Subject to the Government - Part 1

One of the easiest to read but seemingly hardest-to-understand passages of Scripture is found in Paul's letter to the Romans.

¹ 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. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, 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. (Rom 13:1-4)

Rarely can you find a more challenging text to try to explain so that it is not false.

The first problem is that it is so straightforward. No metaphors. No odd language. It appears to be quite simply worded. So, seriously? God establishes governments? What about bad governments? What about (fill in your favorite bad president)? Was Hitler a governing authority instituted by God? Was Stalin? Pol Pot? Mao? (I listed those off the top because together they managed to execute potentially more than 650 million people.) Is it true that governing authorities that exist have been instituted by God? Following on that, then, there is the question of bad governments. We cannot deny that they exist. When Paul wrote this he was under Nero. We celebrate stories of people of faith who defied the Nazis to save Jews. We have biblical examples of people who defied governments and were praised for it. We have our own American Revolution to look at. So how do we deal with these things? The next problem is that we know the text is not true as it is stated. What am I referring to? Paul claims that human governments "are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad." (Rom 13:3). Oh, yeah? What about Hitler who killed people for being Jews, black, gypsies, and other "undesirables"? What about the current government of Canada or the UK where pastors can go to jail for holding to the biblical standard that homosexual behavior is sin? Just two very quick examples. There is a long list of leaders who were "a terror to good conduct." Doesn't that make this text false? And, as such, doesn't it offer a prime example of the errancy of Scripture rather than inerrancy?

To tell the truth, this is a much bigger question than you might first realize. In fact, it's too big to complete in one sitting. In order to do it justice, I'll have to stretch this over more than one day.

In order, then, the first thing we note is that Paul orders believers to submit to governments. That is clear. He also gives the reason ("For") -- "there is no authority except from God." Thus, believers are to submit to God who establishes governments. The word translated "instituted" means literally "to arrange" or "to assign." That is significant, I think. God says, "Let it be so" and not "Let it be so bad." He ordains it; He doesn't make it bad. Further, according to the text, the authority of the government is based on God's authority (as opposed to the Declaration of Independence which states that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed). From our end, then, we're not submitting to government for the sake of government; we're submitting to government ordained by God for the sake of conscience (Rom 13:5).

In principle, then, it is true that God ordains government. He has done so from the beginning. In Israel He was the government (theocracy), filling in for awhile with judges so that they were never without government, until they demanded a king (monarchy). Babylon and Assyria are listed as servants of God when they are used by God for judgment on Israel and Judah. Jesus never ordered His disciples to overthrow Pilate or Herod or Caesar in His day even though they were bad governments. Paul didn't call for Christians to eliminate Nero, clearly an enemy of his subjects in general and Christians in particular. The underlying truth throughout Scripture is that God ordains governments and it is on His authority and His authority alone that they operate. Thus, it is to His authority that we submit when we submit to governments.