The Christian's Responsibility to Government, Part 2
Romans 13:1-3
Let me say as you're sort of settling into your Bible about now that Christianity, as you know, is a total life experience. Christianity is not an addendum added to life. It is not peripheral. Christianity is a total life experience. It touches every element of life, though, word, deed, and relationship. Nothing is left unaffected by the transformation of the Lord Jesus Christ in a life. And so Christian living is not divisible. It is not segmentable. It cannot be isolated from any part of living.
And as you study the New Testament, it becomes obvious that the Spirit of God over and over lays out the totality of the Christian's experience. If you're looking at Ephesians 5 and 6, for example, you begin to see that every relationship is touched by the affect of the Spirit of God in the life of a believer. It talks about husbands and wives and parents and children and masters and servants.
If you look at Colossians 3, you see the very same thing. Every relationship impacted by the power of Christ in a life. But just for a moment, turn to 1 Thessalonians 4, and let me select one out of many possible passages that illustrate for us the totality of Christian experience.
Beginning in Verse 1 of 1 Thessalonians 4, the Apostle Paul says, "Furthermore, therefore, we beseech you brethren, exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that has you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more." He says you ought to live according to your faith. And then in Verse 3, he says, after having mentioned the commandments given to them through his agency from the Lord, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification. Abstain from fornication. Know how to possess your vessel," or your body.
Verse 5, "Not in the lust of evil desire as the pagans who know not God." Verse 6, "Do not go beyond and defraud your brother in any manner." Verse 7 says, "God has not called us to uncleanness. And if you reject these laws," Verse 8 says, "you're rejecting God, not man." "As touching brotherly love," Verse 9, "you need not that I write unto you, for you, yourselves, are taught of God to love one another. And, indeed, you do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more."
So what the apostle is saying is, "Now that you've become a believer, it affects every relationship. No more illicit relationships. No more lust. No more unclean relationships. But only true love and pure love." And Verse 12, "You walk honestly toward all the people who are outside the faith, and that ye may lack nothing."
So whether you're talking about those who are in the faith with brotherly love, those who are outside the faith, you are to be sure that all relationships are properly impacted by your faith in Christ. And you can read the second chapter of James and see very similar teaching where James says, "As an assembly, you are not to have respect of persons. You are not to show partiality. You are not to say to a man who is wealthy, 'Sit in this place of prominence,' and to one who is poorly clad, 'Sit here under my feet out of the way.'"
All of these passages tell us the myriad of dimensions of relationships that are impacted by Christianity. It affects all of our relationships within the family, all of our relationships outside of the family. Our relationships to the poor and the rich are all covered. Now in our text the Apostle Paul says our Christianity affects our relationships to those in authority over us. It affects our relationship to government, to rulers, to leaders, whether on a local or a national level.
And what we are learning here is that we are given some very strict and clear direction from the Spirit of God as to how we relate to the government that is over us. and in affect, if we just bring the epistle into total focus, Paul has said, "Since you are justified by Grace through faith, since you have been made right with God, since you have become citizens of His Heavenly Kingdom, since you are now controlled by His Holy Spirit and living under His Lordship, every dimension of life is different," every dimension, he started out, didn't he, in Chapter 12, Verses 1 and 2. We immediately have a different relationship with God, and we present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices.
And then beginning in Verse 3, he talks about how different our relationship is to believers. We are to minister to them. We are to love them. We are to be kind to them. Our relationship to those in need is touched in Verse 13, "We are distributing to the necessity of saints and given to hospitality." And then he talks about our relationship to those who reject and hate our Gospel, and us as well. We are to bless those who persecute, "Bless, and curse not."
And Verse 17, "We give back evil? No, not for evil. We give back good for evil," says Verse 21. We do not wreak vengeance on someone. So what he is saying is that all relationships are impacted by our justification. And that is the intention of this epistle. Many people feel the epistle to the Romans is a great treatise on the doctrine of salvation, and that that is its high point. May I suggest to you that that is only a means to an end?
