The Romance of Romans-Part 89

[Michael]

Romans Chapter 13

Every person must live in submission to the civil authorities. For
civil government has been ordained by God and he has overseen the
installment of rulers into their offices. Therefore whoever rebels
against their authority is rebelling against something that God has
established and they will suffer very severe consequences for doing
so. Such authority isn't intended to intimidate good citizens, only
bad ones. So if you want to live free from this fear, obey the civil
authorities and they will reward your good citizenship. They are
servants of God, given for the good of society. But if you are a law
breaker, you need to be afraid, for these God-ordained authorities
have been called to use force, even deadly force when necessary, in
bringing criminals to justice. We need to obey the civil laws for both
the sake of avoiding punishment and keeping our consciences clear
before God.

Comments:

The apostle Paul here addresses another very practical area of daily
life...the disciple's relationship to civil authority and law. It's
important to remember that he wrote these injunctions to believers who
were living under the rule of imperial Rome! This was a human
government that could be absolutely ruthless and violent. It was the
government under which Jesus had been condemned to a cruel and unjust
crucifixion. When, in fact, Jesus was being judged by Pilate, he
essentially said to this ruler who was flaunting his power, "You have
no authority except what my Father has given to you." Jesus understood
how the sovereignty of his (and our) heavenly Father works in this
fallen world and modeled a belief and a pattern for all who would
follow him across the many cultures of the world in every generation.
Though there are a number of thorny issues that emerge in a
theological consideration of how followers of the Christ relate to and
navigate within the frameworks of civil authorities of various kinds,
there is an essential simplicity that underlies the appropriate
discussion...God is sovereign over all human governments and he will
work within them and through them despite their many flaws.