The Christian's Responsibility to Government, Part 1

Romans 13:1

     Let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 13.  And I feel a little bit like a man who has just eaten a huge meal and is standing in front of a smorgasbord.  There's so much here, and I don't really know how much I'm going to be able to handle.  After this morning's time in the Word, this seems almost more than we can receive. 

     And I'm not in a hurry with this passage because I think it is a very important one, and makes some very significant demands on our thought, and so I don't want to hurry.  I want to be careful to properly ascertain and share with you its significance.

     Nor do I want to sermonize and find cute little homilies and ways to attract your attention.  I basically want you to understand the passage.  And I'll do the best I can tonight to lay the groundwork that'll make this passage open up to you. 

     But to begin with, we need to read the first seven verses so we know what it is we're referring to.  Romans, chapter 13, beginning at verse 1. 

     "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the institute of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. 

     For he is the minister of God to thee for good.  But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword for nothing.  For he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

     Wherefore ye must needs be subject.  Not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.  For, for this cause pay ye taxes also.  For they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

     Render therefore to all their dues - taxes to whom taxes are due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

     Now in those seven verses we have outlined for us in brief and pointed terms the Christian's responsibility to government.  This is the most clear, the most direct, the most straightforward and precise passage in all of the New Testament on this subject.  And as a result of that, it is an extremely important one for us to understand. 

     The issue of the Christian's relationship to government is a very important issue.  It has been through all of the church's history.  Christian's have always had to face this issue, and even to struggle with it.  Where the church has found itself in all kinds of places, in all kinds of governments, under all kinds of rulers, with all kinds of perspectives and forms of leading and ruling.  And so Christians have always had to deal with this matter of how do you respond to your government? 

     Traditionally and historically in our own country we have had less trouble with this than many others.  Say for example, our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in China or behind the Iron Curtain, or in Russia.  Because we have lived in a somewhat Christian influenced society, we've had the best of situations.  And the most benevolent of governments.  But it hasn't always been that way for Christians as it wasn't for those in the New Testament times when this was written.  Even for the believers in Rome who received this very letter.

     But Christians, even though they have struggled to answer the question of what is their relationship to government, have not always answered it properly. 

     And throughout the history of the church, there have been revolutions in the name of Christianity where people decided that the Christian thing to do was to revolt militarily against the government that's in power, and demand their rights.  There have even been wars in the name of Christianity. 

     And so Christians have struggled with this, and sometimes they have rightly understood what their role was, and sometimes they have overturned their God-given role and become revolutionary.  There has been violation of law in the name of Christianity.  I don't know if you realize this, but there have been, even in our own country, certain law violations, civil disobedience, subversive attempts to overthrow the powers that be on a local level, a state level, or a national level that in some cases were led by people who claimed to be Christians.  All of this in the name of Christ.  

     Some Christians have decided that since they have received bad treatment from certain governments, it is justifiable for them to war against those governments.  And in case you think this is far-a-field, may I remind you that for some people evangelical Christianity was their justification for the American Revolution. There are those people who feel that America was borne out of a revolution which was justified, and we had every right to load up our guns and kill Englishmen for the sake of our religious freedom.

     There are some Christians even today whom I know personally who refuse to pay their taxes, because they feel they violate their freedoms. 

     The truth of the matter is, and you need to think about this - the truth of the matter is that our own nation was borne out of a violation of this biblical text.  Now that may throw you for a loss, but that's the fact.  Our nation was borne out of a violation of this text.  In the name of Christian freedom. 

     That does not mean that God doesn't overrule such violations and bring about good, which He did in this case, but that doesn't justify the means.  And still today we struggle with how we should identify with our government because even though America had sort of a Christian orientation, we are now living in I suppose what we could call post-Christian America. 

     And though we are fortunate to have a President who affirms the Christian faith, and who holds to Christian standards of ethics and morality, our government no longer upholds the Bible as a source of truth, Biblical morality as a source of what is right, and we are fast seeing all of that kind of thing eroding from our country.  And so some people believe that we, as Christians then, because America seems to be losing its Christian orientation, have a right to protest, have a right to defy the law, to break the law. 

