political slavery is one of the greatest of merely earthly evils.
Yet Christ and his apostles nowhere teach or imply, that either individual or
organized action was justifiable, even under the tyranny of Rome, in order to obtain the
former, or abolish the latter. On the contrary, they dissuade from and forbid it.
Compare Mat.xvii. 24-27; xxii. 17-21; I Cor. vii. 21,22; I Tim. vi.1.
Haldane, p. 576
In the most solemn manner, subjection to the existing powers in here enjoined.
This is contrary to the wisdom of the world, which takes offence at such
subjection, and contrary to the proud heart of man, that would make religion a pretence to
cover its secret reluctiance to submit to disagreeable restraints. How natural the
opposite doctrine is to the carnal heart, may be seen from the general sentiments
entertained on the subject by rulers and ruled -- by infidels and professed Christians --
by <577> statesmen and people of all ranks. With one consent, the generality
of men, even in this country, which is comparatively so much enlightened by the
Scriptures, proclaim that subjection to reulers is, even in things civil, limited and
conditional -- that in case of the breach of the supposed compact between the rulers and
the ruled, rebellion is lawful, and resistance a duty. Even in the houses of
Parliament is this docrine boldly maintained. It is much to be desired that among
hose who thus trample on the commandments of God, and set aside the Scripture doctrine on
this subject, there were no real Christians. It is lamentalbe to reflect that, to
justify resistance to the civil powers, many of the people of God have resorted to the
same false rules of interpretation which Neologians and other perverters of the Divine
word have invented to baish the doctrines of grace from the Bible. No expedients to
explain away the meaning of any part of Scripture were ever more forced than those adopted
to make this chapter accord with the right of resisting the powers that be.
p. 578
-For hre is no power but of God.- -- The meaning of the first clause, 'Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers,' is clear as noonday; this second gives the reason why
subjection is demanded, --for tere is no power but oGod; not 'by Divine permission,'
according to Mr. Stuart, but by Divine appointment. The expression -of- or -from
God-, cannot mean Divine permission. What we permit is not in any sense -of us-.
There is no power but of God; because it is God in His providence who
confers power on every man who holds it. No tyrant ever seized power till God gave
it him.
Haldane p. 581
In spite of all the eveils that derogate from its (magistracy) proper character, it
promotes the good of society. But none are so much indebted to it as Christians, to
each of whom it mayindeed be emphatically said, it is the minister to -thee- for good.
Were the restraints of government removed, Christians would be attacked,
persecuted, or destroyed in any country. Even the persecution of the worst
government would not be so bad as the persecution of the world, if freed from the
restraint of law. Notwithstanding the numerous persecutions endured by Christains
under the Roman emperors, they were still to them the ministers of God for good, without
whose government they would probably have been exterminated. 'The Christians to the
lions!' was the common cry of the multitude among the pagans. The Roman government
afforded protection to Paul for along period, and saved him on different occasions from
suffering death by his countrymen. Let Christians, then, in every country, instead
of joining with the enemies of its established order, be thankful for the Divine ordinance
of civil government, and exert themselves to maintain obedience and peace. It is of
the utmost importance for them in every counry to understand their dutyto civil
government. In this way they will most effectually commend the Gospel to the world,
and remove some of the most powerful obstacles to its progress.
p./ 581
The institution of civil government is a dispensation of mercy, and its existence is so
indispensable, that the momoent it ceases under one from it re-establishes itself in
another. The world, ever since the fall, when the dominion of one part of the human
race over another was immediately introduced, Gen. iii.16, has been in such a state of
corruption and depravity, that without the powerful obstacle presented by civil government
to the selfish and malignant passions of men, it would be better to live among the beasts
of the forest than in human society. As soon as its restraints are removed, man
shows him- self in his real character. When there was no king in Israel, and every
man did that which was right in his own eyes, we see in the last three chapters of the
Book of Judges what were the dreadful consequences.
F.F. Bruce, 232
There is another side to the picture of Christianity's realtion to the state.
