Romans 13:1-7 - Submit to Government Under God

Romans 13:1-7

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 

5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

This one opening phrase is most disputed, explained away, or simply ignored by many today who name the name of Christ, unfortunately.  We are called to submit to the authority of governments put in place by God for His purposes of allowing good or bad to bring the world to an eventual end and a new beginning.  What we are not to do in this adherence to the law of God’s land is stop loving our enemies and bearing witness to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we then resist by refusing to pay taxes which even Jesus Himself did and taught (Matthew 17:24, 27, 22:17, 21), or if we arm our and fight to “make things right” as we would see the world to run as if we could make a mythical Christian nation, or if we resist with vile verbal responses or plot violence, then we are fighting against God who put these leaders there for a purpose just as He put evil and good kings over Israel as we read in the Bible.  This is clear, “whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”  Do we then want to fight against our Lord to make the world a comfortable place or do we endure suffering as we present the good news of deliverance from such rejection of God and His authority over all in Christ?  We will be held accountable for our cosmic insurrection if we go against the scriptures and put our own interests before the Sovereign King of glory who moves the rulers of this world for His purposes.  May we take care how and what we do in our actions as citizens of the countries we are put into with the clear view of our standing in the heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:18, Hebrews 11:13, 16) we belong to.  May we be good and faithful ambassadors of that kingdom and not be wrapped up in the present transitory political nationalism at the expense of godliness and righteousness in how we serve our sovereign Lord who is King of all kings which He puts in place and takes down as He wills and not by our rhetoric or even our votes.  We are to do what is good in spite of or in alignment with the good and bad rulers we are put in subjection to.  If we do what is good we will reap what we sow and have no eternal regrets.  If we do evil to fight the authorities then we can expect God to let the authorities execute His wrath on us for disobedience.  This is a hard saying and goes against the democratic thought that we make our own manifest destiny, but must be examined in light of this scripture passage to be God pleasers and not answer for ungodly actions.  This should move our consciences to do what is right and not just avoid the wrath of God, which is why the example of paying taxes is mentioned here.  Just like obedience and respect for authority, subjecting ourselves to giving up our hard-earned money (which is all given by God’s grace anyway) is just like obeying the customs, honor, and righteous fear of the law of the land in which we live by the goodness and grace of God under His ultimate authority.  We submit to government under God therefore to please and obey Him in these things and not fight against Him in these matters.  We obey God rather than man (Acts 4:19-20, 5:29) in matters of proclaiming the gospel and serving God but do not use that as an excuse to disobey in other matters to make a government in our image, according to our supposed knowledge and wisdom and desire, accepting that even the most evil rulers put over us are still God’s ministers for good and to punish rebellion.  We endure all things for His glory.