AUTHORITY

Scriptures are cited to the NIV-UK edition

IN ROMANS 13: 1-7 the Apostle Paul extols the virtue of proper government and the respect due to it:

1. Everyone 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. 2. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3. 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. 4. For 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. 5. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7. Give to everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.

St. Paul is not naive in his view of the ʻgoverning authoritiesʼ. The government in this passage is a model, an ideal, one rooted in law and order. Roman governance of his day happened to be conducive to the interests of the Church and he advised compliance, not conflict. Persecutions from malign rulers would come soon enough. But for the present, under the generally benign and permissive cloak of Rome's authority the apostles and the congregations they served could prosper, with a minimum of interference. Nor was Paul a shrinking violet, afraid to speak up. Mindful of his own Roman citizenship the apostle on more than one occasion asserted his rights in order to secure proper treatment under the law (Acts 16: 22-24, 35-39; 25: 10-12).

The Christian Case

For Paul it was especially important that Christians abide by society's laws. This may seem like odd advice, coming from a man whose primary mission was to assert the lordship of Christ and proclaim the coming onset of a heavenly kingdom which would supplant earthly regimes. Nonetheless, pagan governors and legislators held the reins of power. They were, therefore, ʻappointedʼ by God indirectly, and by His sufferance. This period of the early Church was of vital importance in its establishment.

Underlying his philosophy is his understanding that the fundamentals of law and order are godly principles, broadly composed to instil civic harmony and public weal. And as rebellion against God is unrighteous so, by extension, revolution against those whose authority He endorses is unrighteous. Even the mindless universe is lauded for its mute, if robotic, compliance with the laws of nature's God (Psa. 19: 1-4; 50: 6).

Like all empires before and since, Roman hegemony had enemies without and within. Zealots amongst the tributary Jewish nation had long itched for revolt against their overlords (Acts 5: 36, 37). The rebellion in the second and first centuries BC by the Maccabees against Syrian rule had already cemented Roman opinion of this people now under their dominion. Even the disciples voiced their own expectation of a unified nation under God, asking Jesus, ʻare you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?ʼ (Acts 1: 6). Years later, we find the Apostle Paul reiterating the same hope (Acts 26: 7). In Rome's eyes, the Jews were a troublesome lot. The resulting friction led to a final confrontation in AD 73, when besieging Roman forces scaled the heights through to the mountain outpost of Zealot resistance at Masada, extinguishing the hope of national Jewish independence for the next nineteen centuries.

The Limits to Obedience

The Apostle does not argue for unconditional and eternal obedience to the civil power. This would be untenable, especially for any population living under despotic rule. The apostles Peter and John had years earlier refused to comply with an injunction to cease and desist from preaching. Their response in that instance has become the classic definition of the Christian's relationship to the State when loyalties conflict: We must obey God rather than men (Acts 4: 19, 20; 5: 27-29).

Violent overthrow of this world's governments is not permitted to Christians, whose conduct should be pacific, like that of Jesus. ʻIt is mine to avenge; I will repayʼ, says the Almighty Judge (Heb. 10: 30). Paul's ambition for the members of the Church was that they love God, proclaim Christ, strengthen one another in the faith and live moral lives: lights in the darkness of a pagan culture (Rom. 13: 8-14).

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