Christiantiy started out with a tremendous handicap in the eyes of Roman law, for the
sufficient reason that its Founder had been convicied and executed by the sentence of a
Roman magistrate. The carge against Him was summed up in the inscription attached to
the cross: 'The king of the Jews.' Whatever Jesus may have said to Pilate
about the nature of His Kingship, the one record of Him known to Roman law was that He had
led a movement which challenged the sovereign claims of Caesar. When Tacitus, many
years later, wishes he readers to know what kind of people Christians were, he deems it
sufficient to say that 'they got their name from Christ, who was executed under the
procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberius was emporer.' (n.1: Tacitus, -Annals-
xv.44.) That was sufficient to indicate their character. When Pauls' opponents
at Thessalonica wished to stir up as much trouble for thim and his companions locally as
they could, they went to the civic magistrates and laid information before them:
'These men who have fomented subversion throughout the world have come here too...they all
act contrary to Caesar's decrees and claim that there is another emperor, Jesus' (see Acs
xviii.6,7). This was a subtle misrepresentation of the truth, but one which was
<233> rendered te more colourable by the fact that Jesus Himself had been arraigned
before Pilate pon the charge of being an agitator and leader of sedition, and of claiming
Kingship for Himself.
p.233
Paul places the whole question on a very high plane. God Himself is the fount of all
authority, and those who exercise authority on earth do so by delegation from Him;
therefore, to disobey them is to disobey God. Human government is a divine
ordinance, and the powers of coercion and commendation which it exercises have been
enrusted to it by God, for the repression of crime and the encouragement of righteousness.
Christians of all people, then, ought to obey the laws, pay their taxes, respect
the authorities -- not because it will be the worse for them if they don't, but because
this is one way of serving God.
But what if the authorities themselves are unrighteous? What if Caesar claims not
only the things that are his, but the <234> things that are God's? Paul does
not deal with this question here, but it was to be a burning question in Rome for
generations to come. Caesar could so far exceed the limits of his divinely-given
jurisdiction as to claim divine honours for himself and wage war against the saints.
Can we recognize Paul's magistrate, 'the minister of God', for reward or
retribution, in John's 'beast from the abyss', who receives his authority from the great
red dragon and uses it to enforce universal worship of himself and to exterminate those
who withhold worship from him? We can indeed, for Paul himself foresaw precisely
such a development when the restraint of law was withdrawn (s Thess. ii.6 ff.).
'Without justice,' said Augustine, 'what are kingdoms but great gangs of robbers?'
p. 236
And what of the 'higher powers'? Are they angelic powers, or human powers, or both
angelic powers and human powers, as has been argued by Oscar Cullman? (nt1: bibliog)
The general biblical view is that secular power is wielded by 'the host of the high
ones that are on high' as well as by 'the kings of the earth upon the earth (Is.xxiv. 21).
It is likewise true that the plural of -exousia- ('power') is used freely by Paul
in the sense of angelic rulers, whether benevolent or malignant (cf. Rom. viii. 38; Col.
i. 16, ii. 10,15; Eph. i. 21, iii.10, vi. 12). We may compare what he has to say in
I Corinthians ii.8 about the 'princes (-archontes-) of this world', who in all probability
include hostile angel-princes as well as human rulers. Yet in the present context
the 'powers' appear to be human rulers, who wield 'the sword' for the punishment of
wickedness and the protection of the good, who therefore command and should receive
obedience, and who are to be paid appropriate taxes and other dues, together with fiting
reverence and honour. Pauls's references elsewhere to the angelic powers are very
far from suggesting that Christians should be subject to them in any sense; on the
contrary, Christians are liberated from their jurisdiction, being united to Him who is the
creator and head of all those powers (Col. i.16, ii.10), and conqueror or those that set
themselves in hostility to Him and His people (Col. ii.15)
4. -A revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil-. The state thus is
charged with a function which has been explicitly forbidden to the Christian
(xii.17a,19).
p. 239
But the following erses make it plain that the duty of obedience to secular
authorities is a temporary one, for the present period of 'night' (verse 12); in that
'day' which is 'at hand' a new order of government will be introduced, when 'the saints
shall judge the world' (I Cor. vi.2). The state is to 'wither away' (on this Paul
and Karl Marx agree); 'the city of God remaineth.'
F.F. Bruce, 242
12. -The works of darkness . . . the armour of light.- The antithesis between
light and darkness is found repeatedly in Pauls's writings (cf. 2 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. v.8;
Col. i.12f.; I Thes. v. 4f), as well as in John's It is one of the most obvious
points of contact between the New Testament and the Qumran texts, where all men are
governed either by the Prince of Light or by the Angel of Darkness, and the great conflict
of the end-time is called 'the war of the sons of light against the sons of darkness.'