If all Paul wanted to focus on was the matter of justification, he could have ended the epistle in Chapter 11, but he doesn't. He goes on to deal with the implications of the doctrines, which have been laid down in the first 11 chapters, which implications we are now looking at. And so it is essential that a Christian understand that his relationship to authority, his relationship to government and those who are over him is dramatically impacted by his salvation. We are called to live as model citizens that we may reach the world around us with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now last week we pointed out to you that this is not the only passage that deals with this truth. You remember what we saw in 1 Peter 2:12 where Peter says essentially the same thing "Having your behavior honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." How are we gonna get he Gentiles to glorify God? "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King as supreme, or unto governors, as under them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well, for so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
In other words, how you behave under the authorities in your country, your nation, your city, whatever it is, will demonstrate your faith, the legitimacy of your faith, to that society. And so we are to submit then to the King, to the governor, to anyone who is over us in authority. I want to turn you to another passage that we haven't looked at in any detail, and just briefly mentioned last week, 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2:1 to 4. And I want you to notice something here that is going to be foundation for us as we go on in our study.
Now as the Apostle Paul writes instruction to Timothy, it is instruction basically for the church. It is for the church, Verse 15 of Chapter 3 says, "I want you to know how you ought to behave yourself in the House of God, which is the church." This is behavior principal for the church. "I exhort, therefore, that first of all," Chapter 2, Verse 1, "supplications, prayers, intersession, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Now there are two very, very essential points that comes out of that brief reading. 1) That we are to pray and intercede and supplicate and give thanks to God for kings and all that are in authority in order that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty or sincerity. In other words, if we want to live a quiet and peaceable life, if we want to be able to walk as God wants us to talk, and enjoy peace so that we can live out our godliness, our approach is to pray for those in authority over us. We do not affect our rulers by protest. We do not affect our rulers by disobedience. We do not affect our rulers by revolution and uprising, but by prayer.
And so the text says, "First of all, we come to God in prayer in order that as a result of that, we may lead the quiet and peaceable life, a life of godliness, a life of integrity, which will be the will of God, because through it, men will come to know the Savior." That is God's desire. In Jeremiah 29:7 we read, "And seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captives." This is a message to the Jews in captivity in Babylon. And God's Word to them through Jeremiah is, "Seek the peace of that place. You're captive. You're prisoner. You've been taken hostage, as it were. But you seek the peace and pray unto the Lord for it."
And, again, the same instruction is given that if you want peace in a society, to enjoy your faith, and to spread your faith, then pray for those in authority over you. That is the God-designed pattern. And it fits, doesn't it? With 2 Corinthians 10:3 and following, where Paul says, "The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly," are they? But they are spiritual. And they are might to the pulling down of strongholds. And the most powerful weapon we have as believers to pull down strongholds, if you will, strongholds of the enemy of God, are the weapons of prayer.
And so for Christians, revolution has no place. Pray has the priority place. In a very significant book, written by Robert Culver, entitled Toward a Biblical View of Government, he says this, "Churchmen whose Christian activism has taken mainly to placarding, marching, protesting, and shouting, might well absence the author of these Verses. And then they might observe him first at prayer, then in counsel with his friends, and after that, preaching in the homes and marketplaces.
When Paul came to be heard by the mighty, it was to defend his action as a preacher of a way to Heaven," end quote. In other words, Paul says, "When it comes to political changes, when it comes to governmental issues, pray. If you're going to be thrown in prison, make sure you're thrown there not for a political protest, but for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
The goal of that kind of praying is a quiet and peaceable life in order that -- and that's the second thing that comes out of that -- we will have opportunity to see men saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And so we pray that God will allow us the privilege of living peaceable, quiet life to radiate the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The tranquil, quiet, peaceful life is to be the distinctive mark of a Christian.
And I agree, frankly, when I hear all of this rhetoric about anger and violence and reaction and uprising and revolution. Listen to Paul's word again to the Thessalonians church in Chapter 4, Verse 10. "We beseech you, brethren," as we left off a moment ago, "that you are to increase more and more," in love, is what he means, "and you study," he says, "to be quiet. Study to be quiet, to do your own business, to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward them that are outside, that you may have lack of nothing." Study to be quiet. Learn to seek peace.
Frankly, beloved, all we can expect from government is protection of life, and protection of property, protection of life, and protection of property. If it does that, it serves God's intended purpose. Today, unfortunately, in our society, I think we see some failures, even in those areas. It seems as though with our government tolerating so many lawsuits that there are people who, in order to defend themselves, are losing some of their property; defending themselves when they're not even guilty of anything, but just to remain and maintain their innocence is a great cost.
And I think our country, in part, of course, fails in the protection of life with its millions upon millions of abortions. But in spite of those kinds of things, as Christians, we must pray and live a peaceful life, influencing the world, not by political protests, not by efforts to overthrow the government, but by godly living and bold, confrontive, forthright, preaching of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, that must be our message. Like the prophet, Amos, like the prophet, Neham, like the prophet, Malachi, we have every right to confront the sins of our society from the viewpoint of the Word of God, but not to engage in political acts of violence or overthrow or uprising or protest or revolution against the government.