     Many Christian leaders are calling for other Christians to leave their present operation, their present Ministry, and become a part of a new political Christian lobby to use high pressure, social actions, so forth.  Some are calling for anger, and protests, and a moderate kind of revolution against our government. 

     They say the government is taking churches' freedoms away.  It is encroaching on religion.  And in an effort to save the freedom of the church, a myriad of organizations are arising in our country calling for action against the government.  I am amazed at how many evangelical Christians who 15 years ago wouldn't have been caught dead in such activity, are now very aggressively pursuing this political lobbying approach. 

     And I'm also equally amazed at the cobelligerents that wind up coming together on issues of civil authority and civil rights that would never find any common ground on the issue of truth.  For example, many evangelicals are now aligned with Sun Myung Moon and the "Moonies" because they have a common cause for religious freedom. 

     So the coming together of these kinds of people in very strange ways as cobelligerents demonstrates this preoccupation with political ends, where theology and doctrine of Biblical truth are set aside for the sake of freedom. 

     I received recently an invitation to the inauguration of the President, and it was nice.  I'm glad they invited me, and also to the ball, which goes along with it.  I'm not going, by the way.  To either.  But because of that, I received a letter the other day which was a follow-up to that letter from a new group.  I can't even remember the name, but it's something to do with Christian action in Washington, inviting me to come to a very special banquet and stand together with all these people to hold Christian freedoms in America.  And I went down the list of people involved in that, and I wrote back and said I couldn't come, and I couldn't associate because I wouldn't be able to identify myself with those people. 

     It amazes me that you have a list of true believers, charlatans, frauds, false prophets - all jumbled together for the sake of "religious freedom" to do the political lobbying that people think is going to preserve the kingdom of God in America.

     One of the worst fallouts of this new preoccupation with the political issues, this new politicizing of the church, is that ultimately the Ministry of the church is prostituted.  And people are selling themselves for something short of that to which the church is called.  The church cannot afford to become just a flag-waving, lobbying, protesting voice for government change.  That's not our calling.  And I'm appalled to note that many Pastors have turned from an emphasis on the Gospel to an emphasis on politics. From an emphasis on teaching the Bible to an emphasis on coalitions to support particular legislation.  And all of this is based upon some ridiculous premise that Christianity's growth and power and impact is somehow related to the government policy in America. 

     C.F. Lewis once reminded Christians that human beings live forever, while the state is only temporal, and thus is reserved to comparative insignificance.  And to spend your time altering the state when you could be spending your time giving people eternal salvation is a bad bargain.

     To abandon the message which gives to that eternal soul life with God in favor of temporal change prostitutes and wastes the light.  I mean it would be like a great heart surgeon with a skill to save many, abandoning his life-saving practice to become a makeup artist.  To fool around with the outside.  And ignore the skill which could save men's lives. 

     Seems to me that the church needs to use all of its power and all of its resources, and all of its energy and forces to convert men and women to Jesus Christ.  And that's what God has called us to do.  The Scripture speaks not at all about Christians engaging in politics.  It has nothing to say about it.  Other than the fact that we're to be model citizens, it says nothing. 

     It speaks not at all about Christians engaging in civil change.  That is not our priority.  It doesn't mean we're not to be involved as citizens where we can be.  It's a question of priority. 

     In the Old Testament, for example, Israel was a priestly nation.  And by God's design, Israel was to bring men to God.  And in that nation Israel there were priests whose primary function was to do just that.  There were others who could take care of the menial things, and the problems, the social issues.  But the heart of the matter was the priesthood, the core of life which gave its identity to the whole nation, and they could not abandon the role of bringing men and women to God.  That was God's design. 

     The church is the same.  I believe we are a kingdom of priests, not a kingdom of politicians.  That our design in the world is to bring men to God.  You say, don't you care about change?  Of course I care about change, but I also know that changes from inside, not outside.  Right? 

     We must administrate the things of God.  We must administrate the kingdom of God.  So as we approach this whole issue of the Christian's role in government, I want you to understand from the very beginning that what we're saying has nothing to do with politicizing the church.  It has nothing to do with lobbying.  Has nothing to do with getting involved in those things which are good, but not our divine calling and priority.  There is no biblical mandate for us to spend time, money, and energy in politicking or engaging in the matters of civil government. 

