Be Subject
Romans 13:1-7
1Let every person be subject to
the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those
that exist have been instituted by God.
2Therefore whoever resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgment.
3For rulers are not a terror to
good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in
authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4for he is God’s servant for your
good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.
For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the
wrongdoer.
5Therefore one must be in
subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6For because of this you also pay
taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7Pay to all what is owed to them:
taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom
respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Here in the United States you probably won’t find an adult
without opinions about the government; negative or positive. Government is a
fact of life and has been since the beginning. One might envy Adam and Eve, for
they were the only one’s without an established government. As soon as people
started living in tribes there has been a hierarchy of leadership – government.
Sometimes those governing bodies are good and lead with the needs of the people
in mind. Sometimes they are not as good and lead with their own needs in mind; probably
most of the time it is a combination of both.
What Paul takes the time to point out is that all government
is established by God and He doesn’t provide these leaders in order to vex us.
He does so out of love for us and our need for order. God places into the hands
of these leaders great responsibility and power. But it is God who does
this. He is the One who establishes world governments. Of course this raises
issues because not all world leaders are godly or really even capable and we
then look at God and wonder what’s going on. Ultimately we have to recognize
that God is sovereign over everything. Even the evil leaders are chosen with
purpose. I have to admit – that’s a tough one for me. This is one of those
times when I have to look at God and acknowledge that He is God and I am not.
He knows everything and I don’t. Trusting in Him is all I’ve got.
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