And another passage that I would draw to your attention as we begin, is in Titus 3. And, again, it's the same idea. And we're just picking up some of the things we briefly touched last week. in Titus 3:1, Paul, again, setting things in order for the church over which Titus would have influence and responsibility says, "Put them in mind," or remind them, "to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men."
And then in Chapter 3, Verse 8, he says, "It's a faithful saying in these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they who have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works." So we are called again, to a spirit of submission to those in authority over us, a life of godliness, a life of good works, a life which seeks peace. That is the unmistakable principal with which we begin our look at Romans 13. Now you can turn back to Romans 13. With that in mind, we come to the text. And it begins with this statement, Verse 1, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers."
That is the bottom line command given to Christians. It does not discuss their character, their qualifications, whether they're good or bad, whether they were elected or appointed, whether it is a republic or a monarchy. It doesn't discuss any of that. It says we are to be subject. It is remarkable to me that in Matthew 23, our Lord spoke to the people in the temple setting, and He said, "The scribes and the Pharoses sit in Moses' seat. And whatever they show unto you to do, do it." They have a God-given place of authority.
He says, "Do what they tell you to do. Just don't be like them." They were hypocrites. But their authority is granted by God, even though they were perverse men in their own hearts. Now I'm amazed that some people, in spite of the clarity of this command, persist in disobeying it, not only in our society and in our culture, but in others as well.
And this week, I had occasion to read book entitled, Bad News for Modern Men. And in that book, the author calls for Christians to fight. In fact, he uses the word "unite and fight." He calls for them to fight using -- and these are the words -- "confrontation, activism, protest, civil disobedience, and uprising." In that entire book, from front to back, there is no mention of Romans 13, understandably. If you're going to take that view, you better avoid these verses. Jesus never taught His people to storm the Bastille.
Jesus never taught His people to revolt against the king. He never taught His people to kill unjust rulers. He never taught His people to march on city hall. He never taught them to barricade the administration building on the campus, to sit in to the President's office, to harass leaders, to violate law. Didn't matter what the form of government was, that was no issue. It's not even stated as to whether it's capitalistic or socialistic, democratic, or a monarchy, the matter is simple, we are supposed to reach the world.
And in order to reach the world we have demonstrate a godly, virtuous, peaceable kind of life so that what we possess and what we have is attractive to others. And if we are to let our light shine in a perverse and wicked generation, it must be the light of the glorious Gospel that shines in the face of Jesus Christ. now having said all of that, may I remind you of what we saw last time, that there is only one occasion tolerated in Scripture where we will violate this command, and that is when the government demands us to do what God forbids us to do, or demands us not to do what God commands us to do. Right?
The only time we violate this law, the only time we break this command to be subject to the higher power is when God, Himself, has called us to do something which we are being forbidden to do, or has commanded us not to do something we are being called to do. A couple of illustrations of this might help.
Turn in your Bible for a moment to Exodus 1. And you'll notice in Verse 15, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, the name of the other was Puah. And he said, "When ye do the office of a midwife," that is when you're a part of the birth process, "to the Hebrew women and you see them upon the stools, if it be a son then you shall kill him. If it be a daughter then she shall life." Now they're caught in a difficult place.
Now the government is saying, "If a son is born, kill that son." This is the king of Egypt saying this. "But," Verse 17 says, "the midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive." God blessed them. In Verse 20, "Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty. And it came to pass because the midwives feared God that He gave them families."
Of course, what was the greatest blessing to a Jewish person? To have a family. And so they disobeyed because they would be in violation of a command of God. They would be murdering, and they could not overstep the Law of God. There was another occasion of this.
Look for a moment in your Bible to Daniel's prophesy. And here you have a very clear, precise illustration of a man who refused to do what the king said, because it would be in violation of what God had said. And you remember in Daniel 1 that Daniel was taken in Babylon captive with other of the young princes of Israel, and several of them are named in Verse 7. Their real Hebrew names are in Verse 6, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
And it says in Verse 8 that Daniel purposed in his heart he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor the wine which he drank. Now here you have the occasion where Daniel is instructed by the Babylonian monarch to take the food of Babylon and eat it. To do that would have been to violate that which he knew to be laws revealed by God, for the Jews had very circumspect dietary laws, and he would not defile himself with