     We are to be - and listen carefully, this is an important thought - we are to be the conscience of the nation by Godly living and faithful preaching.  We confront the nation.  Not through political pressure, but through the word of God.  That's how we confront the nation.  We preach against sin.  We preach against the evils of our time.  But it is preaching and Godly living that is our calling. 

     Look at Christ for just a moment as we build a foundation for this passage.  Look at Christ.  He came into a very interesting world.  He came into a Roman Empire where slavery flourished.  Slavery.  You understand that.  Slavery.  There were three slaves - approximately three slaves to every free man. 

     He also came into a world that was dominated by absolutism in terms of rulership.  Men were absolutely monarchs, absolute rulers.  After the end of the Roman republic, when the Caesars came in and took power, they ruled with absolute authority.  And although Julius Caesar was murdered in the Roman senate in 44 BC, this only accelerated the centralization of power.  The Roman senate declared Augustus proconsul and tribune of Rome for life, and he had absolute and total power.  He was Commander In Chief of all soldiers, he stood above the senate, and he controlled all civil affairs. 

     So Jesus came into a world dominated by slavery and by one man rule.  The absolute antithesis of democracy, which we believe to be so dear.  All the power of the state was in one man's hands.

     You had the same thing in Palestine.  Where the ruler of Palestine, who was placed there as sort of a puppet king under Rome was a man by the name of Herod.  Herod was an Edomite.  Herod was not a Jew.  That Edomite ruler of Palestine, the king with great power, had the single authority to demand that every single baby in a certain region be massacred, and nobody could stay his hand.  He had absolute authority over life and death.  He murdered his whole family.  His mother, his wife, his sons, and no one held him accountable.

     In the time that Jesus came into the world taxes were exorbitant, and those who worked in the taxing process who sold themselves to Rome for money, exacted exorbitant taxes out of the people, overcharged them.  In fact, you remember don't you, that Zacchaeus when he was converted, immediately said I'll do what?  I'll pay back everything I've extorted how many times?  Fourfold. Which was rather typical of the kind of thing that went on.  Tax collectors were extortioners.

     So there were unjust taxes.  There was unjust rule that heard nothing from the people.  In fact, Caesar August decreed that all the world should be taxed, and tried to collect an exact from everyone. 

     Furthermore, Jesus came to His people, the Jews, in a very unique situation for them.  They were chattel for the Romans.  They were an underprivileged and oppressed minority.  They had no voice in Roman government, they had to pay heavy taxes to their Roman taskmasters.  Now that's the world Jesus came into.  They didn't even know anything about democracy.  About voting.  About certain "freedoms" that we enjoy. 

     And what did Jesus say?  He said this.  "Render to Caesar," what?  "The things that are Caesar's."  You give the government its due.  And to God, what?  The things that are God's. 

     He did not come with power and force to overthrow the Roman tyranny.  He did not seek social change.  He did not attempt to eliminate slavery.  He did not come with political or economic issues at stake.  They were not the concern of his life and Ministry.  He did not come to bring new government, to bring democracy, to wave the flag of Judaism, even.  His appeal was ever and always to the hearts of individual men and women.  Not their political freedoms. Not their rights under government.

     He did not participate in civil rights.  He did not crusade to abolish injustice.  He preached a saving Gospel.  So that once a man's soul or a woman's soul is right with God, it matters very little what the externals are.  He was not interested in a new social order, but in a new spiritual order - the church.  And he mandated the church to carry on the same kind of Ministry.  

     And listen - their problems in those days were far more severe than ours.  Far more severe.  Even people living on relief today have cars, TVs and modern conveniences.  

     So we have to look at things a little bit differently I think.  When we come to this issue of how a Christian is to respond to his government.  Just like I said at the very start, Christians through all the generations of the church have had to deal and struggle with this issue.  And we have to come to some conclusion about how we fit in, and what are we called to do and be in this society in which we live?  And what is our priority?  And how are we to live?  And what right does government have over us, and what is to be our proper response to that right? 

