Romans 13:1-7: "Submitting to Authority"

Paul began the first 11 chapters explaining salvation through Christ. In Chapter 12 we learned about exercising our faith through relationships with those close to us, those in the body of Christ, and those who are our enemies. He now moves to our relationship to those in authority over us. Paul begins, "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities". This is a command to all Christians to be obedient to those in authority of us. This would include, government, bosses, teachers, parents, etc. Anyone that God has sovereignly placed over us, we are to respect by being obedient to them. The only caveat to this, is that we are to never be disobedient to the word of God. When the person or institution in authority over us is in conflict with a command of God, only at that time should we disobey. We can see throughout Paul's life after conversion, his willingness to obey the government and respect authority, except when it undermined his faith. To understand this verse we can look to I Pet. 2:13-17, "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor". We can see then that it is ultimately an obedience to God that we might be an example to those around us. We must recognize our testimony in honoring and obeying those in authority over us.

Paul continues, "For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God". This is a clear testament that ultimately the only authority is God's. He sovereignly places whom He chooses to carry out His plans. Therefore, when we disobey authority, we are in fact undermining and disobeying God. MacArthur writes, "No matter what form it takes, no human government at any time in history, at any place on earth, among any people on earth, at any level of society, has ever existed or will ever exist apart from the sovereign authority of God, because all 'power belongs to God' (Ps. 62:11)". The only conclusion then, Paul explains, "therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God". MacArthur again explains, "Because civil government is an institution of God, to rebel against government is to rebel against the God who has established it". Let us remember this when we are tempted to be willfully disobedient to those in authority over us.

So the consequence of disobeying authority, Paul explains, "and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves". MacArthur writes, "Paul is doubtless not speaking about God's direct judgment on those who have opposed civil authority but rather the condemnation men suffer from the government itself as punishment for crime". Jesus was a great example of this in His own life when being taken into custody. Jesus knew that His Father had chosen Him to take the punishment of sin on the cross, in his humanness it would have been tempting for Jesus to fight against the authorities as He had ultimate power over them. He had told Peter to put back his sword when he tried to defend Jesus. Jesus understood His submission to the authority of the government, because ultimately He knew it came from God.

Paul explains that God has set up earthly governments for a purpose. "For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil". God uses government as an earthly restraint on evil for our own good. MacArthur explaining the generality of this comment, "Paul was obviously speaking in general terms in saying that rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. He had himself suffered a great deal at the hands of rulers who abused him for no other reason than his godly good behavior. But in that day, as throughout history, even the most wicked regimes were a deterrent to murder, theft, and many other crimes of the populace". As we learned at the beginning of this section, that no on seeks God and we are a slave to sin from birth. Imagine man left to himself with no restraints. No punishment for murder, theft, drugs, etc. The world would be utter chaos. So, for our own good, God has set up governments to help restrain the outbreak of these things. So although governments are often corrupt and not seeking God, they have been put there for a reason. It is a true statement that if we are good, law abiding citizens, the government will not bring us fear, however, if we break the law, there is the legitimate fear of being punished for our actions.

Continuing the thought before, Paul asks, "Do you want to have no fear of authority?" Paul is basically saying, enjoy what God has given us as temporary and earthly protection by "do[ing] what is good". As long as we are obedient to the rules and laws that have been set up, we will be protected from those who do evil. MacArthur writes, "With notable exceptions, such people have no fear of authority. As long as they do what is good, they not only will not be mistreated but will have praise from their government". Paul took advantage of government protection when he used his Roman citizenship to be kept from excessive punishment. Paul remarks, for those who are doing good and being obedient, "[civil authority] is a minister of God to you for good". MacArthur explains, "Because he represents the God-ordained institution of civil government, a civil official is actually a minister of God, regardless of his personal beliefs about or relation to God. He is doing the Lord's work whether he realizes it or not, by promoting peace and safety among men".

Therefore, Paul has discussed our motivation behind being obedient to civil authority as it is an extension of God' s sovereignty over us. He has told us that for those who are obedient, "it is a minister of God". On the flip side, it can also be said, "if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing". Government has been set up to punish evil, that those who live under its jurisdiction would fear the consequences of disobedience. MacArthur writes, "because the sword is an instrument of death, the weapon here symbolizes the right of civil government to inflict punishment, including the ultimate penalty of death for crimes that deserve it". God has given civil authority the right to punish each offense accordingly. It was in fact the Lord himself who instituted capital punishment. In Gen. 9:6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man". Therefore, we must understand that it has been granted by God for the good of its people that man be afraid of death if he were to take a life. It is God ordained. Therefore, the government, working for those who do good, is "an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil".

Lastly, Paul points us to our hearts. We should not merely submit to authority because we fear punishment, but rather we will submit to it because of our God-given conscience. Paul writes, "Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake". If we merely are obedient because of fear of punishment, we are not likely inclined to be obedient to things which we feel we wouldn't get caught. We can do things in secret and hide them from others, and our fear of punishment may not be strong enough to keep us. However, if we obey our hearts conscience, which is always with us, it will always be a guard on our behavior no matter who is around. Therefore, those of us who have been saved by the blood of Christ, must be under submission to the authority of the civil government because our conscience knows and understands we are ultimately serving and obeying God.