Romans 13:1 “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.”
In the last Bible Study
lesson in the Gospel of Mark, we saw how Jesus skillfully and cleverly answered
the question posed to Him about paying taxes in Mark 12:13-17, providing a
reply that enabled Him to escape both the fury of the Roman government and the
anger of the Jews who were unhappy with the Roman occupation of the Holy Land.
Yet His reply that the Jews should “render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s” in verse 17 also indicates that the Roman authorities had certain
things that belonged to them, a right to demand particular forms of obedience
from the people whom they conquered and ruled. Our Lord’s instruction on this point
is part of Scripture’s broader teaching on civil government, which we will
study more carefully over the next few lessons as we examine what God’s Word
has to say about earthly governments.
Acts 5:27-29 And
when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high
priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach
in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend
to bring this man's blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We
must obey God rather than men.”
We find that the proper role
of government receives lots of attention in the pages of the Bible. Under the
old covenant, for example, Israel was ruled by divinely anointed kings who were
subject to the Mosaic law. These kings generally had different duties than the
priests and the prophets, the other authority figures in ancient Israel,
although there was some overlap as well. For example, the priests offered
sacrifices and the kings, except on extraordinarily rare occasions, did not. We
cannot point to this separation of duties as an example of modern notions of
the separation of church and state. Nevertheless, the fact that the kings had
specific things over which they were normally responsible and others for which
they were not usually responsible indicates that God has always had a defined
role for the state in the outworking of His plans.
With the fall of Judah and
the end of the Davidic monarchy, God’s people found themselves living under a
succession of pagan rulers—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. Thus, when we read
the New Testament, the church does not live under a theocracy. The roles of
state officials and church officials are now more sharply defined and
distinguished, though as we will see in due time, this does not mean the state
can do whatever it wants and is not accountable to God. Even secular
governments are ultimately established by the Lord, for Romans 13 is addressed
to Christians who were living under Roman rule, not the Israelite theocracy.
Thus, our obedience or disobedience to civil authorities is ultimately a matter
of obedience or disobedience to God.
Matthew 28:18 And
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth.”
As we will see, God’s
authority supersedes the authority of the civil government, so we must have a fine
distinction and view of civil obedience and disobedience. Still, that the Lord
establishes civil governments reveals that government is not evil in itself.
Evil governments may appear at times, but the general existence of authorities
to preserve law and order is a good thing. Let us thank God for the gift of
government, which protects us from civil anarchy.
No comments:
Post a Comment