Excerpt #11 of “Analysis of Romans 13:1-7 in Light of the Analogy of Scripture”
Given the length of the full paper I recently published on this site, I am posting excerpts which emphasize specific principles within the paper. Hopefully, these excerpts will not only encourage you to read the actual paper, but also think more deeply about the role of Romans 13:1-7 in our response to both Godly and ungodly civil government in our day and time. A proper understanding and obedience to Scripture is critical today as always. This particular Scripture has been mishandled in so many ways that a methodical approach to its exegesis is needed to avoid further error by both individual Christians and the broader church. The pressures being exerted upon true Christianity by the contemporary civil government demand a Biblical response informed by Romans 13:1-7 and the other Scriptures addressed within this paper.
(These excerpts are posted in the order as found in the paper, but do not include the entirety of the paper which combined. Only the PDF contains all sections of the paper.)
Beyond a Simple Attitude of Submission
Besides an attitude of submission, believers are commanded in I Timothy 2:1-3 to pray for all peoples, including civil authorities, as this is pleasing to God (Duncan III). Not only is it pleasing to God, but immediately afterwards God’s desire for “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” expands this to include spiritual benefits in addition to earthly ones (WCF, Nelson). This command sounds very similar to the one in the book of Jeremiah to seek the welfare of the city in which they were exiled, for believers are sent into the world not to be a part of it but to interact with it on many levels (John 17). When one combines this idea with Matthew 6:10-13, where Jesus instructs the disciples on how to pray, God’s Will for the shalom of all people becomes a particular portion of His Will to “be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Several examples of obedient submission are provided in the New Testament. Jesus himself provides a model for submission to earthly authorities. He submitted to the jurisdictional boundaries of instituted governments by paying instituted taxes or acknowledging civil jurisdiction right to tax in Matthew 17:24-27, Matthew 22:15-22, and Luke 20:25. Despite the command to obey government, believers are foremost commanded to work not for man, including rulers, but for the Lord (Colossians 3:23-25).
Examples of obedient submission to government within the bounds of obedience to God may be discerned in Scripture in examples where new believers continued to work for government institutions after their conversions. In Luke 19, Zaccheus is nowhere said to have forsaken his position of tax collector, only that he performed his duties righteously after having paid restitution. In Acts 13, Paul did not instruct the leader Sergius Paulus to resign from Paphos leadership, nor did Paul direct the Philippian jailer to quit in Acts 16. Paul exhibited these principles of obedience in how he behaved before the Roman government in Acts 25:10-12, Acts 24-25 before Felix, Festus, and Herod Aggrippa, as well as before Caesar in Acts chapters 26 through 28 (Bromiley, 545 ). The ISBE notes that in no Scripture does the New Testament forbid participation by Christians in civil government and cites the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, “those in Caesar’s household”, as well as some already mentioned above as examples. The ISBE highlights that these believers exercised these privileges as individuals rather than as representatives of the corporate Church (Bromiley, 545).
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