Christians and Government

The Text: Romans 13:1-7

“1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

Troubling Texts
What kind of libertarian Christian nutcase would have the audacity to post this verse on his blog?

Apparently I do.

To be completely honest, I disagree with stuff I read in the Bible sometimes.  When I read the book of Joshua and see God commanding the Israelites to kill every last man, woman, and child… I am troubled.  The death penalty for unruly children, the validation of the institution of slavery, and the easy ways to divorce a woman (not unlike our modern policy) outlined in the Torah, echoed throughout much of the Hebrew Scriptures, and even segments of the New Testament… those are troubling too.  There is a lot of troubling stuff in the Bible.  Much ink has been spilled debating and wrestling with these issues.  In fact, in Matthew 5 we see Jesus himself wrestling with Scripture, boldly proclaiming his refrain, “You have heard it said… but I tell you….”

I don’t intend to settle all troubling aspects of the Bible in a blog post, or a series of blog posts, or a book, or a series of books.  In fact, I don’t even intend to settle the one issue that I’m going to focus on in this blog.  I think as we inhabit a societal and cultural context far different from the authors of scripture, it is important that we NEVER stop wrestling with the text.  So, with a hermeneutic of humility (a term I stole from my friend Sam Andress), I proceed with the wrestling match on the topic of government.  Round 74,365… ready… go.

Wrestling with the Text

Governments are from God
For most people, namely Statists (whether or not they know that’s what they are), Romans 13:1-7 is not disturbing at all.  God likes government, right?  He puts those governments in power to subdue the peoples of the earth on behalf of God.  A surface reading of this passage would lead us to believe that government is the power intermediary for normal people like us, and God.  Therefore, people who disagree with or don’t obey governments are not only in danger of prison, but in danger of hell too.  Thus, we should all pay taxes, vote religiously, and follow the will of the government that is looking out for our good, right?


Something to note here is the context in which Paul is writing.  First of all, Paul writes his letter to the Roman Church, which in the midst of the peak of the Roman Empire was quite small compared to its modern counterpart.  He writes the Roman Church from Corinth, another metropolis within the boundaries of the Roman Empire.  Ten to fifteen years later Paul would get to see Rome with his own eyes…but not as a tourist… as a prisoner.  It is there that, according to church tradition, the Roman Empire takes off his head.  It is that same Roman Empire that burned Jerusalem down to ashes and destroyed the second temple pioneered by their ancestors Ezra and Nehemiah.  It is this same Roman Empire that sent Christians into the coliseum to be devoured by wild beasts and killed by gladiators for the entertainment of the masses.  The same Roman Empire wrapped Christians in wax and burned them alive like candles to light the path to the Emperor’s residence.

“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good.”

If we take only a superficial reading of this text, we would be forced to believe the early Christians were committing egregious wrongs against the empire to deserve such treatment.  Ironically, one of the main charges brought against Christians was atheism.  They didn’t worship the Roman gods.  They defiantly exchanged the Roman pledge, “Caesar is Lord,” with “Jesus is Lord.”  They had the nerve to say that a new Kingdom, superior to that of the emperor, was brought into the world through a Jewish peasant named Jesus.  They didn’t burn incense on the altar to worship Caesar on their way into the Agoura, the Roman “WalMart,” so they were not given the mark on their hand that privied them to access to buy and sell the fruits of imperial wealth (makes you rethink that whole “mark of the beast” stuff, huh?).

What nerve those early Christians had to violate the sanctity of God’s Roman Empire!


Under this stream of reasoning, Christian citizens under Pol Pot should have complied and renounced whatever they needed to under his oppressive regime in Cambodia.  Iraqi Christians should have been the first ones to volunteer for the front lines of battle in Saddam Hussein’s fight against the invading armies.  Christians under Hitler should have gladly taken Jews to the concentration camps (sadly, some did).  After all, those authorities were put there for our own good.

I don’t think I am crazy to think that such a superficial reading is lacking.  Am I?


A Deeper Historical Look into the Text
In its infancy, Christians were largely considered Jews.  They were Jews that followed the teachings of a different Rabbi whom they called the Messiah, or the Christ.  Jews had a bad reputation in the Roman Empire.  Not only were they atheists as described above, but they had a nasty habit of using all of their resources to drive out occupying armies.  Only 200 years before Paul, they took back the land of Israel from Antiochus Epiphanes (one of Alexander the Great’s successors) under Judas “the Hammer” Maccabeus in the second century BC.  Years later, when Rome took over Jerusalem from the rule of the Hasmoneans (the line of Jewish kings between Antiochus Epiphanes and Rome), the Jews began planning and executing revolts.  Though some saw short lived success, all attempts had failed.  Even after Jesus, the Jews kept at it, which is how the temple ended up being destroyed in the year 70AD.

In addition to organized revolts, largely carried out by the Zealots, a secret society of assassins called the Sicarii (Latin for “dagger-men”) would hide daggers under their cloaks and quietly stab Roman officials and Jewish compliance advocates while in large crowds.  They would then disappear into the masses to remain undiscovered. 

The teachings of the Rabbi Jesus, led his followers away from the sword of the Zealots and the Sicarii.  He taught that the Kingdom of God is at hand, available and present.  Jesus’ Kingdom of God was not contingent on the presence or absence of occupying forces.  Jesus’ Kingdom was truly in control.