The 'armour of light' is described in greater detail in I Thessalonians v. 8 and
Ephesians vi. 13-17.
Baarclay, 188
(iv) To the state ordinary people owe a wide range of services which individually they
could not enjoy. It <189> would be impossible for every man to have his own
water, light, sewage, transport system. It would be impossible for a man by himself
to enjoy a system of municipal services and of social security. These things are
only obtainable when men agree to live together. And it would be quite wrong for a
man to enjoy everything wherewith the state provides him and to refuse all responsibility
to the state. No man can take everything and give nothing. That, in fact, is
one compelling reason why the Christain is bound in honour to be a good citizen, and to
take his part in all the duties of citizenship.
(v) But Paul's main view of the state was that in his day, as he saw things, the Roman
Empire was the divinely ordained instrument to save the world from chaos. Take away
that Empire, as Paul saw it, and the world would disintegrate into flying fragments.
It was in fact the -pax Romana-, the Roman peace, which gave the Christian
missionary the chance to do his work. Ideally men should be bound by Christian love;
but they are not; and the cement which keeps them together is the state.
Paul saw in the state an instrument in the hand of God; the state preserved the world from
chaos; those who administered the state were playing their part in that great task.
Whether they knew it or not they were doing God's work, and it was the Christian's duty to
help and not to hinder.
Calvin, 478
-For there is no power, &c.- The reason why we ought to be subject to
magistrates is, because they are constituted by God's ordination. For since it
pleases God thus to govern the world, he who attempts to invert the order of God, and thus
to resist God himself, despises his power; since to <479> despise the
providence of him who is the founder of civil power, is to carry on war with him.
Understand further, that powers are from God, not as pestilence, and famine, and wars, and
other visitations for sin, are said to be from him; but because he has appointed them for
the legitimate and just government of the world. For though tyrannies and unjust
exercise of power, as theyare full of disorder, (ataksias) are not an ordained government;
yet the right of government is ordained by God for the wellbeing of mankind. As it
is lawful to repel wars and to seek remedies for other evils, hence the Apostle commands
us willingly and cheerfully to respect and honour the right and authority of magistrates,
as useful to men: for the punishment which God inflicts on men for their sins, we
cannot properly call ordinations, but they are the means which he designedly appoints for
the preservation of legitimate order.
2. -And they who resist, &c.- As no one can resist God but to his own
ruin, he threatens, that they shall not be unpunished who in this respect oppose the
providence of God. Let us then beware, lest we incur this denunciation. And by
-judgment-, I understand not only the punishment which is inflicted by the magistrate, as
though he had only said, that they would be justly lpunished who resisted authority; but
also the vengeance of God, however it may at length be executed: for he teaches us
in general what end awaits those who contend with God.
p. 480
3. -For princes, &c.- He now commends tous obedience to princes on the
ground of utility; for the causative -gar, for-, is to be referred to the first
proposition, and not the last verse. Now, the utility is this, --that the Lord has
designed inithis wy to provide for the tranquility of the good, and to restrain the
waywardness of the wicked; by which two things the safety of mankind is secured: for
except the fury of the wicked be resisted, and the innocent be protected from their
violence, all things would come to an entire confusion. Since then this is the
only remedy by which mankind can be preserved from destruction, it ought to be
carefully observed by us, unless we wish to avow ourselves as the public enemies of the
human race
And he adds, -Wilt thou then fear the power? Do good.- By this he
intimates, that there is no reason why we should dislike the magistrate, if indeed we are
good; nay, that it is an implied proof of an evil conscinece, and of one that is devising
some mischief, when anyone wishes to shake off or to remove from himself this yoke.
But he speaks here of the true, and, as it were, of the native duty of the magistrate,
from which however they who hold power often degenerate; yet the obedience due to princes
ought to be rendered to them. For since a wicked prince is the Lord's scourge to
punish the sins of the people, let us remember, that it happens through our fault that
this excellent blessing of God is turned into a curse.
Hence he teaches us here the end for which magistrates are instituted by the Lord; the
happy ef- fects of which would always appear, were not so noble and salutory an
institution marred through our fault.
|