     And admittedly, we live in a tension.  There's a tension.  I mean, to be honest with you, from deep within my heart I'm really not that concerned about political issues.  Economic issues.  Externally social issues.  Civil issues.   Oh, there's a normal kind of concern about those things, but that doesn't occupy my mind.  What occupies my mind are the souls of lost men and women. Does that occupy your mind? 

     I mean, I'm not so concerned that everybody be happy, and wealthy, and healthy as I am that people be saved.  And I've only got so much energy and the church has only so much power and so much resource.  And I guess I struggle a little bit with millions and millions and millions of dollars coming out of evangelical hands for politicization rather than evangelization. 

     We need to be concerned not about the external life of people, but the internal soul of the lost.  So we ask the question - what is our responsibility to government?  How do we respond in the tension of being preoccupied with the Kingdom of God, and yet having to live in this world and wanting to be a good citizen?

     First of all, as I pointed out to you, the issue is not to try to politicize the society.  What God has called us to do is two things, right here in this text.  Number one comes in verse one.  "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers."  The second one is in verse six.  For this cause, pay your taxes.  Now you want to hear it as simply as I can say it?  The Apostle Paul says two things are required of you as a Christian - submit to the government, and pay your taxes.  Did you get that? 

     Submit to the government and pay your taxes.  That's our duty.  Beyond that, you ought to be busy in the Kingdom.  Right?  Busy doing that thing which is eternally valuable.  It isn't the other things are not important, it is that they pale in importance when compared with the work of the Kingdom.  That's the issue.

     So, be subject to the government, and pay your taxes.  That's what Jesus meant when He said "render to Caesar."  What did Caesar want?  Submission and money.  Submit to the rules and the laws, and pay your taxes. 

     Now how does this section fit into this whole epistle of Romans?  Great theological epistle, and all of a sudden he gets down into this deal about submission to the government, and paying your taxes.  Well listen, it fits in beautifully.  It just fits beautifully.  In fact, Paul ties it in really two ways here.  His logic is impeccable. 

     The first 11 chapters tell us about being justified by grace through faith.  Right?  He describes what it is to be a Christian. Now that you have all this from God's gracious hand, now that you've received all this, chapter 12, verse 1, do what?  What's our response?  Present your body, what?  A living sacrifice.  Give everything you are to the Lord.  Your soul.  Your body.  Your mind.  Your will.  Give it all to Him!  And so here is this idea of personal self-sacrifice.  Give the Lord everything. 

     Now the result of that will be a proper relationship to God. You will know and prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  So first of all, if I respond to the salvation God has given to me by giving Him my all, I'm going to have a right relationship with the Lord.  I'm going to know His will and His purpose, and I'm going to do it. 

     Secondly, verses 3 through 14, he says you'll have a proper relationship with the family of God.  Use your spiritual gift.  Love folks, be kind to them, and so forth.  All the way down through verse 13. 

     And then starting in verse 14 and going to verse 21, he says if your life is presented to the Lord, you're also going to have right relationships with your non-Christian friends, and even verses 17 to 21, your enemies.  So the point here is that Christianity impacts every part of life.  And this is really the heart of the epistle.  All the stuff that he said about Salvation is just to get to this. 

     So he can say look, knowing what God has done for you, your response needs to be very simple.  Your response to what God has done for you is to give the Lord your life.  To give Him your soul, and your body, and your heart, and your mind."  To give Him everything you have.  And in giving Him everything that you have, you're going to find a right relationship with Him where you'll know His good and acceptable and perfect will.  A right relationship with each other where you use your spiritual gift and meet each other's needs.  A right relationship to outsiders where even if they persecute you, you're going to bless them.  And a right relationship to people so that if they injure you, and if they seek to harm you, and if they do things evil against you, you're not even going to be avenging them.

     And it follows then that if you have a life dedicated to Christ, you're not only going to have a right relationship with God, other Christians, outsiders, and enemies, but you'll have a right relationship with civil authorities, also.  And they are an essential part of our life.  Because government is an institution of God. 

