God and Caesar pt 2

Romans 13:2-7


1. Why Does God Want Order?

a. The Purpose of man—Gen 1:26-28—fill the Earth with people

b. The Evangelization of the World—Acts 17:24-31

c. Because order expresses His character.

2. Reminder and Review

a. We are to be subject to the rulers and be law abiding and peaceful—Except in matters of faith and conscience—

(1) (Acts 4:18-20) "And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.""

(2) (Acts 5:27-28) "And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!” 29 "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men."”

b. Examples

(1) Daniel and his friends refusing to eat non-kosher food

(2) Example—Daniel’s three friends and the fiery furnace

(3) Example—Daniel in the Lion’s Den

(4) Example—Esther coming to the court uninvited

c. Reason 1 for the submission—“… For there is no authority except from God..”

(1) (Psa 62:11) "… power belongs to God."

(2) Sometimes Satanic powers are lent a measure of authority—but “… there is no authority except from God..”

(a) (1 John 5:19) "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one."

(b) (Luke 4:5-7) "Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ….""

(3) But eventually, God reclaims the power He has lent for His own purposes.

(a) (John 16:11) ""of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."

(b) (John 14:30) ""I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."

(c) (John 12:31) ""Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

d. Reason 2—God has appointed the rulers who rule—“…the authorities that exist are appointed by God…”


3. Resistance and Its Limits—(Rom 13:2) “…Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves…”

a. ATR Comment

He that resisteth (ho antitassomenos). Present middle articular participle of antitassō, old verb to range in battle against as in Acts 18:6, “he that lines himself up against.”
Withstandeth (anthestēken). Perfect active indicative of anthistēmi and intransitive, “has taken his stand against.”
The ordinance of God

b. Resistance—again, except for the exceptions

(1) By Whomever—is wrong

(2) Resists = “rebels against—(1 Sam 15:23) "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.""

(3) Ordinance—what God has put in place, be it a system, a government of men, or whatever.

(4) What if the government becomes oppressive and evil? God sets up kings and tears down kings—and dynasties, and empires

(1 Sam 2:6-10) "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. {7} The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. {8} He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, And He has set the world upon them. {9} He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail. {10} The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the Earth. "He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed."

(1 Sam 12:8) "When Jacob had gone into Egypt, and your fathers cried out to the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

(Prov 8:15-16) By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. {16} By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.

(Isa 45:1-7)

(Dan 2:21) And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.

(Dan 4:17) “… the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.'

c. Those who resist outside the acceptable limits imposed by God will be judged and punished—by God, by man, or both in concert!

d. The distinctions are vital to see—1 Pet 2:11ff


4. Human Government—(Rom 13:3-4 (Rom 13:3-4) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. {4} For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

a. Note, Paul is not talking about unjust rulers, crooks, tyrants, murderers, etc. These have always existed in human government—but Paul is relating Government as it should have been and how it ought to be.

b. Rulers—Again, these rulers have a responsibility from God whether they know Him or not.

c. Good vs. Evil works—

(1) again, often the rulers are just the opposite of what they should be

(2) Government should be a terror to the evil and a blessing to the good—but most of the time they are not.

d. Terror –Who should be afraid, and who should NOT be afraid

(1) Who should be among the Not afraid—the meek, the righteous, the godly

(2) Who should be Afraid—evil doers

(a) Again—it is often the reverse in our messed up society
(b) It has often been the reverse in History
(c) So, what happens? God raises up someone else, just like He raised up David—but note, even though he was anointed by God to be the King of Israel, David waited until God had acted providentially

e. Pleasing the authority

(1) The goal is for believers to be harmless in their day to day lives.

(Titus 3:1-2) "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men."
(Phil 2:14-16) "Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain."

(Mat 10:16-18) ""Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 "But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 "You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles."

(1 Th 4:10-12) "and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing."

5. Human Government’s Primary Task
“…4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.. ..”

a. The Servant for Good

b. The Sword of Authority, defense, and retribution

(1) God reveals that wars and violence are judgments against societies suffering thereby

(2) God desires that nations defend themselves

(3) The man with the sword is the minister of God

(4) The Man with the sword is the avenger of God against evil doers.

c. We MUST submit—

d. Two reasons for submission

(1) Wrath—you don’t want the ruler angry with your attitude and actions

(2) Conscience—you don’t want GOD angry at your attitude and actions.

e. Taxes—“… 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing…”

(1) Just like the support for the pastor, God’s minister, known as government, must be paid and kept up.

(2) But what if the taxes are unjust and ruinous?

(a) In Jesus’ day, taxes were punitive and ruinous.

(b) Tax Collectors were cheats and crooks, and wealthy

(c) And many Jews revolted against or resisted the taxes

(3) either way, they must be kept up.


f. Honors—“…7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor…”

6. Now, What About the US?

a. We have rights

b. We have no allegiance to a man, but to a republic, a constitution, a flag.

c. It is our right and indeed responsibility to overthrow unjust governments

a. The fly in the ointment—our unique form of government

(1) We have no human sovereign—we have two non-human Sovereigns that all recognize

(a) Our first Ruler, to whom we swear allegiance is our Republican form of government and the flag that represents that republic…

(i) “..I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all…”

(ii) But this pledge does not have the force of law behind it. Instead, it is a personal promise which most of us scarcely ever think about, even as we say it.

(b) Our legal ruler, one which can result in our imprisonment for violating its provisions, is a small tract of only a few thousand words—the US Constitution

(2) In essence, each citizen is part of the Sovereign voice of the people, and we are entitled to various rights, such as the right to protest and petition, the right to say nothing to the police, the right to require a search warrant, etc.

“…We, the people of the United …, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America..”.

(3) And, if we go back to the most basic of our documents, the Declaration of Independence, some shocking possibilities result.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness…. it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

(4) So, implicit in our citizenship is the right to rebel—to overthrow the government—there is no other government I am aware of which has such a provision, except for Turkey, whose army is obligated to overthrow and destroy any government that tries to do away with Turkey’s pure secular (non-Islamist) government.

(5) So, when we read Romans 13, some of the provisions are hard to pin down because of the unique nature of our government.