Thus, one layer of this Romans 13 onion that must be peeled back is Paul’s motive for writing this passage to the Church in Rome.  Perhaps Paul was making these statements about the Roman government to show that this new Jesus movement was not like the other Jewish movements that the Romans had grown accustomed to.  This new Jesus movement did not center on deposing Caesar.  This movement had given up the sword for something better that didn’t rely on the “sovereignty” of their own nation-state.  This movement relied on the sovereignty of God.  This movement had the ability to function, and even thrive, no matter what oppressive regime had a foot on their necks.  This movement could submit under violent and corrupt power structures, and without having to give up its soul. 

Words in the Text
Submit does not mean obey.  We see this in the crucifixion, incarceration, and beheading of Christ and almost every one of his disciples, including Paul.  Just by worshiping the invisible God, and by proclaiming Jesus as Lord, Christians lived in disobedience to the government.  But when the government came to take them away to be killed, they submitted.

Established in this passage means “having been placed.”  There is not a huge denotative difference between being established and being placed, but the connotative difference makes it worth mentioning.  The power structures are not “ordained” or “anointed” of God.  According to Paul, they have been placed there.  This is not a validation of the object being placed, but rather is an acknowledgment of God’s hand in its location.  For example, the prophets of Israel were able to acknowledge that Babylon was a tool in God’s hand of judgment on Judah for their sin. However, at the same time those same prophets were able to call out the inherent evil of the very tool in God’s hand. 

What to do with this Text
In light of the apparent contradictions between the affirmations of Romans 13:1-7, and the actual experience of the author of the text, the journey from exegesis to interpretation, and interpretation to application must be taken carefully.

To interpret this text we must take into account the experience of the author and the textual context of the passage.  We have already explored some of Paul’s experience of these “God-placed authorities,” and how he suffered much at their hands.  As Paul is wrapping up the body of his letter to the Romans(chapters 1-11) in which he reiterates that the gospel is now available to both Jews and Gentiles, he comes to a sort of exhortative climax telling the readers,

“offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Then, at the end of chapter 12 Paul encourages the reader to “not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Immediately afterward he enters his discussion of authority figures. 

His treatment of earthly authorities, namely governments, must be read through the lens of chapter 12.  His call to submit to governments, exclude a call to mirror or conform to those governments.  Instead Christians ought to offer their entire beings to God and be transformed by God’s Kingdom.  Also, the natural progression from the last verse of Romans 12 and the first verse of Romans 13 must be taken into consideration.  Perhaps, Paul is encouraging persecuted Christians to avoid the way of the Zealots and Sicarii, and instead to pursue the way of love.  Thus, instead of being overcome by the evil of the empire, Christians are to respond to persecution and injustice with love and goodness.  This doesn’t mean Christians ought to like the injustice.  Though they “bless those who curse” them (Rom 12:14) and don’t “repay evil for evil” (Rom 12:17) the Church is still admonished to “hate what is evil” (Rom 12:9) in direct connection to their sincerity in love. 

Therefore, Paul is admonishing Christians to live under the authorities in submission, not consumed with returning the evils of the empire.  Instead of focusing on finding a way to take vengeance into one’s own hands and depose the rulers of darkness, Christians are told to focus on doing good.  Though it is clear that doing good (as in the case of most of the early church) can land a person in prison or on death row, violent insurrection is a much more likely and speedy way to get a person there.  If returning good for evil does not end in the fall of evil power structures, it is not the job of the Christian to use evil means to accomplish favorable ends. “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Rom 12:19)

The Text for Today
We do not live under the same kind of empire as the early Christians did.  Democratic republics, socialist republics, and communist regimes are all relatively new phenomenon.  But a few things remain the same.  Unconsented confiscation of property in the name of national interest (e.g. taxes, imminent domain), wars in the name of expansion or “preservation” of states, and systematic silencing of voices that disagree with the ruling class all continue in today’s governments.  Much happens now under these power structures that are in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Rabbi that we call Christ.  Unfortunately, in our society, Christians admonish one another to use this fallen system of coercion and violence to enforce “Christian morality.”  When these admonitions are questioned, powerful Christians (or advocates of a powerful Christian state) quickly site Romans 13:1-7 as a scriptural advocate for their “righteous” desire for coercive power.  But if we would interpret those verses through the lens of Romans 12 and the teachings of Jesus, we would end up with a completely different approach to the issues of governments and authorities. 

One thing remains the same in the application of Romans 13:1-7, violent insurrection is not the answer.  The injustices and evil inherent to governing structures must be acknowledged as evil, and hated (Rom 12:9).
However, using the tools from the toolbox of a coercive governmental entity in an attempt to overcome that entity, gains nothing but a new coercive entity.  The call of a Christian is to find creative ways to be in submission to his or her contemporary government without being complicit in the activities of those governments.

We are to fly under the imperial radar to work against the destruction and violence of governments, while proliferating weapons of mass construction like faith, hope, justice, kindness, gentleness, self-control, hospitality, humility, and above all love.  We must sincerely wrestle with the righteousness of actions that may make us complicit with coercive governments.

We must prayerfully consider the programs and wars we finance by paying taxes.  We must consider the perpetuation of empowering a “ruling class” and coercively enforcing our opinions by voting.  We must understand the contradiction between following the way of the crucified Christ and enlisting in the armed forces.

This post, though long, is by no means a full treatment of the Romans 13 passage.  There is so much more to be wrestled with and written.  Since this work is largely incomplete, I will not give any definite answers to how we ought to answer these new governmental issues facing Christians. What I will encourage is the opening of a discussion in the modern Church.  In this discussion we must find a way to live under authorities while being transformed to embody the goodness and love of God whose Kingdom stands in direct opposition to the kingdoms of this world.

We must lead an insurrection of hope.

We must stir up a revolution of peace.

We must wage a war of love.