     So I believe what he's saying here is a committed Christian who is solely given over to the Lord will have a right relationship to civil authority.  How?  By submitting himself to government, and by paying his taxes.  That's the essence of what he says. 

     Now the connection here is marvelous really.  You go back to verse 19 - well verse 17 really.  "Recompense to no man evil for evil."  Don't pay back evil with evil.  Verse 19, don't avenge yourselves.  "Vengeance is mine.  I will repay, says the Lord."  So if your enemy hungers, feed him, if he thirsts, give him something to drink, and so forth.  Overcome evil by good verse 21 says.

     So he's been talking about non-retaliation.  Non-vengeance.  Returning love for hate and good for evil.  And so here's one way you do that.  No matter what the government does, you submit.  No matter what the government does, you pay your taxes.  You're not violent.  You're not a terrorist.  You're not a subversive. 

     No breach of peace - no breach of peace should ever come from a Christian.  Verse 18.  "As much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men."  Christians are not to be those who breach the peace.  Who make trouble.  And there's no place for personal vengeance.  Verse 19.  Don't avenge.  God takes care of that.

     If we are injured or defrauded and there is a way through our system to get back what was taken from us, that's fine.  Somebody said to me last week, "You mean if somebody defrauds me in my business, and takes all my money and takes my business, I have no right to retaliate?"  You have a right to go to the proper authorities to try to get back what has been lost, but no right to go beyond that and seek personal vengeance at the expense of the person who did it.

     If someone takes something of mine, I can go to the authorities, I can go to whatever jurisprudence I'm able to and try to get that back if it is justifiably to be gained.  But what I can't do is then turn around and try to strip that person bare of everything they possess by a selfish vengeful lawsuit.  You understand the difference?  We are not to be those who breach the peace, and we are not to be those who seek vengeance and retaliation.  To get our pound of flesh.

     You say, "Well, who's going to do that?"  Who's going to make it right?  Where's the justice going to come from?  And the answer comes in chapter 13.  Vengeance is not the role of the individual. Retaliation is not the role of the individual.  Bringing evil to evil men is not the role of the individual Christian.  It is the role of government. 

     The principle of the Old Testament - an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life - is a principle of government.  Not of personal vengeance.  So we don't retaliate, and we don't seek personal violent vengeance.  It is the role of civil government to deal with those who are evildoers. 

     So the passage then shows us that when criminal things have been done against us, we return love for hate, good for evil, and the government will take care of proper recourse.  That is the government's role, and that's where he moves in chapter 13.

     So he ties it in two ways really.  In the flow of the things that a Christian is rightly related to, and then as a response to this section on non-retaliation to the question, "Well, if we don't get back - if we are defrauded, who's going to get back to that person and make them pay for their crime?"  The answer he comes with is, "That's the role of the government."  And we'll see that unfold as we look through the passage.

     Now I want to approach this passage one more way.  And I'm just setting up some pillars so that everything's going to come right together for you.  In Paul's day, this was a very critical issue.  A very critical issue.  And I want to try to give you a little historical background so you'll understand why.

     And this is pretty much foundational tonight, but you have to have this.  In Paul's day it was a critical issue and I'll tell you why.  The Jews were notoriously zealous for their own identity, their own nation, their own independence, their own freedom, their own God, their own religion and so forth.  So the Jews constantly rebelled against Roman control.  There were just little fires cropping up everywhere.  And even though Roman domination was, for the most part, beneficent, and the Roman peace was, for the most part, easy to bear - it was not harsh and unrealistic - still the Jews did not like the idea that they were under the yoke of anyone. 

     And when conversing with Jesus, you remember in John 8, they said, "We have never been in bondage to anyone."  Which was a pretty ridiculous statement since they were at that very time under Roman domination.  And prior to that were under the domination of the Greeks, and prior to that were under the domination of the Achaemenid Persians, and prior to that were under the domination of the Babylonians, and even earlier than that were under the domination of the Egyptians.  So they had short memories. 

     But what they were really saying was not - we were not under domination externally, but what they were saying was "We've never been dominated in our hearts.  We have never accepted that kind of b